Ezekiel

Ezekiel Chapter 8

• Ezekiel 8:1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me. 

The glory and power of God falls upon Ezekiel again in the presence of the elders of leaders of the children of Judah. The hand of God means that the spirit of God fell upon Ezekiel like in chapter 1. 

The color of Amber seems to be present when the glory of God appears. 

• Ezekiel 8:2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber. 

This may be God Himself or even the Son of God before He became human flesh and dwelt among men. 

• Ezekiel 8:3 And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. 

The Spirit of God takes Ezekiel to see the things that are causing this judgment to befall them. Many times God will reveal to those who will seek Him what is causing the lack of the presence of God or what causes His judgments to fall. He doesn't do things without showing us why but we must seek Him for understanding with the attitude that we are willing to change whatever it is if the cause is within our own soul. 

This image of jealousy was the image of Tammuz. The worship of images causes God to be jealous because He knows what kind of evil spirit accompanies those images and it destroys the souls of those who worship them. 

This image was set up in the door of the inner gate. The gate led to the holy place. Imagine setting up idols in the temple built to worship God. See how far away from the truth they had fallen. 

Even in our present day churches, we need to make sure we are worshipping the real God, not images, entertainment or celebrities. We must lift up Jesus and our worship be centered on Jesus. Not just using His name to do our own thing but the whole focus of worship and teaching must be to bring people to Jesus. 

We tend to get into so much junk where Christ is on the back burner instead of the forefront of our worship.

Does the beat of music we use stir us up more than the message the song portrays? Remember the worship of idols was often times accompanied by loud music. Loud music in itself is not wrong but the message must not be drowned out by the beat and pomp. We like to work up crowds to worship, but old King Nebuchadnezzar also worked up the crowds to worship an image. 

I'm only saying that we should make sure our worship is toward God our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Images in the church should never even be an option. 

Tammuz was the supposed son of Nimrod and his wife in the days of the tower of Babel. Some say he was Nimrod reborn. 

Nimrod was one of Noah's great-grandsons. He was in rebellion against God. It didn't take long after the flood in the days of Noah for rebellion against the real living God to start up again. The name of Nimrod actually means, to rebel. 

We first learn about him in Genesis 10:8. Nimrod was the leader of the people. He caused them to rebel against God and build the tower of Babel. It was built for worshipping the sun, stars, planets and bodies of the heavens, using the excuse to build a tower to unite everyone. 

When we worship anything other than God, demonic spirits enter to deceive us into thinking we are worshipping the real God or another god who is false but appears to be real. 

Worshippers especially those that use images open themselves up to Satan and his demons, the power of the air. They can mimic good religious feelings. The bible was given to us in written form so that we know the false from the real. Using images is an insult against the real God. He forbids it. There are other things that we can do that is similar to image worship without using images. That is why we must worship God in spirit and in truth. 

Nimrod was deceived and became a deceiver. He and his wife, Semiramis actually believed they could become gods. Remember Lucifer himself desired to replace God and be the one in authority. That spirit comes from him. The desire to lord over and rule people in place of God can even enter the church. 

By building the tower of Babel it seems as if Nimrod was trying to bypass God's way and climb up some other way to become a god himself. This was similar to the same temptation the befell Adam and Eve. They wanted the wrong kind of knowledge and become like gods.

Whoever is in charge and lords over the masses will require worship to the leaders. Nimrod and Semiramis was the beginning of false pagan religion. That religion still exists today. 

When God confused their language and people were scattered all over the world, they took the false religion with them. They only had different names in different languages. 

The name of Baal, Istar, Bel, Diana, other names came from this time. The holiday of Easter actually came from Babylon. 

Nimrod was gored to death by a wild boar. After Nimrod's death, Semiramis elevated the worship of her husband as the sun god. She became pregnant and led people to believe it was Nimrod. This son was named Tammuz. He became son of the sun god. 

These things are from my own research and not to be taken as the Word of God although Tammuz is mentioned in verse 14 of chapter 8.

This may have been an attempt of Satan to try to deceive people into thinking this was the promised one who was to be born of a virgin and fulfill God's promise to Eve that her seed would bruise the heal of Satan. 

That is why some of our holidays came from a time when the Roman Church changed the names of the pagan holidays to Christian holidays with Christian names. 

The real Messiah did come at the appointed time. Jesus though was different than any before Him because He didn't come just to take over kingdoms but to save us from the sin that was separating us from a holy God.  Jesus said that we shall know them by their fruits. Pagan religion led to evil, child sacrifice, murder, sexual immorality. All false religions will have all or part of their religion involved in rituals, rites, and ceremonies instead of real worship in spirit and in truth. They will get into sexual perversion, torture, rape, murder. Some more than others. 

In today's world we see a revival of pagan worship. Satan even is getting it into the church. He brought some of it in during the Middle Ages but in these latter days we see a revival of the pagan religions entering the church. I believe in worshipping God with singing and music but we have to be careful in our music that is doesn't lead to sensual feelings and hype rather than genuine worship. We have to make sure we are being stirred up the the genuine holy Spirit of God and not by the flesh that likes the beat of music. We must stay away from that stuff even if our numbers stay small. 

Women would weep for Tammuz a certain time every year. They actually believed the legend that surrounded his worship.  

• Ezekiel 8:4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. 
• 5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. 
• 6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. 

They actually put the image of Tammuz at the gate of the temple. 

• Ezekiel 8:7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. 
• 8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. 
• 9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. 
• 10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. 

Images can be statues or can be engraved upon walls. People use to worship beasts and all kinds of weird looking creeping images. In saying that, we must remember that God even forbids us to make images that represent Him. 

• Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 
• 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 

God's laws are to heal, save and are for the good of those that keep them. He is not out to make us miserable.

Back to Ezekiel:

• Ezekiel 8:11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. 
• 12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth. 

God's spirit would have withdrawn with these abominations taking place. These men knew better than this which shows us that none of us are immune from deception. At one point in their lives, they rejected God and substituted false gods that would allow them to sin and still be religious.  
True religion frees from sin. It doesn't give us freedom to indulge in fornication, filth and abominations and still think we are saved.  

• Ezekiel 8:13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. 
• 14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 
• 15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. 
• 16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east. 
• 17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. 
• 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. 

We may think to ourselves that people today are too educated and civilized to go these kinds of things but this stuff is returning to our cities and nations. The fear of God had departed. Sexual immorality is at an all time high and to speak out against it is considered bigotry. 

Abortion is another form of child sacrifice because the child is sacrificed to the god of convenience. They take no responsibility for their actions. 

Legalized child molestation is just lurking around the corner of many nations. It already takes place in secret. 

We are worshippers of self and self gratification. Our images are in the form of videos and entertainment whether they are in the form of pornography and perversion or movies that make sexual immorality seem good and holy living seem evil. . Drugs and alcohol lower our restraints and make these things seem more acceptable. 

We are destroying ourselves little by little. By casting God out, we are sealing our fate as a nation.

Our only hope is to preach the gospel with fervor. The gospel is simply means to repent and believe in the name of Jesus Christ to save us from sin. Our only hope is to be filled with His spirit and live in holiness and righteousness. Only the power the comes through faith in Jesus makes that possible. We must choose to forsake sin and cling to the Lord to be covered by His righteousness. 

Ezekiel Chapter 9

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