Summary of Bible references on the Rapture

(Post 181 gives you the table of contents for the first four pages, posts 1-80)

Post 81 -- 1Samuel 19 -- Behold the three ring circus


Post 82 -- Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.


Post 83 -- Galatians 4:1-5 -- Neither slave nor free, male or female -- an audacious goal.


Post 84 -- Galatians 4:6-14 Can you see the messengers of Jesus Christ?


Post 85 -- Galatians 4:15-20 Why people prefer to be under the law


Post 86 -- Galatians 4:21-27 What makes Tom Brady so successful, what does he know that the rest of us don't?


Post 87 -- Galatians 4:28-31 What does it mean to be a child of God?


Post 88 -- 1Samuel 20 -- This is how the pros do it.


Post 89 -- Proverbs 1 -- The beginning of Wisdom


Post 90 -- A further word on no bond or free


Post 91 -- Galatians 5:1-6 Why the mixed messages?


Post 92 -- Galatians 5:7-11 Did Hitler hinder people from obeying the truth?


Post 93 -- Galatians 5:12-21 Making yourself an enemy of God


Post 94 -- Galatians 5:22-26 Warfare is about balance


Post 95 -- 1Samuel 21 -- The leader of the deplorables


Post 96 -- Proverbs 2 -- The path of the meek


Post 97 -- Proverbs 3 -- Is it really “white privilege”?


Post 98 -- Proverbs 3 cont. -- Fine silver versus rejected silver


Post 99 -- Galatians 6 -- Restore those caught in sin


Post 100 -- Galatians 6:1b-2 Do not be tempted to riot

1Samuel 31 -- Now you are in trouble

1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.

4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.”

But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6 So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.

It is really important to decide who to follow, who to side with, who to align yourself with. Don’t say “Saul is King so I can ignore what I see with my own eyes and know in my own heart”. Following David and becoming a deplorable may be a much tougher choice, but it is also a much wiser choice. All those closest to Saul suffer a big loss for aligning themselves with him.

7 When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.

8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

11 When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their valiant men marched through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. 13 Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

Saul had his failures, but he was an Israelite. He lacked faith, that was his true failing. He lacked the obedience to the word of God, that was plain to see from everyone, but the cause was a lack of faith. How do you build your faith? Well you meditate on God’s promises. God will supply, be anxious in nothing, I am a member of God’s household, He is my Father, I am His child. Then you speak God’s word. Too many think it is sufficient to listen to God’s word. Saul was given three experiences: don’t worry about your donkeys, the Lord supplied him bread from God’s house, and he spoke with the prophets. When Saul prophesied he became exposed, naked. That is true of everyone. When you speak the word of God the light shines and you get exposed. As a result many will shun speaking the word, but you need to embrace the light, come to the light, let that light work in you to expose things you need to confess and repent of. Look at David, all his psalms show that he did this. He was fully exposed but he also grew in grace and in faith. This is how you find the path that leads to salvation. We saw Saul flopping around, going to mediums even though he was well aware of the prohibition in God’s word. In contrast we saw David going to Philistia even though many Bible expositors thought this was backsliding. We saw that this enabled him to carry out God’s secret mission to defeat the Amalekites while also recovering part of our inheritance that we had ceded to the Philistines. When you walk by faith you will have to go outside the camp unto Jesus and embrace His disgrace. But we also learned that all those experiences where we cry to God about how unfair and unrighteous they are were of God and worked out for good. Saul pursued David until David did what God wanted and went where God wanted him to go. The job was simple, deal with the Amalekites and then you will be king.

This chapter reminds me of a story I heard about Joe Montana when he was at Notre Dame. Notre Dame was getting beat bad and it was either the end of the third quarter or the beginning of the fourth quarter and all of a sudden the whole stadium erupted in cheers. So a reporter from out of town asked a local reporter what was going on? He said “they just put in Joe Montana at quarterback and now you are in trouble”. Sure enough Joe, the second string quarterback, led them to a fourth quarter comeback. If you want to be a king know this, no one needs you to take over when we are winning.

Exodus 13 -- God promised with an oath

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

We are coworkers with God. His rescuing us from Egypt was an investment in the kingdom of heavens on earth, the New Jerusalem, the city on the hill. We consecrate, set apart to Him, the firstborn. This is like giving Him the top tenth of all we produce. This is a covenant, this is the price you pay to be the people of God who delivers with an outstretched hand.

3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand.

By doing this it guarantees that our worship of the Lord becomes our primary use of our free time. Not only so but this worship will be feasts and festivals as we all come together in great big “barbecues” to worship the Lord and fellowship with one another.

Eat nothing containing yeast.

This is a very big point that I think few understand. Anyone can mix flour and water together and cook it. That is unleavened bread. But, to make leavened bread requires much more skill. Any church can put on a church play, but to make a blockbuster movie like the Lion King requires a great deal of skill. When you allow Hollywood to tell you the stories you also allow them to hide leaven inside of the movie. The most skilled “storytellers” know how to get you to think what they want you to think while also thinking this was your idea. The Lord said “beware the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees”. By prohibiting the consumption of leaven He is prohibiting the most skilled storytellers from using propaganda to manipulate the people. Instead in our worship we want every person to share their story. They may not be the most skillful storytellers, it may taste like unleavened bread, but it is healthy for both those that hear and those that share.

4 Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. 5 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord.

So this chapter goes with the chapter in Joshua when they first enter the land. Please note, it has always been the goal of those who have a covenant with God to enter into the land that currently belongs to these five tribes. It has always been our goal that the Lord’s kingdom would come and that His will would be done on earth.

7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders.

Right now everything has leaven in it. You can’t post a story on Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube without the censors “fact checking” it. A recent lawsuit from Candace Owens demonstrated that “fact checking” simply means that they don’t like what you said, not that it isn’t true and accurate. CNN, MSNBC, Fox news, they are all filled with leaven designed to manipulate people into thinking the way they want. This is not something that has happened suddenly: “beware the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees”, this is not just something that happened since the Lord Jesus, this has been a command from the time we left Egypt. The world is all about mind control and sneaking leaven into everything you “consume”.

8 On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. 10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.

This ordinance is the secret for why God brings us out with a mighty hand. If you are eating the leaven you will be deceived, befuddled, blind, with wax in your ears.

11 “After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey,but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem Every firstborn among your sons.

This is a big promise that He made to us and our ancestors with an oath. When you pray, stand on this promise.

14 “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

They do not understand that the firstborn belong to the Lord, so when they are stubborn and refuse to hand it over God will come in and take it. Right now we are witnessing this stubbornness among the rulers of this land. We are coming before them in righteousness and based on the covenant we have with them and the oath they made to honor that and they are stubbornly refusing. This opens the door for God to come in and judge. They are playing with fire.

17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.

For the last two thousand years we have been led by a desert road towards the Red Sea and to stay in a wilderness. As a result some Christians erroneously think that it is not God’s will that we face war. On the contrary the Lord knew from the first that we would face war, He just wanted to make sure we were fully invested by the time that came.

19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”

So much can be said about this it is amazing. It is easy to think that Joseph liked Egypt since he was the ruler and presumably the people loved him since he saved the country. The book of Genesis begins with Abel who is killed and yet his blood still talks and it ends with Joseph who is dead and yet his bones can still leave Egypt. But you can especially see that our forefathers were men of faith and they were looking to a better kingdom where righteousness dwells.

20 After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

We begin this chapter by consecrating ourselves to the Lord and we end this chapter by having a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night leading us. The word of God is a pillar, it leads and guides us and is a light to our path.

Acts 5:1-33 -- How to stand during persecution

5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

There has always been a mixed multitude. The church is composed of the called out ones, the assembly of the redeemed, but it is also the assembly of those who pretend to be redeemed. The church is likened to sheep, so naturally there are wolves who sneak in to devour the flock. I suspect that although in this case Peter exposed the deceit and Ananias and Saphira were struck dead, that in many other cases the assemblies of believers have been populated by many deceivers. But, just like Acts 1 said,

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. v.11

The end of this age is not simply a time to reap as thousands turn to the Lord, but it will also be a time to deal with the corruption in the church. The Lord has allowed the wheat and the tares to grow together, but at the end of the age the tares will be gathered up and cast into the fire.

12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

The signs, the wonders and the healings will be a protection to the church from the deceitful workers, from the false prophets. When Satan is cast to the Earth he will be enraged against the church because he knows he only has a little time left. At this time the church will need divine protection and covering like never before. My understanding is that the man child is caught up to the throne, the first rapture, the army that kicks Satan out of heaven. But then the weaker members are left behind and will suffer the great tribulation. They will need the two witnesses, just like the early church had the apostles.

17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

What a great picture. They are jealous because this little group is “highly regarded by the people”. They are jealous because people are taking their sick to them to be healed. What we are seeing is the collapse of the major institutions of society: government and religion. While that ship is sinking, the church is rising. People are questioning “is it right to listen to these rulers” who are so clearly not one with God. They are filled with jealousy because the word of God is with the church and not with the Jewish leaders. The same will be true when the Lord returns.

18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

This is the game plan for this coming tribulation. Be bold, speak the word, share what the Lord has shown you. Do not fear them, it will be a strong testimony to them of their impending judgement.

21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to. 25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.

This is a strong testimony that these rulers have become powerless. God is mocking them. They despised His Son, now God despises them.

27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

The recurring nightmare to all those in authority, you gave strict orders and no one listened, no one cares less what you say. The ultimate authority is God, any authority they have comes from God, they violated their head, as a result God is bringing shame on their heads.

29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” 33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death.

We are witnesses of this. We must obey God rather than man. When the human rulers deviate from God’s rule and you have to choose between the two, you must choose to obey God. You will be faced with the choice, listen to those who killed Jesus and are threatening to kill you if you don’t listen, or listen to the God who raised Jesus from the dead and will raise you as well. Seems like a very easy choice. If you obey God He gives you His Holy Spirit. The reason these rulers are jealous and powerless is because they didn’t obey God and they do not have His Holy Spirit.

Acts 5:34-42 You are right, to your shame

34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

I have two different feelings about this word from Gamaliel. On the one hand it is a powerful confirmation that this is from God. There have been many, many revolts against injustice in human history and a great many of them have come to nothing. Nobody would even remember Theudas name if it weren’t written here. Today we are here, 2,000 years later, and it is very clear that the church has not come to nothing but rather has grown, prospered, and spread throughout the entire earth. On the other hand it is embarrassing that a highly respected teacher of the law is incapable of determining that Jesus is the Messiah. I was trained as a Geologist and we are taught how to identify gold, silver, and precious stones. The Bible is filled with the criteria for identifying the Messiah. To use the “time will tell” as your litmus test is a valid test, but a poor excuse for someone who is supposed to be well trained in the word. It will be just like this when the Lord returns. There will be many who should have recognized His coming yet don’t.

40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

First of all I like the fact that “they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah”. So much for the “orders of the Sanhedrin”. Second, I really like this mindset that they “rejoiced because they had been counted worthy to suffer disgrace for the Name”. If the church is going to have a backbone and stand straight in the coming storm, we need that mindset.

Amos -- The Sins of America

1 The words of Amos,

Joel means that Jehovah, He is God. That is the point of the festival of Trumpets and that is the point of the book of Joel. Amos means “burden” and it is reasonable for anyone to hear what God is about to do and to then wonder what is the burden, what is the cause for this. It is the burden of sin.

one of the shepherds of Tekoa—

As a school teacher I also feel like a shepherd.

the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash[a] was king of Israel.

There is a distinction here between the people of God, some were of Judah and some were of Israel. My understanding of prophecy is similar to the golden ratio. I feel that you can look at a small event and see a big event in that. At the end of the age we know there will be a great earthquake and I am going to look at this prophecy as referring to a period 2 years before that earthquake, “the earthquake”. There are some similarities. Uzziah the king is puffed up with pride, invades the priests office and enters the temple to burn incense. He becomes leprous and it is thought that this event provoked God to bring about this earthquake. Likewise, at the end of the age, in the middle of the last week the son of perdition goes into the temple and sets himself up as god. At this time there is a great earthquake as the sixth seal is opened. So to my understanding Joel presents the beginning of this week mentioned in Daniel, and it begins in typology with the festival of trumpets. This festival takes place about two weeks before the end of the year in the Jewish calendar. After this festival the Israelites were to take stock of the year and consider their sins that they needed to make an account of. This takes place for ten days. That would signify the time it takes for a complete and thorough accounting of our responsibility before God. I believe this is what this two years signifies, the time right up until “the earthquake”, the sixth seal, where we are taking account of our sins prior to the day of atonement. This may seem confusing to those who have not studied end time prophecy, so I’ll briefly explain. I believe the end of the age is 7 years known as the tribulation. The first 3 ½ years are natural events. In the middle of this time we have this supernatural event referred to as “The earthquake” though it includes more than that. The second 3 ½ years is called “the Great Tribulation” and includes supernatural events. The book of Joel describes the start of this 7 year period and likens it to the festival of trumpets. Now we are in Amos and Amos helps us do a thorough accounting before God. We consider our sins, and we consider God’s great works in the past. We also see how God has been warning us but we have not heeded those warnings.

2 He said: “The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.”

This is where we left off in Joel:16 “The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem”. So what is future tense in Joel is now present tense in Amos. Most commentaries focus on the historical and archaeological aspects of this prophecy. I don’t care about that. I want to reflect on our sins that we need to repent of, not what someone 2,000 years ago needed to repent of. This prophecy helps me run down the really big sins that we need be held accountable for.

3 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth,

It is certain that this is referring to a cruel and barbarous way in which you treat your prisoners of war. In recent times I am aware that many countries are especially cruel with this and operate in a way that would be illegal in the US. Which is why US military intelligence often subcontracts out our interrogation to these countries. In the US we like to think of ourselves as more moral and more humane than these countries which use cruel forms of torture. Of course it was a shock to us to see what was happening at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and of course what was happening at Guantanamo Bay where we weren’t even observing Habeas Corpus. We were simply tossing them in jail and throwing away the key without so much as giving them a hearing or even admitting they were there.

