Would the Church put up with Amos in 2013?

Amos 4: 6-13

This thought came to mind; would we put up with an Amos in 2013, a guy who has no theological training, and he seems to be an uneducated farmer who is saying, “Thus says the Lord”?  It’s clear that our culture would not listen, and it’s a given, Hollywood and the late night shows and NBC, CBS, ABC, would make fun of him, but what about the Church?  That’s a good question, how would the Church deal with an Amos in 2013? 

I would hope better than Israel, for after many warnings, they refused to listen not only to God’s prophet Amos, but to a man whom they all held in high esteem, the man God used to lead them from captivity in Egypt; Moses.  Why were their leaders, their priests not confirming Amos, “Thus says the Lord” was the same message that Moses spoke to them as they were about to enter the promised land?  For it is clear in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, that God spoke a warning of what would happen if they lived independently of His commandments and statutes, but the people and the priests were enjoying prosperity, much like many in 2013 who go by the name of Christian.

So God warned them and He began to allow what He warned about to happen, and they repented and came back to God; wrong, they called it bad luck, they refused to acknowledge what the judgment of their sins were bringing on their nation; does that not sound much like 2013?  Amos is now telling them of things that might happen and these incidents are happening, and yet most are not looking to heaven, but to how they can control the outcome, much like today.  Let us look at a sampler from Chapter 4:6-9, “I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.  “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away.  I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another.  One field had rain; another had none and dried up.  People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.  “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew.  Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord. 

Both bad luck and good luck are garbage, unless you are looking for a way to live life outside of God’s commandments and His statutes.  Many a Christian will use the words of the deceiver, and tell one another how lucky they are, but that is removing God from the equation, and it is clear that the best response is, “If God wills” or God has blessed me, or God has shown me that I was trying to do His will in my ability.   With God there is only blessing or curses, and it is your choice.  There are no entitlements for a follower of Christ, just blessing or curses.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

He called them Cows

Amos 4:1-5

God calls a shepherd named Amos from Tekoa, a village about 10 miles south of Jerusalem, as a prophet to Samaria and the kingdom of Israel.  Today, we would call him a layperson, and a layperson was seen about the same in Amos’s day as he is today.  Many in Israel would prefer a layperson leading the prophesying, to a full time well educated priest or prophet.  But there is a problem with this kind of thinking, both in Amos time and in 2013, and it can best be seen when Jesus selected 12 men to carry His message to the world.  Have you ever wondered how many of those men were, what we would call, full time ministers?  Did you say “0,” if so you are 100% correct, they were laymen, fishermen, businessmen, and others of like careers, but like Amos they were open to listening and speaking the words that God spoke to them.  And all but one of them had this in common; they believed God was a promise keeper.

It is a good thing that Amos was a shepherd and not a professional preacher, because when God told Amos to speak out against the upper – class women of Samaria, he used terms that were common to his profession.  Amos called the aristocratic women of Samaria cows, now I’m not sure that would play any better in 2013 than it did when Amos spoke the words from the Lord.  These were the words spoken by Amos; “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!” (Amos 4:1)

But it may not have been the word cows, which got the wrath of the upper-class women and men, no it was Amos giving the declaration from the Lord.  They would be lead out of town with fishhooks and many are not sure what was meant by the term fishhooks, but all agreed many were going to be slaughtered and those who survived will flee into exile.

In verses 4-5, Amos is giving benediction on those pilgrims going to the shrine in Bethel, but it is not to encourage them, Amos is being sarcastic.  In is telling them they are doing this as an outward show for men, and these religious act are only bring more judgment on then.  “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” declares the Lord GOD.

My take away on application is: Watch your heart, it is easily drawn to religious acts, acts that bring attention to self and not to God! 

I’ve grown fond of Blaise Pascal who lived in the 1600’s, was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher.  Blaise said; “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.”

 “Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know It.” - Blaise Pascal

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

           

Your greatest Enemy

Amos 3:9-15

Israel has two enemies that seem to have been around for many years, the Philistines and Egypt.  Often, God allowed them to be used as His tool to bring Israel back to seeking God’s protection, and yet Israel had one enemy that was much greater than the two listed and that was Israel.  Because they chose to live independent from God’s precepts and commandments and forgot that God had promised them blessing or curses as He spoke through Moses when they came out of Egypt. This was Moses’ final warning: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. (Deuteronomy 30:15-18 ESV)

Have you ever wondered why Israel did not believe God, and if you have wondered why, then have you looked in the mirror and asked yourself the same question?   And are we that much different than the people of Amos time, for they were sure that if an enemy attacked them, God would come to their rescue.  Amos spoke words of sarcasm to them and in that the Bible is a living book and the written word of God, is that also a word to you and me?  This is what the Lord spoke through Amos: “Thus says the LORD: “As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.

(Amos 3:12 ESV)  If you look closely at the lamb, it is not dead when the shepherd rescues it from the lion, and it seems that, once more, a people who instruct God on what part He must participate in; government, schools, business are setting themselves up to be destroyed.

When God tells them in verse 14 that he will punish the altars of Bethel on the day He punishes Israel, is that not referring to the religious leaders and their followers, for their sins.  All over the world we have people of great wealth, as they did in the time of Amos, and they may have supported the Synagogues and even attended worship services, but their trust was in wealth, much like some who support Christian programs in 2013.  And the Lord is telling Amos to proclaim that your wealth will not save you from God’s judgment.  The people, who have been blessed to live a prosperous life in the U.S.A. or anywhere in this world, should take to heart what God has said to the people of Israel.  Verse 15, “I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end,” declares the LORD.

For as in the time of John the Baptist, where he proclaimed to the people of Israel, the chosen people, that they must repent of their sins, they must return to the Lord, is that not what we who claim to be Christian must do?  Is it not time to bow our knee to the Lord Jesus Christ and seek Him with a pure heart?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Why?

Amos 3:1-8

Have you ever ask the question; “Why did God allow that to happen?”  And then in only moments these thoughts came into your mind, if only I would have listened to my parents, my pastor, my mentor, my employer, who warned me, and now I’m experiencing hell on earth.  C.S. Lewis once wrote, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."   [C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain]

Have you ever given thought to why you and I often, and I mean often, have impaired hearing when it comes to hearing God when He is blessing us, or when an issue of integrity or morality comes to our mind?  Could it be that we are listening to Channel One, the deceptive channel, that tells us we are wonderful, gifted, and the world is blessed that we are in it?  Often at a time of personal success this message come into your thoughts; you deserve, and no one will ever find out, that is Channel One, and it has been the downfall of many, and that includes this writer.

So listen to the words of the Lord, who loves you, your Creator, for in the same way as He spoke to Israel, He is speaking to us in 2013.  “Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.  “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?  Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?  Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?  Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it?  Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing?  Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?  Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?  “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.  The lion has roared; who will not fear?  The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?”

In the last days, and I’m not talking about the end of time, but I am referring to the end of the Church age and the return of Jesus Christ, who will come back to reign on the earth for a thousand years.  Has God not spoken in His written word, and by the prophets and then through His Son, His only Son, the Christ, of such a time?  And if you answer correctly, are you listening, are you studying the Bible, are you warning those who you live with and around that God has spoken?  Or must you have tragedy before you run to the source of all knowledge?  I observed that the most dangerous time for a follower of Christ is when we are being blessed.  It is in that time of blessing that it is easy to become proud and have impaired hearing.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Misplaced Faith

It is reported that England has a new nuclear submarine that is the most sophisticated and powerful weapon in the ocean.  It is called HMS Ambush, and is capable of hearing a ship leaving port in New York while sitting underwater in the English Channel.  It carries 38 Tomahawk cruise missiles with the capability of hitting a target 1, 200 miles away.  She also has Spearfish torpedoes for fighting other vessels, and other weapons that are classified.  The HMS Ambush carries a crew of 103 and has a powerful nuclear reactor that allows the ship to cruise non-stop for 25 years, but they need to be resupplied with food after being at sea for three months. 

That is amazing, what power, what abilities, and can you imagine anything that compares to such a weapon system?  If you had such a weapon would you feel secure?  The answer is that many of us have put our faith in far less of a weapon, both nations and people, and history is full of such accounts.

When we move our faith or trust to something as amazing as the HMS Ambush, we have moved to a very dangerous place; for God has declared that putting trust in anyone or anything other than Himself, sets that person or thing up as an idol.  But I do understand the ease of placing faith in such a weapon, and it is hard to imagine being able to know when a ship leaves the port in New York while you are sitting in the English Channel.  That is unless you are familiar with the unseen God who created all that is and has the ability to know when a sparrow falls to the ground and numbers the hairs of your head, and has already numbered the days of your life, before one of them happens.  And yet many who believe in Him, are still amazed, and put their trust in what can be seen, and never stop and are still enough to hear and to acknowledge the greatness of our God, who loves us so much that He stepped out of glory to redeem one such as I.

Maybe it is time to stop and listen to one of the great prophets of God, his name was Isaiah, and this was what God’s Spirit said to him: “Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils.  Why hold them in esteem?” (Isaiah 2:22)  Is that not a good question, but we are taught like birddogs to hold man in high esteem.  This was the warning to Israel voiced by Isaiah in chapter 31:1, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!”

