Hidden Eyes and Closed Ears - By Joe Crews

7/28/2019 Hidden Eyes and Closed Ears - By Joe Crews

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Copyright 2003 by Lu Ann Crews

All rights reserved.Printed in the USA.

Published by Amazing Facts, Inc.P. O. Box 1058Roseville, CA 95678-8058

Cover Design by Haley TrimmerLayout Design by Greg Solie


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Hidden Eyes and Closed Ears2

C H A P T E R 1Narrow is the Way

S ome of the most astonishing propheciesin the Bible have to do with theproportion of people who will be savedat the coming of Christ. Jesus clearly taughtthat only a comparative few would be ready toinherit His kingdom. He said, Enter ye in atthe strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broadis the way, that leadeth to destruction, andmany there be which go in thereat: Becausestrait is the gate, and narrow is the way, whichleadeth unto life, and few there be that find it(Matthew 7:13, 14).

In Luke 18:8, by asking a verypenetrating question, Jesus implied that thefew might be even less than we could hopeor imagine. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Again, the Master spoke of the finalseparation in these words: And as it was inthe days of Noah, so shall it be also in the daysof the Son of man (Luke 17:26). Only eightpeople were saved from the flood and as itwas then so shall it be at His coming. Other

Bible writers and prophets use similar language to portray the little flock, the


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of heaven. Talk about startling truth! Morepeople need to get their eyes open to thislittle-understood situation that will

characterize the end time. Then we need tofind out how to avoid the vast spiritualdelusions which will cause so many religiouspeople to be lost.

Why will they be rejected in spite of their devoted worship and ministry in thename of Jesus? It has caused some peoplealmost to despair of salvation. How can oneknow that his own religion will not finally befound in this category? Let us seriously lookfor the answers to these questions. Our salvation does not depend upon our sincerity, but upon finding the truth in GodsWord and obeying it!

C H A P T E R 2Obedience is the Acid Test

of a Valid Relig ion

T he first point we must understand isthis: R ELIGIOUS ACTIVITY IS Q UITEU SELESS IF W E ARE N OT DOING T HEW ILL O F GOD . Christ declared that calling on

Gods name, and even leading out in greatselfless humanitarian programs, will be wasted


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their accusers. Never forget that a legalist isone who believes that he can be saved by hisworks. The person who keeps the

commandments because he doesnt want todisplease the God he loves is not a legalist atall. The old argument is often heard, Idrather see a happy, loving Christian whodoesnt keep all of the commandments thanto see an unloving one who strictly obeys thelaw. Why try to measure degrees of guilt?Both are completely wrong. Our feelingshave nothing to do with it. Christ hasestablished the standard of measurement.Nothing less than a faith which worketh bylove will be accepted.

But let us return to the alarmingproposition that most of mankind will be lost,including the fervent religious activists.Worship is commanded in the Bible and is anecessary ingredient of true religion, but will

a host of worshiping Christians be lost? Jesussaid, But in vain they do worship me,teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15:9). Another shatteringstatement of truth! People will engage in vainworship if they reject true doctrine in favor of

mans tradition.


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know Him as His children. The reason theywill be lost is that they do not love Himenough to keep all of His commandments.For

some reason these ardent church workers havelearned to look lightly upon the law of God.Most of them consider it legalism to believethat disobedience could keep them out of heaven. Satan has blinded their eyes to thebeautiful, intimate relationship of love andobedience. Millions of Protestant Christianshave actually been taught that their obedienceor disobedience can have no effect whatever upon their ultimate salvation.

In view of the deep-rooted tradition of popular Christianity today, we can see howSatan has manipulated millions into a state of mind to reject the claims of Gods moral law.Under the twisted interpretation of a cheapgrace (someone has called it sloppy agape)the stage has been set for the devils master

strategy of deception. The final contestbetween truth and error will revolve aroundthe basic issue of loyalty or disloyalty,obedience or disobedience.And the focus willbe squarely on the fourth commandmentwhich contains the great distinctive sign of

Gods creative power and authority.



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generally follow two lines of argument. Thefundamentalist group of preachers emphasizesthe spirit of the law while insisting that the

letter is not binding. This allows for thespecific seventh day to be set aside for Sunday.The other group of more liberal theologianscontends that no special day of worship isnecessary and the believer is entirely free fromall claims of the law.

Since sin is defined in the Bible as thetransgression of the law, and Paul affirms thatWhere no law is, there is no transgression,any attack on the law serves only to weakenmans convictions about sin (1 John 3:4;Romans 4:15). James tells us that the breakingof even one commandment is a violation of allten, and constitutes transgression or sin(James 2:10-12).

Is it a serious matter to tear downconfidence in this great hand-written moral

code of God? Do men take sin more lightlywhen they lose faith in the authority of the TenCommandments? Without question they do.The strange circumstance of ministers teachingpeople to sin is not easy to comprehend. It isonly when we study the great lines of

prophecy concerning these last days that wecan begin to understand the phenomenon.



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away from the truth.This means that they sawit, understood it, but did not want toacknowledge it. God made exactly the same

charge against His priests in the OldTestament. Her priests have violated my law,and have profaned mine holy things: they haveput no difference between the holy andprofane, neither have they showed differencebetween the unclean and the clean, and havehid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I amprofaned among them (Ezekiel 22:26).

The priests of the Old Testament hid their eyes from the Sabbath and the ministers of thelast days would turn their ears from the truth.How tragic! In other words, they would see itbut would try to get away from it by refusingto keep looking. I have often talked toministers of various persuasions on the subjectof the Sabbath. Some have honestly admittedthat Saturday is the true Lords day of the

Bible. Others reject it for various reasons. Afew just could not believe that God was soparticular about which day to observe. Theyreasoned that God would be understandingwith those who found it more convenient tokeep a different day than the seventh day.

Some ministers that I talked with do not reallyaccept the Bible as the inspired Word of God.



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the Genesis story of creation. He denied theflood story and affirmed his belief in evolutionas the explanation of mans existence. He

explicitly rejected the story of Jonah and thewhale. Finally, I asked him if he believed in thevirgin birth of Jesus. His answer was,I dontbelieve it is necessary to believe in the virginbirth to be saved.

I wish I could tell you that this attitude isexceptional among the Baptists, but it is not.This pastor assured me that over half of the Southern Baptist ministers believed justlike he did. I certainly hope he is mistakenabout that estimation, and Im frankly of theopinion that he was exaggerating thenumbers. Nevertheless, Im convinced that themajority of this young preachers classmateshad lost their faith in the inspired Word whilestudying at the seminary, just as he had.

Finally, under close questioning, he

weakly affirmed some kind of personal faithin the virgin birth even though he didntthink it was too important. I asked him if hiscongregation knew about his views on theBible, and he assured me that they did not. Hedid not dare preach the things that he

believed. I said, Dave, if your church knewwhat you have expressed to us, they would fire



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have protected them from the kind of deadlydisbelief which the young minister expressed.No man can be an evolutionist or a modernist

who truly believes and keeps the Sabbath.

C H A P T E R 7If the Sabbath Can Be Changed

Then the Bible Can Be Changed

T his state of confusing doubt is alsothe fruit of antinomianism which hasbeen so widely espoused. By tryingto do away with the moral law of theTen Commandments, the churches havecompromised the doctrine of an infallibleBible. If the Sabbath can be explained away, if the great basic moral law can be nullified, thenalmost any other part of the Bible can berationalized.And it has been, by millions whowere taught to do so by the preacher behindthe pulpit.

What does God think about those whohave created this shameful breach in His law?Through the prophet Malachi God describesthe failure of His ministers to uphold the law:For the priests lips should keep knowledge,

and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the L ORD of hosts. But



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not hear the law of the L ORD . . .Therefore thisiniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall,swelling out in a high wall (Isaiah 30:9-13).

Follow closely now as we allow other inspired writers to enlarge upon this basicconcept of the breached wall. Ezekielindicated that some transgressors of the lawwould try to cover their act of sin bysmoothing over the break in the wall.Unfortunately, they would substitute someweak, counterfeit material to make the walllook good but which would not prove to beacceptable at all. Woe unto the foolishprophets . . .Ye have not gone up into the gaps,neither made up the hedge . . . and one builtup a wall, and lo, others daubed it withuntempered mortar (Ezekiel 13:3-10).

Here God rebukes the spiritual leaders for not making up the gaps and breaches in thewall.As the watchmen on the walls they wereto be the very first ones to notice any weaknessand to warn of the break immediately andmake restoration of the defenses. In this case,not only were the priests not making proper repair of the breach but were condoning adangerous substitute of weak materials which

God could not approve. The untemperedmortar represents an effort to gloss over the



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untempered daubing.Again, it is the priests, or preachers, themselves who are responsible for the error.As we have already noted, they have

broken the law by hiding their eyes from theSabbath.This indicates that they clearly saw itbut deliberately turned away and refused torecognize or obey it. But what does it meanthat they daubed the wall with untemperedmortar? It doesnt take a lot of intelligence tosee that they were trying to fill up the Sabbathbreaking with counterfeit material that didnot really restore the wall at all.

Furthermore, they would try to make itseem that God had approved what they haddone, saying, Thus saith the L ORD GOD ,when the L ORD hath not spoken.

Question: Have religious leaders tried toput some false, un scriptural day in place of thetrue Sabbath and tried to make it appear thatGod condones it? Indeed they have! Instead of restoring the true seventh-day Sabbath, whichhad been breached by pagan infiltration of theearly church, they brought in a day dedicated toancient sun worship.Without a line of biblicalauthority they honored that day with the titleLords Day and continually say, Thus saith

the L ORD , when the L ORD hath not spoken.



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By these words Christ surely established thattradition will be used to nullify His law. Thuswe can see how the untempered mortar

represents the tradition of Sunday worship,which is applied to the breach in the law.Theresult is the institution of a section of wallwhich is alien to the original, perfect one.

Someone may object that we are takingverses out of context and that the wall symboldoes not refer to Gods law in these moderndays. The prophet Ezekiel indicated that thecounterfeit wall would be daubed withuntempered mortar in the last days, and thatthe seven last plagues would bring its totaldestruction.Say unto them that daub it withuntempered mortar, that it shall fall . . . and astormy wind shall rend it (Ezekiel 13:11).

C H A P T E R 11Wall Daubers

Destroyed by the Plagues

D oes the Bible give us any informationabout the time of this great deluge of hail? John the revelator describes theevent in these words: And there fell upon

men a great hail out of heaven . . . and menblasphemed God because of the plague of the



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those who have the mark of the beast.If anyman worship the beast . . . and receive his mark. . . The same shall drink of the wine of the

wrath of God (Revelation 14:9, 10).Now lets do some reasoning together.The facts of Gods Word are before us. Sincethe seven last plagues fall only upon thosewho have the mark of the beast, and since thecounterfeit wall-builders receive the plagues,we have to conclude that the wall-buildershave the mark.We have already shown that theSunday tradition was used in the daubing.Does this mean that Sunday-keeping isconnected with the mark of the beast? Indeedit does. For a full explanation of thisfascinating connection, write for the freebooklet, The Beast,The Dragon,and The Woman .Even without looking into the subject anyfurther we can see that those who daub thewall (change Gods law) are Sunday advocatesand that they also receive the plagues whichfall O NLY upon those who have the mark of the beast. One would have to be blind to missthe fact that the mark is tied closely toSunday-keeping.

Let us now pursue the wall symbolism

further in the writings of the Old Testamentprophets. God was deeply concerned about



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tradition, so that the Sabbath may again glowas the delight of Gods peoplea holy day andhonorable. Freed from the false allusions cast

by antinomians and libertines, the law of Godwill be recognized as the great moral standardof grace-saved Christiansevidence of agenuine love relationship with Jesus.

Gathering up these golden threads of Bible truth, we can summarize the propheticstory very easily and quickly. In the last daysgreat thrusts will be made by false shepherdsto weaken the authority of Gods law.

Influential religious groups will join forcesto lead people to reject the true Sabbath. Bysetting aside the fourth commandment, abreach is made in the law which is representedas a protecting wall.While counterfeit materialis used to restore the gap in the form of Sunday worship, God finds a people who willbe called the repairers of the breach and whoturn back to keeping the true Sabbath.Thosewho try to change His law by substituting thepagan day of the sun receive the mark of thebeast and experience the punishment of theseven last plagues.

But let us close this discouraging

prophetic picture on a note of hope andassurance. Not all will be found tearing down



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1. The wall represents Gods law. A breachin the wall represents breaking the law[iniquity] (Isaiah 30:9-13), This is a

rebellious people . . . children that willnot hear the law of the L ORD . . .therefore this iniquity shall be to you asa breach ready to fall, swelling out in ahigh wall.

2. False ministers did not repair the break.But they did try to mend the gap withweak, untempered mortar, a counterfeitmaterial (Ezekiel 13:3-14), Woe untothe foolish prophets . . . ye have not goneup into the gaps, neither made up thehedge . . . and one built up a wall, and lo,others daubed it with untemperedmortar.

3. The breach in the wall was the Sabbath,which the preachers saw, but hid their eyes from it. Instead of restoring the trueSabbath, they used the pagan Sunday[untempered mortar] as a substitute,claiming that the Lord said it was allright, when the L ORD hath notspoken (Ezekiel 22:26-28),Her priestshave violated my law, and profaned mine

holy things . . . and have hid their eyesfrom my sabbaths . . . and her prophets



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8. Gods wrath [plagues] fall on those whoused the untempered mortar [Sunday].The plagues and destruction prove that

these events take place at the end of theworld and that these prophecies apply toour day (Ezekiel 13:13-15),I will evenrend it . . . and great hailstones in myfury to consume it.So will I break downthe wall that ye have daubed with

untempered mortar . . . Thus will Iaccomplish my wrath upon the wall andupon them that have daubed it.

9. God looked for those who would repair the gap or breach in His law correctly(Ezekiel 22:30),And I sought for a manamong them, that should make up thehedge, and stand in the gap before me.

10. God finds those who will repair thebreach. They will restore the trueSabbath to its right place (Isaiah 58:12,13), And they that shall be of thee . . .shalt be called, The repairer of thebreach,The restorer of the paths to dwellin. If thou turn away thy foot from thesabbath, from doing thy pleasure on myholy day.



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Hidden Eyes and Closed Ears - By Joe Crews