The Kingdom Age of the Hebrew People

My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions! [1 Kings 12:11].

Over three thousand years separate the modern reader from the prophet Hosea. Hosea's world was quite different from our own. Hosea never had to worry about losing his cell phone, forgetting a vital password, or recycling his plastic containers. Yet, in many ways, we are the same. Hosea's fears resemble ours; his heart breaks over betrayal as we do today. Like today, people in Hosea's day yearned to be free of oppression and upheaval. In Hosea's time, though his nation teetered on the edge of war and chaos, the national leaders seemed self-absorbed or corrupt. Don't our headlines scream about the same issues?

Yet the man Hosea was unique. God spoke and ordered him to marry Gomer. Now, I have heard people say God told them to marry a particular person. Still, I don't know anyone who was told to marry an unfaithful mate!

How did this unusual command come ab...

“For they sow the wind, And they will reap the whirlwind” [Hosea 8:7].

Adultery. Death. Pain. How does one describe the book of Hosea? The term “shock and awe” comes to my mind. Hosea’s writing thunders but also wails with the pain. Anyone who has suffered betrayal grasps the pain Hosea felt. But there is more to Hosea than his hurt and anger. The prophet believes God echoes his [Hosea’s] anguish because of Israel’s disobedience to the Mosaic covenant.

Hosea wrote at a time when Northern Israel’s wealthy, sophisticated society began to crumble and convulse from the turmoil created by social injustice, political intrigues, and foreign threats. Departing from their foundational covenant with the Lord Adonai, the people of Israel were first swept up into social turmoil by their willfulness and were then swept away by pagan Assyria. Hosea could foresee the approaching whirlwind.

You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, For you trusted in...

I will be posting the individual sections of Hosea: The Now Prophet on my blog until the entire section of

HOSEA: THE NOW PROPHET—

 COMMENTS ON THE BOOK OF HOSEA

 Part 1--General Historical Background

 has been presented.

PROLOGUE

“Teach us about the ancient prophets.”

Our home group asked me to teach them about the book of Hosea a couple of years ago. I was happy to do so. For several months, I presented a short lesson about Hosea in each of our meetings. This time was an emotional challenge for me. Preparing and teaching this study struck me hard in two ways. First, the strong emotions Hosea and God expressed throughout the story struck me hard. Second, the political, cultural, and spiritual parallels between Hosea’s day and our own struck me hard.

I believe God has much to teach us through the ancient book of Hosea. Therefore, I organized my notes, prayed over the editing of my comments, and published the results. May they bless you greatly; may you understand why I na...

Good morning. It’s a cold morning today in South Carolina.

It is now 2025; the new year promises both blessings and turmoil. Like many of you, I have various plans for this new year. For one thing, I am in the process of rearranging my library. I’m trying to clean out my files and arrange what remains by the Dewey Decimal System. I expect the process to take several months.

 But I’ve also been pondering what God has shown me concerning the new year. Today, I want to share some of what the Lord has told me.

I have no grandiose news for you; what I do have falls into two categories. Depending on how you view it, this can be good or not-so-good news. The first point is primarily for the Church; the second is for all humanity [including the Church].

First, this year, the Holy Spirit will actively work in God’s people to separate or cleave their spirits from their souls. What does this mean? God wants our spirits and souls to reside within our bodies but no longer be entangled.

To unde...

This year has brought a number of changes--a new president, continuing chaos overseas, turmoil among believers, as well as changes in the ProphetsCalls/Redivivus Ministry.  I will be talking about more of those later.

However, I just finished a new series on what prophecy is not.  This series consists of 9 short videos on You Tube that focus on the following things that prophecy is not.  Prophecy is not:

• Equal to the Written Word [the Bible]
• A Guarantee
• A Golden Ticket
• An Endoresement of Character
• Eternal or Permanent
• Perfect
• Soothsaying, Divination, or Fortune-Tell
• Not a Toy

I created this series to help remove the confusion about what true, Biblical prophecy is.  While the Church as a whole is beginning to embrace prophetic ministry, the enemy has introduced confusion through false prophecy and false prophets.  My focus this year is to bring clarity.