4 I will send fire on the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad. 5 I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord.

On the one hand if you have supported Amnesty International you should be happy, on the other hand there should be an uneasy feeling that if the Lord is judging these 3rd world nations for this behavior, what happens when He gets to us?

6 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not relent. Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom, 7 I will send fire on the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses. 8 I will destroy the king of Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, till the last of the Philistines are dead,” says the Sovereign Lord.

This sounds like imperialism. I did see something when I was in Taiwan. At the very same time that the cigarette companies were being exposed for having manipulated cigarettes as a drug to make the smokers addicted, at the exact same time that they were being sued and losing one of the largest cases in US history the US government was negotiating with Taiwan. The island of Taiwan needed F16s and AWACs to defend themselves, but as part of the trade the US government required that Taiwan sell American made cigarettes. At the very same time that they were putting laws in place to limit the sale of cigarettes in the US they were requiring smaller countries dependent on us for national security to buy them and sell them to their citizens. The US took captive of whole communities and sold them to the cigarette companies.

9 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not relent. Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood, 10 I will send fire on the walls of Tyre that will consume her fortresses.”

It isn’t hard to remember the US breaking treaties to sell entire communities. From 1778 to 1871, the United States government entered into more than 500 treaties with the Native American tribes; all of these treaties have since been violated in some way or outright broken by the US government.

11 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not relent. Because he pursued his brother with a sword and slaughtered the women of the land, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked, 12 I will send fire on Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.”

There are genocides around the world. Rwanda, Pol Pot, Stalin and Mao spring to mind. But what about us? Do we need to list these? Sand Creek massacre, 163 men women and children were massacred by the Colorado militia. They were living in peace at the time. Three knolls massacre in California. Marias massacre in Montana, 173 killed primarily women, children and the elderly. Camp Grant massacre, killed 144 with all but 8 being women or children. Wounded Knee massacre killed around 250 men, women and children. This is but a few.

13 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not relent. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders, 14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day. 15 Her king will go into exile, he and his officials together,” says the Lord.

It is estimated that the abortion industry brings in $1 billion a year. (https://www.culturallegacy.org/abortion-profit). In Bloodmoney, a documentary on abortion they show how one doctor made over $2 million a year by performing abortions. We know that abortions have targeted minorities and blacks.

Amos -- The Sins of America, let's be fair

2 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Moab, even for four, I will not relent. Because he burned to ashes the bones of Edom’s king, 2 I will send fire on Moab that will consume the fortresses of Kerioth. Moab will go down in great tumult amid war cries and the blast of the trumpet. 3 I will destroy her ruler and kill all her officials with him,” says the Lord.

Wow, what a relief! Thank you Jesus! Whenever someone starts enumerating the sins of the US I always dread that they will bring up slavery. Is that fair? First of all not all the states had slavery, and then in the ones that did only 25% of the people had slaves, and then when you are talking about plantation owners with 100 or more slaves it was only about 3%. So is it really fair to go back several hundred years and dig up some cursed plantation owner and say the entire US is cursed because of this guy? Even God, right here in Amos condemns doing that! Of course slavery was cursed, but were these men who were made in the image of God cursed because of the US, or were they cursed by God? Oh yeah, Moab, they were amateurs, they only went back one or two generations to justify themselves, we went back much further than that. We went back to before there even was a New World, before Jesus, hey we even went back before Moses, we went all the way back to Noah. We went back to Noah and dug up Ham, and believe it or not, that is why all these people thousands of years later were cursed! Did we stop there? No, no, no we then brought out our witch doctors with their mumbo jumbo science as a racial justification. Burning bones to ash? That is kid’s stuff. We put those ashes into baby food. By the 1950s you could put two dolls before a young child, one black the other white, and ask which is the pretty one, which is the smart one, which is the good one and they would point to the white doll. Which one looks like you? They would point to the black doll. Which one is ugly and stupid? They would point to the black doll. Do you really think this generation will escape the judgement and wrath of God?

4 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, 5 I will send fire on Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.”

The US claims to be a Christian nation that trusts in God. His commandment was to love our neighbor as ourselves. Torture, violating treaties, hunting down and killing women and children, selling communities to the highest bidder, and cursing man made in the image of God are all examples of rejecting that law. Money and power are false gods that have led this nation astray.

Judgment on Israel 6 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.

Where was your phone made? How about your slippers? You want to blame covid on China, a poor country eating bats and living in crowded conditions, yet you don’t blame the sweatshops that you buy from for creating these conditions.

7 They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.

Build the wall. Not so that we can keep illegal immigrants out because if we did that who would do all the menial tasks we don’t want to do. No, we build the wall so that we can deny justice to the oppressed. You don’t like the oppression, fine, we’ll send you back to the other side of the wall.

Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.

Is this true? Some things I am glad I don’t know about. I recently heard that the value of the child trafficking industry in the US is greater than all professional sports taken together!

8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge.

The law in the OT said you had to give the pledge of a garment to the poor at night so they could sleep and not be cold. The Lord is saying that they put the poor out into the cold and take their pledge, their downpayment. This is precisely what happened during the Mortgage crisis. People paid for their house for a couple of years, then a balloon mortgage kicked in, they couldn’t pay, the bank took back their house, keeping the money they had paid for about 5 years as well as their downpayment.

In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.

I worked for a bank and learned that the overdraft fees and other “fines” were their bread and butter. I once saw a person who had written ten small checks for a total of about $100. If the checks had been paid out in the order they were received one would have bounced, but by paying the big one first, and then bouncing the next biggest one, they were able to cause the other nine checks to bounce because of the fees. This person had to pay $75 in bounced check fees because of the clever way in which they paid out the checks. Sadly the money to cover these checks had been deposited, it just hadn’t cleared yet. Cheers!

9 “Yet I destroyed the Amorites before them, though they were tall as the cedars and strong as the oaks. I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.

There were two main battles, in the wilderness the children of Israel asked for permission to pass through the land of the Amorites and they refused, instead coming out with their full army to attack them. Israel defeated them which was a great sign to all the nations round about. Later, in the good land 5 kings of the Amorites came out to attack Joshua and that was the day the sun stood still so he could finish the battle. You saw what God did to these people who you have dispossessed and now you have taken their place. Why would you imitate them? We defeated Britain, the superpower of the day, a leader in banking and finance, and then we imitated them!

10 I brought you up out of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to give you the land of the Amorites. 11 “I also raised up prophets from among your children and Nazirites from among your youths. Is this not true, people of Israel?” declares the Lord. 12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

There have been many great spiritual leaders in the US. There is no denying that. It is also true that we have laws that forbid the word of God in schools. But how did they “make the Nazarites” drink wine? That is a violation of their vow. I suspect this is much like the Lord’s word: But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. (Matt 23:13)

13 “Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.

Many times the poor feel like the system is designed to run them over like a truck. So, as you have done it will be done to you.

14 The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not save his life. 15 The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away, and the horseman will not save his life. 16 Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day,” declares the Lord.

You have designed a system so that the poor are trapped, so loaded up with pressures they can’t escape. A system so confusing the poor don’t know how to even use their strength to save their life. I recently wanted to pay off the car for my wife, feeling that eliminating this debt would make our financial situation more secure. She was against it, she wanted to keep the money in reserve in the event of an emergency. I did the math, I showed her that paying it off now would save her $700. She was stunned, she had no idea how the system was designed. The archer has a nice distance between him and the battle, when you lose your house they give you a month, two months, even three months warning. But in the end you lose your shirt and wind up fleeing naked. As they have done it will be done to you.

Amos 3 -- We are supposed to be the salt and the light

3 Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: 2 “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.” 3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? 4 Does a lion roar in the thicket when it has no prey? Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing? 5 Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything? 6 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? 7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

We have a duty and a responsibility. We know God’s words, we know His laws. We are supposed to be the light of the world and the salt that kills the germs. If God and His people are going to walk together they must be in agreement. If you are a servant of the Lord you should hear when the Lion seizes the prey. You should be aware when the trap has sprung. You need to sound the trumpet! The fool in his heart says there is no God, but we need to let them know that when disaster comes to a city the Lord has caused it. This plan has been revealed to His servants, so the servants have a responsibility and a duty to sound the alarm.

8 The lion has roared— who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken— who can but prophesy? 9 Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod and to the fortresses of Egypt: “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest within her and the oppression among her people.” 10 “They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord, “who store up in their fortresses what they have plundered and looted.” 11 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “An enemy will overrun your land, pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses.” 12 This is what the Lord says: “As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued, with only the head of a bed and a piece of fabric from a couch.”

The Lord has spoken that He will judge them for what they have done to the poor. They have plundered and looted the poor like an invading army, therefore an invading army will plunder and loot your strongholds. Joel describes this invading army as a “bug” and uses five or six different analogies. But consider what this virus will do to the banks and investment banks that sell mortgage backed securities. Shopping malls and theaters are done. Concerts and sports arenas are done. They will be bankrupt. Even if they are allowed to reopen they won’t be allowed to operate profitably. Also, all the small businesses in the malls will also go bankrupt, if they survive it will be through an online presence. And therefore the anchor businesses like Sears and Macy’s will also go under. Now the saying in the real estate business is this: if you owe $1 million to the bank you have a problem, if you owe $1billion to the bank they have a problem. The banks have a huge problem. The trap has been sprung, the lion has the prey in his mouth and is roaring. Maybe a few scraps here and there will be rescued, that is it. This situation has forced everyone to use the internet and you can expect orders over the internet to companies like Amazon.com will increase greatly but these in turn will cause most of the stores with a retail presence to go out of business. With unemployment at Great Depression levels you can expect the housing market to also collapse. Car sales are seeing a 30% drop nationwide, it is hard to imagine that showrooms can keep much of a retail presence anywhere other than cyberspace. The oil industry in the US has collapsed. Many banks finance oil exploration based on the estimated value of the oil that is in the ground. Since the price of oil has hit rock bottom those “collateralized loans” have collapsed. One of the easiest ways for an oil company to extricate itself from bankruptcy is to walk away from those loans. The banks will be left with oil in the ground that is worth less than the cost to drill it. Now one thing you can be sure of is they will keep a smile on their face and pretend all is well with the hope of somehow selling what few scraps they have left.

13 “Hear this and testify against the descendants of Jacob,” declares the Lord, the Lord God Almighty. 14 “On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. 15 I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished,” declares the Lord.

This is talking about a “golden calf”, interestingly down by Wall Street they have a bronze bull indicating a bull market. The stock market has several sources of power, of course you have the major stock indexes like S&P 500, and you have the bond index, you have the commodities market, and you have currency markets. These will all be cut off. The stock market is currently down about 30% since the virus hit and it appears to be primed to drop another 40%. The US has passed major stimulus packages, about 6xs what we did during the Mortgage crisis, this is inflationary and will destroy the bond market. The collapse of the oil market as well as the meat packing plants will crash the commodities market and the currency market will be useless as this is worldwide, there is no safe haven.

Amos 4 -- Have we learned nothing from our history?

4 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!” 2 The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness: “The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks.[a] 3 You will each go straight out through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,[b]” declares the Lord. 4 “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years.[c] 5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings—boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign Lord.

These are the fattest, biggest cows in a land that worships golden cows. They are described as women, they are the “Kardashians” of the ancient world. They will get the hook. They will no longer be able to afford or justify their lifestyle, they’ll lose their house, their job, no longer will stadiums of 70,000 people support their debauchery. All of their charitable donations, free will offerings, are major press events where they can brag and boast about them. But with this contagion and collapse of the economy we’ll see these fat cows each go through every breach in the wall to get to their safe “villas” in the mountains. All of them will “head for the hills”.

6 “I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

We saw that during the Great Depression

7 “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. 8 People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

We saw this during the dust bowl.

9 “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

We saw this during the potato famine that brought the Irish to America.

10 “I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

We saw this during the World Wars, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars and the Spanish Flu, etc.

11 “I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

The AIDS epidemic and these recent fires in California and Australia come to mind.

12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God.” 13 He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord God Almighty is his name.

You can roll all of that into one, from the Great Depression, to the natural calamities, the famines, the wars, the epidemics. We need to reflect not only on our sins but also on the experiences that we have had with the Lord. Have they caused us to appreciate that Jesus is Lord, or have they caused us to become proud and boastful. Did they cause you to turn to God or rather to become hardened towards God? Did we refer to the greatness of God after the war or the greatness of the generation? Therefore the scope and scale of this coming judgement is designed to put an end to our pride and cause us to return to God in humility. Prepare to meet your God. That is the point of this period between the festival of trumpets and the day of atonement, we are to prepare to meet our God. We are going to have this coming plague revealed to us, there will be no way to escape, do not waste time trying to escape our focus needs to be on preparing to meet our God.

Amos 5 -- God's judgements on Israel are a warning to us

5 Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you: 2 “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.” 3 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel: “Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left.” 4 This is what the Lord says to Israel: “Seek me and live; 5 do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.[a]” 6 Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.

We are preparing to meet the Lord. We began by going over our sins. We then considered some of the things that God has done just in the last 100 years to cause us to return to Him. Now we need to also consider how God treated Israel. We are the Israel above, so the things that happened to Israel are an example to us. They turned justice into bitterness when they demanded that Jesus be crucified. They cast righteousness to the ground. What did God do? Israel fell, never to rise again for 2,000 years as long as they persisted. It wasn’t until the holocaust that Israel returned to the Lord. The description here is not of Israel being decimated. To decimate means to kill one out of ten. No, the description here is that one in ten lives. It is a description of the holocaust. During the holocaust the judgement swept through like a fire. They were burned in a furnace. If we reflect on this history it should make it very clear that God is serious. Do you really need to face the holocaust before you will return to God, seek Him, seek good and live?

