EZEKIEL

This was initially written on 12/31/90

While reading through Ezekiel I noticed many similarities of what was happening to Israel as happening to US today. I have selected passages and made my comparisons after each one.
Ezekiel 7
Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: 'The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. The end is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will surely repay you for your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'Disaster! An unheard-of disaster is coming. The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. It has come! Doom has come upon you - you who dwell in the land. The time has come, the day is near; there is panic, not joy, upon the mountains. I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you; I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will repay you in accordance with your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that it is I the Lord who strikes the blow.
The day is here! It has come! Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed! Violence has grown into a rod to punish wickedness…' (Ez. 7:2-11a NIV)
I believe we are about to reap judgment in the United States. And to some extent it has already started. We have been arrogant, complacent and committed abominations against the Lord. I believe the violence we are seeing now is only the beginning of the judgment we are about to experience. You may be asking why are we being judged. Consider the following:
Ezekiel 8
The Lord spoke to Ezekiel and said,
…'Son of man, look toward the north.' So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.
And he said to me, 'Son of man, do you see what they are doing - the utterly detestable things the house of Israel is doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.
Then he brought me to the entrance to the court….
And he said to me, 'Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.' So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel. In front of them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
He said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, “The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land." Again, he said, 'You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.'
Then he brought me to the entrance to the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning for Tammuz. He said to me, 'Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.'
He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.
He said to me, 'Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually provoke me to anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.' (Ez. 8:5-7,9-18 NIV)
At the time of this writing there was much idolatry in Israel. There is much idolatry in the Church today.
The Lord spoke to the prophet Ezekiel and said,
…Son of man, do you see what they are doing - the utterly detestable things the house of Israel is doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? …have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, 'The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.' (Ez. 8:6,12 NIV)
We are doing the same thing. We think that the Lord does not see us but He does. He is all-knowing and He is aware of everything we do, think or feel.
When someone follows an idol, he or she is in darkness. That person either goes into darkness, which is idolatry, or when that person is in idolatry he/she will be in darkness.
The words,
He then brought me [Ezekiel] into the inner court of the house of the Lord, [this is the holy of holies, where the Lord resides] and there at the entrance of the temple, between the portico and the altar, [the altar is where the sacrifices were made] were about 25 men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east. (Ez. 8:16 NIV)
This reminds me of what is happening today. We who know the Lord with deep understanding and in a deep way have turned our backs on Him and have chosen to worship other idols. In this scenario, the inner court of the house of the Lord was the holy of holies where the Lord resided. Many of us have had a deep, holy, intimate relationship with God. But like the 25 men, we aren't in this intimate place. We aren't even recognizing the altar (the place where sacrifices were made.) We have our backs to the altar. We have turned our backs on the one who is our ultimate, one and only sacrifice for us and our sin. Instead, we have turned to idolatry…many of us to idols from the East. How many of us have embraced the eastern religions, some of us willingly and others of us out of ignorance or because of the coldness in our relationship with Jesus? I see an infiltration of eastern religions into charismatic circles, for they are accepting teachings that are from other religions and in doing so have turned their back on God.
A problem that has infiltrated most, if not all, of the Charismatic or Pentecostal churches is the influences of the Health/Wealth/Prosperity/Faith gospel. This is really no gospel at all in that it takes ideas from Eastern religions and “makes” them Christian. For example, one of the accepted teachings is that we are exact duplicates of God or that we are already gods. The reason we can call things that are not as though they were is because we are gods, according to many teachers such as Yonggi Cho, Charles Capps, Kenneth Copeland and other teachers of the Positive Confession movement. The Hindus also believe that we are gods.
Ezekiel 11
The Lord continued to talk to Ezekial as He does to US.
There at the entrance to the gate were twenty-five men [the same 25 mentioned in Chapter 8]…. ‘Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city. They say, “Will it not soon be time to build houses? This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat.” Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man.
…’This is what the Lord says: That is what you are saying, O house of Israel, but I know what is going through your mind. You have killed many people in this city and filled the streets with the dead.
Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: The bodies you have thrown there are the meat and this city is the pot, but I will drive you out of it. You fear the sword, and the sword is what I will bring against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will drive you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners and inflict punishment on you. You will fall by the sword, and I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you. (Ez. 11:1b-12 NIV)
Today, at this time, the Lord is bringing judgment on the leaders of the land. You see it in the media. You can see it in the churches. The Lord will not tolerate wicked leadership who are giving deceitful, heretical teachings to the church and who are killing off His flock. God will not allow that any more. Instead, the sword is coming against these false teachers, false prophets, and false pastors. The sword is coming against the shepherds who have abandoned the flock or fed them poison. The shepherds who have fed their flocks poison are coming into the sword of His word and are going to be slain by it because wickedness and unrighteousness cannot stand before the truth of God and his sword is truth. Punishment and judgment will be, and is being inflicted upon these shepherds.
Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.'
They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. (Ezekiel 11:17-21 NIV)
This is also what the Lord is saying to us today. Those who have received Jesus already have a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone. He has already offered and given a new spirit and an undivided heart. But when we are devoted to idols and images, we will reap what we sow - tragedy. God will bring down on those who are devoted to vile images and detestable idols - instead of the Lord, instead of receiving what the Lord has done for us and worshiping Him - what they have done. He will bring down on their own heads what they have done.
Ezekiel 12
The Lord came to Ezekiel and said "Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.” (Ez. 12:2 NIV)
Today, the church is a rebellious church.
Ezekiel 13,14
In Chapter 13, Ezekiel talks about false prophets and as it was in that day, it is today. There are many prophets who are prophesying out of their own imaginations, saying,
'…Hear the word of the Lord!' This is what the Sovereign Lord says, 'Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. Your prophets, O Israel, are like jackals among the ruins. You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord. Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. They say, "the Lord declares", when the Lord has not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled. Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, "The Lord declares," though I have not spoken?
Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.
Because they lead my people astray, saying, "Peace," when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, "Where is the whitewash you covered it with?"
‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord. So I will spend my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, "The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord."’ (Ez. 13:2-16 NIV)
The Lord is speaking to the current false prophets of today… those who have been prophesying lies and prophesying peace, when there is no peace. The Lord wants the prophets and others in the body of Christ to build up and repair the breaks in the wall. The Lord wants us to strengthen the church, to make it strong, ready for battle and ready for the Lord's return. But, woe to the false prophets, who instead have put smears with whitewash. God knows the heart of these people, even though one may not always discern in the Church who is and who isn't a true prophet. We sometimes look at outward action or outward statements and make incorrect judgements when we do so. The Lord Himself knows and will be tearing down those people and judging them for being false and hurting the church. The Lord will be using the true prophets, as He has in the past.
When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the Lord will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.' (Ez. 14:4b,5 NIV)
The Church, the current Church today, are the people of Israel. "Therefore… ‘this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!'” (Ez. 14:6 NIV)
Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men - Noah, Daniel and Job - were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Or if I send wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no one can pass through it because of the beasts, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.
Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, 'Let the sword pass throughout the land,' and I kill its men and their animals, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.
Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath upon it through bloodshed, killing its men and their animals, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.
For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments - sword and famine and wild beasts and plague - to kill its men and their animals! Yet there will be some survivors - sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem - every disaster I have brought upon it. You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign Lord. (Ez. 14:13-23 NIV)
In the days ahead only a righteous man will be able to preserve himself. Even if these three men were still alive today in the Church - Noah, Daniel and Job - they could only save themselves by their righteousness. However, the righteous will be spared. They are not to respond to other gods or anybody else but only to the Sovereign Lord. He will bring comfort when needed. He will bring wisdom when needed. He will bring love when needed.
Remember Noah - how he was patient and continued to be obedient to the Lord in building the ark. Although people taunted and persecuted him he was faithful and true to God. When the day came, he and his family were safe in the ark even though death and destruction where all around him. He was safe. He had been obedient to the Lord.
Ezekiel 16
Consider the following passage:
‘On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.
Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!" I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, you who were naked and bare.
Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.
I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour, honey and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.
But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur. You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them. Also the food I provided for you - the fine flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat -you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord.
And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.
Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square. At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, offering your body with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by. You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and provoked me to anger with your increasing promiscuity. So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct. You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied. Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.
How weak-willed you are, declares the Sovereign Lord, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute! When you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors. So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.
Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children's blood, therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see all your nakedness. I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring upon you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. Then I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you naked and bare. They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers. Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.
Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices?
Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter." You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done. Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.' (Ez. 16:4-52 NIV)
Although this message was spoken as an allegory of unfaithful Jerusalem, it can also be applied to much of the Church.
As shown toward Jerusalem in this passage, the Lord has had tremendous mercy upon us as a Church. He has grown us up and adorned us. He has dressed us in His beauty and likeness, but what have we done? We have trusted in our beauty and fame and become prostitutes. We have turned away from the Lord and soiled the things the Lord has given us. We have become like Esau and have sold our birthright for a mess of pottage. And we have continued our wickedness, even though the Lord has spoken to us time and time again. We even prefer other strangers to our own God, our own husband. We have chosen to worship other gods. Along with this we have been arrogant, overfed and unconcerned. We have not helped the poor and needy, as we ought to. We have been very haughty and done detestable things.
