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"If I shut up the heavens and there is no rain; if I command the locusts to ravage the land; or if I let loose pestilence against My people, when My people, who bear My name, humble themselves, pray, and seek My favor and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear in My heavenly abode and forgive their sins and heal their land." II Chronicles 7:13-14;
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ETERNAL's Charge Against Sinful NationsHosea 4:1-2 Hear the word of ETERNAL, O people of Israel. ETERNAL has filed a lawsuit against you listing the following charges: "There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of [the] SOVEREIGN in your land. You swear, lie, kill, steal, and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere, with one murder after another (KJV says, "blood toucheth blood).If you look at television and newspapers, all you see is crime and sin of every description.
Hosea 4:3 That is why your land is not producing; it is filled with sadness, and all living things grow sick and die; the animals, the birds, and even the fish begin to disappear.
Hosea 4:4-5 Don't point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame to him! Look, priest, I am pointing My finger at you. As a sentence for your crimes, you priests will stumble in broad daylight as well as in the night, and so will your false 'prophets' too; and I will destroy your mother, Israel.
However, remember we spoke of a "remnant" that comes out of the tribulation and goes back to the Valley of Jezreel. This remnant is righteous and are protected through it all because it is stated a thousand will fall at your side and ten thousand on your right (Ps 91:7).
Hosea 4:6-9 My people are destroyed because they don't know Me, and it is all your fault, you priests, for you yourselves refuse to know Me. Therefore, I refuse to recognize you as My priests. Since you have forgotten My laws, I will 'forget' to bless your children. The more My people multiplied, the more they sinned against Me. They exchanged the glory of [the] SOVEREIGN for the disgrace of idols. The priests rejoice in the sins of the people; they lap it up and lick their lips for more! And thus it is: "Like priests, like people"--because the priests are wicked, the people are too. Therefore, I will punish both priests and people for all their wicked deeds.
Hosea 4:10-12 (NIV) They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not increase, because they have deserted ETERNAL to give themselves to prostitution, to old wine and new, which take away the understanding of My people. They consult a wooden idol 17 and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their SOVEREIGN.
The next couple of verses are somewhat graphic, but this is needed to help sink into your mind, the understanding of what idolatry really is. It is describing what Israel was doing, which is similar to the action of Israel at the foot of Mt. Sinai with the golden calf. At the urging of their priest the people brought sacrifices, ate, drank, cast off their clothes, and rose up to play. A typical worship service, to any idol includes both physical whoredom and spiritual adultery against our SOVEREIGN.
Hosea 4:13 They sacrifice to idols on the tops of mountains; they go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks and poplars and sumac trees. There your daughters turn to prostitution and your brides commit adultery...
After the Messianic Kingdom is set and people are brought forth from their graves, what will the little old ladies think when told that they walked through a phallic symbol (the steeple) to enter the church of their choice on the day of the sun. Skipping down:
Hosea 4:15 "But though Israel is a prostitute, may Judah stay far from such a life. O Judah, do not join with those who insincerely worship Me at Gilgal and at Bethel. Their worship is mere pretense.
A remnant in the Last DaysHosea 5:15 to 6:2-3 (NIV) Then I [ETERNAL] will go back to My place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek My face; in their misery, they will earnestly seek Me. [They will say from their captivity] "Come, let us return to ETERNAL. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. After two days, He will revive us; on the third day, He will restore us, that we may live in His presence. Oh, that we might know ETERNAL! Let us press on to know Him, and He will respond to us as surely as the coming of dawn or the rain of early spring."That may be stating that Israel will suffer for two years in captivity [a day equals a year of punishment] and then in the third year The Mighty One of Israel will set His hand to save us. However, remember that captivity happens well into of The Time of Jacob's Trouble.
