The picture shown here is and excerpt of the book of Yirmyah (Jeremiah) chapter 23 and is appropriate because it applies to religious leaders like those in the New Apostolic Church.
Specifically, just as the prophets and priests in Yirmyah's time, the leaders of the New Apostolic Church and many Christian leaders have:
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- Scattered the sheep of Yah by teaching the traditions of men instead of the commands of Elohim
- Done evil by erecting a beastly church hierarchy comprised of man-made ordinances
- Tolerated adulterous church members who commit adultery by marrying divorced women
- Enticed church members to commit idolatry by obeying church leaders instead of obeying Yah
- Refused to preach righteousness so that the members of the NAC would repent of their sins
- Claimed to speak by the power of the "Holy Spirit" yet uttering false propesies and abominable doctrines that come from their own hearts instead of from the Scriptures
- Lead the members of the NAC into violation of the commandment not to bring Yah's name to naught
- Spoken in the idolatrous names of pagan dieties such as "God," "Lord", and "Jesus" instead of the true name of our soveriegn power "Yah" and His son "Yahshua."
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A copy of this translation of Scriptures can be found at
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This translation of the 23rd chapter of Yirmyah (with footnotes) reads as follows:
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Jer 23:1 "Woe to the shepherds destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!"1 declares יהוה. Footnote: 1See 10:21, 50:5-6, Ezek. 34:1-23, Zech. 10:2, Mt. 9:36.
Jer 23:2 Therefore thus said יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl against the shepherds who feed My people, "You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and have not tended them. See, I am punishing you for the evil of your deeds," declares יהוה.
Jer 23:3 "Therefore I shall gather the remnant of My flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and shall bring them back to their fold. And they shall bear and increase.
Jer 23:4 "And I shall raise up shepherds over them, and they shall feed them.1 And they shall fear no more, nor be discouraged, nor shall they be lacking," declares יהוה. Footnote: 1See 3:14-17.
Jer 23:5 "See, the days are coming," declares יהוה, "when I shall raise for Dawiḏ a Branch1 of righteousness, and a Sovereign shall reign and act wisely, and shall do right-ruling and righteousness in the earth. Footnote: 1Or sprout.
Jer 23:6 "In His days Yehuḏah shall be saved, and Yisra’ĕl dwell safely. And this is His Name whereby He shall be called: ‘יהוה our Righteousness.’
Jer 23:7 "Therefore, see, the days are coming," declares יהוה, "when they shall say no more, ‘As יהוה lives who brought up the children of Yisra’ĕl out of the land of Mitsrayim,’
Jer 23:8 but, ‘As יהוה lives who brought up and led the seed of the house of Yisra’ĕl out of the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell on their own soil."
Jer 23:9 My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man overcome by wine, because of יהוה, and because of His set-apart words.
Jer 23:10 For the land is filled with adulterers; for the land mourns because of a curse. The pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right.
Jer 23:11 "For both prophet and priest have become defiled. Even in My house I have found their evil," declares יהוה.
Jer 23:12 "Therefore their way is to them like slippery ways in the dark. They are driven on and they shall fall in them. For I bring evil on them, the year of their punishment," declares יהוה.
Jer 23:13 "And I have seen folly in the prophets of Shomeron: they prophesied by Baʽal and led My people Yisra’ĕl astray.
Jer 23:14 "And among the prophets of Yerushalayim I have seen a horrible matter: committing adultery and walking in falsehood. And they strengthen the hands of evil ones, so that no one turns back from his evil. All of them are like Seḏom to Me, and her inhabitants like Amorah.
Jer 23:15 "Therefore thus said יהוה of hosts concerning the prophets, ‘See, I am making them eat wormwood, and shall make them drink poisoned water. For defilement has gone out into all the land from the prophets of Yerushalayim.’ "
Jer 23:16 Thus said יהוה of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, they lead you astray. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of יהוה.
Jer 23:17 "They keep on saying to those who despise Me, ‘יהוה has said you shall have peace.’ And to all who walk according to the stubbornness of their own heart they say, ‘No evil comes upon you.’ "
Jer 23:18 For who has stood in the counsel of יהוה, and has seen and heard His word? Who has listened to His word and obeyed it?
Jer 23:19 See, a storm of יהוה shall go forth in a rage, a whirling storm! It whirls on the head of the wrong.
Jer 23:20 The displeasure of יהוה shall not turn back until He has done and established the purposes of His heart. In the latter days you shall understand it perfectly.1 Footnote: 1See 30:24.
Jer 23:21 "I did not send these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.1 Footnote: 1See 14:14-15, 23:32, 28:15, 29:9.
Jer 23:22 "But if they had stood in My counsel, then they would have let My people hear My Words, and they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.
Jer 23:23 "Am I an Elohim close by," declares יהוה, "and not an Elohim afar off?
Jer 23:24 "If anyone is hidden in secret places, would I not see him?" declares יהוה. "Do I not fill the heavens and earth?" declares יהוה.
Jer 23:25 "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsehood in My Name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
Jer 23:26 "Till when shall it be in the heart of the prophets? – the prophets of falsehood and prophets of the deceit of their own heart,
Jer 23:27 who try to make My people forget My Name by their dreams which everyone relates to his neighbour, as their fathers forgot My Name for Baʽal.
Jer 23:28 "The prophet who has a dream, let him relate the dream, and he who has My Word, let him speak My Word in truth. What is the chaff to the wheat?" declares יהוה.
Jer 23:29 "Is not My Word like a fire?" declares יהוה, "and like a hammer that shatters a rock?
Jer 23:30 "Therefore see, I am against the prophets," declares יהוה, "who steal My Words every one from his neighbour.
Jer 23:31 "See, I am against the prophets," declares יהוה, "who use their tongues and say, ‘He declares.’
Jer 23:32 "See, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," declares יהוה, "and relate them, and lead My people astray by their falsehoods and by their reckless boasting. But I Myself did not send them nor have I commanded them. And they do not profit this people at all," declares יהוה.
Jer 23:33 "And when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the message of יהוה?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What message?’ I shall forsake you," declares יהוה.
Jer 23:34 "As for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The message of יהוה,’ I shall punish that man and his house.
Jer 23:35 "This is what each one says to his neighbour, and each one to his brother, ‘What has יהוה answered?’ and, ‘What has יהוה spoken?’
Jer 23:36 "But the message of יהוה you no longer remember! For every man’s message is his own word, for you have changed1 the Words of the living Elohim, יהוה of hosts, our Elohim! Footnote: 1Or overthrown. See Isa. 24:5.
Jer 23:37 "This is what you say to the prophet, ‘What has יהוה answered you?’ and, ‘What has יהוה spoken?’
Jer 23:38 "But since you say, ‘The message of יהוה!’ therefore thus said יהוה, ‘Because you say this word, "The message of יהוה!" and I have sent to you, saying, "Do not say, ‘The message of יהוה!’ "
Jer 23:39 therefore see, I, I shall utterly forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city that I gave you and your fathers.
Jer 23:40 ‘And I shall put an everlasting reproach on you, and an everlasting shame that is not forgotten.’ "
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