I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 13-15.

Ezekiel once again condemns those who falsely prophesy that nothing is wrong.  And once again he addresses two different types of false prophets.  First he condemns those who speak in the name of God and say to the people that everything is OK, that there is no reason to turn from their sins.  As I mentioned the other day, we have such people today.  People who claim to speak on behalf of God who preach “tolerance”, but are really saying there is no reason to not sin.  Yes, as Christians we should be tolerant of others, and we should strive to show God’s love to them.  But it is not tolerant and loving to tell people it is OK to continue practicing self-destructive and/or hurtful practices.  People set up barriers to protect themselves against the self-destructive and hurtful things they, or others, do.  The prophets Ezekiel is talking about come along and apply a “whitewash” which covers up the inadequacy of these barriers.  They allow people to continue destroying themselves and others while thinking that everything is OK.  God will bring judgement against those who have helped them to think this way.

The second group of false prophets whom Ezekiel condemns are those who provide spiritual comfort aside from God.  Ezekiel aims this second condemnation at women, but I think that is merely a product of his time.  Men are equally capable of this sort of gimmicky false prophecy.  This second group of false prophets encourages people to put their trust in “magic” items, or rituals.  They convince people that they do not need to turn from sin because these “magic” items or actions will protect them from the consequences of their self-destructive or hurtful behavior.  It was prophets such as these who gave Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polansky a pass for many years because they supported the “right” causes.  But these “prophets” are not necessarily outside of the Church.  It was prophets such as these who gave organized crime bosses a pass for many years because they gave money to the Church.  I use an example from the Catholic Church because we all are familiar with it, but every other denomination has had similar things happen.  Sometimes these prophets only give an “exemption” to the rich and powerful, but other times they offer it to all anyone willing to check the right boxes.  God offers no such special exemptions and will bring His judgment against those who lead people astray in this manner.

Finally, Ezekiel condemns those who set up idols in their own hearts which lead them to sin and then turn to God for guidance.  This one scares me.  Am I guilty of doing this?  To what things have I committed myself that lead me to sin?  Are there things in my life which I put ahead of serving and worshiping God?  I know that I frequently turn to God for guidance, but I also know that I often sin.