Seeing Through Glorified Evil
An all-creatures Bible Message

Seeing Through Glorified Evil
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
29 January 2017
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Jeremiah 5:30-31
Jeremiah 15:10-11
Ezekiel 13:1-9
Romans 8:1-2

Seeing through glorified evil can only happen when we are living in the heavenly will of God, for it is the unction of the Holy Spirit that gives us this heavenly vision.
 
Realistically, evil can only be glorified by people claiming to speak for God or by the church, for they really know the truth, but have chosen to raise up evil above the heavenly will of God.
 
And we need to be able to see through this smoke screen of glorified evil; yes, see through it like seeing through a fog, so that we see the evil for what it is and ignore the glorification that is trying to hide it.
 
Evil can never be from God; it is always from the devil and those who follow his ungodly way of life.
 
Let’s take a look at Jeremiah 5:30-31, and see what God says about seeing through glorified evil.

30. "An appalling and horrible thing
Has happened in the land:
 
31. The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule on their own authority;
And My people love it so!
But what will you do at the end of it?
NASB

When a prophet prophesies falsely, isn’t that prophet going against the will of God?
 
Of course he or she is, for what this person is doing is saying that his or her falsehood is the word of God and by doing this they have glorified evil.
 
We recently heard a presidential spokesperson tell an outright lie, that he had to know was a lie, and another spokesperson defended him by saying that he was using alternative facts.
 
There can only be true facts; alternative facts are not facts at all; they are lies that are being used to try to camouflage the lie, but unlike the false prophet, they are not claiming what they are saying was from God.
 
When the clergy rule on their own authority, and not on God’s authority in the context of this passage, they are ruling or teaching outside the heavenly will of God.
 
What they are doing is evil, and we must learn how to constantly be seeing through glorified evil, which these clergy are presenting.
 
Several years ago in a church magazine, a bishop wrote that fishing should be a sacrament of the church.
 
We hope that all of us can see that this is totally outside the heavenly will of God, where there is no pain or mourning or death (Revelation 21:4).
 
We know that fish feel pain and are fighting to get the impaled hook out of their mouth; this common sense understanding indicates that we are seeing through glorified evil that this bishop was trying to blind the people from seeing, so that he could rule by his own authority, simply because he enjoyed torturing and killing fish.
 
And the Lord goes on to say that people like this bishop and the false prophets love to hear this evil being glorified, because it “justifies” their own worldly lifestyle, or at least they think so.
 
But Jeremiah and the Lord want to know what we are going to do about it; are we going to go along with it, or are we going to be seeing through glorified evil and do everything in our power to expose these lies and tell the truth?
 
The choice is ours; what are we going to do?
 
Let’s now take a look at Ezekiel 13:1-9, and in the process improve our ability to be seeing through glorified evil.

1. Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,
 
2. "Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, 'Listen to the word of the LORD!

These are the same kinds of prophets that Isaiah was talking about, and even to this very day we have false prophets; are we able to recognize them?
 
Are we capable of seeing through glorified evil?
 
We hope so.

3. 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing.

We believe that this also can be directed toward today’s clergy who try to justify the corrupt ways of this world by saying that they can be part of the church, such as hunting and fish killing, and having dinners that are based upon the tortured remains of once living animals who wanted to live just as much as we do.

4. "O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins.

And just as far too many clergy are today.
 
We need to be seeing through glorified evil.

5. "You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the LORD.
 
6. "They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, 'The LORD declares,' when the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word.

These people have blinded themselves to the truth; they are not seeing through glorified evil, for they are part of the evil of this world.

7. "Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, 'The LORD declares,' but it is not I who have spoken?" ' " 

We should all think long and hard about this verse, because this is just as true today as it was in Ezekiel’s day, some 2600 years ago.

8. Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, "Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you," declares the Lord GOD.

Is this the way we want the Lord to feel about us?
 
We hope and pray it isn’t, because this is the way of the people who are on the road to destruction, and not the pathway to heaven.
 
We need to be seeing through glorified evil.

9. "So My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will have no place in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord GOD.
NASB

We also believe that this is the fate of those who blindly follow these false prophets and clergy.
 
We are to separate ourselves from these kinds of people.
 
We are to be seeing through glorified evil; we are to be following the heavenly will of God.
 
It is also quite common for the children of God to feel discouraged because of all the evil in the world, which Jeremiah expressed in Jeremiah 15:10-11…

10. Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me
As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have neither lent, nor have men lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.

Whenever we feel this way, we need to remember what the Lord told Jeremiah, for those words are also meant for us.

11. The LORD said, "Surely I will set you free for purposes of good;
Surely I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.
NASB

We will overcome the evil in this world, and we need to press onward, for there have been many small righteous changes over the past 30 years, and they seem to be increasing, for many more people are learning to see through glorified evil.
 
And, Romans 8:1-2 is a confirmation of this…

1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
 
2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
NASB

It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the Hebrew Law in the Bible, or we are talking about the law of the land and the corrupt ways of this world; for we are living in the heavenly will of God, we are seeing through glorified evil to the truth.
 
We can all be seeing through glorified evil, if we want to.
 
We can do it.
 
Amen.

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