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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of
your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them and
say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the women who sew magic
charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in
order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people but preserve
your own? You have profaned Me among My people for a few handfuls of barley and
scraps of bread. By lying to My people, who listen to lies, you have killed
those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.”
“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am
against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will
tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like
birds. I will tear off your veils and save My people from your hands, and they
will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Because
you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no
grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways
and so save their lives, therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice
divination. I will save My people from your hands. And then you will know that
I am the Lord.’”
Ezekiel 13:17-23
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Here’s something I found today as I was researching today’s
devotion:
There is going to be a lot of erratic energy buzzing around
the lives of people you love today, but you can't let it get in the way of your
plans! Friends and family members know that you care about them, but they also
know that you have a life -- so if you change your plans just to come to their
aid, you're only going to make them feel guilty. Just because they are going
through some emotional upheaval right now doesn't mean that they expect you to
drop everything and come running.
What is this?
Well, it’s supposed to be a prediction about what might
happen in my day, courtesy of what we refer to as a horoscope.
You know the way it works, right?
You take your birthday and it associates you to a certain
sign and it is that sign that is used to determine any multitude of things to
include your behavior and level of compatibility with other people (i.e. one
sign may be more or less compatible with a partner depending on that partner’s
sign).
For me, my birthday is in early March and thus the horoscope
places me under the sign “Pisces, the fish”. The item I shared above was today’s
daily horoscope for all Pisces people.
Well, guess what?
None of that happened today in my life. Not one thing.
So much for reliability and just one reason why I place no
stake in any horoscope, or any other matter of predicting the future for that
matter. For you can take these daily prognostications of what is going to
happen and put it in the same category as fortune tellers, palm readers,
psychics and the like. You’ll always find either mumbo jumbo or hocus pocus
depending on which of these you try.
In the end translation, they are nothing more than modern
day deceivers.
Well, as we turn to the closing verses of Ezekiel, Chapter
13, we find there were fraudulent people in the Old Testament as well, frauds
who were willfully and willingly misleading the people of God. Look again at
these verses:
“Now, son of man, set
your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own
imagination. Prophesy against them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord
says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils
of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare
the lives of my people but preserve your own? You have profaned Me among My
people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to My people,
who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have
spared those who should not live.”
“‘Therefore this is
what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against your magic charms with which you
ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free
the people that you ensnare like birds. I will tear off your veils and save My
people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then
you will know that I am the Lord. Because you disheartened the righteous with
your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the
wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives, therefore you
will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save My people
from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord.’” Ezekiel 13:17-23
Note the hocus pocus that was going on as called out by the
scriptures. For God tells His prophet that there were women who were making
predictions out of their own imagination. They sewed “magic charms on all their
wrists” and made “veils of various lengths for their heads”. The goal was to
ensnare people by speaking mistruths and profaning God in front of His people.
And for the most part they were very successful as they encouraged the wicked
to not turn from their evil ways.
Now notice that God did not allow the Israelites off the
hook. It “takes two to tango” as the old saying goes and so God made sure He
said that His people had listened to the lies that were being told. His words
remind us all that we have a choice as to what we believe and what we don’t,
and if we do not use proper discernment then we are almost as guilty as the
people trying to deceive us.
As for the women who were using their magic to ensnare
believers, God had some news for them.
His judgment was coming. Look at what He promised would
happen:
1. He would tear the lucky charms off the arms of the women.
2. He would save and free the people who the women had
deceived. In other words, God would release them from the lies of the women and
lead them to the truth.
3. He would tear off the veils the women wore on their
heads. They would not be concealed but rather exposed for their sinfulness.
4. He would make sure the women would no longer be able to
see false visions or divinations. No further harm would be done by them.
Friends, as mentioned before, there are any number of people
today who could be substituted for the women in Ezekiel’s day, people who are
using false visions and divinations to misguide the people who place trust in
their lies. I think there have been people like this present in almost every
generation and in almost any country.
So how do we stay out of trouble and keep ourselves from
being deceived?
It’s simple really. For we only need to turn to one source
for the absolute truth, a source who will never lead us astray. That source, of
course, is the Lord God Almighty.
Seek Him and you will always be guided in the right
direction. He’s the only One you can fully rely on, the only One who will never
give you any mumbo jumbo or hocus pocus.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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