Married to a Harlot

Married to a Harlot

Hosea 1:2 NKJV
When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea:
“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For the land has committed great harlotry
By departing from the Lord.”

   I have read and heard many talk about Hosea and admit they do not understand why God commanded him to take a harlot as a wife.  (Also known as a prostitute or a lady of the evening.)    But the explanation is right here in the verse where God gave the command.  “For the land has committed great harlotry…”  The “land” mentioned here is the nation, and people, of Israel.  And the harlotry they committed was to leave the God Who loved them and provided for them and protected them and begin worshipping other gods.
   We often think people just one day wake up, throw away their Holy Scriptures, and buy a stone or wood idol and set it up in their home and bow down to it.  This is hardly ever the case.  What happens is that in one house a wife does not have a baby the first year and she buys a small, wooden fertility goddess.  She prays to Yahweh and then prays to Astarte, the Canaanite goddess of fertility.  And in a neighbor’s home a man has planted his fields and watched his crops wither and die.  He prays to Yahweh and then buys a small carved stone image of Dagon, the god of harvest and crops.  Idolatry did not fall on Israel overnight, it worked its way in one heart at a time, quietly, without calling attention to itself.
   Many commentators try to explain that Gomer was not a prostitute when Hosea first met and married her, but she only became that later and Hosea knew from God that she would become one.  What I see in the text is that she was a prostitute already and Hosea was commanded to take her as wife anyway knowing she would later betray his love.  It showed a lot of obedience for him to actually carry out this difficult command.  And it is clear from the text that when Hosea married Gomer, she did not give up her career as a prostitute.  It wasn't that Hosea found a fallen woman and through love and kindness restored her to virtue.  He married a prostitute and she stayed a prostitute.
   When Hosea and Gomer first married, she probably promised eternal love and devotion.  She probably showed every sign of being committed to Hosea, but after a while and after some hard times she fell back into prostitution.
   So why did the Lord God have Hosea go through all this?  He wanted us to have an example we could understand.  And if you read Hosea, (when we get to Heaven, I can tell Hosea I read his book, can you?) you will be able to see a sad story unfold right before your eyes.  And if you pray and ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes, you’ll see the parallels to Israel’s idolatry and then you will be able to see our own idolatry today.
   Jesus uses the comparison of our relationship to God and His for us as being like the relationship between a husband and wife.  God loves us and loves us completely.  He showed us His love by the extraordinary lengths He went to to provide us with salvation.  But is our love for Him as strong?  Is our devotion to Him as fervent?  Maybe in Heaven it will be, but in this life we are Gomer and treat God the way she treated Hosea.
   In this book we are shown in graphic detail how our idolatry and rejection of the Lord God feels to Him.  We casually put things in front of God, choosing to do whatever we want rather than give Him a few minutes to pray or read the Bible or witness to an unsaved person.  When we put anything before our time with the God it hurts Him like unfaithfulness hurts the victim of an adulterous marriage.  By commanding Hosea to take a harlot as a wife Hosea is put in the place where he can experience what God feels, the rejection of the one he loves.  Sadly, we share the same sad story in our relationship with God.  We start out so fervent in our faith and we love God with all our heart.  We sing praises to him and share what happened to us with others without shame or fear.  We promise Him our eternal love and devotion.  And we really mean it.  So what happens?  Life happens.  We go through a hard time and find ourselves hurt and confused.  We expected life to be roses and sunshine but now the thorns have stuck in our fingers and clouds fill the skies.  We begin to look for answers to questions that don’t have answers.  Why did God let (fill in the name of a loved one) die?  Why did I lose my job?  Why did I get sick?  Why does (fill in the name of person) hate me?
   I would like to say I still felt that way, but life has pushed me off that path many times.  Staying faithful to God is hard work and this world makes it hard to stay faithful.  Life takes effort and determination and sheer guts.  We must work hard and keep diligent in our spiritual lives.  We cannot let ourselves be drawn away from God every time some distraction comes into our lives.  We need to examine our hearts and our motives and see where we stand.
Mark 12:29&30
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.



