The people among whom Ezekiel lived were filled with sin; public and private. The prophet was inspired to deliver a serious warning to them inasmuch as they could not learn by being taught correct precepts, but only by harsh judgment. His warning included this statement:
“The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.” (Eze. 7: 7-9.)
I had a few thoughts about why and how such “judgments” could be easily be poured out upon us, as well.
From drug abuse to carnality, we are less civil and more dangerous as a population each year. If you would like to see the Lord “pour out [His] fury upon [us]” you only need to shut off the electrical power in Detroit or Los Angeles at night. We are filled with the savagery that will bring about our own punishment. When the electrical grid fails in larger metropolitan areas of the United States, it will be Americans killing Americans, without any need for an invasion by an enemy. God will not need to send a plague upon us. We become our own plague because of our wickedness.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the New Orleans Police Department was unable to keep order, and the National Guard had not arrived yet, there were days filled with violence, rape and murder. It did not take anything more than a brief lack of police authority before the population was plagued with criminal misconduct, violence and killing.
What more fitting a way to “judge thee according to thy ways?” What more apt a manner for “recompensing thee for all thine abominations?” It is our own choice to become our own undoing. Amazing, really.
Are our sins any less than that generation to whom Ezekiel spoke? Americans have killed 40 million unborn (innocent) children. Hitler, the great genocidal monster of the last century, only killed 6 million in his perversity. We have selected the most innocent, and ended 40 million of their lives. As Christ put it: Truly we deserve a millstone hung around our necks and to be drowned in the depth of the sea for this wanton shedding of innocent blood. (Matt. 18: 6.)
This great perversity is what we call a “right to choose,” thereby clothing an atrocity in the words of virtue. We call evil good and good evil, and never take time to notice we fulfill prophecy as we do so. (2 Ne. 15: 20, using Isaiah 5: 20 to describe us and our time.) Freedom of choice, right to choose, tolerance, diversity, open and free are all words implying virtue. They justify suppression of truth, sexual misconduct, killing innocent unborn and curtailing freedom of thought and expression. We are hardly able to recognize good from evil, because everything destructive or debasing, advocated by those addicted to a perversity, is called by them good. And any who oppose these abuses are called evil, intolerant, oppressive, haters and ignorant.
It should not surprise any of us if the Lord should shortly pour out His judgments upon us. All it would take is a prolonged failure of the power grid and we would unleash on ourselves our own direful judgments.