” And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed  the flocks?

Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.

The 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.

And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd, and the became meat (prey) to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

My 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.

Therefore , ye shepherds hear the word of the LORD;

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds feed themselves, and feed not my flock;

Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;

Thus 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 many not be meat for them.

For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I even I, will both search out my sheep, and seek them out.

As 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 the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from countries, and will bring them in their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon 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.

I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.

I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; behold I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the goats.

Seemeth 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.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I even I, will judge between the fat cattle and the lean cattle.

Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;

Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle.

And 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.

And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.

And 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.

And 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.

And the trees 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.

And 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.

And 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.

Thus 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.

And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men (humans), and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 34

This is one of those double meaning chapters, we know that it is in reference to God’s  scattered people of Israel  but as the Bible also teaches, as we the church are grafted in that it does apply on both counts as most scripture does.

The  scorching church hurt and neglect suffered by many today is the modern version of the scattering of the flocks of Israel.

The cause and the cure to the dilemma are still the same, money churches and cliques, flocks treated with cruelty and accusation until they are just simply driven away.

Those who are the fatted cattle being those who have power to speak on behalf of those wounded sheep but since its not hurting them personally or busting their church house groove they never say a word and we read quite clearly Gods thoughts on the subject.

The fatted cattle don’t care if its not their own leg which is broken and as long as their own place is held they aren’t going to risk anything by standing up for those they are called to feed.

We also know that Jesus came as the Good Shepherd.

He is the Good Shepherd and we will do a part two discussing that but  I wanted to lead in with this one first because it is really an in-depth description of what exactly the Lord expects and what usually happens and how he will rectify the situation himself personally.

It seems, as we discussed in our last post, that everyone has an opinion and they have ample forums to voice those opinions over the entire earth but an opinion does not make a calling.

The truth of it does not hinder or prevent in anyway their continued spread of hatred against the true Gospel, just as those willing to get behind pulpits and torment and scatter Gods flock appear in no way fearful of the reckoning of which they themselves are bringing forth.

We understand from our scriptures that that reckoning will come and as this verse also warns us to be cautious and aware:

James 3:1: “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”

Which basically means for us to not seek out teaching on our own because teachers will receive stricter judgment being held accountable to God for all that is taught in his name.

Same as watchmen will be held accountable for the blood of those that they have failed to warn.

The callings of God are serious, they are life-long and they are to be revered and honored and preformed to the best of our ability under divine anointing and for the edification of his church and for the health and well-being of his flock.

We have to be sure of those callings and use wisdom, grace, compassion and goodwill in the execution of our calling, anything less is to dishonor the honor that has been bestowed by having been given the precious gifts which he has given.

It is an honor and a privilege and should be regarded as such.

And that I say as a messenger.

This is a subject that I have written on before so if the scriptures are familiar, you will understand. I feel that this is one of the greatest  threats to our churches today.

I don’t know that it is not necessarily going to be the downfall leading to the great famine of the word but I do believe it has been pivotal in bringing about the great falling away.

I wanted to give you the most information from scripture on the subject and believe me there is plenty more, it is a very important subject that requires being treated as such.

I know that is a lot of scripture, but it is there, you can prayerfully read it and understand it for yourselves.

I truly pray if you have been hurt by any of the things that you will take hope in those words.

God does not mistreat us and he does not want us to be mistreated.

He has good plans for us, and for our good, and those plans will come to fruition in this world or the world to come.

Just please never believe that we suffer because of our lack of faith or somehow the troubles, trials, and sorrows are our fault, that is so not true and next time we’ll look at Jesus  the Good Shepherd and his teachings on the subject and why  he came to set us all free.

Love & Peace till next time!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2026/ Rev. N. Brown Johnson