Stephen Cram                           September 30, 2012                    Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8

V

Ending Your Famine

Ending Your Famine

Luke 15: 16-17 NKJV
 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Matthew 4:4 NKJV
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

   The Prodigal Son, as we know him as, was the son of a rich man.  We, as Christians, are the sons (and daughters) of a rich God.  The Prodigal’s father would never have knowingly allowed his son to physically starve.  God the Father will never willingly allow us to spiritually starve.  The Prodigal’s father would have felt mortified to know his son was hanging around a pig sty and envious of the pig’s food.  God the Father must feel shame that we, His children, hang around sin and look with envy at what we see.  The Prodigal’s father would gladly have given his son food that was so much better than the pods that the swine were feeding on.  God the Father wants to feed us on His Word and give us His Righteousness which is so much better than the sin and degradation we allow in our lives.
   The famine of God’s Word in our society is a self-inflicted condition.  We allow this famine to happen to ourselves and to our families and, much like the Prodigal Son, we would rather go our own way and do our own thing and turn our back on our Father who we see as “old-fashioned” and “restrictive.”  Reading the Bible makes most people feel uncomfortable.  We see what God wants of us and know we’re miles from where we should be.  Because of this, many people simply stop reading the Bible.
2 Kings 6:25 NKJV
And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver.
By today’s monetary measurements, a shekel of silver would be between $8.00 and $16.00.  So the head of a donkey sold for at least $640. A half pint of dove droppings sold for at least $40.  Now THAT’S a famine.  People so hungry for food they’ll eat donkey’s heads and dove poop.  But it’s not surprising, because when one is hungry enough they’ll eat most anything.
   When people reject God’s Word, it is truly appalling what they’ll believe.  People in the midst of a self-inflicted famine will swallow whatever appeals to their ears.  They want to be told there are no consequences for their sins.  They want to be told they won’t suffer eternal separation from God for living sinful lives.  They want to hear that being good is OK and even if they’re not good it’s still OK.  And there are churches they can go to and hear that and Pastors who’ll preach that to them.  The answer to your worries is not smooth talking preachers and comfortable churches.  The answer is God’s Word.  The answer is Jesus’ blood and resurrection.  The answer is God’s grace.  If our churches would all teach God’s Word, it would make a huge and noticeable difference in our country.
   If you go to a church that preaches a watered-down Gospel, shame on you.  If you listen to a preacher who makes you feel good, you’re listening to the wrong one.  You want a Pastor who preaches the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  They will hurt your feelings at times and make you uncomfortable, but you’ll be growing and learning and becoming mature in God.
“But when he came to himself”
   One day, the starving Prodigal looked at what he wanted to eat and it disgusted him, and he came to himself.  This means he focused his mind on where he was and what he was doing and saw the condition of his life and how far he had fallen since leaving his father’s house.  He knew that the lowest servant of his father ate better food than swine food.  He wanted to go home, but felt unworthy because he had already cashed in on his son-ship.  So he decided to offer himself as a servant.  He just wanted to go home, and he was willing to go under any conditions necessary.  So he went back.  His father was still in the same place, it had been he, himself, who had wandered away.
   I used to say we needed more Christians to leave the milk of the Word and get into the meat of God’s Word.  Today, I’d like more Christians to get back to the Word, even if it’s only the milk of the Word.  Leave the slop of this world alone.  Why are the pods that are thrown to the swine so attractive to us?  Why do we long to eat garbage and fill our mental bellies with this world’s poison?   We’re so attracted to this slop we forget what real food tastes like.  I love to study God’s Word because it’s a challenge that makes me think and grow.  I’ve changed my view of Gospel truths over my lifetime as I’ve grown and learned more.  This is normal.  Healthy people grow.  If you stay the same year after year you’re not growing, you’re abnormal and your growth is stunted.  You will not grow; indeed you will not be able to grow while feeding on the slop the enemy throws to the world.  There is no nourishment there so turn away from it!
   Don’t starve to death in the midst of so much bounty!  Read the Word!  Snippets and devotionals are a good start, but read chapters and whole books and fill your mind with His Words.  When we all get to Heaven and meet up with Zephaniah and Obadiah, I can tell them I read their books.  Can you?  You will never know what they have to say to you until you dig in and study what they say.
I challenge everyone to make the commitment not to neglect the Word of God!  Feast daily on that Word which can save your souls!  End the famine in your life.

