New: Trust The Shepherd, Not The Hireling
Mark Twain, in Mississippi River pilot parlance, might have described our situation today as finding ourselves running close to the chutes on a falling river, approaching low water on the shallowest part of a reef, during an inky black, new moon night, the lunar disk providing no light. It’s a bad place to be if you didn’t want to lose a steamboat on the muddy Mississippi River in the 1850s. This is somewhat analogous to our current latter day journey. Deceitful waters carry us along in muddied theological darkness. The falling river, low water of our rapidly decaying society, where disaster awaits, increasingly drives us ever closer to the danger-filled stumpy shores of Babylon the Great.
Political pundits told us we shall never return to “normal” after our bout of “Covid-19,” now entering its 6th year. And indeed, this is true as the "Covid" vaxxes continue to injure and kill, especially the turbo cancers. If, as nations, we had the love of the truth of the word of God, and heeded the voice of our Shepherd, we would not be in this predicament. However, the linear sequence of the Old Testament prophets prophecies for our day point to the same conclusion, for the same reason.
Lacking in our love of the truth of the word of God, we blindly follow the voices of the hirelings. They are those who have been placed in our nation’s lofty perches, be it governmental, corporate, or religious, who possess dubious leadership interests that are not on behalf of the flock. They are running us towards rocky, barren shores, on a direct course to destruction. And like the blind sheep that we are, we listen to them. [See Dan. 4:17].
Written down in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, a messenger sent to us in these last days, are some very important examples for us from which we can learn valuable lessons, provided, of course, our reading comprehension skills exist beyond "See Spot run!" The key take-away for us, as in Mark Twain’s day would be, "when out on the water, trust the pilot who’s married to the river." In our pastoral Biblical parlance, trust the Shepherd of the flock who makes us to lie down in green pastures, not the hireling. [Psa. 23].
In Ezekiel 23, we have the example of two sisters, Aholah and Aholibah. Neither of them trusted their Shepherd. They lusted after what they thought were greener pastures. From Ezekiel’s perspective in the sixth century BCE, his description of Aholah was historical. Aholibah’s waywardness was current events. Today, their examples are prophetical warnings for us. We need to follow our LORD and Shepherd, and to beware the hirelings who led us from the love of the truth of the word of God, while pretending to be our protectors.
In Ezekiel 23, Aholah is the House of Israel. Her sister, Aholibah is the House of Judah. Aholah means “her tent.” This is reference to the fact that when Judah was broken away from the rest of Israel after the death of King Solomon due to his idolatry, the House of Israel set up shop in the land north of Judea, Samaria, which also was the name of their capital city. [See 1 Kng. 12:16-20]. The House of Israel established their own tabernacle, originally a tent, for religious purposes. Hence the name, “Her Tent.” And immediately, “Her Tent” took up with the false gods and customs of the heathen nations around them. In particular, they loved all the idols and ways of the Assyrians. As the story goes, God used Israel’s former lover, Assyria, as her destroyer beginning in 732 BCE. In fact, the House of Israel became famous among the nations back then for the example of her destruction. [See the Feature article, Damascus A Heap Of Ruins].
Now, one would think that having seen the infamous example of the hand of God against her sister Aholah, Aholibah, the smaller House of Judah, would get clued in that they should stick with the ways given to them by their Shepherd. After all, Judah had Jerusalem as its capital city. And, Aholibah means “My tent in her.” The temple of God was in Jerusalem, in the land of Judea. But we would be wrong in this assumption. [See 2 Kng. 23:27].
Judah did much worse than her sister. Judah took on lovers, all the idols of her neighbors, and all their customs and ways, one after the other. Tiring of one, she took on another. In her dalliances, she went through the Assyrians, the Chaldeans and the Egyptians. Judah, as God’s chosen along with her sister, were whoring adulteresses in the eyes of our LORD despite the warnings given to them to change their errant ways.
