Bible Doctrine

Many have ASSUMED that when God declared certain animals as unclean and not to be eaten by the Israelites, it was because God knew they were inherently unhealthy and would cause those who consumed them health problems. Not so fast! You put God in a very bad light when you make that assumption. Howso? It was only the Israelite who was commanded to observe God’s dietary laws – not the world at large. Turn to Deuteronomy, chapter 14, beginning with verse 1, we read where God tells the Israelites: “Ye are the children of the Lord your God……for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar (special, different) people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” (See verses 1 and 2). And then when declaring certain animals to be unclean, God emphasizes “they are unclean UNTO YOU,” and “it is unclean UNTO YOU, and, again and again, God says these animals are unclean “UNTO YOU!” (See verses 7,8,10 and 19, same chapter).

When God commanded the Israelites, “neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee,” it wasn’t because this was inherently an unhealthy practice. It was simply done to declare to the world at large: “These people are different. They are not like you. They are my chosen people.” (See Leviticus 19:19). When a Gentile pulled on woolen socks and then donned linen underclothing or outerwear, He wasn’t being ungodly or risking some odd ailment. But an Israelite was being disobedient to God when doing so, because God had declared the Israelites should not mix and mingle such garments. And the SOLE reason for the practice? It was saying to the world, “Yes, we are different! We are followers of Jehovah alone!”

When God told the Israelites, “Ye shall not round the corners of your heads (trim your hair short), neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard (trim their beards),” there was but one reason and one reason only for such a practice. Again, it was to tell the world, “We are different!” (See Leviticus 19:27). God could care less if the Assyrians or Babylonians trimmed their beards, wore Mohawk haircuts, or sported robes woven from both linen and woolen yarn and thread. They weren’t doing anything ungodly or unhealthy if they did so. Only when it came to the keeping of God’s holy sabbath did God say, “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, NOR THY STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THY GATES; THAT THY MANSERVANT AND THY MAIDSERVANT MAY REST AS WELL AS THOU” (See Deuteronomy 5:14).

God’s moral law applied to all, not so with the dietary laws and laws separating the Israelites as God’s own special nation and people. People who eat pork products and seafoods forbidden to the Israelites live as long and as healthy lives as anyone else. Again, consider the hog farmers who eat pork products about every day of their lives, in many instances every day. They live into their eighties and nineties just like the vegetarians.

Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

There are many believers who do not realize that ancient Israel had three annual feasts, annual sabbath celebrations that every male thirteen years of age and older were required to observe each and every year in Jerusalem – and only in Jerusalem.  Yet many Israelites lived a hundred miles or more from Jerusalem!  Have you ever walked a hundred miles?  And, remember, they had to make this journey THREE TIMES EACH AND EVERY YEAR.  And then, of course, they had to walk the same distance back home a week later!.  Few Israelites had donkeys or carts that could make such a trek.  And, remember every male member of the family thirteen years of age and above had to make this trip.  Some families had several sons, a grandfather and possibly others, who made this journey. Even if they had a donkey and a cart, who could expect such a small animal to pull a cart loaded down with several adults and children, including extra changes of clothing and food and water for the journey!!!  These arduous trips were most certainly included in the works of the law as they required much effort and energy to perform.  What is the furthest you have ever walked – ten miles? twenty miles? fifty miles?  Wouldn’t you call walking a hundred miles a laborious work?  Of course, there were many families that lived either in Jerusalem or its’ environs, but there were multitudes who did not.  Many lived fifty, eighty or a hundred miles from Jerusalem.

After giving Moses the Ten Commandments written on two stone tablets, we read “AND HE ADDED NO MORE!” (See Deuteronomy 5:22).  All other laws were the laws of Moses.  In the 7th chapter of Jeremiah God is speaking to Israel, and He says, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.  For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.  But this one thing commanded I them, saying obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people, and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you.  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward” (Jeremiah 7:21-24).  So what did God do?  “Wherefore I gave them statutes THAT WERE NOT GOOD, AND JUDGMENTS WHEREBY THEY SHOULD NOT LIVE!” (See Ezekiel 20:25).  And what was the one sin that angered God to such a frightening degree?  “My sabbaths they greatly polluted” (See Ezekiel 20:13).  It was God’s weekly sabbath, four of them a month, fifty-two of them each year that they consistently polluted.  So God said, as it were, I will give them sabbaths that they will find impossible for them to observe without sweat of the brow labor for they will need to walk dozens and dozens of miles again and again to get to the only place where I will permit them to observe these days of rest.  This will be a great part of the schoolmaster I will use to teach them the habit of obedience.  (See Galatians 3:23-25).

