People Destroyed

People Destroyed

2/8/19

The title of this article when examined should place fear in some because of the significance of its meaning.  The word destroyed is not a pleasant word and related to an ugliness that can appear in numerous ways with all ways pointing towards the end of life, with a somber note about the end result griming with disparate results.  Anyone who understands God knows that this is not a pattern or result that He wishes for His people yet for the same amount of ways mentioned a sentence ago it would seem that He cannot override.  We have just as many examples in our past that should direct us away from such causes but human nature listens to the world more quickly than its Protector so I guess we shall continue to witness such destruction.  Unless we turn back and turn our blackened hearts back to God before He has to start involuntarily peeling layers of our society away so He can reach that heart of ours.

A short while ago God gave us a wonderful letter that dealt with old counsels and how important it is to know the correct counsel to seek when times of trouble arrive or even when trouble seems far away.  Today, each time we turn on the news or watch political advertisements it seems like someone else has an opinion from another.  Used to be that this was an acceptable position to have and that those involved could sit down and have a rational conversation about such disagreements.  Not today, any opposite opinion is declared a target and thus shot at with weapons of mass destruction until that opposite opinion is silenced.  Back in the day, it would almost be physically impossible for any type of immediate controversy to be displayed for the technology of quick information did not exist thus forcing people to take the time to read about issues and then make informed and consented decisions about whatever was in discussion.

There is no question that technology has become a natural part of our lives today as did the clay pot or canister was back in the days of the Bible. While technological knowledge has done modern societies a favor, for the most part, not all developments can be construed as so precious.  Do not get it incorrect, technology has advanced in some areas that simply are amazing and serve the public well but we must consider that some of these items have become a detriment and a habitual nuisance to others around the users.  Working in the medical profession has allowed me to watch the progression of technology improve the accuracy and testing of lab work, and with the development of the CT, MRI and PET scanning techniques one cannot complain at all.  However, as stated above when these items become a distraction or a dependent category of our lives we lose the capability of reasoning and thinking independently for ourselves thus relying on such developments instead of the knowledge we have acquired over the years.  It is this dependence and crown like objects that cause our demise and separation from God thus blinding us of what is really occurring around us.  This type of living is not the truth, but a worldly lie and one of the reasons the loss of God in our lives occurs.

It is this technological availability that is one of the beginning points of our modern day dumbing down of our minds and hearts and then created a wealth of useless facts that has complimented the false security of technology as a security blanket instead of a tool to enhance our methods of survival.  Technological breakthroughs, in theory, represent the exact answer we needed in order to overcome almost any type of destruction that could come our way yet it has proven to be the instrument that has caused our demise faster than believed.  If someone takes away a young person’s computer or cell phone their lives are immediately in disarray and if one watches them close enough for a short period of time their entire livelihood and attitude drastically change.  They believe and then subsequently act like they cannot function without this crutch hanging from their hearts and the longer they are without it the more agitated and frustrated they become.  Ask any parent who has a younger generation kid that they have raised and they will concur with this evaluation.  It is a frightening moment to think about what would occur if God supernaturally devastates this nation and we all find ourselves living without the so-called comforts of the modern age again.  Oh, and by the way, it is not an “if” God is going to do this it is a matter of when God is going to do remind us of who is exactly in control. 

While I cannot specifically say just what percentage of increase there has been in traffic accidents involving kids and using their cell phones while driving but I do know that when my eyes glance over the city police blotter there is not a week that goes by without a call mentioned this type of accident.  Of course, details are sketchy on these occasions but what information is given is easily understood what transpired as one of the reasons for the incident.  If technology can cause such grief and havoc on a local level and create a small infraction which in turn results in short chaos just think what kind of results will be present when availability of certain items, basic items for existence are not readily are not around.  What occurs when accidents happen that involve those who are more interested in things around them than what is in front of them and the cost of such an accident now proves escalated as in death?   People know and have been taught not to do such activities when operating a vehicle, yet almost every day we can easily find where such an accident occurs.  Many in this country have no clue how to survive when something huge occurs and just think about how people will act when their dependencies are not available either.  If God is not a respecter of persons as His Word states, then He shall not be a respecter of items either.

