A Famine of the Hearing of the Word

The words in our Bible are life-changing. Every one of us here can attest to that.

The powerful way that our lives is, again, Mr. Hobb mentioned the words that he read in serving as in our armed forces didn't have that same effect until God's calling entered in, and then his mind was expanded. But these words are captured here for our edification, for our encouragement, for the strength that we have, and they are living and they are powerful, as noted in Hebrews 4 and verse 12. The scripture reads, and you can put in your notes, For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. But imagine with me for a moment if suddenly we woke up and all of our Bibles were gone. Imagine if you go to the library, you go to your friend's house, and you say, hey, can I borrow your Bible? And they said, mine disappeared as well. Imagine if all the sermons, you went out to our website and says, well, I know there's an online website where I can read the Bible. Or UCG has our commentary. You go to the UCG website and the sermons are gone. The word is gone. Articles are gone.

Everything has disappeared. The things we had at our fingertips were to suddenly go dark and unable to be accessed. How great would that loss be for you personally? How great would that loss be for our society? We live today in an increased time of rapid technological advancements and innovations. When we consider that the moon landing occurred in 1969, which was just a little over 50 years ago, and the technology it took to accomplish that feat and then compare it against and to what mankind has done in the last 50 years, it is absolutely staggering to compare where we are at today. In the last 25 to 30 years, we have seen the innovation or the invention and spread of the internet, of mobile cell phone, mobile cell phone technology, and even now smartphone development, which is like carrying a computer in your pocket. There's things that I use my phone almost half and half as much as I use my computer now in a lot of ways.

And these are just to name a few, just a slight few of the technological innovations we have and use on a regular basis today. Every year that goes by, faster computers are designed. Internet with higher speed is available in our homes. Cell phones become smaller and then bigger and then smaller again as people continue to try to figure out what that perfect size is for each person and for what they use their phones for. Or maybe in my case the perfect size to play Candy Crush. I still love that game. I'm sorry, I do.

But we see advancements in medicine and in technology and how technology has added to medical procedures. And the spread of knowledge and information seems to be without end. Many of us are familiar with Elon Musk. He's the CEO of Tesla Motors, which is producing one of the market's premier electric cars.

He's also CEO of SpaceX, which is the privately held company that is currently sending manned and unmanned rockets into space. In 2015, SpaceX began development of the Starlink constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites. It's a mouthful. It's Starlink, the Starlink constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites to provide satellite internet access around the world. Currently there are 1,260 Starlink satellites in orbit today, with plans to expand that number to almost 1,600 satellites by the end of this year or next. Primarily they are over the northern hemisphere of the world, but as they continue to add, their goal is to encompass and encircle the entire world with these satellites. The ultimate goal is to deploy enough satellites around the world to provide high-speed internet service to anyone who desires access globally. It's a staggering 10,000 to 30,000 satellites that Starlink plans to send up over time in order to bring the internet accessible to remote areas throughout the entirety of the world. And they're on a pace to do that currently through the technology and through the funding that is being provided to SpaceX. We know scripture reveals at the end of time all will be able to see the events that unfold around the world just prior to the return of Jesus Christ. We may just be watching you and I today in real time and how this ability to see end-time events will all take place. During the General Conference of Elders meeting again last Sunday, Peter Eddington, the operation manager of media and communication services for the church, he shared a presentation where he provided an overview of what the church is doing today from a media standpoint and some challenges that they see on the horizon. I'm going to read some of the notes from his address to the General Conference of Elders. He said, due to the many blessings from our Father in Jesus Christ, the good news of the soon-coming kingdom of God has been proclaimed and witnessed to millions of people by the United Church of God.

It's just such a blessing that we have the privilege to share God's Word with millions of people through the efforts that God has provided and the blessings he's provided the church. But then he goes to some challenges in preaching the gospel today. He said, we have a divine scriptural commission to preach the good news of God's kingdom to as many people as we are able. Ours is a work of spreading the gospel around the world. We are to bring hope and instruction on living a fuller life to all who desire this type of fuller life with God.

Christianity, though, is facing an uphill battle against secularism, atheism, and then he says other-isms. The message we bring is found to be unpopular right now in society, even among other Christian denominations. And then Mr.

Eddington shared some statistics from Statistica.com. Some of these I wasn't aware of. It says 4.66 billion people actively use the internet today. 4.66. So I had to do some math real quick. There's about 7.8 to 7.9 billion people on the planet right now. So this comes out to about 59% of the world population today are active internet users. 4.66 billion. Of that, 4.32, so almost the entirety of that amount, are active mobile internet users. So that means they use their cell phones on a regular basis to access the internet, email, other apps, things like that.