Those Christians in this modern day, who place themselves under the works of the law, crow “Why, these annual festivals are a delight to observe.  We get to meet together with like-minded believers for a full week at a time, enjoying good food and beautiful resort accommodations, arriving in our comfortable air-conditioned automobiles, etc.”  They are utterly oblivious to the fact that the ancient Israelite did not view these festivals in the same light.  How many modern-day annual sabbath observers would continue attending such festivals if they and their families had to walk to the site that was situated eighty, ninety or a hundred miles from their home???  What if at the Feast of Tabernacles they could not enjoy the peasant accommodations of a nice motel or hotel but had to break off leafy tree branches for a hut and stay in such huts for a week at a time?????   Friend, you had better forget what you have been spoon fed by others and allow the Spirit of the Living God to enlighten your mind as to what His word actually says and teaches.  God help you to understand.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Speaking to a rich tax collector named Zacchaeus one day, Jesus told him, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (See Luke 19:10). Do you really think He meant He had come to seek and save only those who were lost from that day forward? How about all the hundreds of millions who had lived and died on this planet before the birth of Jesus Christ? And how about all those hundreds of millions living even then in China and throughout Asia and the many islands around the globe? Most all of them would live out their lifespans and die before the first Christian missionary or evangelist got to them with the gospel message! The same could be said for their children, and grand children and great grand children! Do you really think God’s plan of salvation is so basically flawed that He somehow over looked these people?  Remember, it was God who inspired Paul to write, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  How then shall they all on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?  (See Roman 10:13-14).

Jesus said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (See Luke 18:27). God has it all worked out, friend. He has never been blindsided by anything or anyone at anytime. The angel of the Lord knew what he was talking about when he told the shepherds in the field at the time of Christ’s birth, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to ALL people!” (See Luke 2:10). And what great and wonderful news it is to know that ALL born human will have their opportunity to join the great eternal spirit family of God. “ALL FLESH shall see the salvation of God” (See Luke 3:6).

Jesus was speaking of a Roman centurion, a pagan Gentile, when He said, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (See Luke 7:9). What kind of faith would He have found had He ventured into Egypt, or Syria, or Rome? To His people Israel, God had said centuries before, “Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent to you ALL my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers” (See Jeremiah 7:25-26). And to His prophet Ezekiel, God said, “you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand” and then freely admitted, “Surely, had I sent you to them, THEY WOULD HAVE LISTENED TO YOU!” (See Ezekiel 3:5-6).

Jeremiah saw something clearly. He said, “Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man to direct his own steps” (See Jeremiah 10:23). There is NONE that seeks after God, friend. God must do the seeking. God must command Satan to release his hold on men’s minds so that the glorious light of truth can alter their thinking. God operates on schedule time. He has a time-table by which He will yet give every son and daughter of Adam a grand opportunity to escape Satan’s clutches and enter into a firm, sure and certain relationship with the Creator. And death presents no obstacle to Him in accomplishing what He has declared He will most certainly do for He reminds us “I kill, and I make alive!” (See Deuteronomy 32:39). It was Moses understanding of this great truth that enabled him to carry out God’s orders to the letter when told to utterly destroy “the men, women and children of every city” of the Amorites. (See Deuteronomy 3). He knew that one day God would bring them all back to life in a far better world, yes, even including the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah!  (See Ezekiel 16:55).  Do YOU understand what Moses understood?

