THE TWO SISTERS BACKGROUND
In order for us to truly understand what God is saying in Ezekiel 23 we have to explore the beginning of these two sisters, Oholah who is Samaria and Oholibah who is Jerusalem.
This beginning of these two sisters is found in 1 Kings 12; King Solomon has died and his son Rehoboam has become king and has been confronted by all Israel led by an exile named Jeroboam. Jeroboam, his name means struggler for the people, told the new king Rehoboam that if he would only lighten the burden for the people that they would serve king Rehoboam all of his life. Rehoboam rejected the advice of his elder advisers and answered Jeroboam and the people by saying that they would not only get more of the same oppression but that the oppression would get even worse. Rehoboam's name means expansion or extension of the people and his desire was not only to expand the people’s burden but to expand the peoples production. His father Solomon had achieved much so that the whole world took notice and Rehoboem was ambitious and wanted to excel his father’s achievements. Jeroboam and ten of the tribes upon hearing Rehoboem's answer separated from the nation and became known as Israel creating a new capital in Samaria. Rehoboam stayed in the capital of Jerusalem with the remaining remnant of the nation and they were known as Judah.
PARALLELS WITH THE U.S. CHURCH
So here we have two different types of leaders. Rehoboam, wanting to expand on what was already done to the people and Jeroboam one who struggled to free the people from the burdens they had labored under. Rehoboam represents tradition and Jeroboam represents change.
A very similar thing happened in the United States. The leaders of the traditional church wanted to maintain the rules and regulations of the Christian life as they had always been and even tighten them. These leaders looked at the successes of the leaders that went before them and wanted to surpass these successes. For many of these traditional leaders success was not measured by the quality of the ministry that God used them to accomplished but the size of the church, the size of the radio and or T.V. programs and the size of the name they could create for themselves. This was the ministry of Rehoboam.
There was also a progressive movement in the Church who wanted to loosen the rules and regulations. This movement believed that church tradition had nothing to offer. They measured the success by their ability to please the people in their congregation. Less emphasis was put on doctrine and even Bible study. The church for them became a large self-help club were people came to feel better and any talk of a life of sacrifice was neglected and Holiness became the idea of doing the best that you can and God will understand. This is the ministry of Jeroboam. Traditional Church membership is down while the more progressive less traditional church membership is up. The split has occurred and is ongoing and can be seen playing out in the landscapes of the various denominations and movements. Jeroboam has the majority of the people while Rehoboam has a strong influential minority. Jeroboam in his progressiveness went so far as to lead the people completely away from the statutes of God by setting up gold calves to be worshiped and in the U.S. much of the progressive movement have departed from serving God exclusively and have begun to emphasizes the "prosperity gospel" and the closely related "everything in life will be perfect Gospel". Neither of these ideas are biblical but they are attractive to many people fleeing the oppression of many of the traditional Churches.
THE TWO SISTERS TODAY
This returns us to the two sisters in the U.S., Oholibah (Jerusalem, The Traditional) and Oholah (Samaria, The Progressive) described in Ezekiel the 23rd chapter. These two women, the children of one mother (origin) and both belonging to God, strayed away from God and gave themselves to love others. They bore sons and daughters (denominations and movements). These two sisters in their youth did wickedness in Egypt, Egypt for the Christian represent the life of sin before conversion. For the Children of Israel Egypt was that place of bondage that God brought them out of. He did this by water and blood. The blood was put over the doorpost so that the death angel would pass over them and he made them pass thought the water of the red sea.
In Ezekiel 12: 5-8 God tells us that the sister Oholah went after the Assyrians and repeated her sins that she carried from Egypt. The Assyrians were seen in the Old Testament as being very wicked in many ways not the least of which was sexually. Oholah going to the Assyrians to repeat her sins that she committed in Egypt is like a Christian repeating the sin they committed before coming to God. Once converted a Christian can never go back to Egypt but they can do worse by committing adultery with Assyria after they have come out of Egypt. This is Ohlah's sin. There are only three states of humans, the natural man, the carnal man, and the spiritual man. The natural man (1 Cor 2:14) is a human before conversion. The carnal man (1 Cor 3: 3) is a human who is still living much of his old nature after conversion. The spiritual man (1 Cor 2:15, 16) is a human who is living and growing in the mind of Christ. Ohlah leads believers into a carnal lifestyle. Much of the progressive Church in the U.S. is tolerant and even embraces many forms of wickedness, sexual sin, cheating, lying, stealing. A lifestyle of adultery with Assyria is living like we have never left Egypt and continuing in that lifestyle.
Her sister Oholibah was even worse because for all of her rhetoric the traditional Church carried much of the same wickedness as her sister but did not acknowledge it openly. How many traditional Churches have sin within the house but as long as it is kept quiet and undercover everyone looks the other way. It is as if they feel God doesn't really want Holiness he wants discreet sinning. Even more than this Oholibah went after the Chaldeans. The Chadians or Babylonians are different from the Assyrians because they represent worldliness of a high order. The Chaldeans don't just represent sexual sin but the authority and the system of the world. The traditional Church became intertwined in politics, business and anything that could gain them status and prestige in the eyes of the world. Politics, business, etc... is not bad in and of itself but for the Christian to emphasize this more than what the spirit of God is saying is inexcusable.
Of course there are many exceptions but for the church in the United States Oholah and Oholibah is the condition our condition is in.
THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER
God has judged both Oholah and Oholibah. Ministering as the body of Christ is the only Job that if the worker gets fired the boss walks of the Job. God will judge them by turning them over to what they have chosen. The leadership of the two sisters will become less and less relevant. and God is raising up new leadership that is neither like the Pharisees in tradition or like the ungodly in there wickedness. This new leadership is raising from within and without the current Church in the U.S. God wants us to truly be his body and represent all that is real and good of his life that is continuing through his church in the earth.
Many of the unchurched have rejected Oholah and Oholibah but if given the chance would not reject Christ.
Poet Ntwadumela's Voice
(ntwadumelasvoice.blogspot.com)
In order for us to truly understand what God is saying in Ezekiel 23 we have to explore the beginning of these two sisters, Oholah who is Samaria and Oholibah who is Jerusalem.
This beginning of these two sisters is found in 1 Kings 12; King Solomon has died and his son Rehoboam has become king and has been confronted by all Israel led by an exile named Jeroboam. Jeroboam, his name means struggler for the people, told the new king Rehoboam that if he would only lighten the burden for the people that they would serve king Rehoboam all of his life. Rehoboam rejected the advice of his elder advisers and answered Jeroboam and the people by saying that they would not only get more of the same oppression but that the oppression would get even worse. Rehoboam's name means expansion or extension of the people and his desire was not only to expand the people’s burden but to expand the peoples production. His father Solomon had achieved much so that the whole world took notice and Rehoboem was ambitious and wanted to excel his father’s achievements. Jeroboam and ten of the tribes upon hearing Rehoboem's answer separated from the nation and became known as Israel creating a new capital in Samaria. Rehoboam stayed in the capital of Jerusalem with the remaining remnant of the nation and they were known as Judah.
PARALLELS WITH THE U.S. CHURCH
So here we have two different types of leaders. Rehoboam, wanting to expand on what was already done to the people and Jeroboam one who struggled to free the people from the burdens they had labored under. Rehoboam represents tradition and Jeroboam represents change.
A very similar thing happened in the United States. The leaders of the traditional church wanted to maintain the rules and regulations of the Christian life as they had always been and even tighten them. These leaders looked at the successes of the leaders that went before them and wanted to surpass these successes. For many of these traditional leaders success was not measured by the quality of the ministry that God used them to accomplished but the size of the church, the size of the radio and or T.V. programs and the size of the name they could create for themselves. This was the ministry of Rehoboam.
