Scripture
If you obey Me, we will walk together, but if you are wicked, you will stumble.
~Hosea 14:9, CEV
Quote
There is no immunity from the consequences of sin: retribution will come to one and all without fail.
~Hosea Ballou
Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom, a contemporary to Isaiah who was a prophet in the South. When it came to sin and rebellion, the North [known as Israel] was ahead of the South [Judah]. Technically, the Israelites from the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin are known as Jews. The Northern tribes were scattered all over the world and it is my understanding that they have lost tribal identity. When the kingdoms split, Jereboam did not want the tribes in the North going to Jerusalem to worship so he began his own religion and it centered around the worship of idols. The LORD warned them again and again but they refused to forsake their idols. All fourteen chapters of Hosea are about Israel worshiping idols. Hosea begged them to repent and he warned them of what would happen. They refused to repent.
God wanted to bless His children; He had some much in store for them if only they would obey. He was longing to pour out his grace and mercy on them but they refused to repent. Can you imagine what an obedient Israel could have become? The LORD said, “If you will just obey Me, we will walk together!” Wow, blessed fellowship, sweet fellowship with the Infinite One but Israel said, “No thanks, we will go our own way.” Just as Hosea predicted, Israel stumbled and fell and they did not get back up.
The same identical thing is happening to AMERICA. The North has embraced the god of Secular Humanism and I am afraid the South is not too far behind. If we are careful, we too will stumble and we may not recover once we do.
What a day, what a week. I was so exhausted on Saturday evening that I came in and put my PJ’s on before 6:00 and went to bed at 9:00. I still woke up tired Sunday morning. Carol said that Junior goes home after preaching and sits in his chair until bedtime: he is that exhausted. I am getting there. Junior is having surgery on both feet in July. He did a great job at Grace Point but it is hard for him to stand. He has to be in pain. We all need to pray for Junior; he is a true man of God. We loved having him at GP. We had a lot of visitors yesterday, some from Kosciusko, Mississippi, some from Arizona and some from Texas. We honored our seven graduates and they came from all directions.
June asked what I was going to do today and I told her that I had no plans. The way I feel, I may sleep till dinner. The two trips last week gave me out. Attention David and all baseball fans: you will not believe the Mississippi State baseball stadium. It has sky boxes. It will put the Barron’s stadium in the shade. I have to go back for a baseball game but no time soon. Maybe we can get Rylee to move from Wallace to State. I was shocked at the beauty of the campus and in awe of the baseball facility. You will have to see it to believe it.
We live in a small world: we have two folks in ICU at HH and while I was inside the unit visiting our folks, I recognized the woman in the next cubicle. Due to all the privacy issues, I will not divulge her full name but I ducked in to see if she remember me and her face lit up…”Bro. Jack,” she said immediately. I had a sweet visit with Doris. Her son use to attend DBC. Pray for Doris, Bob and Sandra…all in ICU units in Huntsville.