In the next few verses ETERNAL is lamenting Israel's sin; as I am sure Hosea lamented Gomer's returning to prostitution to the point that he had to pay to be with her:
The warning here is that we must walk in the light and we must be careful, for what does our CREATOR say He wants? Does He say "I desire a human sacrifice and I want you to drink his blood and eat his flesh as stated in John 6:53-54?" Is that what He says He wants? NO, IT IS NOT. I feel for you people who worship b-al because ETERNAL emphatically states that He does not want sacrifice and no blood sacrifices of any type. He "desires mercy, not sacrifice, and He wants us to have the knowledge of ETERNAL, the One True SOVEREIGN, The Mighty One of Israel, our Savior, and our Father. If we turn to Him, He will forgive us and bring us home to Jezreel. Jumping to chapter seven: Ephraim's IniquityHosea 7:1-4 I wanted to forgive Israel, but her sins were far too great--no one can even live in Samaria 18 without being a liar, thief, and bandit! Her people never seem to recognize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds give them away on every side; I see them all. The king is glad about their wickedness; the princes laugh about their lies. They are all adulterers; as a baker's oven is constantly aflame--except after he kneads the dough and waits for it to rise again--so are these people constantly aflame with lust.The condemnation is that Israel has constantly been worshiping these pagan gods and is still in a b-alistic religion. This is what happens to a b-al based society:
Hosea 7:5-7 "On the king's birthday, the princes get him drunk; he makes a fool of himself and drinks with those who mock him. Their hearts blaze like a furnace with intrigue. Their plot smolders through the night, and in the morning it flames forth like raging fire. They kill their kings one after another, and none cries out to Me for help.
Hosea 7:13-14 Woe to My people for deserting Me; let them perish, for they have sinned against Me. I wanted to redeem them but their hard hearts would not accept the truth. They lie there sleepless with anxiety but won't ask My help. Instead, they worship heathen gods, asking them for crops and for prosperity [they do this at Sunday Services].
Jumping on over to chapter eight, this an interesting part and is the reason why I wanted to go into this today. Reaping the WhirlwindHosea 8:1 Sound the alarm [by blowing the shofar]! They are coming! Like a vulture, the enemy descends upon the people of ETERNAL because they have broken My treaty and revolted against My laws.Let us stop and ponder this verse by a practical example. What if someone knew, just before 911, what was to happen, whose job would it be to sound the alarm? If we see the enemy coming upon our people like a vulture, whose job is it to sound the alarm? The answer is elementary--who ever sees and understands what is coming upon our people they must blow the shofar! If you see the smoke of turmoil on the horizon, hear the war beats of distant drums, and can hear the pounding of the war horses' hooves as they are now in the pasture and coming closer and closer. If you see the enemy coming, if you understand the truth being explained, if you know there is only one single CREATOR, if you know that His people are sinning horrendously, and you know that He is allowing "The Time of Jacob's Trouble" fall upon His people in full furry--then you are responsible, and it is your job. It is not your job alone, but to join with others in giving the warning. One Paul Revere riding and shouting will not get the job done this time. The keywords are SOUND THE ALARM AS A WARNING and this is not a "soul winning" exercise.
The book of Hosea covers a long period of time. It began before time the Northern Kingdom of a stiff necked Israel was taken captive in the Valley of Jezreel for worshiping b-al (the bull), notice:
The Messiah of the church in Rome is represented by a "white calf" 20 that was sacrificed for sin. Also remember in Gilgal, Jeroboam I had set up two bull calves for Israel to worship and that is how the Northern Kingdom came into idolatry after the splitting of Solomon's Kingdom.
Hosea 8:7-9 They have sown the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. Their cornstalks stand there barren, withered, and sickly, with no grain; if it has any, foreigners will eat it. Israel is destroyed; she lies among the nations as a broken pot. She is a lonely, wandering wild ass. The only friends she has are those she hires; Assyria 21 is one of them.
Hosea 8:10-11 But though she hires 'friends' from many lands, I will send her off to exile. Then for a while at least she will be free of the burden of her wonderful king! Ephraim [Israel] has built many altars, but they are not to worship Me! They are altars of sin!
Are you aware that the trillions of dollars given in foreign aid are considered off budget? Therefore, when they talk about balancing the budget, they are not even considering foreign aid. We give away billions to foreign harlots, but we have nothing left for our own people who are old, our sick, and our children. Entitlement programs, NASA, education, domestic police actions, and veterans' benefits these are on budget. War and foreign aid are not on the budget. Therefore, when the government haggles over Social Security it is a shell game, for money is leaving the country by the shipload.
Hosea 8:12 Even if I gave her ten thousand laws, she'd say they weren't for her--that they applied to someone far away.
Hosea 8:13 Her people love the ritual of their sacrifices, but to Me it is meaningless! I will call for an accounting of their sins and punish them; they shall return to Egypt.
