The defiled church

 

Ezekiel 8:14 & 16

He brought me to the north gate of the LORD’s Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz.

Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD’s Temple. At the entrance to the sanctuary, between the entry room and the bronze altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the sanctuary of the LORD. They were facing east, bowing low to the ground, worshiping the sun!

God gave Ezekiel this vision of the temple in Jerusalem. He was shown the hidden (because he had to dig a hole in the wall to reveal the door through which these things could be seen) idolatry going on in the temple of God, which was so offensive to God that He would later leave His sanctuary.

The inside of the temple was decorated with all sorts of unclean and idolatrous things all around on the walls – images of the animal cults of Egypt - instead of the holy and beautiful cherubim surrounding God’s throne. The leaders of the city were observing the religious rites of the Temple, while being secret idolaters. Not only were women not allowed in the inner court, but they were there worshipping the pagan entity called Tammuz. The worship of this god in ancient times was characterised by total immorality, and the women participated in the most shameful practices. The twenty-five priests were worshipping the sun in the temple of Yahweh! These abominations led to the breakdown in the social order, bringing social chaos and injustice, as we read further in the chapter.

And in the next chapter of Ezekiel, God showed Him the judgement that would be brought against the whole city because they had departed from Him in such a shameful way – the Chaldeans would eventually execute this judgement by killing all - men, women, and children. This judgement was fully deserved and a long time in coming.

Where does this lead us concerning the church? We observe all sorts of idolatrous images decorating the insides of many of our churches – symbols with meanings hidden in the mists of time, only recently being exposed by spiritual researchers. We hear of church leaders observing the external religious rites, while secretly being involved in sinful practices such as child trafficking, to name but one. We hear of pagan practices infiltrating churches, like Christian Yoga. We hear of pastors supporting and even initiating others into ancient cultic worship practices like using the enneagram, divination, New Age teachings. And just as in Ezekiel’s time, these are leading to the destruction of our society.

While the above is certainly not true of all churches, we must be aware that the bad shepherds will not escape God’s judgment:

Ezekiel 34:10 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock.”

Points to ponder: Am I leading people astray? Let us examine the truth of all we teach.

Building on the Rock!