Before beginning this series I will explain why I have been absent for several days.  My daughter gave me a new computer.  However, I had not been able to access my website until moments ago.  Thanks for your patience and thank God for preventing Satan from shutting this website down.  Now, back to the work I live for.  Some time ago the Lord began drawing me to the book of Ezekiel, specifically chapters 13,14,15.  During my down time I did an extensive study of those chapters.  This series is the result of that study.  In the following you will learn the lessons God wants us to learn, embrace and react to according to His will.  The series will address God’s messages in accordance with His chapter layout: Ch. 13: False prophets/ Ch. 14: Idols/ Ch. 15: Useless church people.  Let us begin.

The Prophet Ezekiel tells us in 1:1-3 that he was a captive of the victorious Babylonians (Chaldeans) who had defeated the sin-ladened Jews and had taken them to Babylon as slaves.  While there God gave Ezekiel several visions and spoke to him through the Holy Spirit.  In chapters 13-15 we will study the Lord’s message to His chosen people–the House of Israel and the House of Judah–as recorded by the prophet.

Note that the message God gave Ezekiel was directed to the prophets and the people of “THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.”  He would also send the message to the Jews–“THE HOUSE OF JUDAH” (tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi)–among whom Ezekiel lived as a captive.  The other tribes had been defeated, enslaved and scattered throughout the world 150 years earlier in 722 A.D.  Read Who and Where is Israel Today?  Key word–Who.  Picture this: Ezekiel was a captive slave in Babylon.  He could not leave Babylon.  In spite of these facts, God was telling him to prophesy to the globally-scattered tribes of Israel.  He begins by addressing their false prophets whom He accuses of speaking from their own minds/hearts in that He (God) had not spoken to them, nor had He shown them visions.  Their words were their own words, not His.  Having addressed the prophets, He speaks to those who follow them, who are equally as guilty their leaders.  Remember, God is telling Ezekiel the slave what to tell his fellow Israelites who are scattered throughout the world.  This appeared to be a true Mission Impossible.  Today the children of Israel–the “lost tribes of Israel”–can read Ezekiel’s message, thanks to the invention of the printing press.

Beginning with verse 2 God, through Ezekiel, tells Israel’s prophets to “… hear the Word of the Lord.”  He then addresses the people, telling them that they have not filled the “gaps” in the spiritual wall “hedge” that had spiritually surrounded them in the past when they had obeyed Him.  The wall God built had been replaced by a wall the people had built beyond (different from) His wall.  His wall cannot be breached.  The “hedge” symbolize God’s protective spiritual wall that existed to protect the His people during their obedient days.  The people had built a spiritual wall (hedge) of their own and no longer depended on God’s wall.  Over time their sins had allowed gaps to form in their wall–their only protection from their enemies.  Their sins caused breaches in their wall which enabled the Babylonians to breach (break through) it, defeat and capture them.  Nothing has changed.  Sin separates people, including uber-religious people, from God (Isa. 59:2)–removing them from His protection.  This allows Satan to breach (break through) their wall, attack the sinning people and defeat them spiritually by making them comfortable in their sins.  Sinners Saved By Grace brag about their right to sin and get away with it.  As a result God allows Satan to destroy them spiritually.  After being warned by His true ministers, whom they ignore, God then attacks them physically (war, disease, natural disasters, etc.) as punishment for their sins.

In the case of the House of Israel, then later the House of Judah, turning from God and building their own “wall” (religious system), God had departed from among them.  In short order, “gaps” began to appear in their religious”wall,” thereby allowing the enemy (Babylon) to attack and defeat them.  The people had not filled in the gaps by repenting and obeying the Lord.  They had followed their prophets in rebellion against Him.  Their prophets had seen lying visions and heard false truths which the Lord had not given them (vs 5,6).  Both ministry and laity were to blame for their national defeat and enslavement, exactly as had been the case of the other tribes of Israel.  After much warning, God had sent the Assyrians to conquer and enslave them.  Approximately 150 years later He had sent the Babylonians to defeat and enslave the Jews who had not learned from the defeat of their fellow Israelites.  In both cases, sin had caused the “gaps” in their spiritual “wall” which had not been repaired through repentance and obedience–quality “mortar.”  As a result, the entire House of Israel (all 12 tribes) had become low hanging fruit for their enemies.  This perfectly describes those in the modern church, whose unrecognized enemy is Satan whom they worship and serve by obeying his perverted gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), which makes them the enemies of God (Jam. 4:4).  Having refused to seal up the gaps with God’s Truth (rely on His wall), the people had bowed to Satan an had become his Catholic/Protestant church system.

In verse 8 the Lord makes a statement that should send every member of the Catholic/Protestant Church System, first to their knees in true repentance, then to their feet–running as fast as possible away from that two-headed, Satanic monster.  God told His chosen people that, because of their sins, “… therefore, behold, I AM AGAINST YOU.”  Note it: SIN CAUSES GOD TO TURN AGAINST HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE, MAKING THEM HIS ENEMIES, AS ARE ALL SO-CALLED “SINNERS SAVED BY GRACE.”  

In verses 9-16 the Lord, through Ezekiel, warns the prophets and those who follow them that they had built their own wall apart from God’s wall and had daubed it with “untempered mortar”–false “truths.”  They had substituted their own (actually Satan’s) “truths” which would not stand up against the “wind, “rain” and “hail” that would cause their wall to collapse.  Led by their false prophets, the Jews had built their own protective wall by daubing it with false beliefs and customs as their truths instead of God’s Holy Word.  Their false prophets had prophesied “peace” for those who followed them.  Today those in the false church also have peace, but, like their ancient spiritual brethren, it is a false (counterfeit) peace.  Adam and Eve had peace as they approached the forbidden tree, took of its fruit and indulged in its sweetness.  But when the Word (the God Who would come to earth as Jesus of Nazareth) spoke, His Words exposed their hypocrisy.   Today their spiritual descendants refuse to hear God’s voice/Words/Truth/Gospel.  By only hearing Satan’s peace promises, they retain their false peace with assurance from his false prophets that their peace is coming from God.  And when someone shows them God’s “voice” printed in their Bibles, they reject it because, like Adam and Eve, it is not what they want to hear.  It is so much easier to go to church–their Golden Calf–where their hirelings lure them back to Egypt (sin, peace AND SLAVERY TO SATAN).

The “wind,” “storms” and “hail” that God is sending against the false church’s “wall” (hedge) are the words of Truth being sent to and against her through this and other ministries during these end times.  Through His Word/Truth He will tear down her wall of lies during the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord when they will be reminded of His Words by His two witnesses (Rev. 11:3).   Read God’s Two Witnesses.  Key word–Witnesses.  At that time church people will realize that what His true ministers had spoken and written was God’s Truth.  Read The Resurrections.  Key word–Resurrections.  Note the second resurrection.

In verses 17-23 God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against THE DAUGHTERS OF YOUR (ISRAELITE) PEOPLE.  Here God warned His people about female false prophets who used various types of cloth and padding (pillows) which they gave to the people who came to them for guidance, truth, etc.  Their fate would be the same as their male counterparts.  God says “Woe unto them” because of the lies by which they seduced those seeking His Truth.  Both groups preach their perverted gospels for personal gain.  Nothing has changed.  Remove the financial aspect of their ministries and they would quit immediately.  I receive nothing from people and ask for nothing.  Yet the Lord provides everything I need.  I agree with the Apostle Paul who refused to charge for the Gospel (1 Cor. 9:18).  The Almighty tells those who serve Him in ministry, “Freely you have received (His Truth), freely give.”  That formula is perfect, as is everything else in His Holy Scriptures.  L.J.