Stephen Cram                            September 23, 2012                Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8

Famine Amidst Plenty

Famine Amidst Plenty

Amos 8: 11&12
11 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the Lord.
12 “People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east;
They will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, But they will not find it.

   About 750 B.C., an obscure farmer and shepherd was called by God to be a prophet.  His mission, when he chose to accept it, turned out to be a real Mission: Impossible.  He was sent to warn Israel of God's coming judgment if they did not repent.  The nation did not heed the call to repent and was eventually conquered by the Assyrian Empire and led away into captivity.
   The Prophet was Amos, and he went to the Northern Kingdom, which consisted of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel, and preached to them about the dangers of not repenting of their many sins.  He also gave a strange prophesy, which we see in chapter 8, about an unusual famine – a famine of God’s Word.  This comes from willfully turning a “deaf ear” to God’s Word and choosing not to listen.  As your heart becomes harder and harder, you cannot hear His words anymore and you find yourself starving (spiritually) in a land filled with God’s Word.
   Today in our society, there is a severe famine of God’s Word, and this modern day famine is different in some ways and yet still similar in some ways.  The result of this famine will be the eternal damnation of millions and the destruction of our society.  The signs are all around us and each year that goes by we see them becoming more and more blatant.
   Today’s famine was not sent by God.  Indeed, He has done so much for us as a nation and has rained blessing after blessing down on us.  He has sent countless preachers who have preached the Word from the poorest neighborhoods up to the White House.  Drug addicted gang members have had a chance to hear the Gospel and the elite of Washington D.C. have had a chance to hear the Gospel.  No one who had ears could have failed to hear the Gospel somewhere and at least once in their lives.  Contrary to a famine of the Word, God has provided a feast for us.  Anyone in the country has access to a Bible in dozens of translations and in a handful of formats: printed on paper, delivered electronically, voice recordings, video acted out by live actors or by cartoon characters – pick a format!  TV, radio, Internet, just open your ears and listen.  It’s truly a feast waiting to be taken by anyone who hungers for God’s Word.  Never before in the history of mankind has the world enjoyed such free access to God's Word.  What does all this mean?  It means that today's famine of God’s Word is self-inflicted.
   This famine is similar to what happened in Israel in some ways.
   The present famine is one result of living in a society that enjoys excessive material luxury.  When you read through the Old Testament prophets, you see that the people and the leaders kept putting off dealing with the warnings they received.  There was no sense of impending doom because they lived in the lap of luxury.  When you have all the food you want to eat and live in nice homes with all the latest amenities of soft living, who would even notice the danger that is looming over their land?
Luke 8:14 NKJV
Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
   The present famine is also a result of a corruption of the morals of the people and the leaders.  Immorality used to be what the Church stood against.  Now, it’s embraced in our churches and the standards have been lowered so low no one can trip over them.  Just step over those pesky standards and live your morally bankrupt lives with hardly a thought for God’s Holiness.  God asks us to take on His holiness, but in today’s churches we hardly ever THINK of His Holiness.  People who read God’s Word today get an uncomfortable feeling from its rigid ideals.  It is seen as out-of-date and too “stiff” for our modern times.  Pastors who dare to preach from the Bible are labeled and word gets around that they’re too reactionary and hardline and people should be wary of going to a church like that.
   People used to look forward to church services.  Now there is a stampede as soon as the Pastor says, “You’re dismissed.”  Most people only want to be entertained in church, and worship times have become weekly music concerts that are choreographed and use a multi-layered presentation to appeal to the senses.  
   Many churches today suffer from severe "spiritual malnutrition," and, I repeat, this condition is self-inflicted.  Is it any wonder so many Christians live lives of discouragement and defeat and depression?
   It must have been terrible for the Israelites when their time ran out.  The fierce Assyrians marched across their land and swept them away into captivity in strange lands.  Imagine being forced to walk from Ohio to Tennessee and being told to move into a house in a city where no one spoke English.  You have no job and no food and there isn’t a church within 200 miles and no one to talk to.  Welcome to your new home.
   Today, we are even more guilty than the people of Israel were.  We not only reject the words of Moses and the Prophets, as it existed in Amos' day, but we reject the writings of the Gospel writers, the apostles and Jesus Himself!  We have had so much more to ignore to get as bad as we have gotten.  Every day we turn aside from the feast He has laid out before us.  We starve in the midst of plenty.


