The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet #5075

Religion, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Part 8

It's time for us to read and understand the visions of Ezekiel concerning the conditions in our churches today!

(Please read all of Ezekiel but especially Chapters 8)

Do you have eyes to see and ears to hear? There's an important reason for asking and considering the question. You see, "eyes to see" are not really eyes at all. They are the "ability" to SEE beyond the flesh and the physical and understand, even discern, the things that are spiritual, the things that you cannot SEE with the eyes of clay. Often it helps to close your flesh eyes, which often hinder your VISION when open, because of the distractions they bring into your mind. Your Father wants to know if you can now SEE the idolatrous, abominable, religious practices that go on in the house of God TODAY, that appear unto the masses as being Christian because they are labeled such! Have you ever heard that Easter is a Christian holiday? You see, you must have consumed enough of His Word to be able to KNOW the difference between religion and reality, between Churchianity and Christianity, between the traditions of men and the oracles of God, between Jesus and instead-of-Jesus.

So, four times in the 8th chapter following an idolatrous scene, the question was asked to the Watchman, "DO YOU SEE?" Here are those questions to you, if you are a watchman:

Ezekiel 8:6
... Son of man, seest thou what they do? ...

Ezekiel 8:12
... Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do... ?

Ezekiel 8:15
Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man?...

Ezekiel 8:17
Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man?...

Ezekiel 8:12 ... for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

One thing is for sure, our Father DOES SEE it, and it makes Him furious!

Ezekiel 8:15Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.

So the question is again: "Do you have the eyes to SEE the abominations in the churches that the people do?"  If you do, then get ready to SEE even greater abominations than that last one! The reason this next verse contains "greater abominations" than even the heathen sexual revels of the people is because the leaders of the 24 courses of the Levitical priesthood (1 Chron. 24:1-19), along with the high priest himself (25 priests in all), not only participate in the traditions of men, the example given being the heathen ritual of sun worship, but they do it "between the porch and the altar", "with their backs toward the temple", making obeisance to the rising sun!

[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 worshipped the sun toward the east. Ezekiel 8:18 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. Ezekiel 11:2 Then said He unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:Exekiel 11:16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

You must come out from among the heathen, from "religion", and He will be your sanctuary.

[17] Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

Yes, though they been gathered into the nations of true Israel, the largest being from sea to shining sea, and given the national blessings promised to Abraham's descendents, the promise of the final restoration is yet to be fulfilled.

[18] And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.

All false worship and idolatry as well as the "great abomination", who is antichrist, will be taken away. Gone!

[19] And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

Don't you just love the King James Bible? The second half of this verse sounds so "fleshy", like surgery or something. Our Father is simply saying He will change their "hard heartedness" to a loving "tender heart".

[20] That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

The final restoration is coming, the time to which we all look forward, when only the "Doers" of His Word will be here, and our Father will dwell with them forever more.

Ezekiel 11:21 But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Everyone gets "just" compensation, for the Lord GOD is completely just and fair. You make your bed and you sleep in it. Just watch who you are crawling in bed with. Don't lose your virginity to someone who you "think" is your husband because the lights are turned off and you walk in darkness. Open His Word and turn on the light of truth, especially when you hear, "Come to me, honey!"

Ezekiel 13:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, [2] Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;

So that we get a more up-to-date PICTURE of what verse 2 said, here are verses 1 & 2 quoted from the Living Bible:

Ezekiel 13:1-2 Son of dust, prophesy against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own visions and claiming to have messages from me when I have never told them anything at all. Woe unto them! (Living Bible)

That right! Our Father says these clowns are MAKING IT ALL UP! Their visions come from their own minds. And the watchmen in this generation are to teach against their phoniness by teaching the people, "Thus saith the Lord GOD", in the 13th chapter of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 13:3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! [4] O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.  Ezekiel 13:5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.  Ezekiel 13:6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. [7] Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?

If there is one thing that we Christians need to understand, it is that "Christianity" is the cloak under which Satan spreads his lies and abominations. we have learned that there are many religious leaders who preach, teach, heal, and prophesy using the name of Jesus Christ, who Himself prophesied they would come in His name and so do! "But take heed", Jesus said, "that they don't deceive YOU", for they will and have deceived the masses, for they are false prophets, false teachers indeed! What constitutes a false teacher? Someone who teaches theories of men and the traditions of men and not the Word of God. Oh, they use the Bible. They quote a verse here and a verse there and make it APPEAR as if it says something it does not say. Anyone can do that!  In chapter 13 of Ezekiel we learned about those false preachers and ministers who dream up every trick in the book (except to teach His Word chapter by chapter and verse by verse), including claiming God speaks to them, in order to gather sheep into their own fold. We also learned they shall receive their just recompense, and it isn't a pretty sight.

Ezekiel 14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.

These are not the elders of Judah, but of the House of Israel. They are from the 10 northern tribes who had been taken captive by the Assyrians about 200 years preceding these elders making this trip to see Ezekiel, whom they obviously recognized as a true prophet of God. So they came before God's anointed watchman, Ezekiel, but before they had even opened their idolatrous mouths, the word of the LORD came unto Ezekiel and informed him concerning their abominable, sad state of spiritual and religious debasement.

[2] And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,  [3] Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

As we noted earlier, it is one thing for the people to follow the traditions of men, but it is a greater abomination for a minister or priest of God, who should uphold the oracles of God and teach them to the people, to be participants in such heathen practices! It is written that judgment will begin with them, the trusties of the house of God, and as we read in chapter 3 vs. 18, the people's blood will be upon them. Want to teach God's Word? You better make sure you first eat the whole book and digest it.And so at the time of the end, when the 6 Trumpet blows, SPIRITUAL DEATH will occur to ALL those who do NOT have the seal of God in their foreheads, which is to say, have NOT studied and understood their Father's Word, which is to say, have NOT eaten and digested the scroll, which is to say have NOT put enough oil (His Word) in their lamps, etc., etc., etc. It is said so many times and in so many different ways in His Word, that we are without excuse!

2 Tim. 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." And DO
1 Thes. 5:21:  1 Thes. 5:21 "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

Of course the choice is an individual one. We don't have to do our homework, but we should expect the Teacher will record an "F" in the book beside our name, shouldn't we? It would seem however, that if a person believes Jesus Christ when He said that many would be deceived by the traditions of men in these last days, that the probability is pretty high that that person has been covered by bull manure and stinks to high heaven like the elders of Israel.

One can take his chances or do his homework.