With all of this specific technology at our hands and feet, why is it that our knowledge level seems to be decreasing faster than what our developmental aspects of the world can manufacture?  It is simple, the resources that we pour our hearts into nowadays has nothing to do with God and yet has everything to do with the world around us.  All of these gadgets serve as distractions to what we have been originally taught to do, to think, and how to act.  We first see this in the Garden of Eden when God warns Adam about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil all the while maintaining the job that God gave him to complete.  The job was the knowledgeable issue of Adam, not the eating of the tree yet our enemy twisted the truth enough and for long enough that the distraction occurred and humanity was changed forever through the accident of choices made.  If Adam and Eve would have maintained their focus on the job at hand it would have been easy for them to ignore and to cast out Lucifer and things would have been so much more different for all of us today.

Hosea 4:6 is the passage of Scripture that God wants to share with us in this article and it is one that is ripe for the understanding for this society and many others like it are demonstrating its words to perfection today.  Many think that the Book of Hosea is mainly about marriage and how Hosea followed the command of God concerning his marriage to his wife, this is a correct assumption and one that has countless examples of such truth, but even though we are not going to directly relate to marriage the subject of obedience to the Old Counsel does show up and how our lack of knowledge concerning His Ways affects our lives dramatically.  When people substitute artificial and worldly training from the true way of living only destruction can occur because when this becomes a personal fact God is taken out of the equation and as we study His Word we see what happens when humans elect this course instead of God’s.  Knowledge comes in the presence of knowing how to recognize a problem and be willing to fix the problem without provocative conditions.  See, we have the technology to fix many things in our lives but unless we use these advantages to solve our real problems those instruments are not being used correctly and further issues and problematic developments shall present themselves in their own time and they will only be larger in number and in appearance.

This type of pattern arises and then continues to be held over our lives when humans do not follow God’s Ways and consequently become so controlled by the world and its properties that any belief in advancing forward to clear such issues becomes the proverbial dark tunnel.  It is at this time that all major productive functions of existence cease and only a method of sideways advancement occurs.  We have over the past few years been taught that God only operates in one direction and that is forward, we have also learned that God cannot be intertwined with the world so if God is taken out of the equation then any progress whatsoever is a sideways motion from the world and therefore cannot be attributed from God.  It is a common theme, as mentioned above that this type of resort will be manifested when people do not know true knowledge and the One who provides this life-giving knowledge either, but let us for a moment take into consideration those who do know about such Author and process of this vital knowledge yet does not prove true to the Word that needs to be shared.

God has given each one of us the ability to solve issues that arise but when we lean on worldly possessions as a source of solving these issues no gain shall occur.  Only further in debt will be our status because the world cannot give complete directions for anyone’s future for the leader of the world cannot foresee what is our future, he can only see his ending coming up.  This eternal death sentence of his is exactly what he wishes for us and through this standard of his, he represents the only option which many people choose because in their eyes there is no other vital choice to be taken.  Why do you believe this setting occurs, do you suppose?  It is evident that the pattern followed is one of pure and utter devastation but to many, it is the only pattern they see to follow and when one believes that they have only a single pattern to follow it is of no great surprise when they chose the ways of the world.  But as many of us know there is another pattern we can follow, one that provides truth and healing to the broken and provides them with an eternal plan of salvation, yet we are remaining silent on this issue and thus allowing countless die without them knowing what the real Truth is all about.

In our Scripture reference, we find that Hosea was told by God to marry a prostitute plain and simple.  All knew Hosea to be an honorable and godly man and those around him could not understand why he would do such a move, but when Hosea heard the voice of God he acted upon what God shared with him and married exactly who God told him to marry.  If Hosea did not understand the Word of God and what the meaning of God’s Words was he could have easily misunderstood or even ignored what God told him to do.  God used Hosea to show Israel how their lives were appearing in the eyes of God and how that they still had the opportunity to change their hearts even though their daily lives seemed normal to them.  There is something that needs to be known right up front about the situation that Hosea found himself living within and that is what God told Hosea to do does NOT in ANY way give us the authority to run to the world and accept their ways in order to convert the world in such a manner that Hosea was told to do.  Hosea is not a scapegoat nor is his life and obedience a manner to which we should follow.  I bet that many people have had this idea placed into their heads and believed that it was real, and when their involvement in the world arrived found themselves in the muck and could not get out.  How many times has God tried to show us how not to do something through other people’s examples, and how many times have we ignored them?