Hosea 8:12-14 Israel has built great palaces; Judah has constructed great defenses for her cities, but they have forgotten their Maker. Therefore, I will send down fire upon those palaces and burn those fortresses."
Retribution Upon ALL OF ISRAELHosea 9:7 The time of Israel's punishment has come; the day of recompense is almost here, and soon Israel will know it all too well. "The prophets are crazy"; "The inspired men are mad." Yes, so they mock, for the nation is weighted [down] with sin and shows only hatred for those who love the SOVEREIGN.I know this is true because I have gotten letters and phone calls from many of you saying, that people, including family, tell me I am crazy for saying, "There is only one CREATOR and He is THE Savior." Why? "Because," they say, "Since, everybody knows that j-sus is g-d, these people must be mad!"
Hosea 9:8-9 I appointed the prophets [KJV says watchmen 23] to guard My people, but the people have blocked them at every turn and publicly declared their hatred, even in the [KJV in the house of their "god"]. The things My people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah [Judges 19:7-30] long ago. The ETERNAL does not forget. He will surely punish them.
...9:10 O Israel, how well I remember those first delightful days when I led you through the wilderness! How refreshing was your love! How satisfying, like the early figs of summer in their first season! But, then you deserted Me for "Baal-peor" 24 to give yourselves to other gods, and soon you were as foul as they.
...9:15 All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from My land because of their idolatry. I will love them no more, for all their leaders are rebels.
Hosea 9:16 Ephraim is doomed. The roots of Israel are dried up; she shall bear no more fruit. And if she gives birth, I will slay even her beloved child.
Hosea 9:17 (NIV) My SOVEREIGN will reject them because they have not obeyed Him; they will be wanderers among the nations.
Hosea 10:1 How prosperous Israel is--a luxuriant vine all filled with fruit! But the more wealth I give her, the more she pours it on the altars of her heathen gods; the richer the harvests I give her, the more beautiful the statues and idols she erects.
...10:2-3 The hearts of her people are false toward our SOVEREIGN. They are guilty and must be punished. The Mighty One will break down their heathen altars and smash their idols. Then they will say, "We deserted ETERNAL and He took away our king. But, what's the difference? We don't need one anyway!"
Hosea 10:9-10 O Israel, ever since that awful night in Gibeah, there has been only sin, sin, sin! You have made no progress whatever. Was it not right that the men of Gibeah were wiped out? (Judges 19:1-30) I will come against you for your disobedience; I will gather the armies of the nations against you to punish you for your heaped-up sins.
The next Scripture is one that x-anity has pulled completely out of context to say something that is not even under consideration.
...11:3-7 (NIV) I trained him from infancy, I taught him to walk, I held him in My arms. But, he doesn't know or even care that it was I who raised him. As a man would lead his favorite ox, so I led Israel with My ropes of love. I loosened his muzzle so he could eat. I Myself have stooped and fed him. But, My people shall return to Egypt and Assyria because they won't return to Me. War will swirl through their cities; their enemies will crash through their gates and trap them in their own fortresses. For My people are determined to desert Me. And so I have sentenced them to slavery, and no one shall set them free. Reread the first part of this and remember that this is a prophecy for the latter days and "The Time of Jacob's Trouble." Even as you read this we are into the beginning of that great time of trouble.
...11:8-9 (NIV) How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? (Gen 14:8) How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all My compassion is aroused. I will not carry out My fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am the SOVEREIGN, and not man--the Mighty One among you. I will not come in wrath.
Hosea 11:10-12 (NIV) They will follow ETERNAL; He will roar like a lion. When He roars (TLBat their enemies), His children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes," declares ETERNAL. Ephraim has surrounded Me with lies, the House of Israel with deceit. And Judah is unruly against the SOVEREIGN, even against the faithful Mighty One.
Notice the Jews (Judah) are brought back into the story flow and will be a part of the reaped whirlwind:
Judah knows when the Sabbath is, but they do not keep it as a people. Those that do keep it, follow non-Scriptural rituals. The Jews know there is only one SOVEREIGN and not a triple header in one, but they do not follow His Words; they follow the words of the Talmud, Mishnea, Oral Traditions, and their Sages or Rabbis. They have at least four major different competing sects and they all cannot be correct. Further Reproof of Israel's SinsBefore concluding there is one more point, that I want to make:Hosea 12:3-5... Jacob (all 13 tribes of Israel) will be justly punished for his ways. When he was born, he struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with The Mighty One. Yes, he wrestled with the Angel and prevailed. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from Him. He met his SOVEREIGN there at Bethel face to face. His SOVEREIGN spoke to him--ETERNAL, the Captain of Heaven's Armies--ETERNAL is His name. ...12:14 But Ephraim has bitterly provoked ETERNAL. The Mighty One will sentence him to death as payment for his sins.