The Church has sinned so much against the Lord and has been so unfaithful.
Ezekiel 18
The Lord declares His justice Ezekiel 18… a justice that many do not understand.
'But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.
Yet you say, "The way of the Lord is not just." Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life. Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die. Yet the house of Israel says, "The way of the Lord is not just." Are my ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!' (Ez. 18:21-32 NIV)
Many of the churches are saying that they want to be like the nations, like the people of the world who serve other idols, though God is saying that He will judge us with a mighty hand and outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. He will bring us into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, He will execute judgment upon those who want to live this life. And we will know that He is the Lord.
Ezekiel 22
Some of us have been involved in innumerable sins and we have forgotten the Lord. He will surely strike his hands together at the unjust gains some have made, and at the blood that has been shed in our midst. Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day that the Lord deals with you? (From Ez. 22:13,14)
‘I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.
…the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron, and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver…. Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. As men gather silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into a furnace to melt it with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath upon you.
You are land that has had no rain nor showers in the day of wrath. There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says,” - when the Lord has not spoken. The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.
I have looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done,' declares the Sovereign Lord.’ (Ezekiel 22:14b-16,18-22,24b-31 NIV)
There are many leaders who are doing violence to the work the Lord has given them. They have profaned holy things. They have not distinguished between what is righteous and what is unrighteous, what is light and what is darkness, what is the truth of the Word and the lie of the enemy. They have allowed a mixture, a compromise, and as a result, God has been profaned. Many leaders are like wolves, tearing their prey. They have shed blood and they have killed Christians - and I don't necessarily mean physically, but spiritually - in order to make unjust gain. They have sold themselves and have preached a false gospel so they can make money from people.
Today, one particular aspect is the gospel that preaches godliness is a means to gaining financial wealth. That is an error and a wickedness described in this passage and clearly in the New Testament. People are practicing extortion and committing robbery. They are stealing from the true believer and other people. Instead of taking that money and helping the poor and the needy, they are building lavish homes, their lavish estates. A portion of the money being given to these large evangelistic organizations are from the elderly and many of those elderly do not make much money. These people are not really ministering to the Lord but are ministering to covetousness. Also, there is the case of mistreating the alien – I remember a case where a ministry said they were using monies to support orphans in another country but instead they were using this orphanage to make money for the ministry. They are denying justice. They are denying the truth of the Word because of their compromise, because of their wickedness.
The Lord wants Christians to stand up and build up the walls - when I say the wall here, I am referring to the Church - and stand before the Lord in the gap on behalf of all the land, so that He would not have to destroy it. But judgment, as you can see, has already fallen on the United States and not just because of the wickedness of the unbeliever, but because of the wickedness of the Church. If the Church would repent, we would see a tremendous change in this country. There would still be wickedness, there would still be people that would turn from the Lord and be turned over to Satan, but the Church would be able to put a stay on that and the Church would grow strong and be protected. It is sad to see a Church where many of the members are like those in the world; they are in the same bondage; they are in the same sin; they are in the same darkness. This is not a testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ at all. As a result, the Lord is acting, and will continue to act, to bring judgment first on the house of God before He brings it on the world.
So, Church, you need to repent and clean up; these false prophets, leaders and teachers need to be exposed and dealt with, very severely, if necessary, so that the Church can be saved, blameless and pure for when the Lord returns. The leaders need to be taking care of the flock, rather than destroying the flock. Some of the Church has forgotten the Lord and thrust Him behind their back. The Church will have to bear the consequences of their lewdness and prostitution, for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to God as food for themselves. If abortion were only in the world, we could deal with it, but abortion is in the Church. (Eighteen percent of abortions in 1993-1995 were by Born again/Evangelical Christians!) How grievous it is to the Lord that the Church, members of His body, are killing their own offspring and giving it as food to their idols of selfishness, pride, pleasure and immorality. Not only is there literal sin and adultery going on in the Church, we have sinned and been adulterous to the Lord. We have defiled His sanctuary and desecrated His Sabbaths. On the very day that we sacrificed our children to our idols, we entered His sanctuary and desecrated it. This is what we have done in God's house.
Much of the Church has turned itself over to prostitution with the world. We have become friends of the world; thus we have become an enemy of God. We need to repent, because even if we are not killing our children with abortion, we are killing them with spiritual death and spiritual disease. We are killing them because of our compromise, our idolatry, and our abomination in the way that we live. Our children are seeing us, and they grow up with our lives as an example and they think that this is the Church and this is an example of a pure and holy body. Instead they are being fed lies.
I have a confidence in the youth of today that they are much wiser than many think. They see the results of this wickedness and this compromise and many youths are not wanting any part of it. Many of you parents are saying, "Why aren't my children going to church as they grow older, when they hit their teen years? Why aren’t my children involved with the church?" Their reason is that they see your lifestyle, they see your hypocrisy and they don't want it. Church is boring to many people. Going to church on Sunday is boring because it is a form and that is simply all it is. In many churches it is an empty form; and they don't want to do that. They would much rather be doing something that has life to it, or even death with fun - even sin has fun in it.
Church, we need to repent of our prostitution with the world and our idolatry. Stop being adulterous and love the Lord our God with all hearts, with all our strength, with all our mind, with all our soul. For if we don't put an end to the lewdness in this land, God is going to see that many will end up in Hell. And we will suffer the penalty for our lewdness and bear the consequences of our sin of idolatry, unless we repent. Then we will know that He is the Sovereign Lord.
Ezekiel 33
Why am I telling you these things? The Lord has made me a watchman for the house of Israel, the Church, and I am speaking the words that God has given me, so that I can give warning. When God has said to the wicked, “O wicked man, you will surely die,” and I don't speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sins and the Lord will hold me accountable for his blood. But if I do warn the wicked man to turn from his wicked ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sins but I will save myself. (From Ez. 33)
As stated before, much of the Church is saying that our offenses and sins weigh us down and we are wasting away because of them. We are saying, "How can we live?"
'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel, [Church]?
…The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of the wicked man will not cause him to fall when he turns from it. The righteous man, if he sins, will not be allowed to live because of his former righteousness.’ If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then if he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will die for the evil he has done. And if I say to the wicked man, 'You will surely die,’ but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right – if he gives back what he took in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees that give life, and does no evil, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live.
Yet your countrymen say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But it is their way that is not just. If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, he will die for it. And if a wicked man turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so. Yet, O house of Israel, you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But I will judge each of you according to his own ways. (Ez. 33:11-20 NIV)
Many people are saying, "I'm saved because I received Jesus into my life when I was so-and-so years old, and I go to church every Sunday, and every once in awhile, I pray and read the Bible," yet you have been guilty of some of the sins that have been addressed to you in this book. You are wicked because you are saying "I was righteous once, I can go and do whatever I want." Yet some of you are saying, "I am so wicked, I have been in so much sin," yet you're crying out to God, saying, "Forgive me of my sin, I want to turn back to you, Lord." The Lord is saying to you that you are forgiven and in all of your lifetime, righteousness has been given to you. Don't worry about what others are saying to you right now. Don't be concerned that your reputation is considered wicked before the eyes of others. Know that before the Lord, you are pure and holy because you have repented and you have turned your life over to God. You have recognized your sin and you have asked God to change your life and your heart so you can turn to Him. Praise God, for He has changed you. But, O you wicked man who thinks he is righteous, who say "Well, I'm righteous. I do this; I do that. I give money to the poor. I teach Sunday School." You are not righteous because of those things. The only righteousness is in Jesus Christ and in the blood He shed for our sins. All of us have sinned, all have gone astray but we have been made righteous through Jesus, not by our own acts. You are wicked, when you think that your own acts make you righteous. Our works will not get us to Heaven. Only by receiving and believing Jesus will we get to Heaven. We need to have received Him, maintain a relationship with Him and obey Him. Out of this relationship with Him we love and serve Him. If we love Him, we will obey Him. How do we enter the kingdom of heaven? By simply believing on his Son, and as a result these good works will follow. They will be as a result, not the cause of our righteousness.
After reading this book, some of you will talk together about me by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other,
'Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.' My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.
When all this comes true - and it surely will - then they will know that a prophet has been among them. (Ez. 33:30b-33 NIV)
This last part will ultimately come to pass as it already has.

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Out of the East has come into the Church Healing of Memories or Inner Healing, Visualization, Yoga and Positive Confession. Positive confession has degenerated into Yin Yang types of teaching which refer to “Don’t upset the balance” idea. Dave Hunt’s and T.A. McMahon’s book The Seduction of Christianity (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1987) is a good book regarding this issue.
Ibid, 82-84. Also, Hank Hanegraaff’s book, Christianity in Crisis (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1997) has an entire part dealing with this topic with chapter 9 titled, “The Deification of Man.”
I wrote this paragraph in the early 1990s.
Jim Bakker had a large ministry. In 1989, he was convicted and imprisoned for 24 counts of fraud. Ibid, 214.
Larry Lee and Robert Tilton were exposed in the television media for their lavish homes and handling of finances in preaching their prosperity gospel. Prime Time, January 28, 1991.
The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997, (Mahwah, New Jersey: K-111 Corporation, 1997), 964.