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Moral Insensitivity
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Hosea 4:11-12  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) A major key to understanding the application of both Hosea and Amos to us is that both prophets prophesied in Israel, the ten northern tribes, in an era similar to that in which we live, that is, in a last generation before a major national calamity. In their case, it was just before the people of Israel fell to the invading Assyrian armies, were removed from their homeland, and scattered to the four winds, never to return. Historical records and archeological findings show that Israel was quite prosperous at the time, a major power in the world. Simultaneously, the nation was morally rotten to the core, and social injustice was the order of the day throughout the land. The Israelites of that time were literally getting drunk, as Amos reports them drinking wine by the bowlful (Amos 6:6). Yet a far more spiritual drunkenness guided their conduct. In addition, they practiced the ritual harlotry of the pagan religions they had adopted. However, the lesson for us is spiritual. God is saying that at the end time, it will be as if a demonic power has seized the nation, destroying loyalty to God in a spiritual drunken frenzy, during which the people will think themselves totally in control. Even as drugs destroy a person's capacity to think clearly, break down resistance to evil, and so becloud the mind that he becomes morally stupid, so does the spiritual drunkenness that results from a person allowing himself to drink in this world's ways. Escape into the fantasies of this world's attitudes and conduct deprives a person of his understanding, removes inhibitions, inspires false confidence—even bravado, plays havoc with modesty and restraint, and destroys loyalty within relationships. John W. Ritenbaugh Be There Next Year

Revelation 3:20  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) The illustration at the end of the letter to Laodicea is striking. Our Lord stands at the door knocking. Christ then says, "If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." But what does the passage indicate about the Laodicean at this point? Since he cannot hear His Savior's voice, his mind must be focused on something else! This is a common occurrence in our lives today. Concentrating deeply on a job or a project, our minds can block out sounds and movement around us. Some people never seem to hear someone calling them when their noses are stuck between the pages of a book! Just describing this ability another way, Jesus judges the Laodicean to be blind. Paul uses a different metaphor in I Thessalonians 5:4-8, saying that he is in the dark. Spiritually, blindness and living in darkness are much the same. How good is one's judgment when he cannot see? Living in darkness is the equivalent of being morally insensitive or unstable, that is, not knowing right from wrong. John W. Ritenbaugh The World, the Church and Laodiceanism

 

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