Confrontation

Amos 7:10-17

It is not healthy to enjoy confrontation, in fact, many in our society will quit jobs, marriages, and even churches or just about anything to keep conflict out of their lives.  But we also understand from the Scriptures that God does arrange confrontation, he did it with Nathan when he was told by God to get in the face of King David and confront his sin of taking Uriah’s wife and then having Uriah killed.  And what about Daniel and his three friends who would not bow to king Belshazzar’s demands?  When the person that confronts us is a person of authority, such as was the case with Amos, when the priest, and more than likely the high priest, sent this note to king Jeroboam: “Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, “‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’” (Amos 7:10-11 ESV)  That kind of a message may get a person in trouble, as it will today, and it will surely cause confrontation. 

The following is the exchange between the priest and Amos: “And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.  “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’  Therefore thus says the LORD:

“‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

(Amos 7:12-17 ESV)  We have all heard the saying, do not pick a fight with an older man, because he has too much to lose, so do not pick a fight with a prophet of God.

Do you recall the confrontation of Peter and the apostles with the high priest telling them not to speak any longer in the name or authority of Jesus Christ.  And this was their reply: “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”(Acts 5:29-32)   I must report that did not go well with the religious leaders, and they wanted to kill them, but God.  Yes, but God had plans for these men, yet most of them would die by the hands of religious zealots, but in God’s plan and purpose. 

So what application should we take from Amos 7:10-17?  Is it to love God more than self, to fear God more than you fear man?  I believe the Scripture is clear that we should not be confrontational but to always over look when we are wronged.  With that said it is my personal belief that God is the same today as He has always been, the Creator, He is all knowing, and He has authority over the affairs of men.  And for that reason, my house will stand against all that say God’s word is not relative to our culture.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Our Hearts need a Plumb Line

Amos 7:1-9

There is no doubt that God is still speaking, for He speaks to me in many ways, so that is not the question, no, the question is am I able to hear Him?  If I’ve heard and not listened, or been fearful of what you or others would say or think, am I leaving my family and my community open to harm?  Maybe and maybe not, now that was not what you were expecting me to say, was it?  As we look at God speaking to His prophet Amos, you may be in agreement with my last statement, but a wise person listens and acts on what God is speaking into their heart.

Chapter seven begins with God showing Amos, in a vision, the judgment to come on Israel.  The first judgment was locust coming to destroy the crops just as they were beginning to sprout.  Not only did Amos listen to what God had said, Amos stood in the gap for a people who wished for only one thing, that this farmer/prophet would go bother some other people.  This was Amos’ talk with the Lord; “O Lord GOD, please forgive!  How can Jacob stand? He is so small!”  The LORD relented concerning this:

“It shall not be,” said the LORD. (Amos 7:2-3 ESV) 

In the next vision, God showed Amos a fire that was consuming the whole of Israel, listen to Amos talk with the Lord; “Then I said, “O Lord GOD, please cease!  How can Jacob stand?  He is so small!”  The LORD relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD. (Amos 7:5-6 ESV)  There were real issues in the land of Israel, the people were taking advantage of the poor, and they were self-absorbed with what they could buy, or build and were full of pride, an arrogant people.  Jesus had an encounter with some Pharisees and scribes and they wanted to know why his disciples broke the tradition of the elders.  This is what Matthew recorded: “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matthew 15:7-9 ESV)

Now, the rest of the story, God had one more vision for Amos, “This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” (Amos 7:7-9 ESV)

Why do we need a plumb line?   Only with some type of plumb line can a wall be built and without a plumb line a life will become distorted.  What you believe about the person will become unclear, for a person without a moral compass will be deformed.   God is not like us, He does not look at the surface but the heart and the heart needs a plumb line, called the Spirit of God, to guide it in the will and ways of God.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Has God Spoken?

Amos 6:1-14

Has God spoken and if He has spoken why would anyone not believe what He has said?  As I read the sixth chapter of Amos, these thoughts came to mind; we are as a nation and a people much like the people that Amos is addressing.  After reading this chapter numerous times, and asking the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to truth, I read Gene A. Getz footnotes from the Life Essentials study Bible on page 1195 and note #9 titled Material Prosperity.  “During the time Amos prophesied, the children of Israel were experiencing economic prosperity and military success.  The leaders particularly paraded their wealth and position.  They built large houses, gorged themselves on the best meat, and drank bowlfuls of the best wines.  They concluded that they were successful, powerful, and secure from the attacks of their enemies.  They evidently believed that God approved of the way they were living and was blessing them accordingly.”  The question must be asked, what nation comes into your mind?  In sales we often used the phrase, “The old is forever new” or as my dad would say, “We learn nothing from history, because if we did, would we repeat it?”

