Set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh

Ezekiel 8:17-9:11
Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. 1 ¶ He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. 2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. 3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; 4 And YHWH said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 5 ¶ And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: 6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. 7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city. 8 And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem? 9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, YHWH hath forsaken the earth, and YHWH seeth not. 10 And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. 11 And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.

In the 8th Chapter of Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel is given a vision of the glory of the God of Israel, YHWH (pronounce possibly as Yahweh), who proceeded to show Ezekiel the sins and abominations of the children of Judah, the remnant house of the Jews of the 12 tribes of Israel who survived the captivity of the house of Israel in 722.BC.

God is about to unleash his wrath on the children of Judah for their many sins and rebellion to God and failure to learn from the sins of fallen Israel.

In the vision of Ezekiel, he witnesses many abominable acts of the men of Judah. YHWH, the God of Israel, then says to Ezekiel “"Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore, I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them."

YHWH then assembles his angels of destruction, six men and one is holding an inkhorn to mark the foreheads of all those in Jerusalem and Judah who have as YHWH says, “sighed and groaned” for the sins and acts of abomination and acts of violence being done in their land.

The remaining five men, or angels, stand at ready to impose a slaughter and punishment on Judah. YHWH says "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary."

What does this scripture in Ezekiel tell us today?

Today as I write this article, (9-30-25) the world awaits to see if a so-called peace proposal by the American government and the Israeli government and Hamas Palestinian Islamic terrorist group who attacked Israel in October 2023 brutally killing Israeli citizens and taking many hostages back to Gaza, starting a retaliatory war of Israeli retribution and revenge upon the Palestinian region of Gaza and the occupied West Bank or region of Palestinian lands in the northern region of Samaria, will bring the conflict to a halt.

What followed the October 7th attack has been over two years of Israeli bombardment of the Gaza strip and violence of unseen levels upon the Palestinian Hamas terrorists and the Palestinian peoples caught in the middle living in the densely populated Gaza Strip and further settler violence in parts of the Occupied West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem.

The Israeli military and governing regime have been most effectively brutal, merciless, and harsh toward the Palestinians resulting in deaths as of September 29, 2025, the Palestinian Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) reported a cumulative death toll of at least 66,055 Palestinians.

In addition to the fatalities, more than 168,000 Palestinians have been injured. While the GHM does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its public count, it reports that women and children make up around half of the dead. Independent studies and UN analyses have also highlighted a very high proportion of civilian casualties.

Israel contends it is fighting a ‘moral” war for its defense and survival, but its own military commanders and intelligence staff have made statements to the Israeli prime minister and his government that the war objectives have been achieved and that the war has reached and degraded military defeat of Hamas. They believe that a ceasefire and negotiations for the Israeli hostages should have been undertaken.

However, the prime minister and his extreme right wing governing body has rejected this analysis in favor of a continued military pressure.

The Israelis in addition to carpet bombing the Gaza strip have prevented much needed humanitarian supplies from entering the Gaza strip, including medical supplies, food and water and other material needs desperately needed by the besieged Palestinian peoples of Gaza.

At the same time the Israeli military force the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has been complicit standing by while Jewish Zionist settlers take by force and most brutal acts of violence Palestinian land of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

There have been calls by the Israeli politicians to annex territory of Samaria and the West Bank.

With all this back dop of violence in the holy land, there is largely worldwide inaction to what is being called a “Genocide” and clearly ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian peoples far worse than the first “Nakba,” or ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, that took place more than 77 years ago, when the Israelis pushed out the Palestinian peoples out of their lands and instituted a Jewish homeland for the Jewish people on the once Palestinian lands of Palestine.

Through these 77 years of Israeli mistreatment of the remnant Palestinian peoples who have been treated as less than third class citizens in the most oppressive and abusive treatment by the Jewish Israelis who militarily occupied the land and pushed more than 800,000 Arabs with the reminder to live a life of cruel oppression and military occupation akin to the racist white South Afrikan Apartheid, the Church has largely been silent.

The Church has largely been silent.

Very few churches have dared to stand up for the plight of the Palestinian peoples and judge the cruel mistreatment and violence being perpetrated by the Israelies over the years.

The truth is the overwhelming majority of Christians have been silent as they support the Jewish people of Israel and as they believe the ‘Chosen people of God, to whom God promised the land of Cannan to.’

There is an incorrect widespread theological belief that the rise of the new Jewish state in 1948 was the fulfilment of Bible prophesy and return of the Jews to their long-ago former homeland.

A dispensational theological view causing Christians believing this theology to support the Jewish state to a point of Idol worship where the Israelis can do no wrong, and a more extreme form of dispensationalist belief embraced by Zionist Christians has spread within the Church, bringing a perverse worship of the state of Israel and belief that the Jewish people have no need of the gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved; they are God’s people Israel and will be saved by YHWH regardless of His Son Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

The Christian church has for many years been silent when it comes to the Palestine conflict, while loudly against abortion, but they have turned a blind eye to the children and babies of the Palestinian people suffering under Israeli military occupation and oppression.

The Christian Church has been deadly silent.

It is guilty of inaction and many churches have resorted to involving Zionist politics and sermons on the wars in the Middle East, and praise for Israel, forgetting the words of YHWH and JESUS their Lord, the red letters which speak of God’s mercy, love, and justice for a lost world of sinners.

The Palestinians have been left to suffer on their own without the help of the larger Arab community, and without the help of the international community, by and large.

Because of a skewed theological bent, the United Nations political international body which formed the Jewish state in 1948, is viewed as the precursor to the “Beast” of Revelation, and so the churches have ignored just about anything the ‘evil’ United Nations has been saying about Israel and its occupation and apartheid system.

They have ignored the many UN resolutions critical of and condemning the Israeli abuse of the Palestinians and even the UN’s many programs such as food programs and the like.

But despite the blackout, God takes notice, and He sees all, and knows where all the skeletons are buried, and he knows the history of the Israelite people, and this new state of a Jewish homeland.

It is time for those who know and have cried and groaned and sighed at the truth of the Zionist state’s mistreatment of the Arab Palestinian peoples to stand and scream to God and make our voices heard.

Please join me and many others who have sighed and groaned for justice and truth in visiting these two Palestinian Christian webpages, and send a loud message to the Church in the world that they need to repent of their sin of omission regarding the 77-year-old Palestinian/Israel conflict.

A Call for Repentance: An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians

A Collective Call to the Global Church from Middle East Evangelical Leaders

Please visit these pages and sign the petitions, send a message to God and the Church that you will not stand by and remain silent on this issue.

May God have mercy on us all and forgive us of our sins.