God is forgiving and is always ready to receive a repentant sinner, but the human nature
is not always willing nor is it always able to confess sin and return to God. Indeed, it is
possible for an individual or a society to become so corrupt that they cannot even
identify sin. A people who have replaced God’s Word with a false philosophy cannot
correctly distinguish wicked deeds from a truly righteous attitude that produces the
works of God.  Israel was too far gone in Hosea’s day to return to God. As the
Assyrian crisis intensified and national disintegration began (four of northern Israel’s
final six kings where assassinated and the last king was taken as a prisoner to
Assyria by Shalmaneser) the people’s deeds did not permit them to take corrective
action and return to God. Destruction was inevitable. What had begun in their hearts
(wills, emotion, intellect, attitude, desires, etc.) as spiritual prostitution searching for
something other than God’s Truth, Reality and Word had led them into ignorance
of God which produced the fruits of wickedness. This 750-721 BC culture could not
find their way out of this great darkness into which they had submerged themselves.

Be careful of a society that does not “acknowledge the Lord” because the
“spirit of prostitution” will lead to philosophies and lifestyles that are contrary
to Truth and Reality and the application of these false philosophies will produce
“deeds” that will remove that society into a darkness where logic and reason
are unattainable. From this hopeless position there is no way for a society to
accurately evaluate their position and return to a God who is always willing to
receive a repentant sinner who is able to identify and confess sin.