WARNING TO THE CHURCH

THE WARNING!

Hosea 8:1-2 AMP

(1)  Set the trumpet to your lips! [The enemy] comes as a [great] vulture against the house of the Lord, because they have broken My covenant and transgressed against My law.

(2)  Then they will cry to Me, My God, we [of Israel] know You!

During this week the Lord has been expressing upon my heart daily, there is now coming a judgment upon the Church as the Body of Christ.  I am not one to give the enemy any platform so please bear with me as I try and explain the picture of what I believe God is revealing to the church at large.

THE TRUMPET SOUND

Set the trumpet – The Lord here commands the prophet to publish, as by sound of a trumpet that which God will bring upon an apostate Israel. We know that Israel can be understood as being a picture of the church, as the Body of Christ.

The summons issues from Jehovah, and is addressed to the prophet, who is to blow the trumpet, as the herald of Jehovah, and give the people tidings of the approaching judgment.

Hosea 5:8 AMP

Blow the horn in Gibeah and the trumpet in Ramah [both lofty hills on Benjamin’s northern border]. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven: [the enemy is] behind you and after you, O Benjamin [be on your guard]!

JUDGMENT IS COMING

Verse two gives the alarming message that judgment upon the house of God comes like an eagle that shoots down upon its prey with the rapidity of lightning.  Looking at Hos 5:8, this trumpet is to be sounded in Gebeah, Ramah and Beth-aven and to the tribe of Benjamin.

Gibeah:

A town allotted to Benjamin where the men of the city raped and killed a Levite’s concubine, and the city was practically destroyed because of the act. Hosea refers to this as an example of wickedness and a picture of the judgment of God on such behavior.

This is a picture of those in the church in leadership who rapes the bride of Christ for their own pleasure and gratification of their fleshly nature.

May God have mercy upon us. You can no longer be silent.  There is a cry going forth to return to our First Love.

Ramah:

Ramah = “hill” – Speaks of a high place.  Pride and loftiness in the church

Beth-haven

BDB Definition: Beth-aven = “house of vanity”

Vanity can be translated to be in a house where the elements of pride, self-importance, conceit, arrogance, and egotism are present.  This speaks of Households and churches that have become houses of vanity. We are looking at these households where the pastor or father of the Household is being worshipped instead of God. More obedience is given to the pastor and the leadership in the church than what is given to God.  This is where we pride ourselves in our nice building, the number of people attending our church, the wonderful and gifted worship team that we have.  God is nowhere to be seen in this picture.

God’s instruction is to sound the trumpet. To announce His judgment that is now coming upon these churches.  He is allowing vultures to come into the church.

UNDERSTANDING THE SYMBOL OF THE VULTURE

Let us take a moment and look at the symbolic picture of a vulture as defined in scripture. I believe that God is addressing the church through the picture of a vulture in three dimensions:

1. CARNALITY

   

The vulture represents demon spirits that are being sent to feed on the works of the flesh. Vultures feed on rotting flesh. God has brought the church to a time of purification and purging.  He is demanding a pure bride.  Those who have refused to deal with their flesh will soon find themselves prey to judgment through this vulture spirit. This is a very dangerous time to continue to operate in the flesh. God’s demand for us is to rule over the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit

 Romans 8:13-14 AMP

(13)  For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.

(14)  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Revelation 9:3-6 AMP

(3)  Then out of the smoke locusts came forth on the earth and such power was granted them as the power the earth’s scorpions have. [Exodus 10: 12-15]

(4)  They were told not to injure the herbage of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree, but only [to attack] such human beings as do not have the seal (mark) of God on their foreheads. [Ezekiel 9:4]

(5)  They were not permitted to kill them, but to torment (distress, vex) them for five months; and the pain caused them was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings a person.

(6)  And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; and they will yearn to die, but death evades and flees from them. [Job 3:21]

Revelation 9 issues a warning for those who do not have their minds (thoughts) sealed by the Spirit of God. Tormenting spirits will come to feed on carnal thoughts. This is a time in which the Spirit of the Lord is instructing us to take every thought captive.

 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 AMP

(4)  For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,

(5)  [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),

(6)  Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete.

2. Silencing of the Prophetic voice of the Word of the Lord

   

There is an Egyptian goddess whose name is “Mut,” and she has the head of a turkey vulture. The turkey vulture is mute; it has no voice except to hiss and grunt. This vulture spirit has also been sent to silence the voice of the prophets. The eagle represents the prophetic, and the vulture represents the counterfeit, which opposes the prophetic voice. This spirit will cause some to speak by the flesh and call it the Spirit.

This same spirit will cause some to issue warnings to the prophets to be quiet because God isn’t speaking at this time. Clever plan, but it is flawed. If God is not speaking then there will be no hearing the word of the Lord. If God is speaking, then He has not told the prophets to be silent unless He tells an individual to hold a word for a later time. Nevertheless, this spirit will deceive some and cause them to stop positioning themselves to receive the word of the Lord. This vulture spirit is very dangerous, as it will try to create a famine of the true word of God and also bring forth words born of flesh and not Spirit.

3. Religiosity

   

The vulture will cause the carnal church to rise up against the true, spiritual church. This is the same kind of spirit that caused the chief priests and elders to demand the death of Jesus. Civil war in the church is about to begin, and a great carnage is about to take place. We have come to a time and moment in the church where truth and mixture are at war.

The time has come for the true church of God to emerge. No longer can inaccuracies and a watering down of the unadulterated word of God be allowed to be influenced by humanism, carnality and sentimentalism.

These are perilous times in which the deeds of the flesh must be put to death, a time in which we must live and walk by the power of the Holy Spirit firmly founded on the foundation of the Word of God.  We have to keep our lamps trimmed and full of oil. We are called to be eagles, and I believe that the vulture is no match for the eagle. It is time for God’s eagles to rise up and destroy the vultures that has entered the church under the pretense of being eagles.

Exodus 19:4-6 AMP

(4)  You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.

(5)  Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine.

(6)  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation [consecrated, set apart to the worship of God]. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites.

CALL TO REPENTANCE

Let us humble ourselves at this time and seek the FACE of GOD and repent in order for CHRIST to appear. Let us take hands in this process and we seek to allow the Spirit of God to prepare a pure and unblemished bride.

Grace and peace to you till next time.