The reference to cutting off her nose and ears in Eze. 23:25 referred to the fact that in ancient Babylon and Egypt, adulteresses were punished by having their nose and ears cut off, which practice today would give plastic surgeons lots of business. It was in the nose and ears that gold rings and jewels were placed to entice men into adultery. Of course, in ancient Judah, adulteresses, and adulterers, were stoned to death. In the end, when Babylon took captive those of Judah, they destroyed Jerusalem, besieging it with mighty engines of war, hurling stones to knock down its walls. [See 2 Chr. 36:15-19; take the time to read through Ezekiel chapter 23].
Ezekiel's prophecy ends chapter 23 with this, "They shall repay you [Aholah, Israel, and Aholibah, Judah] for your lewdness, and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then you shall know that I am the Lord GOD." This was harsh punishment suffered by our ancestors of the House of Israel and the House of Judah, all because they had forgotten our Shepherd and his ways. And so have we.
Looking back on this, we might think, "Boy, were they thick as bricks or what!?" How could they be so far off the mark? I mean, they were warned by prophets of God! While Ezekiel wrote of them more than 2500 years ago, their story is our story today. It is a prophetic warning for us. Despite our thinking otherwise, we don’t know our Lord God either. Our bricks are just as thick. Our Shepherd has been reduced to a logo on a false product. [See 2 Cor. 4:1-6].
As the prophet Micah wrote, "Hear this, I pray you, you heads of the House of Jacob [all 12 nations of Israel], and [specifically] princes of the House of Israel [all nations of Israel minus Judah, the Jews], that abhor judgement, and pervert all equity, that build up Zion [Zionist Israel] with blood, and Jerusalem with unrighteousness. The leaders thereof judge for reward [decisions are made for the elites profit rather than the good of the people], and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet do they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us." [Micah 3:9-11, DBY].
We think we know our Lord God, that we are Christian nations, but we would be wrong. We know false gods. Santa and the Easter Bunny are the biggest celebrations in "Christianity." Follow the money. Neither of them are first century Christian practices delivered by Christ and the apostles. They're deceits that have crept into current day tradition. How would we view Judaism or Islam if their primary religious icons displayed to the world were the mythological figures of a bearded guy in a red robe zipping through the sky in a cart pulled by flying camels, or a giant bunny rabbit handing out gaily colored chicken eggs and jelly beans, spending trillions each year to participate in their celebration? Or to flip it around, "How do we know Christianity is the true religion? Well, we have flying reindeer. The Jews and Muslims don't have anything like that." So that's us. In essence, it's what we teach our children. Our Shepherd has become the myth. [See Pro. 22:6; also the Sneakers article, Got Milk?].
We have walked off the path given by Christ and the apostles in the first century. For what befell our ancestors, will befall us, only worse, under the hand of Babylon the Great, rather than ancient Assyria and Babylon unless we heed Ezekiel’s warning to us, and change our ways. [Rev. 17:1-6]. For if we choose to forebear, continue to follow the path the hirelings have taken us down, then, as it is written, we will perish as did our ancestors.
But this need not be the case. We are given a chance to turn from following the hirelings, and come to place our trust in our Shepherd, our Lord God. Christ outlined the way for us. For “the word of the LORD has come to us, saying ….”
The gospel of John 10:1- Truly I say to you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
This is the same warning we are given by the apostles about false prophets creeping in unawares. These false prophets have led us astray from the love of the truth of the word of God. They want us destroyed as were Aholah and Aholibah. “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Jude 1:4; Rev. 3:9]. From the looks of it, these false prophets have been successful, stealing and robbing us of the truth of the word of God, preaching a different gospel.
The apostle Paul expressed this concern in the first century to the brethren in the eleventh chapter of his second epistle to the Corinthians, when he said, "But I fear that somehow your sincere and open-hearted devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You may accept and live with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different gospel than the one you believed." The apostle Paul was right in his fear. For we have been deceived on all three counts.
v. 2- But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
This goes back to the repetitive point made in Ezekiel, "… you shall know that I am the LORD your God.” The truth of the word of God is our doorway to our Shepherd.
v. 3- To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
To those whom are called and chosen, having the Spirit of God, we now are the sons of God. [Rom. 8:14]. "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." [Gal. 4:6].
v. 4- And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
In other words, we recognize the truth of the word of God. And we have a love of it. And, therefore, we can discern the lies. As we read in Proverbs 13:5, “The Godly hate lies; the wicked cause shame and disgrace.” The voice of our Shepherd is truth. As there is one Shepherd, there is one truth. “And the scribe said to him, Well, Master, you have said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he …” [Mat. 12:32]. This leaves Santa and the Easter Bunny where in our "Christian" lives? [Luke 16:13].