My prayer is that you will read Amos and especially chapter six, it begins in this manner; “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!”

(Amos 6:1 ESV)  Am I all wet, or could we easily put the USA in the place of Zion, and Washington D.C. in the place of Samaria, and the American people in the place of Israel?

In verse two the prophet reminds them of other nations who were also mighty at one time and very prosperous and were destroyed or have been brought to a place of no influence as a power broker in world affairs.  Do names come into your mind of great nations who no longer exist or have no voice in the big picture of today?  Mighty nations like Rome, Egypt, Greece, and much later, France and the British Empire.   Do you recall a Germany that tried to conquer the world, or a Soviet Union, the mighty U.S.S.R. that is no longer, and they all had one thing in common, they believed they were able to do as they pleased.  Now that is as dangerous for a nation as it is for you and me.

Verse three deals with the leaders and the people ignoring the warning of the prophet, and the coming judgment.  And verse four and five refers to their prosperity and the attitudes of their hearts.  But in verse 8, “The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, declares the LORD, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” (Amos 6:8 ESV)  I often forget that God hates pride, and these people were, as are we, prideful, arrogant, putting their faith in citadels, walls and towers, and they falsely believed their city was impregnable.  

Verses 9-11, deals with the destruction of the things they trusted in and in human life.  When God speaks to a people or to a nation, wise people repent and seek to be agents of change, much like Nineveh.  Do you recall in Matthew 12:38-42, where the scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign, and this was his answer: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

(Matthew 12:39-41 ESV)

As someone once told me, “A word to the wise is sufficient” so let the wise listen to these words from Gene A. Getz: “There is a lesson here for all people – nationally and personally, believers and unbelievers.  Material prosperity and success and power are not conclusive evidence of God’s approval of the way we live.”  Actually, “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Woe to You!

Amos 5:18-27

Have you ever had someone say, be careful what you ask for you might just get it?  It seems that many in Israel who desired “the day of the Lord” and Amos asked the question why, “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!  Why would you have the day of the LORD?  It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.  Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? (Amos 5:18-20 ESV)   

A warning needs to be injected in this paper, that the word of God is as stated in Hebrew 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning, the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  It was the voice of Amos, but it was God who was speaking to the people words they did not understand, and words they were not willing to except.

Picking up the account in verse 21, and listen it is not Amos that hated and despised feasts and burnt offerings, for they were not made to him, but to God.  “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.  Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.  Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.  But let justice roll down like waters, righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.  (Amos 5:21-24 ESV)

What is our take away from these verses; be careful what you believe about God, and always search the Scriptures with a heart open to this truth: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

A Wrong Conclusion

Amos 5:8-15

How easy it is to be led to a wrong conclusion, and you and I have bought into more scams than we will admit, yes, rip-offs by dishonest schemes, and the root cause is not being stupid, but being greedy, or lazy and not looking into the matter or not getting counsel.   The elderly of our society are often the prey of evil people because they put trust in people with titles or people in places of authority; like lawyers, doctors, money managers, and government employees, even those elected by the people.

Could that be the reason why God refers to us as sheep?  Sheep are dumb and are easily led and often will go off alone and encounter danger.  My neighbor, Jim raises sheep and at this time has many baby lambs on the ground.  I ask if I could come take pictures of the lambs, and this was Jim’s reply; we do not get near them for three to four days because they will follow a chicken or a person and then the mother will not let them nurse and we end up bottle-feeding them. 

Gene A. Getz in the Life Essentials study Bible, had these comments about the people that Amos was speaking to: “When the children of Israel turned away from God, they did not abandon the practices instituted at Mount Sinai.  However, their burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fellowship offerings and other rituals became sacrilegious and meaningless.  They were using these God-ordained symbols to worship false gods.  This is syncretism – incorporating idolatrous activities into biblical worship.” (Page 1194 #8)

Folks, these idolatrous activities did not happen over night, it was designed and orchestrated by the one Jesus calls the thief in John 10:10, the one who controls the deceptive channel that my friend Bill calls channel One.  I find it of great interest how close we are as a Nation and a people to the days of Amos.  Listen to what Amos is saying about them and ask yourself, could that be said about our Nation?  “They hate the one who convicts the guilty at the city gate and despise the one who speaks with integrity.  Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact a grain tax from him, you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards
you have planted.  For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable.  They oppress the righteous, take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice at the gates.  Therefore, the wise person will keep silent at such a time, for the days are evil. (Amos 5:10-13)

The message to the righteous in Amos’ day is also the message for Christians today.  And this is the message: “Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.  Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate.  Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious
to the remnant of Joseph.”  (Amos 5:14-15)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

