Abominations in the Temple “And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, Son of man, DIG now in the wall: and when I had DIGGED in the wall, behold a door” (verses 7-8). God wants us to fight for Him and vindicate His rights, but it is going to involve some digging. We must do our part. The more we dig spiritually, the more God will reveal to us individually and collectively. We must look at these verses spiritually. The door of the court here is referring to the door to the inner court. That is where the priests were and where the ministers are today. These verses are specifically addressed to the ministry of God that is committing these abominations. “And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about” (verses 9-10). Let’s not be naive. One third of the angels became demons. Where are they today? If you take a close look, you will see all kinds of creeping demons and abominable beasts RIGHT INSIDE GOD’S CHURCH! You can’t see that if you fail to look at it spiritually. God must reveal this to you. Verse 11 continues: “And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.” There are 70 elders in this ruling body. That means the top leaders in God’s Church. There were 70 elders chosen to be the most exalted leaders when God led the physical nation of Israel (see Exodus 24:1). But here in Ezekiel 8, God is discussing the spiritual nation of Israel—His Church. Numbers 11:16 states, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me SEVENTY men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.” Anciently, 70 ELDERS HAD MEETINGS WITH GOD! The number 70 is God’s way of revealing that these end-time elders ALSO HAD MEETINGS WITH THE TRUE GOD! But then they betrayed Him and turned their backs on Him. God used this number 70 for a very special reason. HE IS TELLING US THESE ARE HIS OWN MINISTERS GOING ASTRAY! It is a revealing SIGN! God speaks in coded language. Then when the time is right, He breaks the code. Godreveals all of His truth. We can’t discover it for ourselves (Amos 3:7). The word ancients in Ezekiel 8:11 means spiritual elders in God’s Church. The greater abomination mentioned in Ezekiel 8:6 is referring to the MAJORITY of God’s own ministers in the end time leading God’s people astray. This is a very ugly abomination! Few horrors could surpass this one! Most of the top leaders in God’s own lukewarm Church are committing abominations IN God’s Church—the very highest leadership council! Even the name Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan (Ezekiel 8:11) has an interesting association. Shaphan was a scribe during the reign of Josiah. This scribe read the text of the newly discovered book of the LAW to the king (2 Kings 22:8-14). This is also a coded expression revealing that this church had a good beginning with God’sLAW. Then Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, turned away from the LAW. This simply means a good beginning and a tragic ending when you apply it to God’s Church in the end time. It started and flourished under Mr. Armstrong. During the 1970s and after Mr. Armstrong died, there was a turning away from God’s law. This is the same scenario as revealed in the book of Malachi, 2 Thessalonians 2, Zechariah 3, Revelation 3:7-20 and other Bible prophecies. Is there an end-time Jaazaniah who had God’s LAW and then led people away from it? Yes, there is! (See Malachi 2:2, 8.) Ezekiel 8:11 also mentions that “a thick cloud of incense went up.” Leviticus 16:1-2 discuss the CLOUD OF INCENSE, AND GOD WAS IN THAT CLOUD! It is another sign that God is discussing His own people. The Lord Has Forsaken the Earth “Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients [elders] of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery [of his perverse imagination]? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth” (Ezekiel 8:12). These elders are doing abominable things in the dark recesses of their perverse imaginations, harboring evil in their minds. They believe God doesn’t see them—that He has “forsaken the earth.” Because of their wrong thinking, they are not as close to God as they once were. Their FAITH is eroding. These are the liberal ministers who were in hiding. Mr. Armstrong’s death opened the way for their thoughts to be brought out into the light. One of the first doctrinal changes that came after Mr.Armstrong’s death was with the healing doctrine. Spiritually they were saying that God has forsaken the Earth.They couldn’t rely on God to heal them. Those men couldn’t see the God of Ezekiel 1! They had a monumental faith problem, and then afflicted the whole Church with it! Remember how it all started with weakened faith. Allow your faith to weaken, and that’s when Satan can really begin to work on you. Mr. Armstrong’s successor as pastor general in the WCG, Joseph Tkach, wrote this: “It is not appropriate to assign various scriptures to Mr. Armstrong or me, personally, as though our leadership were specifically prophesied in the Bible.” That is quite different from what Mr. Armstrong taught! What is it essentially saying? That God has forsaken the Earth! “In the past, we (and I include myself in this!) have mistakenly assumed that Christ directly guides His Church .…” THOSE WORDS ARE ESSENTIALLY SAYING GOD HAS FORSAKEN THEEARTH! The evangelist who said those words was claiming that Mr. Armstrong and God’s Church had made a mistake in the past. No—in fact he is PUSHING ASIDE GOD’S GOVERNMENT THE SAME WAY LUCIFER DID! As the Laodiceans have rebelled, God has removed His presence, His blessings and protection from them. The problem is, rather than taking God’s absence as correction, they simply say, well, God doesn’t directly guide us anyway. What a terrible mistake! Can we see what Satan is doing? The Philadelphians know that God has not forsaken the Earth! They are constantly led by Him, taught, instructed and guided by Him. God reveals an abundance of new truth to them. They are STRONG and continually growing stronger in faith. They are childlike enough to LOVE God’s government, and they know it is the only government that will ever work.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 18:53:14 +0000
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