They Tell Lies About Me

The Minor Prophets Speak to Today

They Tell Lies About Me!

Hosea 7:13-16 NLT

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"What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me!
    Let them die, for they have rebelled against me.
I wanted to redeem them,
    but they have told lies about me.
They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
    Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.
They cut themselves, begging foreign gods for grain and new wine,
    and they turn away from me.
I trained them and made them strong,
    yet now they plot evil against me.
They look everywhere except to the Most High.
    They are as useless as a crooked bow.
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God Himself Accuses The People:

His complaint is about those who have deserted him.
We would do well to listen because their evaluation and his did not mesh.
Their hoped for outcome and his were on two very different pages.

Could There Be A Reflection Of Israel In Us:

1.   He says, "They have rebelled against me."
      (God sees the heart : They have rebelled
        But they can not acknowledge it in their minds
        They are personally and corporately out of touch
                with God's mind.)

       This is the danger of a cerebral faith.

       "I wanted to redeem them."     
       (According to their words and belief systems
         they wanted him to, but there is a disconnect.)

2.   He says, "They have told lies about me.)
      (This is about false teaching.
        They accept the false teaching because
        they do not know God experientially
        in an active personal relationship.
        They depend on others interpretations,
                   others relationships.)

God's appointed (gifted) shepherds are sent to guard the people from false teaching, but the people reject his true under shepherds. They - enamored with the self-help gurus - drive out the Holy Spirit anointed leaders and put themselves - individually and congregationally - into the role of leading themselves. A sure mark that they are not following God - having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.

3.   He says, "They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts."
      (They say they do. They think they do. But their lives
        show they are not sincere. They are Sunday
        Christians, Church Christians, People
        Of the Name of Christ -
                   but not Christ's.)

        To them he will say - "I never knew you."

4.   They privatize their religion.
      (Rather than come together
       to deal with their needs and woes.)

       Note the death of the prayer meetings in most evangelical churches.

5.   They cut themselves
       (Begging for blessing and joy.)

      This is the practice of false spirituality.

6.   He says, "They turn away from me."
      (This is the opposite of true repentance.)

      They sit crippled in the shadow of themselves.

7.   He says, "I trained them and made them strong. (past tense)
      (Now they plot evil against me.
      They look everywhere but to the Most High.
      They are useless as a crooked bow.)

Unable - though aimed to hit the mark - to find God, - to do right, - to live whole.

 

God does his own independent examination of people and churches. Get in touch with it.

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Telling Lies In America @photobucket.com

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