Ezekiel 3:17-19
“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”
Over the past few weeks, the idea of taking responsibility has really been on my mind. I remind myself that there is a judgment coming to me and that I must give an account to the Lord. At the age of almost 59, that judgment is sooner than I would like, to truly be honest with myself about.
I saw a lovely post today on FB about a Vietnam Veteran who was badly wounded in a helicopter crash, actually had his arm mangled, and eventually had it amputated. In spite of the pain, he manned his automatic weapon on the helicopter and took out the enemy. He spent 4 or 5 months in a hospital in Tokyo before returning home, and he said that the thing that really got to him was that the men he helped save by manning his gun in spite of the pain and injury would come and show him pictures of their kids, their girlfriends, their wives and other family members, and they would thank him.
In this life, much like in the field of combat, we are going to get hurt. Things will happen that will change our lives forever, but God has called us, much like this soldier, to keep fighting, keep being the watchman, keep warning the people around us, both our loved ones and enemies alike, that Jesus is real, Jesus died for their sins, that He rose from the dead, and that He is coming again to reveal Himself to the world once more. We need to let them know that there is a judgment coming and they need to be ready. But a lot of us Christians are not sharing the Gospel; some are drawing further and further away from the lost, leaving them without any hope.
But there is more than just that. Let’s say that God, in His love and wisdom, does not send Jesus as soon as we think. We need to stand for the truth to preserve the freedoms and rights for our children and grandchildren. Too many of us are happy as long as the ‘bad stuff’ does not happen in our time. But that is not how we should be thinking. I do not want my granddaughters to grow up in a Canada that has become an Islamic republic. This is why the Gospel is so important. True Christianity is the only guarantee of freedom that our kids have. The truth of God’s love, Jesus’ sacrifice, and the peace that it offers is all we have, but it is all we need. The idea of loving God and loving our neighbors is the only true guarantee that we will be a free nation for our children and grandchildren to live in.
We are the watchmen/watchwomen; we need to know the truth, live the truth, speak the truth, and stand up for the truth, or the lies will take over and we will become the hated ones.
I just saw a police chief here in Canada say publicly that those who embrace ‘traditional values’ are extremists. Let that sink in – the idea that the family is most important, that men are men, women are women, and that marriage is sacred and should be between a man and a woman forever, if at all possible, is now considered an extremist stance. This is the prophecy from Isaiah 5:20 playing out: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Even our governments are lying to us, avidly promoting evil as good and silencing those who speak what we ALL KNOW to be TRUE. Our governments are now the mouthpieces for evil. They are trying to silence the dissenters who speak the truth. If we are silent about the truth, it will go away, and our kids will not know it. They will be lied to at their schools, and when we tell them the truth, they will think we are the liars. How sad. Soon, they will be God-haters like the vast majority of people around us, and we will lose them because we, the watchmen, kept silent.
For a long time, these verses in Ezekiel were used almost exclusively about the Gospel, and rightly so. But truth extends so much further than the Gospel; Jesus taught the truth on a variety of subjects, and we as Christians should be well-versed on issues of the truth. There is no freedom without truth, NONE.
This is not just about the Gospel, but ALL truth is about freedom. Too many of our kids and a lot of our adults are trapped in a prison of lies. They have been trapped for so long, they have swallowed the lies and cannot live outside of the lies. Our silence as saved people, as churches, and as people of the light has been and continues to be very dangerous.
It still amazes me how many Christians vote for people who promote evil, vote for people who murder babies in abortion clinics; it amazes me how many people of color vote for people who are actively killing them off; it amazes me how many people vote for socialism and how many Christians think that the LGBTQ2+ movement is about freedom and not about the dominance to indoctrinate our kids.
A lot of Christians will be astonished at the law and order Jesus is bringing. They will cringe at the things Jesus will do away with and that He will not water down God’s laws nor make excuses for the abuse thereof.
Look at Psalm 2: 8-9; “Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession. You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”
Jesus will execute absolute authority; He will not need to take a vote or ask for an opinion. Why then are we so wishy-washy? I admit that I can be at times; I don’t want the fight today, and I take a break from being a watchman. But, at what price? I have to remind myself that judgment is coming. My sins are covered by Jesus, but I will answer for my life after salvation and how I did my job as a watchman. Lord, have mercy on me!