Amos 4:4: “Come to Bethel, and transgress, To Gilgal, and multiply transgressions: And bring your sacrifices in the morning. And your tithes after three days.
Well, there is a lot of revival buzz going on in the Midwest. As I understand this revival began with an unassuming Amish man in Indiana, just your average Joe, well average Joe for an Amish man, who claims no special gifts of preaching or academic degrees from Bible College or Seminary. The Spirit of God manifested Himself in the midst of this quiet Amish community and just spread out from there. It has caught the attention of all the big guns in the prophetic and charismatic community who are emptying their calendars and planning to attend a big event this summer as they feel in their spirit that something big is about to happen.
It seems many times great revivals start with just a humble person seeking the face of God and then the Spirit of God brings some manifestation either in mass repentance, salvation, and/or prayer. The effects are often startling with whole communities coming together and secular media picking up on it. People from around the world are drawn to the location to experience the presence of God in this unusual manifestation and to just refresh their own personal experience with God. Many of our great modern Christian organizations and missions have been birthed through these revivals. Revivals are very Biblical with examples for Josiah to the city of Nineveh all experiencing a time of repentance and turning back to God.
Of course this also attracts another element. The spiritual gold diggers and wannabe prophets who gather not to be humbled and submitted to the presence of God, to confess and repent of their sins and enter a new level in the spiritual walk or a refreshing of their own spirit, these are the opportunist who see a chance to capitalize on something so Godly and pure. They are the ones who dream of hitting it big in the Christian community, they are the ones who want to stand and give the stirring testimonies to excite the brethren. Mark Twain would describe them as the ones who attend a funeral and wish they were the ones in the coffins getting all the attention.
You know who I am talking about. They are the ones who stand up and give the party line, they say the right words, using all the Christian clichés and stale jokes that work wonders when spoken by someone under the power of the Holy Spirit, so they just copy what is said and preached hoping they too get the attention that humble Godly person received but did not really want. Two differences, one they want the attention and two, they are doing it under their own power and abilities. They shout yippee and all that but somehow deep in your spirit, something doesn’t seem right. Of course you will not say anything because everyone around you is shouting yippee and all that and of course it has to be your problem not the guy up front if you are the only one who feels that way. You are not the only who feels that way because you neighbor also feels that way but will not want to admit it for fear you will think they are not spiritual. So you all shout Amen, yippee and all that and give the guy up front all the attention he craves.
Should a true revival break out in the Midwest of historic proportions, you can bet it will soon be diluted by the glory seekers bringing in their personal brand of worship and praise. Each one with their own agenda, their own idea of worship and their own idea as to how a revival should be conducted. The enemy, of course, hates revival but he is an opportunist and if the leaders of this revival are not careful, these opportunist’s seeking some of that gold dust to help them create their own platform launch their personal ministries will turn Chicago in a Bethel and Gilgal and us poor slobs who only want to know God intimately will be duped. If possible even the elect will be deceived.
I speak of the Bethel and Gilgal of Amos’s time. For these places were once places of worship and praise to God, places where revival once took place, however, by the time of Amos something called syncretism crept in. Syncretism is the merging of several originally discrete traditions into one religion. Historians tell us that by the time of Amos, Bethel and Gilgal became the centers of idolatry. This is true, but you need to read further. This was not outright idolatry, it was a watered down version of the true worship of God. Note the verse says bring your sacrifices in the morning and tithes after three days. Tithing was done once a year, but some commentators believe the word “day” is really saying a year, some say, as I do, that these people were going above and beyond the Hebraic law to show everyone how pious they were. Needless to say this was all good Mosaic Law. The next verse says to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving of that which is leavened and proclaim freewill offerings and publish them. God is being very sarcastic here. All these forms of worship are based within proper Hebrew law but are slightly perverted from unleavened to being leaven and to proclaiming your free will offerings, showing off you generosity to bribe God for personal blessings or to just show how spiritual you are. In other words all these forms of worship were not to express their love and praise to God it was just one big carnival where the wanna be preachers and teachers proclaim freely, “Hey everybody, look at me, look how holy I am.”
Gilgal became a magnet for all the prophet wannabes, those who were ready to make a shekel off of the conference center, those who hoped to establish a platform and make a living as a holy man rather than labor in the fields like most people.
Come to Bethel which means the House of God and transgress. The word transgress in Hebrew is pasha’ which means to rebel, revolt, apostatize or break away. This is the same word to describe what locusts do to a field when they strip it clean. God is telling these people that you go to Bethel to strip all the true forms of worship away. What better place to gain a platform and find a following than the center of where it is all happening spiritually. Where people are hungry for God and all they get fed is spiritual junk food.
He further says you go Gilgal to transgress. Gilgal simply means a circle of standing stones. We are not sure how many Gilgals there could be. However, it appears this is also a place of pagan worship which had assimilated the Hebrew religions. This could be the place of the first encampment by Joshua or it could be where Samuel anointed Saul and offered sacrifices. Most likely it was a place of spiritual historical significance and people would visit this area like we visit the holy land today to be close to the ground where Jesus walked. No harm in that, except you start hinting that there is some special blessing from God for making the pilgrimage, then you border on bribing God with you sacrificial works and that is fodder for the con men. The word con in our English language comes from the word confidence. Someone builds confidence in you that they are really God’s anointed and a special agent from God such that you believe everything he says and that is when you better start to watch your wallet.
Maybe we are about to experience a great revival in the Midwest. I am praying for this Amish brother and I am praying that God sends a revival, I am also praying that the enemy does not send his con men.
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