Jeremiah the prophet was a man who needs to be rediscovered today.  The circumstances surrounding his life and world have so many parallels to life today.  And how so?  Well, for one thing, instability had gripped the world.  Jeremiah's beloved nation was about to be chewed up by the powerful tiger of Babylon.  Social structures were failing.  Families were being torn apart, and truth and morality had been sacrificed in the process.  The priesthood had become politicized and suffered a bad case of moral laryngitis.  No wonder Jeremiah seemed out of sync with his day, an old prophet who castigated the moral and spiritual decline.  No wonder he was publicly scorned and privately castigated.