Echoes from the Campfire

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Do your duty; defeat evil where you see it and go with God.”

                    –D.C. Adkisson  (Mal de Ojo)

       “Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”
                    –Psalm 34:14 (NKJV)
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               “For it is an evil time.”

Hear the word of the Lord, in this case the Prophet Amos.  He speaks at the gate–the location of the city court, where justice was to be upheld.  H.A. Ironside gives a good indication at what took place.
               “It is a most common thing to find those walking carelessly, or sinfully, filled with indignation against any who faithfully rebuke their unholy ways.  Easy-going,   man-pleasing preachers and teachers are delighted in, but faithful, God-fearing men are abhorred and despised.  But he who would stand for God must expect the  opposition and evil-speaking of the unspiritual and worldly-minded.  Knowing that he would be hated for rebuking in the gate, Amos nevertheless proclaims his  solemn message without excuse or hesitation.”
You’ve experienced it, you know it to be true.  The faithful person condemns those who practice unrighteousness by their very lifestyle.

          5.10 — They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.
          5.11 — Therefore, because you tread down the poor and take grain taxes from him, though you have built houses of hewn stone, yet you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine from them.
          5.12 — For I know your manifest transgressions and your mighty sins:  afflicting the just and taking bribes; diverting the poor from justice at the gate.
          5.13 — Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, for it is an evil time.   (NKJV)

     People hate the truth but will practice their evil ways in abandon.  Amos prophesies that they will not live long enough to enjoy their evil and selfish gain.  Warren Wiersbe says that they are, “Fattening their hearts for the day of slaughter.”  We see James giving out the same warning (James 5:1-6) and we are reminded of the word of God to Moses, “…you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes.” (Deuteronomy 28:30, NKJV)  God is reminding and warning the people through the prophet.  “Wait a minute, just look at how blessed we are.  God must be pleased with us,” so think the people, but oh no–proof of God being with us is not extravagance and blessing, but doing His will.  “Religion without righteousness and justice in the land is hypocrisy.” (Wiersbe)  
     This is a dangerous time.  The prophet is warning the people of coming judgment.  Perhaps we should heed his words as well.  Is there injustice in the courts, are the people being exploited, are they being man-handled and put down?  Hmm, when the hour comes it would do us good to think on the words of Albert Garner, “the spiritually wise person will keep silent, have discipline and self-control, when that hour of just judgment falls upon the nation.”  Now is the time to act, the time to speak out, not when the hand of God strikes.

          5.14 — Seek good and not evil, that you may live; so the LORD God of hosts will be with you, as you have spoken.
          5.15 — Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate.  It may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.  (NKJV)
 
     There may be hope.  But are the people too far gone?  Will they even consider the words of Amos?  The people of God seem to not want to have anything to do with God and seek to escape Him.  Remember, this is a funeral oration that Amos is giving.  Note that there is little encouragement.  There is nothing good to be said, but he speaks only of the negative and the unrighteous actions and attitudes of the people.  Their lifestyle will bring about the nation’s death. (Ogilvie)  However, there is some hope and remnant is spoken of.
     The people are told of the danger.  Paul writes in Romans, “Let love be without hypocrisy.  Abhor what is evil.  Cling to what is good.” (12:9, NKJV)  We read in Psalm 97:10, “You who love the LORD, hate evil!” (NKJV)  Verse 15, tells us the solution and the possible hope:  1) hate evil; 2) love good; 3) establish justice in the gate.  Guard against those who pronounce evil as good and good as evil for this is a sure way to bring judgment.  “We must love good principles, and adhere to them, love to do good, and abound in it; love good people, and good converse, and good duties; and, whatever good we do, we must do it from a principle of love; do it of choice and with delight.” (Matthew Henry)

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

God’s plan. Man sees only what lies behind him. God sees what lies ahead.”
                    –Elmer Kelton  (After the Bugles)


       “…Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.  I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.  Amen.  And I have the keys of Hades and Death.”
                    –Revelation 1:17-18(NKJV)
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     This Psalm is a messianic psalm which we see in the second portion of Psalm 132.  The throne of David, the power of David–Jesus is the one who will sit on that throne and all power is His.

