You Are Not My People And I Am Not Your God – Jeanette
July 30, 2018
Last week, Jesus sent me to New York City for one day. Literally, just a few hours. He had me fly in the morning and leave in the evening. He took me on a walk through Central Park and then to the rooftop viewing area of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where one has a 360 degree view of the city. I listened intently for the Lord to speak or show me something. I confess that I expected to see further vision of coming judgement and destruction. Would the Lord show me water flooding the city and buildings collapsing or fire and missiles as He has in the past?
What the Lord Jesus showed me was His love. Oh, how the Lord loves and desires that people would turn to Him from their idols!
The Lord placed a heavy grief on my heart as He showed me people bustling around going to and fro. Some were packed into trains. Some were seemingly desperate to find a moment of ‘peace’ by performing acts meditation while sitting on a rock even though the rock is home to rats. Some paused momentarily to look at a pond or a street performer and then resumed their harried walk.
Then, the Lord had me walk through part of the Museum. He showed me the armory and the many ways mankind has been set on violence. He showed me the ornate designs and decorations on instruments of death. The condition of the earth before the flood is the condition of the earth throughout our history. But, never more than it is today. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. (Genesis 6:11)
Then the Lord took me to an exhibit titled, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion And the Catholic Imagination”
The description the Museum has for this exhibit states it is to display ‘the relationship between creativity and religious imagination.’ Papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, many of which have never been seen outside the Vatican were on display along with ornate gowns and crowns on female mannequins alongside religious artwork. The demonic designs were everywhere I turned. It was like a sea of red and gold. It was very hard to walk as my legs felt heavy and I felt sick. The Lord showed me idolatry and abominations and acts of whoredom.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
But, He told me that is not the message He was pointing to. I was so overwhelmed by the disgusting displays of harlotry and idolatry that I didn’t notice what the Lord wanted me to see until He pointed it out. It was written on the exhibit description.
The Lord told me to notice this: “religious imagination.”
This has to do with the continual message the Lord has given me. Judgement is here, and it begins at the house of the Lord. Here is what the Lord gave me to write today:
There are thousands and even millions who say they are worshipping Jesus Christ, but the Lord Jesus says they are worshipping something they created in their imagination. A false Jesus. A Jesus they formed and shaped to fit the preference of their sin-sick heart. They are worshipping an idol they made from their own desires. They are exalting themselves and fanning the passions of the flesh and their present course will take them to hell. They do not fear the Lord. They do not worship Him in spirit and truth. They do not love Him with their whole heart. They do not see that the Lord is a consuming fire, a jealous God. They do not recognize the holiness of God. They are perishing from a lack of knowledge of God. They do not submit themselves to Jesus. They want it on their own terms. To love Jesus is 100 percent or 0 percent. There is nothing in between. But the question is, are we loving the true Jesus or something we made up in our imagination and on our terms? Perhaps worse, this false Jesus is being presented to those who are in desperate need of hearing the Gospel.
[Please understand dear reader, I am not standing off pointing a finger. I am on my knees first asking the Lord to show me the places in my heart and mind where I slip away from Jesus.]
The Lord said,
When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” (Hosea 1:8-9)
The Lord isn’t making a threat with that verse. He is stating the reality that exists. People call themselves by His name, but they are not His people and He isn’t their God. Their God is a god with a little ‘g.’ A false god of their own crafting. Something they made up or someone else made up in their imagination and they have believed it instead of testing what they hear to the Scripture.
The Lord will not pretend or play make-believe. Many are going to stand outside the door listing all the things they did in the name of Jesus and He is going to say, “I never knew you.”
We all are sinners against Him and His law states the punishment for that is death and hell. His justice has to be fulfilled. Jesus fulfilled His justice, taking the full wrath of God when He, for our sake, made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Multitudes are giving a brief nod to that truth and then quickly imagining a god who serves the passions of their flesh.
The Lord says, repent! His mercy is mercy because He has acted in a way we did not deserve. We don’t deserve the Cross. We don’t deserve forgiveness and eternal life. We don’t deserve a relationship with Him. We don’t deserve His Kingdom. We don’t deserve Him. We are arrogant and disobedient. His love for us disciplines us and calls us to repent before it is too late. Yet, we plug our ears and shout louder to drown out His voice. The Lord will expose the truth.
The Lord has sent many to warn but few are heeding the warning.
We must obey the Lord’s word in 2 Corinthians 10:5,
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Dear reader, let us humble ourselves and ask the Lord to show us what is in our heart and our mind. Let us cry out for His refreshing truth, taking every though captive to Christ, and have a heart that is wholly given to Jesus Christ as He reveals Himself in the Scripture. Not our wishful thinking. Let us receive correction from the Lord and rejoice in His great love. Let us go out with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ while it is still today.
Judgement is here, and it begins at the house of the Lord. Yes, this nation and all nations will also see judgment for the abominations that are piled up. However, let us hear the word of the Lord.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and no knowledge of God in the land;
2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
and also the beasts of the field
and the birds of the heavens,
and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 Yet let no one contend,
and let none accuse,
for with you is my contention, O priest. (Hosea 4:1-4)
Many have used that passage as they point to the increase in mass animal die offs and birds falling from the sky. Yes, it is true that it is happening. As one example, last week scientist in the Pacific Northwest announced the Orca population has not seen a calf in three years and that the current pod may be the last generation of Orcas. You can easily research online and find mass animal die off statistics monthly. It’s astonishing and sobering.
What few are pointing out is that according to the Lord, this sign is to those who call themselves by His name. Those who are supposed to be priests unto the Lord. He’s not talking to the government of the United States of America or the government of Russia or the government of Israel. He’s talking to His people. A harlot chasing after lovers having forgotten that we were betrothed to one husband. Our thoughts have been led astray from a pure devotion to Christ.
Repent! Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. (Ezekiel 14:6)
May the Lord say this day, how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, (1 Thessalonians 1:9)
A friend of mine was led by the Lord to put lyrics to Amos chapter 6. The Holy Spirit had him sum up our behavior with this, “we’ve played the harlot. Pretty as a lie.”
We decorate our idols and gild ourselves to hide the ugliness of our adultery and idolatry. We hurt the Lord so deeply with our adultery. We cannot comprehend what it feels like to God who is faithful and perfect in love. We have only a little understanding when we who are sinful experience betrayal from a love-one.
Oh, dear reader, come, let us return to the Lord–the true and living God, Jesus Christ. Let us submit our whole heart in love to the God of our salvation who so loves us. He is who He is, not who we make Him out to be in our imagination. Let us repent of our false worship and let us remember the Lord says,
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings(Amos 6:6)
May we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)
