Judgement that begins in the House of God

Eze 34:1 The word of the Lord came to me:
Eze 34:2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them: This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn't the shepherds feed their flock?
Eze 34:3 You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fatlings, but you do not tend the flock.
Eze 34:4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.
Eze 34:5 They were scattered for lack of a shepherd; they became food for all the wild animals when they were scattered.
Eze 34:6 My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking [for them].
Eze 34:7 "Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.
Eze 34:8 As I live"-the declaration of the Lord God-"because My flock has become [prey and] food for every wild animal since [they] lack a shepherd, for My shepherds do not search for My flock, and [because] the shepherds feed themselves rather than My flock,
Eze 34:9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!
Eze 34:10 "This is what the Lord God says: Look, I am against the shepherds. I will demand My flock from them and prevent them from shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue My flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them.
Eze 34:11 "For this is what the Lord God says: See, I Myself will search for My flock and look for them.
Eze 34:12 As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy and dark day.
Eze 34:13 I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land.
Eze 34:14 I will tend them with good pasture, and their grazing place will be on Israel's lofty mountains. There they will lie down in a good grazing place; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
Eze 34:15 I will tend My flock and let them lie down." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God.
Eze 34:16 "I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bandage the injured, and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice.
Eze 34:17 "The Lord God says to you, My flock: I am going to judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and male goats.
Eze 34:18 Isn't it enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Or [isn't it enough] that you drink the clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?
Eze 34:19 Yet My flock has to feed on what your feet have trampled, and drink what your feet have muddied.
Eze 34:20 "Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them: See, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
Eze 34:21 Since you have pushed with flank and shoulder and butted all the weak ones with your horns until you scattered them all over,
Eze 34:22 I will save My flock, and they will no longer be prey for you. I will judge between one sheep and another.
Eze 34:23 I will appoint over them a single shepherd, My servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd.
Eze 34:24 I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.
Eze 34:25 "I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate dangerous animals in the land, so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.
Eze 34:26 I will make them and the area around My hill a blessing: I will send down showers in their season -showers of blessing.
Eze 34:27 The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslave them.
Eze 34:28 They will no longer be prey for the nations, and the wild animals of the land will not consume them. They will live securely, and no one will frighten [them].
Eze 34:29 I will establish for them a place renowned for [its] agriculture, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land. They will no longer endure the insults of the nations.
Eze 34:30 Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God.
Eze 34:31 "You are My flock, the human flock of My pasture, and I am your God." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God.

First the shepards will be chastised. It would appear that all sorts of sins of the flesh will become increasingly evident in the grass roots of the church, the ministers (mainly the full-time ministry) have become self consumed and have left off tending to the needs of the sheep. This passage outlines what God expects a true shepard is to be about and than latter it places thoughs who have been blessed in the body but who act out of selfishness and brings correction to them. We will see an increasing number of shepards who will fall in the coming days/months due to thier self centered agenda. Thier fall will appear outwardly to the world as another minister who has fallen into sin but the way out of such besetting sins is to do the first works in thier service to Jesus Christ.

Sin will become exceedingly sinful, almost like sin on steroids, it will sweep into the church and cause many to become cold in thier love for one another. In the midst of this many will be broken and in true humility cry out to God for mercy and in response the Lord will raise up true shepards, men/women after His own heart, who will then bring in a geniune move back to holiness and simple devotion to Jesus Christ. Not all churches will need to go through this process but many will. It won't just be big ministries that are in the news but the small local churches.But when the Son of man returns will He find faith on the earth?

We can also turn to Ezekiel 8 and see the abominations that God hates taking place among His people.

We see the image of jealousy on the north of the altar gate, vs 5.

We see in vs 10 and 11, the seventy elders with a censer each and idols on the walls.

We see women weeping for Tammuz, vs 14.

In verse 16, there are 25 elders with their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and they were facing the east, worshipping the sun.

Don't we realise just how much we grieve God, His own people. So what do you suppose sinner do to Him, with their blaspheme etc?

Whatever we do, good or bad, God sees.

When will we understand that nothing is hidden from Him, and that we all have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, 2 Cor 5v10.

That scripture in 1 Peter 4, which tells us that judgment begins at the house of God, begs other questions.

Like, what is the house of God? A building, a people, what?

Just food for thought.

Here is a word from Michael Boldea, Jr. that sums this up well. It was from his latest newsletter but it's short and to the point. it was a bit painful and I don't want to take away from it...

Dear Bretheren

[b]Jeremiah 22:21, “I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not hear.”[/b]

Eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear are everywhere nowadays. They are no longer isolated incidents, but an epidemic of global proportions. On every street corner, in every home, in every church, you will find those who have chosen of their own volition not to hear the voice of the eternal Father. Our prosperity has made us dull and hard of hearing, and on those occasions when God’s voice penetrates the haze of opulence, we shut it out, chase it away like some unwanted and unwelcome vagabond intent on destroying our mood, and shattering the earthly contentment we’ve so meticulously fashioned for ourselves.