And so that is 92.6% of those active on the internet are using it through their mobile devices. He mentioned when UCG started in 1995, only about 1% of the population had access to the internet. So you go from 1% 26 years ago to now 60% today. It's amazing how quickly that number has risen. And there's 4.2 billion active social media users. So whether that's Twitter, Facebook, all those different social media accounts and platforms that people are using today, that a majority of those active on the internet are active also in social media. But then he says, but with all of today's interconnectivity also comes the opportunity for our work of preaching the gospel to be more easily censored.

He shared that Google is already censoring some of our advertisements, especially in France and in the United Kingdom, but also it's occurring here in the US. Google has tagged some of our advertisements as approved but limited because of religious belief in personalized advertising. So simply because our advertisement is pointing people to God and to the truth of the Bible, to the values you and I stand on, Google has now tagged that as approved but limited because of religious belief in personalized advertising. Our advertisements are approved to run but to limited audiences. And then he shares it would not be hard for those who run technology to hate the message of the gospel of the kingdom and to bring this to a quick stop. The message we share from God's word is one of repentance and change he shared to a new way of living.

And he said it's not a popular message even among Christian denominations today. And then he asked a couple of questions. How long will it be before the United Church of God becomes fully noticed and scrutinized? How long before our teachings are deemed to be hate speech or against the publicly accepted narrative? And then he said some Beyond Today magazine articles and television programs are not published or aired in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom because of newly enacted vilification laws. We are not completely stopped from publishing, but direct articles against homosexuality and false religion, for example, would bring expensive lawsuits against us. So we are choosing our battles wisely, he said. We're not hiding the message or truth of Scripture. It's readily available on our website, and we preach it on a constant basis, but he says, but we are limited at times of what we publish due to these laws in some countries. With the context that I just shared with you that Mr.

Eddington shared with the General Conference of Elders, he finished this part of the address by referencing the famine of the hearing of the word that we see prophesied in Amos chapter 8. It's this passage of Amos 8 that I would like to spend the remainder of the message exploring, and so as we wrap up our time this morning together, let's consider what Scripture says about the famine of the hearing of the word. When we consider, you and I consider, traditional famines, and when we first that word famine enters our mind, whether it be biblical times or in modern day, these are typically related to a lack of food available to an area or to a region. These famines are caused by all sorts of reasons, lack of rainfall, an overabundance of heat that just scorches certain parts of the earth. It could be locusts, it could be an insect that comes and destroys the crops, or it could be governments or groups that hoard the food or control who has access to the food creating these famines. But the famine of the hearing of the word described in Amos will not be due to a lack of technology. It won't be because there's not access to information, but for other social and spiritual reasons that will be behind it.

Considering the Bibles that we have with us today or in our homes for those who are online with us, God's inspired word continues to be the most translated, the most best-selling, and most freely given book in the world. If that's the case, how could there ever be a famine of the word? This is why we sometimes struggle to understand how the words in Amos chapter 8 could come to fruition. Let's open our Bibles for the sermon to Amos 8 and verse 9. Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah.

Going back to my YES lesson roots.

Found Obadiah. Amos chapter 8 and verse 9. It says, Amos was inspired to capture here, and it shall come to pass in that day. And this is a critical aspect because it references a dual prophetic reference to end-time events here. When we see in that day, often that is that dual prophetic reference. It shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into morning and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring saffcloth on every waist and baldness on every head. I will make it like morning for an only sun, and it's in like a bitter day. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor of thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east. They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. In the time leading up to Amos's prophecy that we just read, God's word had been proclaimed through the preaching of the prophets Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Joel, Hosea. Today we have all of these writings as well for our edification, as well as the rest of the Bibles that we have printed in printed form. And the ministry of Jesus Christ today preaches these words and warns of the consequences of sin and the need for repentance. And through our media department, the gospel message of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God goes out through many parts of the world and as we already looked at, reaches millions of people. But today, as in Amos's time, so few will heed the words written in our Bibles and the instruction God gives to live a strong and fulfilling life. Amos prophesied during a time of national prosperity for Israel. That's something that sometimes can skip over as we read the book of Amos and understand the contextual, the historical contextual aspects of what's going on there. The nation was doing pretty good, actually very good, the northern tribes, even though they were off base, even though they had brought in false worship, even though they had chosen other holy days on the calendar in order to keep the feast and to worship God.

From a physical nation standpoint, things are going well for the nation while Amos was prophesying. But this prosperity would not last. Approximately 30 years after Amos shared these words, the northern tribes of Israel would be taken into captivity by the Assyrians and be dissolved among the nations of the world. For us today, there's something we need to remember. Any of us can point a finger at our national leaders and be upset with this party and the choices that they're making, but we got to remember that the other parties are making their own mistakes. Neither party is living up to the standard that God has set for us to live our lives by. And so the other aspect to remember is our leaders are just a reflection of the society that we're part of. They're there because of others who believe in the same values and the same things that they relate to. And so our leadership is just a reflection of the citizens of this nation. It's very much identical to the nation of Israel during Amos's time. The people of Israel had gone off the rails. They were not following God's instructions. They had determined that they knew a better way to live their life. And as we see written in the book of Judges describing the young nation of Israel, by this time the older and much more prosperous nation, followed by everyone doing what was right in his own eyes.

What is this famine of the hearing of the Word? Will Bibles be taken out of people's hands, collected up, and burned? Probably not. But the ability for a person or an organization to teach or explain scripture is more likely the type of famine referenced here in Amos. Remember, it's a famine of the hearing of the Word. Teachers have often been a conduit that God has used to help people learn and understand more about him. Let's look at Romans chapter 10 in relation to this aspect of the message. Romans 10 and verse 14.

There's been times where God himself delivered information such as Ten Commandments to Moses. He says, this is what you need to do. And then Moses came down and relayed those instructions to the Israelites. He was a conduit in God's hands to share the instruction God has given him. And this is how God has used prophets through the ages and ministry up to today.

In Romans 10 verse 14, from Paul's own writing, he verifies this. Romans 10 verse 14, he says, How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? And that would be sent by God. And it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report?

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. By this conduit that God has used for thousands of years, the message of the Bibles that we have in our lap has gone out through the world. Through preachers, through ministers, through prophets, God's Word has continued to be passed on to others. But yet, over the same thousands of years, this message has been under continual attack by Satan. And it is slowly being silenced again today.

And when we consider some of the events of this past year when big tech and social media giants have silenced some very powerful political figures and some corporate CEOs, it really would not take much for our message to be silenced as well. Take, for example, if a list was created of hate—and I'm going to put it in quotes, because that's not us—of hate organizations. Imagine that for a moment.

And those organizations or companies on that list were told they could no longer do business or operate as they had in the past and say they were kicked off the Internet. Sounds impossible, right? Who would kick somebody off the Internet? There are so many ways to do that. Again, from my IT background, I know many of them. But let's say we were kicked off the Internet.

No longer permitted to send mail, maybe. No longer permitted to do business. In effect, we'd be cancelled. Unable to host a website, unable to register an Internet address for people to go to, unable to be found through Google or Bing or Yahoo when somebody searches for the Sabbath, leads to some dead ends. Leads not to us because we've been cancelled.

Unable to send out our magazine or publication. Unable to post videos to commonly used websites like YouTube where people can just—they can upload the silliest thing they want. But then somebody with our important message of the truth of God, the gospel message of the kingdom—can't put that there. Maybe even unable to rent places to meet or to do business.

Imagine if all these things—it really would not take much for all of this to take place and silence the words we share from the Bible and the teachings we provide. And when this occurs, it appears from Scripture that some will search for but be unable to find God's Word being shared. Again, just for reference, Amos 8, verse 12, which we already read, they shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east.

They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it. As our UCG commentary states about Amos chapter 8 in reference to the Israelites, it says, Shockingly, the only thing that could rescue the Israelites at that point—remember, you'd have to read through all of Amos's prophecies. We don't have time to do it. But he offered all these warnings to Israel, saying, If you do not turn back to me, God said, these things are going to go.

Captivity's coming. And our commentary says, Shockingly, the only thing that could rescue the Israelites at this point, which was God's truth, if they would only heed it, is taken away from them. In a similar parallel to our times today, and when this prophecy occurs in our generations or the next, people will realize, I heard this somewhere before about some things happening weird in the world. And then they go searching for it, not to find it.

I want to share something from the Canadian walls that are currently on the books. This is section 319 of their criminal code. And I'm going to share this, and it's going to take a little bit of time, but I've already written out certain parts just to try to streamline it. But this is from the Library of the Parliament of Canada. And it's a section titled on their website, Hate Speech and Freedom of Expression, Legal Boundaries in Canada. This is their walls. This is on their books. And this is our next door neighbor to the north.

