God's Messengers Aren't Called to Make People Feel Good About Themselves

Isaiah 30:8-10 and Jeremiah 5:31 addresses the problems that people would rather hear comforting lies than the bitter truth.  It's really a problem that a preacher warns people about sin, death, Hell and judgment and that Jesus Christ is the only Savior and what do they they?  They either get kicked out as a troublemaker or worse, they can be unjustly persecuted.  Christians tend to be treated as criminals even if they haven't done anything worthy of persecution like rape, murder, theft and the like which all deserve to be persecuted.

The more I read through the Old Testament and the New Testament, nowhere is it that God's messengers are called to make people feel good.  During the days of Elijah he openly attacked the wicked couple Ahab and Jezebel for leading the whole nation astray with Baal worship.  During the days of Isaiah, he also preached during the reign of wicked King Ahaz.  During the days of Jeremiah, Josiah's successors were not godly at all and nobody believed him concerning coming judgment until it's too late.  John the Baptist was no different.  Jesus' earthly ministry wasn't about making people feel good but warning them about the bitter truth.

Christians can learn from God's messengers that if they get wrongly attacked for standing by what's right, their predecessors were no better.  After reading Foxe's Book of Martyrs, I wasn't surprised at all the torture Christians went through.  It's really important to expect persecution and even martyrdom for standing by and for the Word of God.  Expect the hypocrisy of sinful humanity to forgive the million wrongs their kind does but watch them roast a Christian for just one offense.  Expect that a Christian will be labeled as a criminal even if he or she has done nothing worthy of persecution.

What's the "crime" of the Christian then?  It's all about they're not there to make people feel good about themselves.  Why does a godly pastor get much less attendants than prosperity pastors?  It's because prosperity pastors make their unsaved flock feel good.  Only a few ever feel good with a godly preaching, most people don't ever feel good with it.   As the Apostle Paul would saying in Galatians 4:16 if he has become their enemy for telling the truth.