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CONNIE: What does God want, anyhow? Is attending church on Christmas and Easter enough? Would once a week be better? Or is there something deeper, more personal He's looking for? Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I’m Lonnie Melashenko. Connie today we tackle one of the most interesting books in the Bible--but one that most people probably don't spend a lot of time studying.

CONNIE: That's right, we're looking at the book of Jeremiah, which is full of fascinating stories, parables, and prophecies.

LONNIE: Jeremiah lived in interesting and perilous times. And he was called by God to deliver a very unpopular message, calling the people of Israel to repent and turn back to God. He was called to the prophetic ministry, more than 2 ½ millennia ago, in a time of great turmoil.

CONNIE: That's right. For the past century, the empire of Assyria had been rampaging across the landscape, conquering nations and destroying everything in its path. Just 75 years earlier, the Assyrians had destroyed every city in Judah except Jerusalem, and since that time the kings in Jerusalem had pretty much capitulated to Assyrian domination.

LONNIE: But winds of change were blowing now, in 627 BC. The Assyrian empire was split apart by a civil war, and the city of Babylon was in open rebellion under the leadership of a man who would soon declare himself king of a new empire.

CONNIE: In Jerusalem, a young, vigorous king had taken the throne.

LONNIE: When you say young, Connie, you really mean young. In fact, King Josiah was placed on the throne at the age of eight!

CONNIE: That's right, but by this time he was a young man, 20 years old, and he was beginning to really seek the Lord and make some changes around the place. 2 Chronicles tell us that "In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images." (2 Chron. 34:3 NKJ).

LONNIE: In other words, young king Josiah was a reformer. He tried very hard to turn people away from idols and back to serving the Lord whole-heartedly. One of the things he did in trying to turn people toward the Lord was to sponsor a great Passover festival. The Bible tells us that it was the greatest religious festival in Israel since the days of Samuel, 400 years earlier.

CONNIE: So, at least on the surface, it appeared that things were really turning around in Judah. But it was at this very time that God called the prophet Jeremiah and gave him a message calling for even deeper reforms.

LONNIE: It seems that most of the changes the king was able to make were just cosmetic.

CONNIE: And God was calling for something deeper--a change in people's hearts.

LONNIE: You know, Connie, in looking at the message of Jeremiah, it's easy to spot some parallels to our own times. And I guess the important question is: Does our religion go deep enough--does it really get down and touch our hearts, or is it just something we practice once a week, or maybe a couple of times a year?

CONNIE: That's the type of question the Barna Research Group often takes a look at, and Ken Wade recently spoke with David Kinnaman of that organization about some of the results of their recent studies. Here's that interview:

KEN: David Kinnaman, vice president of the Barna Research Group, I want to welcome you to our program today.

DAVID: It’s great being with you. Thanks for having me.

KEN: David I really appreciate the Barna Research Group, and the information that you publish from time to time. I always like to visit your website there, Barna.org, and see what you have done recently, and not to long ago I picked up on this annual study that you published. It says, Annual Study Reveals that America is Spiritually Stagnate.” What do you mean by that?

DAVID: Well, every year we measure the climate of the country, and we look at things compared to last year and five years ago, as well as a decade ago, and based on each of those ways we measure the spiritual climate in the country. We conclude that America is mired in spiritual complacency. There hasn’t been a substantive change in the way that Americans are practicing their faith, in spite of the fact that there are more born again Christians in the country.

KEN: Yeah we hear about revivals happening here and there, but over all its not affecting the nation a great deal.

DAVID: Well there’s no doubt that God is moving in pockets of places through out the country. I mean you can pick up any Christian periodical and find ways in which God is moving and touching people’s lives, of course that happens in church after church within the United States. But as far as it affecting the way in which Americans are interacting with the Christian faith, going to church, and reading the Bible, and going to Bible studies, if anything there’s been a drop in a lot of those things since a decade ago.

KEN: What really jumped out at me in this study was your five year analysis from 1995-2000 saying that 5% more people in your surveys said they were absolutely committed to Christianity, but that despite that other aspects of their Christian behavior had actually decreased.

DAVID: If you look at the way we define born again Christians that’s another element that’s grown from 1991 when about one-third of all adults were considered born again Christians to the year 2001, 41% of all adults in the country are born again Christians. We define Christians not based on whether a person identifies themselves as a born again, but whether or not they believe that their faith is based on confession of faith in Christ, and confession of personal sinfulness. So it is based on their religious beliefs, not based on self identification, so we can conclude, that there are actually millions more born again Christians in the country now than there were ten years ago. But despite all of that, we are less likely as Christians to read the Bible, to attend church, to volunteer at church, and to attend adult Sunday school than we were ten years ago.

KEN: That’s got to be distressing to you sometimes when you come back with theses figures, isn’t is?

DAVID: It is. It’s one of those things where I think a lot of people tend to disparage the messenger for the message, because the way we do our research is based on wide scale national research with adults and Christians nation wide. So it really is an accurate way of telling us whether or not people are engaging in particular activities. Again the conclusion is that people don’t really seem to be changing the way they interact with the church, and in fact, you know, there’s not a lot of substance, in a lot of cases, to what they believe about the Christian faith. You’ve got about half, for instance of all born again Christians that say there is no such things as the Holy Spirit, that He is just a symbol of Gods presence or power. We could go on and on, but there are a variety of ways in which Americans’ theological beliefs are very inadequate despite the fact that they are interacting with the Christian church on a variety of levels on any given week.

