On November 11, 2025 I was reading Jeremiah 23, for a conference I will be speaking at next year, for the theme verse is coming from this chapter. While reading this chapter, the Holy Spirit spoke to me in a nudging fashion and said, “This is the year my leaders will be punished for how they have treated my people.”

This word came from Jeremiah 23:1-2 “Woe to the shepherds who slaughter and scatter the sheep of My pasture! This is what I, the Eternal God of Israel, have to say about the shepherds tending My people: You have scattered My flock, driven them far away, and failed miserably at being their caregivers. So look! I will punish you for your negligence, for the careless evil you’ve done.”

Punish means to attend to and the new covenant word is discipline. I do not like to release words like this, for one it feels like a corporate word to the leaders of the church and of ministries and two because I want to wait for an echo as I know I hear in part. Then today, I was watching Emma Stark’s War Room Episode 52 and I heard in my spirit, “Here is your echo. Release the word.”

Jeremiah 23:9-11 goes on to say, “For even the prophets and priests are ungodly; I have witnessed them perform wicked acts in My temple. Now this path they are on will become treacherous, and they will slip and slide; they will stumble and fall into the darkness, driven into the gloom. For in the year of their punishment, I will bring them to ruin.”

To the leaders in churches and ministries who have not been faithful to the call, the Lord is entering into a year of disciplining you. He loves you so He has to discipline you. The end of this discipline will be a church that is healthy, loving and authentic.

There are so many hungry people, who genuinely love God and want to know God, but there are leaders in the church, in ministries and online who are harming His people and the Lord must deal with it. Hebrews 12:5-6 “My child, do not ignore the instruction that comes from the Lord, or lose heart when He steps in to correct you; For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He corrects each one He takes as His own.”

This is not about casting stones. The church is to be a safe place for God to reside and people to abide. My heart breaks for the hurting, and my prayer is for the leaders to see that with authority comes responsibility. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org