Tension between Word and 'new masters of words'

Some of Yuval Noah Harari’s remarks at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Summit held in January, 2026:

And, you know, engineers and also soldiers, they don’t change the world with words. They use stuff. They take action. Philosophers, scholars, also political leaders, they try to change the world with words, by saying things. And maybe we’ve reached the end of that road. And what does it mean? That, you know, we humans, we conquer the world, ultimately, I would say, with language and words. Because, yes, engineers can make weapons and soldiers can build them, but to build an army, you need to convince thousands of strangers to cooperate. How do you do that with words? With ideology? With religion?

So humans took over the world, not because we are the strongest physically, but because we discovered how to use words to get thousands and millions and billions of strangers to cooperate. This was our superpower. And now something has emerged that is going to take our superpower from us . . .

As far as putting words in order is concerned, AI already thinks better than many of us. Therefore anything made of words will be taken over by AI. If laws are made of words, then AI will take over the legal system. If books are just combinations of words, then AI will take over books. If religion is built from words, then AI will take over religion.

This is particularly true of religions based on books, like Islam, Christianity or Judaism. Judaism calls itself the religion of the book, and it grants ultimate authority not to humans, but to words in books. Humans have authority in Judaism not because of our experiences, but only because we learn words in books. Now, no human can read and remember all the words in all the Jewish books, but AI can easily do that. What happens to a religion of the book when the greatest expert on the holy book is an AI?

However, some people may say, can we really reduce human spirituality to just words in books? Does thinking mean only putting language tokens in order? If you observe yourself carefully when you are thinking, you will notice that something else is happening there besides words popping in your mind and forming sentences. You also have some non-verbal feelings. Maybe you feel pain, maybe you feel fear, maybe love.

While AIs become better than us with words, at least for now we have zero evidence that AIs can feel anything. Of course, because AI is mastering language, AI can pretend to feel pain or love. AI can say, “I love you,” and if you challenge it to describe how love feels, AI can provide the best verbal description in the world. AI can read countless love poems and psychology books and can then describe the feeling of love much better than any human poet, psychologist, or lover. But these are just words.

The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh.” The Tao Te Ching says, “The truth that can be expressed in words is not the absolute truth.” Throughout history, people have always struggled with the tension between Word and flesh, between the truth that can be expressed in words and the absolute truth, which is beyond words.

Previously, this tension was internal to humanity, it was between different human groups. Some humans gave supreme importance to words. They have been willing, for example, to abandon or even kill their gay son just because of a few words in the Bible. Other humans have said, but these are just words. The spirit of love should be much more important than the letter of the law. This tension between spirit and letter existed in every religion, every legal system, even every person.

Now, this tension will be externalized. It will become the tension not between different humans, this will be the tension between humans and AI, the new masters of words. Everything made of words will be taken over by AI.

Previously, all the words, all our verbal thoughts, they originated in some human mind. Either my mind, I saw this, or I learned it from another human. Soon, most of the words in our minds will originate in a machine. I just heard today about a new word that AIs coined by themselves to describe us humans. They called us “the Watchers.” The Watchers, we are watching them.

AIs will soon be the origin of maybe most of the words in our minds. AIs will mass-produce thoughts by assembling words, symbols, images, and other language tokens into new combinations. Whether humans will still have a place in that world depends on the place we assign our non-verbal feelings and our ability to embody wisdom that cannot be expressed in words. If we continue to define ourselves by our ability to think in words, our identity will collapse.

Cause for God's launch button on war

(new article this evening)

For a government looking at waging war against a threatening evil, it need not wait until it’s been attacked—a pre-emptive strike is wholly acceptable by biblical standards.

“The debate is simply, ‘Are we, as a nation, going to war against a real evil?’ ” explains Richard Jordan. “To secure justice and protect the freedom of a nation; that’s the only legitimate reason for a war. Personal and political aggrandizement is not a motive for war.

“When Solomon talks about ‘a time for peace and a time for war,’ it isn’t that a leader wakes up one morning and decides, ‘Well, it’s time to go over there and knock them dudes out!’

