When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: "Go,
take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land
has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD." Hosea 1:2
Hosea
was a model of an Old Testament prophet who illustrated the workings of
grace. It is interesting to note that the first word that God spoke to
Hosea was for his personal use: "go take yourself a wife of harlotry."
His life became an example of the lessons of grace that God wanted to
communicate to the people of Israel. When a man claims to be a prophet,
speaking from God, it's important that we first check to see how far the
message he proclaims has impacted his own life.
The next thing to observe is that the instruction given to Hosea was not an easy one. God does not speak just to excite us, rather, He speaks to keep us safe. A pretender prophet speaks to keep his audience coming back. And sadly, a vast majority of so called prophets are not different from Balaam who commercialized the prophetic gift that was upon him. What a true prophet says must have the impulse of turning the hearers attention to God, not to the prophet. When a person's message centres on himself, it is obvious that the Holy Spirit is not the author of that message.
The next thing to observe is that the instruction given to Hosea was not an easy one. God does not speak just to excite us, rather, He speaks to keep us safe. A pretender prophet speaks to keep his audience coming back. And sadly, a vast majority of so called prophets are not different from Balaam who commercialized the prophetic gift that was upon him. What a true prophet says must have the impulse of turning the hearers attention to God, not to the prophet. When a person's message centres on himself, it is obvious that the Holy Spirit is not the author of that message.
Toni
