Amos and The Priest of Bethel
Every true prophet of God eventually finds his work opposed by some political priest who claims to speak officially for the Lord. A faithful servant, such as the Prophet Amos, discovers sooner or later that the most implacable foe arrayed against him is not the avowed Jewish infidel, rather, he is the compromising opportunist of the priestly calling, like Amaziah. Our modern day priests like Amaziah are the following men and women, but it is not an all encompassing list: Jim Bakker (Jew), Mike Evans (Jew), Billy Graham (Jew), Kenneth Copelan (Jew), Robert Schuler, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell (A so-called Christian Zionist), John Hagee, V.W. Grant, Larry Buricett, Paul Crouch, Skip Heitzig, Hal Lindsey (Jew), Chuck Missler, Mark Eastman, David Hocking, Jack Van Impe, Binny Hinn (Jew), Frank Peretti, Chuck Smith, Toni Eareckson Tada, Tom Cloud, Ted Bachr, John McDowell.
The issue between Amos and Amaziah was a matter of life or death, just as it is today, freedom or captivity to the House of Isaac. The record of their conflict is related briefly with straightforward and bold outlines in the following paragraphs from Amos 7:
�The Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, a plumbline. Then said the Lord, behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: And the high places (Jewish Synagogues) of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words, For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king�s chapel, and it is the king�s court.
Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet�s son; but I was an herdsman, and a getherer of sycamore fruit: And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. Therefore, thus saith the Lord; thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.� (Amos 7:8-17)
In this very day God is sending out a special message to His Israel people. It concerns the House of Isaac particularly the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic branch of Joseph and kindred Christian Nations. It is an urgent message for this generation. To hear it and heed it is life, to reject it is ruin and death. Religious organizational leaders refuse to believe and teach the prophecies of our time. They refuse to teach Truthfully the Gospel of Yeashua as the Scriptures say. Therefore, God has raised up men and women from the laity and a few humble, but yet bold, preachers for the task. Most of them, like Amos, are without wealth and prestige, their voice is not heard in matters of state, their counsel is disdained and unsought in the realm of the church and Christian education. Like Amos, too, they are servants to whom God has revealed many truths, which must be perched and published at this time. Step by step the experiences of Amos are being reenacted today as these men and women sound the warning call of the prophets to latter-day Israel.
Now, as in the days of Amos, it is God who puts the nation on trial and it is He who gives the verdict: �Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel.� Rulers, priests and people have flaunted their independence of God; they have denied His authority and set aside His laws. Yay, they have even falsely taught that the Laws of God have been done away with. Once again He is standing near, plumbline in hand, to test the nation and pronounce the final judgment.
By Divine providence the English-speaking countries of Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (But it appears that South Africa is the first to feel God�s wrath, because these once proud White people have been turned over the beast of the field, who are not capable of leading a nation) have been raised up and exalted to unprecedented heights. God formed them for His praise and to be priests of righteousness and show His glory. But the same hand, which established them, can pull them down when they prove unworthy of their high calling. In its religious and civil status, in its priesthood and government, God measures a nation. Today, in the conduct of our national life and in our worship we are weighed in the balance and found wanting.
Just as ancient Israel under Jezebel and Ahab: �And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.� (1 Kings 16:31‑33)
So it is today under the present administration under Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. Evil is running rampant with the compliance of the federal government under these evil people. Therefore, when America�s cup of iniquity is full God�s patience is almost exhausted, judgment will fall, just as it did in ancient Israel, and on those most responsible for our transgressions:: �I will not again pass by them any more: And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.� (Amos 7:8-9)
It is significant that when the time for retribution came the blow fell most heavily on the �high places� of authority, on �the sanctuaries,� and on the house of Jeroboam. Commenting on this verdict, one writer says �The punishment is specified in its two chief effects; the overthrow of their idolatrous sanctuaries and the extinction of the dynasty of Jeroboam, which was, in effect, the overthrow of the kingdom. In other words, their whole polity ecclesiastical and civil, was to be subverted.�
Here in the book of Amos we have an exact parallel of what is taking place now in Saxon, Germanic Israel lands. Faithful to his commission and undaunted by conditions, Amos delivered to high and low the message, which the Lord had laid on his heart. The first person to become incensed and raise a howl of protest was Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, who was no doubt ecclesiastical head of Israel�s religious system. Immediately he set himself to get rid of Amos by force and fraud.
Being influential with the king, Amaziah attempted to silence the prophet by civil power. He sent word to Jeroboam that Amos was conspiring against the king and that the land could not endure all the commotion his words were stirring up. It was said of Jesus also that he stirreth up the people. (Luke 23:5) Faithless teachers have ever been most cruel persecutors. Amaziah made a false accusation against the prophet�s character and conduct (just as the enemies of our people accuse falsely the True Men of God, such as Pete Peters, Dave Barley, Bob Halstrom and many others); he brought false chargers against the prophet�s motives and his preaching. Amaziah denounced Amos as a conspirator. It is true that Amos had declared the fall of Jeroboam, but he had done it in the Spirit of the Lord, and not in the spirit of rebellion and treason. God�s people have often been represented as enemies to the state and disloyal to those in authority. Prophets, apostles, martyrs and even Christ Himself, were all subject to the same persecution; �the same artful and malicious design to excite the temporal power against the.� Which is seen in: �Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.� (3 John 1:10‑11) Worldly priests measure others by their own motives..
