Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 7:29 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “A Believer’s Prayer” playing through my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Ezekiel 11 (NIV): [I will quote some and summarize some.]
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2011&version=NIV.
False Hopes
Ezekiel was still receiving his vision from the Lord at this point. In the vision he saw 25 of Judah’s (Israel’s) leaders. They were plotting evil and giving wicked advice in the city. They were ignoring the prophecies of the prophets and were filling the minds of the people with false hopes. They scoffed at the prophets’ warnings of imminent danger. You might compare them to the “health, wealth and prosperity” evangelists of our day. These leaders were guilty of killing many innocents in their own city, perhaps directly, or perhaps through their own apathy and complacency and failure to act appropriately in response to the warnings of the prophets and the calls to repentance. So, God promised to visit them in judgment, because they did not follow his decrees or keep his laws, but they conformed to the standards of the nations around them. Then they would know that he is the Lord.
As I prayed through this section of this passage the Lord brought to mind what he has been teaching me for the past 9 years, but in particular since June/July of 2006 (nearly 7 years ago), and that is concerning our leaders here in the USA, both in our government and in our churches, and how they are plotting evil and/or are giving people false hope.
What the Lord Jesus has shown me concerning our government is that our government in the USA is under the control of Satan and that we are part of this “beast system” which is in the process of taking over the planet one nation at a time. We, the USA, and its allies in the UN have been slowly but surely conquering one nation and one government at a time through means of weather manipulation, man-created earthquakes and tsunamis, and false flag operations, i.e. creating chaos, uprisings, terrorist attacks, mass killings, etc. throughout the globe, including in our own nation (one example is 9/11), while blaming other groups of people for what we are, in actuality, doing to people all over the world.
Our government and media give the American public (Christians, included) the impression that we are the “good guys” going throughout the world spreading peace, good will and democracy. We have been deceived into believing our nation is under the threat of terrorists and thus our military must go into these other nations, including now inside our own, in order to “protect” the American people and their freedoms, even though this “protection” comes with it loss of freedoms and more government control over many aspects of American’s daily lives. This reminds me of what I have seen in movies, mainly, about Chicago mobs offering “protection” to store owners, utilizing scare tactics to convince the owners they need to pay for protection. The same principle is being followed within the US government, i.e. the global mafia. Any country which does not “cooperate with the international community,” i.e. this global order, will pay the price for lack of submission.
Our church leaders, many at high levels in this global order, are part of this global “beast system,” too. And, out of this has come philosophies for how to build churches, which have swept across evangelical Christianity in America, and which dilute the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more palatable to the world which, instead of confronting the world with sin, entertains the world in order to attract the world to our “churches.” Many of today’s churches here in America are following man-made religion and philosophies (teachings) over and above scripture, are operated more like big business, instead of like the NT church was taught to operate, and they give people a false hope of heaven based off a lie which teaches the people that they do not have to repent (turn from) their sins, and that they don’t have to obey Christ’s commands. Luke 9:23-25 and Eph. 4:17-24 blow that idea out of the water.
They Will Return
There were a group of exiles who were scattered to other nations. Ezekiel was among the exiles living in Babylonia when he had this vision concerning God’s judgments on Judah and Jerusalem. The people and leaders in Jerusalem thought they were safe within the city and they looked down upon those who had decided to surrender to the Babylonian rule. They falsely had the notion that their closeness in proximity to the physical temple meant they were close to God while those who fled were far away from God. I can’t help but see here a parallel to today’s institutional church. Many have the notion that attending church services in buildings called “church” on Sunday mornings somehow makes them better off spiritually than those who have fled the institutional church in favor of seeking after the NT church experience. The temple today, nonetheless, is within individual’s hearts, and we can worship God and experience true Christian fellowship anywhere and at any time.
Although this promise here was for the exiled Jews of Ezekiel’s day to be restored to their land, there is also an application here of spiritual restoration to a right relationship with God for the penitent. The purpose of God’s judgments on his people, now the church, has always been to bring his people to repentance (turning from sin and to God), revival (renewed faith) and restoration (divine healing and forgiveness). Divine discipline is for the purpose of getting us to forsake our detestable idols (the people and things in our lives that have our heart and attention over and above God) and our “vile images” (the sinful and evil things we look at on TV, in movies, video games, the internet, and the like).
When we return via repentant hearts, God will give us undivided hearts and he will put a new spirit (life; attitude; character; outlook) within us. This is called revival. He will remove from us our hearts of stone, i.e. hearts that have stubbornly refused his words and have chosen to go our own way, and he will give us pliable (moldable and teachable) hearts, ready to hear from him, and ready and willing to obey his commands. Yet, for those who still refuse to turn from their vile images and their detestable idols, only the fear of judgment awaits them.
Get Ready, It’s Coming!
This morning, when I had read through the passage of scripture, and had felt led of the Lord toward this particular title, I saved my document in a folder where I save all the writings God gives to me each day. Usually I will see the list of writings either in alphabetical or in chronological order, yet today something weird happened. The list began with writings from the early part of 2010. That had to be a God-thing, I thought, so after I saved this document, I went back to my list to check the titles of the writings from that time period, and this one, “Get Ready, It’s Coming!” stood out to me, which was dated Friday, January 29, 2010, 12:28 a.m. I will quote some from this older writing:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2011&version=NIV.
