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Ezekiel 19:10-14,
"Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation."
This spoke of Israel who at one time had "strong rods" in the community as far as leadership, but there came a time these were taken away and Israel sinned more and more, so judgment came. Gone were the Samuels, and Davids, and Hezekiahs, and Josiahs. And although there were a few godly prophets proclaiming the Word of the LORD, most "prophets" were self appointed, speaking easy things, and things of their own heart that the LORD did not tell them.
Zephaniah 3:4, "Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law."
Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon on part of the Ezekiel passage, entitled, GOD’S AWFUL JUDGMENT IN THE BREAKING AND WITHERING OF THE STRONG RODS OF A COMMUNITY. Ezek. xix. 12.—Her strong rods were broken and withered.
Although Edwards speaks of a civil ruler in New England, Judge John Stoddard, he also describes a man who is predominately a Christian, and walked and talked his faith in all circumstances. It is this attribute I wish to convey, and apply it to the "strong rods" who are ministers of the Gospel of Christ, or were.
Jonathan Edwards was one such strong rod, as was George Whitefield, and John Wesley in the same time frame, then in the 1800s, Charles Spurgeon must stand out as a strong rod in Great Britain, while D.L. Moody and Charles Finney stood out in America. In the 1900s there was Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, and David Wilkerson. They have all passed. I could name many others, just not as prominent as these godly men.
I fear God is judging America by removing the "strong rods" because there just doesn't seem to be the same calibur of preacher today in the 21st century as in times past. Oh, there are so called "revivals" but many of them seem cheap, and it's more about easy grace and numbers of so called converts than anything else. There are some great preachers out there, but their congregations are very small. There are some good preachers with larger congregations, who preach the Word, but why do we not see big changes in communities as in times past. Smart Phones? Computer games? The fast paced world we live in? Those would be excuses.
Lukewarmness, and deadness has settled in. People go to church and leave as if nothing's happened. There is a curse over the nation because of sin, and I honestly feel that while there are anointed preachers, something is gravely amiss. There are way too many worldly conversions, which probably are not even conversions. Edwards describes Stoddard in these paragraphs, and these should describe any man of God:
"Such rulers are eminently the ministers of God to his people for good: they are great gifts of the Most High to a people and blessed tokens of his favor and vehicles of his goodness to them, and therein images of his own Son, the grand medium of all God’s goodness to fallen mankind: and therefore, all of them are called sons of the Most High."
"No profane language, no vain, rash, unseemly and unchristian speeches. If at any time he expressed himself with great warmth and vigor, it seemed to be from principle and determination of his judgment, rather than from passion. When he expressed himself strongly and with vehemence, those that were acquainted with him, and well observed him from time to time, might evidently see it was done in consequence of thought and judgment, weighing the circumstances and consequences of things.
The calmness and steadiness of his behavior in private, particularly in his family, appeared remarkable and exemplary to those who had most opportunity to observe it.
He was thoroughly established in those religious principles and doctrines of the first fathers of New England, usually called the doctrines of grace, and had a great detestation of the opposite errors of the present fashionable divinity, as very contrary to the word of God and the experience of every true Christian. And as he was a friend to truth, so he was a friend to vital piety and the power of godliness, and ever countenanced and favored it on all occasions."
"He abhorred profaneness, and was a person of a serious and decent spirit, and ever treated sacred things with reverence. He was exemplary for his decent attendance on the public worship of God. Who ever saw him irreverently and indecently lolling and laying down his head to sleep, or gazing and staring about the meeting-house in time of divine service? And as he was able (as was before observed) to discourse very understandingly of experimental religion, so to some persons with whom he was very intimate, he gave intimations sufficiently plain, while conversing of these things, that they were matters of his own experience."
Where are they, and why do we not see such people very much in society today? It's as if their voices are silenced, or quenched, and I honestly wonder if it's God and not Satan doing so. I don't know. But what I do know is God will give a people, a whole society over to their sin if they are so obstinate and hard hearted that nothing gets through to them.
