Ezekiel 44:5-8
“And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.
And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,
In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.”
The above passages of scripture are ones to consider soberly before God. The burden of the post will not be to analyze each scripture but consider portions of these scriptures to express a message of immense importance. The prophet Ezekiel was tasked with setting in order the sanctuary in ancient Israel and certainly there is a great need of it today in spiritual Israel. Many false prophets are promoting a message of peace in the church and are only willing to identify elements they deem “positive,” but there is no peace under the religious system that is the Church of God in name only. Every fellowship in this country is tainted with the sin of sectarianism and cannot be labeled the pure Church of God. Within each of them is pollution and the pollution has left these fellowships void of the Holy Ghost. Additionally, fellowships carry the awful stench of Babylon with its habitation of devils, the holding of foul spirits, and caging of every unclean and hateful bird. Make no mistake: it is the position of the writer that every fellowship is a sect, and that sectarianism is Babylon, and that every group that calls itself the Church of God today is Babylon. There is nothing wrong with the name Church of God, for that is the correct name. It is not to say that there is not a soul saved in any of these associations, but each one must come out in order to stay saved. God is not coming back for any of these fellowships that are nothing more than systems of men, but he is only coming for the Church of God that none of these fellowships represent.
In order to see the danger of fellowships, it is necessary to understand the pollution attached to them. One of the first things God identifies as a pollutant is the presence of strangers in the sanctuary (Ezekiel 44:7). The word stranger could also be interpreted foreigner. Essentially, unfamiliar influences are allowed to function in the sanctuary. Today, there is a host of unfamiliar, foreign spirits that are allowed to operate within the False Church of God. The term “spirit” is often surrounded by some ambiguity. However, it must be understood that spirits are looking to inhabit vessels. Spirits have bodies attached to them and they work through people. Consequently, any soul that does not have the Holy Spirit is a foreign spirit in God’s church. Furthermore, wherever the Holy Ghost is not anointing, leading, and ruling, there is a foreign, devilish spirit at work. Sadly, there are many operating in their respective offices in congregations with lives that do not bear out the evidence of the Holy Ghost. The writer has sat in many fellowship meetings and so-called revivals where the minister was not anointed, the life did not bear the evidence of the Holy Ghost, and many knew that he was not anointed, but because of politics - because of a man-rule system - that minister was shoved down the throat of the people. When man governs the church, the Holy Ghost cannot; and unfamiliar and strange spirits are loosed. As a result, the purity of the Church is undermined when pollutants in the form of strange spirits are allowed to hold influence. Many of these fellowships were God’s church at one time, but they became polluted by strange, foreign spirits and are no longer God’s church, but a Babylonian sect.
The fact that these “strangers” are examples of those without the Holy Spirit is in the description of “uncircumcised in flesh” and “uncircumcised in heart.” The circumcision of the Old Testament was a type of the destruction of the whole body of sin. Albert Barnes writes, “Circumcision was an ordinance by which it was denoted that all sin was to be cut off or renounced.” Adam Clarke explains, “it [circumcision] is not a cutting of a part of the flesh, but a putting off the body of the sins of the flesh… the law required the circumcision of the flesh, the Gospel of Christ required the circumcision of the heart.” Obviously, it is not enough to simply be forgiven of sin, but the body of sin must be destroyed. The body of sin undergoes a death in Sanctification and this work includes the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The “strangers” in Ezekiel 44 were examples of a ministry that does not have the Spirit of God and rules by carnal means. Regardless of how knowledgeable, experienced, or dynamic a ministry may seem, if they rule in the flesh, then they are of the flesh.
Perhaps the most alarming verse in this passage is in verse 8, “And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.” Essentially, the keepers were guilty of not retaining the doctrines and standards of the Gospel in the manner that it was first delivered. In as much as some people glory in the manifestations of God from the past, they are not able to glory in much that is transpiring presently. If we are honest, then we must admit there is not much glory in what is going on presently. There is a gross lack of keeping the charge that was given by God to the early Church. The Church of God started with an outpouring of the Holy Ghost, it was maintained by the direction of the Holy Ghost, and the only Church that will survive this last age will be the one still ruled by the Holy Ghost.
Dear reader, can you honestly claim that the group with whom you associate is the exclusive remnant? What evidence do you have that you are the remnant? Many will point to mighty manifestations of the past. Many will point to their preachers who hold to biblical truths. Many will say that because some souls are still getting saved they are the remnant. Some will say because they have not deviated from the standards of the sixth-seal brethren they must be the remnant. However, what makes you relevant today? Are you getting consistent manifestations of healing and deliverance today? The fact that your preacher is delivering truthful messages is not all that matters. Every group can produce preachers who speak the truth. Souls gettings saved? God will save anyone whom he draws and who repents\ from all their sins. Such is not the evidence that a fellowship is an exclusive remnant. Adhering to the teachings of the sixth-seal is not enough. Many have not deviated from the teaching of the sixth-seal but are powerless, uninspiring, and void of anointing. All of the False Church of God groups have smooth talkers and are able to persuade many. However, when you begin to peel back the layers of what lies underneath, you will find the corruption, the foreign spirits, and ultimately the pollution. The book of Acts is the blueprint for the Church of God, and wherever there is a group not meeting that standard, that group is not the Church of God. It is evident through the apostles and sixth-seal brethren what is able to be produced when the Holy Ghost is in control of his church, and until that same level of production is accomplished in this time, the remnant is still needing to be called out of their respective Babylonian habitations.
