Beloved, as stated in the opening, this chapter was not written for the church today, but it can be prophetic not only for the days of Ezekiel but what we are now facing as well. The church today is not unlike a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. Now, that day refers to the day of God's coming wrath. Rain indicates the blessing of God and not cleansed means defiled. Beloved, Jesus is coming back and what will He find? Yes, there is always a strong remnant who refuses to bow to idols and worships the true and living God but the church as a whole is already in the great apostasy foretold in Thessalonians. This apostate church is filthy from being polluted by a world they strove for relevance with over the past several decades. Not only is she not cleansed but she has no desire to be cleansed. She refuses to listen to those who would help in the cleansing. The bible warned about this when it said it in the end people will gather around for themselves teachers that would scratch their itching ears and tell them what they want to hear. The church says they will not even tolerate sound doctrine. As for not rained upon the modern church fancies itself as being blessed but as Jesus warned that church of Laodicea, they are actually poor and blind:
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. -- Revelation 3:17 (ESV)
Walk into any mega church today and you will find a people who believe they are blessed beyond measure because the enemy has prospered them materially. They have all the fancy bells and whistles. They have all the cooked statistics to assuage themselves that they are doing something for the kingdom. The only sacrifice they had to make was the Gospel. The problem is without the Gospel, no one gets saved. These churches are barren wildernesses led by waterless rainclouds speaking of the power of God while denying it in word and deed. God is coming back and He has much to be indignant about.
What does God say about the prophets in the days of Ezekiel? They conspire to devour human lives. Matthew Poole describes it as so, "A contrivance, or framing among themselves a design, to speak all alike flattering, smooth words, and give out promises of peace and safety, when there was no peace." You would have to blind to not see the parallels to todays merry band of false prophets that litter the church landscape. Every word is glowing and positive as if Joel Osteen himself wrote them for the prophet to speak. How do they take human lives? By falsely claiming God spoke to them! There are always victims of false prophets beloved. People who give up on God, blame God, or walk away from the bride of Christ because what was promised to them as a word from God never came true. God likens this to a roaring lion tearing its prey. These false prophets have also taken treasure for their services. They make merchandise of the sheep. For $500 Jenifer LeClaire will teach you how to be a false prophet. For another $500 she will teach you how to be a "seer." Tuition at Bethel's school for supernatural nonsense will set you back 5 grand a year to have them declare you are a false prophet. Itinerant prophets ask for love offerings manipulated by false words from the Lord. I saw one live claim that God showed him that 10 people would sow $300 into his ministry that night. Translation? He wanted $3000 dollars.
What about the priests? What about the people in charge of the word? They have done violence to God's law! They have profaned the holy and made no distinction between the holy and the common. Once again, the parallels are stark. The pastors today follow a purpose driven, seeker friendly model that waters down the Gospel. Violence to the law of God? How about eviscerating it! Teachers like Joseph Prince actively teach willful ignorance to God's law. Most others simply never preach it. Holiness? Never preached on anymore in the church today. Clean and unclean? In their desperate efforts to seem relevant, the church is now filthy with the world. One mega church sang Highway to Hell during worship. Another performed I Like to Move It, Move It, while a third produced an erotic Silent Night for Christmas. Hillsong had their youth pastor appear as the naked cowboy at their Women's Conference. Sermons based on secular movies. Sermons based on carnal needs and desires. Self help sermons. Motivational sermons. God is openly and brazenly mocked in churches today. He is turned into your wingman or a wallflower hoping for a dance at a high school prom. We sing songs about how God just couldn't stand heaven without us or how much He loves us. The created as shaped God into his own human image and worships at a mirror.
Next, we see the scam of the network working together to defraud God and His people. The princes, or people in charge, tear the prey, destroying lives for dishonest gain. These represent those in charge of the church system today, or what I refer to as the Seeker-Friendly Industrial Complex. Their primary concern is protecting the brand. Do you realize the billion-dollar industry Christianity is today? The false prophets run cover for these charlatans smearing whitewash over the false doctrines to make them seem true. But they are seeing false visions divining lies saying thus sayeth the Lord when the Lord has not spoken. With the cost associated with this the Lord has declared this is nothing short of extortion and robbery. When you see someone like Paula White with a 5 million dollar net worth -- where do you think that money came from? When Kenneth Copeland brags about being worth over a billion dollars -- where do you think that came from? There is a wealth redistribution going on alright but it is flowing from the pockets of the sheep into the wolves jowls.
How sad that the Lord could find no one to stand in the gap to stay His wrath. Today, modern discernment ministries are attacked and marginalized and those that partake cannot see the hand of God rising up against the land -- against the apostate church. Again, prophecy is not interpreted outside what God intended but all scripture is for our edification and learning. There are applications to examine and parallels to draw that should be corroborated by the canon of scripture. God is love but He most certainly is wrath and He is not coming back as the lamb. We need to discern false from true and stand in the gap and declare so that some might come out from among them before it is too late. The apostate church chasing revival is like a dog chasing its tail -- it wouldn't know what to do with it if it was ever caught. But we do. Preach the Gospel and stand in the gap. There is still time for some to be saved and heaven rejoices over each single one. Never forget that.
