Through Haggai, the Lord calls His people to ‘consider their ways’. Despite their best efforts, Israel’s ‘agricultural economy’ is failing, because they have neglected the ‘house of the Lord’ (Haggai 1:1-11). In Hosea, ‘the land mourns and all who dwell in it languish’, because of the sins and apostasy of the people, particularly the priests and prophets (who should know better) (Hosea 4:1-11). Then and now, the state of the land and its inhabitants is an indicator of the spiritual condition of (God's) people. Many current issues in rural life (and society in general) are symptoms of the underlying spiritual malaise in the nation and church and its leadership. Diverse wings of the church are capitulating to the spirit of the age by uncritically adopting its consumerism, ‘celebrity culture’, and ’woke’ agenda or even consorting with the ‘gods of the nations’ by mixing New Age / pagan practices with Christian worship.