There was also a progressive movement in the Church who wanted to loosen the rules and regulations. This movement believed that church tradition had nothing to offer. They measured the success by their ability to please the people in their congregation. Less emphasis was put on doctrine and even Bible study. The church for them became a large self-help club were people came to feel better and any talk of a life of sacrifice was neglected and Holiness became the idea of doing the best that you can and God will understand. This is the ministry of Jeroboam. Traditional Church membership is down while the more progressive less traditional church membership is up. The split has occurred and is ongoing and can be seen playing out in the landscapes of the various denominations and movements. Jeroboam has the majority of the people while Rehoboam has a strong influential minority. Jeroboam in his progressiveness went so far as to lead the people completely away from the statutes of God by setting up gold calves to be worshiped and in the U.S. much of the progressive movement have departed from serving God exclusively and have begun to emphasizes the "prosperity gospel" and the closely related "everything in life will be perfect Gospel". Neither of these ideas are biblical but they are attractive to many people fleeing the oppression of many of the traditional Churches.
THE TWO SISTERS TODAY
This returns us to the two sisters in the U.S., Oholibah (Jerusalem, The Traditional) and Oholah (Samaria, The Progressive) described in Ezekiel the 23rd chapter. These two women, the children of one mother (origin) and both belonging to God, strayed away from God and gave themselves to love others. They bore sons and daughters (denominations and movements). These two sisters in their youth did wickedness in Egypt, Egypt for the Christian represent the life of sin before conversion. For the Children of Israel Egypt was that place of bondage that God brought them out of. He did this by water and blood. The blood was put over the doorpost so that the death angel would pass over them and he made them pass thought the water of the red sea.
In Ezekiel 12: 5-8 God tells us that the sister Oholah went after the Assyrians and repeated her sins that she carried from Egypt. The Assyrians were seen in the Old Testament as being very wicked in many ways not the least of which was sexually. Oholah going to the Assyrians to repeat her sins that she committed in Egypt is like a Christian repeating the sin they committed before coming to God. Once converted a Christian can never go back to Egypt but they can do worse by committing adultery with Assyria after they have come out of Egypt. This is Ohlah's sin. There are only three states of humans, the natural man, the carnal man, and the spiritual man. The natural man (1 Cor 2:14) is a human before conversion. The carnal man (1 Cor 3: 3) is a human who is still living much of his old nature after conversion. The spiritual man (1 Cor 2:15, 16) is a human who is living and growing in the mind of Christ. Ohlah leads believers into a carnal lifestyle. Much of the progressive Church in the U.S. is tolerant and even embraces many forms of wickedness, sexual sin, cheating, lying, stealing. A lifestyle of adultery with Assyria is living like we have never left Egypt and continuing in that lifestyle.
Her sister Oholibah was even worse because for all of her rhetoric the traditional Church carried much of the same wickedness as her sister but did not acknowledge it openly. How many traditional Churches have sin within the house but as long as it is kept quiet and undercover everyone looks the other way. It is as if they feel God doesn't really want Holiness he wants discreet sinning. Even more than this Oholibah went after the Chaldeans. The Chadians or Babylonians are different from the Assyrians because they represent worldliness of a high order. The Chaldeans don't just represent sexual sin but the authority and the system of the world. The traditional Church became intertwined in politics, business and anything that could gain them status and prestige in the eyes of the world. Politics, business, etc... is not bad in and of itself but for the Christian to emphasize this more than what the spirit of God is saying is inexcusable.
Of course there are many exceptions but for the church in the United States Oholah and Oholibah is the condition our condition is in.
THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER
God has judged both Oholah and Oholibah. Ministering as the body of Christ is the only Job that if the worker gets fired the boss walks of the Job. God will judge them by turning them over to what they have chosen. The leadership of the two sisters will become less and less relevant. and God is raising up new leadership that is neither like the Pharisees in tradition or like the ungodly in there wickedness. This new leadership is raising from within and without the current Church in the U.S. God wants us to truly be his body and represent all that is real and good of his life that is continuing through his church in the earth.
Many of the unchurched have rejected Oholah and Oholibah but if given the chance would not reject Christ.
Poet Ntwadumela's Voice
(ntwadumelasvoice.blogspot.com)
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