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.  

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 9-12.

Continuing his vision of idolatry in Jerusalem, Ezekiel describes God sending men through Jerusalem to kill the idolaters living there.  However, before they went out into the city, God sent a man to mark those who were horrified by the sins and idolatry going on there.  As an aside I want to note that throughout Ezekiel he uses “idolatry” and “detestable sins” somewhat interchangeably.  This indicates to me that justifying sins is idolatry.  Back to the main thread.  Ezekiel’s vision of God sending men through Jerusalem to kill the idolaters living there.  In Ezekiel’s understanding this was the majority of the population to the point where he feared God would wipe out everyone left in Israel.  There is an interesting subtext here.  No, God was not going to kill everyone left in Israel, but only because there were a few faithful left.  “Everybody else is doing it” is no defense against God’s judgement for sin.  If everyone turns from God to sin, He will indeed kill all of us.

Prophets had been telling the people of Israel for a long time that if they did not turn from their sins, God would bring devastation on the land.  As a result, people had begun to think that these prophecies were for the distant future.  Through Ezekiel, God told the people that time was up.  The distant future had arrived.  As I read this I wondered if God is sending the same message to us today.  When I was growing up, most Christians believed that Christ’s return was just around the corner, that time was running short for people to turn to God and be saved.  I no longer get that sense.  Today, it feels like most Christians believe that God’s final judgement will be some time in the distant future.  I fear that means that it will be any day now.  We need to have a sense of urgency in order to transform society the way in which God intends.

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 5-8.

Ezekiel prophesied among the first set of Exiles who had been taken to Babylon before the fall of Jerusalem.  We know from the Book of Jeremiah that there were false prophets who were telling them that Jerusalem would not fall and that they would soon return home.  Ezekiel warned them that it would not happen that way.  Indeed, he prophesied that Jerusalem would fall because of the idolatry and other sins of its people.  His prophecy was designed to counter those who claimed otherwise and to turn those already exiled from the sins which had led to their exile.  His prophecy also serves to remind us today that, if we continue in sin and idolatry, we will suffer the same fate as the people of Jerusalem.

Then Ezekiel has a vision about the idolatry and other detestable practices in Jerusalem.  Ezekiel describes idolatry committed by those who claim to be religious in Jerusalem.  First, he describes an idol which is set up in the courtyard of the Temple.  Next, Ezekiel describes how the leaders of Jerusalem (or, at least, a large group of them) worshiped disgusting things in secret, things which even the idolatrous general public would have found horrifying.  Next, Ezekiel witnesses a group of women weeping over the death of a Mesopotamian god.  Finally, he describes how even the religious leaders, those with access to the Temple sanctuary, had turned their backs on God to worship the East.  

I really think this vision is relevant today, although I am not sure I can make a coherent whole out of the various ways in which I think this is true.  First, all of this idolatry took place among those who either thought they were worshiping God or who presented themselves as worship God.  Those who the common people turned to for guidance on what it means to be righteous directed them to idolatry rather than to God.  The first part of the vision shows that there was nothing subtle about that idolatry.  When people went to the Temple, they were confronted by an idol front and center.  To what degree are we doing the same thing today when our Churches encourage people to be politically active?  All too often that political activism places government where God belongs.  We need to be careful that we, who consider ourselves Christians do not allow idolatry to replace our worship of God.

But there is more to it than that.  When I read the part about the leaders worship detestable things in a hidden room I was reminded of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein.  Not so much those individuals as the people around them, the people who were aware of and took part in their depravity.  Many of these people are among those who form the opinions which are held up as what we should believe.  They guide public thought about what it means to be “righteous” in our society (although they would never use the word “righteous”).  Related, and abetting, this group are the “women” weeping for the god Tammuz.  They are caught up in “the feels”.  They do not want to talk about facts and logic because they feel the sadness of the death of Tammuz and that is more important than anything else.  These are the people caught up in the emotional.  They want to avoid confrontation and go into their safe space.  Finally, there are the religious leaders who instead of pointing people towards God point them away towards self-destructive behavior.

I want to close this out by pointing out that our society has two competing groups which are trying to lure us into idolatry.  One tries to get us to throw away Christianity all together, and most of those who read this are on to them.  But the other group is more subtle and attempts to convince us to set up the Church, or “traditional values”, or other positive things as idols in place of God.  

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 1-4.

I wish I had the artistic talent to draw the image Ezekiel describes here at the beginning of his book.  In fact, I think it would be enlightening if someone were to draw each of the visions Ezekiel had throughout this book (and many of the other apocalyptic visions in other parts of the Bible as well).  I suspect that we would learn both from seeing what Ezekiel described and from seeing the differences between those descriptions.

From this amazing spectacle a voice spoke to Ezekiel and a Spirit took control of his body.  I had actually never noticed the second part of that before today.  When Ezekiel saw his vision, he threw himself face down on the ground.  Then he tells us that the Spirit which spoke to him out of the vision came into him and set him on his feet.  I am not sure how I overlooked this, nor why I never heard someone teach on the importance of it.  Much like Saul/Paul, Ezekiel was not exactly given a choice in the ministry he undertook.  Of course, both Saul/Paul and Ezekiel sought fervently to do God’s will.  But once they were called, neither felt like they had a choice in the matter.

Ezekiel was not sent to a foreign people on God’s behalf.  In fact, God tells Ezekiel that that would be an easier mission.  When God sends you to your own people you will struggle to overcome the fact that they think they know what you have to say without actually listening to what you say.  People in the United States think they know what the Christian Gospel is, but they are almost always wrong.  Even many of those who consider themselves Christian fail to listen to God’s words.  Here comes the most important part of God’s commission to Ezekiel.  Before speaking God’s words to others, Ezekiel must listen to, and act according to, those words.  We must hold ourselves to the standard to which God calls us to hold others.