Dr. Evelyn Corona

           The Word of God is clear..."Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD (Jeremiah 23:1 NIV). The intention of this article is not to criticize or offend the pastoral ministry as instituted by God, but to open the eyes of those pastors who have deviated from the truth (consciously or unconsciously), and to create awareness in Christians that are under the influence of such charlatans. Those that are righteous are not afraid of the light, but if your ways are crooked and you don't want your deeds to be exposed, then this is your chance to make it right.

           If you follow the news closely, you are aware of the thousands of people affected by the leadership of men with secret agendas. Some had dark motives from the beginning, others slipped from the truth; some were just plain crazy. In the end, the sheep (people) were the ones hurt or dead. The pastoral ministry is the biggest responsibility in the eyes of God. It is also the most beautiful. "Return, faithless people," declares the LORD, "for I am your husband. I will choose you..Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding"( Jeremiah 3:15 NIV). Here are some questions for you...Is God still doing the choosing? Has the pastoral ministry become a job? Is today's practice of the ministry just ignorance passed on from generation to generation?

          I know a thing or two about traditions of men spoken as mandates from God. For years I lived under the bondage of ignorance. I was harassed, and pushed to the point that my fighting back brought a nervous breakdown, panic attacks, and anxiety. Why? Because everything was "judgement this and judgement that". It is safe to say that those ministers didn't know any better, although some are still questionable. Jeremiah 12:10 (NIV) says: "Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland".  The field spoken about in the passage was my heart, it can be yours. I can only hope that these salaried men will repent and change their ways, otherwise this will happen: "Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD (Jeremiah 23:2 NIV).

          And the Lord adds in Ezequiel 34:1-7: "¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ³ You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. ⁴ You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. ⁵ So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. ⁶ My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

 ⁷ “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ⁸ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ¹⁰ This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

         Now, the beauty of all this is (because there is always HOPE) that God knows what is going on and cares about you.  The scripture continues to say: "¹¹ 'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. ¹² As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice'".

         So, you see? YOU are loved and He will never let you down...Our "Knight in shining armor" will come to rescue us. WE ARE NOT ALONE!! Be wise and learn to distinguish between Godly food and scraps.