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February 26, 2001 
By JERRY FIGUEROA A Bull Market With Bear Attitudes: The Story Of AmosDoes a prosperous yet vile country always fall to God's divine judgment because of their lack of repentance? The book of the prophet Amos leads us to believe so. I invite you to study this simple lesson, then do some research and investigating with God.
Over the last 8 years or so, the economy of the United States has enjoyed some of the most prosperous times on record. We've had an awesome run up in the stock markets, housing can barely keep up with demand, and perhaps the most telling sign, folks are spending money on luxury items like there's no tomorrow. There's no better place to see that then right here in Silicon Valley, the heart of the San Francisco Bay area and center of the world of technology. If you know anything about living here in Silicon Valley, this is one place where keeping up with the Jones', Changs', and Rodriguez' is an every day event. Yet in that race (most of us would tag on the word, "rat"), society has seemed to create some very negative side effects that result in greed, injustices, and downright arrogance. Now that's pretty strong but we're gonna find here that our friend Amos encountered some people in his own times that make our people look like wallflowers.
Now for starters, if anyone said to me, "Woe to you…", I'm taking notice. Amos doesn't beat around the bush and begins to tell the movers and shakers of his time that there's trouble coming. By this point in the life of the kingdom, Israel had become what would end up being the most prosperous and powerful reigns under King Jeroboam II. They had experienced peace as a nation and great social prestige and standing. Yet, the poor suffered under extreme oppression and the widows and orphans of the land went untended. As a result, in comes our man Amos firing away from top to bottom. He leaves no one unscathed, from denouncing the sins of the nobles and merchants right on up to the king himself. But Amos wasn't simply blowing hot air; he had a message from above, the living God of Israel.
The Lord was stating the fact that He had His standard and since they had chosen not to follow it, their time was up. From the sanctuaries that had become horribly and wickedly corrupt, to the king's own household and his successors, tee time at the old country club was now cancelled. And as in true Hollywood fashion, there's a villain in this story and his own "empire" was on the hit list. A priest by the name of Amaziah decided that Amos had to be stopped and he was the man to do it. After a report to the king on Amos' activities, which would have earned Amos the death penalty for conspiracy against the king, Amaziah gave his own stinging expose:
Lest we forget that Amos was still on a mission from God, he gave a very simply yet direct rebuttal:
Amos didn't fuss or argue but simply restated that he was answering God's directive and his obedience to it. The Lord told Amos to preach and he wasn't about to keep quiet about it. This is what exemplifies a prophet of God and our example of not backing down in the face of adversity for the Lord's sake. There's something else for us to take away from the story of Amos and that's found at the end of the book. While other kingdoms ransacked Israel, the Lord gave a promise for those who sought His forgiveness.
This story gives a clear analogy of what can happen to a society that thrives off it's own success; the results are pretty ugly. Yet, turning our gaze to the true living God, and His principles and priorities, will result in riches truly beyond our imagination. For the saints around Silicon
Valley and around the world, the best is yet to come! * All Biblical scripture in this article is of the New Living Translation
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