The
American
Wisdom Series
Presents
Pamphlet 1471
Hos kc 17-3
Little Red Hen. Are you familiar
with it?
Hosea 10:11 And
Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn;
but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah
shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
Treading out the corn is "a far easier and more self-indulgent
work than ploughing. In treading corn, cattle were not bound together under
a yoke, but either trod it singly with their feet, or drew a threshing
sledge over it (Isa. 28: -28): they were free to eat some of the corn from
time to time, as the law required they should be unmuzzled (Deut. 25:4),
so that they grew fat in this work. An image of Israel's freedom, prosperity,
and self-indulgence heretofore." (Jamieson, Fausset & Brown)
It's like this: Ephraim, representing the largest of the
tribes of Israel just like the USA does today,
loves to do the easy work and participate in the feast days but they are
too lazy to study His Word and keep His commands! No wonder
the scribes have had a "field day" with their pens! You see, all that prosperity
and resulting "fatness" has made Jeshurun (Israel) lazy and self-indulgent
and he no longer "dresses and keeps" the garden anymore according the Word
of God. This always reminds me of the agricultural, sowing and reaping
story of the Little Red Hen. Are you familiar with it?
LITTLE Red Hen found a grain of wheat."Who
will plant this?" she asked.
"Not I," said the cat.
"Not I," said the goose.
"Not I," said the rat.
"Then I will," said Little Red Hen. So she buried the
wheat in the ground. After a while it grew up yellow and ripe. "The
wheat is ripe now," said Little Red Hen. "Who will cut and thresh it?"
"Not I," said the cat.
"Not I," said the goose.
"Not I," said the rat.
"Then I will," said Little Red Hen. So she cut it with
her bill and threshed it with her wings. Then she
asked, "Who will take this wheat to the mill?"
"Not I," said the cat.
"Not I," said the goose.
"Not I," said the rat.
"Then I will," said Little Red Hen. So she took the wheat
to the mill, where it was ground. Then she carried
the flour home. "Who
will make me some bread from this flour?" she asked.
"Not I," said the cat.
"Not I," said the goose.
"Not I," said the rat.
"Then I will," said Little Red Hen. So she made and baked
the bread. Then
she said, "Now we shall see who will eat this bread."
"I will," said the cat.
"I will," said the goose.
"I will," said the rat.
"I am quite sure you all would," said Little Red Hen,
"if you could get it." Then
she called her chicks, and they ate up all the bread.There was none left
at all for the cat, or the goose, or the rat.
Let's see, it was also the Baby
Boomer generation that made quick-like-bunny "fast food" restaurants such
as McDonald's so popular. We not only do not want to take the time
to prepare a nutritious healthy meal for ourselves, we cannot even wait
for someone else to do so. When we want hamburgers, we want them right
NOW! You can take this as a sign as to how Jeshurun has waxen fat!
However, remember it is written and it is true, that you
reap what you sow! If you
want to participate in the harvest of the Firstfruits, and receive the
blessings that come with the First Resurrection to eternal life (Rev. 20:6)
then follow the advice in the next verse. It is a choice you can make.
Hosea
10:12
Sow to yourselves
in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is
time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
Stay in the field and keep ploughing
and seeking the LORD through His Word until He comes! Otherwise
the wise virgins will be attending the great wedding feast of the Bridegroom
and you will be standing without like the cat and the goose and the rat.
And if you are not "tending the
garden" as per His instructions, according to His Word, then whose "farming"
instructions are you following and what kind of a crop have you produced?
Is
it fit to eat? Learn the lessons from the history of our people.
[13]
Ye
have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit
of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty
men.
She trusted in her own waysand in
the covenants she made with others and in the strength of mighty armies
to protect her. Well, history shows that didn't work, did it?
If you trust not in the Lord
then what can a king do for you, or a mighty army, or a god who is no God?
And just where do you think the "fruit of lies"
comes from? Yes, the Idol-a-Tree in the midst
of the garden!
[14]
Therefore
shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be
spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother
was dashed in pieces upon her children.
Beth-arbel means House of God's Ambush and as it is
written, there shall soon be a tumult arise among our people. In fact,
as bad as the day of battle was at Beth-arbel, when even mothers were slaughtered
and fell upon their children, Daniel writes that in the last days "there
shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation
even to that same time. (Daniel 12:1)." Only
the slaughter will be spiritual, the slaying will be of the
souls of men, which is much more serious than physical bloodshed.Remember
Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, "And fear not them which
kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which
is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
Hosea
10:15
So shall Bethel
do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king
of Israel utterly be cut off.
What goes on in your church,
which
should be a Beth-el, house of God?Are you
going to awake one morning and find that the true King of Israel has been
cut off from you because of your "great wickedness"? Do
think that it won't happen to many, many Christians? Well,
is Jesus Christ a liar? He
said MANY would be deceived by MANY Christian ministers in these last days.
Here it is:
Matthew
24:4-5
And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
[5] For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Yes, they, our preachers,
saying, Jesus is Christ; but not telling you the whole truth as written
in His Word.
And like the cat and the goose and rat who did their own
thing instead of "keeping and tending", those deceived Christians who have
ignored His Word while worshipping in their Beth-avens will seek to enter
the kingdom and eat at the celebration feast of the harvest.
The Lord addresses them thusly:
Matthew 7:21
Not every one
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
His "will" is contained in both the Old
Will
(Testament)and
the New Will
(Testament).
Have you read and studied them
both???????
Matthew 7:22
Many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and
in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Make no mistake about who these
people are!
Many of them are our beloved
brothers and sisters who are professing Christians but who are, just
as Jesus foretold, deceived by the traditions of men into believing that
their churchianity is Christianity.
They do many wonderful things
except
please their Father because they are not doers of His Word, and therefore
they do not know the Word of God, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, He does
not know them!
Matthew 7:23
And then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits;
to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, you accomplish both.
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