"Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away." (Hosea 4:1-3)
First, to establish the proper perspective we need to define who is speaking, what the subject matter is and who is the focus of the prophecy. Hosea was a prophet in the Kingdom of Israel. Tasked by God, he called on Israel to repent its sins of apostasy and warn her of the coming judgment. His writings form the first of the Old Testament books of the Minor Prophets. Hosea was the son of Beeri and a member of the upper classes He was active 750-722 B.C., considering the repetitious nature of history; this makes his prophecies relevant to today apostate society.
The prophet is predicting doom upon the Children of Israel and to any generation that follows that disobeys God. In today's modernist society, true to Hosea's prophecies, our food supply is contaminated, the fish and animals are dying and our young people are dying of horrible diseases. Are we as the world, a nation, a people, standing on the brink of destruction? History and evidence are all we need to consider.
Since the beginning of time, numerous civilizations have disappeared under what humanity defines as mysterious circumstances. For almost as long as we have had civilizations, we have lost them. There are records going back hundreds of years of explorers discovering huge temples encrusted with jungle, or giant pits full of treasure that were once grand palaces. Why did people abandon these once-thriving cities, agricultural centers, and trade routes? When listening to my learned colleagues discuss the plight of lost civilizations hardly is there a reference to the "wrath of God".
The Maya are perhaps the classic example of a civilization that was completely lost, its great monuments, cities, roads swallowed up by the Central American jungles, and its peoples scattered to small villages. Though the languages and traditions of the Maya still survive up to the present day, the civilization's peak was during the first millennium AD, when their greatest architectural feats and massive agricultural projects covered a vast region in the Yucatán.
What causes the places of this great civilization to disappear into the jungle? This same fate also befell the African nations. We as Bible students know that the scriptures list two main reasons for the decline of civilizations, "wars of man" and the "wrath of God".
Cloaked in darkness since medieval times, the spectacular ruins of the once dazzling, southern African kingdom of Great Zimbabwe posed a thorny dilemma for settlers who claimed to have “discovered” the region a mere hundred years before.
Refusing to believe the massive, finely hewn walls could be the product of native culture, “experts” eager to claim the land for Europeans credited the ancient city to everyone from wandering Phoenicians to the biblical Queen of Sheba. In so doing, they began a long insidious European tradition of willful misinterpretation of Africa’s past, until, in the ultimate irony, the place where human history began would become a place with no history of its own. This cloak of darkness, was it an act of God? Does the worship of multiple God play a role in the decline of a nation or Empire?
There are numerous other archaeological finds that baffle the human mind when the explanation advanced removes God from the equation. From the creation of the earth to the Pyramids of Egypt, if we eliminate God they become a series of theories and supposition.
The question of what happen is often entertained, but the reason why is often overlooked. The Old Testament speaks of many nations, cities, and civilizations wiped from the face of the earth. Sodom and Gomorra is a prime example of the wrath of God, what once was a thriving metropolis wiped from the face of the earth because of their sins.
It is necessary to point out that when studying the Old Testament prophecies we should exercise care in our interpretation. It is necessary that we learn from these prophecies, without placing a greater burden on God. If we say, God is talking to us as an individual then we are open to injecting inject errors into the scripture. Too often, we shift the language within the same paragraph from figurative to literal and back, stumbling over perspective and context while trying to prove an asinine point.
Hosea 4:1-3 seems applicable to the nations of today but it was also applicable to the nations of the past. Since that day when the prophet uttered those faithful words, the sinful nature of humanity has led to the destruction of many nations and civilizations. The African nations touting themselves as the birthplace of humanity is condemned to an endless struggle to regain its identity. Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire and most notably the Maya civilization are timeless examples of the dispersal of people and the destruction of civilizations. These nations or civilization and others that are not mention had one thing in common, they pollute their religious base with a multiple God conceit.
The multiple God concepts are a common denominator in all failed civilizations or societies. As the knowledge of good and evil triumphs over the Knowledge of God, the one God concept is cast aside. Humanity demands the right to choose what God if any, that it will serve, even the ancient impotent gods of their past.
The changes that are taking place within the government and the government sponsored churches are akin to the problems encountered during the rule of the British Empire during the pre-colonial days. Not contented with the history lessons of the past, the government once again has begun to meddle in the religious affairs of the populace. We live in a therapeutic government sponsored culture that seems determined to do away with sin and Christianity. Every form of immorality has been re-classified as addictions.
Addictions to sex, drugs, and alcohol are classified as diseases, not the results of deliberate actions. Guns are now perceived as a greater threat than the murderers pulling the trigger. If we could separate the gun from the murderers, we could solve the murder problem. Whatever the sin may be, there always seems to be a way to excuse, redefine, or minimize it, even to the point of using the Bible to justify it.
It is the nature of history is to expand and repeat itself. We as a people and a nation, even the world find ourselves in the same situation as Israel was in. The Bible is history that we should learn from and use to govern our lives. When we sift through the prophecies, adjusting perspectives, changing contexts, we inject errors into the message. These errors can become an irreconcilable obstacle, as we study and attempt to live by the Word of God.
I live in a dying world. Animals are dying all over the world in huge numbers, due to humanities lack of concern for our environment. Pollution is destroying the quality of the land, sea, and air. Millions of Fish and massive numbers of various marine creatures are washing ashore dead. The Bee population is decreasing at an alarming rate. Birds are falling dead out of the sky, and millions of poultry and wildlife are dying from the avian flu. The animals of the land are also dying in large numbers from disease. Although animals and fish have been dying all throughout history, the massive and consistent numbers that we are seeing are staggering.
People are dying as well, not that death is a newly emerging factor, and young people are dying from emerging diseases. In the early years of my life even if cancer was mention, people live to a ripe old age. Today the ages in the obituary section just keep getting younger and younger. Just the other day the preacher was preaching on how God wanted us to live a long and prosperous life
I live in a dying world. Animals are dying all over the world in huge numbers, due to humanities lack of concern for our environment. Pollution is destroying the quality of the land, sea, and air. Millions of Fish and massive numbers of various marine creatures are washing ashore dead. The Bee population is decreasing at an alarming rate. Birds are falling dead out of the sky, and millions of poultry and wildlife are dying from the avian flu. The animals of the land are also dying in large numbers from disease. Although animals and fish have been dying all throughout history, the massive and consistent numbers that we are seeing are staggering.
People are dying as well, not that death is a newly emerging factor, and young people are dying from emerging diseases. In the early years of my life even if cancer was mention, people live to a ripe old age. Today the ages in the obituary section just keep getting younger and younger. Just the other day the preacher was preaching on how God wanted us to live a long and prosperous life
To be continued...