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they ARE LIFE!” (John 6:63). If one really and truly believes that he will be drawn to the Word of God like a moth in summer is drawn to your burning porch light. The Word of God is like the radio signal beacon that guides a pilot flying by his aircraft’s instruments. It keeps the believer on course to God and eternal life. Many who say they are “believers” merely believe Jesus Christ is God’s Son and died to save them. But that’s about as far as their faith, or belief, goes. It really doesn’t dictate how they live their lives. They pass through life carried about by whatever wind of doctrine popular at the time.

Some of the first counsel Jesus gave His followers was to warn them to “beware of false prophets!” Many seem to think a false prophet, preacher, or minister must be flagrantly false. If the guy has a diamond ring on each finger, drives a Rolls-Royce and lives in a three million dollar mansion, then he must be a false prophet. But what if he drives a beat up Chevy and lives in a modest home? Jesus said, “By their fruits you shall know them.” A prophet or preacher’s fruit is primarily his message, what he says. But one must have a good understanding and knowledge of God’s Word himself in order to rightly determine if the message he is hearing is what God’s Word actually says and teaches. Through His prophet Isaiah, God says, “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (See Isaiah 8:20). But one must know that Word in order to gauge whether someone is really saying what God’s Word actually says.

It should become apparent to the thinking person that God really isn’t trying to “save the world” at this time. Do you honestly think that earth, mankind in general, has witnessed God’s best efforts to save the world, that all who have lived and are now living have already had a full and fair opportunity to avail themselves of establishing a relationship with their Creator? Do you think that through the likes of Jesse Duplantis and Benny Hinn God is offering those who hear such charlatans their only opportunity to escape eternal death and be granted immortality? How was a Mohawk Indian living in what is now upper New York state in the 17th Century to determine if the village medicine man was really a true prophet of the Great Spirit? How many BILLIONS of humans lived out their relatively short lifespans having no knowledge whatsoever of a nation called Israel, a book called the Bible, or a Jewish rabbi named Jesus. What if you were born a Chinese peasant in the 9th Century, or a Persian warrior in the 8th Century B.C.? What if the day Jesus was born in Bethlehem you yourself were born in the Congo, or on a South Pacific island? Twenty years later your circle of life ended and you died knowing absolutely nothing of the one true God or the possibility of living forever. What would be your fate? Folks, don’t you see the call to come to God for all such would have to be a future call? The offer of eternal life to all such would have to be future!!!!

It is in the world to come God promises “I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to them which were not my people, ‘You are my people,’ and they shall say, ‘Your are my God.'” (See Hosea 2:23). When God says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” in Romans 9:15 many stop reading at that point and remain unaware that in Romans 11 God promises that eventually He will “have mercy upon all!” (See Romans 11:32). Someday all the Jewish people now cut off from God will be grafted back in to the house of spiritual Israel. Yes, even all those millions slaughtered by Hitler’s Third Reich! Folks fail to read the Hebrew prophets carefully. “And MANY NATIONS shall come, and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths,’ for the law shall go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (See Micah 4:2). “For the earth (India, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, etc.) shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (See Habakkuk 2:14). False religion will be a thing of the past. A Christianity divided into dozens of denominations will be no more.

The light of God’s Word addresses such issues marvelously. But most live the whole of their lives without pondering the words of God spoken through His prophets, His Son, and His apostles. They are mostly interested in the now and the material. Eternal things are beyond their scope of interest. But such is the human condition. But to those of us who are NOW called to have our minds opened, God demands our loyalty and obedience. And, if more time is needed for us to get it together, to get our houses in order, so to speak, more time will be given and our lives extended. God help you to understand.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Jesus is derived from the ancient Greek form of the Hebrew Yeshua and Aramaic Isho. And, of course, there are several variants of even these names. And we must not forget the name Joshua, English for Yeshua. Greek has no letter “J” or “J” sound in their alphabet. Therefore, koine Greek, the Greek of the New Testament had Iesous.

There are those who insist that names do not change from one language to another, yet in Acts 9:36 we read, “Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha (Aramaic), WHICH BY INTERPRETATION IS CALLED DORCAS (Greek).” And interpreted into English her name would be “gazelle!” The English name John is Juan in Spanish, Jean in French, Giovanni in Italian, and Johannes in German.

When the angel said to Mary, “Behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus” was the angel speaking in Hebrew or Aramaic? How can we be certain Mary spoke Hebrew primarily instead of Aramaic? Both languages were in common use in Israel in the First Century.

And what about the words of the Lord Himself, not just an angel. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, AND SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL!” (See Isaiah 7:14). Would the Son of God be offended if we called Him Immanuel or prayed in Immanuel’s name? Does the Father turn a deaf ear to all prayers offered “in Jesus’ name?” Billions of such prayers have been offered. Are we to assume NONE of them were heard or answered???? Wouldn’t even a cursory investigation show the opposite to be the case – that millions and millions of such prayers have certainly been answered.

“And Moses said unto God, ‘Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me, WHAT IS HIS NAME? What shall I say unto them?’ And God said unto Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me unto you.'” (See Exodus 3:13-14). Yet how few call God by the name “I AM” today? Are they in error in this matter? Didn’t God then say to Moses, “This is my name FOR EVER, and this is my memorial UNTO ALL GENERATIONS?” (See verse 15, Exodus 3).

And then, of course, we have Exodus 6:2-3 to consider: “And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him, ‘I am the LORD. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH (YHVH, Yahweh) was I not known unto them!” Think of it Abraham, the father of the faithful, never knew God by the name Yahweh! Yet that name is of supreme importance to many believers as is the name Yeshua.

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he does judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped (Greek, “drenched”) in blood, and his name is called The Word of God” (See Revelation 19:11-13).

It is impossible to bicker over a name or the pronunciation of that name if our Lord conceals that name so securely that no man knows what it is. Food for thought, folks.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Many Christians are like the young fellow who tried to solve some calculus problems before getting a grip on basic math. They try to comprehend what Paul is saying in Colossians Chapter 2 before understanding what Jesus Christ said about the Sabbath in the four gospel accounts and in the writings of the Hebrew prophets. They totally ignore Peter’s solemn warning that Paul wrote “some things hard to understand, which they that are unlearned (in the Hebrew scriptures and the gospel accounts) and (spiritually) unstable (one moment sinning, the next repenting) wrest (twist, distort) as they do also the other scriptures (not just Paul’s writings), unto their own (spiritual) destruction” (See 2 Peter 3:15-16).

I cannot count the number of times I have heard some pastor or preacher say, “I don’t get my doctrine out of the Old Testament!” Where on earth do they think the apostles and early church got their doctrine – out of a non-existent New Testament!!! It was the apostle Paul who wrote, “ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God, AND IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (See 2 Timothy 3:16). Those words were written to a fellow minister of the Word of God of whom Paul said, “from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (verse 15, 2 Timothy). The ONLY scriptures this grown man Timothy could have known in his childhood WERE THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES – what is now commonly called the Old Testament! The household of God, the body of Christ, the church is built upon THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto an holy temple of the Lord, in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God.” (See Ephesians 2:19-22).

Any local congregation that does not rely heavily upon the Hebrew prophets in formulating their beliefs and statement of faith is a building on a shaky foundation, and it is a foregone conclusion they will be embracing and teaching a great deal of profound error.

Many read right over our Lord’s statement to the Pharisees: “The law and the prophets were until John, since that time the kingdom of God is preached. ” (See Luke 16:16). They haven’t a clue as to what Jesus was telling those self righteous spreaders of error. He was telling them that through the writings of Moses (the law) and the Hebrew prophets God was providing Israel with the foundational truths they would need to understand the coming kingdom of God. That is why Jesus Christ quotes Abraham as saying, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them” (Luke 16:29). Again, summing up His counsel to these know-it-all Pharisees, He quotes Abraham again as saying, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). And that statement is 100% true. Those who refuse to include the writings of Moses and the prophets in formulating their doctrine will not be convinced of the truth – what the Bible actually teaches – even if someone dear to them rose from the dead and tried to convince them. Satan’s blinding power is staggering!

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

A few more comments concerning the house of Israel from the prophet Amos: “O house of Israel, the virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise. She is forsaken upon her land. There is none to raise her up.” (See Amos 5:1-2). And, again,”The end is come upon my people of Israel. I will not again pass by them any more” (Amos 8:2). And “Surely I will never forget any of their works” (See Amos 8:7). Why not? Because Israel was unrepentant. Finally, God had no recourse but to divorce Israel and remove the ten-tribed northern kingdom from His sight.

