August 19
Ezekiel 14:1-16:63
When I perform surgery I'm handed a very sharp scalpel to make the first incision. As I continue going deeper towards the area that needs to be removed or repaired, if any instrument becomes dull it is replaced by a sharp one. My instruments, though they will hurt, are intended to heal. We read in Proverbs 27:5-6, "Open rebuke is better Than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Likewise, our words may hurt, but if done out of love, hopefully the wounds which result will lead to healing. Our once blessed nation has received kisses from the enemy for far too long. Abortion is not and never was about fairness, goodness, kindness, etc. It is a decision generally made for convenience: it will seemingly get one out of trouble, enable one to continue in school or in a relationship, etc. Using gender pronouns is ridiculous. People are born male or female, case closed. If you have any questions, just check the chromosomes in their cells. Whenever these views are reasoned with, it is like kisses from an enemy. These viewpoints need to be called what they are. We, as a nation, may put ourselves on any pedestal that we want, but the nations around us, many whom we consider more evil and unrighteous than ourselves, based on our own societal norms, point at us with embarrassment and disgust. Like the frog in the boiling water, we have allowed ourselves to sit in the cesspool for so long that we don't even realize the cesspool that it is.
Concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, we read in Ezekiel 16:15, "But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it." God blessed them, not because of anything special about them, but then they began thinking they did it themselves, forgetting God in the process. They replaced God's righteousness with self-righteousness. We read further 16:20-22, "Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire? And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood." Sacrificing children on the altar of self is not a new thing, and God's view of this is not hidden. They, like us, started off weak and pathetic, but that is whom God will use, those who seek Him in humility. Once this is forgotten and this humility is replaced with pride, we see what God does in 16:27, "Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior."
Yet, we in America like to point at what is deemed as good and righteous within our nation. Good parents, good pastors, good whatever, all lifted up seemingly in their minds lifting up our nation. We read in Ezekiel 14:14, 19-20, " Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God...Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.” In fact, in v.22, God speaks of a remnant who will be spared. We better open our eyes to the reality of the nation in which we live. We can stockpile food and weapons, but it is God who will choose who gets spared and who falls. Realize this remnant in this phase of God's timetable may be taken from this planet in the Rapture. But it is time that we start looking up, rather than looking at others. Only Jesus can save, and only through sharing the gospel message and bringing forth revival (these can be small unrecognized revivals in your own little mission fields), can this remnant be built up. May we prove ourselves friends by choosing words which may hurt but will eventually heal. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: