A Stern Warning
Ezekiel 34
1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son 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?
3Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
4The 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.
5And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
6My 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.
7Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
8As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
9Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
10Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
11For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
12As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
15I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
16I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
17And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
18Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?
19And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.
20Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
21Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
22Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
23And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
24And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
25And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
26And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
27And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.
28And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.
29And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
30Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD.
31And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.
“22Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
23And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
24And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
Don’t you just love that part Born? Talk about hope!
This is..well, I’m at a loss for words! Thanks so much for posting, had not read that before…wow.
We hear so much of the charge against Mr. Philpot of being a Pietist Mystic and therefore so readily dismissed in certain Reformed circles. (Or has been..who knows he might be revived by all of these new mystic, new Calvinists, thinking that they are indeed reading one of the ‘old Pietist Mystics’…..since Philpot uses the word, “experimental”, in their minds thinking it means Charismatic, Woo, Hooo!
(They might think they have their choice, takes your pick, either wave hankies or light a candle while reading.)
Found an interesting article that addresses this: (so true)
“Who are these who charge Mr, Philpot of being a Pietist Mystic? Why they are the same ones whom Mr. Philpot exposes as being dead Calvinists, heady notional Calvinists and ‘Graceless Calvinist’s! Oh they are Reformed ‘theologians’ all right! But it is all in their head, and has not reached their heart!
They can debate on all the five points of Calvinism and tell you the difference between Infra and Supra-lapsarianism and everything in between! They have hosted large websites with ‘Reformed’ writings that would keep you occupied for a lifetime! But try telling them to come out of Apostate Babylon, the denominational ‘Church’ that they are a part of and they will show their true colours! Tell them that Christmas is Roman Catholic and Pagan and should be shunned by Christians and they will manifest the character of goats by justifying it!
Let me say this in closing: that the preaching of Brother Philpot stands out against the moderate and general Calvinism which, along with the infusion of a dry and legal spirit, is prevalent in most Baptist, Presbyterian and ‘Reformed’ Churches of our day! None can cherish and appreciate his preaching except those who have a valid experimental religion in their hearts and are willing and daring enough to bare their bosom to every arrow that flies from the pulpit!
These and these alone will cherish and praise God for a ministry such as Brother Philpot’s! The rest will trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you!” http://jcphilpot.wordpress.com/
BTW….I wonder what DeYoung would say to Philpot (ok, we already know)…I’m sure DeYoung would set him straight, (like he did with the guy and his poem, that used the word ‘religion’), …since Philpot uses words like, dead – religion, institutions and so forth.
“At times, too, when I viewed the gettings up and sittings down, the bowings, the turnings to the East, the kneeling in this place and standing in that, and the whole routine of that ‘bodily service’ with which the blessed Jehovah was mocked, I could not but look on the whole as a few degrees only removed from the mummery of a Popish mass-house.”
What’s not to love about these words of Philpots!!!
Hi Jo…are you talking about the resignation from the Church of England or Ezekiel 34…I think your comment ended up under the wrong post somehow, or maybe not. I think Ezekiel 34 fits into Philpots objections quite well actually, so I’m gonna leave your post here unless you tell me otherwise.
Ah Mr. Philpot…a pietist and a mystic? This guy says no. Thank you for addressing that and for the link!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46783675/Was-J-C-Philpot-a-Mystic-Who-taught-Pietism
Some of the quotes you mentioned are in this paper as well…the one that asks Was JC Philpot a mystic who taught pietism…