A FAMINE OF HEARING THE WORD OF GOD
by
Bertrand L. Comparet
Thoughtless people today are very proud of what they consider our very modern
conditions, and claim that we are very different from our an ancestors. Yet in
truth, there has been no change In the real fundamentals of life since most
ancient times. As one philosopher said, "The more it changes, the more it is the
same. it Are you really any better off because, today, the bandit who robs you
uses a gun instead of a sword, as he would have done 1,000 years ago? Is It
better to have to leap for your life out of the path of an automobile, instead
of a chariot? Have we really progressed because you are now made to pay
excessive taxes with dollars instead of shekels? Are Russia's slaves better off
than the captives of Babylon? Nothing but surface appearances have changed; the
essential realities must remain the same as long as there are men living on
earth.
One of the ancient institutions which has come down to us unchanged Is the
stream of vilification and abuse directed at everyone who protests against
current evils and seeks to warn the public of the consequences of continued
wrongdoing. . Our evils are always organized, because there are always those who
have found out how to get money or power or both out of them. They foresee
the end of their wealth and power if the public ever learns the truth; therefore
they viciously attack everyone who tries to warn the public of what is going on.
Of course, this is not surprising, what is amazing is the degree to which the
public generally loves only its real enemies and hates Its true friends!
About 790 B.C., the prophet Amos was warning the people of the Kingdom of Israel
of the disasters which must overtake them if they allowed their nation to pursue
its corrupt course. Now general corruption cannot exist without the
encouragement and connivance of the authorities whose duty it is to suppress
itjust as corruption in high places cannot exist unless approved, or at least
tolerated, by the general public. When Amos warned that the evils of the day
both weakened the nation and would bring the wrath of God down upon it, he was
accused of sedition, like Jesus who gave the same warning 8 centuries later. We
read, "Then Amazjah, the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam King of Israel,
saying "Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the House of Israel:
the land Is not able to bear all his words."' Also, they tried to drive him out:
"Also Amaziah said unto Amos, 0 thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of
Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more
at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel and the king's court.11 (Amos 7:1213)
Today, we find the same situation: we find a certain "minority group" who have
become extremely wealthy by promoting organized evils, and by their wealth have
gained great power in government power which no admitted alien should have. We
find them in control of Communism elsewhere, and by their control of government
steering the course of this nation toward Communism here. We also find a few
courageous men seeking to awaken the nation to its peril: men like Gerald L. K.
Smith, Upton Close, Major Williams, Joseph Kamp, Charles Lindbergh, Conde
McGinley, and Dan Smoot, for examples. And of course we find the most bitter
hatred directed against these men, whose only "faults" are honesty, patriotism
and truthfulness. Today we still find that the same forces are always attacking
everyone who opposes Communism, and that they always make the same false
accusations. Against Amos, they said "Amos hath conspired against thee in the
midst of the house of Israel: the land Is not able to bear all his words."
Against Jesus, they said, "He stirreth up the people". (Luke 23:5) Against all
patriots who would warn our nation before It Is too late, they cry "Rabble
rouser! Fascist," Every man who says that our American Constitution has proven
to be good and should not be changed Is said to be "extreme right wing."
They warned Amos to "flee thou away Into the land of Judah" (Amos
7:1213) Although Jesus had done miracles of good, yet we read that "they began
to pray Him to depart out of their borders. (Mark 5:17). Today, they try in
every way to bring ruin upon all those who dare speak the truth. The sad thing
is that they are always able to get many thoughtless people to follow them and
stupidly parrot their attacks against all true patriots and against those who
would tell them the truth of religion.
But this, also, is not new. The prophet Amos found the same conditions 2700
years ago. He records that "They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they
abhor him that speaketh uprightly." (Amos 5:10)
So also have vicious attacks been made, in our day, upon SenatorTaft, Senator
McCarthy, Senator Jenner, Senator Eastland, and upon Congressman Martin Dies,
Governor Bracken Lee, to mention but a few. To try to save the people from their
own folly is surely not "How to Make Friends and Influence People."
Patriots warn of the political, economic and social evils inherent in the course
set by the popular Left Wing politicians; and for this they are smeared in the
daily press and over the radio and television by editors and commentators who
have prostituted their talents to the service of a cause which can pay them well
for it. But it is equally true that those few clergymen who dare tell the
religious truth about the moral evil inherent in current policies are also
smeared as "bigots" and "hatemongers".
Why is it that every vicious attack against Christianity by those who fled here
as "refugees", seeking shelter in the kind of civilization that only
Christianity could build why is it that we must take this in silence as being
just the exercise of those supreme rights that minorities are supposed to have?
And yet, when we defend our civilization and our moral stand ards against these
attacks we are told that this constitutes "intolerance"
and , bigotry" on our part! This, also is nothing new. Through the prophet Amos,
God Himself told the people of that day, "But ye commanded the prophets saying
'Prophesy not.'" (Amos 2:12).
It is strange how rare is the quality of moral courage. Lots of men who have
physical courage, who would not run away from a fight, whether with fists or
with weapons, still dare not face the hostility of a wealthy and politically
powerful "minority group And this, too, is an ancient thing, unchanged from that
day to this, and expressly prophesied by Amos. In Chapter 5, verse 13, God says,
"For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the
just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their
right. THEREFORE THE PRUDENT SHALL KEEP SILENCE IN THAT TIME: FOR IT IS AN EVIL
TIME."
Isaiah 59:1415 speaks of the same thing: "Judgment is turned away backward,
and justice
standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and
the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no
Judgment."
What consequences must such "prudence" bring, when the wicked march from power
to greater power in the land, and few dare raise a voice in protest? Amos
8:1112 gives the warning: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, 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 the Lord: 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
the Lord, and shall not find It."
You see this condition largely prevailing right now. In how many churches can
you hear any but "soothing syrup" sermons, to get your mind off the evil
conditions? Just a few years ago, the then head of the National Council of
Churches spoke of what he called "The danger that the great religious awakening
which is taking place in our country might become fanatical and be carried into
our political and business life! If that be danger, I say "Let's have more of
it!" Nothing else can bring us out of this quicksand in which our nation is
sinking. Perhaps they may sermonize In huge indignation against the man who
takes a glass of beer; but how many sermons have you heard denouncing those who
have barred Christ from our schools? How many sermons have you heard demanding
that we cease making treaties and "Executive Agreements" with Russia on terms
satisfactory to the Reds?
The Bible clearly warns us to make no leagues with the enemies of God,
regardless of the ostensible purposes thereof; yet how many churches remind
their people of this. Truly, the "famine of hearing
the word of the Lord" has come upon us. We of the New Christian Crusade Church
are proud that, even in these days our church will always say, "Thus saith the
Lord."
New Christian Crusade Church