Look at Ezekiel 13:1-8,
"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord;
Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.
They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God."
I DO see a lot of THAT today. Every one of those prosperity preachers, and soft motivational speaker type preachers like Joel Osteen. They are either preaching a false Gospel altogether, or an incomplete Gospel, or a weak Gospel - and any Gospel that is not the whole full counsel of God is not the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! Here is something said by one of the "strong rods" of the 1600s:
""Know the word of God abiding in you, which was in the beginning, and brings to the beginning; which word being ingrafted, it saves the soul, and hammers down, and throws down, and burns up that which wars against it." - George Fox: Fear Not the Powers of Darkness, 1653
"The word of the Lord God to all my brethren, babes, and soldiers, that are in the spiritual warfare of our Lord Jesus Christ. Arm yourselves, like men of war, that ye may know, what to stand against. Spare not, pity not that which is for the sword (of the spirit,) plague, and famine, and set up truth, and confound the deceit, which stains the earth, and cumbers the ground...
All such are to be trodden with the city under foot; and woe proceeds from the Lord against all such, and the stone is falling upon such, and fallen, to grind them to powder. Arm yourselves like men of war; the mighty power of God goes along with you, to enable you to stand over all the world, and (spiritually) to chain, to fetter, to bind, and to imprison, and to lead out of prison; to famish, to feed, and to make fat, and to bring into green pastures.
So the name and power of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you! And go on in the work of the Lord, that ye may trample upon all deceit within and without, and their minds turned towards Christ Jesus," - Fox, Concerning the Spiritual Warfare, 1653
Oh, this is the kind of preaching we need, and not just the words, but the most vehement zea under the anointing and unction of the Holy Spirit, sent by a holy God, who will tread down His enemies, both Spiritual, and in the end, in the physical - For He will soon judge the earth in righteousness by that appointed One, Christ Jesus, and none shall stand. Question is, where will you be? Cowering before Him and attempting to hide in the rocks, or bowing in the dust before His majesty for His salvation, that He may take His child home to glory?
"And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" - Luke 18:7-8
"Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation."
This spoke of Israel who at one time had "strong rods" in the community as far as leadership, but there came a time these were taken away and Israel sinned more and more, so judgment came. Gone were the Samuels, and Davids, and Hezekiahs, and Josiahs. And although there were a few godly prophets proclaiming the Word of the LORD, most "prophets" were self appointed, speaking easy things, and things of their own heart that the LORD did not tell them.
Zephaniah 3:4, "Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law."
Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon on part of the Ezekiel passage, entitled, GOD’S AWFUL JUDGMENT IN THE BREAKING AND WITHERING OF THE STRONG RODS OF A COMMUNITY. Ezek. xix. 12.—Her strong rods were broken and withered.
Although Edwards speaks of a civil ruler in New England, Judge John Stoddard, he also describes a man who is predominately a Christian, and walked and talked his faith in all circumstances. It is this attribute I wish to convey, and apply it to the "strong rods" who are ministers of the Gospel of Christ, or were.
Jonathan Edwards was one such strong rod, as was George Whitefield, and John Wesley in the same time frame, then in the 1800s, Charles Spurgeon must stand out as a strong rod in Great Britain, while D.L. Moody and Charles Finney stood out in America. In the 1900s there was Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, and David Wilkerson. They have all passed. I could name many others, just not as prominent as these godly men.
I fear God is judging America by removing the "strong rods" because there just doesn't seem to be the same calibur of preacher today in the 21st century as in times past. Oh, there are so called "revivals" but many of them seem cheap, and it's more about easy grace and numbers of so called converts than anything else. There are some great preachers out there, but their congregations are very small. There are some good preachers with larger congregations, who preach the Word, but why do we not see big changes in communities as in times past. Smart Phones? Computer games? The fast paced world we live in? Those would be excuses.