This video series can be found on my You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@prophetcalls. I hope that you will take ...

Jentezen Franklin has said, “Do the Father's business, and He will take care of ours!” Yes! God has made every human being on earth in His image with the potential to do great things.

Whether we know it or not, we have an “I must” to fulfill because God gives us a life purpose. This “I must” from God will move us from complacency to action and change our lives. We release our desires to fulfill God’s will [Luke 22:42]. We eliminate the things that hinder us from fulfilling our purpose. 

God knows Who He is and is comfortable in His identity. God is good; God is the Great I AM. Through Him [Who knows Who He is], we as human beings can understand who we are. Through Him, we also discover the purpose for which we were created.

But first, to experience all that God wants to bless us with, we must meet the essential “musts” of God. These “musts” are not negotiable and cannot be circumvented. What actions are necessary to fulfill our purpose [our “I must,” as Jentezen Franklin put it], an...

Word of the Lord for 2024: It is time to soar in 2024!

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ² Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. Colossians 3:1-2

 What does this mean? How do we soar into heavenly realms?

 Recognize that God is doing a new thing.  He does not change, but He moves in different ways at various times. We must be willing to follow wherever He leads.

 “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Revelation 21:5

We must not be afraid. We must not cling to what we have known and what made us comfortable. We will be flyi...

Today is Labor Day, September 4th. Summer heat still clings to the days, but fall's cooling promise is growing. While our days are still over 90 degrees here in South Carolina, the nights are cooling off, falling into the low 70s and high 60s.

It has been a tough summer. Ferocious wildfires have ravaged Canada, Hawaii, and California; smaller, less publicized fires have hit other states. Floods have devastated several states. Excessive heat has caused deaths in the South and West. And, even as summer is ending, a hurricane has devastated "the Bend" in Florida.

This summer has also been challenging for me personally. Several friends are dealing with life-threatening illnesses. One of these friends is now celebrating her homecoming in heaven. My own battle for good health seems to be at a stalemate.

Through it all, a sense of God's peace has prevailed. The struggle has been challenging. However, three revelations have made this journey easier.

1.  It's all about Jesus—not me. Seems
...

The need strikes me for balance in the structure and operation of the Ekklesia of God.  God’s Ekklesia is Christ's universal, eternal body, which has had and will have many parts [with different functions] throughout the ages.

Every local body [the local church] is a unique part of that body. Each body must have its own unique vision—or it is an aberration, having no eternal impact.  A church without a vision is, essentially, purposeless.

However, each local body is similar to other local bodies in one way: Individuals in these local bodies need to learn to love unselfishly and develop the discipline to become true disciples of Jesus. This is done through a person's fellowshipping within that local body, hearing the Word of God expounded, and volunteering [or ministering] in that local body.   

However, if the pastoral team only looks for new sheep and fails to feed the older sheep or help sheep develop their own gifts and ministries [in or out of the local church], that team has fa...

Although my writing and recording “to-do list” is piling up, I have been engaging in that well-known “spring cleaning” activity. I hadn’t planned on this, but when a friend down-sized her home, I purchased two of her bookcases to replace my cobbled-together, rickety cases in my study.  However, once we began to move things around, we discovered dust bunnies and collywobbles in all sorts of spaces. The cleaning began!

Why am I sharing this now? While cleaning, I found this prayer which I wrote several years ago.  It reminded me that while house cleaning is good, taking time to present our hearts before the Lord is better. That prayer says in part:

Dear Lord. It’s May! I am sitting in one of my favorite restaurants having lunch alone, except I know You are here. I have no Bible or phone [The phone is back home uploading pictures to the internet]. Although the power was out at church today, the pastor preached on the “anointing.

• What It is
• What It Is Not
• And why we need it.

 ...