Like Jeremiah, I too felt sad because of what was happening to my nation. I imagined that one day a great city like New York might only have one shuddered church building still standing—a silent witness to a people who had turned away from God. I envisioned myself and two others reading God’s Word in a room and praying that people would become followers of Christ again like the disciples in the Bible. We were praying, “HEAR OUR CRY O GOD AND BRING OUR NATION BACK TO YOU!”
What happens to nations that forsake God? They suffer losses! This truth also applies to us individually.
God blessed me that day with a fear of what was going to become of America and what was going to become of me if America continued down the path it was going? He also blessed me with a desire to begin to speak out and write as Jeremiah did to warn my fellow Americans of what happens to nations that turn their back on God. The Holy Spirit led me to urge people to repent of sin and to believe in Christ.
During my first reading of Jeremiah, what stood out to me was the relationship that he had with God. God spoke to him. God revealed to him what was about to happen to his nation and to the world. Then, He told Jeremiah to share His Word with people, and promised to be with Him.
After multiple readings, the Lord revealed to me the parallelism between Jeremiah’s prophecies and the prophecies of the end times in the Book of Revelation.
The message of these books is similar. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and cursed is the one who rejects Him. Thus, what Jeremiah said to his apostate nation is applicable to nations today.
Thus, there is a great need for Jeremiah like ambassadors for Christ in this 21st century. People need prophetic speakers to reveal God and God’s ways to them.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”
The collective role of the church on earth is prophetic in nature. The church, like an Old Testament prophet, calls people to a close relationship with God. Jesus is the only way to the Father.
In Matthew 16:13-14, when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” they replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or of one of the prophets.”
I believe that just as Jesus and Jeremiah had a prophetic ministry, we the church have a prophetic ministry. It is not just about saving a city or a nation from destruction. It is about saving souls from an everlasting lake of fire. We must warn people to believe in Jesus Christ for the saving of their souls.
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