Can you imagine what blasphemy this “choice” of Hosea’s looked like to the people around him?  What did his buddies think about what he did especially when Gomer decided to run off and play her idolatrous games as she was groomed to do?  One can only imagine what people said about her and about Hosea both directly and indirectly but what is most interesting is that all of them saw the physical aspects of those events but hardly any saw the spiritual aspects of what God was trying to get across to each heart in that area.  Israel in this setting represents the prime example of a nation (people) who do not understand what it meant to live under Covenant and what that Covenant stood for as the relationship between them and God.  They still separated the physical from the spiritual and did not understand that through their Creation by God that both aspects function as one entity.  It is “normal” to see the physical when one lives in such a state without God, but those who understand the aspects of the spiritual aspire to live for God and to know His wisdom when it comes to their existence and presence.

Gomer had no intentions of being “tamed” or “controlled” by her husband.  Her heart was continually looking for ways to get out and to satisfy her longings, the ones she really wanted to have in her life.  She ignored the role of a wife and of a mother even though she played the part when she had to.  Her existence was totally in vain and the worldly vanity and popularity that had gripped her still called and when it did she allowed its presence to override her real calling as a woman of God.  But Hosea, knowing all of her actions and deeds with others loved her still simply because she was his wife.  He was faithful to her and defended her when the time came all the while people around him were shaking their heads not understanding why Hosea did what he did.  Gomer represents what God sees when He hears a person of religion speak, they have no intention of changing or deepening their commitment to God only the satisfaction that they receive when walking around in their worldly “Jesus clothes” attire.  While Gomer served as the example for Israel to see, Israel did not see what God was warning them about and eventually paid a heavy price for this denial.

The question that God poses to us today is this: how would you have reacted when or if you came into contact with Hosea or Gomer?  How would you respond when you had time to think about what was going on?  Would you gossip?  Would you laugh, cry, or even participate in such flings?  We have to remember that we are not talking about a gentile nation here or another nation that did not know God but referring to the nation of Israel, the same nation that God chose and Created Himself.  These wonderful people because of their Creation status should have recognized what God was trying to show them, that it was their hearts that were blackened and that they needed to be repaired by God and not the ways of the world.  This setting also shows just how incompetent we become when we allow religion to invade our lives and overtake the relationship that God seeks and desires from us.  How many of us would rather consider ourselves to be Catholic, Baptists, Assembly of God, or any other denomination BEFORE we consider ourselves children of God who wish to know God and everything about Him?  Wanting to get to know a person is a sign that they wish to have a relationship with someone else.  When the intimate details of another person are kept from another, no relationship can be examined, and the same goes with religion for religion only scratches the surface or the superficial of what is being pursued because everyone knows that when something becomes a ritual to the eyes the heart is no longer involved.

We have arrived at the meat of this article and to the point that God wants us to understand today.  Many of us continue to walk around with the faces of the Israelites in this passage, we have been schooled in the Word of God but still do not know the knowledge or the wisdom that God has for us in His Word.  We look at the issues of the world and blame others for what is going on yet fail to understand that it is our own actions as the Church or I should say non-actions of the Church that has brought us to this place in society.  As children of God we should always be aware of what is going on around us and when things go wrong and the reasoning’s for what transpired is made known, we should never automatically accuse anyone else first, but look to our own hearts to see if any of what has become known resides within our own lives.

This passage also clearly states the reasons why people do not understand God and why bad things occur in their lives.  Sadly, the lack of understanding true knowledge also allows for people to accept wrong as being right and desire to punish those who see the opposite.  God has no intentions for us to go out into the world unprepared for this passage and the entire Book of Hosea explains why we should not; however, it does explain the condition of Israel’s heart and God is showing us today that our hearts have become the exact same way and that we have accepted sin as our norm instead as our enemy.  For some people, it is difficult for them to understand exactly how this passage is relevant to our lives today but for others, they see quite clearly just as this perfect illustration of what our hearts are living.  With all of the happenings in our world today one would believe that people would be flocking to God in droves but in truth, they are running from God and continuing to pursue their own truth through worldly measures.  There is no question that the Church is included in this running away from God scenario because almost each day we hear about another pastor or group of leaders being accused of improprieties, people turning to selfish plans in order to resolve their issues, and just not seeking God for answers to what is going on around them and in their lives.  It is a classic sign especially when you read this passage and the remaining portions of Hosea.

God has no intentions of His people to suffer in the ways of the world and that is the single reason why He gave us the ability to think and to reason, then to choose our personal and eventual national elections.  Today, we see this pattern of worldly acceptance guiding people right over the cliff of life and to top it off when this time arrives in our communities we are not allowed to even address the eternal aspect of their lives to ward off any further non-purposeful destinies of others.  In many cases, friends or family members hold the services of these lost lives and God is totally left out of the services.  Folks, these types of instances and situations shall increase if we do not turn our hearts back to God and seek His wisdom again before it is us who becomes the next victim.

God could have chosen any example to use for this article but He chose this one because it demonstrates just how important it is that we maintain a close and direct relationship with Him in order for us to make our lives sufficient under His Grace.  It does not matter if your intimate, personal, national, or eternal life is being attacked God has no desire whatsoever to see it destroyed on any level but our existence shall always be in question if we fail to recognize and then seek the advice of the Almighty God.  It does not matter who you are you have the ability to see the truth if you only allow yourself to be a witness to the One who created you.  This can only be possible if you have the willingness to choose to listen to God and to live under His Ways.  It has been said that God works in mysterious ways and if we believe this to be true then we must consider every word that Hosea wrote and take his words into consideration and then apply them to our own lives.

Church, we are not exempt from this sinful life and we need to figure out our heart’s status real quickly because our time is running out to do God’s work and to fulfill Jesus’ command to us.  Look at the world and how it operates and we should have no problems understanding what is going on and how we have reached this point.  We have fallen down on the job because we have impersonalized our relationship with God and have personalized it with the world and it is in this order of our electing that shall cause us to be destroyed.  The word “I” or even the notion of “self” cannot be present in anything we do for when it lies in this state we are limited in all things and there cannot be any limitations in the Kingdom of God.  Let us return to the Word of God for our knowledge and instruction for it is the perfect source for our lives and for the lives of those who do not know it.  God gave us His definition so that we can straighten out our lives through Him and not believe that we can cover ourselves as Adam and Eve did after sin entered into our existence.  Do we consider our knowledge the kind that comes from God or the one that we induce ourselves into believing that it comes from God?  When we have these ideologies coming forth from our lips do we check them with the Word of God first with the complete understanding that God’s word is the eternal Truth and not our self-interpretation?  The passage that we have just concluded demonstrates a land of people who have lost their desire to be in relationship with God thus have no intentions of correcting their lives to line up with the standards that God Created them to live within.  

Today, we see the exact same process transpiring right in front of us for you have Church leaders siding with the world when it comes to abortions and how the choice of a woman is more important than the definition of God.  This election of the Church is a clear deterrent from God’s Word and cannot be deemed as any other response.  This issue is not the only one that plagues the Church for there are many other “hot” topics that the world deems necessary that the Church has embraced or is in the process of embracing.  All of these examples are ones that prove that we are in the same boat as the people of Israel in this passage of Hosea and it is time we wake up and change our elections before our choices reap the hand of God.  What shall it take for us to stop and to take a hard look at our hearts?  I know it took me having to ride in a helicopter for God to show me the status of not only my heart but the heart of this nation as well.  ALL are included in this description and every one of us needs to turn to the Bible and seek the commands of God and to repent so that we may live in restoration and have the authority over the world as Jesus gave us.  Are we going to be Hosea, Hosea’s wife or the people of Israel?

DLB