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...

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...

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
...

 It’s Crunch Time—Part 2

If first, you don’t succeed, do not give up! My original blog entry for “It’s Crunch Time—Part 2” [as I wrote before] was somehow deleted. I have rewritten the blog, as I promised, concerning a Biblical response to conflict resolution. 

While believers are grafted into the Body of Christ, they can still disagree with each other and with nonbelievers. Some of the Scriptures dealing with conflict resolution are so well-known that they are now part of everyday speech. “An eye for an eye,” “judge not, lest ye be judged,” and “turn the other cheek” are all well-known phrases. 

Unfortunately, these Scriptures are sometimes taken out of context. The idea that the “perfect Christian” is supposed to be a quiet, mousy doormat that acquiesces to indignities and evil doings has developed from a misunderstanding and misapplications of the Scriptures.

It is true that the Lord told believers to be willing to suffer personally for the cause of Christ. Luke 6:29 states, ...

Some call the events happening at Ashbury "a move of God."

Some call it "revival."

Some wonder if this is some type of spiritual hysteria.

Some think Asbury is not "worthy" of a move of God.

But God is God and moves as He wills.  Please check out my YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/nREly7gjDpQ.

There will be no romantic dinner tonight.

There will be no balloons.

Nor will there be candles, jewelry, or a romantic movie. Instead, my spouse will be spending the evening elsewhere, and I am proud he is.

For many valentines, my husband was working in the hospital. Sometimes I could join him for a quick dinner in the doctor’s lounge. Other times, he didn’t even have time to eat. This year, he will be helping someone we know who has an immediate need.

But when I think of my husband, I think of what Jesus said,

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you [John 15:12-14, WEB].

My husband understands what love is. Love is being kind, generous, caring, helpful, understanding, and unselfish. As 1 Corinthians 13 says,

Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t se...

Yes, we can do anything---IF God is with us.

We can have peace, prosperity, safety, and social justice for all--IF we seek His face.

But walking in pride is even now leading us toward disaster as we listen to the pied-piper of selfish arrogance.

Our problem did not start with politics and will not end with politics--we are suffering from heart disease. Our hearts are growing cold toward God and hard toward anyone or anything except ourselves.

The cure?