Commentary: In the Wake of An Unnatural Disaster (Part Six)
#1309c
John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)
Given 20-Feb-16; 15 minutes
An article in Christianity Today shows that American Christians are becoming increasingly confused about whether abortion is equivalent to murder. America and the other Israelitish nations have eclipsed the sins of Sodom and Egypt, and are the primary target of Ezekiel's prophecies, words which were written after the captivity of Judah and Israel. Ezekiel's prophecies are unfolding right now, before our eyes, describing contemporary news events—real end-time material. Sadly, the haughtiness with which modern Judah and Israel embraces immorality makes the people of Sodom appear moral in comparison.
transcript:
In November, 2015 the Christianity Today magazine published an article written by a woman who was once deeply involved in the abortion business and strongly in favor of it as well. But she recanted of those former beliefs. The article contained her present disgust.
There were a number of people who lodged complaints about the article because the authoress stated that it was “unchristlike” to call abortion murder. The complaints motivated the Christianity Today editorial staff to amend the article to read that abortion is indeed murder.
But the article as it was originally written reflects a truth: That Americans considering themselves Christian have a difficult time grasping that abortion is indeed murder. It is the willful slaying of a human in a stage of life during which the child is simply not mature enough to be apart from the mother’s body. These so-called Christians do not truly believe in God or in what God says through the Bible. Thus, they have little resistance to the persuasions coursing through the public at large because neither issue is of great concern to them. They do not grasp that both issues are eroding their quality of life and the breaking of God’s laws.
I am continuing my comments, displaying examples of how shallow moral thinking is in this and other Israelitish nations. Who sets the standards as to what is right and wrong? God does, but in this so-called Christian nation that is no longer the reality in public life. The humanists who run the country do.
I want us to understand as clearly as possible that we are living in a moral garbage dump. My concern is that the constant influence of American immorality subtly influences one to accept the immorality as being more or less normal, and therefore, not really all that bad. "Everybody is doing it, aren't they?" I want us to be able to defend ourselves against this foul world. The apostle John admonishes us, “All that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (I John 2:16).
Where does abortion come from? It is not from God; it is from the world, and it is all around us. Do we not want to have attitudes and truth just like His?
I want to give you a bit preparatory background as to how God evaluates Israel’s social conduct. Who does God appear to condemn in His Word as the outstanding example of immorality in the Bible? Is it not Sodom? In Revelation 11:7, God clearly identifies Jerusalem, the capital city of the Israelitish people, as Sodom and Egypt. Where do you think Jerusalem, the capital city of the Israelitish people, stands in God's mind if He calls it "Sodom"? That is really a clear comparison. But hold on for just a moment because in Ezekiel 16, Israel and Judah are both compared with Sodom as though they are sisters. You can follow this if you want.
Israel, Judah and Sodom are not literally genetically sisters. There is no real relationship; no blood relationship. However, they are sisters under the skin. In other words, their conduct is similar. Ezekiel 16 contains a very telling comparison of these three that is a searing statement about how shamefully immoral American behavior is.
Just in case you might excuse Israel and Judah because what is written in Ezekiel was written so long ago, I want you to rethink that opinion because of one reasonably clear factor. The book of Ezekiel was written after both Israel and Judah were punished by God and sent into captivity for their immorality and anti-God spirituality. It was written after. What this means is that, unlike virtually every other biblical prophecy in which God warned the Israelitish people before the calamity He was planning if they did not repent, Ezekiel was written after the calamity occurred. Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Amos, for example, did warn those nations, but Ezekiel never got to them. Therefore, Ezekiel remains to be preached, and to the best of my knowledge, there is no scriptural record that what Ezekiel wrote has ever been given to the Israelitish people.
What we are looking at, at this time, is a report describing what is now in process of occurring. This is not merely ancient history, even though it did occur leading up to Ezekiel's time of writing. But it is also happening right now. Listen carefully, because this is end-time material.
Ezekiel 16:44-52 makes the following comparisons from God. These accusations are aimed primarily at Judah but all those accused are guilty of the same sins but at somewhat different levels of intensity:
Ezekiel 16:44-52 “Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’ You are your mother’s daughter, loathing husband and children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. [That comment zeros in on Jerusalem, the capital city. The Israelitish people did not found Jerusalem; the Amorites and the Hittites did. Later, David conquered it and made it his capital city. It was already a city at that time. But He is going all the way back to the origin.]
“Your elder sister is Samaria [Remember, I said it is aimed primarily at Judah.], who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters ["Daughters" is put in there to indicate the citizens.]. You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but as if that were too little, you [Jerusalem; Judah] became more corrupt than they in all your ways. [More corrupt than Sodom.]
“As I live, says the Lord God, neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. [Did you notice God didn’t even mention Sodom’s sexual sins? We tend to think of them as being their great sin.]
“And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit [He blew them to smithereens for those sins with something like an atomic or hydrogen bomb.]. Samaria [Israel] did not commit half of your sins [Judah]; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters [Israel and Sodom] by all the abominations which you have done. [To put that into plain language: "Judah, you are so rotten—so corrupt—you made Israel and Sodom look good!"]
“You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame because you justified your sisters.
Go to verses 55-58 and pay extra special attention here because God sets the time element here:
Ezekiel 16:55-58 “When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to you former state. [What is He talking about there? He's talking about when they come back from their captivity. I put this in here because I want you to see the time element for this accusation against the Israelitish and Judean people. It is right before Christ returns, because He is going to bring these people back to their former state.] For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and the daughters of Philistines, who despise you everywhere. You have paid for your lewdness and your abominations, says the Lord.’”
When you put that all together, we are in Israel. God evaluated us and He told us that we every bit as bad as Sodom, but not quite as bad as Judah. Think about that. That is right out of the book. That is what you and I—what we—are living in. We have not reached the peak yet, but it is headed there.
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