The Prophet Hosea Warns America

The storm Sandy is but one disaster of many coming to the United States which will ultimately result in its demise and destruction. How do I know this? Because I have read the biblical book of Hosea. There, God plainly reveals through his prophet what will happen to the nation that abandons him as Israel of old did and as America of today has done. “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us” (Rom. 15:4 NIV).

“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Cor. 10:12 NIV).

Hosea, like Abel, “still speaks, even though he is dead” (Heb. 11:4 NIV). We would do well to listen to him. Hosea cried out against Israel’s selfish misuse of God’s blessings upon it. Like that nation of old, God has richly blessed America. But America has not returned the favor. “She has not acknowledged that it was I who gave her the grain. . . .” (Hos. 2:8 NIV).

Drought

In the summer of 2012, America’s fields of amber waves of grain were burned up by an historic drought, just as Hosea’s words foretold for Israel:

“Therefore I will take away my grain” (v. 9).

Financial and Economic

America “has not acknowledged that I was the one . . . who lavished on her the silver and the gold–which they used for Baal” (Hos. 2:8 NIV).

It wasn’t long ago, in the days of the “dot.com” boom, that there seemed to be no end in sight of this nation’s prosperity. Some “experts” even foolishly predicted that the nation’s debt would be erased and that a surplus would take its place. Now the debt has gotten wildly out of control and threatens our very existence.

“With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction” (Hos. 8:4 NIV).

“Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents” (Hos. 9:6 NIV).

Have you seen the pictures of abandoned houses in Detroit and other big American cities? They sit there as weeds grow up and all is in decay. Thorns have indeed overrun our tents.

“The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this” (Hos. 9:7 NIV).

Let America know it as well.

And yet, when a man dares to speak the truth and expose the sin of this country, “the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac” (v. 7).

The financial crisis, Katrina and Sandy, the drought of 2012, and the wild fires–all are part of the continuing downfall and destruction of this country for its rejection of the God and his ways and laws. Yet for the watchman who declares this truth, “snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of God” (Hos. 9:8 NIV).

I have seen some Christians reject the thought that any of these disasters are from God as judgment of a wayward nation and people. Others believe that it is all simply the result of nature, that there are natural causes for all these things. But this view will be impossible to hold honestly as the frequency of such catastrophes continues and increases in intensity. So great will be the devastation that only a person deliberately closing his eyes will believe that there is nothing beyond nature causing it all. It will be clear to all that something beyond the natural is behind it, something supernatural. God will see to it that there can be no doubt that he is angry at the sin so openly practiced in this land and that the many disasters that befall this country are indeed from his hand of judgment.

That judgment has begun to fall and it is by no means finished with Sandy. Much more and much worse is headed our way. More drought, more floods, wildfires, storms and earthquakes are coming. And not all of the coming devastation will be solely in the realm of nature.

War

After this country has been weakened and devastated by all these calamities of nature, it will be invaded by its enemies, just as happened for ancient Israel. Attacks by man will destroy what the forces of nature leave behind, as nuclear fireballs rain down on this land.

“I will send fire upon their cities that will consume their fortresses” (Hos. 8:14 NIV).

“When I please, I will punish them; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bonds for their double sin” (Hos. 10:10 NIV).

“Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors, the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated. . . . Thus will it happen to you . . . because your wickedness is great” (Hos. 10:13-15 NIV).

“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind” (Hos. 5:7 NIV).

“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me” (Hos. 12:6 NIV).

“You are destroyed . . . because you are against me, against your helper” (Hos. 14:9 NIV).

Will all this really happen? It doesn’t take a prophet to see what is taking place in this country, the evil of abandoning God and his ways. Anyone with his eyes open can observe the sin of America and its continuing punishment.

“Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them” (Hos. 14:9).

There is only one hope for this country: to return to the Lord in repentance:

“Return, O Israel [and America] to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him, ‘Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.'” (Hos. 14:1,2 NIV).