Ezekiel
13 reminds me of some of the crazy fad diets people will try. Like
get-rich schemes, gullible or desperate people will try anything for
a quick-fix to lose weight. We can be so focused on outward
appearance that we do not consider what might be happening
internally. People will literally eat anything if they believe it
will get them to their goal. Sadly, sometimes the long term
consequences are debilitating. In today’s chapter Ezekiel is
instructed to “prophesy against
the prophets of Israel“.
Those who claimed to speak on behalf of God, but actually speak “out
of their own imagination“. He
says, “Woe to the foolish
prophets who follow
their own spirit and have seen nothing!”
He calls them “jackals among
ruins” because when we are the
most vulnerable, we will swallow anything. He says plainly, “Their
visions are false and their divinations a lie… Because of your
false words and lying visions, I am against you“.
Today we have God’s written Word as our standard; anything that
conflicts with the written word is false. Beware any teacher that
plucks a verse here and a verse there to prove themselves right.
Without the context, the real meaning can be manipulated. James 3:1
says, “Not many of you should
become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who
teach will be judged more strictly“.
Ezekiel
presents God’s word-picture of how “they
lead My people astray“. “When
a flimsy wall is built, they
cover it with whitewash“.
Walls are supposed to protect and support, but these false prophesies
only appeared stable. Lies can look pretty until the storms come.
He says only AFTER the walls collapse, the people will ask for
answers. God says, “I will
tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash… When it
falls, you will be
destroyed in it…I will pour out My wrath
against the wall and against
those who covered it with whitewash“.
Why so harsh? Because those left disillusioned usually blame God
rather than the deceivers. Friend, are you blaming God for a
collapse?
It
appears that men, in particular are susceptible to deception that is
wrapped in a pretty package. He warns against “the
daughters… who prophesy out of their own imagination… Woe to the
women who sew magic charms on… in order to ensnare people“.
God explains, “You have
profaned Me among My people“.
I hear a common phrase today, “I am spiritual, but I am not
religious”. If every diet plan worked, why are there so many
overweight? Be sure to read the warnings below the slick ads, all
things spiritual are not of God. God promised, “I
will set free the people that you ensnare…
because you disheartened
the righteous with your lies“.
Listen to the problem with spirituality without God’s Standard,
“you encouraged the wicked not
to turn from their evil ways“.
Ask yourself, are you healthy? Are you happy? Diets don’t work;
we need to change our lifestyle. Jesus called the religious of His
day “hypocrites! …like
whitewashed tombs… beautiful on the outside but on the inside are
full of the bones of the dead”
(Matthew 25:27). The chapter concludes, “I
will save My people from your hands. And then you will know that I
am the Lord“. No man or woman
can make you full, but “at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and
every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the
Father” (Philippians 2:10).
Are you fulfilled?