Amos – The Last Call To Personal Holiness Part 5: Victims – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl
Good morning! Happy second day of LGBT month. Here is a verse from Amos: “I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.” (Amos 4:11).
Here is another good passage: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” (Isaiah 5:20-23). Our nation is in a heep of trouble. And no, this isn’t a Gay-bashing blog. Sin is sin in the eyes of God. God forgives all sin (except for the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost) through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 21:8 says, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Sin is sin in the eyes of God, and even those who told that little white lie, who rejected the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, will find themselves cast into the lake of fire. Our nation is in trouble – big time!
Five times God calls to Israel in Amos chapter 4, “…yet have ye not returned unto Me…”
I sent famine, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:6).
I sent drought, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:7-8).
I sent heat and mildew, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:9).
I sent pestilence, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:10).
You got ‘burnt’ from the sins of others, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:11).
Have you seen the price of food lately? How about the mild winter? What is this green stuff I have to power-wash off my trailer twice a year? And look up Chagas on the internet if you want pestilence. It’s a little parasite released by bugs that bite, and draw blood. When you scratch the bite, the parasite enters your body and can cause enlarging of the heart and intestines, then death. More than 8 million people have already been infected, mostly in Latin and Central America. But, there are over 300,000 in the United States. And what can I say about being burnt? When we sin, it not only affects us, but those around us. Just ask Pharaoh (Gen. 12:10-20) or Abimelech, king of the Philistines (Gen. 26:6-11). Think about those who are trying to turn our ‘one nation under God’ into an atheistic socialist country. What’s wrong with socialism? I don’t know. Ask someone from the USSR: the Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republic (the Communists). Or you can ask a member of the National SOCIALIST Party (the Nazis). Remember to vote on Tuesday. If we think about the consequences before we sin, and think about those who may be affected by our sin, we may decide it isn’t worth the price we, and others, have to pay. Those of the LGBT don’t need to be fenced in and die off, they need Jesus just as much as you and I do (see Romans chapter 1). You see, we are all sinners: you, me, Billy Graham, the Pope: everybody (Rom. 3:10 & 23). And the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23a), but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23b; John 3:16). And if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (see 2Cor. 5:17).
Peace. (1John 5:12-13).
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