anyone read the Prophesy of Ezekiel lately?

(I was going to entitle this "Has anyone ever really read Ezekiel lately....don't get mad...I know that "sounds" so ......fleshly and superior....and that's not my heart...it ISNT.)

The Lord has me going thru the Prophets again......and its always so so painful.....so convicting, heart rending.

Of course, we are blessed with New Covenant FOREtellings thru out ....Isaiah's Four Suffering Servant Songs, Jeremiah Book of Consolation, chapters 30-33....so many Riches in God, I cant even name Them.

(probably because I am under so much conviction at this moment, it would be sweet release to be with Jesus now....or God knows the ground could swallow me into hell......I CAN say with ALL sincerity, I fear God....not witless fear.....reverential awe and love, thanking Him for His every mercy He shows such as I)

so i'm slowly reading/eating thru Ezekiel this morning, and came to Chapter 16.....don't be cross with me, but I read the ESV, and the headings says :

"The LORD'S Faithless Bride"

and slowly, carefully read thru all 63 Verses...and it just HIT ME.....THE LORD had Ezekiel prophesy to the exiles in Babylon......yes.....but then, The LORD also wrote it to us, the Bride of Christ....we're exiles too, and if you eat of These Words, lensing it all thru your heart and soul, in light of THESE DAYS?

Those Words, That Prophesy......just cratered me...i'm undone, i'm convicted...I have a doctors apt in a bit here, and have to shower and what not....therefore I cant really unpack all ......the "stuff" in my soul.....but as He leads.....if YOU, beloved saints, get the Leading.....go there....Ezekiel 16, and let the Word start hammering at the flint on our foreheads......well, MY forehead, coz I will NOT accuse ONE Blood bought saint of having any "flint" on their forehead...forgive me.

i'm crying right now, coz I wish everything was so different....the world grows darker, colder....as a multitude steadily march into hell....all the murder, and greed, oppression, foulness, lack of love, and sweetness.

and 2014, everything seems to speeding up, right into the pit of hell.....which is why I feel unrelenting prayer is our only recourse and succor, but my own sloth and selfishness I find utterly abhorrent ...and I lay convicted, begging for a re-commissioning, a sort of Awakening WITHIN an Awakening, casting off all known sin.

Does anyone else feel this way?

I don't want to "do" church, I feel called to swallowed up in the ministry of secret prayer....anonymous, for fear of robbing God of the Glory, with my filthy rags of ego, and self and flesh.

alright.....to the doctors...my pray is that, all who feel led to read...Ezekiel 16...or whatever Portion of the Bible....my pray is that God give you SOME sort of soul shaking Divine Reality....that's my prayer in Jesus' love for all the saints on SI, neil

Ezekiel 16
New International Version (NIV)
Jerusalem as an Adulterous Wife

16 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices 3 and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5 No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.

6 "‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!”[a] 7 I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked.

8 "‘Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

9 "‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. 10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. 11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, 12 and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. 14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.

15 "‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.[b] 17 You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. 18 And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them. 19 Also the food I provided for you””the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat””you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord.

20 "‘And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? 21 You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. 22 In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.

23 "‘Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, 24 you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square. 25 At every street corner you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by. 26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your neighbors with large genitals, and aroused my anger with your increasing promiscuity. 27 So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct. 28 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied. 29 Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia,[c] a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.

30 "‘I am filled with fury against you,[d] declares the Sovereign Lord, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute! 31 When you built your mounds at every street corner and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

32 "‘You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! 33 All prostitutes receive gifts, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors. 34 So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.

35 "‘Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord! 36 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you poured out your lust and exposed your naked body in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children’s blood, 37 therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see you stark naked. 38 I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. 39 Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you stark naked. 40 They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. 41 They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers. 42 Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.

43 "‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices?

44 "‘Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. 47 You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. 48 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.

49 "‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. 51 Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done. 52 Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

53 "‘However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them, 54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort. 55 And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before. 56 You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom[e] and all her neighbors and the daughters of the Philistines””all those around you who despise you. 58 You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the Lord.

59 "‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. 60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you. 62 So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. 63 Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Footnotes:

Ezekiel 16:6 A few Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts repeat and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!”
Ezekiel 16:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
Ezekiel 16:29 Or Chaldea
Ezekiel 16:30 Or How feverish is your heart,
Ezekiel 16:57 Many Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate Aram

this is my third attempt with my ham hands to write this post to you and all the saints. as I spent 40 minutes on the first response, only to have it wiped in 1 second.

now, I can attribute that to ONE of three things, God telling me, "that's enough child", ....OR, the devil messing with me, (but I;m not EVEN giving him that power)..or probably me just being a klutz......I think its the first.

in Holy Ghost conviction, your brother, neil

Some of the phraseology and metaphors would be completely inappropriate in some Christian circles. If you have not read Ezekiel 16, it is a very emotional and bitter description of the relationship between God and His people Judah. People would tell you to "wash you mouth out with soap" if they heard you utter the same things.

Yes, God can make some vulgar innuendos when He wants to make a very strong point.

Have you ever seen Jerusalem described like this?

A girl who was born in Canaan to an Amorite father and Hittite mother.
Apparently left alone (abandoned) at birth ”“ kicking and writhing in her blood and her umbilical cord had not been severed, yet. She is unwashed (probably laying in other secretions, placenta, etc) and she is naked. (Ezekiel 16:3-4).

No one had compassion on Jerusalem, no one pitied her. She was abhorred. (Ezekiel 16:5).

But God, passed by one day seeing Jerusalem lying in her own blood and commanded her to live. Because of the nurture and care of God she grew into maturity, yet she remained naked and bare. (Ezekiel 16:5-7).

Later, as she matured, God passes by and she is of "the age of love". He gives her a covering so that she is no longer naked and makes a covenant with her. He takes her to Himself (Ezekiel 16:8). It is through this relationship that He is washing her with water and purifying her (cleaning her up). He brings healing into her life (anointing her with oil) and He adorns with all manner of things beautiful (clothing, jewelry, silver, gold, etc).(Ezekiel 16:9-13) He made her beauty known to the nations and Ezekiel underscores, her beauty came from the Lord. He further provides her with sustenance (Ezekiel 16:14).

Jerusalem, the woman begins to look at her own beauty and trust in it. And her satisfaction is no longer found in God. She strays from the One that loved her when everyone else abhorred her. Jerusalem begins to play the whore (Ezekiel 16:15). What was given to her from God, she took and offered to idols along with herself. She forgot where she came from and Who loved her and rescued her. (Ezekiel 16:16-19). She took her own children and sacrificed them to her idols. (Ezekiel 16:20-22).

Her whoredom knows no bounds. She offered herself to the Egyptians and God punished her at the hand of the Philistines who hated her "lewd" ways.(Ezekiel 16:23-27). She could not be satisfied and God's reproving apparently had no effect on her. Her whoredom increased by offering herself to Assyria and Babylonia (Ezekiel 16:28-29).

God declares her heart is weak (unfaithful) and calls her an "imperious" woman(Ezekiel 16:30).

Imperious - peremptory, high-handed, commanding, imperial, overbearing, overweening, domineering, authoritarian, dictatorial, autocratic, authoritative, lordly, assertive, bossy, arrogant, haughty, presumptuous; informalpushy, high and mighty
"Black tells stories of imperious judges and duplicitous witnesses"

He scoffs at her not being satisfied with being an "average" whore who takes money from her suitors. No, they don't pay her for her services, she pays her suitors for the privilege of fornicating with them!! (Ezekiel 16:31-34)

God has had enough of her unfaithfulness and brazen whoredoms. He is going to gather all her lovers and they will both suffer the same fate.(Ezekiel 16:35-37). She will be brought full circle, back to how she was found. Naked and exposed. God will humiliate her publicly as the adulterer and murderer that she is. (Ezekiel 16:38-43).

There is much to learn from this. I see a lot of parallels with a Laodicean Church and can see now why God will judge the whore and her lovers. The entire nation. Message: Don't be part of the whore and her lovers. Come out from among them and be separate and I will receive you saith the Lord.

Brother Steve and Justin...I did it again...spent 40 minutes unveiling my heart, and in one second this oafish fingers hit the wrong key....and its gone.....

dear brothers, its late, I love you both in the LORD and in your spirit....and I want to read Ezekiel 16 again.....10 inches of snow are on the way, a perfect time to get laid out on our faces...wouldn't you say?

oh man, why does that happen?!? I was just pouring my heart out with no reservations...its GOT to be God telling me to be more circumspect....this forum IS global...we're NOT in your's or my sitting room....that's got to be it.

God bless and love you precious brothers, neil

you wrote:

If a person would not know otherwise one could think this was written only recently, addressed to the western 'church.'

indeed....but worse than that, written to ME!!!

I cant play the "i'm washed in the Blood, superior, you rotten reprobate sinners go down with the ship".

I cant even think or feel that way, I must love like Jesus loved....or do the best I can.

when I see one kicking in their blood, to intercede and implore the LORD....'live!!'

holy kiss, neil

Brother Neil,

It is written to us all. Our wandering hearts are being warned and exhorted and loved.

You may want to type your post in a notepad or wordpad, first. Then you won't lose it.

Blessings to you.

you wrote:

"Neil, does this not prove the timelessness, inspiration of the WORD? These words have ministered to people ever since they were recorded. Now, there is no other piece of literature that has this power. Awesome!"

Utterly!......and MORE than "literature"...its a LIVING Word...as Paul said "dividing soul and spirit"...."two edged sword"...the only time of the day I feel....whole/shalom is the predawn, alone with the Word, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

then the day comes......and I hear things, or the world intrudes....and then I mourn,grieve.....have you noticed all the wars, and violence spreading?

moving so fast, coldness and cruelty multiplying.

Now "evangelism" in the modern context is fine, I bless every earnest soul that trys to talk outsider's into the Green Sheepfold of Messiah.....but as I see it, you CANT talk, or persuade someone into making a 'decision".....then say the "sinner's prayer"....and suddenly they are born again, or born from above,(another way to translate the words in the Nicodemus encounter.)

To be called....a lot of people call this "predestination", but I say, many times God calls, and people ignore, or don't want to hear the call.

OR, they DO hear a "call", but it isn't from God....maybe its a call from the devil...or their organs, lusts...or from the various sickness's of the heart, violence, greed, hatred, et al.

but to hear the Call from God, like Abram....and BELIEVE..Our thankfulness should be so TOTAL, that it leads us into a lifelong Road of Humility..."LORD, you called ME?!?".....and you gave me a spirit of listening?"

that's where the Pharisees then and the neo-Pharisees Now have gone so radically astray...what should be total thankfulness and ensuing humility, has led them into superiority, and religious pride.

That's folly, because the Blood they are under is NOT theirs, and It is ONLY Messiah's Blood, that covers all of our various sins, one of the most insidious being religious pride.....much like that ancient prayer of the Pharisee, "I thank God i'm not like one of THEM", whilst the chastened humbled tax collector didn't even DARE look to Heaven, when he asked for mercy.

We must be a peculiar people...and that's hard, we bear the lineage of Adam...so then we must seek Jesus revealed to us, and must seek Jesus living in us. (i'm not preaching or lecturing you, my precious sister, i'm just speaking my heart)

What kind of peculiar people?.....weird to be weird? bizarre to be bizarre?....just for the sake of it?....no, that again is pride, coz its a "look at me" thing....

no, a peculiar people full of Love, God's love....and humble, full of faith, full of good works (oh no, I used the "works" word!) a good work is a hug to a broken soul, whispering the Words of God in their ear....an ear which might be filthy and smell bad.

but to be a peculiar people, we, who should know better, should stop tearing each other apart with dubious disagreements over that dash or this iota....to be a peculiar people, we should fly in the face of putting up a front, and be authentic and REAL..in the light of Messiah IN you....winsome and loving..instead of this all too familiar front of "churchianity" and "christianese" with all of its '-ism's' and 'ists'.

That's fine for 'ten shekel and a shirt' priest/pastors, and it might fool some of the people all the time....but not all are fooled, especially God.

do you think Lot hung around Sodom, trying to pass anti-sodomite legislation?

no....he left as quick as he could...fire was coming down.

Did Jeremiah stand in the valley of Hinnom with signs decrying infanticide?....NO, he spoke the Words of the LORD, that all who did this, would have their dead bodies devoured by the birds of the air....The LORD was so shocked by the horror of parents throwing their own babies
into the fire to appease some filthy pagan god, who is no god, The LORD said, "its didn't even come to my mind to do such a thing!"....and to shock the LORD, Master of the Universe.....it has to be SOMETHING ULTRA FOUL AND EVIL....

and here, JUST in America, 50 million babies dead....and we oorah about how awesome great America is?....and how does that stack up with the phony wars since 1947 this country has been involved in to support some cooperative whore dictator, so American Banana, or GE could ramp their profits..all these phony wars for money, how many precious little ones died?...or their parents, grandparents....just so the princes of this land could eat rich food, and make merry on the dead bodies of 'who cares'?

and we think that sin is hidden from the LORD?...or that He "buys" this LIE of "American exceptionalism"?..or that the liars that say "Lord, Lord", blather on about how America is a "Judeo-Christian" nation, don't convict themselves by saying that, while doing global murder FOR GOLD?

So, we be a peculiar people by speaking the WHOLE TRUTH of the LORD, just as those 15 prophets of Ancient doomed Kingdom of Israel did...and we be a peculiar people by making all envious of this Great Salvation....sins covered, the bondage of the fear of death gone, the Holy Counsel of God the Holy Spirit in us....and covering all that .....Love.

fore.....

"By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world."

We are sojourning in a world thst hates our Lord and Savior.

Many are called but few are chosen. Few are chosen because many are unwilling to say "yes" to the Savior's call.