–Romans 1:25(Phillips)
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We are living in a day when the groundwork is being prepared for the time of the Tribulation.  The coming of the Lord is at hand, and because of that there are more and more false prophets.  Look around you and see if the words of the Prophet Jeremiah aren’t not being seen in the world today.  “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:  Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.  For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 29:8-9, NKJV)
     False prophets, false religion–woe to the person who practices deception; woe to the person who listens to the words of these people.  Not only did Jeremiah speak of the false prophets, but also other prophets and we read of the words of Peter and Jude regarding them.  Jesus even describes their character, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15, NKJV)  Other versions translate them as “raging wolves” or “ferocious wolves” or “vicious wolves.”  Jesus doesn’t hold back as he describes what they are like.
     A false prophet may look the part, play the part, and even sound legitimate.  They are deceptive for they seek only to devour; they are predators and vicious.  They cause people to believe a lie or to put their trust in something other than Jesus and His Word.  Jeremiah said, “And the LORD said to me, ‘The prophets prophesy lies in My name.  I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.” (Jeremiah 14:14, NKJV) The NIV says they speak from the “delusions of their own mind.”  Zechariah further tells us, “For the idols speak delusion; the diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; they comfort in vain.  Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; they are in trouble because there is no shepherd.” (Zechariah 10:2, NKJV)
     In other words they speak from their own delusions.  The prophecy was what the people wanted to hear.  Signs and wonders may even follow them as we are warned in Deuteronomy 13:1-4:

          “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’–which you have not known–‘and let us serve them.’  You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.” (NKJV)

Confusion should not be the part of the believer.  But in this day there are many voices.  Ray Stedman said, “There is nothing more deceitful than false religion.”  But we hear the clamor of all paths lead to God.  Just recently the pope said, every religion is a way to arrive at God.  “All religions are paths to God.  I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the divine.”  This is contrary to the Word of God where we see that the gate is narrow.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6, NKJV)  Believe Jesus, or believe the pope and others.  To believe anyone but Jesus is to make Jesus a liar.
     One day in the future there will come a man who will tickle the ears of the people.  He will give them false hope and point their attention to the “man of lawlessness”–the Antichrist.  He will begin with subtle deception and use persuasive words that will deceive the masses.  We read in Revelation 13 that “he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.  And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.  He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.  And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast…” (11-14, NKJV)  Deception, delusion, lies and the message of the dragon.  This man–the False Prophet–will enamor the people to worship the “image of the beast” (Revelation 12:14).

                    –Elmer Leonard  (“The Nagual”)

       “And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?”

                    –1 Corinthians 8:11 (NKJV)
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               37 — And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume,
               38 — and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.
               39 — Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”
               40 —  And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”  And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.”
               41 — “A moneylender had two debtors:  one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
               42 — When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both.  So which of them will love him more?”
               43 — Simon answered and said, “I supposed the one whom he forgave more.”  And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”
                               –Luke 7:37-43, NASB

     Simon, and the other guests, must have been stunned by the actions of this woman.  This should not happen; this woman should not even be at the feast, yet they have just witnessed a remarkable display of love.  She had begun to cry, not just a few tears, but to weep, the tears flowing onto Jesus’ feet.  She then undoes her hair and wipes His feet with it, kissed His feet and poured the perfume on them.
     Tension fills the room.  The touch of this woman was considered contaminating and Gary Inrig explains that according to the Talmud, “a woman can be divorced for unbinding her hair in the presence of other men,” and on top of that to use her hair to wipe His feet.  Appalling, to say the least.
     Then Simon makes the statement, to himself, whether Jesus actually heard him or perceived what was in his heart, He answers Simon, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”  Not rebuking, yet there was the tone of authority and that the person had better listen.
     Jesus then proceeds to tell a short, simple parable of two men who owed a man money.  One owed a debt of five hundred day’s wages the other owed fifty days.  Neither had the money to pay–in this sense that both men are impoverished makes them equal.  Ponder that, put it in a spiritual context.  “If none of us can pay the debt of sin, it does little good to determine that someone else is a great sinner.  Spiritual bankruptcy, like financial bankruptcy, is a great equalizer” (Inrig).
     The moneylender did not extend the debt, nor excuse it; he forgave and ended the debt.  The debt was completely canceled.  Notice the wording, “he graciously forgave them both.”  We see here then an act of grace.  A debt is a debt whether great or small; a sin is a sin whether great or small.
     The Lord then ends the parable with a question (He’s good at that), “Which of them will love him more?”  Gary Inrig states that there are two implications of this question.  First, “there is a link between love and forgiveness.  Forgiveness precedes love.” And second, “Love is a response to pure grace, aroused by gratitude.”  Gratitude is an expression of love.  Which as a side-note is a good reason for us to be thankful to the Lord in all things.  Both love and gratitude are shown to the forgiver.
     Does Simon stutter in his response?  “I suppose,” he mutters.  Is this an uneasy reluctance on the part of Simon to answer Jesus?  Was Jesus uncovering something that was hidden in Simon’s heart?  Something to ponder until our next lesson on this parable.

                    –Ralph Peters  (Valley of the Shadow)

       “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?'”

                    –Obadiah 3 (NKJV)
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                    “Ill fares the land, to hast’ning ills a prey,
                    Where wealth accumulates, and men decay…”
                           –Oliver Goldsmith

     We cannot understand the message of a prophet without understanding the cultural and societal times.  Warren Wiersbe made the observation that Amos would probably feel right at home in our world today.  Society was changing rapidly; overall they were at peace and both Israel and Judah were prosperous.  Ah, but that was the surface, for underlying the glitter was a stench of decay.
     “Amos prophesizes during a period of national optimism in Israel.  Business is booming and boundaries are bulging.  But below the surface, greed and injustice are festering.  Hypocritical religious motions have replaced true worship, creating a false sense of security and a growing callousness to God’s disciplining hand.  Famine, drought, plagues, death, destruction–nothing can force the people to their knees.” (Vine’s Expository Reference Bible)
     Here we see Israel, a nation of expanding markets which produced a growing wealthy class.  This class was living a life of luxury and self-indulgence. Ease and extravagance
contrasted with the misery and suffering of the population, many who could not afford the bare necessities of life.  It was a time when the merchant class made the money and took possession of the land; the rich gained their wealth by injustice and oppression.  The poor workers in the fields suffered at the hands of the cruel landowners and heartless creditors.  The nation was filled with dishonest judges; the government was corrupt.
     Not only was there a pseudo-prosperity, there was a quasi-spiritual condition.  Jeroboam II followed the idolatrous religion that was conceived by his namesake Jeroboam I.  Bethel and Dan were instituted as dual cities of worship.  We see syncretism as its height with the diluted worship of Yahweh.  There was a huge ornamental altar constructed upon which a golden calf stood to be worshiped.  Not only was there a type of dual worship, but there was also the worship of Yahweh using the vile methods of Baal.
     The people were outwardly religious.  Lloyd Ogilvie states, “Religious devotion was hardly lacking in this age.  The question was the quality of that devotion…  The covenant obligations were blurred or understood as completely fulfilled by the rituals.”  Rituals aimed to ensure the foundations for life.  The people offered songs, offerings, elaborate ceremonies, and regular religious observances were all visible in abundance.  This worship with all its ritual was full of insincerity and superstition.  It didn’t matter which God you worshiped, in fact it was better if a person worshiped both Baal and Yahweh, that way they were assured of blessing and security.
     Upon this scene comes the man, the prophet–Amos.  Who, as Gary Cohen puts it, “was about to stop the party.”