“It’s not the selfish exercise of power for political or personal gain. It’s to oppose evil, and when the enforcement of justice against evil—that has priority over non-violence.

“The only just way to gain real peace is by the defeat of the enemy of justice. The objective of war is the decisive defeat of the enemy, knowing that’s the only way to assure peace. When war’s the only path to gaining true justice, then it has precedence over non-violence.”

*****

Going back to early Genesis, war first came on the scene shortly after the Flood and God’s establishment of the institution of nationalism into the human race.

“Nations didn’t exist in the earth prior to the Flood and that was one of the basic elements, socially and structurally, that allowed the corruption of man to permeate the earth—there were no boundaries to hold in corruption and protect freedom from the corrupting influence of sin.

“Nations first appear in Genesis 9 and 10 and then, in chapter 11, the satanic counterplot of ‘internationalism,’ or ‘globalism,’ first comes into play.

“In chapter 12, God gives up the nations of the earth and calls out Abraham and establishes His own nation in the earth, and in chapter 14, you see the first war break out.

“I mean, He just established the nations in 9 and 10 and by the time you get to 14—only three chapters later—what’s happening?!

“Those nations are at war against each other. They’re not just nations either; they’ve got a league of nations, taking these other nations and making them subject to them. Genesis 14:3 talks about how they were amalgamated together as a kingdom by military force: ‘All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.’

*****

“Psalm 55, a psalm talking about the Antichrist and representing one of the great examples of peace propaganda in the Bible, says, ‘He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.’

“He had all the propaganda of ‘peace, peace, peace’ until he got the people doing what he wanted and then the enemy came in like a flood. Peace can never be achieved by co-existence; by appeasement.

“Peace propaganda is actually a weapon of warfare designed to defeat and demoralize people so they won’t go to war. It’s trying to take away from individuals the courage of the battle and is designed to put a psychology in the populace’s thinking of, ‘Wouldn’t we all rather have peace than war?’ ”

A couple of things . . .

"I sometimes think Adam and Eve were Russians. They didn't have a roof over their head, nothing to wear, but they had one apple between them and they thought that was Paradise."--Ronald Reagan

"Eve was not taken out of Adam's head to top him, neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him."--Matthew Henry

"Since antiquity, one story has stood at the center of every conversation about men and women. One couple has been the battleground for human relationships and sexual identity. That couple is Adam and Eve."--Bruce Feiler

*****

Biblically, God created Eve for the purpose of providing a wife for Adam. God Himself created marriage as an institution for the basic fundamental functioning of humanity on the planet.

“The word ‘meet’ in help meet means ‘qualified.' You take your fingers and put them together and they meet. They come together. The idea is, ‘I’ll make him a helper; somebody to come alongside who’s qualified and capable of being exactly the help he’s going to need to enable him to fulfill the purpose for which I created him,’ " explains Richard Jordan.

“Well, He takes Adam out there and shows him all His creation and he didn’t find a help meet so God opens him up. I love what verses 21-22 in Genesis 2 say:

[21] And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
[22] And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

“People say, ‘Don’t you know men and women are different?' That verse says He took the rib out of man. If you take something out of something, what did you do? There was something in Adam that was there to start with that God took out and then it wasn’t there anymore!

“Did you make the air you breathe? No, somebody else did. You’re a dependent creature and need to live in dependency upon others.

“That’s the way God lives, not solitary, but He lives in a fellowship. He never lives for Himself. He lives for the honor of His Son. The Son lives for the honor of the Father and the Spirit lives for the honor of the Son. They all live for one another.

“If God had created Adam out of the dirt and then Eve out of the dirt, He would have had two humans directly created by Him. When they sinned, He would have then had to have two Redeemers—one for each one.

“He took Eve out of Adam so there would be only one blood, one head of the human race, one source from which all of humanity came. Therefore, there can be one Redeemer for all of humanity. We call it the ‘Federal Headship.’

“The reason He took Eve out was so Adam would always live in dependency for his fullness on someone else. He could learn to live as God lives, for the good of others.”

Demons: 'Friends' who really hate

As someone from Akron, Ohio, I grew up with all things Cleveland Indians, a baseball team with a rich, rich history dating back to 1894.

The team's name was unbelievably changed to the Guardians in 2021 (to which Ohioans said, "What the . . . ?!") and is said to "reference the Guardians of Traffic, eight monolithic 1932 Art Deco sculptures by Henry Hering on the city's Hope Memorial Bridge, which is adjacent to Progressive Field."

From Wikipedia: "Ancient Egyptian demons can be divided into two classes: 'guardians' and 'wanderers'. 'Guardians' are tied to a specific place; their demonic activity is topographically defined and their function can be benevolent towards those who have the secret knowledge to face them."

From a blog: "Among the myriad of demons, several stand out as guardians:

1. Pazuzu: The protector against evil spirits

Pazuzu, recognized as a powerful spirit, was often invoked to protect individuals from other malevolent forces. He is typically depicted with a striking appearance, featuring a canine face, talons, and wings.

2. Lamassu: The hybrid beings as guardians of cities and temples

Lamassu are iconic figures, often depicted as winged bulls or lions with human heads. They served as protectors at the entrances of cities and temples, symbolizing strength and vigilance.

The representation of guardian demons in Babylonian art is rich with symbolism. Statues, reliefs, and inscriptions often depict these entities in protective stances, emphasizing their role as guardians. Literature from the time also highlights their importance, often portraying interactions between humans and these powerful beings."

*****

Here is an old post and will have new article this evening or tomorrow morning at the latest:

Demons come along at the outset as “familiar spirits,” meaning they put up a friendly facade, introducing themselves in a deceptive manner in order to hook humans.

God warns in Leviticus 19, “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.”

“These spirits don't come in like fire-breathing enemies; they get to be friendly with you first,” explains Richard Jordan. “They come in like, ‘Hey, have I got a deal for you!’

“They want you to come and participate with them in what they’re doing so they court you, deceiving you. That's why the Bible calls them a ‘lying spirit.’

“They corrupted the nation Israel away from the truth into a lie program using their supernatural means. You don't do that unless you come in and trick people.

*****

“In Luke 8, Jesus Christ heals a man so completely riddled with unclean, disembodied spirits, or demons, he's called ‘Legion.’

“The unclean spirit doesn't really like this guy, and you have to understand, demons hate people. They want to torture and destroy.

“Satan, his angels, and the demonic spirits, would destroy every human being if they could. They have a very special hatred for humans that is indescribably bitter.

  

*****

“God warns in Leviticus 20:6, “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.”

“A wizard is always a man, and a witch is a woman, and they are the willing participants and mediums for evil spirits.

“The reference to them going ‘a whoring,’ is not meant in the physical sense of adultery and fornication; it's spiritual. But it will result in the other.

“Jeremiah talks about people committing adultery with the ‘other gods’—spiritual adultery. Israel was married to the Lord; they were to be faithful to Him and when they went after other gods, it was considered they broke their marriage covenant with God; they were adulterers. That's what the Book of Hosea is about.

*****

“Demons originate with the fallen angels, identified as the ‘sons of God’ in Genesis 6, who ‘intermingle’ with human females in the years preceding the Flood to produce offspring of giants on the earth who  ‘became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.’

“These angels, we learn from Jude 6, left their positions as angels in their ‘first estate,’ or the habitation God gave them to live and function in up in heaven, and came down to earth to go ‘after strange flesh,’ thereby corrupting the ‘seed of the woman’ in fulfillment of a Satanic plot.

“From Genesis 3:15, we’re given the first hint of God’s intention to produce a Coming Redeemer through the seed of the woman.

*****

“With the Flood, some of Satan’s angels were immediately relegated to chains of darkness in hell, but others, according to Psalm 82:7, died like men. These were likely ‘the sons of God,’ or at least their offspring.

“Their bodies are down there in that ‘deep’ at the bottom of the universe (Psalm 136:6, Rev. 20:13), where the lake of fire's going to be, but their spirits are loose today—disembodied.

“They're loose, and have been, and will be until the Second Coming of Christ when they're all bound up and cast into the pit.

*****

“When the Gospel accounts refer to them as ‘unclean spirits,’ it’s a reference back to Genesis 9 and the corruption, violence and rebellion they instigated in the earth and have been committed to ever since.

“What we know about these disembodied spirits, who seek to reside in animals and humans, is they possess literal personalities, super-human strength, intelligence, emotions and an affinity for fire, water and high places.

“From a passage in Luke 8, we see a demon has the intellectual capacity to recognize who Jesus Christ is and, as a result, becomes fearful, crying and falling down because he knows he’s going to be tormented.

“It’s fascinating that the evil spirit knows what’s going on and has the wisdom to know who Christ is. In the Matthew account, he asks, ‘Have you come to torment us before the time?’

“This shows he knows the dispensational time out there where there’s going to be a war between his side and God’s side—between Satan’s angels and his troops and the Lord and his angels and his troops.

*****

“Acts 16:16 tells of a ‘certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination,’ showing there’s a demonic ability to tell the future.

“In Acts 19:11, we see the evil spirits weren’t fooled by the exorcists, who were false prophets, showing a capacity for discernment.

“These are not just influences; they are REAL specific, personal beings. It’s not some mystical, ‘woo-woo-woo’ kind of thing. These are real creatures just like you and I are real.

*****

“From the beginning of Israel’s history the nation has been under Satanic attack. His approach has been to corrupt them spiritually so they can’t be used by God to accomplish His purpose with them in the earth.

“The same attack exists today against the Body of Christ and that’s exactly what Paul warns about in I Timothy 4:1: ‘Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.’

“The way he corrupts is with doctrinal corruption, so that Believers, rather than standing and living in the identity they have in Christ, live like Israel did, or like the Gentiles who lived in the ‘vanity of their minds.’

“That’s what Paul means in II Timothy 2:24 when he says they ‘oppose themselves.’ They've been caught in snare of the devil; drawn away from the truth and what's right with the promise of some physical, delightful, experiential thing.”

Jesus mocks blind Pharisees and they're mad about it

John 10: [7] Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

[8] All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
[9] I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
[10] The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
[11] I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Verily, verily, I am the door. I’m the one who leads them out and brings them in,” explains Richard Jordan.

Verse 10 is what they’re doing: [10] The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

When He says in verse 11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep,” go to Ezekiel 34. When these guys take up stones to kill Him, this is why they do it. They know what He’s doing.

Ezekiel 34:11: [11] For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

Whose sheep are they? They’re the Lord God’s sheep. He’s the shepherd. Who does Jesus say He is? “I’m the shepherd.”

Well, He’s putting Himself in the God slot back in Ezekiel. He’s saying, “The Lord God that says that back in Ezekiel—that’s me! I’m Him.”

That’s why He says down in John 10:30: [30] I and my Father are one.

And they want to kill Him, because as verse 33 says: [33] The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

They get what’s going on. God’s going to deliver the nation Israel from the bad shepherd and give them the good shepherd. God’s going to save His sheep; Christ is going to be the one to accomplish that.

So, when Ezekiel writes all that stuff and Christ comes in in passages like this, He’s reaching back to take verses and terminology and things in the Old Testament which are prophesying about what’s happening.

In other words, He’s fulfilling what these passages are talking about. He doesn’t directly quote them because He doesn’t need to.

If you’re talking to a Pharisee, they had all these verses in their mind. They had been drilled in the things. They just didn’t have the faith to see the truth that was involved in the verses they’re following.

*****

The context of the Book of John starts in John 7 and there’s a contention between Christ and the Pharisees and they argue.

John 9: [39] And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
[40] And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

The Pharisees are like, “Are you talking about us?”

[41] Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Now, after all the contention they’ve had, that’s just Him smacking them right in the chops. He’s speaking very plainly to them, got their attention, and they’re mad at Him. They’re arguing. They’ve rejected Him; they’re abusing the blind man, abusing the people, like in Ezekiel 34. Just making profit off of them.

