Friday, May 01, 2015

My People Are Destroyed For Lack of Knowledge

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.


What kind of "lack of knowledge" is destroying us?  Farming knowledge?  No  How to build a house knowledge? No.  How to repair a car knowledge?  No.  Lack of knowledge of their God.  People do not know their God.

This is the bottom line up front.^^

I asked the Lord this morning about all of the old testament commandments people discard because they say "I am not under the law, and I don't have to follow the old testament."  When people say I don't have to follow the law or the old testament, lets debunk some of that shall we?

Which one of the ten commandments do we no longer have to obey?  Don't steal?  Don't murder?  Don't covet?  Oh, we do have to obey all of them?  Yea.  Even though that was "the law" and the old testament?  Yea.

Okay, but we dont sacrifice animals for our sins anymore right?  Right, and we don't have to tithe anymore in spite of the incessant demands of todays 'pastors' to cherry pick this one doctrine out of the old testament right?  Right.  We don't do ceremonial cleaning and all kinds of other old testament stuff right?  Right.

So....What is this all about, why bring it up?  Yesterday it was written here that the curses of Deuteronomy 28 are falling on this world and I already could hear in my head the objections that todays Church would make to that statement.  I asked the Lord about this dilemma, if we do not follow the law or we are not under the law, what in the old testament does apply?

Lets first verify a few examples that is does indeed apply.  The judgements of the old testament are upon us, people can and will deny this to their grave but they are here and it does not matter that we now follow Jesus and the New Testament because people are missing a critical element that nobody preaches anymore (we will get to that momentarily).

Judgements on this world right now from Deuteronomy:

1.  The immigrant problem:  43The stranger that is within you shall get up above you very high; and you shall come down very low

 2.  Drought-lack of rain: 23And your heaven that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron. 24The LORD shall make the rain of your land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down on you, until you be destroyed.

 Have you seen California lately?
 
 3.  The Shemitah:  Deut 31:9And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, which bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. 10And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,

 So, todays Church does not believe the old testament applies to them but every 7th year on the Shemitah, every Christian that had a stock market account with exposure to any of the major markets took massive losses to their portfolio on and around the day of the Shemitah.  So does it really matter that the Church doesn't believe half of the Bible (the entire first half of the Bible more or less) applies to them?

Yes it does matter because it is destroying them.  Now back to the beginning:

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:

What knowledge?  The knowledge of God.  People do not know Him.

What is the bridge that binds and connects the old testament and the new testament and wraps them up in perfect harmony for the believer?  The knowledge of God.

Hebrews 8:11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to ... No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the Lord,'
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest

John 14:7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. ... If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you ... "If
you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you

Jeremiah 24:7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the ... I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD

Jeremiah 4:22 "My people are fools; they do not know me. They are ...
"My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have
no understanding. ... "My people are foolish and do not know me," says the LORD. ...

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- ... ...

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest
Matt 7:21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

How do we know what applies to us and what does not?  Knowledge of our God.  For example, because we know our God we know that when people disobey Him He likes to use drought to punish them:

Haggai 1:11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains ...
I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine,
the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and ...
//biblehub.com/haggai/1-11.htm - 19k
As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the
grave snatches away those who have sinned. ...
//biblehub.com/job/24-19.htm - 16k
A drought on her waters! They will dry up. ... A drought against her waters, that they
may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols. ...
//biblehub.com/jeremiah/50-38.htm - 18k
This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: .... ...
//biblehub.com/jeremiah/14-1.htm - 16k
The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with
scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you ...
//biblehub.com/deuteronomy/28-22.htm - 19k
If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate
the land. ... When he holds back the waters, there is a drought. ...
You get the idea right?  If the Lord liked something in the Old Testament he probably still likes it now and vice versa.  So again, the idea of striking an area with drought for sin applies directly to a place like the pornography and other mass media sins capital of the world, California.

Striking a place with drought is a 'signature' judgement.  Its what our Lord chooses to do over and over again to nations and states that displease Him.  That is "knowledge of God."  Who cares if it was in the old testament if we deny that the Lord still uses it today we deny at our own peril.

Getting to know someone is what this is about.  That someone in this case is God Almighty.  People perish because they do not know Him.  They take every opportunity to make excuses and live in denial so they can continue to do whatever it is they want to do instead of living in obedience.

Knowing our God is the bridge and connection the binds the entire Word of the Lord together, old and new testament.  Doing something that displeased the Lord in the Old Testament will still probably displease Him today, I know, radical concept?  Doing something that pleased the Lord in the Old Testament will probably please Him today.  People perish because they do not know Him.  They choose to read and accept the parts of the Bible they like and all the rest gets ignored.  Unfortunately for them the Word of the Lord is not a buffet table where you get to pick what you like and leave the rest for someone else.

After reading Deuteronomy 28-31 over the past two days I am convinced we should have those words plastered to our doors and walls and have those Words read to us repeatedly so we never ever forget what the Lord said.  People today have lost the fear of the Lord.  I have heard a million excuses from people telling me that we no longer have to fear the Lord because "we havent been given a spirit of fear" or some other excuse given to them by their spiritual hired hand (pastor).

The Word says

Prov 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.


It is the beginning of wisdom, you do not get past square one without it.  People have lost their fear of the Lord, they now take Him and His Word for granted.  If a person can read the curses that can and will be put upon the disobedient as they are this very day and not be moved with fear then there is something wrong with them, their doctrine and their teachers.

Brother D did not make up the fear of the Lord, the Lord did.  Fear is what it says it is, Fear.  It is not some code word or some spiritualized word for something else.   The fear of the Lord prevents pride and arrogance and it preserves the souls of mankind.

If we know the Lord, we will love Him and fear Him.  The words written in Deuteronomy 28-31 are just as needed today for us the Church as they ever were for Israel.

These are the thoughts and words that have been impressed upon this nobody today by the hand of the Almighty.

grace and peace