Lukewarmness, and deadness has settled in. People go to church and leave as if nothing's happened. There is a curse over the nation because of sin, and I honestly feel that while there are anointed preachers, something is gravely amiss. There are way too many worldly conversions, which probably are not even conversions. Edwards describes Stoddard in these paragraphs, and these should describe any man of God:
"Such rulers are eminently the ministers of God to his people for good: they are great gifts of the Most High to a people and blessed tokens of his favor and vehicles of his goodness to them, and therein images of his own Son, the grand medium of all God’s goodness to fallen mankind: and therefore, all of them are called sons of the Most High."
"No profane language, no vain, rash, unseemly and unchristian speeches. If at any time he expressed himself with great warmth and vigor, it seemed to be from principle and determination of his judgment, rather than from passion. When he expressed himself strongly and with vehemence, those that were acquainted with him, and well observed him from time to time, might evidently see it was done in consequence of thought and judgment, weighing the circumstances and consequences of things.
The calmness and steadiness of his behavior in private, particularly in his family, appeared remarkable and exemplary to those who had most opportunity to observe it.
He was thoroughly established in those religious principles and doctrines of the first fathers of New England, usually called the doctrines of grace, and had a great detestation of the opposite errors of the present fashionable divinity, as very contrary to the word of God and the experience of every true Christian. And as he was a friend to truth, so he was a friend to vital piety and the power of godliness, and ever countenanced and favored it on all occasions."
"He abhorred profaneness, and was a person of a serious and decent spirit, and ever treated sacred things with reverence. He was exemplary for his decent attendance on the public worship of God. Who ever saw him irreverently and indecently lolling and laying down his head to sleep, or gazing and staring about the meeting-house in time of divine service? And as he was able (as was before observed) to discourse very understandingly of experimental religion, so to some persons with whom he was very intimate, he gave intimations sufficiently plain, while conversing of these things, that they were matters of his own experience."
Where are they, and why do we not see such people very much in society today? It's as if their voices are silenced, or quenched, and I honestly wonder if it's God and not Satan doing so. I don't know. But what I do know is God will give a people, a whole society over to their sin if they are so obstinate and hard hearted that nothing gets through to them.
Look at Ezekiel 13:1-8,
"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord;
Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.
They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God."
I DO see a lot of THAT today. Every one of those prosperity preachers, and soft motivational speaker type preachers like Joel Osteen. They are either preaching a false Gospel altogether, or an incomplete Gospel, or a weak Gospel - and any Gospel that is not the whole full counsel of God is not the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! Here is something said by one of the "strong rods" of the 1600s:
""Know the word of God abiding in you, which was in the beginning, and brings to the beginning; which word being ingrafted, it saves the soul, and hammers down, and throws down, and burns up that which wars against it." - George Fox: Fear Not the Powers of Darkness, 1653
"The word of the Lord God to all my brethren, babes, and soldiers, that are in the spiritual warfare of our Lord Jesus Christ. Arm yourselves, like men of war, that ye may know, what to stand against. Spare not, pity not that which is for the sword (of the spirit,) plague, and famine, and set up truth, and confound the deceit, which stains the earth, and cumbers the ground...
All such are to be trodden with the city under foot; and woe proceeds from the Lord against all such, and the stone is falling upon such, and fallen, to grind them to powder. Arm yourselves like men of war; the mighty power of God goes along with you, to enable you to stand over all the world, and (spiritually) to chain, to fetter, to bind, and to imprison, and to lead out of prison; to famish, to feed, and to make fat, and to bring into green pastures.
So the name and power of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you! And go on in the work of the Lord, that ye may trample upon all deceit within and without, and their minds turned towards Christ Jesus," - Fox, Concerning the Spiritual Warfare, 1653
Oh, this is the kind of preaching we need, and not just the words, but the most vehement zea under the anointing and unction of the Holy Spirit, sent by a holy God, who will tread down His enemies, both Spiritual, and in the end, in the physical - For He will soon judge the earth in righteousness by that appointed One, Christ Jesus, and none shall stand. Question is, where will you be? Cowering before Him and attempting to hide in the rocks, or bowing in the dust before His majesty for His salvation, that He may take His child home to glory?
"And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" - Luke 18:7-8