John 10 begins: [1] Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
[2] But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
[3] To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
[4] And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
[5] And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

What Christ’s doing is referring back to something they should have known when He talks about the sheep going in, going out, hearing His voice. That’s an allusion back to Numbers 27 with Moses.

When Moses was preparing to die, he prayed and asked the Lord to give Israel another leader.

Number 27:12: [12] And the LORD said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.

God says, “I’m going to let you see the land, but you ain’t going in.” So, as the passage continues:

[15] And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying,
[16] Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
[17] Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd.

“I don’t want them to be sheep without a shepherd,” and that’s what Christ’s going to tell them they are.

[18] And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;

[19] And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
[20] And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.
[21] And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.

So, the sheep that have a shepherd have someone who gives them God’s Word and at His Word they go out and they go in. The shepherd will lead them out and lead them in.

Verse 22: [22] And Moses did as the LORD commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation:

Moses needs a successor and he says, “I want a shepherd who can take them out, take them in. That can give them the Word of the Lord to lead them.” And the people recognized Joshua.

By the way, you know what the word Joshua, a Hebrew name, means in Greek? Jesus. Both mean Jehovah Savior.

In John 10, Jesus is saying to them, “Look, your ancestors had sense enough to recognize Joshua was Moses’ successor.”

Verse 4: [4] And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
[5] And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

Listen, they know His voice. They hear the Word; they know it’s God’s Word. These birds would have known that Jesus is mocking them with what Moses said.

Moses asked, God gave it to him and everybody recognized it. These guys are rebelling against it; they don’t recognize what God’s doing in their midst. They’re rejecting it; they want no part of it.

Verse 6: [6] This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

Well, that’s what the last verse in chapter 9 said:

I mean, they say, “We see it,” they don’t see it. Here comes God’s Word and the Word of His mouth and they can’t get it. Why? Because they’re blind.

As Jesus says in John 10:8, "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them." That’s not calling them a good name.

(new article this evening--sorry for delay)

God has feelings too

When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction was so utterly complete that it wiped out everything in the valley. There were other cities in that territory—Admah, Zeboim. (Deuteronomy 29:23)

Amos 4:11 says, “I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.”

“The destruction God is going to place on Israel in that captivity is going to be like Sodom and Gomorrah, but it’s going to be so thorough it’s going to get the whole territory," explains Richard Jordan. "And what He says in Hosea 11:8 is, ‘How can I do that to you? How can I just bring an utter end to Israel?’

“The verse says, ‘How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.’

“The Lord says to Jeremiah, ‘I will not bring an utter end to Israel. I’ll do what verse 9 says: I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.’

“The context here is, ‘I’m heartsick about what’s happened.’ Isaiah calls judgment 'His strange work.’ You see how He says in verse 8, ‘mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together?’

“ 'How shall I give you up? I got to punish you but I’m just not going to execute the fierceness of mine anger—the finality of wiping you out completely. I’m going to restore you. I’m going to fix it so that your heart is turned back to me.'

“Verses 8-9 is an amazing passage where God talks about being heartsick about the necessity of punishing, chastening and disciplining His wayward people.

“When He says ‘mine heart is turned within me,’ He’s going this way, then He goes that way. Then He goes this way, then He goes that way. ‘I got to punish them because of their sin but I love them and want to deliver them. I got to punish them because of their sin but I love them.’ He’s back and forth and He calls it repentings.

*****

“You’ll see it in Genesis 6. God tells Noah, ‘It repented me that I made man.’ How is it that God can repent? First of all, if you don’t understand what repentance is in the Bible, and you think it’s sorrow for sin, you’d have a problem because God has no sin to be sorry for.

“If you get your theology from Billy Graham and from Rome, and you think repentance is just being ‘sorry for your sin,’ which is the common, religious, fundamentalist adage, then you got a problem with this.

“In the Bible, repentance means to change your mind. God says, ‘I am the Lord, I change not.’ The issue isn’t God changing His mind in the sense of vacillating. What you see there about ‘mine heart is turned within me’ is you’re seeing the various facets of the nature of God conflicted.