When we know our Shepherd, we love the truth of his word to us, for that is the voice we follow. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny along with all the other idols, the works of our hands, belong to the hireling, who with his voice leads us astray. [See the Sneakers article, A Life and Death Pickle Of A Predicament]
v. 5- And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Once we have the Spirit of God, we abhor the lies for we realize they lead us to the barren and rocky pathway that is destruction, misery and death. Why would we choose to follow that path when we can experience the blessings and life given to us by our Shepherd? Stupidity and the lack of wisdom come to mind.
As Moses told our ancestors, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” [Deu. 30:19].
Like Aholah and Aholibah before us, as a society, we ignore the wisdom of Moses and have chosen the hireling's heathen ways that lead to our destruction.
v. 6- This parable spoke Jesus to them: but they understood not what things they were which he spoke to them.
It doesn’t appear, by our actions, that we understand either. After 2000 years of Christianity, we are farther away from the truth than our first century ancestors. [See the Feature article, The Good News Colour Revolution].
v. 7- Then said Jesus to them again, Verily, verily, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
v. 8- All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
The true flock of our Shepherd ignore the lies and falsehoods, and the resurrected pagan ways of old which beset our nations today. To enter into the kingdom of God, that path is only through Jesus Christ and the truth of his word. [Luke 21:33]. It is not through Santa or Easter or any other path. [See the Feature article, Why Do We Believe The Lies?].
v. 9- I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
There is only one Shepherd. Santa is not our shepherd. Easter is not our shepherd. And neither are all the other days devoted to the sundry lesser idols in our society. We've allowed them to sneak into our lives because we listen to the hirelings. They do not enter through our Lord and Savior. Hence, they are thieves and robbers who take our blessings and lives from us.
v. 10- The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
We are of the opinion that these false gods and idols represent our Shepherd merely because they are under the umbrella of what we call Christianity. But the truth of the matter is as Christ said here. They came in by a different way. They steal the truth from us. And as a result, we are killed and destroyed for our lack of the knowledge of the truth. [Hosea 4:6].
Yet, if we cast out the thief and robbers in our lives, and return to our Shepherd, we will save our lives. For as Christ our Shepherd has offered us, “Come to me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” [Mat. 11:28-30].
v. 11- I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
Seriously. Stop and think. Has "Santa and Easter" sacrificed their lives that we might live? No. Instead the hirelings want our lives sacrificed to them. “You’ll own nothing and be happy.” They don’t seek to protect us. They are snares designed to trap us into worship of their false ways and customs, the same as Aholah and her sister Aholibah did in their day. We’re no different. We follow the same path as did our whoring ancestors, for Easter/Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of fertility, sex and war, the queen of heaven, was known to Aholah and Aholibah as Ashtoreth. [See the Feature article, Easter, Babylon And The Antichrist].
“And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.” [2 Kng. 23:13].
And before Israel had a king, back in the day of the judges, the children of Israel had a liking for the queen of heaven, the goddess of spring, which is Easter. "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him." [Judges 10:6].
So here we are today, again, worshiping the same goddess under a different name, Babylon’s Ishtar. Unwittingly, we are giving our lives to a false god, all the while thinking we hear the voice of our Shepherd. But we have forsaken our Shepherd, we serve him not, no better than our ancestors. We don't hear his voice when he speaks to us.
v. 12- But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep.