7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground. 8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the Lord is his name.

And now we are reviewing some of the past judgements that God did on the Earth. This is referring to Noah’s flood. We now have geologic evidence that a meteorite struck the Indian ocean (we can see the crater on the ocean floor). This created a huge tsunami which created giant chevrons on the island of Madagascar with fossils from the ocean floor. We can use these to date the event. It would have vaporized a tremendous amount of water that would have gone into the stratosphere, circling the globe, before returning as rain. This rain caused giant floods to sweep down out of the glaciated highlands of the highest mountains. We have evidence of the biggest flood ever coming out of the Himalayas and sweeping across the continent of India. We can tell the water was 30-40 feet deep in this flood. We see the same thing coming out of the Rockies and sweeping across Washington State. This flood also caused sea level to rise, flooding the bosphorus so that the Black Sea which had been cut off from the ocean was flooded. This is a very likely place where Noah built his ark. We also know at this time large ungulates on all the continents went extinct. As a result we have 18 animals suitable for domestication at present, all but 2 of them come from mesopotamia. Because this area had horses, cows, oxen, etc their civilizations became dominant. There are over 100 ancient civilizations that have an account of this event and which also talk about this boat with the animals. God took the waters from the sea and poured them on the land. So then do not be proud, humble yourself before the mighty hand of God.

9 With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin.

There is also the case of God’s judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah.

10 There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. 11 You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. 13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. 14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. 15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

In the US you get the justice you can afford. If you can afford the best lawyers, teams of lawyers, like large corporations, then you can abuse the poor. Dupont did this with the Teflon scandal. The cigarette companies did this. The NFL did this. There are many, many examples of corporations using their team of lawyers in a hateful and detestable way. The Lord knows every one. Think about Schindler’s list. Schindler gave a very big bribe to get his factory up and running and to use slave labor (those who were destined to go to the death camps). He was buying them to save them alive, but it revealed how corrupt and how evil the German “justice” system was. He was an example of someone who did repent, he did return to the Lord, he did seek good and not evil, and he did live.

16 Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says: “There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. 17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the Lord.

Remember the Passover. Imagine how terrible the wailing will be when you realize you were warned, you saw this happen in the past, you were told it was coming, you were told what to do, and yet you did not put the blood of the lamb of God on your doorpost? You did not take Jesus as your Passover feast. You were outside the house when the avenging angel passed through your midst.

The Day of the Lord

18 Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. 19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. 20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? 21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! 25 “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? 26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god[b]— which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.

True religion is to visit widows and orphans in their affliction and to keep yourself unspotted from the world. If your religious festivals are all show and entertainment without this reality, then God hates it. This is what Jesus condemned when He said these religious leaders were making long prayers for a pretense, while at the same time stealing widows houses. That is precisely what happened in the Mortgage crisis. Right now the poor feel like they are running from lions and bears, only to get bitten by snakes in their house. As you have done it will be done to you. So then when you behave like that you are not worshipping God, you are lifting up a shrine to an idolatrous king. For 2,000 years the Jews were exiles. Christians have been warned that they too could spend a thousand years in outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Amos 6 -- The price of being complacent

6 Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come!

The issue here is complacent and feeling secure. Many times I have considered what would I do if I were a Jew in Germany as Hitler took power. I have thought that the only thing to do would be to flee to the US while there was still time. But Amos here includes “to whom the people of Israel come”. You have a responsibility to take care of others, fleeing is equivalent to shirking your responsibility. Imagine a rabbi flees to the US and later learns everyone under his care was executed in a concentration camp. That would be a terrible burden of guilt.

2 Go to Kalneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours? 3 You put off the day of disaster and bring near a reign of terror.

Wow, that is exactly what happened with Hitler. Chamberlain put off the day of disaster, and instead he brought in a reign of terror. He appeased Hitler rather than confronting him head on, and early.

4 You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. 5 You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. 6 You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. 7 Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end. The Lord Abhors the Pride of Israel 8 The Sovereign Lord has sworn by himself—the Lord God Almighty declares: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it.”

France was content to ignore the ruin that Hitler was inflicting on Eastern Europe. France thought their Maginot line was an impregnable fortress. It was detested, Germany just went around the wall. As a result Paris was delivered up and everything in it. These are not idle threats from the Lord.

9 If ten people are left in one house, they too will die. 10 And if the relative who comes to carry the bodies out of the house to burn them[a] asks anyone who might be hiding there, “Is anyone else with you?” and he says, “No,” then he will go on to say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.” 11 For the Lord has given the command, and he will smash the great house into pieces and the small house into bits.

Just read the diary of Anne Frank. This was the case for those Jews who were not rounded up first. It was true of the Jews in France.

12 Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness— 13 you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar[c] and say, “Did we not take Karnaim[d] by our own strength?” 14 For the Lord God Almighty declares, “I will stir up a nation against you, Israel, that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah.”

Wow, I can’t stand this. You warn people of the impending danger and it is like they are on drugs, “can Hitler’s tanks get through our concrete barricade”? No, he can’t, so they are complacent. But Hitler didn’t go through the concrete barricade, he went around it. So the real question was can Hitler’s tanks drive through the forest of Belgium? Yes! Learn from the mistakes the French made, learn from the mistakes the British made, learn from the mistakes the Jews made. All of these are examples for us to help us find God and find life.

Amos 7 -- I am setting a plumb line among my people

7 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. 2 When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” 3 So the Lord relented. “This will not happen,” the Lord said.

We have several previous “pandemics”. SARS, MERS, Ebola and all of them ceased. They were a token of what the Lord would do and He relented when we prayed. Taiwan paid attention and after SARS in 2004 they instituted strict measures which they followed in December, long before anyone else was taking Covid19 seriously. Taiwan appeared paranoid. But six months later it is clear that they took those warnings to heart. They only had 6 dead and they had the lowest morbidity rate per capita of any country by a very large margin.

4 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” 6 So the Lord relented. “This will not happen either,” the Sovereign Lord said.

We have had several “apocalyptic” fires in California and Australia. Again, they were a token of what the Lord would do and He relented when we prayed.

7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb,[a] with a plumb line[b] in his hand. 8 And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I replied. Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

The Lord is going to build His house straight and true. So while He has listened to our prayers in the last few decades and relented, He will spare us no longer. These previous cases were warnings, now it is the real thing.

9 “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”

The high places of Isaac may be translated as the altars of laughter. The sanctuaries of the US are not the house of God, they are the TV and Youtube. They will be destroyed. It is very difficult to be making jokes at a time when the Earth is on fire. Already with Corona virus these comedies like Saturday Night Live can’t operate because it violates social distancing. They are ruined. The Lord will rise against this new world order.