“You would understand that. You would understand someone that you loved who had messed up. That judgment would say they have to pay for that and you understand that, and yet you love them and you don’t want to see them damaged and hurt. A parent can understand that about their children.

“Well, God has a nature; He has feelings about these things. He can be grieved. That’s what you see here; you see grief over their sin.

“God doesn’t change His mind in the sense that He changes; what happens is man changes in relationship to God and now that man is shifted, God relates to man where he is.

“Here’s an illustration. Wasn’t it really warm today? We’ve been cold and today is warm. Now, did the sun get hotter? What happened is the relationship between the earth and the sun changed. You follow that?

“That’s what’s going on here, but it causes problems for people’s theology who believe God can only be one way and that He’s not free to react to His creation. What you’re going to discover in Israel is that isn’t the case.

“Jesus looked at Jerusalem and said, ‘How often I would have gathered you as a momma hen gathers her chicks. How often I would have gathered you to myself but you would not.’ That’s the Luke 13 and 19 version of what’s going on here.

*****

“In chapter 12, Hosea talks about the mechanics of restoring the nation. Verse 12:9 says, ‘And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.’

“In other words, ‘I’m going to take you back into the land and I’m going to fulfill those feasts back there in Leviticus 23 about the regathering of Israel, the restoration into the land and the tabernacling in the kingdom.’

“All those things, in verse 10 He says, ‘I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.’ All these illustrations and dress-rehearsal events in the Old Testament point to Israel’s restoration.

“Hosea 13:9 says, ‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.’ You get one little verse now and then that just kind of encapsulates everything.

"You go back in chapter 4 and it says, ‘Israel hath destroyed itself for lack of knowledge.’ Not because they didn’t have knowledge, but they rejected it.

“Hosea 13:14 says, ‘I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.’

“God’s going to restore Israel; He’s going to redeem Israel, He’s going to resurrect Israel and He’s going to avenge Israel’s enemies. He’s going to restore the nation. The future for Israel is, as Hosea comes to the end, ‘Hey, they’re going to be cast away into the captivity because of their failures but God isn’t through with them.’

“One of the great things to get in these prophecies back here is that God promises to finish what He told Israel He was going to do--what He covenanted with Abraham to do, give them a great nation in the land, permanently living in the land as His people; Him be their god and they be His people.

"There’s that spiritual blessing, that physical nation living in that piece of real estate that God promised to them. A literal, physical, visible, earthly, Davidic promise God made and is fulfilling through the nation Israel.

“All of those things are rejected by 98.7 % at least, if not more, of Christendom. All the big-shot scholars that you hear, every denomination and denominational seminary and school in the country, actually the whole world, rejects these things.

“Hosea’s real clear, so what you do is you either believe what the Bible says or what the scholars say; what religion says. If you believe what the Bible says, you know He’s not threw with Israel and He’s going to restore Israel. Now the question is, how come?

“And, of course, we understand the reason is that God’s interrupted prophecy with a secret program called the ‘dispensation of grace’ where we live today. And if you don’t understand how to rightly divide the Scripture, you’re never going to be able to get the Scripture.

*****

“Chapter 14 begins with, ‘O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.’ That’s basically the whole sum of the Book of Hosea. He details the indictment through the book, but the summary is right there. Verse 2 says, ‘Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.’

“Hosea, in essence, told Israel, ‘Cast yourself upon God’s grace. Just bring words. Come with your confession and tell the Lord, Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously.’

"When they do that, verse 3 says, ‘[3] Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
[4] I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
[5] I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

“You just go on down through the passage and you see the glory that’s going to be Israel’s when He restores them into the kingdom. They’re going to bring words and speak graciously.

“In the words of Jeremiah 31, He says they’re going to find grace in the wilderness. This is a chapter that contains the new covenant for Israel. That wilderness is being cast out into that Fifth Course of Judgment; being cast out among the nations into the dessert places (the wilderness) as they wandered in Exodus.

*****

“Hosea 2 says, ‘Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
[15] And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
[16] And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.’

“That’s the wilderness of Jeremiah 31. They’ll find grace in the wilderness. That’s what they should have found; that’s what God tried to teach them back in Exodus when He brought them into the wilderness to start with.

“They weren’t designed to live in the wilderness for 38 years back there. They were designed to go out and it was just going to be a few weeks when they would leave Egypt and He’d take them into the Promised Land. But He schooled them in His grace.

“You go back and read Exodus 14-18 and you see Him take them through a series of five specific events that was to teach them about His providing for them everything they needed. He’d delivered them out of Egypt; now He’s going to be their provider, and they didn’t get it.

“They came to Mt. Sinai and what did they do? He says, ‘Let me give you a test and see if you’ve learned the lesson.’ And the lesson was, ‘Every time you have a need, I’ll do it for you.’

“They come to the place and the water’s bitter, He says, ‘Here, I’ll heal water.’ Next chapter, they don’t have water, He says, ‘Here, I’ll give you water out of a rock.’ They need something to eat and He says, ‘Here’s manna.’ You got an enemy attacking you? ‘Here, I’ll defend you.’

“I love the similitude thing in Exodus where Moses strikes the rock and water’s a picture of the Holy Spirit. The Book of John, when He puts His Spirit into them and it flows out of them, and as soon as that happens--the Amalekites in the Scripture are a type of the flesh. They didn’t attack Israel until they got water. Your flesh doesn’t attack until there’s something to attack.

*****

“We were talking Sunday night, in I Timothy 2, about lifting up holy hands in prayer. People say, ‘Well, that’s a justification of holding your hands up like that when you pray.’ Problem with that is it says ‘holy hands.’ You never had a pair of holy hands in your life, so you know when he says ‘lifting up holy hands,’ he’s not talking about you!

“When you try to make posture in prayer a prerequisite, well then you’ve forgotten Galatians 3:3: it’s your access to God through the spirit.

“In Exodus 17 is a great illustration. Joshua’s down in the valley fighting the Amalekites. Moses is up on the mountain and, as long as his hands are up, Joshua's in the battle and the sword prevails, but as soon as  he gets tired his hands come down, Joshua doesn’t prevail anymore and it’s a picture of the word and prayer working together.

“Joshua’s down there whipping up on the Amalekites until Moses gets tired and his hands come down so Aaron and Hur, Moses’ sidekicks there with him, literally set Moses down on a rock and hold his hands up FOR him!

“Years ago, when I worked at the rescue mission in Mobile, they had what they called an A&H Club. The Aaron and Hur Club was people they enlisted to be prayer partners for the rescue mission and to support the mission and hold up the hands of the mission--not physically, but so the Word would prevail when the mission was going forth.

*****

“Well, all that stuff back there in Exodus is designed to teach Israel about God providing for them what they couldn’t provide for themselves and how God would do it, and it takes them through five lessons in Exodus 15-18; specific things to teach them about Him being their provider.

“He told Moses, ‘Go tell them I am that I am.’ Sort of like Popeye: ‘I yams what I yams.’ You say, ‘What kind of a name is I am?’ Well, it’s obviously an incomplete sentence. It needs a completer; you write ‘I am’ and you need to fill in the blank. Well, what do you fill in the blank with?

“What God was doing was demonstrating to Israel what to fill in the blank with. ‘Fill in the blank with me! What do you need?! You need healing, I’ll heal you! You need victory, I’ll be the one who provides victory for you! You need water; I’ll be your provider!’

“And there are all those compound Jehovah names in the Old Testament that demonstrate what God is going to provide for Israel.

“There’s a bunch of names, but those seven primary names, you go to Leviticus 23 and you take those seven feasts, including the Passover and so forth, and there are seven Jehovah compound names that fit each one of those feasts.

“If you go to the Book of John, there are seven times Jesus said ‘I am.’ I am the light of the world. I am the bread of life. I am the way, the truth, the life. I am the door. I am the vine.

“Those seven match those seven compound Jehovah names that match the seven feasts back here and what that’s telling you is God’s going to provide for Israel everything they need to carry out that calendar of redemption from the exodus all the way into the kingdom.

“He’s going to do it for them! He began to educate them in that when He brought them out of Egypt.

*****

“In Hosea 2, Achor is where Israel had sinned against God and Aiken had hidden the Babylonish garment. Joshua, you know, they all went up and conquered Jericho, and went up to Ai and got the britches beat off of them, because Aiken had disobeyed God.

"They went out in the valley of Achor and judged that sin, put it away, and He said, ‘I’ll give you that place of judging sin in Israel and putting it away as a door or hope and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the days when she came up out of the land of Egypt.’

“The standard is going to be bringing them up out of the land of Egypt. There was an educating process going on at that point with Israel. By the way, the problem is that in Exodus 19 when they got there, having been instructed all that information, God gave them a test and said, ‘You know, I’ll make you all this stuff. I’ll make a deal. If you keep my commandments you can have all that. Deal or no deal?’

“Now if they had learned the lesson, they would have said, ‘Hey, no deal!’ ‘Why not?’ ‘You already promised it to us!’ But they didn’t do that. They went about seeking to establish their own righteousness and didn’t submit themselves to the righteousness of God.

“They said, ‘Yeah, whatever you say, we’ll do it.’ And in Exodus 19 they blew it.  He added the law to teach them that they couldn’t do it themselves. It doesn’t work for sinful man just for God to show them what he will do for them. The grace of God only accepts faith as a response, but it requires faith. And if you add your effort, the grace of God is taken out of it.

“Brother Lange used to call it ‘The Bible’s Biggest If.’ IF you’ll keep . . . they should have just said, ‘No thank you. Bad deal. We already got a contract. We already got you swearing it, putting it in an oath. We’ll hang on with that.’

“But they didn’t. They thought they could do it. What they didn’t do is they didn’t learn they couldn’t, so they didn’t cast themselves simply on His grace.

“He’s going to take them out into that wilderness, the Tribulation, and that last stage of that Fifth Course of Judgment is going to convince them there’s nothing in them that they can ever trust. It’s only going to be in the Lord. That’s where they find God doing for them what they couldn’t do for themselves.

“And so the restoration of Israel, if you go to Hosea 11, comes about because they come into the wilderness, they see their guilt, they see they’ve been put away and they cast themselves only on the Savior, the Messiah, to be the one who will restore them.

*****

“God starts out in verse 1: ‘When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.’ That’s almost a quote of Exodus 4:22-23. Notice in your mind as you go down through here how often He references the Pentateuch.

“Hosea 11:2 says, ‘As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.’ Just as surely as prophets called Israel to be His son, Israel went away from Him. Just as quick as God said, ‘Here, come do this,’ Israel said, ‘Uh-huh, we ain’t having that,’ and they refused.

“In other words, He loved them and called them, gave them this special sonship position, and yet they weren’t grateful for it. They said, ‘We’d rather have what Baal can do for us.’

“Verse 3 says, ‘I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.’

“They’re like a little child He picked up and said, ‘C’mon, let me teach you to walk.’ He said, ‘Look, I called you to be my son and then I’m educating you. I’m trying to teach you how to walk as my son.’

“Verse 4 says, ‘I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.’

“You look at that and you see His love. When He drew them with bands of love--the tug. If you have a rubber band and you put your hand in it and stretch it out, it pulls it back together. He said, ‘I reached out and put a band around your heart and sought to pull you to myself.’ He wasn’t driving them; He was pulling them with what? Love.

“And when He did it, then He took the yoke of bondage off of them. Then He laid provisions on them. You look at that and you say, ‘Man, what did they do?!’

“They were just intransigent. He loved them but they weren’t grateful. He taught them, sought to educate them, but they didn’t understand. They knew not it was He that healed them. Just totally insensitive to what God’s doing. Then He drew them with bands of love and they just refused. Spurned it.

“You see all that and you say, ‘Wow, they were really a bunch of spiritual knuckleheads!’ But you shouldn’t judge them too much because they were the only people in the earth who still had any relationship with God and they represent exactly what all people do. If they were the best of human flesh, then you and I didn’t measure up even to that, so it’s an example to us all.” 

(new article this evening--sorry for delay. I am working on new intro for book and finding it rough since I've put it off for such a time now)