A Collision Course

Amos 5:1-6

The fifth chapter of Amos has been given a title in my Bible of “Seek the Lord and Live” and that implies some and maybe many will not seek the Lord and will not experience the blessing that one who does seek Him will receive.   We live in a culture that can best be summarized in the song “I did it my way,” and it has been this way most of my life.  You can bet the farm, doing it your way will be on a collision course with “Seek the Lord and live,” and then the question much be asked, what does it profit a person if they achieve great success and acclaim in this world, but have missed out on knowing God and receiving His free gift of eternal life; is that worth eternal damnation?   Jesus asks the question in both the gospel of Matthew and Mark, this is the question: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? (Matthew 16:26 ESV)

Amos 5:3, “For thus says the Lord GOD: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” (Amos 5:3 ESV)  And you may ask why, why would God do this to a people who He has chosen from all the peoples of the world?  Could it be after many warnings, and many prophets coming to them with “Thus says the Lord God” and they said by their actions, “I will do it my way” and only judgment would return them to acknowledge that God’s plan for life on planet earth is best. 

And we understand that often they tried to con God, by outward acts, religious acts, but their hearts were far from God.  Listen to the voice of God:   For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.” Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth! (Amos 5:4-7 ESV)

People are people and flesh is flesh, as we have said often, Channel One is the deceptive channel that seems to resemble our own voice, and Channel Two is the Spirit of God, and is often not listened to because of sin in our life, or the busyness of life and the noise we have grown accustomed to.  But we like the people of Amos days also have those places where we, or someone else has met with God, and we have placed markers at those places in our minds and hearts that we need to go back to that place to experience God.

That is what God is telling them not to do, “do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.”  You may be asking what was Bethel to them, and the answer is found in Genesis 28:12-19, where Jacob had his vision of the stairway to heaven.   And Gilgal was the embarkation point for crossing the Jordan River and the invasion of Canaan, and Joshua set up a memorial there (Joshua 4:19-20).  And Beersheba is closely associated with the sojourns of Abraham (Genesis 21:14) (footnotes from page 1499 in the HCSB Study Bible) All of the areas had shrines, all three were pilgrimages, to observe what God had done, but God was telling them to quit going back to what He had done, and follow Him into what He is doing.

We should never forget that the deceptive channel is telling us to go back to some place and find God, it may be the little church where you grew up or the one with the great orator and teacher that stood on the massive lot with the large oak trees and the big white pillars, and yet God is saying “Thus says the Lord” follow me where I’ve planted you.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

What can the Church learn from Amos 4:12?

Amos 4:12

In 2012, Jan and I spent a few days in Prague with our friends Joe and Barb, and we were told by the tour guide that 60 % of the people of Prague do not believe in God, in fact, they do not believe there is a God.  What a contrast to the people of Amos’ day, if you had taken a survey of the Jewish people, and the question was: Is there a God?  I would be surprised if you did not get 99.8% of the Jewish people saying yes and His name is Yahweh, but the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 14:1, that some who he refers to as fools will say, “There is no God.” 

What can you and I and the Church, learn from these religious people who believed there was a God, but totally ignored His commandments and statues?  And now, let’s move from Prague, to your country, your area, your town, your church, your family, and finally to the person you see each morning in the mirror.  You believe He is God; do you obey His commandments?  Maybe, we identify more closely with the Jewish people of Amos’ day than we believe.  One of the most humble, kind, and meek men I’ve known is T.W. Hunt, a man of prayer, a mighty man in the kingdom of God, and yet, he has told me on many occasions, Bob, “I’m a wicked man.”  Now I must confess that each time he said that to me it troubled me; for if T.W. is wicked, then what am I?

It was a great day when I ran across this quote, “There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.”  Blaise Pascal

Amos leaves no doubt that the Jewish people were a religious people who were so consumed by self, they were living independent of God’s authority and yet if you ask, they would fall under “the sinners who think they are righteous.”  That is why God sent His prophet Amos, but they were only irritated by his words, so it came to this statement in verse 12.  “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

The question must be ask of us, for we are not a people of Psalm 14:1, who believe there is no God, no we are Christians, we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have put our hope in the redeeming blood that has covered our sin.  And yet, we, like these religious Jews have put self on the throne of our life, and many, to our shame, are living as if Jesus does not tell the truth.  Many who are religious would answer the question if ask, is there a God, and what is His name: they would answer; God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

But that answer will buy you no more in judgment than it did the Jews of Amos’ day, for it is obedience that is God’s requirement to be a follower of Christ, it is death to self, and it’s demands.  I’m learning that only being willing to be willing to the authority of the Spirit of God will overcome the desires of my flesh.  For many today, this may be your day of God saying,  “Therefore thus I will do to you, Your name; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Your name or mine!”  Emphasis added

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice