In the book of Ezekiel chapter 8, Ezekiel saw a vision concerning Israel which I believe very closely parallels today’s Christian mindset. They came in the name of the Lord, but did not keep His commandments or walk in His truth. The result of doing this incurred the wrath of God. They were practicing a religion that resembled holiness, but was completely devoid of the truth!
In today’s churches there has been a departing from the meat of the scriptures and has been replaced with a watered down doctrine that is not producing the righteousness of the Christian life required by Scripture. Many pagan practices Christians observe today, have been inherited from Catholicism. The result of not auditing what is being practiced and taught, opens the doors wide for an acceptance and toleration for sin of every kind.
Because there has not been a proper fear of the Lord, there is growing very little discretion for what is acceptable according to the Word of God. The Bible teaches, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. If sin is tolerated while God’s commandments are ignored, what do you suppose will be the result?
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
When preachers choose messages to “tickle the ears” of their congregation by using carefully selected scripture verses, and incorporating entertaining stories to preach an entire sermon; not only is the message changed from the power of the pure Word of God, but it hardens the heart to repentance. The bible warns about doing this:
Jeremiah 5 “For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be on such a nation as this? A great and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so”
The question to ask is, do we care more about what God’s word says or what man’s traditions can teach us? Without true conformity to the Bible, we will stumble in darkness, blinded by the many deceptions of the enemy. People have been put to sleep thinking everything is done for them. Jesus died so we don’t have to do anything, has become the common mindset. Although, Jesus commands His followers to pick up their cross and follow after Him. That cross can be heavy depending on where ones heart rest against the influences of the world.
I would like to show some of these parallels in Ezekiel 8, all of the visions Ezekiel saw had to do with pagan worship in the temple of God. If we choose to believe those messages were only for and about another people in a time long past and are not applicable to us, we will miss a very important warning.
The reason the bible has been so carefully preserved in its entirety is because this is God’s rule book for our life, extending unto all people for all generations being forever valid. The holy scriptures now referred to as “the old testament” are the same scriptures that Jesus quoted from. It was the same words of biblical wisdom that Jesus used to rebuke satan in the wilderness.
When you read the vision in Ezekiel chapter 8, I would ask that you look at this temple in Jerusalem being spoken of, being in direct contrast to the body of the born again believer by which the Holy Spirit in dwells today. The secret places in the temple whereon Ezekiel was commanded to look; as the corners of our heart.
God searches us and proves us by our obedience to Him. As it is written “O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart… ” The law of God has not, nor will ever be made null. It is absolutely necessary that the diligent Christian that desires a personal relationship with Jesus (the Word) learn His laws and apply them to their life. As it states in Romans 2
” For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”
Ezekiel chapter 8
“And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me. 2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. 3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. 4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. 5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.”
Notice between verses 3 and 5 it is speaking of the Lord standing in the door way as he is being mocked in His temple of worship. Remember Jesus said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock”
6 “He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. 7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. 8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. 9 And he said unto me,Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. 10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. 11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.”
Here we take note that in verses 7 and 8 that by the representation to the hole in the wall it is not very apparent by outward appearance what is really going on from within because from the surface it has the appearance of “godly”, but a closer look reveals the wicked abominations and idol worship that has been mingled in their practices. This same imagery would also apply to the lies and traditions Christians cling to today and call righteous. The images and statues of Jesus on the cross or the virgin Mary as well as other religious relics that we look to in worship. Are these not graven images made by the hand of man set up in the holy places? Holidays, such as Christmas and Easter are all traditions of pagan worship. If we believe our bodies to be the temple of God, how much more careful should we be that we not mingle our worship with what was celebrated to pagan gods?
Moving forward with an in depth look at verse 11 in the book of Ezekiel, “Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan” – Shaphan was a scribe of the temple, in the days of Josiah; and Jaazaniah his son succeeded him in this office. He was at the head of this band of idolaters. The religious leaders of that day were responsible for the falling away of God’s people. The same applies today, the elders and leaders of church congregations and people in places of influence and authority which are involved with any kind of idolatry or practices which were not commanded by God as a way to worship Him, will receive the greater condemnation for leading the people astray. Remember, the Bible tells us that God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
Ezekiel 12 “Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth. 13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. 14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this O son of man? turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.”
Verse 14 is in reference to Tammuz an idol of worship in cult practice, the dead Tammuz was widely mourned in the Ancient Near East. Locations associated in antiquity with the site of his death include both Harran and Byblos, among others. Beginning with the summer solstice came a time of mourning in the Ancient Near East, as in the Aegean: the Babylonians marked the decline in daylight hours and the onset of killing summer heat and drought with a six-day “funeral” for the god. He was the annual life-death-rebirth deity.
One can see how this closely parallels the religious practices of things that are not scripturally sound. Although, through traditional acceptance. These teachings have been brought into common practice. Christians celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ when that is not scripturally sound and mix Santa Clause within the frame work, which “Saint Nick”, taken from the name “old Nick” which according to the English dictionary, was a name used for the devil, or satan.
Ezekiel 16 “And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house and behold at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.”
The worship of the sun is an ancient practice dating back to the time of Nimrod and continues on to this very day! I can see how verse 16 could closely parallel the rejection of the true Sabbath of the Lord, and replaced with a “chosen” day of worship, which ironically is called Sunday. Or the venerable day of the sun, as Constantine stated when he decreed that be the chosen day of worship for Chritians in his edict of Milan. During the time of the Roman Empire, in the year 46BC, as these sun worship practices had been learned from the Greeks; Julius Caesar decreed a new lunar calendar called the Julian calendar. This calendar had the worship of the Egyptian sun god on a Sunday. In the year 325AD during the reign of Constantine, the Roman empire made a law that commanded and forced the Christian movement to change their day of worship from the 7th day and move it to the first day of the week, or Sunday (the day dedicated to the sun god).
Ezekiel chapter 8 finishes out,
“Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and lo they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
When people come to the knowledge of the truth, they then have a responsibility to act upon that understanding. Let us not harden our hearts like the religious leaders of Israel, who led a whole nation into captivity because of their insistence on worshipping God their own way.
Great article!