Omega Message – December 1984
Cecil J. duCille
Ezekiel 34:2 “—Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?”
This scripture goes on to give us twelve indictments against the shepherds:
- “Woe be to the shepherds that do feed themselves.”
- “Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?”
- “Ye eat the fat.”
- “And ye clothe you with the wool.”
- “Ye kill them that are fed.”
- “Ye feed not the flock.”
- “The diseased have ye not strengthened.”
- “Neither have ye healed that which was sick.”
- “Neither have ye bound up that which was broken.”
- “Neither have ye brought again that which was driven away.”
- “Neither have ye sought that which was lost.”
- “But with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.”
The result of these twelve sins of omission and commission is outlined in verse six:
Ezekiel 34:6 “My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.”
God’s judgment upon the shepherds is in verses eight to ten, and His glorious deliverance of His sheep in verse twelve to the end of verse thirty-one:
Ezekiel 34:31 “And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.”
Let us look for a moment at the twelve indictments of God against the shepherds of Israel. That which God wrote to the Jews of the past, He writes to us of now. The why of it is that the Jews were only a type of the Church and all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets must be fulfilled in the end of time. The Lord is speaking to me very strongly about this matter and it is of very urgent importance to us even at this moment.
Well Fed Shepherds:
Millions of dollars are daily being poured into the ministries and very little of it is doing the things which God wants to be done. Most of it is feeding the ego of man and building big kingdoms but not lifting up Jesus Christ as Lord.
Hungry Flocks:
The desperate condition of the people of Ethiopia and other parts of Africa, and India, is a type of the condition of the modern church. The Sunday school lesson repeats itself every so many years, and a list of messages are even circulated for ministers to preach every Sunday. The social programs and lifeless ministrations, leave the people without spiritual energy. Most of the-shouting preaching – are sweets that tickle the imagination of the people and are not food to sustain and give strength in the time of need. The people have become addicted to certain operations of teaching, singing, shouting, silence, or speaking in tongues, which have developed into a “religious practice,” and not the worship of the living God. I Mourn With God Over The Condition.
I notice how the churches and preachers of the world react vigorously to the famine in Africa but the same churches and preachers and people show no emotion for the spiritual famine which is strangling the world. If you had a child which retained its stature of two years of age for five or six years, you would be alarmed and seek medical help, yet the people of the church continue to suck milk from the breasts of their leaders year after year, and develop an allergy for any form of meat offered. “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” Every psychological gimmick is being used by the shepherds of the churches to bind their congregations. Recently I saw an American evangelist offering plastic angels to the world to remind them of their guardian angels, in order to raise offerings. Most of the building programs which the people of God are paying for are not of God. The famine is great and the people are feeding on mostly trash and enticing sweets without any nourishment.
Eating the Fat:
Both in the spiritual and in the natural sense, this is abundantly true. Once we were having a meeting in a foreign country, and the native churches wanted to join with these mighty American evangelists, but the brother who organized it objected. Of course I wanted to know why – The answer blew me out of the saddle – He said, “God has called me to preach to the rich.” He did not want too many poor people hanging around. Of course he was foolish to have expressed that sentiment, but nevertheless most of the preachers without expressing it go after the affluent with tooth and nail. I was once told that the Satanists have 90 percent of the organized churches. I asked how was that done. My informant said they send men into the organizations with sumptuous offerings and tithes, and he said sooner or later they are invited to be board members. From that position they work to fill all the offices of the church.
Revelation 18:2 “—Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
Those that have any substance, both in the natural as well as in the spiritual, are devoured by the church system. This is a very distasteful subject to many, if we do not face up to these facts now, when are we going to? When it is too late? Many poor families have lost their properties because some high-powered evangelist caused them to mortgage their holding out to them for a sum of money as offering to their ministry. Some help you to make your will to turn your property over to them at death. Of course this is nothing new, since the Roman Catholic church has been doing this for centuries. O Jesus come quickly and deliver us from these Pastors who feed themselves and take the church as their prey.