This is the state of Christianity in the House of Israel today. We are a scattered flock with many hirelings that lead us astray. [See Jer. 10:20-25].
v. 13- The hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep.
v. 14- I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
v. 15- As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
v. 16- And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
The other sheep here refers to the House of Judah in the Christian age. It is not a reference to the gentiles of the world as is the mistaken, though common, belief throughout the “Christian” flock. As Christ said, “I am sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” [Mat. 15:24]. This would be the divorced descendants of Aholah from Ezekiel 23. [See Jer. 3:6-8; also the Feature articles, Paul Was An Apostle To The House Of Israel, Not The Gentiles, The Tale Of Two Covenants, and We're Abraham’s Seed And Heirs, Not Gentiles].
It is after the return of Christ, our Shepherd, at the end of the Christian age, after the punishment of Israel and Judah once again, i.e., the “Apocalypse,” on the day of national reconciliation, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, that both Israel and Judah shall once again be joined as one people. Then we will hear our Shepherd’s voice. [See the Feature article, The Relevance Of The Holy Days In The Plan Of God In The Last Days].
"The word of Jehovah came to me, saying, and you, son of man [Ezekiel], take you one stick, and write upon it, for Judah [Aholibah in chapter 23], and for the children of Israel, his brethren. And take another stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the House of Israel [Aholah], his brethren.
"And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in your hand. And when the children of my people speak to you, saying, Will you not declare to us what you mean by these? say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and will put them with this, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand.”
"The sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. And say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone [the time of Jacob's, both Israel and Judah's, trouble, i.e., the "Apocalypse," Jer. 30:7], and will gather them from every side [Isa. 11:11, 12; Rev. 7:1-8], and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
"And they shall not defile themselves any more with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; and I will save them out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
"And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: and they shall walk in my ordinances, and keep my statutes, and do them. [Eze. 37:15-24; also see Rom. 11:25-27].
v. 17- Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
v. 18- No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." [John 10:1-18].
"These things says He who is holy, He who is true, 'He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
"Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world [the "Apocalypse"], to test those who dwell on the Earth.
"Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." [Rev. 3:7-13; see Rev. 21].
The key take-away for us, as in Mark Twain’s day noted above, "when out on the water, trust the pilot who’s married to the river." And for those of us who hear the voice of our Shepherd. "I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" ... "Then he said to me, 'Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" "And he showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb." [Rev. 19:6, 19:9, 22:1].
If you'd like to have an explanation of other subjects from the first century, then see The Blind Man's Elephant, and The Hijacked Elephant for a detailed look at the annual holy days.
Be sure to check our Newslink section regularly for relevant secular articles.
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"And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him."
Political pundits told us we shall never return to “normal” after our bout of “Covid-19,” now entering its 6th year. And indeed, this is true as the "Covid" vaxxes continue to injure and kill, especially the turbo cancers. If, as nations, we had the love of the truth of the word of God, and heeded the voice of our Shepherd, we would not be in this predicament. However, the linear sequence of the Old Testament prophets prophecies for our day point to the same conclusion, for the same reason.
Lacking in our love of the truth of the word of God, we blindly follow the voices of the hirelings. They are those who have been placed in our nation’s lofty perches, be it governmental, corporate, or religious, who possess dubious leadership interests that are not on behalf of the flock. They are running us towards rocky, barren shores, on a direct course to destruction. And like the blind sheep that we are, we listen to them. [See Dan. 4:17].
Written down in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, a messenger sent to us in these last days, are some very important examples for us from which we can learn valuable lessons, provided, of course, our reading comprehension skills exist beyond "See Spot run!" The key take-away for us, as in Mark Twain’s day would be, "when out on the water, trust the pilot who’s married to the river." In our pastoral Biblical parlance, trust the Shepherd of the flock who makes us to lie down in green pastures, not the hireling. [Psa. 23].
In Ezekiel 23, we have the example of two sisters, Aholah and Aholibah. Neither of them trusted their Shepherd. They lusted after what they thought were greener pastures. From Ezekiel’s perspective in the sixth century BCE, his description of Aholah was historical. Aholibah’s waywardness was current events. Today, their examples are prophetical warnings for us. We need to follow our LORD and Shepherd, and to beware the hirelings who led us from the love of the truth of the word of God, while pretending to be our protectors.