There are definite signs of a polluted sanctuary, and all fellowships bear the marks of one. Ezekiel 44:8 highlights a significant problem that has contributed to a polluted sanctuary. The scriptures say, “...ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.” It is a troubling situation when God is not the one in charge, and people replace his rule for their own. There are too many prophets prophesying falsely and priests bearing rule by their own means and, unfortunately, the people love to have it so. Many people will tolerate a polluted sanctuary because they themselves are polluted. If a pure ministry begins to lay judgment on the pollution, the polluted will defend the contaminated sanctuary.
First, the people of Ezekiel’s day, not God, had set keepers in the sanctuary. Essentially, people who had no business being in charge were in charge. As a result, a man-rule system was put in place, and God was locked out of the sanctuary. Such a condition certainly exists across the land today. Saints who have a real vision are being silenced if they refuse to compromise for their fellowship’s sake. If they refuse to conform to the status quo, then they are systematically removed while being labeled carnal, disgruntled, and evil-spirited.
Second, these keepers were put in for themselves. Timothy writes of a time when men would not endure sound doctrine but would heap to themselves teachers (II Timothy 4:3). A man-rule system is always careful about who gets positions and functions in certain capacities. They will ensure that the people in charge will not challenge the status quo but will instead act in accordance with a religious system and align themselves to the expectations of men to garner their approval. Many groups would rather put up a dry, unanointed, uninspired speaker than a prophet who will stir souls and feed the flock. Those who are polluted love the preacher who never gets to the issue but allows them to feel comfortable in their fleshly condition. However, this will never do for the genuine saint of God. God’s people want the judgments of God, and they hunger and thirst after righteousness. They are not looking for the teacher that will make them feel emotionally charged, but they want the one that will feed them doctrine under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They do not heap to themselves teachers, but they want the teacher that God has divinely called and sent.
Third, compromise is the earmark of the False Church of God and has polluted many fellowships. Compromise comprises more than just worldliness or the letting down of standards. Many people correctly identify compromise when it appears in a more outward form, such as in terms of modesty, divine healing, or fundamental doctrine. However, compromise is merely concessions by mutual agreement. It is through the spirit of compromise that men have set up their own keepers of the sanctuary. Consequently, much of the False Church of God resembles more of a “good-ole boys club” rather than God’s church. The diplomatic and political posturing of the False Church of God is trumpeting protocol at the expense of Holy Ghost leadership, trading away an unadulterated ministry for etiquette, and is labeling any who dare to question them disrespectful and disgruntled and, by fear, hold people under their sway. In all of this, they have polluted the sanctuary where souls feel compelled to owe allegiance to a system rather than to God. Instead of sounding forth a gospel that will build the Church of God, the False Church of God ministry sounds forth a gospel that will only attempt to perpetuate their sect. May God hasten the day when these abominable practices will be blown away under a powerful cleansing of the sanctuary. May a gospel that is without any mixture flow freely without any taint of compromise, politics, or partiality. Would to God that we would soon see the day where bonds and sects are forevermore past and where God’s people can stand on Mt. Zion and rejoice while Babylon is set to ruin. Men have polluted, corrupted, and defiled the sanctuary and have created a system of religion that will damn precious souls to hell. Dear reader, pray that Christ will cleanse his sanctuary again from all the evil pollutants contained therein.
Lastly, the keepers who have not been set in place by God can deceive many by their abilities in the pulpit. These ministers will be lions in their pulpits but become cuddly little kittens outside of it. They will emphatically declare the necessity of anointing in the pulpit but then put someone in the pulpit who is void of one. They will assert that standards are tighter now than ever as their people engage in activities from which the saints of old abstained. The ministry will cry that their standards are impeccable but refuse to enforce the standards when they are violated. Well did the prophet Isaiah say to cry aloud and spare not, if only such could be said of the ministry today.
Lamentably, the sanctuary has been polluted by people who claim to be God’s people. The pollution has not come from without but from within. Strangers are operating in the offices of the sanctuary and consequently, the results are strange. Too many saints of God are left in a state of confusion because they are not seeing biblical results but are supposed to still believe that they are a part of God’s church. Ministers are trying to convince the people that the pollution they see is none of their business, that they must leave it all to God, not ask questions, and just trust their leadership. However, the time has come to say what the strange substances in the sanctuary are and what they are not: they are uncircumcised in heart, they are man-rulers, and they are perpetrators of a polluted sanctuary. Furthermore, they are not Jews (inwardly), they are not of God, and they are not the Church of God.
In summary, only the Church of God is exclusively endorsed by heaven. Christ is only returning for his Church, which is without spot or wrinkle. Moreover, God will not be returning for a fellowship, but God is looking to utterly bankrupt every fellowship and call people out of such Babylonian institutions to the glorious and beautiful Church of God. Obviously, the positions asserted are not popular, but they are true. It is time to honestly assess our associations and carefully weigh them in accordance to the Word of God. This is not about starting a movement or a following. This is only about being a part of the real Church of God. Though all of hell will rage against her, and it can be expected that False Church of God will line up on the front lines to contest her, she shall never be defeated. May God expose Babylon regardless of the name she hides under. Presently, the Church of God is in for the greatest conflict she has ever faced, but may the war begin.