In the concluding 9th chapter of the Book of Amos, God says of Israel, “I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good…Are ye not as the children of Ethiopia unto me, O children of Israel (Ethiopians having never had a covenant with God)? says the Lord….Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth, saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord. For I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel (those few who survive) among ALL nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth (God ever cognizant of their whereabouts). All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword (that’s the vast majority), which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent (confront) us.”

The eyes of the Lord were not upon Israel, or any of her tribes, to bless and build world ruling nations from any of those tribes! Such a concept is absolutely ludicrous when one reads the major and minor prophets and allows God to say what He has to say concerning the “lost” ten tribes of Israel. There remains one last part to this posting, Part 6.

God’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

If anyone thinks God is going to commit Himself to blessing the idol worshiping, infant sacrificing, rebel descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob after they have spurned all of God’s prophets He sent to them, killing many of them and refusing to return to God though implored by God to do so again and again, then you can well believe Satan has done a number on the mind of anyone who thinks so!

Here are a few more declarations God made concerning the northern kingdom of the house of Israel through the ministry of the prophet Amos: “Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?'” (Amos 3:1-3). Judah’s captivity of 75 years enslavement in Babylon had its desired effect. They returned to God and rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple. The northern kingdom of Israel never returned to God, nor did they return from their captivity and wanderings. But notice the startling language God uses of the ten-tribed kingdom of Israel in Amos Chapter 4: “I also have given you cleanness of teeth (famine) in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places, YET HAVE YE NOT RETURNED UNTO ME, SAYS THE LORD….I have withheld the rain from you (causing drought)…YET HAVE YE NOT RETURNED UNTO ME, SAYS THE LORD. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew, when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them, YET HAVE YE NOT RETURNED UNTO ME, SAYS THE LORD.. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt, your young men have I slain with the sword…YET HAVE YE NOT RETURNED UNTO ME, SAYS THE LORD. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah…YET HAVE YE NOT RETURNED UNTO ME, SAYS THE LORD. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, and because I will do this unto thee PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD, O ISRAEL” (See verses 6 through 12). Continued in Part 5.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Through His prophet Hosea, God said to the house of Israel, “You are not my people, and I will not be your God” (See Hosea 1:9). It was with great reluctance God gave Israel up, removing them from His sight, no longer guiding them or leading them or hearing their cries. Rising up early He sent to them all His servants the prophets, imploring, “Turn ye, turn ye for why will ye die?” “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the people of the living God. THEN (yes, at that point in time – still in the distant future) shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head (King David – see Hosea 3:5), and they shall come up out of the land (Hebrew, “the ground, the earth” via a resurrection), for great shall be the day of Jezreel (Hebrew, “God will sow” or “seed of God”). (See Hosea 1:10-11). The divided kingdom will be divided no more.

But the mind of the apostle Paul is illuminated by God’s Holy Spirit to see much more in Hosea 1:10-11 than first meets the eye. Notice what Paul writes in his letter to the believers in Rome: “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction (the rebellious Israelites. See Psalm 106:6-8). And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, as he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them (the Gentiles as well as the rebellious house of Israel), ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God” (Romans 9:22-26).

Through His prophet Hosea, God plainly and clearly warns what He is about to bring to pass regarding the fate of the northern ten-tribed kingdom of the house of Israel. Notice: “I…will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel” (Hosea 1:4). “I will utterly take them away” (Hosea 1:6). “Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure” (Hosea 8:8). “Egypt shall gather them up. Memphis shall bury them” (Hosea 9:6). “As for Ephraim (the ruling tribe of the house of Israel), their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth and from the womb, and from the conception. Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them that there shall not be a man left, yea, woe also to them when I depart from them. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place, but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. Give them, O Lord, what will thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them for the wickedness of their doings. I will drive them out of mine house. I will love them no more. All their princes are revolters. Ephraim is smitten. Their root is dried up. They shall bear no fruit, yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb. My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.” (See Hosea 9:11-17). Continued in Part 4.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley