Amos 8: 3 And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah: the dead bodies shall be many: in every place shall they cast them forth with silence.
4 Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
5 saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
6 that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
7 Jehovah hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River; and it shall be troubled and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah.
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it.
They attended the temple, they worshiped God with their words; but not their hearts. They sought after prosperity at any cost and with no concern for the poor and the needy. They failed to see God as the treasure of their lives and they failed to see that His words were truth, hope, and joy. Instead they sought after self gain and the more they sought the more they heard only their vain voices of "prosperity gospel", "new age philosophy" and "watered down doctrine". This they continued until God caused a famine of His Word to be present in the land. Sound familiar. Is that not what we have begun to see in our own land? Thousands of churches present in a city with little truth being taught. After all, if we were to preach the truth would we be able to fill our offering plate? Is it not also so true of our government? What does it matter were we to lie or cheat, as long as we proclaim our greatness? As a people, what does it say? Is that desire to proclaim our prosperity and our need to buy a house larger and finer than we can afford part of the dilemma that drives the financial crisis we are in? Have we a created a society of people who believe they are "entitled" and do not appreciate the need to work and sweat that we might have bread?
Do we all believe that we should be entitled to more for less work? Where are our work ethics? We need to awaken from this slumber, put God as foremost–His truth, His Honor. If we all began to do our jobs and live our lives as though we are living and working for God and if we begin to treasure God’s truth as supreme; then and only then will we truly prosper with that which is worth while. We need to each one declare war within our own hearts and let God reign supreme in our own hearts–casting aside those desires for treasures that water down His truth and stand firm for Him.