The Endtimes Series - Part Twelve - Woe To The Foolish Prophets
Writer Author Sylvia Huffnagle
Christian Article
:
Bible Teaching
- Fiction No
Ezek: 13:1-2: 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,
(The foolish prophets I have in mind in this paper are those who address the church, but are speaking out of their own heart and understanding rather than from the written word and God’s Spirit. This article is intended to show the difference between God’s message and the dreamer.)
3-5: Hear ye the word of the LORD; 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. 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.
(The first thing the false prophets don’t do, which causes them to perceive God’s message wrongly, is that they are blind to the fact that the people don’t have on the full armor of God, yet they assure them that they are safe. God hates this. No one is safe unless they have on the full armor of God.)
6-9: 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? 8: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. 9: And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
(God is saying here, that because the teachers and preachers are not telling it like it is, they and all the people will not be able to go forward with Him. They will stay the same--not poured from one vessel to another. See what happened to Moab: Jer: 48:7-12: For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together. 8: And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD hath spoken. 9: Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein. 10: Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. 11: Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. 12: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles.)
10-16: Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter: 11: Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. 12: Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
13: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it. 14: So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 15: Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; 16: To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.
(Notice that God calls it seducing His people when speakers assure them that it is well with them when it is not. People look at me funny when I call a spade a spade these days. People are used to beating around the bush and mellowing everything. He calls it building with weak materials. He is angry because His children’s houses are not ready for the storm. Note what Jesus said in Matt: 7:24-28: Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26: And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28: And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Here again today, the people are being assured of their well-being, yet they are not doing what Jesus taught.)
17-23: Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them, 18: And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you? 19: And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? 20: Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly. 21: Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 22: Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life: 23: Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
(How does this apply to today? The pillows and kerchiefs imply the use of magic and there’s a lot of that going on as well as Christians paying attention to the Zodiac simply because they are not being taught that God hates divination. But I’m going to address the wily ways in which the gospel is presented in many cases today. Often people are told that all they have to do is what it says in Rom: 10:9-10 and they will be saved or they take John 3:16 and tell people that that is all there is to it in order to be saved.)
Let’s look at these verses:
Rom: 10: 9-10 9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(They tell people these things and then make the people who are proclaiming all of God’s word the bad guys. You know--Bible-thumpers--long-nosed finger pointers--legalist--super-Christians.
That’s how they are making the righteous sad and strengthening the arm of the wicked.
Those two verses are true, but they must be taken in context with all of scripture and therefore the truth is that if you believe Jesus is the Son of God and confess Him as Lord, you will act like it--if He is Lord, you will listen to what He teaches. If He has saved you--you have His Spirit living within you and you live your life led by it. Rom. 8
Back to what God is saying here in Ezekiel, why is God so angry? Because when the gospel is mishandled, people only pay attention to some of what God has taught and therefore they are not equipped to overcome. When they do not overcome, they take others down with them and the number who are hurt by this practice or lack of it multiplies as fast as rabbits do. All the ills of the church and America can be traced to this mishandling of the gospel. God has given Christians everything they need to overcome. Church should be the place where they share every word of God and see that the people are fully equipped to overcome and to help others overcome.)
Matt: 4:3-4: And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4: But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
2Cor: 2:17: For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
2Cor: 4:2: But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
© Sylvia Huffnagle
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