Few prophets have spoken with more plain eloquence and vigor of thought. Amos, like all prophets, did his duty as God’s spokesperson. Even though he knew that prophets have low success rates, even as God himself can point to relatively few successes, Amos, in this fourth chapter, pulled no punches.

He first assailed the pretentious piety of Israel’s prevailing religious activities. No better description can be found anywhere of the "rich and famous" finding a soothed conscience in their religious activities—formal worship, highly visible donations, and so forth.

In verse four we find language to which most everyone in American churches should listen carefully: "People of Israel, go to the holy place in Bethel [chief seat of their idol worship, although all in the name of Jehovah!] and sin, if you must! Go ahead and bring animals…and bring your tithes.…Go ahead and offer your…thanksgiving to God, and boast about the extra offerings you bring! This is the kind of thing you love to do" (Amos 4:4 GNB).

Talk about irony! It is the age-old religious mantra: "Sin and forgive, sin and forgive.…" Amazing, isn’t it, that with all the historical data we have to contemplate, we don’t see the utter emptiness in that kind of religious response to a holy God! The essence of the everlasting gospel is not only our forgiveness, but also our restoration. Grace is not only God’s amazing, infinite willingness to forgive; grace also embraces the amazing power of God that he freely gives "to help us just when we need it" (Heb.4:16 GNB).

To think that outward religious ceremonies, even humanitarian contributions, can compensate for internal righteousness has been Satan’s anesthetic since Cain killed Abel. To think that "Jesus did it all" on the cross without following Jesus into heaven as Paul did and contemplate why he is our High Priest and why Jesus gave us the empowering Holy Spirit to help us overcome evil, is also to miss Amos’s point. External religion needs transforming internal transformation. If not, we are setting ourselves up for the consequences that God himself will not prevent—an impoverished spirit, dumb decisions producing awful results, and a fearful awakening that the harvest is past.

Which leads us to Amos’s second point: the law of cause and effect is as certain as night following day. No matter how we philosophize, or how much we love to listen to each other’s "take" on what’s going on, ideas do have consequences, habits do count up.

In the Great Controversy, God and Satan are in conflict over who can best run the universe. With his infinite patience, God permits his created intelligences to make choices until all the consequences of those choices are so clear that doubts about God’s wisdom and love would never arise again, ever. Israel and Judah are perfect examples of God’s remarkable overtures of love and power. They are also perfect examples of what happens when men and women go their own way, reflecting the spirit of Satan.

In this fourth chapter, Amos gives a chilling description of what Israel can soon expect when God withdraws his protection: Satan moves in unhindered. Amos knew that tough times were ahead; he had plenty of history for evidence. He may not have known how to interpret Satan’s causative role; he only knew that nothing would happen without God’s permission.

Prior to the Assyrian invasion, Israel was in the same condition that Jerusalem would be in before its destruction in the first century, A.D. Note this clear insight: "Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver seeks to conceal his own work. By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according to his will" (E. G. White, The Great Controversy, 35).

Three times in this fourth chapter, Amos repeated, "Still you did not come back to me!" Sounds like a plea we should take advantage of!

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