“Let the priests, the MINISTERS OF THE LORD, WEEP BETWEEN THE PORCH AND THE ALTAR, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine inheritance TO REPROACH, that the heathen (nations) should rule over them: Wherefore should they say among the people (peoples) Where is your God?”                             JOEL 2:17

Now, this passage of scripture comes as the entire congregation is warned to seek the Lord with seriousness and fervor.

But this particular verse holds quite a thought for today. Notice this is NOT “outside” and yet it is NOT at the altar where THEY SHOULD BE, ministers are to SERVE. They are in the building but not quite where they SHOULD be. And they are told to WEEP.

Why? Because something obviously is not quite right with what has been going on inside. God has to have a prophet come along and point out that they may just want to get a little serious before they will be destroyed by enemies that they apparently can’t even see coming, as the scripture includes a PLEA to not give them over to those enemies.

Weep, cry and howl in repentance for the state of the flock or most of the flock, weep for what that house has become and weep for the lost and scattered sheep they will account for.

Ezekiel 34: 2a-4: “Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not a shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with wool, ye kill them that are fed (fatlings): but ye feed not the flock.

The diseased (weak) have ye NOT strengthened, NEITHER have ye HEALED THAT WHICH WAS SICK, NEITHER have ye BOUND UP THAT WHICH WAS BROKEN, NEITHER have ye BROUGHT AGAIN THAT WHICH WAS DRIVEN AWAY, NEITHER have ye SOUGHT THAT WHICH WAS LOST, but WITH FORCE AND WITH CRUELTY (harshness) HAVE YE RULED THEM.”

Dude.. that so awfully familiar. “Fat cat” shepherds and preachers who only want to preach for the all mighty dollar, would never offer to go pray for the sick or dying, or just visit someone who is down.

Offerings taken up left and right for them and yet no one ever hears the words, “This is for…..”  would be nice just once to hear ANYTHING other than money being raised for building something that is to serve them,  how about for legitimate church debts, maintenance, or to donate to a food bank, or heaven forbid raise money for widows, single moms, or those crushed in this economy.  

And to hear over and over ministers WHO should be concerned with the LOST constantly brag about the obscene amounts of money for this and for that COMES to them.

Two stories always leap to mind with this, Daniel who WOULD not take the fabulous gifts offered to Him for the gift of  interpretation of dreams that GOD HAD GIVEN HIM. And Elisha who knew God gifts belong to God and are FREE to those who receive them but had one close to him that thought otherwise and would lie in his name to get what he wanted.

Daniel 5:16,17: (Belshazzar speaking to Daniel) ” And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make (can give) interpretations, and dissolve doubts (explain enigmas) now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of GOLD about thy neck, and shalt be third ruler in the kingdom.  

Then Daniel answered and said before the king, LET THY GIFTS BE TO THYSELF, AND GIVE THY REWARDS TO ANOTHER, yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.”

Notice the fine clothes, fine jewelry to BE DISPLAYED, and all that POWER in THAT kingdom, that group, that circle, that has bought a many of them.

Ah.. those who would make money from the gifts of God, EVEN if they are not the vessel through which that gift is bestowed. 2 KINGS 5, to break it down Naaman had leprosy and had been told to go visit the Prophet Elisha who told him to go dip in the Jordan seven times and we will pick up after God had granted his healing:

2 KINGS 5:15-16,20-27:  And he (Naaman) returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came and stood before him; and said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; Now, therefore, I pray (ask) thee, take a blessing of thy servant (take a gift) .

But he (Elisha) said As the Lord liveth, , before who I STAND, I WILL RECEIVE NONE. and he urged him to take it; but HE REFUSED.

{ So he goes on his way }   BUT  Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in NOT receiving at his hands that which he brought: BUT as the Lord liveth, I WILL RUN AFTER HIM, AND TAKE SOMEWHAT OF HIM ( something from him).

So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well, My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets, give them, I pray thee,  A TALENT OF SILVER, AND TWO CHANGES OF GARMENTS.

And Naaman said, Be content, (of course) take two talents. and he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon on two of his servants, and they bare them before him.

And when he came to the tower (hill), he took them from their hand, and bestowed (stored) them in the house: and let the men go, and they departed.

But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, (where have you been) Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither ( no where). 

And he (Elisha) said unto him, Went not mine heart (Did not my heart go) with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? IS IT A TIME TO RECEIVE MONEY, and TO RECEIVE GARMENTS, and OLIVEYARDS, and VINEYARDS, and MENSERVANTS, and MAIDSERVANTS? 

THE LEPROSY therefore of Naaman, SHALL CLEAVE UNTO THEE, AND UNTO THY SEED FOR EVER. And he WENT OUT FROM HIS PRESENCE A LEPER AS WHITE AS SNOW.”

Wonder how many started a good race and let the greed for all these worldly possessions take them out of the presence of God also???? Elisha asked “Is it time” because NOW is not the time, we are NOT to receive rewards. We are to put up treasures IN HEAVEN.

So… where are we? We are now dealing with the sick and diseased sheep who are not healed. Hummm….    nothing like looking at people standing at an altar for prayer only to be told that they should all just pray one for another, oh but only based on gender.

Kinda funny, pretty sure that the Bible states that “healing and miracles”  are one of the gifts and God gives those to whomever he chooses. And we are neither male nor female in God and in the Spirit: GALATIANS 3:24-28. So maybe,they should try to take that argument up with God.

Who dictates whom God is ALLOWED to work through???? And of course it would be helpful to really actually care who these sick sheep are and actually care whether or not they were healed.

Ones that profess Christ and are an endless spew of off-color comments and downright vulgar thoughts towards the lost. Shaming the poor and those with public assistance and ever pleading “the cloth”  to hide behind “the cloth” well, they are going to need something to hide behind.

Who is being saved again????

Wounded and driven sheep, see someone sitting crying, sure leave them there, let ’em cry,  they’ll be okay.  SOMEONE else will deal with helping them, yeah, BECAUSE GOD will send someone else to them later on. BUT that does not excuse accountability by a long shot.

Sheep that have been driven away, driven with rods of iron and harshness and threats of taking away what God himself  has given. Forced into position of black sheep for “obeying God rather than man” and other sheep ALLOWED to be driven away through the “fat cattle” by harshness and by ones who have a superiority complex. (We’ll get to the “fat cattle” next time, Lord’s will)

Sheep driven out to become unprotected prey and eaten alive by every “beast of the field” no one watching and no one caring. So starved that some die through malnutrition by becoming prey to those jackals who win their trust by feeding them fluff, only to let them die anyway.

Sheep that have been scattered because they are different or just don’t fit into the groove the flock wants to project. Again accountable,  and accountable on ALL counts.

Ezekiel 34:8-11,16: “As I live saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became A PREY, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was NO shepherd, NEITHER DID MY SHEPHERDS SEARCH FOR MY FLOCK, BUT THE SHEPHERDS FED THEMSELVES, AND FED NOT MY FLOCK;

Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I WILL REQUIRE MY FLOCK AT THEIR HAND, AND CAUSE THEM TO CEASE FEEDING THE FLOCK (SHEEP); NEITHER SHALL THE SHEPHERDS FEED THEMSELVES ANY MORE; FOR I WILL DELIVER MY FLOCK FROM THEIR MOUTH, that they may not be meat for them. 

For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even, I, WILL BOTH SEARCH MY SHEEP, AND SEEK THEM OUT.  I WILL SEEK THAT WHICH WAS LOST, AND BRING AGAIN THAT WHICH WAS DRIVEN AWAY, AND WILL BIND UP THAT WHICH WAS BROKEN, AND WILL STRENGHTEN THAT WHICH WAS SICK; BUT I WILL DESTROY THE FAT AND THE STRONG; I WILL FEED THEM WITH JUDGMENT.“

Pretty good reasons to cry, and without some real realization and some real humility between that porch and that altar, it will be just as it is and just as it has been. We all say we want to see all the miracles and healings and salvation but WHAT is our motive? And for those who have an agenda other than the Kingdom of God, well, they are in for a very rude awakening.

All things are for the GLORY OF GOD, they are not for the glory of the church, or this minister, or that minister and I do believe God will use some “foolish to confound the wise” when He begins to work through those who were thought of the least and does not work through those who seem to think it is only for them. And NO ONE tells God who, when, how, or why.

” But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” ACTS 5:29

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω  Reverend Nina BrownJohnson 2016