Eyes But Do Not See, Ears But Do Not Hear

A woman opened the door and called out for Steve. She was an audiologist, and I was there for an appointment, by my wife’s insistence. I looked around the waiting room and there was no one else waiting. I asked her, “Did you say Dave?” She smiled at me ever so slightly and said, “Yes, I did.” I proceeded to take some hearing tests, one of which was to repeat words that were spoken over the headset, 25 in all. I said to myself, “Aced that one. Carol was wrong, my hearing is just fine!” Later, as we went over all the results the doctor told me that I had missed over half of the word recognition. She said, “With a hearing aid in your best ear, I think you can carry on a conversation without having to pretend that you are hearing what the other person is saying.”

Just a couple years later I went in to have my eyes checked, to get glasses if I needed them. Once again, at Carol’s insistence. The Ophthalmologist looked into my eyeballs before doing the vision test. He rolled his chair back, crossed his arms and said, “There is not a thing I can do for you at this time. You have such bad cataracts in both eyes that nothing can help.” When I went to see the Optometrist, her assessment was the same. She asked me, “Are you still driving? If so, I don’t know how you can see anything. One of your eyes has only a small pin hole in the cataract through which you are able to see anything.” The morning after the first cataract surgery I woke up and went into the bathroom to wash my face, forgetting all about the surgery from the day before. I looked in the mirror, and I was totally caught by surprise. I kid you not, my jaw dropped and I took a step back, gazing at the image in the mirror. “Who was this old man in the mirror looking at me?” I was startled, almost shocked at who I was seeing -- in full color and clarity.

In both cases, I came to realize that I had no clue how bad off I was. Clueless, and oblivious.  I presumed that I could hear just fine, that I could see just fine. “I don’t need any help, thank you.”

Christians, in these last days before the coming of the Lord, are in the same condition I was in. They think they see, and hear, and understand God’s prophecy clearly, but they have not a clue how misconstrued their understanding really is. We are in the midst of grave deception and flat-out denial. Very much like the Jews in Jerusalem in the days leading up to the Babylonian exile.

The word of the LORD came to Ezekiel: “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.” (Ez 12:2, also Jer 5:21).  God’s chosen people rebelled against the prophecies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah. They could not believe that they were deserving of God’s judgment. They believed they would live in peace and the blessing of God, that the prophecies of doom and destruction were not immediate, but way off in the distant future. They chose to believe the lies of the false prophets.

It sounds a lot like these last days, if you ask me. If the shoe fits, wear it. Biblical prophecy desperately needs to be re-examined so that Christians can see and hear clearly what is actually coming to pass, very soon. We must stop believing that America is above reproach, blessed of God, and will not be destroyed prior to the coming of the Lord (as prophesied in Daniel 7:11, and again in Rev 18:8). We need to see and hear clearly that the Day of the Lord involves judgment prior to redemption and restoration. We need to quit believing the deception that Christians will be raptured, blissfully, before a seven-year tribulation period (which in itself is also a hoax, totally). A lie doesn’t become truth just because it is believed by the majority.

Regarding End-Time prophecies, Christians in America think they hear and see so clearly. What they are hearing is man’s opinions, not facts. And what they see is a masterfully constructed mirage, not truth. They think they know and understand God’s declared plan for the future but are clueless of how far askew they have been led to believe. Like Jeremiah wrote at the end of chapter 5, they are in for a horrible and shocking realization. They love to believe the lies, and they glory in the authority of their favorite preachers. But they do not have a clue what is coming in the end.