Amos and Amaziah

10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’” 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” 14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’16 Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say, “‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’ 17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says: “‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan[c] country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”

Amos sets his face as a flint, he knows God is speaking through him. That is his strength. We should not be surprised or think it a strange thing that these attacks would include a false witness. Instead the Lord said we should rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer reproach for His name. The Lord told us that the weak and foolish things of the world have been chosen by Him to confound the wise. That is what the previous visions do, they expose the wise who would ignore the Lord’s warnings and who would appease the antichrist and open the door for a reign of terror. He exposed the foolish trust in their leaders who had designed a “fortress” to protect them from God’s judgements. Amaziah’s job is to protect Israel as a priest to God. He should be warning them and getting them to repent and return to the Lord that they might live. Instead he is forbidding this warning to be spoken, so as a result Israel will be ravished. This is just like a husband is supposed to protect and provide for his wife, but because he isn’t doing that it is a just judgement that his wife becomes a prostitute after the nation has been carried off to Babylon. There is a consequence in whatever we do. If you shut your ears to the Lord’s word there is a consequence. Amaziah’s wife becomes a prostitute, his sons are killed, and he dies in a pagan land. It’s like the saying “freedom is not free”. You need to pay the price, you can pay God now or you can pay God later, but one way or another you will pay the price.

Amos 8 -- The Firstfruits are ready

8 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. 2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked. “A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered. Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

I have read Amos before, at least 25 times, and yet it never made sense. I think before the fires in Australia, in California and the Coronavirus it would have been very hard to make sense of this. For example, there is a verse in Joel that says they don’t push or crowd each other, they march in a line, and yet he breaks through our defenses. Who could possibly understand that word before coronavirus and social distancing. Social distancing is our defense, we are not crowding or pushing on anyone and yet the virus is breaking through our defense. The point is “the time is ripe”. This word was locked up before but now the time is ripe and so you can understand it. The mortgage crisis really brought it home to me that God can spare them no longer. They knew what they were doing, they knew all these people would lose their houses and the economy would have a melt down, but they also knew the Government would bail them out and the poor taxpayers would have to pay. But this is weird, a basket of ripe fruit is good, it is delicious, it is something that we would want to eat. So why is that a sign that says "I will spare them no longer"? There are two aspects, you have the firstfruits, they are raptured first and now they are ready. Once they are harvested we enter the heat of the summer where the rest of the fruit is ripened.

3 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.[a] Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!” 4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, 5 saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

There are Christians who are wailing, claiming it is unconstitutional to prevent churches from having meetings, they have been silenced. Some of the most vocal were silenced when they died. I see this shut down as the enforcement of the Sabbath. The festival of Trumpets is both a sabbath and a new moon. Right now everyone is asking when will this end. When will the stores reopen. When can we again have foreign trade and sweatshops operating.

7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done. 8 “Will not the land tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt.

It is outrageous. The festival of trumpets announces the coming of the victorious king. You celebrate this with a burnt offering and you stop everything else to celebrate His coming. You think this attitude and behavior is not insulting to the Lord? You think He will forget what you have done? This is the day we have been waiting and looking for and you insult the Lord?

9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

I am a geologist and have no idea what this is. But we are told again, and again and again that this is what happens when the sixth seal is opened, so amen and amen.

10 I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

They are “your” religious festivals, not His. If you were celebrating His festival of trumpets you wouldn’t ask when the Sabbath and New Moon was going to be over, you wouldn’t complain about the cost of the burnt offerings, you would be rejoicing and blowing the trumpet, celebrating the coming of the king.

11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. 13 “In that day “the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst. 14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria— who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the god[b] of Beersheba lives’— they will fall, never to rise again.”

Read Amos. He sees God’s word in current events and in History. He sees God speaking to the US, to the UK, to France, to Germany. Yet these people are staggering from sea to sea and can’t find the word of God? Did they think to read the Bible or has it been locked up so that they are unable to?

Amos 9 -- Prepare to meet your God

9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. 2 Though they dig down to the depths below, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens above, from there I will bring them down. 3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. 4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. “I will keep my eye on them for harm and not for good.”

Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Anytime you want to take revenge for some wrong or injustice, remember that, no one can repay like the Lord. Whatever you would do would be puny in comparison. So be at peace, love the Lord, do good to others, love your enemies and forgive and let God take care of the rest.

5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty—he touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn; the whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt; 6 he builds his lofty palace[a] in the heavens and sets its foundation[b] on the earth; he calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land—the Lord is his name. 7 “Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites[c]?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor[d] and the Arameans from Kir? 8 “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not totally destroy the descendants of Jacob,” declares the Lord.

The Lord brought Noah through the flood and he brought Israel out of Egypt. He split the Red Sea and He also brought a deluge on the Earth. He is the sovereign Lord, trust Him.

9 “For I will give the command, and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground. 10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’

This is similar to what John says in the book of Revelation that anyone who changes the words of that prophecy would be cursed. I have heard all kinds of human logic to explain away the prophecies concerning the Day of the Lord. You should be aware that the Lord knows this and has made it clear there is a curse for anyone who tries to nullify His word.

Israel’s Restoration

11 “In that day “I will restore David’s fallen shelter— I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins— and will rebuild it as it used to be, 12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,[e]” declares the Lord, who will do these things.

I have worked in construction. I have been involved in demolition and I have been involved in repairing, restoring and building up. The Day of the Lord is a demolition of the satanic world followed by a restoration of the natural world, and a building up of the heavenly kingdom.

13 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, 14 and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.[f] “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

Both Joel and Amos talk about the “trickle down economy”. I love it. The tax structure was set up to favor the rich at the expense of the poor and it was justified as a “trickle down” economy. What we saw was the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That is one of the causes for God’s judgement. But in the coming age we will have the real trickle down economy.

James 5 The prayer of a righteous man availeth much

5 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

In the school system there are a lot of issues, but the biggest issue is with the wages they have failed to pay. A few years ago they changed the contract so that the city would get the best teachers just like the suburbs. The highest rated teachers would get a performance bonus, the lowest rated teachers would be put on probation and fired if necessary. Prior to this change there was transparency so that you could see how teachers in the school were being rated as well as how their students were doing on the measure of student learning (one of the various state exams). Once the contract was changed the transparency disappeared and the veteran teachers saw an inverse relationship, the better the students did on the exams the worse the observations were and vice versa. This way they wouldn’t have to pay bonuses to the best teachers and they wouldn’t have to fire the worst teachers (which would lead to them having to raise the salary to attract better teachers). It is a way to avoid paying higher wages. The main benefit of this change in the contract was that the most effective teachers help the rest of the teachers. But now they don’t want to identify these highly effective teachers because it will cost them more. As a result, we still have inner city males of color doing much worse than the average, this is because of these rich people who are hoarding the wealth. It would be a very simple matter to prove this with the data. Simply compare the teachers observation score with their score on the MOSL. All you need to do is demand that this information be made public. They could hide the identity of the individual teachers while still confirming whether or not the system has an inherent bias. Like Isaiah said “Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.” Now look at this verse “the cries of the harvester have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty”! How? Why would the Lord almighty be concerned about this?

Matthew 18:10 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”

By not paying the harvesters what they are really doing is despising the least of these. They are nullifying the single best way to create a level playing field. When you take the burden for the least of these to God, you bring this message to God, you are their “angel”, their messenger. The Lord, who is the Great Shepherd of the Sheep promises that these prayers will always reach the ears of the Lord Almighty.