KEN: Despite the fact that so many of these people are born again, they are totally committed to Christ. The fact that Bible reading and church attendance falls off says maybe there’s a lack of depth of commitment. And that caught my attention in particular as I was thinking of Jeremiah because he was prophesying at a time when there was an apparent religious revival in Judah with the great celebration of the Passover. But you used a phrase a little while ago about how wide and how deep spirituality goes sometimes.

DAVID: One of the things that we talked about in terms of the spiritual commitment in the country is that the Christian church is a mile wide and an inch deep. There are, of course, millions of believers who are very committed Christians and who understand and live out their faith on a day by day basis. But for a large part of people who call themselves Christians it’s nothing more than a brand name, something that’s almost synonymous with being an American. So I think in a lot of cases Christians are very comfortable with the lifestyle, they're actually shopping for the kind of church they like best.KEN: Something that makes them feel good.

DAVID: Correct. We are very comfortable, and that kind of comfort can translate into a lack of depth about our faith. We go to church, but we don’t necessarily think of it as being the central point of our life, our faith isn’t necessarily the center point of our life.

KEN: Well thank you David for what you and your organization do to point this out to us and to call us back to a more heartfelt spirituality just as Jeremiah did. Thank you, very much, for sharing with us today.

DAVID: It’s been a pleasure to be with you.

CONNIE: Thanks to the King's Heralds for that song, and thanks to Dave Kinnaman of the Barna Research Group for his insights.

LONNIE: You know, Connie, when we think about that "old time religion," maybe some of our minds go back twenty or thirty years, and as the years have passed, those times take on a sort of halcyon glow--as though everything was better back then--people were more sincere and devout. But I can remember those "good old days," and even then people were longing for the good old days 20 or 30 years before that.

CONNIE: Well, I noticed in the King's Heralds' song, they were looking back even farther than that.

LONNIE: That's right, they were singing about the religion that was good enough for spiritual greats like Paul and Silas, and the prophet Daniel.

CONNIE: People who really knew what it meant to stand up for their faith in times of trial--people who could sing praises to God from a prison cell.

LONNIE: Or from a lion's den, for that matter.

CONNIE: That's right!

LONNIE: Well, in my book, I think there could be a verse in that song about the prophet Jeremiah, too. One of the classic phrases I remember from his book is the story of when he got himself arrested for delivering the Lord's message. They seized him, and Jeremiah 38:6 says "they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon . . . in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire" (NKJV).

But despite that type of treatment, Jeremiah didn't cease prophesying--he had a message from the Lord, and he continued to "sing it out" as it were.

CONNIE: That's the kind of "Old Time Religion" the song is about. And the kind we still need today.

LONNIE: I noticed in Ken's interview with David Kinnaman that one of the things the Barna researchers have picked up on in their studies of modern Christianity is that while more and more people are claiming to be born again, fewer and fewer are actually doing the types of things that will deepen their spiritual experience: reading and studying the Bible, attending church regularly, and becoming involved in Christian service.

CONNIE: Well, we're here to encourage people to be serious about their religion--to be closely involved with their church, and with regular Bible study and prayer. And today we'd like to encourage you to dig into the Bible and study it on your own with the aid of our Focus on Prophecy Bible course.

LONNIE: This beautiful course is free for the asking by calling 1-800-872-0055. It will come to you in the mail, and you can study at your own speed, with the help of a correspondence Bible instructor.

CONNIE: Or you can take the course at your computer, using the Internet, by logging on to our web page at VOP.COM. And we'll tell you more about this at the end of today's program, but now it's time for Lonnie's message for today: Jeremiah--A Call to Heart Religion. Share with us, Lonnie.

Jeremiah--A Call to Heart Religion

Imagine yourself in Jeremiah's sandals for a moment. You're a young person--maybe a teenager. You live in a little village about an hour's walk from Jerusalem. From a spot just down the road, you can look south toward Jerusalem and see the gleaming white walls of Solomon's glorious temple that has stood as a center of worship of the Lord more than three centuries.
You're about the same age as the boy king--Josiah--who found himself on the throne of Judah at age 8 after his father was assassinated.

The village where you live is well known as the home of a family of priests who can trace their lineage clear back to the time of Israel's greatest kings, David and Solomon.

You're just a young fellow, in a small town, living out your Mayberry RFD lifestyle, far enough removed from the seat of power that you never expect to personally meet the king or any of the high officials of the country, when suddenly everything changes.

Lately, exciting news has been circulating around your town. King Josiah--who's now about 20 years old--has had a spiritual awakening! He's calling on people throughout the country to put away their foreign gods and to come to Jerusalem to celebrate a great Passover feast to the Lord. Heralds have carried invitations throughout the land, and even into Assyrian-held territory to the north, in the former kingdom of Israel.