Stephen Cram                            September 15, 2012                Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8

Got Your Ears On?

Got Your ears On?

Matthew 11:15 NKJV
He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Mark 4:9 NKJV
And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

   During the CB radio craze of the 70’s and 80’s you heard this a lot.  “Got your ears on?  Come back.”  The caller was asking if someone was on the air and listening.  Basically, Christ is asking in these verses if the people were listening to what He was saying and paying attention to Him.  This seems like a strange thing to say to people who were there listening to Him speak.  They obviously had ears because they were listening to Him, so what did He mean?
  This is not an occasion where He was referring to deaf people, who have ears but can’t hear.  No one doubts that physical deafness happens, so would you accept that there is also a spiritual deafness people get where some cannot hear spiritual truths at all, or only hear a little bit?  They have ears, but they do not hear.  I’m not talking about a willful deafness, but it does start with willfully not hearing truth.  When a person refuses to hear the truth, they do become more and more “hard of hearing” in a spiritual sense.  Remember what God told Isaiah in Isaiah 6: 9-10, (NKJV)?
And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ “Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.”

God was not being mean to the people of Israel, He was pointing out that they had refused to hear His words for so long that they would not hear them again.
   Paul talks about this in Romans 1:28, (CJB)
“In other words, since they have not considered God worth knowing, God has given them up to worthless ways of thinking; so that they do improper things.”

   God will call to you with great patience and grace, but there is a time when you have turned away from His words so often you will not be able to hear them anymore.  Every time God’s Word is proclaimed it changes all of those within its hearing. No one ever remains unaffected by God’s Word.  To those who hear it and listen to what He says, they grow in grace and in knowledge of God.  To those who reject it or are indifferent to it, they hear less and less and their heart grows colder and colder.  Truly, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.
   Our greatest hindrance is that our minds are naturally carnal; our human reasoning is self-serving.   No matter how hard we may try, no matter how hard we may think that we want to try, we cannot understand the Spiritual Truth of God without the help of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to "hear" what God is actually saying.  Without His help, we may read the Bible, and even become great teachers and scholars of the Bible and still not really understand what it says or what is in the heart of God the Father.  This is not what God wants, but this is what He allows to happen to those who will not hear His words.
   God gives all of us "ears to hear."  He gives us His Holy Spirit to be our Helper and Teacher.  If we fail to heed His Words, whose fault is it?  So why did Christ speak in parables so often?  Matthew 13: 10-11 Amplified Bible
10 Then the disciples came to Him and said, Why do You speak to them in parables?
11 And He replied to them, To you it has been given to know the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