5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one,who was not opposing you.

The public school system spends over $10 billion in NYC. There are some who see this as an opportunity to live in luxury and self indulgence. Private corporations are vying for the “charter school” business which will grow to half of all NYC students. To succeed these schools have to outperform the public schools. To make a profit they pay their teachers less. As a result teachers in charter schools try to get into the public school. The single best indicator of how well students will do is how experienced the teachers are. So how can the charter schools outperform the public school if the most experienced teachers are in the public school? Therefore the strategy for these corporations is to make the public school do worse by using political influence. Calling public schools “Failure factories” and “the prison pipeline” is the sale’s pitch for charter schools, they don’t want that to change.

7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

During this age the goal is not simply to raise up the righteous, it is also a time for the tares to grow and be revealed. Our goal is to bring in the kingdom established on righteousness, so be patient and stand firm.

9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

The friends of Job see a man who appears to have been judged by God for some secret sin. In the end they learn he was attacked by Satan. You might think that the administrators are thrilled with my results, but you would be wrong. All the researchers are well aware that young black males from the inner city do much worse than the average and they have said we have to change our practice. They even required every teacher to take a training on implicit bias. I have changed my practice. Unfortunately my administrators have not.

12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else.

All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned. I am in the difficult position of having to educate my administrators. There is a strong temptation to castigate them because they don’t realize how effective we are. But James’ advice is keep it simple. Just the facts, nothing that I could be condemned for. Above all, no loyalty oath. It is the hallmark of criminals, liars and cheats. If your goal is to undermine the school so that your little charter school will look better by comparison, if your goal is to fatten yourself, to siphon off money for your pleasure, well then you will need to be sure all those who might know what you are doing are “loyal”.

James 5 -- The prayer of a righteous man availeth much, pt2

13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

Praise and worship, prayer and fellowship. This is how the church becomes well knit, a church of brotherly love. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. There are some wonderful promises in this book. Here we have a promise concerning powerful and effective prayer. The entire book is on rescuing those who wander from the truth, and if you are faithful to be one with the great shepherd in this vision you will be right with God and your prayers will be powerful and effective. Every word in this book, every little adjustment, is to make you right with God. The final word of adjustment is to “confess your sins to one another and pray for each other that you can be healed”. This book is a confessional by James. The Lord said that we are His witnesses. Confessing your sins is one form of witness. This is also James’ prayer that we would be healed. Just like the Lord told Peter, once you have turned back strengthen your brothers. In July of 2014 Gurion, my son, died. However, in the Fall of 2013 he wanted to leave Taiwan and come home. To do that he needed to withdraw from the university he was at. They wouldn’t let him do that without a letter from his parents so he asked me and I wrote a letter. They rejected that letter saying that it wasn’t notarized. So I went to a notary, got a notarized letter and sent that. They rejected that also saying that since I was an American I didn’t have the proper appreciation of the school and didn’t know what I was doing. He was at the number 1 university in Taiwan and he was in medical school. The week Gurion died it was front page news in Taipei. Everyone in Taiwan knows there is something wrong with their school system, so a death like Gurion’s generates a lot of discussion. Representatives of the university were at the funeral, they were afraid I was going to sue them. One option would be to settle out of court, they did not want the rest of the story to become public, it would have been very damaging. But settling requires that you make an oath to sell the truth to them so that they can bury it. There is no confessing of sins, there is no prayer for healing. There was no way I would sell that truth, just like James said -- no oaths. A second option would be to go to the newspaper that had run the story and do an interview. That might have been the spark that burned down the forest, just like James said. But the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. I was not going to make that the legacy of Gurion. We had spent many hours fellowshipping how to fix education, not just in the US but also in the Far East. We are all one people, these problems are our problems, these sins are our sins. We need to stop with the blame game, stop with the self righteous finger pointing and instead pray for healing. I decided the only path that would allow me to “count it all joy” was to complete the work we were both burdened for. It may seem strange that Taiwan, which ranks so high on education, has a problem. But they have chosen a horrible formula for success. The students in Asia are exploited and oppressed every bit as much as young men of color in this country. After WWII they embraced the conquering West and saw education as the way to climb out of poverty. I believe my students in Brooklyn can find the narrow way that leads to life, not just for themselves, but for kids all over the world. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if “the stone that the builder rejected” becomes the “head of the corner” joining East with West? I look at life like a team sport, a contact sport like football. Gurion is on the sidelines, but we are still the same team, if we can win he wins too. 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. Think about this. It is day 1 and you pray that it doesn’t rain and it doesn’t rain. Big deal, no one cares. Even after two weeks no one cares. Jezebel and Ahab are laughing at you. But at some point they start to care. Soon we have a drought, the whole country is praying for rain and then when anyone learns that you are praying that it will not rain they will hate and despise you. Maybe this is after six months, now it is not just Jezebel and Ahab but the entire worldly structure. This continues for another three years! You would be the most vilified person in the country while they are shown to be powerless. Three and a half years ago the king and queen laughed at you, they were the authority, but now they are nothing. They are poor, their robes are moth eaten, their riches are corrupted. That corruption is testifying against them. For three years the entire power structure was against Elijah, but he prevailed. At the end of the age it will be the same. Jesus said that before He could plunder the strong man’s house He first needed to bind the strong man. There will be 3 ½ years of tribulation that will bind all the rulers of this age before the rapture. A few months ago the prime minister of Australia was laughing at Greta Thurnberg but not anymore.

19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Acts 6 -- False witnesses?

6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spiritand wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

This is a picture of the church growing and developing different ministries. In the last few years we have seen this phenomenon taking place in the US where Christians became more and more involved in a populist movement. They have seen laws being passed on what Christians can and cannot say, what they can and cannot believe. They have seen the rights to freedom of speech and freedom to worship being restricted.

8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Ciliciaand Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”

We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices. If he can’t stand up to the wisdom of our speaking he will have a secret plan to kill us. He has no other options. What they are seeing is terrifying to them, the church is becoming a kingdom that is well run. If they allow this to continue no one will need them. They have censored, shadow banned, suspended and banned accounts they don’t agree with. They claim that it is due to hate speech or speech advocating violence, but whenever that claim is patently false they simply say “it was a mistake”. What they did to Parler was an attempt to wipe it from the internet. The gospel, conservative Christian values and calling sin sin is all under attack.

12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

This is what is happening today. People are being stirred up by lies (fake news) on social media. The Chinese and Russians have armies of people on the internet doing just this. Twitter, Google, and Facebook are all actively doing this. The impeachment of Trump is not about removing him from office, he is already removed from office, it is about destroying the populist uprising by branding them as all insurrectionists.

13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

Everyday we are seeing fake news stories designed to make us feel outraged. Recently there was a story that Black Lives Movement protesters were saying that whites who owned homes in historically black neighborhoods should give up their homes and leave. Sounds exactly the same as “we’ll destroy this place and change the customs”. Biden made an executive order that any boy who “identifies” as a girl should be allowed to compete in girls sports. You can’t discriminate if he wants to use the girls bathroom or the girls locker room. Again, sounds like they want to destroy the customs handed down to us.