False Hopes
Ezekiel was still receiving his vision from the Lord at this point. In the vision he saw 25 of Judah’s (Israel’s) leaders. They were plotting evil and giving wicked advice in the city. They were ignoring the prophecies of the prophets and were filling the minds of the people with false hopes. They scoffed at the prophets’ warnings of imminent danger. You might compare them to the “health, wealth and prosperity” evangelists of our day. These leaders were guilty of killing many innocents in their own city, perhaps directly, or perhaps through their own apathy and complacency and failure to act appropriately in response to the warnings of the prophets and the calls to repentance. So, God promised to visit them in judgment, because they did not follow his decrees or keep his laws, but they conformed to the standards of the nations around them. Then they would know that he is the Lord.
As I prayed through this section of this passage the Lord brought to mind what he has been teaching me for the past 9 years, but in particular since June/July of 2006 (nearly 7 years ago), and that is concerning our leaders here in the USA, both in our government and in our churches, and how they are plotting evil and/or are giving people false hope.
What the Lord Jesus has shown me concerning our government is that our government in the USA is under the control of Satan and that we are part of this “beast system” which is in the process of taking over the planet one nation at a time. We, the USA, and its allies in the UN have been slowly but surely conquering one nation and one government at a time through means of weather manipulation, man-created earthquakes and tsunamis, and false flag operations, i.e. creating chaos, uprisings, terrorist attacks, mass killings, etc. throughout the globe, including in our own nation (one example is 9/11), while blaming other groups of people for what we are, in actuality, doing to people all over the world.
Our government and media give the American public (Christians, included) the impression that we are the “good guys” going throughout the world spreading peace, good will and democracy. We have been deceived into believing our nation is under the threat of terrorists and thus our military must go into these other nations, including now inside our own, in order to “protect” the American people and their freedoms, even though this “protection” comes with it loss of freedoms and more government control over many aspects of American’s daily lives. This reminds me of what I have seen in movies, mainly, about Chicago mobs offering “protection” to store owners, utilizing scare tactics to convince the owners they need to pay for protection. The same principle is being followed within the US government, i.e. the global mafia. Any country which does not “cooperate with the international community,” i.e. this global order, will pay the price for lack of submission.
Our church leaders, many at high levels in this global order, are part of this global “beast system,” too. And, out of this has come philosophies for how to build churches, which have swept across evangelical Christianity in America, and which dilute the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more palatable to the world which, instead of confronting the world with sin, entertains the world in order to attract the world to our “churches.” Many of today’s churches here in America are following man-made religion and philosophies (teachings) over and above scripture, are operated more like big business, instead of like the NT church was taught to operate, and they give people a false hope of heaven based off a lie which teaches the people that they do not have to repent (turn from) their sins, and that they don’t have to obey Christ’s commands. Luke 9:23-25 and Eph. 4:17-24 blow that idea out of the water.
They Will Return
There were a group of exiles who were scattered to other nations. Ezekiel was among the exiles living in Babylonia when he had this vision concerning God’s judgments on Judah and Jerusalem. The people and leaders in Jerusalem thought they were safe within the city and they looked down upon those who had decided to surrender to the Babylonian rule. They falsely had the notion that their closeness in proximity to the physical temple meant they were close to God while those who fled were far away from God. I can’t help but see here a parallel to today’s institutional church. Many have the notion that attending church services in buildings called “church” on Sunday mornings somehow makes them better off spiritually than those who have fled the institutional church in favor of seeking after the NT church experience. The temple today, nonetheless, is within individual’s hearts, and we can worship God and experience true Christian fellowship anywhere and at any time.
Although this promise here was for the exiled Jews of Ezekiel’s day to be restored to their land, there is also an application here of spiritual restoration to a right relationship with God for the penitent. The purpose of God’s judgments on his people, now the church, has always been to bring his people to repentance (turning from sin and to God), revival (renewed faith) and restoration (divine healing and forgiveness). Divine discipline is for the purpose of getting us to forsake our detestable idols (the people and things in our lives that have our heart and attention over and above God) and our “vile images” (the sinful and evil things we look at on TV, in movies, video games, the internet, and the like).
When we return via repentant hearts, God will give us undivided hearts and he will put a new spirit (life; attitude; character; outlook) within us. This is called revival. He will remove from us our hearts of stone, i.e. hearts that have stubbornly refused his words and have chosen to go our own way, and he will give us pliable (moldable and teachable) hearts, ready to hear from him, and ready and willing to obey his commands. Yet, for those who still refuse to turn from their vile images and their detestable idols, only the fear of judgment awaits them.
Get Ready, It’s Coming!
This morning, when I had read through the passage of scripture, and had felt led of the Lord toward this particular title, I saved my document in a folder where I save all the writings God gives to me each day. Usually I will see the list of writings either in alphabetical or in chronological order, yet today something weird happened. The list began with writings from the early part of 2010. That had to be a God-thing, I thought, so after I saved this document, I went back to my list to check the titles of the writings from that time period, and this one, “Get Ready, It’s Coming!” stood out to me, which was dated Friday, January 29, 2010, 12:28 a.m. I will quote some from this older writing:
A Believer’s Prayer / An Original Work / July 31, 2012
With my whole heart,
Lord, I pray to be Yours,
And Yours always.
Lead me in Your truth today.
May I love You, and obey.
Lead me in Your righteousness.
When I sin, may I confess;
Bow before You when I pray;
Live for You and You always.
Love You, Jesus,
You’re my friend.
Life with You will never end.
You are with me through each day,
Giving love and peace always.
You will ne’er abandon me.
From my sin You set me free.
You died on that cruel tree,
So I’d live eternally.
Soon You’re coming back for me;
From this world to set me free;
Live with You eternally.
Oh, what joy that brings to me.
I will walk with You in white;
A pure bride,
I’ve been made right
By the blood of Jesus Christ;
Pardoned by His sacrifice.