Section 3.1 is about hate propaganda. Hate propaganda provisions were first added to the criminal code in 1970 in response to the recommendation of the Special Committee on Hate Propaganda in Canada. The committee emphasized that the high esteem that should be placed on free expression in Canada, which is said in most cases should take precedent over any legal limitations that could be imposed on it. However, the committee explained that such limitations are necessary when liberty becomes licensed and covers the quality of liberty itself with an unacceptable stain. So they recognize that liberty should rise ahead of just some of these ideals. But however, when liberty becomes licensed and covers the quality of liberty itself with an unacceptable stain, then these liberties need to go to the wayside. It goes on to say the hate promotion offenses and related provisions can be found in sections 318 through 320.1 of the criminal code. And we'll go through a few of those.

This is section 318.4 of the criminal code. Defines an identifiable group as any section of the public distinguished by color, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or mental or physical disability. So that's an identifiable group. Under section 319.1, everyone who by communicating statements in a public place incites hatred against an identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace is guilty of an indictable offense. Section 319.2 says it makes it an offense to communicate except in private conversation statements that willfully promote hatred against an identifiable group, which is the same meaning as section 318. Section 319.7 says it defines communicating to include communicating by telephone, broadcasting or other audible or visible means. Public places define to include any place to which the public has access by right or invitation, express or implied. And then statements, in quotes, includes words spoken or written or recorded electronically, electromagnetically or otherwise, and also includes gestures, signs or visible representations. It goes on to say some of the terms used in these provisions have been further defined by Canadian courts. In a 1990 decision, the Supreme Court said that hatred connotates emotion of an intense and extreme nature that is clearly associated with vilification and detestation. It added hatred is predicated on destruction and hatred against identifiable groups, therefore thrives on insensitivity, bigotry and destruction of both the target group and the values of our society. Hatred in this sense is a most extreme emotion that belies reason, an emotion that if exercised against members of an identifiable group implies that those individuals are to be despised, scorned, denied respect, and made subject to ill treatment on the basis of group affiliation.

You and I would disagree from the standpoint that we are not haters. God's word does not support hatred, does not support bigotry, does not support racism. You and I know that.

The Bible is clear that we are to love everyone. We are to love everyone. We are to love everyone.

That we are to love everyone. And God is love. Yet, how society portrays our message could lead to us being identified in a similar category. And some of our, this is from Canada, some of our broadcasts, some of the articles from Beyond Today and some of our Beyond Today recordings can't be played in Canada because of these laws that are currently on the books.

I'd like to kind of finish this section by looking at a couple of Supreme Court rulings in Canada regarding these laws that I just read. So it's the various laws that refer to hatred. And by the way, this last section that I'm reading right now comes from Wikipedia. Now, not everything on Wikipedia can we quote from the lectern, but this seems pretty accurate, and so it's not, everything's not bad about Wikipedia, but you just have to be careful. So it's the various laws that refer to hatred do not define it. The Supreme Court has explained the meeting of the term in various cases that have come before the court. For example, in R v. Kegstra, decided in 1990, Chief Justice Dixon for the majority explained the meaning of hatred in the context of the criminal code.

And this is from, this is quoted from Chief Justice Dixon, hatred is predicated on destruction and hatred against identifiable groups, therefore thrives on insensitivity, bigotry, and destruction of both the target group and the values of our society. Hatred, in this sense, is a most extreme emotion that belies reason and emotion that if exercised against members of an identifiable group implies that those individuals are to be despised. And as we already read, scorn denied respect and made subject to ill treatment on the basis of group affiliation. In 2013, Justice Rothstein, speaking for the Ananimous Court, explained the meaning of hatred in similar terms in relation to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. He says, in my view, detest, excuse me, in my view, detestation, or detest someone and vilification, aptly describe the harmful effects that the code seeks to eliminate. Representation that exposed a target group to detestation tends to inspire immunity and extreme ill will against them, which goes beyond mere disdain or dislike. Representations, vilifying a person or group will seek to abuse, denigrate, or delegit, delegitimatize them, and then denigrate or delegit, delegitimatize them to render them lawless, dangerous, unworthy, or unacceptable, unacceptable in the eyes of the audience.

It says expression exposing vulnerable groups to detestation and vilification goes far beyond merely discrediting, humiliating, or offending the victims. So these, I know this is a lot of information in the process, and I hope that you were able to pick up the gist of not only the laws that are currently in Canada, but then how they've been rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada and how the decisions have been made by their court system on what is hate and what is hate speech and what are hate groups. And again, you and I know, beyond a doubt, that we are not given license to hate anyone. We are not given license to look down on others.

That's not the example we saw in our Lord and Savior. He came to the poor. He came to those who were not receiving the justice from those around them, those who were being held down by the political elite and by the religious elite of that time.

He came to set the captives free, as we see in Scripture. That is the example you and I are to continue to be.

But, as this nation and as this society continues to go down a path of, to be frank, vilifying the Word of God, you and I most likely will be grouped into a class that people don't like. God's Word will be put into a section of the library that people don't like. That is the truth of the matter, as we see as we read the end of the book. We see what's going to happen to the church and to Christians and even to the hearing and ability for the Word of God to be preached and shared.

I know I've spent a lot of time examining the Canadian hate speech laws, but it's important because, as we know, what happens in one nation, often, and in this case, several nations have already got these types of laws on their books, but it normally ends up spreading to other nations as these social thoughts and laws become more accepted.

Now, currently, there is still religious protection in place in Canada, but it is slowly continuing to deteriorate under the weight of groups attacking the values of Christianity.

So, as we head towards the conclusion of this message, what should you and I be doing today knowing a famine of the hearing, the Word, will come in the future?

Throughout the Book of Amos, there were many warnings offered by God through natural disasters that should have gotten their attention, but they didn't heed these warnings or put the connection together that these natural disasters were from God.

Famines, the crops didn't grow right, there was rain, when they didn't need rain and when they needed rain, there wasn't rain.

Amos identifies all these and says these things that happened that you can now think back to, they came from God.

God did this to get your attention, but the nation didn't heed it.

God sent health quakes on the people to get their attention, but they missed the connection again.

God did not allow the end of Israel to come without offering many warnings through his prophets and through the physical events occurring to the people.

We need to consider what is going on in this nation and around the world in the past, in the present, and in the future as it relates to the events happening around us today.

We must be about our Father's business as Christ was in preaching the Gospel message to the world.

We do this, of course, through our own words and our own examples with those we work with, our neighbors, those we go to school with.

They see that light within us.

But we also do it in our support of the Home Office as they share the Gospel message through our media efforts.

But there's another, more personal way we should also be preparing.

This is from an article on our website entitled, Preparing for a Famine of the Word of God, from July 1, 2006.

It states it about as good as I could, and so I think I'll just read it from the last part of the article.

It says, With a coming famine of God's word and mind, His servants today should have that same urgent mindset that Jesus Christ had in His human ministry.

As He told His disciples, The article concludes by saying, While this can seem today a bit of a downer message, it kind of was putting it together for me.

This is not a time we really look forward to.

It's not a checkbox that we can't wait to see occur.

It may hurt our hearts a little bit to just imagine this occurring in our nation.

We have to remember, though, that God is bigger than anything that mankind can do, and His ultimate plan to bring good to this earth will occur.

Next week, we will observe a holiday that reminds us, when God poured out His Spirit on the first Pentecost after Jesus' death, He established His Church.

A group of believers who are led by His Spirit.

Over the centuries that have gone by since that initial Pentecost recorded in Acts 2, when God poured out His Spirit, that initial moment when God's Spirit was poured out to all who believe, there has always remained a Church of God that you and I are blessed to be part of today.

God knows His people, and He continually looks after and provides for them.

And through the meaning of the Fall Holy Days, we look forward to a time when our Lord and Savior will return to this earth.

A time that He will put down the kingdoms of man and establish a right way for people to live their lives.

A time when all who have ever lived will be given the opportunity to truly and deeply know God and to have the opportunity of eternal life presented to them.

This is what you and I know. This is the truth of God's Word.

This gives us hope to continue the struggle that we're in today with life.

This gives us the hope to realize that these prophecies are for our blessings, so that when they occur, we may take a step back in the initial response of what's just occurred and we're not happy about it.

But we won't lose our mind. We won't fall off the course.

We won't wreck the car into the ditch, because we know these things are prophesied to happen, and they will happen.

Just as much as we know these beautiful remembrances in God's Holy Days that we'll picture next week, and that we'll picture in the fall, will come and God's plan will happen.

So we know that a famine of the hearing of the Word is prophesied to happen one day in the future, but we also know this is part of the timeline that will usher in the beginning of a time this world desperately needs.

I'd like to close the sermon today with a remembrance of this future to come.

Turn with me to Isaiah 11 and verse 1.

This is that hope that you and I have, and this is what we keep our vision on, of this future time that things will change in a beautiful way, that we can't even wrap our minds around, but God has also given us this as prophecy to offer that encouragement and that support so that we keep on keeping on.

Isaiah 11 and verse 1, this future beautiful time when God's kingdom is established on this earth.

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes nor by the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall sway the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist.

The wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze, the young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people, for the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious.