From the First Lesson for this day, Ezekiel 13:1-16
I have a pastor friend of mine who once told me he's only good in any given Church for about three years. He said that's all the sermons he has. He can't think of anything else to preach on.
He was serious.
I don't write this to gloat. I just don't understand it. To preach God's word is such a privilege. I think there's a sermon on every page.
It's not enough to preach the Bible. I am called to preach the Bible but I am called to preach the Truth. The Bible shouldn't be used to deceive, manipulate or cajole. The Bible should be preached in love - which is the real proof of preaching the Truth.
Ezekiel's ministry was one of the Truth. It was hard Truth for people in very deep sin. But it was the Truth.
* Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
* 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.
* They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith
* Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
Wow. God forgive me if I have preached in vanity. Give me the strength the preach Thy Truth.
Ezekiel doesn't mince words with preachers/prophets:
"...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. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace..."
I am convicted by this responsibility. There can be no greater punishment than to be forbidden from 'the assembly of the people', no not have my name wirtten in the house of God's people. I would be ashamed to have my only experience of knowing God from outside His Promised Land.
The most shameless seduction away from the Truth seems to be in the an area that is very dear to me, the area of peace. I am a pacifist and have held that conviction since I was very young. But I understand what God is saying - without Him there can be no real peace, either between peoples or in the human soul.
Yet many things are out there - many things are preached - to bring peace that can bring no peace.
Between nations, we are deceived that military might will bring peace; we are told that economic stability will bring peace; we believe that economic justice will bring true justice and peace for all. Nothing could be further from the Truth. Military might brings peace only through the subjection of those who are weaker. Economic stability is a man-made fallacy - "the poor you shall with you always" says the Lord. (It is how we treat the poor that determines our real love and Truth.)
Worse yet are the deceptions that are supposed to bring personal peace. Physical fitness will make you well. Depending on medicine and physicians will give you peace of mind. Intellectual knowledge can temper the desires of the soul.
While physical fitness promotes wellness, the body is only a temporary vessel. Wellness for me at 25 is an entirely different thing for me at 52. Medicine and physicians are good, but medicine cannot reach the inner man.
Lord, let me preach Thy Truth so that people may know Thy peace and, in finding peace, may they also know Jesus Christ, Who is the Truth. Amen.
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