15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Time to get our whole being and attitude right. Stephen doesn’t need to try and convince them. This attack means they have given up debating or being open to a discussion. This is a show trial to give the appearance of justice. So realize that this is the case. You have the perfect platform to speak the gospel, no one is so focused as when they think they are about to see you executed. There have been innumerable court cases since Stephen, many were unjust, but this one is memorable. Why? Stephen isn’t focused on himself, he isn’t focused on how unfair this is to him.

Acts 7:1-38 -- Are these charges true?

7 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

Stephen flips the script on them. He presents the charge God has against them that they have not kept His commandments. Their persecution of the prophets, their killing of the righteous one are evidence that this charge is true. This impeachment needs to be the same. It is unconstitutional, their charges violate the first amendment and the election was fraudulent. This is not about Stephen being on trial but the Jewish leadership. Jesus was crucified because of them, that is their crime.

2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ 4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.

You are living here today because Abraham listened to God and walked by faith. It is also true of us in the US. We are here today because the Pilgrims came by faith.

5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’

The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth rock in 1620, 400 years ago. We were a colony, enslaved by European powers, freeing ourselves from the bondage of imperialism has been a process. By 1812 we were free of the British, but slavery still existed. By 1865 slavery was no longer legal, but Jim Crow laws, KKK, and other forms of subtle abuse existed well into the 1960s. But we are still holding the promise that this is the land of the free and that we will possess this land. Now we are fighting the elites and oligarchs to say that this is a country of the people, by the people and for the people.

8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob,and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. 9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. 11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died.16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. 17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.

Is this any different today? This country was founded and established by the Puritans and those seeking the freedom to worship God in truth. But they have dealt treacherously with the Christians. For example, our school system was started as schools run by churches in the town. When the government wanted to set up a public school system they asked to expand these school houses to include everyone, promising to use tax dollars from everyone to pay for it. But once they had the school system they took over forbidding the use of the Bible or prayer. Yet the Christians had to pay for this school system with their tax dollars. They could still set up a private religious school, but what the treacherous rulers had done is create a school system run according to them that the Christians would have to pay for. They have then included things in the curriculum that Christians would be horrified at. But they continue to act treacherously, Biden has just signed an Executive order where boys who want to compete with girls in girls sports must be allowed, if they want to use the girls bathroom they must be allowed and if they want to use the girls lockerroom they must be allowed. They legalized abortion causing more than 50 million babies to die. But it has gotten worse, the line used to be that no tax dollars would be used to pay for abortions, but now our foreign aid will include paying for abortions in other countries right up to one minute before birth.

20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. 23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. 30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. 33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’ 35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.

This entire history of Moses shows how Jesus is a prophet like unto Moses. Moses coming to them was according to the promise made to Abraham and Jesus coming was according to the promise that Moses made. Daniel gave us a precise prophecy concerning the number of years till Jesus would come. In the previous chapter we see the best that the Pharisees had in Gamaliel, with his “time will tell” test. Here Stephen gives us a much clearer and more detailed prophecy from the Bible where they should have recognized Jesus as the Messiah. With each point Stephen is laying out their crimes.

Acts 7:39-60 But our ancestors refused to obey Him

39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

This is the charge that God has against them. This is why they did not recognize Jesus. They refused to obey God and their heart had turned from God to Egypt.

40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’

This is the same excuse they make today, “we don’t know what happened to Jesus”. They refuse to admit that he was resurrected even though their own “time will tell” test condemns them.

41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.

Go down to Wall street and you can find the bronze bull. A “bull market” is their idol. They revel in the “bull market”. They all go to wall street and bring their sacrifices to buy stocks and pray that they will go up.

42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? 43 You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.

Molech is the God of fornication. The world today is filled with the worship of idols: currencies, stocks, bonds, and commodities. The judgement on Babylon is described as a giant stone being tossed into the ocean and sinking. That is how all these markets will crash.

44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: 49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?’

For the last 2,000 years the Lord has been building His church, His house on earth. The Lord has two ministries, His earthly ministry where He tabernacled on Earth, and His Heavenly ministry. Stephen is comparing David to Jesus’ earthly ministry and Solomon to His heavenly ministry.

51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

So arrogant, they have deceived others and have wound up deceiving themselves. They think their stock market is the prize jewel of the earth and have completely missed what God has been doing. Everything they've built will be compared to the church, found wanting and tossed out like that stone into the middle of the ocean. They have given themselves to idol worship, fornication, treachery, and even the murder of babies.

52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Yes, the charges are true, the writing is on the wall, you have been found wanting.

54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Exodus 14:1-25 -- Tell the Israelites to move on!

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

I love this. You can take a group of misfits with women, children and the elderly and the Lord can use them to utterly defeat and humiliate the super power of the day. What does Pharaoh see when he sees them trudge through the desert? Is there anything to be fearful of? They have no weapons, no military training, how do you let these slaves just walk away from you? The Lord understands what Pharaoh is thinking and will use that to destroy them and to totally humiliate them. This is not petty, this will prevent Israel from having to worry about Egypt coming after them from the rear. This will also intimidate any tribes they might run into in the desert.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen[a] and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

This was the Lord’s plan, let’s make it look like Israel is trapped, no way out, no place to go.

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

There is no rebuke because this is their very first instance of battle, and it game plan is that they are to look terrified, so the fact that they are terrified only helps sell this to Pharaoh.

15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

God’s people being driven out from those in the world has happened numerous times in history. The pogroms in Russia, the holocaust in Germany and what we are seeing today in the US. In fact there are 350 million Christians worldwide that are under intense persecution. You are given two choices be there slave and do what they say, think what they think and speak what they tell you to speak or else leave. The proper thing to do is to leave.

19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

We are in a long night, one side is very dark, filled with hatred, insults, and threats. The other side is full of light, prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

The cancel culture has been a strong wind but what has been the result. Goya walked out on dry land, sales increasing, not decreasing. Mike Lindell walked out on dry land sales increasing not decreasing. Disney actress walks out on dry land losing one job and immediately getting another and having her popularity skyrocket to the most popular actress. The Hyatt is attacked for hosting CPAC and by this time they realize to just ignore the cancel culture. Nothing says you are not important like people ignoring your threats and calls to cancel someone. Twenty businesses cancelled Mike Lindell, let’s see how many of them go bankrupt.

23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed[b] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

They are definitely pursuing us. They tried to put Parler out of business but it is up and running. The more they try to censor, ban and cancel us the worse it gets for them. Australia is passing laws concerning big Tech, Germany, Poland, France and Mexico are considering doing the same. Uganda has already taken action. There are quite a few states who are also in the process of passing laws. The entire world can see that Twitter, Facebook and the mainstream media have been censoring the news to manipulate the political process. They know if they will do it in the US they will certainly do it in their country. What we are seeing is the wheels coming off their businesses. No one wants to be beholden to these multinational corporations.