Sounds like great news! As a member of a priestly family, you can't help but rejoice and expect great things from the reign of this spiritually-enlightened ruler.

Then it happens.

One day when you're all alone, the word of the Lord comes to you: "Jeremiah . . . Jeremiah . . . Jeremiah!"

"Yes, Lord?"

"Jeremiah, I want you to know that you're no stranger to Me. In fact, I've been watching you--since even before you were born. And long ago, I chose you to be a prophet to speak My words to kings and kingdoms--to declare which ones will be built up and which ones will be torn down."

Wow! Sounds pretty exciting, doesn't it? To be given that kind of authority as a teenager.

But apparently Jeremiah wasn't too enthusiastic about it. He reminded the Lord that he was just a young lad who hadn't taken Public Speaking 101 in college yet--in fact he'd never even been to a Toastmasters meeting.
But the Lord insisted:

"Do not say, 'I am a youth,' " He said. " 'For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak' " (Jer. 1:7 NKJV).
"Okay, Okay," I can hear Jeremiah saying. After all, how can you argue with God when He comes to you? "So, what am I supposed to say to the people?"
Then it happens. You have your first vision. And odd vision at that--all you see is a branch of an almond tree. What can it mean?

And then the Lord explains--and there's a neat little play on words in the Hebrew here--based on the fact that the almond is the first tree to blossom in the spring, and people tended to watch their almond trees as they looked forward to the end of winter. The Lord explains the vision like this: Jeremiah says to the Lord: "I see the rod of a watch-tree," and the Lord explains: "I am watching over my word to fulfill it."

Now, at first glance you'd think that the Lord's opening message to Jeremiah was a prediction of great joy. That the almond branch must represent the rebirth of spirituality in the kingdom.

But notice what happened next: "And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, 'What do you see?' And I said, 'I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.' Then the LORD said to me: 'Out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land' " (Jer. 1:13-14 NKJV).

And for the next 40 years, this was the burden resting on Jeremiah's heart. Burning there so intensely that even when he tried to keep silence, he just couldn't do it. Sometimes he decided not to speak anymore in the name of the Lord, but when he did, he had to admit that "[the Lord's] word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not" (Jer. 20:9 NKJV).

But there was more to Jeremiah's message than just a warning that calamity was coming from the north. There was a reason for all this trouble. (And by the way--the Lord's original message proved true. Even though the Assyrian Empire to the north soon collapsed, a new northern kingdom--Babylon was waiting in the wings to bring the Lord's judgments down on the land.)
The reason for it was simple, but deep seated.

Because, you see, despite young King Josiah's good intentions, the people were not turning whole-heartedly back to the Lord. Oh, sure, they were willing to participate when there was a big spiritual celebration like the Passover.
But they would leave that spiritual high point and go back to their humdrum daily lives in little villages and farming communities all over the land, and when things didn't go well--when there was a drought or a killing frost too late in the spring--their thoughts would immediately turn to the ways of their ancestors and the ways of their non-Hebrew neighbors. And they'd find themselves up at the temples on the high places throughout the land, participating in the licentious worship exercises there and appealing to foreign gods.
King Josiah had torn down most of those temples, but you couldn't stop people from going there and calling out to the gods that had been worshiped there from time immemorial.

And so the people continued to turn their backs on the Lord, and to worship other gods. And horror of horrors, they didn't just go up on the mountains to pray. Listen to this word from the Lord found in Jeremiah 19:4-5:

" 'They have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal' " (NKJV).

What could make people do such a thing, we wonder. The fact is that those high places continued to be a snare, because the religion practiced there was exciting. Here's a warning from Jeremiah 3:23 as the New Revised Standard Version translates it: " 'Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.' "

People in Jeremiah's were not irreligious. They had a lot of religion. But it wasn't heart religion. It wasn't the kind of religion that changed the way they treated their neighbors, and Jeremiah delivered his messages of judgment because of that. The Lord sadly described His people in these words: " 'They have grown fat, they are sleek; yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; they do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless; yet they prosper, and the right of the needy they do not defend. "Shall I not punish them for these things?" says the LORD. "Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?" ' " (Jer. 5:28-29 NKJV).

Sadly, Jeremiah's words of judgment came all too true. Forty years after his vision of the seething pot about to spill out over the land, the ultimate disaster came boiling out of the north in the form of Babylonian armies that encircled Jerusalem, broke down its walls, and burned every beautiful house, including the Lord's temple, to the ground!

All because the people did not turn with their whole hearts to the Lord. These poignant words describe God's will for His people:

" 'Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- . . . I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD," for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more' " (Jer 31:31-34 NKJV).

That's what God wanted all along for His people. That their religion would be something deep down in their hearts that not only made them feel good, or got them excited at a great feast day. But a religion that changed their hearts and made them willing subjects of His law. Willing helpers and lovers of their neighbors--people who tended to the needs of the poor, the orphans, and widows.

Good, Christian people in other words.

And friend, that's what He still wants today. Have you taken time today to invite Him deep down into your heart? To ask Him what difference heart religion would make in what you do and say today?

Ask Him. He wants to put His law, His will, His love, deep down inside you where it will bubble over and change your life--and the lives of those around you!