Leave Them Alone If They Do Not Want To Listen
Leave Them AloneHosea 4:17
“Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!”
The Lord is long-suffering, and those who speak in His name should be also. There do come times, however, when further witness becomes useless or even harmful, or when continued interaction merely invites contamination with ungodliness. In such cases we must simply leave such people alone, following them with prayer and trusting God alone to deal with them.
Such was the ten-tribe nation of Israel, led by the tribe of Ephraim, just before God sent them into Assyrian captivity. God, through the prophet Hosea, told Judah henceforth to let them alone–they were hopelessly given over to pagan evolutionist idolatry. The words “joined to” in today'sin Hosea 4:17, literally means , “under the spell of.”
The Lord Jesus used similarly harsh language in reference to the hypocritical Pharisees of His own day:
Leave them; they are blind guides.(Some manuscripts blind guides of the blind) If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
There are other similar warningsof those who come:
having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Paul says, “ Have nothing to do with such people".
He has also warned us to
2 Timothy 2:16
Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
that is, the empty philosophizing of those who reject God
Ephesians 5:11
Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.
Most, if not all, such warnings seem in context to apply especially to people who once knew and understood the truth, perhaps even professing to accept it for a time, and then knowingly rejected it. When such men oppose our testimony, God says to leave them alone; He can deal with them better than we.