What do you like to Hear?
Do you like to hear people tell you how wonderful you
are? How great and awesome you are? Do you like to hear about nice and positive
things? And you hate to hear hard truth,
correction, and much less a rebuke?
Then join Israel’s “Illusion Club”. They were tired of the prophets confronting
them with their sin and “thus says the Lord” stuff. So Isaiah tells us that Israel told their
prophets:
They say to the
seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more
visions of what is right! Tell us
pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way, get
off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!"
Isaiah 30:10-11
Many current modern day “Illusion Club” members go to churches
where all that is preached is that God wants us healthy and wealthy. Positivism Maximus is their motto. Sin, hell, and repentance, are scary topics
for these people. They want to live in
Disney’s Fantasy Land and never want to face the real world, much less the real
spiritual world.
Healthy Christians and healthy churches learn to hear a
balance of positive, hope-filled messages and God-inspired teachings of sin and
repentance.