Have you ever read the book of Amos?
Or any of the prophetic books of the Bible?
It’s sobering to read them right now, at this stage of American history, because the parallel lines we can draw between Israel and Judah (before they were sacked by Assyria and Babylon) and America right now are very clear and distinct.
In Amos 6, we see that Israel was prosperous.
They enjoy luxury.
Who lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall
They love entertainment.
Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David
They enjoy pleasure.
Who drink wine from bowls, and anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
They were also wicked and idolatrous.
Much of Amos 5 talks about the injustice and lawlessness of Israel at that time.
They despised those who had a standard of holiness.
Godly people had to censure themselves because political correctness was rampant in their culture.
They misused and overtaxed the poor while using that money to build luxury homes for themselves.
Most disturbing was that even their so-called worship of God was no longer pleasing to God.
“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
This is a picture of America
Our culture is drowning in luxury, entertainment, and pleasure.
Idolatry has never been more rampant in American culture than it is right now. But not just celebrity and materialism; paganism and ancient cult practices are on the rise.
More and more, godly people are being censured and ridiculed for standing up for biblical truth.
The middle class is disappearing while the divide between the wealthy and the poor is growing at an astounding rate.
The poor are being oppressed by the wealthy, while the wealthy are living in gross luxury that they continue to amass off the backs of the poor, who are finding it more and more difficult to live the normal lives of their parents and grandparents.
Jobs are increasingly harder to find.
Homes and cars are increasingly harder to afford.
But most disturbing is the fact that our churches have turned into temples of idolatry.
Mega-churches (and even smaller churches) are built upon the name and personality of the pastor and worship leader.
People gather and talk about God, while in reality we are worshiping man.
So-called worship music today is largely written by enormous “Christian” conglomerates who have made worship into an industry and who tightly control what we sing and who writes what we sing.
Do a deep dive into the history of Christian music and CCLI here. Warning: it will turn your stomach.
All the while, a pagan and ungodly music industry is amassing wealth from “worship” music written for charts and Spotify plays, and not for the actual worship of God.
These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Matthew 15:8
Too many American Christians gather in churches each Sunday saying the name of God, while their hearts are saturated with idolatry, pleasure, luxury, and entertainment.
And God is saying, “Your worship is just noise. Just turn it off because I don’t want to listen to it. I hate your assemblies. They are a stench in my nostrils.
God has sent messengers
In the decades leading up to Israel’s and Judah’s captivity to Assyria and Babylon, God had sent prophets as messengers.
Over time, he increased the warning by sending plagues of locusts, fires, and other natural disasters.
But they would not listen.
In fact, many of their prophets would prophesy blessing and “the day of the Lord is coming” as if it were something positive.
But God said to them, “The day of the Lord isn’t actually what you think it is.
Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion,
And a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him! Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light?
Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
And they preferred to listen to the prophets who were prophesying fun and positive things.
In Amos 7, Amaziah the priest tells Amos to get lost, something that had happened to many of God’s prophets in that day.
God has been sending His messengers
9-11 was a warning.
In the weeks following 9-11, churches all over America were flooded with people who didn’t normally attend church.
They were shaken and confused, and they were looking for answers.
What did they find? What they didn’t find was hope. They didn’t find a message of salvation and Jesus’ sacrifice.
Instead, they found patriotic rallies and messages of “America will rise from the ashes”.
Salvation isn’t found in “America is strong”; it is found in Jesus Christ.
So God sent more messengers:
Katrina
Floods
Ravaging fires
He has sent prophets to warn the church, but the Church hasn’t take them seriously, and in some cases has told them to get lost.
Most Christians prefer to hear:
Live your best life
You are enough
This is a year of favor
This is the time of God’s blessing
Really?
We are a nation consumed with hyper-sexuality and pleasure.
We are a nation addicted to our ears in entertainment with the grossest kind of perversion and violence.
We have gorged ourselves on portrayals of immorality, adultery, and perversion as entertainment.
If you don’t believe me, just do a little research on Nickelodeon in the late 80s and early 90s and the hyper-sexualization of Disney Channel stars.
If it doesn’t make your stomach turn, that in and of itself is a warning.
How many more warnings will God send before He says enough?
There came a time when both Israel and Judah ran through God’s grace to the point where God said, “enough”.
He removed His hand of protection and allowed them to be utterly destroyed.
Behold, I am setting a plumb line [as a standard] among My people Israel [showing the defectiveness of the nation, requiring judgment]. I shall not spare them any longer. [The door of mercy is shut.] Amos 7:8 AMP
While it is true that throughout the book of Jeremiah we read that God would gather His people back and once again show His mercy, what we see is 400 years of utter silence when no prophet of God was speaking to the people.
This is the intertestamental period.
400 years.
To give some perspective, America just celebrated its 250th year as a nation. Imagine that during all of America’s existence, plus another 150 years, the voice of God was not speaking to us.
How many more warnings will God send to the American church before He will simply say, “enough”?
God will not use man to save us
Stop looking to Donald Trump to save America.
He will not and cannot save America.
Politics cannot save America.
Stop looking to TPUSA and the legacy of Charlie Kirk to save America. Organizations and men - even good men - will not save America.
And please, please PLEASE - stop looking to Bethel, NAR churches, and so-called prophets who are all over Facebook and YouTube fleecing the church and prophesying blessing and favor.
These are false prophets proclaiming “Thus says the Lord” when the Lord has not spoken.
They are hirelings who are fleecing the people of God and ravaging the church.
It is time we get our eyes off of fallen man and turn to God for our salvation and hope.
Only God can save us.
Dear sister - OPEN YOUR BIBLE.
Stop listening to fallen man telling you what the Bible says; stop listening to a prophet telling you what God is speaking.
OPEN YOUR BIBLE AND LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT SPEAKING DIRECTLY TO YOU THROUGH HIS WORD.
Stop believing the lie that you need a so-called apostle telling you what the Bible says through “special revelation” (ie divination and extra-biblical teaching), because this is not biblical.
God has no elites. There is no “special anointing”. He will speak to you through His Word as clearly as He speaks to anyone else.
God is not prejudiced in any way.
The hope for America is found on our knees.
When I shut up heaven, and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14
This does not only apply to America alone ,it is a global challenge. God's creation, made in His image (people), have abandoned His ways and commands, I pray that all God's people, i.e. individuals, families, communities, countries ,in all continents will be on our knees and pray to the one and true God and seek His will for living in His Kingdom. in obedience to Him, and in His peace. I believe God is at work and will raising remnants to carry His mission. In our prayers let us ask that He show us what He is already doing and walk in step with Him ,shining the light to the dark corners hearts in His world He has created and turning back to Him.
As a sister in Christ, my response is to be careful with 1:1 comparisons. Remember, we are in the New Covenant not the Old Covenant.
We are living in the times of the weeds and the wheat (Matthew 13:24-29). You are reporting on the weeds that have grown among the wheat.
Yes, we all need to be in our Bibles and focused on Jesus’s words first. But I think the focus here should be less of a rebuke and more of a, “we have work to do.” There are a lot of lost people who need to know the good news of Jesus.