"...and you have forgotten Me."

"Behold, the rulers of Israel, each according to his power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood. They have treated father and mother lightly within you. The alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you. You have despised My holy things and profaned My sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have committed acts of lewdness.  In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity. One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. And another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by oppression, and you have forgotten Me,” declares the Lord God." Ezekiel 22 NASB

Read that list. Read into it well. This says as much about the state of the world in which we live, and within the professing Church as it did concerning Israel. 

Big churches with lavish interiors. Highly paid staff. Embracing the world for its own ends. Not even them. Smaller Churches are just as guilty.  But no, go bigger.  This nation, like all in this world are all guilty of that last charge. "...and you have forgotten Me."

Where are God's people?  Where? 

The question should and needs to be asked because Jesus asked it!  Here? No, not just here.

He asked if He would find the faith when He returns.  Look about you.  60 percent of so-called Churches and Christians believe there's more than one way to Heaven. 

The truth may be proclaimed but it's been watered down for sordid gain.  People profiting from it for their own purposes. 

We have seen it in the Churches in this city in which we live.  Jesus taught the difference between a hired hand and a Shepherd. Yet people go for the hired hand.  Why?  Because it's safer. Far less conviction being preached. More of what it takes to feel better coming from the pulpit. 

Rightly put by someone is that the love of God is poured out so much that we have air conditioned Hell.

This country is guilty of all the same things that brought down Israel.  

We, as a nation, forget the homeless. We oppress the immigrant. We do not take care of the elderly. We murder babies by the thousands. Yet we see money being spent hand over fist on useless things. 

People doing whatever it takes to preserve their status quo. To make their own lives better at the expense of others. 

Jesus was concerned, and obviously, rightly so.  

People can wonder why the United States isn't mentioning in the Bible.  It's because we have turned away from God.  We are beyond buried in idolatry. We as a nation murder the innocent. People will waste hours doing whatever they can to feel better yet won't spend an hour of personal time with Jesus. 

"...and you have forgotten Me."

As if that list wasn't bad enough...the Lord punctuates it with that last charge. 

Look in the mirror.  Is your life plagued with idolatry?  As a matter of confession, mine has been.  It's been a long process but the Spirit is working on removing things from me that have been more important than God to me. 

Have you forgotten Him?

Jesus, in a letter to a Church in Revelation, makes mention of them forgetting their first love.  Have you?  Is your devotion now for something or someone in this world and no longer for Jesus?

Be honest with yourself.  You aren't lying to me, you are lying to God if the truth is that you have been. 

This world is dying. 

You will take nothing you have with you when you die, and you have no idea when that will be. 

How will you explain your idolatry to Jesus when you face Him?  I already can tell you that I will be profoundly embarrassed. 

Look at your life today.  Make changes now.