Getting a Whiff

“My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.” (Ho 4:12 AV)

We are particularly interested in what this ‘…spirit of whoredoms…’ is.  But a bit of context here might help.  The stocks and staff were a source of divination for the pagan belief system.  The stocks were carved idols that could be manipulated to render a choice.  The staff was a stick that was demarked to distinguish one side from the other.  Bark was stripped from one side while the other was bare.  Or, marking like “God bids” and God Forbids” are marked in one side or the other.  Then the staff was cast and the result was intended to be the answer given by the gods or God.  This is particularly bad in the sense it replaced the voice of God as revealed in the word of God for some mystical experience which could be easily manipulated to guarantee a desired outcome.

This spirit of whoredoms is the motive behind such mysticism.  We know what whoredoms means.  We know to what the term refers in the physical sense.  In the spiritual sense, the LORD uses this term to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness to Him as the seek other gods or influences from which they derive wisdom, their provision and protection, and even their spiritual life.  It is called a whoredom because they are God’s people.  To go after other gods would be to play the whore against the God who brought them out of Egypt.  The spirit here is illuminating.  This word means to perceive an odor or scent.  Think of a pleasant scent that catches the nose but is distant and not readily identifiable.  In the age of candles, oils, etc., this is not hard to image.  The nose is drawn to it because it makes us feel a certain way.  In a very subtle sense, it brings to mind pleasant thoughts and to the heart, pleasant feelings.  Reason and logic are not needed.  All one needs is the experience.  Simply put, the spirit of whoredoms is the desire to experience outside of the word of God and reason, what we perceive to be a spiritual reality.  We call that mysticism.

This influence has been around since the dawn of mankind.  It has never gone away.  Even in the first century church, the Apostle John wrote his first letter in defense of reason found in the word of God against the rising influence of mysticism.  This spirit of whoredoms is the desire to go after a feelings-oriented faith founded in pleasant experiences rather than spiritual growth as provided by study and submission to the word of God.  This spirit of whoredoms doesn’t want any ‘bad vibes’.  All it wants is rainbows and unicorns.  It would rather get advice from a fortune cookie than to spend much needed time in the word of God.  It would rather sway to music than to kneel stationary in prayer.  This spirit of whoredoms looks lovely.  But it will only result in drawing us away from the true God and His truth