In Ezekiel 23, Aholah is the House of Israel. Her sister, Aholibah is the House of Judah. Aholah means “her tent.” This is reference to the fact that when Judah was broken away from the rest of Israel after the death of King Solomon due to his idolatry, the House of Israel set up shop in the land north of Judea, Samaria, which also was the name of their capital city. [See 1 Kng. 12:16-20]. The House of Israel established their own tabernacle, originally a tent, for religious purposes. Hence the name, “Her Tent.” And immediately, “Her Tent” took up with the false gods and customs of the heathen nations around them. In particular, they loved all the idols and ways of the Assyrians. As the story goes, God used Israel’s former lover, Assyria, as her destroyer beginning in 732 BCE. In fact, the House of Israel became famous among the nations back then for the example of her destruction. [See the Feature article, Damascus A Heap Of Ruins].
Now, one would think that having seen the infamous example of the hand of God against her sister Aholah, Aholibah, the smaller House of Judah, would get clued in that they should stick with the ways given to them by their Shepherd. After all, Judah had Jerusalem as its capital city. And, Aholibah means “My tent in her.” The temple of God was in Jerusalem, in the land of Judea. But we would be wrong in this assumption. [See 2 Kng. 23:27].
Judah did much worse than her sister. Judah took on lovers, all the idols of her neighbors, and all their customs and ways, one after the other. Tiring of one, she took on another. In her dalliances, she went through the Assyrians, the Chaldeans and the Egyptians. Judah, as God’s chosen along with her sister, were whoring adulteresses in the eyes of our LORD despite the warnings given to them to change their errant ways.
The reference to cutting off her nose and ears in Eze. 23:25 referred to the fact that in ancient Babylon and Egypt, adulteresses were punished by having their nose and ears cut off, which practice today would give plastic surgeons lots of business. It was in the nose and ears that gold rings and jewels were placed to entice men into adultery. Of course, in ancient Judah, adulteresses, and adulterers, were stoned to death. In the end, when Babylon took captive those of Judah, they destroyed Jerusalem, besieging it with mighty engines of war, hurling stones to knock down its walls. [See 2 Chr. 36:15-19; take the time to read through Ezekiel chapter 23].
Ezekiel's prophecy ends chapter 23 with this, "They shall repay you [Aholah, Israel, and Aholibah, Judah] for your lewdness, and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then you shall know that I am the Lord GOD." This was harsh punishment suffered by our ancestors of the House of Israel and the House of Judah, all because they had forgotten our Shepherd and his ways. And so have we.
Looking back on this, we might think, "Boy, were they thick as bricks or what!?" How could they be so far off the mark? I mean, they were warned by prophets of God! While Ezekiel wrote of them more than 2500 years ago, their story is our story today. It is a prophetic warning for us. Despite our thinking otherwise, we don’t know our Lord God either. Our bricks are just as thick. Our Shepherd has been reduced to a logo on a false product. [See 2 Cor. 4:1-6].
As the prophet Micah wrote, "Hear this, I pray you, you heads of the House of Jacob [all 12 nations of Israel], and [specifically] princes of the House of Israel [all nations of Israel minus Judah, the Jews], that abhor judgement, and pervert all equity, that build up Zion [Zionist Israel] with blood, and Jerusalem with unrighteousness. The leaders thereof judge for reward [decisions are made for the elites profit rather than the good of the people], and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet do they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us." [Micah 3:9-11, DBY].
We think we know our Lord God, that we are Christian nations, but we would be wrong. We know false gods. Santa and the Easter Bunny are the biggest celebrations in "Christianity." Follow the money. Neither of them are first century Christian practices delivered by Christ and the apostles. They're deceits that have crept into current day tradition. How would we view Judaism or Islam if their primary religious icons displayed to the world were the mythological figures of a bearded guy in a red robe zipping through the sky in a cart pulled by flying camels, or a giant bunny rabbit handing out gaily colored chicken eggs and jelly beans, spending trillions each year to participate in their celebration? Or to flip it around, "How do we know Christianity is the true religion? Well, we have flying reindeer. The Jews and Muslims don't have anything like that." So that's us. In essence, it's what we teach our children. Our Shepherd has become the myth. [See Pro. 22:6; also the Sneakers article, Got Milk?].
