Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. - Ezra 5: 1 (ESV)
Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. - Haggai 1: 3-6 (ESV)
For those who do not know her, Jennifer LeClaire is a false prophetess who happens to be an online editor for Charisma News. Her false prophecies have been long chronicled as she mixes her idolization of America with a partisan political motive that culminates in some of the most absurd notions to be passed off as prophecy today. Because of her foundation, one can easily spot her ramblings as false because her premise is usually false. The desired goal is always some vague notion of revival in this country if the unbelievers would only learn how to behave better. If they stopped their precipitous moral slide and come back to God then He would honor some fictitious covenant she seems to think He has made with this country. To accomplish this, Jennifer constantly leverages the Old Testament and simply slides the US in where God has clearly intended Israel to be. She is shamelessly at it again this week as she now wants us to believe that God told her that He was raising up Ted Cruz to be a modern day Ezra for this nation.
I believe that the Lord wants to raise up Cruz, 45, as an Ezra in this generation. I believe the Lord wills to use this Cuban-immigrant-pastor's kid-turned-United-States-senator to call the nation to repentance and lead America to re-covenant with God. - Jennifer LeClaire
LeClaire pens this after just saying that the Lord spoke to her while she was praying for an upcoming interview she had with Cruz and heard Him say "Ezra." The direct revelation card is always employed by LeClaire because when one holds the Bible up to her assertions they fall so utterly flat and false. Only by declaring God told her these things directly can she try and shield herself from the needed criticism. Here are the essentials from her article:
Ezra's portion was to ultimately bring a spiritual revival to God's people by restoring a reverential fear of Jehovah's law and a heartfelt worship for one one true and living God who had so many times before delivered them from bondage.
Essentially, Ezra taught the people of God the Word of God. He set out to teach the Israelites, who had been carried away into Babylonian captivity, the law of God.
Then comes a turning point. Ezra learned that God's people, "practice the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites" (Ezra 9:1).
Shekaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, 'We have acted with vile unfaithfulness against our God and have wedded foreign women from the people of the land, yet there is now hope in Israel concerning this. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to sever relations with all the women and their children according to the counsel of my lord and those who tremble at the commandment of our God. May this be done in accordance with the law. Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. But we are standing with you. Be courageous and act!'" (Ezra 10:1-4).
Jerusalem, the Holy City, was restored. America can be restored. We may be on the brink of utter disaster, but it's not too late--and Cruz is proclaiming that reality. - Jennifer LeClaire
Where do we start Jennifer? As always, let us start with you inane premise. America was never under covenant with God. So your prophecy that God says He is raising up Cruz to call the nation to repentance and lead America to re-covenant with God is patently and absurdly false. The larger problem Jennifer is in your seeming lack of faith in the work of Calvary. You see we live under the new covenant, not the law. The law exposes our sin but Jesus died for it. This is the fundamental error in your thinking. Why would God raise up an Ezra?
Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. - Galatians 5: 2-4 (ESV)
It seems in Galatia, the Judaizers were trying to mix some law with grace. They wanted people to not only be saved through Christ but through circumcision. Paul makes it very clear here that if you try to mix in one part of the law then you actually sever Christ from you and He is of no use to you! You have in fact fallen away from Grace! So I ask again Jennifer - why in the world would God raise up an Ezra? Someone who is renowned for enforcing the entire law upon the people? Now at the time, the Jewish people were still under the law so it makes perfect sense then but why now? You still do not get it do you? By claiming this prophecy you are actually inferring the God wishes to enforce the law upon the unbelieving world even though He has already sacrificed His only Son as ransom for it! They need the Gospel Jennifer!
I noticed you pointed out the abominations the Jewish people were committing with the various foreign sects around them but you do not seem concerned about the remedy. Because of the preaching of the law, the Jewish people agreed to abandon their foreign wives and the children of those marriages! Is this the template you see for America today? Should all Christian men abandon their families if their wife is not Christian? Of course not. This is why you do not take what was meant for the nation of Israel and apply it to the nation of America. This is why you do not sell out the Gospel for your carnal politics.
Perhaps Jennifer, God said Ezra for reasons other than what you think. Perhaps you wanted to be able to support Cruz politically so your wicked heart imagined God was leading you to Ezra because you can then prop him up as a Biblical figure. Let's instead look to the key verses today. The first verse from Ezra simply establishes that at the time Ezra was proclaiming the law there was a Prophet named Haggai. The second set of verses are from Haggai. It seems that after starting to rebuild the temple the people had instead turned their attention to themselves and their own houses. The Prophet Haggai prophesies what happens when the people of God forsake Him for carnal comforts. They end up sowing much and harvesting little. The more they eat and drink the hungrier and thirstier they feel. No matter how much clothing they have they receive little comfort or warmth. Money is never enough as if there are holes in your money bags.
We are the people of God today beloved. The house that lies in ruin is the real church. The real body of Christ. It has watched for decades now as big buildings were erected around them. As the Gospel has been marginalized and stripped down into bite size seeker friendly nuggets devoid of anything that can truly save anyone. Sown much? Dear Lord look at the average budgets of your local mega church. Harvested little? Sure the numbers of pew-sitters may rise but the number in the kingdom decrease. The average time someone spends in a mega church is less than three years. Most never return to any church. Most were never saved to begin with. The paneled houses of today are the church buildings that cost millions to save so few.
Beloved, what idol worshipping false prophets do not realize is that it is the church that needs to repent. It is the church that needs to stop paneling the whitewashed tombs we call home today and get back to the real Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible makes it clear that we are but pilgrims and sojourners in America. That our true citizenship is in heaven. The people we see every day in this world are lost. They need a Savior but they do not know it. The Bible also makes it clear that only the preached Gospel can save them. Not marketing schemes and the latest trends. Not smoke machines and hip music. Not relevant messages and sugar coated, watered down, seeker-friendly, purpose driven drivel. The things of God are utter foolishness to them and you think that Ezra is what they need? No beloved. Jesus Christ is what they need.
Please understand. I am not suggesting you should not vote for Ted Cruz. If you pray and are so led, God bless. Just do not do it because you think Mr. Cruz is being raised up by God so He can re-covenant with America. The revival that Jennifer LeClaire is constantly seeking is found nowhere in the Bible. She referenced 2Chronicles 7:14 but that verse implores people who are called by God's name to repent and turn from their wicked ways. Today those people call themselves Christians. Even the revival Ezra led was a revival of the people of Israel and not the outlying countries. In fact, as Jennifer mentions but glossed over, the people of God were called upon to divorce themselves from the world around them. That is the revival God seeks. It starts and ends with His people and His church. There's a Word from the Lord for us today beloved.
Rev. Anthony.