–Elmer Kelton  (Badger Boy)

       “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’–and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”

                    –Revelation 3:17(NKJV)
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“How many times have I told you?”  Have you ever had that said to you, or perhaps it came from your lips in warning to your children?  That sums up chapter 4 of Amos.  God over and over has chastised and warned Israel for the purpose of causing the people to return to Him in repentance and renewed obedience.  “Yet you have not returned to Me.”
          1 — 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 wine, let us drink!”
          2 — The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness:  “Behold, the days shall come upon you when He will take you away with fishhooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
          3 — You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast into Harmon,” says the LORD.  (NKJV)
     Imagine this scenario.  Amos has been invited to be a guest on a news talk show, say, “The View.”  He walks in very manlike, sits down, and scrutinizes the hosts.  Then the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him.  He points his calloused hand at them, then extends his finger pointing and begins, “You splendid, lazy cows…” (literal)  My, oh my, think of the commotion.  Remember, Amos was a herdsman, he knew cattle.  Lloyd Ogilvie says this, “The wave of indignation that must have been like thunder and lightning rumbling and flashing through the self-satisfied ambience of Amos’ audience.”  To call a group of sophisticated, high manner women fat cows certainly would get their attention and their wrath.
     These women oppress the poor and needy not only in reality but with their haughtiness as well.  These women pressure their husbands for more and more, arrogantly commanding them to “Bring wine, let us drink.”   They seem to be a law unto themselves, haughty, disgraceful, not fulfilling their proper role as a woman of Israel, much less a proper wife, yet in God’s eyes, they are a disgrace.  If Amos was preaching today he wouldn’t be a popular man.
     They are ignorant, boastful, not understanding what happens to fattened cattle.  Amos knows, fattened cattle are taken to the slaughterhouse.  “Their sins were fattening themselves up for the coming slaughter.” (Warren Wiersbe)  Amos prophesies that they would be led away by fishhooks.  A common practice of the Assyrians was to attach a fishhook either to the eyelid or the lip, then attach that line to a rope.  It would only take a little tug to lead the people out of the city at the nearest opening in the walls and be taken throughout the world as captives.  Not only the women, but their children would be taken as well.  Some scholars say that these were not actually fishhooks but hooks used to drag out dead bodies.  Either way it would be debasing and devastating to these high-tone women.  As Albert Garner states, “Sins overtake the swiftest person and nation.”
     Then Amos turns to the religious apostasy.  Those that worshiped with zeal, but forgot who they were to be worshipping.
          4 — “Come to Bethel and transgress, at Gilgal multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.
          5 — Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; for this you love, you children of Israel!” says the Lord God.  (NKJV)
The true knowledge of God had escaped them.  Amos is saying what good are your ceremonies that are not accompanied by repentance and a search after God’s will?  Faith (faithfulness) had been replaced by hype and false worship.  “The atmosphere is a combination of the excitement of a convention, the hoopla of a carnival, and the raucous jostling of an overcrowded picnic.” (Ogilvie)  Gone, lost, forgotten is the fear of the Lord.  They have forgotten His commandments and moral requirements.  They offered unclean sacrifices.  Wiersbe points out that, “if the heart isn’t right with God, the sacrifices mean nothing.”  
     They bragged about their offering, in fact, offering more than the law required.  They loved the ceremonies but forgot the fear of the Lord.  Ogilvie states, “We humans have an immense ability to tolerate contradictions between our faith and our actions.”  Faith was gone, left only was the zeal.  They worshiped Baal with zeal and fervor, forgetting the God that had saved them.  They loved the act of worship rather than having their heart changed.  Wiersbe says, “they had everything that money could buy, but they didn’t have the things money can’t buy, the things of the Lord that make life worthwhile.  They made their sacrifices, they fulfilled their rituals and they said, “I feel good.”  Better it be said when they finished, “Do I know God better?”

The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten.”

                    –Calvin Coolidge

 

       “Let the LORD judge the peoples.  Vindicate me, LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.”

                    –Psalm 7:8 (NIV)

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I am going to deviate somewhat from the Psalm this one Monday seeing that it is Veterans’ Day.  First, my annual remembrance of this day, a day that all too often is taken for granted.  I will say that it is indeed, a holy-day.

 

          In Flanders fields the poppies blow

          Between the crosses, row on row,

               That mark our place; and in the sky

               The larks, still bravely singing, fly

          Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

          We are the Dead.  Short days ago

          We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

               Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

                   In Flanders fields.

 

          Take up our quarrel with the foe:

          To you from failing hands we throw

               The torch; be yours to hold it high.

               If ye break faith with us who die

          We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

                   In Flanders fields.

                            –John McCrae

 

Friends, I read where some are afraid that President Trump is going to change the heads of the military–the chiefs of staff.  Well, something must be done!  Wokeism has overtaken many in the military.  They have broken faith with those who have died and gone before.  They have made a mockery of the American fighting man.  I remember the words of General George S. Brown, from when I served:  “[we need] to turn America back from a course of permissiveness and moral decay to a pursuit of excellence, a pursuit of high standards of integrity.  We need this badly.” 

     What has happened to the high standards?  Oh, “they” say it is progress.  We are going forward, they say, but when that day of need comes, we will find that we have neither the fortitude nor the strength, and possibly courage might be a failure as well to withstand the onslaught of an enemy.   Duty–Honor–Country is no longer the ideal.   Forgotten are the words of General Douglas MacArthur, “Duty, Honor, Country are the rallying points that can help build courage, regain faith, and create hope.”

     Have we broken faith with the dead, those who have given time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears in the service of this country?  Has the torch been dropped?  If so, help us, Lord.  Help us to regain our obligation to You, and to those who live in this great land.  Let us raise the bar, the high standards of excellence of which we were so proud.  Let us more vigorously pursue that watered-down virtue of integrity.  For without integrity, we are nothing.

     This day, I would say to you–do your part.  Thank a Vet!

       “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.”
                    –Psalm 48:1 (KJV)
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I used to not understand.  I’m speaking of people melting down after an election.  But now, I have only pity for them.  They are weak of character, placing hope in people and in an agenda that is foolishness and mockery towards God.  If there is a meltdown now, what will it be like at the Judgment?  Now, the election of Trump doesn’t mean that things will be hunky-dunky.  We’ll see if he tears down the “high places.”  The issues that are in the news are not the root cause, and that’s why the media is so involved.  I saw where late night talk show hosts cried, and were in shock.  See, the problem is sin–plain and simple.  “O that you had paid attention to my commandments!” (Isaiah 48:18, NRSV).  That’s the bottom line–pay attention to what God says.  
     But this morning I want to remind you, as we enter into the holidays (holy days) to be thankful.  We get so caught in what’s going on, the busyness of life.  The election was on the mind of so many, and it should have been, but many were looking at it with the wrong perspective.  They had man’s agenda in mind, not the will of the Lord.  Be thankful, be thankful in all things and for all things.
     Sunday a song was playing and my mind went to the idea that God cares for us in some many ways that are unseen.  This year has been one of extremes–flooding then very dry.  We needed rain, and it was supplied.  Now, before you go on and say it was just the water cycle.  It was just the way of climate, let me remind you that it was God who put the laws of physics and nature in place.  Instead of complaining, griping, and murmuring:
               “Take time to ponder
               Just who sends the rains.”
                     –R.W. Hampton
The words of the Lord to Job come to mind–where were you?  How dare we tell God anything.  How dare we tell Him how to run His universe.  Instead of whining, have hope and trust in the Creator.
               “So listen my friend if you’ve cause to doubt
               Open your eyes and He’s all about
               In a wondrous creation abounding with love
               By the Father and Son it’s ruled from above.”
     Your heart beats, who set it in motion?  The blood circulates according to whose plan and design?  Who gave you the talents and abilities you have?  Realize my friend that the “Master’s In Everything.”  No, this is not Cosmic Humanism, New Age.  The seasons are not God, but they are designed and set in motion by God.  Take a walk in creation, you cannot but see that He’s there.  Why do people try to deny Him?  Why do they think they are autonomous?  “God is greater than man” (Job 33:12, NIV)  comes the words of Elihu.  Later God asks Job, “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place?   Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?  Tell me, if you know all this.” (Job 38:12, 18, NIV).  Go ahead, finish reading chapter 38-39.
     Be thankful.  Take a look around you and look at all that you can be thankful for.  I dare you!
               “From the four winds that blow to the whippoorwill call
               From the green leaves of spring to the gold in the fall,
               From sunrise to sunset and all in between
               The Master’s in everything that you see.”