"Precepts of Men", i.e. Religious Garbage sold under the heading "Christian"

Remember how he betrayed his oaths
and caused king Nebuchadnezzar to come against Jerusalem?

Remember how he was then taken captive
and his eyes were put out and he died in the city of merchants, Babylon?

That was a Sad Story too, wasn't it?

Well, this chapter is the lamentation, the "Sad Song",
about Zedekiah's brothers and their fates.

Even more so it is a Sad Song about man's attempt to establish a king.

Now just as chapter 17 was written allegorically,
so too is the history outlined in this chapter.

A person must take an interest in our Father's Word
and be a student of Biblical history (even secular)
in order to understand what is written.

If a person is too lazy to do that
then he or she will be part of the Biblical illiteracy problem
in this nation as they join others
in going around saying how difficult the Word of God is to understand.

They will be trapped in that "catch 22" position
which is explained so well in Isaiah 29.

The "learned" will then lower their eye glasses to the tips of their noses
and peer over the top of the frames giving that superior,
scholarly and authoritative look, and then in a subtle and mildly condescending tone (which they are permitted to use
because you have been labeled a "layman", which is a nice word for "not among the elite learned"),
they will say ,
"My dear child,
the infinite mysteries of God lie beyond
the finite comprehension of mere mortal man.
(Ignore, sidestep, dance, and now change the subject)

The important thing is for you to just have love in your heart
(and help out at the chicken barbeques)
and be ready to be taken up into the clouds
when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to "rapture" His church."

Many people buy that trot.

But some are not so easily satisfied,
so they ask some of their fellow Christian friends:

Hogwash!

We are ALL instructed to study the Word of God for ourselves
as it is written in 2 Tim. 2:15,
"Study [that means YOU] to shew thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

In chapter 18 we learned that judgment is an INDIVIDUAL thing.

Well then, if a person can read or hear
he or she better get studying
and stop listening to the traditions of men
who make up the doctrines of their "religion"
because the word is "sealed" to them.

Their hearts do not desire Him,
else they would seek Him through His Written Word!

The next verse in Isaiah declares it to be so.
"Thus saith the Lord God...":

All that most people know about their Father is what these "blind leaders"
who are supposed to be "learned" have told them.

That's how we get proverbs,
like the one God dispelled in the last chapter,
floating around which are untrue and which offend and irritate our Father.

That's how we get rapture theories and "tongue" babblers
and all sorts of other unscriptural nonsense
sold under the heading "Christian"
instead of its proper heading "Precepts of Men", i.e. Religious Garbage.

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

is

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