Fleecing the Sheep:
Some years ago a well known Charismatic leader in the act of taking an offering, expressed the thought that God wanted them to fleece the sheep and if this was not done periodically, the sheep would be very uncomfortable. When this is applied to the church, it becomes one of the most shameful expressions I have ever heard. No wonder most of these leaders have gone into the “Pyramid” doctrine. This is a doctrine or teaching of greed which makes the perpetrators the apex of the pyramid and the tithes flow from the bottom of the pyramid, giving the apex the keys to the store-house. Leviticus 11 describes these ministries as Predator birds. The hawk and all the birds which take live prey, are described in this chapter as animals we should not eat. Of course you know that eating means to become one with. Jesus himself subscribed to this thought when he said in John 6, “—-Eat me, my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed.” Satan could not have done a more effective job in hindering and weakening the Body of Christ, than these ministries are doing.
Killing Them That Are Fed:
The pattern of the churches for many years was to excommunicate all those who received a direct revelation of God. Satan tried this with great disaster to himself, as far back as Martin Luther. Up to recently it was the common thing for the evangelical churches to throw out the ministers who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Since the Full Gospel Businessmen, and the Charismatic Movement, (if at all it can be called a move of God), the plan of infiltrating and re-capturing the “come-outers” has become standard policy of most of the Denominations.
I remember once I was preaching out a new church in a rural area where there had been an old well rooted, denominational church. There was a great revival and many people, especially the church members began to be saved. When the minister realized that he was about to lose the better part of his congregation, he immediately called a members’ meeting and told them that they all had the same thing that we have, and that the only difference is that we were taught to be more vocal in our praise and testimony. He literally taught those sinners to testify and after a while only by the Spirit of God could one discern who was testifying from a heart-felt experience with Jesus or from a head-felt determination.
Even so it is with the so called Charismatic Move. People are being taught to talk in tongues. There are three types of tongues: Soulish tongues, wherein a person speaks of his own soul; Satanic tongues, wherein a person is indwelt by a demon and allow the demon to speak through him; and the speaking in another language, (heavenly, unknown, known) by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The proof that many of the persons who claim to have received the Holy Spirit, do not really have him is in the fact that though they function religiously alright, they do not show forth Jesus Christ in their lives:
John 15:26 “But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, He Shall Testify Of Me”.
John 16:13, 14, “Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into All Truth: For He shall not speak of Himself but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he shall show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you.”
Everyone who obeys the Holy Spirit must come into one with all those who are in Christ. The reason is that if God is leading us we will hear from Him, and listen to His shepherds, and follow His voice. The Holy Spirit Comes To Give Us Power Over Sin, First In Our Lives, and Then to Witness.
Ye Feed Not the Flock:
In John chapter 21:15-17, Jesus asks Peter “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these” (Jesus spoke of the fish and fishing which Peter loved so much). When Peter confessed his love for Jesus, he said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asked the question again, and Peter confessed his love again, and Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep.” The third time the question was asked with much distress to Peter, but Jesus said again, “Feed my sheep.”
The importance of feeding the sheep cannot be overestimated. Jesus having repeated this three times is to us a word of utmost importance and urgency. The indictment against the shepherds (pastors) is that they are not feeding the sheep. Any food that does not come from God is not good food. The bread in the Tabernacle had to be specially prepared by priests. Any form of human effort to preach or teach or shepherd God’s people is rejected of God and counted as strange fire. We must be led of the Spirit in order to do the works of Christ. Man led of man is a failure. Works of man’s mind and desires even to please God are nothing by “hay, wood and stubble”. Man, in order to bring forth righteousness must be in submission to the Holy Spirit, and it cannot be any other way. This is Basic, Yet the Shepherds of Our Day Seem to be Totally Ignorant of this Precept, and Desire to Remain So. Unless King Jesus reigns first in our hearts and then in our homes, and in our churches, we cannot truly Feed The Flock Of God.
Oh that God would quickly break the yoke of bondage from His people and gather his flock together—one fold and one Shepherd.
Sonlight Devotional 