For Truth, Against Falsehood – A Lesson from the Exchange Between Jeremiah and Hananiah

We live in time of falsehood. In everywhere, at every moment, we find fake news. We see many clergies and lay ministers falsifying God's truth. Under the banner of "progressive teaching" and "tolerance" and "diversity", heresies are spreading. Lies are often justified by tactical use of fallacies. 

I am not against progressive teaching, tolerance, and diversity, per se. But these often become slippery slopes on which truth becomes falsified. 

Peter warned against false prophets and false teachers with these words:

There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who ransomed them, bringing swift destruction on themselves (2 Peter 2:1).

This warning reflects Jesus’ warning:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear a good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them (Matthew 7:15-20).

False prophets were not of a first-century problem but it is also a problem today among Christians.

So who are today’s false prophets and false teachers among us?

Those are usually self-ordained prophets and preachers seeking popularity for themselves, craftly twisting words of God to say what people want to hear, rather than speaking what is true according to God’s will. Some of these false prophets and teachers are “charismatic”, arguing that they have gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and prophecy (i.e. 1 Corinthians 12:8, 10). Such a false “charismatic” prophet often says to someone who has been suffering from illness, “Today, God will heal you!”.

If you have been suffering, it sure is so nice to hear such a prophecy. And your hope will rise.

But what if you are not healed as prophesized by a false prophet? Your hope will give its way to disappointment, to say the least, and, perhaps, resentment and increased anguish.

One thing I learned from my clinical pastoral education (CPE) for hospital chaplaincy was never to say anything that may lead to a false hope to a patient, as well as, the patient’s family members and friends. And my supervisor always checked me with a temptation to make my patients “feel good”.

Ethical principle against false hope is not just for ministers, including prophets, preachers, and chaplains, but also clinicians, such as physicians and nurses. Those who are called to serve people as prophets, teachers, chaplains, physicians, nurses, and psychologists, know that what matters most is truth that affects the people whom they serve. And truth may not always pleasing to them.

True prophets, teachers, chaplains, physicians, nurses, and psychologists, are trained and ordained to bring truth as it is. They also know how a difficult truth can be communicated so that it is accepted by those whom they serve. They are always aware of a danger of temptation to bend a hard truth, because they know, Hippocrates’s principle of “do no harm”. So they do not want to hurt their feelings. But they know that false hope hurts more than upsetting with a difficult truth.

When Judah became a puppet state of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, God said to Jeremiah, a true prophet, to prophesy to people of Judah:

Since you would not listen to my words, I am about to send for and fetch all the tribes from the north—oracle of the Lord—and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant; I will bring them against this land, its inhabitants, and all these neighboring nations. I will doom them, making them an object of horror, of hissing, of everlasting reproach. Among them I will put to an end the song of joy and the song of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstone and the light of the lamp. This whole land shall be a ruin and a waste. Seventy years these nations shall serve the king of Babylon; but when the seventy years have elapsed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation and the land of the Chaldeans for their guilt—oracle of the Lord. Their land I will turn into everlasting waste. Against that land I will fulfill all the words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. They also shall serve many nations and great kings, and thus I will repay them according to their own deeds and according to the works of their hands (Jeremiah 25:8-14).

Jeremiah to prophesize the 70 years of Babylonian exile for not being obedient to God. But, there appeared a false prophet, Hananiah, and he spoke in the Temple in Jerusalem, while its priests were present:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will restore to this place all the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took from this place and carried away to Babylon. And Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon, I will bring back to this place—oracle of the Lord—for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 28:2-4).

While prophecy is more pleasing to the people of Judah? Jeremiah’s (Jeremiahs 25:8-14) or Hananiah’s (Jeremiah 28:2-4)? Which sounds better, 70 years of misery in exile or only 2 years of misery in exile?

If this were a popularity contest, like what political candidates often play during elections, Hananiah would win. Hearing this, Jeremiah responded to Hananiah with sarcasm:

Amen! thus may the Lord do! May the Lord fulfill your words that you have prophesied, by bringing back the vessels of the house of the Lord and all the exiles from Babylon to this place! But now, listen to the word I am about to speak in your hearing and the hearing of all the people. In the past, the prophets who came before you and me prophesied war, disaster, and pestilence against many lands and mighty kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as the prophet whom the Lord has truly sent only when his word comes to pass (Jeremiah 28:6-9).

In response to Jeremiah’s confrontation, Hananiah shamelessly repeated his false prophesy in sight of all the people:

Thus says the Lord: Like this, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the neck of all the nations (Jeremiah 28:11).

Being displeased with Hananiah for his false prophecy, God then spoke to Jeremiah, the true prophet:

Go tell Hananiah this: Thus says the Lord: By breaking a wooden yoke bar, you make an iron yoke! For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: A yoke of iron I have placed on the necks of all these nations serving Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; even the wild animals I have given him (Jeremiah 28:13-14).

So Jeremiah confronted Hananiah the false prophet on behalf of God:

Listen to this, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, and you have led this people to rely on deception. For this, says the Lord, I am sendthing you from the face of the earth; this very year you shall die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord (Jeremiah 28:15-16).

And within 2 months, Hananiah died (Jeremiah 28:17).

What is a lesson from this exchange between Jeremiah and Hananiah, truth and falsehood?

Not matter how “pleasing” to our years, what is false is false. And truth prevails, even it is difficult for us to accept. But to those who believe in God, truth is bearable.

Ministry and clinical service are not about pleasing people by falsifying truth. We sure need to be vigilant against those who bend truth only to please people to be popular. Such false prophets and false preachers may be found in your church or faith-sharing community. Such false clinicians can be among those who provide you with care service.

When you recognize a false prophet, false teacher, false physician, false nurse, false chaplain, and false psychologist, let God help you confront their falsehood, as Jeremiah did to Hananiah.

Truth prevails and heals. But falsehood does not. So God further told Jeremiah to say His truth about what would fallow the 70 years of the exile “treatment”, in regard to the post-exilic restoration of Jerusalem:

Look! I am bringing the city recovery and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them an abundance of lasting peace. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel, and rebuild them as they were in the beginning. I will purify them of all the guilt they incurred by sinning against me; I will forgive all their offenses by which they sinned and rebelled against me. Then this city shall become joy for me, a name of praise and pride, before all the nations of the earth, as they hear of all the good I am doing for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the prosperity I give it (Jeremiah 33:6-9).