Prophesy Against the Prophets - Pastor Stacey Shiflett

Pastor Shiflett
6 minutes ago
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Prophesy Against the Prophets

Ezekiel 13

Intro: The Book of Ezekiel was written during a tumultuous period in Israel’s history, around the 6th century BC, during the Babylonian exile.

The prophet Ezekiel was among the exiles in Babylon, delivering God’s messages to the people of Judah.

A. The Mandate that was Tough

The mandate given to Ezekiel was one of the most difficult tasks imaginable.

The phrase “son of man” is found in this one book 93 times.

If there was anyone that was acutely aware of their own humanity and feebleness, it was Ezekiel.

If there was anyone that understood their need for complete and total dependence on God, it was Ezekiel.

But in this chapter, he is given an extremely distasteful and difficult assignment.

God ordered him to “prophesy against the prophets of Israel.”

He wasn’t not told by God to encourage them.

He was not mandated by God to strengthen them, or try to help them, or sit down and talk with them.

He was given a clear mandate – PROPHESY AGAINST THEM.

· Not prophesy to them.

· Not prophesy for them.

· Not prophesy with them.

· Not prophesy about them.

· Not prophesy around them.

But to prophesy AGAINST them.

We live in a day and age where the unpardonable sin is to preach AGAINST anything or anybody!

We also live in a day where God’s men are not AGAINST the things that God is AGAINST!

Notice verse 8 - Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.

It’s high time we get against WHAT God is against, and we get against WHO God is against.

NOTE: I have a reputation in this country for the things that I am against.

I don’t enjoy it. To be honest with you, I despise it.

But what bothers me is there are pastors today that are not against anything except preaching like this.

They are not against anybody except preachers like me.

NOTE: Just because you identify as a prophet of Israel doesn’t mean God is for you.

Just because you surrendered to preach in an old-fashioned Baptist church doesn’t mean God is for you.

Just because you went to a fundamental, independent Baptist college doesn’t mean God is for you.

Just because you pastor an independent, Baptist church doesn’t mean God is for you.

And just because your daddy is a leather-lunged soldier of the cross doesn’t mean God is for you.

It is possible that God just might be against you!

Your title doesn’t get you grandfathered in.

Your position doesn’t guarantee that God you merit with God Almighty.

Just because you are a pastor doesn’t mean I can’t preach against you and what you’re doing.

Just because it’s happening at your church and not my church doesn’t mean I don’t have a biblical mandate to preach against you.

I am not just preaching against what you stand for.

I’m not just preaching against what you represent.

I am not just preaching against the doctrines and beliefs and ideology that you hold to.

Tonight, I am not preaching against your modern versions and unbiblical worship.

I’m not preaching against your ungodly music and ungodly alliances.

I AM PREACHING AGAINST YOU!!

What you are preaching is a problem, because YOU are a problem.

Every man of God in the New Testament preached against men.

Jesus preached against hirelings and false teachers.

He preached about them behind their back and he preached against them to their faces. (Matthew 23)

Paul preached against preachers in Galatians 1:8, 9

· But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

· As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

He was preaching against THEM.

2 Peter 2 deals with THEM – not just their message, but THEM!!

Jude condemned THEM.

· 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

· 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

· 10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

· 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

· 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

· 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Make no mistake: you cannot preach the whole counsel of God without preaching AGAINST some things, and AGAINST some men!

B. The Men that were Targeted

The men that Ezekiel was tasked to prophesy against were not outsiders.

They were not foreigners.

They were not prophets of Baal, or prophets of Molech.

They were not the magicians of Egypt or the wise men of Babylon.

The targeted audience for this message was the prophets of Israel.

One thing I have learned; the biggest threat to the remnant are the ones preaching to the remnant.

· It’s not the Buddhist monks.

· It’s not the Catholic cardinals.

· It’s not the Mormon elders and the Jewish rabbis.

· It’s not the pink-haired, rainbow-wearing lesbians in the pulpits.

It is the fundamental, Independent Baptist preachers that are killing us.

The men that were targeted in this chapter were FELLOW PROPHETS.

They were homegrown.

They were friends, family and fellow prophets.

They were men that we went to school with.

They are the men that we went to Bible college with.

They are men we grew up with.

They are men we preached with, and preached for, and took our people to hear.

They are men we bought books from and our kids had them signing their Bibles.

We all know the same people and preach in the same churches.

We all have attended the same camp meetings and Bible conferences.

God assigned Ezekiel a task, and that was to prophesy against his peers!

If Ezekiel had to prophesy against his fellow prophets all the way back in the Old Testament, how arrogant are we to think that we don’t have to?

If Ezekiel’s peers had been corrupted and had compromised, how much more will we see it in the Laodicean church dispensation?

C. The Message that was Tainted

Over and over again in this chapter, God’s problem with these prophets was with their message.

It was not HIS message; it was theirs.

· 2 …say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;

Notice verse 3 - Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

Notice verse 6 - 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.

Notice verse 8 - Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.

VANITY - emptiness, vanity, falsehood, nothingness

Notice verse 9 - And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies:

That was my introduction.

Several things about these “prophets of Israel” that God had to say that clearly define who they are.

God described them perfectly in this chapter.

I. The Unflattering Comparison – vs. 4

· 4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

The Hebrew word used here, shu‘al, can refer to either foxes or jackals, but the imagery suggests creatures that thrive in destruction and desolation.

In the ancient Near Eastern context, foxes or jackals were often associated with scavenging, cunning, and destructive behavior.

They are known to roam desolate or ruined places, scavenging for food and taking advantage of decay.

· Lamentations 5:18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

Foxes/jackals are opportunistic, sly, and elusive, often acting in their own self-interest.

By comparing the false prophets to foxes, God is telling us that these individuals are cunning, self-serving, and spiritually destructive.

Rather than building up the people or leading them to God, they exploit the nation’s vulnerability for their own gain.

Notice the significance of the “deserts” mentioned in verse 4.

The term translated as “deserts” or “ruins” (charaboth) is a place of desolation, destruction, or waste.

This could refer to literal ruins, such as a city or temple destroyed by invaders, or metaphorically to the spiritual desolation of Israel due to their sin and rebellion against God.

The image of foxes roaming in desolate places underscores the idea that these false prophets thrive in the midst of Israel’s spiritual and moral decay.

Instead of repairing the damage or calling the people to repentance, they scavenge and exploit the ruins, contributing to the nation’s downfall.

While churches are dying, these men are thriving.

While Christians are drying up and decaying, these men are exploiting and feasting on them.

They are not preaching repentance; they are preaching grace, liberty in Christ and lasciviousness.

They are not preaching on sin; they are getting fat on the church that is drowning in sin.

They are not bringing true revival; they are contributing to the destruction and downfall of God’s people.

They are foxes – jackals – plundering and exploiting the weak, the dying and the dead.

They are capitalizing on dead, dying churches, weak, undiscerning pastors, and carnal, worldly young people.

II. The Universal Cowardice – vs. 5

· 5 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.

When God said further down in the book…

· Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

He was talking about the PROPHETS OF ISRAEL!

These so-called prophets of God were a bunch of cowards.

They wouldn’t stand in the gap; they wouldn’t stand in the hedge.

They wouldn’t get involved in the battle for the house of Israel.

They avoided conflict.

They were afraid of confrontation.

They couldn’t take the heat of opposition.

They were intimidated by the enemy.

They refused to stand up, stand out and stand for and stand on the truth.

Not only are they unwilling to stand in the battle, but they condemn anybody that does.

They call them names. They disparage and mock and belittle and vilify anybody that stands in the gap.

They accuse them of pride, call them divisive.

They won’t attack the real enemy; they attack and fight against the few that are standing for truth.

They are all about “unity” until you prophesy against one of their prophet buddies, and then it’s on.

They are all against being divisive, until you cancel one of them compromisers for compromising.

They say things like:

· The lost is watching. People are going to go to hell because of what you’re doing.

· This is why our young people are getting out of church.

· This is why people won’t come to church.

· How would you feel if someone said that about your pastor or your church?

The simple truth is – they don’t want to be the offscouring of the world for standing for truth and right.

III. The Unsanctioned Communication – vs. 6-9

· 6 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.

· 7 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?

· 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.

· 9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

Let me be crystal clear what and what I am preaching about tonight.

Not all preachers are the same.

And it is not their style, their delivery, their eloquence or their popularity that separates the two.

It is their MESSAGE!!

I want to go on record – before God and before my church tonight about what I am doing and why.

I am preaching against the preachers that cast doubt on the preservation of the Scriptures.

· 2 …say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;

They follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

1. Any pastor that would get up in his pulpit and tell the flock of God that they have a message from God – a word of the Lord, and their message disparages, discredits, casts doubt on the Word of God IS A LIAR.

2. Any pastor that would get up and tell his young people and his new converts that the King James Bible is UNINTELLIBLE and HARD TO UNDERSTAND is liar and I AM PROPHESYING AGAINST THAT MAN.

He is prophesying out of his own heart – he is not preaching what thus saith the Lord!

They follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

The LORD hath not sent them!