Now some may need more persuading, so God sent another great prophet named Jeremiah to speak these words: “Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.” (Jeremiah 17:5 ESV) How much are you trusting in something other than God, I’m fearful that many of us have misplaced trust in people, in business, in governments, and in wealth, and yet the wisest man by God’s standards to be born of a man, was Solomon and he told us that all is vanity.  This was Solomon’s summation: “The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Misplaced Faith

Amos 2:11-16

As you read the book of Amos and you get to the second chapter, verses 11-16, are you willing to receive the message from this farmer called to be a spokesman to the chosen?  This question comes to mind, is this message relevant to 2013, and is God speaking to the United States of America, and to all nations that are substituting, “Thus says the Lord” in an effort to remove the message of Deuteronomy 30:15-18? “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish.”

My dear friend Carroll Ray Jr. would often ask at a point like this, do you believe that Jesus tells the truth?  At no time in my 70 years of life is that question more pointed, for we are repeating the history that Amos is referring to in these verses in chapter two.  Beginning with this question in verse 11, “And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites.  Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?” declares the LORD.” 

So what was the purpose of prophets and Nazirites?  The Holman study Bible gives this account on page 1496 in the footnotes: “The prophets, as exponents of God’s will, and the Nazirites, as examples of great devotion to God, came to the Israelites as representatives sent by God to turn the people to righteousness.  The Israelite rejection of both groups represents their rejection of God himself.”  You may want to ask, are we doing that in 2013?  Are our leaders in government, in education, and in the workplace telling our young men and women who have been called to be followers of Christ that they are out of step with such a message?  That a message of redemption belongs only in the four walls of a building we refer to as a church.  It is a clear message that anyone who dares to declare the need to repent of sin and to except the free gift of the blood of Jesus Christ that covers sin will be an outcast in business, in the school system, and government, and its many cohorts will make an example of such a person. 

Do you understand that it was the same way when Amos spoke these words: “Thus says the Lord,” and so history is once more being repeated?  And just a note: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8 ESV)  This was God’s word spoken to and from Amos to the people: “But you made the Nazirites drink wine,

and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.” (Amos 2:12 ESV)  And verse 13 implies that God was a little put out with His people.  Ask yourself; if God does not change, and it’s clear that He does not, then is He just a little put out with the U.S.A.?

Most Americans put a lot of faith in our vast military, so did the people in the time of Amos.  God gave them a news flash of what was to come: “Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life; he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life; and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day,” declares the LORD. (Amos 2:14-16 ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

           

The Basic, the Fundamentals

Amos 2:9-16

I’ve come to this understanding, it is not the deeper things of God that I should be searching for, no, it is the basic, the fundamentals, like where does success come from?  And often I’ve proclaimed that timing is everything, or having the ability to solve the problem, and even having been taught by my parents that hard work will bring blessing, and being lazy brings poverty. 

What if a person, or a business, or even a nation began to ignore that Creator God is in charge of all, not some, but all blessings.  That our abilities, our skill sets, our being at the right place at the right time are orchestrated by the unseen God, and that He takes no pleasure in a person or a business, or even a nation who is so arrogant.

I am fearful that you and I have been tuned into Channel One, the deceptive channel for so long and have heard the misinformation message of look at me, look at what I can accomplish, that at some point we bought into the message of the one who has come to kill, steal, and destroy.  “Thus says the Lord:” “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and who was as strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.  Also it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.  And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites.  Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?” declares the LORD.”

As I look to the future, I choose to ask forgiveness before Creator God, and acknowledge my need to become as a child, and look to the understanding that is in “Thus says the Lord” when Jesus said these words: “I am the vine; you are the branches.  The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.” (John 15:5) 

Could we the church, have fallen into the same foolishness, as the chosen of God, that Amos is talking to?  If so, should we keep going deeper into the knowledge of God, when we are not applying the basics in our personal life; love your neighbor as yourself, and if we are not doing that, how can we hope to love our enemy?

Is it not once again the time to repent and turn back to what Moses instructed the people who God called from Egypt” The eleventh chapter of Deuteronomy, verse one is a reminder; “Therefore, love the Lord your God and always keep His mandate and His statutes, ordinances, and commands.”  “Thus says the Lord;” “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28 ESV)

So this is the understanding I’ve come to; it’s easy to buy into that we are smart, more talented that others, and that in some way we have accomplished everything by our own skill set, brain power, physical abilities, and all of this comes from Channel One the deceptive channel.  But Channel Two reminds us that God alone is our source!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice