Amos And Social Justice Part 2

Written by Rev. Saundra L. Washington


Amos was summoned by God to warnrepparttar Northern Kingdom of Israel of its impending doom due torepparttar 126452 collapse of justice andrepparttar 126453 moral and spiritual decline ofrepparttar 126454 nation. It should be understood that Amos did not travel to Israel inrepparttar 126455 footprints of Elijah and Elisha; working miracles and wonders. He went by divine commission with a prophet message. He had no soothing or cushiony words to comfortrepparttar 126456 poor and those in adversity. Indeed, he had only threatening words of vengeance and punishment for those who defied God’s will. Justice, not mercy, was what Amos insisted upon.

In Amos’ mind, social justice was a vital part ofrepparttar 126457 covenant responsibility. He declared it so ferociously that and defined it so sharply thatrepparttar 126458 community of Israel must have thought he was crazy. Of course, people tend to think you are “crazy” when you speak candidly and truthfully. We are not too far removed fromrepparttar 126459 response ofrepparttar 126460 children of Israel. We live in a time when you are expected to sugar coat, sweeten, soften it down a bit. But, I digress.

Amos was a realist who dealt with things as they were. Justice was what his God demanded, and it wasrepparttar 126461 smug substitution of form and ritual for justice that rousedrepparttar 126462 righteous indignation of Amos who spoke for God and God alone. Andrepparttar 126463 Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.

Let’s be clear; justice to Amos is not just conformity to a civil code, though it is involved to some degree. But for him, it was havingrepparttar 126464 right dealings with and relationship toward others inrepparttar 126465 covenant tradition. It hurt Amos deeply to see that justice and righteousness were perverted so thatrepparttar 126466 covenant with God was dishonored. Much ofrepparttar 126467 practices of Israel were in direct violation torepparttar 126468 covenant laws. So much so that it seemed that Israel was in a conspiracy against its own poor.

Amos insisted that true religion begins and ends in recognition ofrepparttar 126469 holiness of God: a holiness which must find its expression inrepparttar 126470 personal and corporate life of Israel. He perceived with astonishing clearness thatrepparttar 126471 physical and intellectual strength of a nation can destroyed by immorality and overindulgence.

HOW TO CATCH MANY FISH

Written by Irvin L. Rozier


Mark 1.17 "And Jesus said unto them, come ye after me and I will make you fishers of men."

One night as I was sleeping, I had an intensely clear dream. I had been meditating onrepparttar above scripture before I went to sleep. In my dream, I was driving down a straight and narrow dirt road. I passed by a stagnant pond and there with cane fishing poles were a couple of preachers I knew. The water they were fishing in was scum covered and dirty looking, andrepparttar 126450 hole they were fishing in was small.

I shouted to them fromrepparttar 126451 road, "Come on! Go with me, I'm going to a really big lake to fish!" They replied, "NO! We are content fishing here; we catch one once in awhile."

As I drove down that narrow road, I observed small stagnant ponds all alongrepparttar 126452 way. People were standing onrepparttar 126453 banks trying to catch fish. At each pond site, I would stop and askrepparttar 126454 fishermen to come with me. The answer was alwaysrepparttar 126455 same, "NO, we're content here. It's easy fishing,repparttar 126456 banks ofrepparttar 126457 pond are clean and even thoughrepparttar 126458 water is stagnant, we still catch one once in awhile."

I drove on downrepparttar 126459 road until it ended. In front of me was an old farm house surrounded by a weather beaten picket fence. An elderly man and woman were sitting onrepparttar 126460 front porch in their rocking chairs. When they saw me drive up, they got up and walked downrepparttar 126461 short pathway torepparttar 126462 picket fence gate. The elderly gentleman spoke and said, "Sir, you can't go any further until you wrestle with that big old fish that is down inrepparttar 126463 well." I could clearly seerepparttar 126464 well. It was an old open style well built of bricks about five feet high and six feet in diameter. It had an iron grate coveringrepparttar 126465 top. I went torepparttar 126466 back of my truck, pulled out a heavy fishing line, and a gigantic hook. Onrepparttar 126467 hook I placed a huge piece of meat. As I began to lowerrepparttar 126468 bait inrepparttar 126469 well, I feltrepparttar 126470 Spirit ofrepparttar 126471 LORD come on me. I also feltrepparttar 126472 presence of great evil. Well, I hooked that big old rascal and commencedrepparttar 126473 battle to bring him out ofrepparttar 126474 well. The whole time I was fighting this fish, I was saying, "Help me Jesus, help me Jesus." I finally broughtrepparttar 126475 great fish out ofrepparttar 126476 water and tied off my line.

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