Halloween Ends makes me shudder. Not that I actually watched the movie, just the commercials are enough to give me the creeps, but that they were able to continue the series past the original Halloween movie from 44 years ago. And, apparently, draw a large audience to watch it. Despite being a movie watcher, I’ve never watched those because I’m just not a fan of slasher movies. In part because they’re usually IFC (inappropriate for Christians), but mostly because I just don’t enjoy that genre.

However, I have no moral high ground to stand on having watched way too many IFC movies and TV shows that were filled with violence and death. Beginning with Bonanza and Gunsmoke as a kid! To this day I contend that Marshall Dillon should be infamous as the most prolific serial killer in American History (do the math 200+ episodes).

This edition of Morning Minutes in the Bible on An American Missionary returns to Hosea where we find God commenting on something that made Him shudder. After rejecting Israel’s faux repentance (Hosea 6:4) and telling them what He wanted (them – heart, soul, mind and body; Hosea 6:6), He continued explaining why they stood condemned (Hosea 6:7-11).

They have “transgressed the covenant” and “dealt treacherously against Me”, said Jehovah (v7).

Gilead, a city of refuge for the wrongfully accused, was filled with “evildoers” who left it “stained with bloody footprints” (v8).

The religious leaders acted like raiders and a gang of robbers looking for victims to rob and murder (v9).

In the house of Israel, where God should have been honored and glorified, the people “defiled themselves” with figurative and literal “harlotry” through their idolatry (v10).

Most versions say of God in verse 10, “I have seen a horrible thing”, but the word translated “horrible thing” literally means to shudder or shake in dismay because of what He saw. God shook in dismay at the things He saw in the nation of Israel, a people who had no regard for God or placed any value on human life. In verse 11 God warned Judah of their appointed day of judgment too.

With that in mind, does God shudder at the things we see; not just in TV shows and Movies, but in real life as well? Do we demonstrate disregard for people whose lives are impacted by sin and death, or do we shudder at what is happening around us? I shudder to think about what God thinks of the things I overlook. Or, perhaps the point is that I don’t shudder enough. Maybe we all need to shudder at the thought of what God thinks of how we treat ourselves and others because it reflects what we think of Him!