All of Israel has a problem that is coming up but Ephraim has the largest one. In days gone by when Britain, Israel or America roared, the nations shook with fear, but now we are the laughing stock of the world.
That is one of the keys identifying marks for Israel today, a once mighty nation that worships the sun-god on his sun-day. Remember that the white calf was symbolic with the church in Rome for the one they call j-sus.
Hosea 13:2-3 And now the people disobey more and more. They melt their silver to mold into idols, formed with skill by the hands of men. "Sacrifice to these!" they say--men kissing calves! They shall disappear like morning mist, like dew that quickly dries away, like chaff blown by the wind, like a cloud of smoke.
Hosea 13:4-5 I alone am ETERNAL, your SOVEREIGN, and have been ever since I brought you out from Egypt. You have no SOVEREIGN but Me, for there is no other Savior. I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land. But when you had eaten and were satisfied, then you became proud and forgot Me.
...13:12 Ephraim's sins are harvested and stored away for punishment.
...13:15-16 He was called the most fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind--a wind of ETERNAL from the desert--will blow hard upon him and dry up his land. All his flowing springs and green oases will dry away and he will die of thirst. Samaria 25 must bear her guilt, for she rebelled against her SOVEREIGN. Her people will be killed by the invading army, her babies dashed to death against the ground, her pregnant women ripped open with a sword.
The four-fold purpose of prophecy is to give: An Indictment, what the Retribution will be, show ETERNAL's unceasing love, and to give the Ultimate Restoration of Israel and thus joyfulness. Flip over one book to Amos 9:11 and see. However, Hoses does not end that way. Hosea 14:1-4 O Israel, return to ETERNAL your SOVEREIGN, for you have been crushed by your sins. 2 Bring your petition. Come to ETERNAL and say, 3"O ETERNAL, take away our sins; be gracious to us and receive us, and we will offer You the sacrifice of praise. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our strength in battle. Never again will we call the idols we have made, `our gods.' For in You alone, O ETERNAL, the fatherless find mercy" (1st is repentance). 4 Then I will cure you of idolatry and faithlessness, and My love will know no bounds, for My anger will be forever gone! I will refresh Israel like the dew from heaven; she will blossom as the lily and root deeply in the soil like cedars in Lebanon.
First we must show repentance, and then ETERNAL will cure us.
Notice that only those who repent are the ones who are brought to Jezreel. It does not say that everyone will repent. It tells them what to say in verse two and three and when do that--then verse nine tells them that if you stay away from idols--My mercies never fail
The CREATOR is stating the door is still open. However, we the watchman have a job to do. Because if we do not warn Israel, they will fall! In additionr, it is not a clear-cut decision on who will drefuse to repent and fall. Those who repent must first hear the word, and in order for them to hear the word, we have a job to do. Our job is that we must warn Israel of the coming captivity and that is over and above the interactions we have had so far. We need to warn Israel, all of Israel, all of western x-anity, that our problems are of b-al worship. If you think it has been bad now, it will get worse, because we must take on the entire western world. Why? Because it is not clear-cut which ones will repent and which ones will not repent. It will be an individual decision that some will and some will not--but they need the information to give them a choice. In addition, for those who will, ETERNAL will set up King David but in the meantime, this is today.
Hosea was for the time before Judah went into captivity the first time If Judah had repented they would have not have been taken to Babylon.
Hosea is for the time when Israel is in its greatest luxury and evil, as before their first captivity.
So let us pray to the CREATOR that He will call more to do the work before "The Time of Jacob's Trouble" and "The Day of the Wrath of ETERNAL." Hosea is for those who turn to ETERNAL, so that He will have mercy on them. It appears that it is too late for the thirteen tribes of the Commonwealth of Israel, as nations--but the door is still open for individuals.
[ Hosea in the 21st Century -- Chapter One ]
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