Amos 4:6-10, "And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest...yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew...yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt...yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah...yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord."

The above scriptures tell of God's judgments upon Israel because they didn't worship God. Our nation and world doesn't worship God today, and are facing all kinds of troubles, yet do not see God's hand of judgment.

1. Cleanness of teeth. This speaks of famine. I am sure everyone knows about the famine is Ethiopia and the hundreds of thousands of people that have starved to death.

2. Drought. I am also sure we are all aware of the terrible drought in the midwestern United States, where the majority of the grain products are raised. Did the drought not come three months until the harvest? Are we going to say this is just a coincidence, or do we believe God is trying to tell us something? The farmers all gathered together to pray for God's rain, and He gave the rain in time to save some of the crop. The drought caused the prices to go up, and it is predicted that the overall income for farmers will be about 3% higher than it was last year! Will we stop praying for God's blessings, like the farmers stopped praying when the rain finally came?

3. Blasting and mildew. This speaks of a deterioration of everything we own.

Let me ask you, is it an accident that this generation throws away more than other generations used? We are living in a "plastic" society, filled with throw away everything. So much stuff has been thrown away that there is hardly any place to put it anymore! Garbage is buried in the ground (this is where God said it ought to be buried).

Our world's trees are being destroyed at record rates to build homes, and they are not there to consume the carbon dioxide and turn back into oxygen. This is part of the reason the ozone layer is being destroyed.

Major companies of all kinds are dumping all kinds of waste into our rivers and oceans until finally, these items are washing up on shore, fish are dying with cancer, and we are too. Are these things just happening, or are we suffering the judgment of God because we have turned away from His plans?

Think of this just a minute: When the 2,000,000 Israelites and all their herds wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, did they leave a great big mess behind them? Of course not! They were obeying the Word of God, worshipping and serving him even when they were in rebellion. They disposed of their waste God's way, and didn't destroy the land they lived on.

4. Overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain were destroyed by the fire of God. God has sent another kind of fire upon this nation. A literal fire that has destroyed some 4,000,000 acres of forest!! Can you believe 4,000,000 acres? It seems nothing can be done to stop this raging inferno. Some are calling for the firing of the people in charge, blaming them for the continuing spread of the fire. It just may be that the reason the fire can't be put out is because God won't let it be put out yet! It just may be that God is trying to get the attention of our nation. Has anybody ever mentioned praying that God would allow us to put the fire out? Now that just might work!

June, 1986