          10 — For Your servant David’s sake, do not turn away the face of Your anointed.
          11 — The LORD has sworn in truth to David; He will not turn from it:  “I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body.
          12 — If your sons will keep My covenant and My testimony which I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.”
          13 — For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place:
          14 — “This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
          15 — I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.
          16 — I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
          17 — There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.
          18 — His enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon Himself His crown shall flourish.”  (NKJV)

David, that sinner, that murderer, that adulterer…but look, “for Your servant David’s sake.”  George Knight says, “The psalm is saying…that the hope of Israel rested, not on any particular pious acts of the sinner, King David, but on the…promise of God.”  It is important, that despite the acts of David that he had a heart that yearned for God.  God looks beyond David though to a greater King that is coming.  God remembers His promise to David which will be fulfilled by Jesus Christ.  Do you not see then, why Christmas is so important?  We are also remembering the promise of God to David.  The throne will be forevermore secure.
     As we look ahead, with the words of this psalm, we are reminded that God will not only place His Son on the throne, but that He will provide for His people.  Not the Jews only, but all who are a part of the kingdom of God, all who will truly celebrate the birth of the eternal King this December.  His people will be blessed, they will be fed, they will be clothed, they will be nourished as Jesus sits on the throne.  Great joy should be ours for this promise, “Joy to the World, the Lord has come; Let earth receive her King…” (Isaac Watts)
     Yes, celebrate the birth of the King of Glory as He came to earth, but also remember the promises of God concerning the King.  He came once to redeem mankind; He is coming again to take His chosen ones home to glory; home to the place He has prepared for them.  “He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove…” (Watts)  In this season and throughout life, be faithful and obedient until He comes.
 
          “Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne;
          Hark!  how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own;
          Awake, my soul, and sing of him who died for thee,
          And hail him as thy matchless King through all eternity.”
                   –Matthew Bridges

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Whenever feelings and truth come into conflict, truth must win. Otherwise, folks won’t even know what’s real anymore, and the whole world will fall apart.”
                    –John Deacon  (Kip)

       “He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.”
                    –Ecclesiastes 8:5 (NKJV)
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          .20 — Wisdom call aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares. — NKJV
                   Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square. — NASB
                   Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice. — ESV
          .21 — She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words. –NKJV
                   At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings.  –NASB
          .22 — “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?  For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.  –NKJV
                   “How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?  And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing and fools hate knowledge?  –NASB
                   “How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?  How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?  –NIV
          .23 — Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.  –NKJV
                   Turn to my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.  –NASB
                   If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.  –ESV
                   If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you.  –NIV

Wisdom, as Bob Beasley puts it is “the very voice of the God of creation.”  It is up to each individual to heed this call, to listen to His voice, but sadly many choose not to hear.    Paul tells us in Romans 1:20, that because they do not listen to the voice of God, this voice of wisdom, “they are without excuse.”  “The words of God make people wise unto salvation, but even the knowledge of this higher level of revelation is despised by fools.” (Beasley)
     “Simplicity is stupidity” (J. Vernon McGee)  In other words the question is, “How long will you be stupid?”  You can’t live in a fool’s paradise for the day is coming when there will be a reckoning.  Warren Wiersbe says, “Fools enjoy their foolishness but don’t know how foolish they are!”  Listen!  Wisdom is calling; it is shouting.  There is the opportunity to turn and God’s words will become known and real.  The warning is clear:  Listen to wisdom!  Get rid of your stupid, simple ways.  Someone has rightly said, “You can fix ignorance, but stupidity is fatal.”  At the end of chapter 1 we read, “For the turning [lit. waywardness] away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.” (NKJV)  As J. Verson McGee says, “It is spiritual suicide to turn from Christ.”
     The voice of wisdom cries when the child races into the street without looking.  “Danger!  Stop!” shouts the words of a frightened parent for they know the child is not trained, but is foolish.  The child doesn’t listen, the consequences…  As a parent will cry out in warning, so did/do the prophets.  “Say to them:  ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.  Turn, turn from your evil ways!  For why should you die, O house of Israel?'” (Ezekiel 33:11, NKJV)
     Wisdom cries out to the simple, those unwary and easily misled.  This person has no foundation, no experience, no training.  Wisdom cries out to the scorner; the one who is indifferent to the parent’s love and mocks them openly.  The scorner is active against good.  William Arnot writes, “Scorners love scorning.  The habit grows by indulgence.”  The voice of wisdom cries out to the fool.  This is the one who would rather stay in their sinful state.  They love moral darkness rather than light.  These people should heed the following:  “Life is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid.” (John Wayne)
     It is wisdom we listen to as we walk through the streets.  It is what guides us in this journey of life.  Sin is trying to get in, but we see wisdom trying to reach out–and if need be, shouting at us.  Listen to the voice of wisdom, not that of impertinence, arrogance, hatred, and lies.  There is no excuse for not hearing the voice of wisdom.  Note the story of the ten virgins, five were foolish and were not prepared and were not invited into the marriage supper.  Don’t be unprepared, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NKJV).

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Morals are your compass for the direction of your life—if you know something is not good or right, you avoid it. But that which is good, you always seek to do what’s right.”
                     –B. N. Rundell  (The Road to Retaliation)

       “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
                      –Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV)
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          (NKJV)
          5.4 — For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel:  “Seek Me and live;
          5.5 — But do not seek Bethel, nor enter Gilgal, nor pass over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
          5.6 — Seek the LORD and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, with no one to quench it in Bethel–
          5.7 — You who turn justice to wormwood, and lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”  
          (NASB)
          5.4 — For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, “Seek Me that you may live.
          5.5 — But do not resort to Bethel and do not come to Gilgal, nor cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal will certainly go into captivity and Bethel will come to trouble.
          5.6 — Seek the LORD that you may live, or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph, and it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,
          5.7 — For those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness down to the earth.”

Whooee, I wonder what Amos would be saying if he were alive and standing in the austere room of the Supreme Court or in front of a joint session of Congress.  Listen, this season is a good time of year to stop, get still, and ponder your fate and whom you serve.  Take inventory of your life and see if you are not serving the Baals of greed, materialism, globalism, wokeism, and so many other -isms.  It cannot be to dead idols no matter what name they go by.
            “Seek Me and live.”
       The prophet points the nation to the supreme truth that her following the one true God and seeking after His presence, laws, and true worship was the one way she still could preserve her national spiritual life.  Look, if you dare, at the spiritual life of America starting at the top down.  What kind of spiritual life does a nation have when they have drag queens reading to elementary students; when satanic figures parade down the streets masquerading as the spirit of Christmas?  We’ve come a long ways from “A Miracle on 34th Street.”  What kind of spiritual life does the nation have when the gay crowd is promoted as a legitimate way of life?  Perhaps the reading of Romans 1-2 is in order.  H.A. Ironside said, “Scripture must ever be the guide–not human rules and assumption of authority.”  It is not wokeism, cross culture, progressive socialism, or globalism; it is God’s Word that is the ultimate guide and truth.  God tells the people not to go to these false places of worship for He is not there.
           “Seek Me and live.”
     Righteousness has been forgotten, or at least the Biblical form of righteousness.  The words of Gary G. Cohen tell us, “The nations crime was so great in God’s sight that He portrays it as one who perverts justice into wormwood; a bitter tasting and poisonous root.  Those who lit sacrificial fires in the calves at Bethel would soon discover they had ignited a fire of punishment that would burn them with judgment.  Ultimately, such a fire will never go out.”  These altars, these gods were idols portraying falsity and futility.  We must remember that “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).  “Righteousness and justice should be the pillars that hold up society” (Warren Wiersbe) not something that causes bitterness and infection and death.
     Israel “had become corrupt, morally and ethically, and roots of bitterness had grown up in them against righteousness, they had cast righteousness under their feet…  They dethroned righteousness from their lives though it was the vicegerent and representative of God on earth.” (Albert Garner)  It would do us well to recall the words of Isaiah, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil…” (5:20)
          (NKJV)
          5.8 — He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning and makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth; the LORD is His name.
          5.9 — He rains ruin upon the strong, so that fury comes upon the fortress.
          (NASB)            
          5.8 — He who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness into morning, who also darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is His name.
          5.9 — It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

     By offering sacrifice to the false gods of the day they are in reality mocking the holy God–the Creator of heaven and earth.  Offering children upon the altars of Baal; do they not think that God does not hear the cry of the innocents?  Using the name of God in their syncretistic worship was a slap in His face.  God reminds us Who He is!   It is God, not some other deity that created and keeps the laws of nature in operation.  All ways do not lead to God; the only is way is His Son, Jesus Christ; therefore, do not be delusioned like the people of Israel were.  He is the I AM; He can vanquish the strong person and army, as well as a mighty man-made fortress.  “He it is who flings ruin in the face of the strong, and rains destruction upon the fortress.” (vs 9, J.B. Phillips) [Mock Me], I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—” (Proverbs 1:26, NIV).
               Seek Me and live!