Monday, April 08,
2013, 7:23 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Trust Him.”
Trust Him / An
Original Work / August 15, 2012
Based off Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be of courage;
Be strong and take heart today.
Do not fear when foes attack you.
Trust in God always.
He will rescue you in times
Of trouble and distress,
He’ll comfort you in all ways
As you trust Him with your life today.
Trust in Him always.
God is with you; He’ll not leave you.
You can always count on Him.
He will fulfill all He promised
Before you began.
His word teaches you
All that you need for this life.
Let Him lead you. Open your heart;
Let his truth envelope you today.
Listen and obey.
Love your Lord God; follow Jesus.
Repent of your sins today.
Make Him your Lord and your master;
Trust Him and obey.
Follow Him where’er He leads you
In His service; be His witness,
Telling others about Jesus’
Price that He did pay
For your sins always.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Ezekiel 8 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%208&version=NIV
In the sixth year, in
the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the
elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on
me there. I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared
to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as
bright as glowing metal. He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me
by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in
visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of
the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood. And there
before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in
the plain.
Then he said to me,
“Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of
the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.
And he said to me,
“Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the
Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But
you will see things that are even more detestable.”
Then he brought me to
the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. He said to
me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a
doorway there.
And he said to me, “Go
in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” So I went in
and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things
and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. In front of them stood seventy
elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each
had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
He said to me, “Son of
man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at
the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has
forsaken the land.’” Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are
even more detestable.”
Then he brought me to
the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women
sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. He said to me, “Do you see this, son of
man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”
He then brought me
into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the
temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With
their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they
were bowing down to the sun in the east.
He said to me, “Have
you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do
the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with
violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to
their nose! Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with
pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
Jerusalem
Instead of going into
a historical description of the situation described here in this passage of
scripture of the temple in Jerusalem and of its leaders, I believe the Lord
Jesus would have me take a look at how we can apply this passage of scripture
to the spiritual entity known as the church, the body of Christ, to the
institutional church of today, and to the political leaders of our nations, or
in my case, to my nation and its capital city.
Physical Jerusalem of
today is no longer the city of God; the holy city. The Bible says it is now of
Hagar, the slave woman, whereas the children of promise (of the free woman) are
those who, by faith, have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their
lives (See Gal. 4). We are now the temple, and God dwells within us in the
person of His Spirit. So, the temple of God today represents both our
individual lives and relationships with Jesus Christ/God, and it also
represents believers in Jesus Christ corporately. I will speak here of the
church in the U.S.A., because that is what I know, because that is where I
live.
The city of Jerusalem
was not only the holy city and the religious center of the nation, but it was
also their capital city, so it also represents political capitals of nations
and political leaders. Since the only country in which I am really familiar is my
own, I will speak mainly of how I believe this applies to the United States of
America, and each of you can make application to your own countries, as well,
by what you know of them politically.
Distinctives
First off I want to
make a distinction between the true church and the institutional church. The
true church is the body of Christ, i.e. it consists of those who by genuine
believing faith have turned from their sins, have been transformed in heart and
mind of the Spirit of God unto new birth in Christ Jesus, our Lord, and who
have chosen, by faith, to walk in humble obedience to God/Christ Jesus, daily
dying to sin and self (see Luke 9:23-25) – all in the power and strength of the
Spirit of God living within us, and not of our own flesh. The church is not
perfect, and it is not as though believers in Jesus Christ never fail God or
they never fall back into sin and have need to be daily cleansed from sin –
they do. Yet, this type of faith is characterized by a choice of the will to
leave our sins behind and to walk by faith.
The institutional
church, on the other hand, is a conglomeration of political, religious, social,
business and cultural, which may characterize, to some extent, the blend of
civil, political and religious as in the temple of old. It works much like any
other business, and in America, is incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation
underneath the federal government of the U.S. It is marketed just like big
business, and it makes appeals to the world to join on the basis of those
marketing ploys to get people to attend their gatherings. It usually gathers
together in public buildings called “church”, may be of various denominations
(doctrines, beliefs and practices), and its meetings, in general, are completely
open to the public regardless of belief in God, and, in fact, many of the
public gatherings are targeted at the people of the world, and they often
engage in worldly methods in order to attract the world.
Glory of God vs. Idol of Jealousy
Ezekiel was visited
by God via a vision in which an angel of God took him on a spiritual tour of
the temple in Jerusalem. We will take a similar tour of the church of today,
speaking primarily of the institutional church here in America and of its relationship
to the U.S. government, to idolatry, and to God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The “Glory of God”
dwells within the hearts of individuals and within gatherings of the true church,
the body of Christ. Nonetheless, God no longer dwells in buildings built by
human hands. The scriptures make this clear. So a building is not the church. A
corporation is not the church. A social club or religious center is not the
church. When we enter a building called a “church” we are not entering the “house
of God.” When we enter a worship center or a “sanctuary” within such a
building, we are not entering the presence of God. So, with that said, the
entrance (way inside) to the “inner court” in God’s temple must be seen as
Jesus Christ as both the gate and as the Good Shepherd (see John 10), and the
inner court represents our relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Glory of God is
seen at this entrance, because Jesus Christ (the gate) is God the Son. Yet at
this entrance was another figure – the “idol that provokes to jealousy.” The
idol is not given a name, but he comes from Satan. And, an idol is anything
that is worshiped in place of or over and above God. These idols not only
prevent many from even coming to true faith in Jesus Christ (entering through
the gate), but they also prevent many believers in Christ from entering into
true spiritual fellowship with their Lord God on a daily basis, i.e. they are
barriers to intimacy with God.
The reason the
idol(s) is called the “idol of jealousy” is because this idol or idols
represent our spiritual adultery in our relationship with Jesus Christ, or it
represents what prevents many from even entering into relationship with Jesus
Christ. When we come to Christ, by faith, we enter into a marriage covenant
with Jesus Christ/God. He becomes our husband and we are his bride. We promise
to love, honor, obey, and be faithful to him, forsaking all others (all other
gods, “lovers”, and our sins). So, if our possessions, careers, money, entertainment,
teachings of mankind, sports, religious activities, belief systems, our “cathedrals,”
mankind, dreams (goals), fleshly desires, etc. stand in the way of us either
coming to Christ by faith, or they stand in the way to our intimacy with our
Lord and our walk of obedience to him and to his commands, then they are idols
that provoke jealousy, because our God is a jealous God who desires our
faithfulness to him as our husband.
The Tour
The people of God
were doing “utterly detestable” things in God’s temple. And, God was taking
Ezekiel on a tour of his temple to see all of these detestable things,
progressively getting worse with each new location. Today this would be like
taking a tour of both the true church and the institutional church throughout
our nations and throughout the world.
So, what are some of
these “detestable things” existing within today’s church here in America? - And,
in your country? Some of these I have already alluded to. The true church has
institutionalized what was intended to be a spiritual entity and they have combined
the body of Christ (in adulterous relationships) with the world and with the
government, which I believe is of Satan here in America. And, they have taken
on many of the customs and culture of today’s society, which is idolatry. As
well, they have adopted this worshipful belief system concerning our nation,
its flag, our military, and its government to the point of loyalty to country
over loyalty to God, and refusal to look at the facts and to see what our
country is truly founded upon, and what it really means when we pledge
allegiance to the republic of our nation. God sees it as adultery and idolatry
of the worst kind, and he is calling his true church to come out from her
(Babylon).
The leaders of the
nation and within the temple were given over to worship of idols of all kinds,
particularly those of other cultures. The U.S. government and its capital city
are marked by structures, layouts, statues, buildings and symbols associated
with mythological gods of Greece, Rome and Egypt, and those associated with
Satan worship and with freemasons and the illuminati. Our government was a
pagan government from very early on, incorporating gods from all nations. We
are not the Christian nation we grew up thinking we were, and our government
and nation are not the good guys going throughout the world spreading good will
and democracy. Our government and capital city are of Satan, and of the beast
of Revelation, and its main goal is to bring us into this one world government
(dictatorship) as is indicated on our Great Seal, our money and other symbols.
By following this
government and pledging allegiance to it, we are worshiping it and are
following after it with blind loyalty, giving our support to what I believe are
the very works of Satan throughout the world. As well, we have adopted many of
these same belief systems within the church and are following the ways of
mankind instead of the ways of God; the teachings of mankind instead of the
teachings of scripture; and marketing techniques for how to build big business
over God’s plan for how to build his church; and the gospel of Jesus Christ is
being diluted in order to make it more palatable to those who would listen, so
many false confessions of Christ have taken place, and many have bought into a
false hope of eternity with God based upon a BIG FAT LIE, i.e. deception of the
worst kind, i.e. that God does not require repentance or obedience for
salvation.
Because of all this,
the true church as well as the institutional church not only have diluted the
gospel to make the road to heaven broad instead of narrow, but they have exchanged
the grace of God for a lie, and thus they use God’s grace as a Band-Aid to
cover serious sin, and much sin abounds within the church unchecked, primarily
because the leadership is either deep in sin themselves and/or because they don’t
want to offend anyone and lose anyone from their congregations by confronting
and dealing appropriately with continuous sin.
I don’t have the
figures before me, but there is a very high percentage of pastors in the U.S.A.
who are addicted to pornography because of the easy access to the internet and
the lack of accountability, i.e. they are able to sin behind closed doors in
secret. If our leaders are steeped in sin themselves, and they are following
the ways of man instead of the ways of God, how can they lead us to live holy
lives pleasing to God? Yet, we must each be responsible for his own life before
God, and no matter what anyone else is doing, we must be willing to take a
stand for Jesus Christ and to stand out and be different for the sake of the
name of Jesus Christ and for the sake of his gospel. Will you be like Jesus? - Even
if it means being hated, persecuted, rejected, accused falsely and ostracized
from others?
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer / Thomas O. Chisholm / W. J.
Kirkpatrick
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s
treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of
compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the
fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy
love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like
Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy
fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
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