We have walked off the path given by Christ and the apostles in the first century. For what befell our ancestors, will befall us, only worse, under the hand of Babylon the Great, rather than ancient Assyria and Babylon unless we heed Ezekiel’s warning to us, and change our ways. [Rev. 17:1-6]. For if we choose to forebear, continue to follow the path the hirelings have taken us down, then, as it is written, we will perish as did our ancestors.
But this need not be the case. We are given a chance to turn from following the hirelings, and come to place our trust in our Shepherd, our Lord God. Christ outlined the way for us. For “the word of the LORD has come to us, saying ….”
The gospel of John 10:1- Truly I say to you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
This is the same warning we are given by the apostles about false prophets creeping in unawares. These false prophets have led us astray from the love of the truth of the word of God. They want us destroyed as were Aholah and Aholibah. “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Jude 1:4; Rev. 3:9]. From the looks of it, these false prophets have been successful, stealing and robbing us of the truth of the word of God, preaching a different gospel.
The apostle Paul expressed this concern in the first century to the brethren in the eleventh chapter of his second epistle to the Corinthians, when he said, "But I fear that somehow your sincere and open-hearted devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You may accept and live with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different gospel than the one you believed." The apostle Paul was right in his fear. For we have been deceived on all three counts.
v. 2- But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
This goes back to the repetitive point made in Ezekiel, "… you shall know that I am the LORD your God.” The truth of the word of God is our doorway to our Shepherd.
v. 3- To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
To those whom are called and chosen, having the Spirit of God, we now are the sons of God. [Rom. 8:14]. "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." [Gal. 4:6].
v. 4- And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
In other words, we recognize the truth of the word of God. And we have a love of it. And, therefore, we can discern the lies. As we read in Proverbs 13:5, “The Godly hate lies; the wicked cause shame and disgrace.” The voice of our Shepherd is truth. As there is one Shepherd, there is one truth. “And the scribe said to him, Well, Master, you have said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he …” [Mat. 12:32]. This leaves Santa and the Easter Bunny where in our "Christian" lives? [Luke 16:13].
When we know our Shepherd, we love the truth of his word to us, for that is the voice we follow. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny along with all the other idols, the works of our hands, belong to the hireling, who with his voice leads us astray. [See the Sneakers article, A Life and Death Pickle Of A Predicament]
v. 5- And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Once we have the Spirit of God, we abhor the lies for we realize they lead us to the barren and rocky pathway that is destruction, misery and death. Why would we choose to follow that path when we can experience the blessings and life given to us by our Shepherd? Stupidity and the lack of wisdom come to mind.
As Moses told our ancestors, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” [Deu. 30:19].
Like Aholah and Aholibah before us, as a society, we ignore the wisdom of Moses and have chosen the hireling's heathen ways that lead to our destruction.
v. 6- This parable spoke Jesus to them: but they understood not what things they were which he spoke to them.
It doesn’t appear, by our actions, that we understand either. After 2000 years of Christianity, we are farther away from the truth than our first century ancestors. [See the Feature article, The Good News Colour Revolution].
v. 7- Then said Jesus to them again, Verily, verily, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
v. 8- All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
The true flock of our Shepherd ignore the lies and falsehoods, and the resurrected pagan ways of old which beset our nations today. To enter into the kingdom of God, that path is only through Jesus Christ and the truth of his word. [Luke 21:33]. It is not through Santa or Easter or any other path. [See the Feature article, Why Do We Believe The Lies?].
v. 9- I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
There is only one Shepherd. Santa is not our shepherd. Easter is not our shepherd. And neither are all the other days devoted to the sundry lesser idols in our society. We've allowed them to sneak into our lives because we listen to the hirelings. They do not enter through our Lord and Savior. Hence, they are thieves and robbers who take our blessings and lives from us.
v. 10- The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
We are of the opinion that these false gods and idols represent our Shepherd merely because they are under the umbrella of what we call Christianity. But the truth of the matter is as Christ said here. They came in by a different way. They steal the truth from us. And as a result, we are killed and destroyed for our lack of the knowledge of the truth. [Hosea 4:6].
Yet, if we cast out the thief and robbers in our lives, and return to our Shepherd, we will save our lives. For as Christ our Shepherd has offered us, “Come to me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” [Mat. 11:28-30].
v. 11- I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
Seriously. Stop and think. Has "Santa and Easter" sacrificed their lives that we might live? No. Instead the hirelings want our lives sacrificed to them. “You’ll own nothing and be happy.” They don’t seek to protect us. They are snares designed to trap us into worship of their false ways and customs, the same as Aholah and her sister Aholibah did in their day. We’re no different. We follow the same path as did our whoring ancestors, for Easter/Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of fertility, sex and war, the queen of heaven, was known to Aholah and Aholibah as Ashtoreth. [See the Feature article, Easter, Babylon And The Antichrist].
“And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.” [2 Kng. 23:13].
And before Israel had a king, back in the day of the judges, the children of Israel had a liking for the queen of heaven, the goddess of spring, which is Easter. "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him." [Judges 10:6].
So here we are today, again, worshiping the same goddess under a different name, Babylon’s Ishtar. Unwittingly, we are giving our lives to a false god, all the while thinking we hear the voice of our Shepherd. But we have forsaken our Shepherd, we serve him not, no better than our ancestors. We don't hear his voice when he speaks to us.
v. 12- But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep.
This is the state of Christianity in the House of Israel today. We are a scattered flock with many hirelings that lead us astray. [See Jer. 10:20-25].
v. 13- The hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep.
v. 14- I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
v. 15- As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
v. 16- And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
The other sheep here refers to the House of Judah in the Christian age. It is not a reference to the gentiles of the world as is the mistaken, though common, belief throughout the “Christian” flock. As Christ said, “I am sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” [Mat. 15:24]. This would be the divorced descendants of Aholah from Ezekiel 23. [See Jer. 3:6-8; also the Feature articles, Paul Was An Apostle To The House Of Israel, Not The Gentiles, The Tale Of Two Covenants, and We're Abraham’s Seed And Heirs, Not Gentiles].
It is after the return of Christ, our Shepherd, at the end of the Christian age, after the punishment of Israel and Judah once again, i.e., the “Apocalypse,” on the day of national reconciliation, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, that both Israel and Judah shall once again be joined as one people. Then we will hear our Shepherd’s voice. [See the Feature article, The Relevance Of The Holy Days In The Plan Of God In The Last Days].
"The word of Jehovah came to me, saying, and you, son of man [Ezekiel], take you one stick, and write upon it, for Judah [Aholibah in chapter 23], and for the children of Israel, his brethren. And take another stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the House of Israel [Aholah], his brethren.
"And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in your hand. And when the children of my people speak to you, saying, Will you not declare to us what you mean by these? say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and will put them with this, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand.”
"The sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. And say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone [the time of Jacob's, both Israel and Judah's, trouble, i.e., the "Apocalypse," Jer. 30:7], and will gather them from every side [Isa. 11:11, 12; Rev. 7:1-8], and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
"And they shall not defile themselves any more with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; and I will save them out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
"And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: and they shall walk in my ordinances, and keep my statutes, and do them. [Eze. 37:15-24; also see Rom. 11:25-27].
v. 17- Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
v. 18- No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." [John 10:1-18].
"These things says He who is holy, He who is true, 'He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
"Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world [the "Apocalypse"], to test those who dwell on the Earth.
"Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." [Rev. 3:7-13; see Rev. 21].
The key take-away for us, as in Mark Twain’s day noted above, "when out on the water, trust the pilot who’s married to the river." And for those of us who hear the voice of our Shepherd. "I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" ... "Then he said to me, 'Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" "And he showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb." [Rev. 19:6, 19:9, 22:1].
"Now the God of peace, that brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever." [Heb. 13;20, 21].
Italics, underline and [ ] are the author's.
If you'd like to have an explanation of other subjects from the first century, then see The Blind Man's Elephant, and The Hijacked Elephant for a detailed look at the annual holy days.
Be sure to check our Newslink section regularly for relevant secular articles.
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"And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him."