“Don’t confuse me with the facts” is a common attitude among modern Americans, well all humans actually, especially when the facts disagree with our beliefs and opinions. After all, to quote another phrase, “perception is reality!” Such thinking seldom ends well.

If we perceive something in a way that is contrary to truth and reality and foolishly insist on holding on to our perception, our way of seeing it, we have to live with those consequences. Often they are relatively minor, such as being, and being seen by others, as ignorant and foolish. But sometimes they are deadly. Is that light red or green? If it’s red and we perceive it as green and keep going, the consequence may be terrible.

The consequences of following false perceptions in religion are exponentially worse than misperceiving the color of a traffic light. Losing one’s life is terrible, losing one’s soul is infinitely worse. Yet that’s the cost of rejecting God’s truth to follow our own perceptions.

Despite the occasional glimmer of restoration hope, Hosea’s message to Israel has been a long dark depressing condemnation of their sin. Morning Minutes in the Bible on An American Missionary has been looking at the book for a few days now and the words adultery, harlotry, and destruction have dominated the discussion. Mostly because the first three chapters were about Hosea’s adulterous wife who was an illustration of Israel’s literal and metaphorical adultery.

Chapter 4 talked about the nation’s adultery in terms of their idolatry and chapter 5 expands on the coming judgment as God withdrawing from them.

“Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them and they do not know the Lord…They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them.” Hosea 5:4-6

Folks, let me be blunt. American religion is filled with a spirit of harlotry. Rejecting the facts revealed in the Bible that God will not tolerate sin, whether it is false religion or immorality, many (most?) of those who call themselves Christian not only overlook it, but celebrated in their churches as evidence of their godly love for the lost. They go with their pastors, preachers, and praise bands to seek the Lord, but continue living in spiritual adultery (and often literal adultery). One day soon they will discover “He has withdrawn from them.” Let us renounce sin and return humbly to our God before it is eternally too late.