   I used to think that passage was so unfair.  I passed over this verse many times reading Matthew because I wasn’t sure why Jesus was being so hard on the people.  But as I’ve learned more about Him, I know His heart is love and He would never exclude anyone who did not want to be excluded.  If you do a search of verses that mention Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes, you will see hard hearts and willful attempts to exclude the common person from God’s Presence.  Christ goes into the streets and interacts with the common person.  He walks the highways and brings His teachings to everyone.  So why did He say it was not for “them” to know the secrets of the Kingdom?
   After that big build up, you expect me to give you that answer, don’t you?  But I can’t, I can only give you my opinion.  I feel it comes down to who listens and who doesn’t.  Remember, we think “Disciples” and think “12 guys.”  But remember that in parts of the Gospels we read that there was a large following who heard His teachings.  The Disciples, who traveled with Him step by step, mile by mile and shared meals with Him had such a hard time understanding Him, how hard was it for those who did share that same intimacy with Him?  And then, in my opinion, there were those who may have followed and listened to Him, but never opened their hearts to His words.  I offer Judas, and the above mentioned Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes as proof of that.  It’s not hard to think that there must have been more, many more, which also listened but did not hear.
   So listen and pay attention when reading your Bible.  If you are fortunate to have a Pastor or Bible Teacher who preaches / teaches the Word with truth and boldness, then put your ears on and hear what they say.  The more you listen, the more truth you will hear.  The more you shut out God’s Word, the harder it gets to hear the truth.  “Got your ears on? “

Stephen Cram                           September 9, 2012                          Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8

 
 
 

Stop the World and LET ME OFF!

Stop the World and LET ME OFF!

Psalm 61:1-8 

1 Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

3 For You have been a shelter for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;
I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah

   A popular country song a while back was “Stop the world, and let me off.”  The writer said he was tired of going round and round and wanted to stop and get off.  I don’t know if it’s my age or just that the world seems more complex and getting worse by the minute, but I often feel that way.  Stress from family, work, aging body, etc etc etc makes it seem as if I’m on a carnival ride that’s speeding up faster and faster.  And when you think things are crazy and you feel overwhelmed, the enemy comes against you again.

   One of the enemy’s best strategies against us is the constant barrage of temptations and oppositions that we face every day.  He keeps us off balance by sending evil and placing it before our eyes as often as possible.  For example, I was dusting one rainy afternoon recently at the Library where I work.  I was at the magazine rack and was struck by how many magazines had women in provocative poses on the cover.  Not only men’s magazines, but women’s magazines and young women’s magazines and even teen girl’s magazines.  There were famous models, actresses and even cooks in poses that can only be considered “adult.” 

   We are surrounded by temptations constantly and unless you retire to a monastery you can’t escape it.  As you suffer the assaults of a simple trip to the supermarket, where the woman walking the aisle is dropping “F” bombs and the cashier is showing too much cleavage and and and Arrrgh!  Stop the world, I WANT TO GET OFF. 

   Is there an escape?  Can we stop the world and get off for a break?  Yes, God has given us a safety valve.  Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer.  From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; 

He wants us to turn to Him when we need refuge.  He wants us to call on Him when we are being overwhelmed.  He provides stability and rest and strength for our weary souls.   

   The first step is one we overlook, and overlook for many reasons.  Its “old-fashioned,” its “Old Testament,” it’s inconvenient, it’s (fill in your own excuse.) 

Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  You are given the instruction to relax one day a week, and it’s your own fault if you over-schedule yourself and don’t relax.  Try to give yourself a break.  Take a day off and relax.  It will refresh you in a way nothing else will.  And while you’re not working, it will be a good time to read your Bible and maybe listen to some inspirational worship music.  Focus on Christ and renew your mind.

   Secondly, stop chasing the dream of possessing things that are “better” than the neighbors.  Psalms 37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!  When you get to the Judgment Seat and stand before Christ, He won’t ask you the size of your TV screen or the amount of RAM in your laptop.  He won’t ask you how much mileage your car got or where you took your vacations.  Only you care about these things, in the light of eternity they really don’t matter.  You can drive a fancy car and dress in fashion clothing and still be out of fellowship with God and doing nothing for the Kingdom.  He calls to you to come and just be in His Presence and relax in Him.

   Lastly, get away for a season and take a break.  Mark 6:31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”  When you get too weary, you won’t be able to work as effectively.  Studies done over the years have always shown that workers who never take vacations are less productive that ones who do.  Even God expects you to take a vacation once in a while. 

   OK, so maybe you can’t really get the world to stop and let you off, but you can slow yourself down and turn away from the cesspit the world is becoming.  You can step out of the muck and focus on Jesus and let His grace wash your soul clean again.

Stephen Cram                                September 2, 2012                     Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8