Day 326..."More of the same...Our beliefs do matter"

The reading in Ezekiel chapter fourteen was difficult for me to follow today. Is it because we have read these types of accounts over and over? There is one section I grasped to salvage an overall summary...“For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! But behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord God.” Chapter fifteen was extremely short today. A short word about Jerusalem being a fruitless vine. We have a ways to go in Ezekiel yet.

Colossians is theological in speaking of canceled debts in Christ. There is also a reference of being alive in Christ. He also warns against fake religion. Notice the tone in the words..."If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh."
Paul was not very tolerant of those distorting the good news of Christ. This is something for our consideration today! The message...the Apostles' Creed and our beliefs do matter!