WHITEWASHED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?”

“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord. So I will pour out My wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord.”’

Ezekiel 13:10-16

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How easily are you manipulated?

It’s definitely a question we need to consider because if we are easily misled, there is seldom a positive outcome. Maybe you can relate if you have ever found yourself in that position before. I know I can.

You see, we have a real tendency to trust people or certain sources of information to the point where we don’t check into the truth of what we’re being told. And when we are seen to have drawn toward that tendency, we are in the dangerous place of being swayed any number of directions by the person who is controlling the information, usually to a place of their advantage.

We see it in politics as poll results and other statistics are spun to either positively support the position of a certain candidate or degrade the position of their opponent.

We see in places where elderly people are unable to properly make choices and are led by others toward options that only suit the others’ self interest.

We see it in abusive relationships where the abuser knows all the right words to say to keep the victim within the abusive environment.

And we even see it in the church as the word of God is used in ways to sinfully misinform and influence people, often even leading those people into sin themselves.

This latter example is definitely the case as we look at our scripture passage today from Ezekiel 13, a passage that introduces a new term for us to replace the word “manipulated”. That term is “whitewashed”.

Look at these verses again here:

“‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?”

“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord. So I will pour out My wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord.”’  Ezekiel 13:10-16

The focus here is on the deceptive actions of false prophets within the walls of Jerusalem who were weaving lies through revelations of visions from God, revelations that never took place.

The Lord tells us what the end result was.

His people were led astray as they trusted these dishonest messengers into believing they were safe although they had openly sinned against God through their idolatry. The reality of the matter was God’s judgment was coming and in a way that would bring anything but peace. Had the people consulted God instead of the false prophets, perhaps they would have known they were being hoodwinked but they didn’t. They believed a lie only to find out the truth the hard way as they were whitewashed by the counterfeit prophets.

Judgment was coming on the people of God and rather that tell the people what was really going to happen, the phony messengers painted a picture of false security. They deliberately concealed and covered up the truth through their words, preventing the people from knowing what was really going to happen.

So how did God address this? What consequences would He bring on the prophets for their wicked actions?

It was simple. They would experience first-hand how destructive their words were by being destroyed themselves.

First, the wall of deceit they built, the whitewashed wall of dishonesty they erected, would come crashing down. God would bring every element against the flimsy wall of fraud - torrential rains, hailstones hurled from the heavens, and violent winds – until the wall fell down, leveled to the ground “so that its foundation” was laid bare.

This would be simultaneously times with the destruction of the prophets themselves. God promised it Himself.

For when the whitewashed wall fell, it would carry with it the very wrath of God that would destroy the prophets as well. In the end, the people would not only see the trickery exposed but see that those who lied were held accountable. It would be a tough pill to swallow when the people wanted to believe that everything was going to be peaceful and well. But perhaps through the experience, the people learned not to believe everything you hear without checking in with God, lest you put yourself in a position to be taken advantage of.

And that brings me to where I think the Lord is taking us today through this message.

Go back to the original question again and ask yourself, “Am I easily manipulated?”

If you are not consulting God on a regular basis about what you are being led to believe, you may be being whitewashed, just like the Israelites were, more than you think.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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