[b]With our lips we say we want to hear God speak, we want to hear His voice, but in our hearts we know it is a lie. When God speaks, when it is His voice carried upon the winds to the four corners of the earth, trumpeted like booming thunder, it is offensive, and most, even those calling themselves His own, turn their heads in dismay.[/b]

We hear the voice, but the words trouble us. The words are not what we want to hear, they are not what we would like them to be, for they are not words of blessing and prosperity, of easy life and cheap salvation, but rather they are words of judgment and trial, of tribulation and heartache, of tested faith and spiritual endurance. [b]We want God, but on our terms, we want Him to speak, but only the words that comfort the flesh, the words that tell us we’re okay, that we will thrive, that we will prosper, that we will be blessed and embraced by friend and foe alike. [/b]Truth shatters illusion every time, and the illusion is cracked and crumbling.

[b]We desire God to speak, only if He will say what we want Him to say. If His words offend, then we turn to the peddlers, to the priests who teach for pay, and the prophets who divine for money, who ease our burdened conscience with the increasingly evident lies that no harm shall come upon us, for the Lord is still among us.[/b]

Today’s Christian does not want to hear the true voice of God. He only pretends he wants it. Most would rather hear the word peace, even if it were a lie, than hear the word judgment even if it were the truth.

God has been handed an eviction notice in regards to His own house, and yet we still have the temerity to say He is among us. We have told Him to His face that we will not hear, even though He speaks, for His words burn and convict and compel a decision on our part. The times wherein we choose to trust God are quickly coming to an end, and very soon we will be forced to trust God. For those who have not experienced trust in the heavenly Father during those days when they had a choice, having to do so, and having no other choice in the matter will be a frightening experience indeed. Trust in God is nurtured; it is grown organically, and cannot be practiced suddenly, like the flipping of a light switch.

We would rather experience raucous laughter than groaning and tears; we would rather spend our time doing one of a hundred futile and worthless things than bend our knee in prayer. We are a proud people, and the idea of humbling ourselves before the eternal God of all, of submitting to His will even if it were to the detriment of the flesh, is both foreign and offensive to our sensibilities.

We have become that which He despises, we practice that which He condemns, yet we don’t even blush when we puff our chests out proudly and say, ‘the Lord is with us.’

[b]We chose not to hear His voice in our prosperity; we chose to reject the cross in lieu of the easy chair. We rejected and despised the messengers who preached repentance, transformation, regeneration, rebirth, and lovingly embraced those who with wolfish grins told us all that was needed was to wave a hand in the air and write a check.[/b]

As the old adage goes, the times they are changing. Our season of prosperity is swiftly coming to its end, like the last few minutes of dusk until the night covers all. We will not hear His voice in our prosperity. Will we perhaps hear his voice in our poverty?

1 John 2:17, “And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.

Yes I have noticed that most church people today would rather hear the word peace, even if it were a lie, than hear the word judgment even if it were the truth. There is a reason the largest church in America is the largest church in America - they teach what the people want to hear which is nice, flowery positive all the time humanism but it is not the gospel of God.

John Gill said that other denominations, though they may differ from us on some subjects, may give evidence that they are recognised by God as His, and where there is this evidence, we should neither despise nor judge them, which is why I'm not so concerned with Brother Osteen fraternizing with Catholics. But what is he preaching? Obviously it is far removed from what his father preached, which was accountability for sin and repentance.

Yes, judgment does begin at the house of God. In Matthew 21 Jesus told the religious people who thought they were better than everyone else that prostitutes would get into heaven before they would because of their pride.

In Ezekiel 9 The LORD said "Mark the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over the disgusting things that are being done. Put to death everyone who doesn't have a mark on their forehead. Begin at my temple." The angels immediately killed the leaders who were standing there. So we know that it is obvious that God is serious about sin and serious about intercession for people who are in sin.

Leonard Ravenhill said that every revival comes, as Pentecost came, as the fruit of continued prayer. It is in the closet, with the door shut, that the sound of abundant rain will be first heard.

So many people today are chasing after signs and wonders, emotional hype, or some kind of feel good humanism that will make them feel better about themselves, when God wants us to humble ourselves and pray and turn from our wicked ways and seek His face.

Brother Ravenhill said: Look at Elijah. He was told to hide in a cave. He went in there for 3 whole years! Most of us can't stand three hours without turning on a radio or TV. Try three days, try three weeks, cutting yourself off from everything external and everything worldly. We need to think and get things straight.