Amaziah�s next strategy was to induce the prophet to consider his own safety and leave the land of Israel: �God flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread and prophesy.� Go somewhere, anywhere; �but prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king�s chapel, and it is the king�s court.� So Amaziah unwittingly spoke the truth his concern was not for the Lord�s sanctuary but only for the King�s chapel and court.
Amos heeded neither Amaziah�s advice to leave the country nor his command to keep silent. Like Peter and John, when they were forbidden to preach, Amos was deeply impressed �to obey God rather than men.� (Acts 5:29) Said he, �The Lord took me as I followed the flock, and said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.� God sent him to Israel, not to Judah, and to Israel Amos meant to prophesy regardless of chief prelate and king. Furthermore, Amos gave Amaziah this appalling preview of events to come in his own family: his wife would be publicly dishonored at the storming of the city, his children would be slain by the sword and he would die a captive in a foreign land.
Never, since the beginning of Biblical history, have the messages of God�s true prophets been held in greater contempt than the present time. Modern priests of Bethel, not only disbelieve them, they scorn and ridicule them in the presence of the congregation. Consequently, faithful believers in the true word of prophecy often find themselves in disrepute and ostracized from service in the sanctuaries.
As a rule these faithful ones have been devoted members of their churches, supporting them with loyal service as teachers and with their tithes and prayers. Being devout in spirit and loving the Word, they have studied it with minds and hearts open to receive new truths and new light on familiar paths seeking with ready minds, many precious truths have been revealed to them. They have been thrilled by such discoveries as the origin and nature of Christ�s kingdom on the earth; they see the great Israel prophesies, never fulfilled by the Jews, now in the process of fulfillment by Anglo-Saxon, Germanic Christian peoples; they see the antagonism of Christianity and Communism heading toward the conflict, which was pre-written by the prophets. Their hearts burn within them!
But when they begin to teach these vital truths to classes in the church school they are shocked to find the minister; of all people, defiant and hostile in his attitude toward their efforts. Usually such a teacher is requested to give up his class, unless he is tolerated because of social prestige or financial support. However, there is one authentic case of a teacher whose church was heavily burdened with debt. Thinking to relieve the hopeless situation, he generously lifted the debt with a check of more than sixty thousand dollars; and was rewarded a few months later by the pastor, who asked him to get out of the church. An increasing number of alert, informed Bible students are �stranger and pilgrims on the earth,� (Hebrew 11:13) unwelcome in the churches they attended and loved in childhood.
Distressing as the situation is to laymen, the plight of the preacher who believes and teaches �Moses and the prophets,� as did Jesus and the apostles, is even worse. He has few chances, if any, to survive in his church organization. The only misdemeanor necessary to bring vehement wrath on his head from the political hierarchy is to let it be known that he believes in the return of Christ to reign on the earth. That alone brands one as an ignoramus and an outcast. Then, if he should go so far as to mention the fulfillment of Israel prophecies in the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic peoples call attention to the distinction between Israel and Jewry �anathema� is the verdict.
Action is taken immediately. Pressure is applied to induce the minister to fit his peaching into the established pattern of �modern scholarship.� Unless he capitulates, his church officials will be advised to demand his resignation. Failing to yield, he will be invited to �go, flee away, and preach not again any more� in our denomination. As the Pharisees said to Jesus, �Get thee out, and depart hence.� (Luke 13:31) Indeed the chief priests, not only put our Lord out of the synagogues, but sought to kill Him.
It is hearkening to know that some of our young and capable ministers are standing their ground like Amos. They refuse to be silenced and they refuse to take flight. Loyal co-workers are standing with them with the result that Yahweh is rewarding them speedily with noteworthy achievements.
The works and ways of men are tested by the Word and providence of Yahweh. Measure every man�s position by his attitude toward the Word, and by his harmony with the Word. Christ gives the manner of the test, and the outcome, in simple language that all can understand: �Beware of false prophets, which came to you in sheep�s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistle? Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and bet upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the all of it.� (Matthew 7:15-16; 21-27)
The mere fact that the doctrine of Christ�s return to establish His Kingdom on earth and the proclamation of the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic identity are opposed by the leaders of powerful religious systems does not prove them false. Priests, ministers and rabbis have been wrong so many times in the past that their �opinions� are not safe standards by which to measure any matter of Christian faith.
If Amaziah had accepted God�s truth from Amos, he could have influenced Jeroboam to see the error of his ways and the dissolution of the kingdom might have been averted. If the priests, scribes and Pharisees had believed and followed Jesus Christ, there would be no Jewish problem in the world today. If Christian leaders and laymen do not heed now God�s messages for this hour, the high places of Isaac shall once more become desolate, and the sanctuaries shall be laid in the dust. Denouncing and persecuting true prophets will not change the course of God�s judgment.