Word of God Ministry

SUBJECT THE WATCHMAN IS ASLEEP [2]
When I left off last month, I said that a lot of preachers in the black community, are passing themselves off, as men of God. Yet, the subject scripture is talking about God having made, or anointed His man, to be a watchman, which brings in to play something that is 'REALLY LACKING', in our community, and that is men of God, that know their calling, and will go by the Word of God, and do what God tells them to do, irrespective of what other people, including Christians, may think.

Most Christians today, tend to look unfavorably on ministers, such as myself, and others, that dare to point out the absolute stupidity, and ignorance that passes for the word of God, because it somehow, in their minds, is bringing confusion in the Church, and therefore, needs to be ignored.

Yet, it is what God says that matters, and not what people think. That is one of our major problems in the black community, and, in the Church, in general. Anything that challenges the conventional wisdom or teaching in the Church, is to be rejected.

The watchman, has a different mindset, it is found in the subject scripture, where God is telling the watchman, what is what. The watchman, has a mandate, from God, to warn the people, with the warning of what is at stake, both for the people, and for the watchman.

Essentially, the watchman has to cover his own 'rear end' so to speak. If he doesn't follow God's direction, he is going to suffer God's punishment, and that is a whole lot worse than anything man can do to him.

In another passage of scripture, in the same book, chapter 33, God outlines something very interesting.

Eze 33:2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
Eze 33:3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow
the trumpet, and warn the people;
Eze 33:4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
Eze 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
Eze 33:6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

If you will take notice to the first part of verse 2, we see that the people, are the ones that choose a watchman, to look out for their safety. What this means of course, is the watchman, is one that the people recognize as God's anointed.

Here lies the first problem. The people, have to be able to know, God's anointed. As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of preachers passing themselves off, as men of God. They have the degrees, they have the popularity, they have the influence, they have everything that would make people say, 'Surely, this man, is God's anointed!!' And, as such, they set him up as their watchman. Problem is of course, it is not who man says is God's anointed, but who God says, is His anointed.

The people, have to be able to recognize who is anointed of God, and who isn't. You see, anybody, even an atheist, can go to college and get a degree in some form of religious studies, and be able to become a preacher, or pastor, in our carnal[worldly] way of thinking. We put such high value in a little piece of paper, that anyone without it, is not to be listened to.

God, on the other hand, uses the total opposite of that. He looks at the heart of a man, and empowers him, based on how he measures up to His[God's] standards, papers or not. That means, papers are good, but, without the anointing of God, you essentially have nothing.

Anyway, if you will take a gander at the part of verse 2, which is underlined, you will see that God is saying, 'When I bring the sword upon the land, .....', showing that He is doing it. What this tells me, and should be telling you, is, since God is in control over everything, and nothing bad can happen to any of us, if God doesn't allow it, then the logical question should be, 'Why is God allowing this to happen?' Or, as stated in this verse, 'Why is God doing this??'

However, if you will notice, no one is really asking that question.

What you may hear is something that goes along the lines of, questioning 'why is this happening??' Or, 'why did this happen??' Notice, no mention of God. Therefore, the answer from these so-called preachers is, something that excludes God. They put the blame on others, and therefore direct the people to battle them, completely ignoring that God is the one that is doing it. And, God is doing it, because the people are sinning against Him.

Do you see what is happening here??

Rather than correcting their sinful ways, the people are focusing their attacks on others, whom, by the way, may be the ones God is using to bring His wrath, or message, to the people. Therefore, attacking them, is the same thing as attacking God. And that just multiplies the problem.

With all the problems the black community has today, talking about crime, poverty, illiteracy, high mortality rates of infants, suffering from diseases, and the like, there is no way you can blame anyone but, yourselves. Man, in all his wisdom, couldn't come up with that type of attack on anyone, it has to be something bigger.

However, these preachers, either don't, or can't see it. That is why their solutions to the problems, center around, something man, can do. Notice, they are completely ignoring the God they claim to serve.

That, my friends, is our major problem.

If we ignore God, then that means we are, in effect sinning against Him, because what does the first commandment say?? Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. When you choose to follow after, or listen to anyone else, other than God, you are putting them, ahead of Him, thus making them, your god.

Moving down to verse 3, God says, of the watchman, If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, ....... Notice the first word, 'if.' This means, there is a possibility about something. What is the something?? It is when he sees the danger, and sounds the alarm, and warns the people.

Obviously, he has to be able to see the danger, and warn the people to take the appropriate actions, just like Joshua did, when Israel got defeated by a smaller army.

Seeing the danger, is the 'key.'

In order to see something, you have to have your eyes open. In the natural, we are talking about the natural eyes. Joshua saw the defeat of the army of God, and knew something was wrong, but didn't know what.

After seeking God, God opened his spiritual eyes, as to the cause of Israel's defeat. It was a spiritual situation, that caused a physical defeat.

Just like today, our problems, every single one of them, have at their core, some spiritual cause. And, unless we straighten that out, then, try as we might, the problem will remain, and continue to get worse.

One of my favorite scriptures says this, 2Chr 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. We see that 'if', again. It means, that in order to receive what we need, we have to do what God says, we need to do.

Well, the watchman, has to tell the people, what they need to do, to protect themselves, from, God's wrath [the sword], which boils down to one thing, and that is repentance.

Go in to a lot of churches today, talk to a lot of preachers today, about the problems this nation, and the black community especially, are facing today, and I will guarantee you that you will not hear anything about repentance. Or, if you do, it will be along the lines that someone else needs to repent, and not us. It is always someone else, that is the problem.

As I was writing this, the news is about a democratic congresswoman, who was shot in the head by a man, that killed 6 people, including a federal judge, and a 9 year old girl, and wounded 14. This is a tragedy. But, listen to all the talk shows, and the news media, and what you will hear, is, right wing Republicans, and their extremist agenda, helped bring this on. And, most black preachers, are spouting the same thing.

None of them see, or recognize the sword of God that has come in the land. As a result, the people, are not being warned to repent, and therefore are doomed to continue in the misery that is plaguing them. And, it will continue to get worse.

Every time God was displeased with something man was doing, He sent a warning first, before He lowered the boom, on the person/people, and that warning came, by way of His anointed watchman.

In the case of Joshua, the people did what He told Joshua, to tell them to do, and they got victory over their enemy, because they were obedient to God's word.

That's the way it is supposed to work.
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