I believe I have mentioned before that I took a class on church history in college. For one assignment, I was asked to summarize the history of the church in a rather brief essay. For my submission, I received a remarkably low grade compared to what I normally earned in my papers. Why? My professor, a stout evangelical, did not like that I included some of the church’s embarrassing acts, such as the Crusades and the Inquisition. I had attacked the church… by merely including details that were omitted in the course textbook.

The church is far from perfect. It has never been perfect. Like every individual being, it has fallen short of God’s grace. Being set apart does not negate this fact. David sinned. Jeremiah sinned. I have certainly sinned. And so has the church. History requires honesty—whether we like the truth or not. The church has done many great things in the past two millennia. But it has also committed horrendous acts. Israel, likewise, is a great nation. However, it is far from perfect. And in Amos, we find that, like the church, Israel has committed horrible deeds.

My last post differs from everything I have posted on Living by the Logos. I did not address the problem of suffering. I addressed the “problem,” if you will, of being set apart. I (briefly) addressed the prophet Jeremiah’s calling and mentioned not one word about suffering. This was intentional. I composed the previous post the way I did to set the stage for this post. Without a doubt, God calls people and sets certain people apart. But it is not always honorable, as we will see with Amos and the nation of Israel.

Do two walk together
    unless they have agreed to do so?
Does a lion roar in the thicket
    when it has no prey?
Does it growl in its den
    when it has caught nothing?
Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground
    when no bait is there?
Does a trap spring up from the ground
    if it has not caught anything?
When a trumpet sounds in a city,
    do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city,
    has not the Lord caused it? Amos 3:3-6

The simple answer to each of these questions is “no.” Shalom M. Paul believes the questions are incorporated to display “the irresistible nature of cause and effect.”¹ I personally believe the last question is designed in such a way to demonstrate that even disasters are the result of God’s will. To paraphrase, if a city suffers, has not God set it apart to do so? Has not God set Israel apart to suffer because of its misdeeds?

As I discussed in earlier entries to the project, particularly concerning the oracles against the nations, Amos upholds the prophetic view of suffering. This prophetic view simply holds that God inflicts suffering upon those who are disobedient to him. If God punishes, then the punishment due to a particular people is inevitably God’s will. I doubt any believer wants to agree with me on this. We do not want to believe that harm, whether deserved or not, is something that God causes to fulfill his purpose. But, in the book of Amos and other prophets, it is indubitably God’s will to make people suffer.

“Can two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (3:3). A few years ago, when I was in rehab for alcoholism, I did a quick reading of Amos. This is one of the verses that I highlighted. A simple question, yet something of the wording really struck a chord with me. In that moment, I was being punished. I had sinned. Waking up one morning after a night of heavy drinking to find myself naked on the floor, covered in cuts and bruises, and having to admit that I, indeed, had a problem. In that moment, I experienced a degree of suffering I had never known. I had no choice but to continue my rampage of drinking or humbly admit that I needed help. Lots of it.

Can I walk with God unless he and I have agreed to do so? Laid up in that clinic, I knew that I was trying to walk with God, and yet I had not agreed to. There was no mutual consensus. I wanted to walk with God my way, not his. And what was the result? I suffered. It was a tremendous struggle to overcome my addiction to alcohol. But I could not have recovered without that suffering. It was, I believe, God’s will to make me suffer so that I would correct my mistakes.

And for Amos, the nation of Israel had sinned. They took advantage of the poor, they desecrated the temple, and neglected the faithfulness God had shown them. And when judgment day came, they did not receive a happy Pureflix resolve. God did not simply bless them, leading them to realize what they had done. He, through Amos, announces that he will smite the nation and, as a result, humble them. And thus, God’s will is to crush them, “as a cart crushes when loaded with grain” (2:13 NIV). The nation’s pain and misery is God’s will. As a result of their sins, this is what they are set apart for.

Jeremiah was called. He was set apart to do great things for Yahweh. And so was Israel. But Israel was also set apart to suffer because they violated their divine laws. The church may be set apart. Indeed, when it was instituted in the New Testament, it was certainly set apart. It faltered in the Crusades. It faltered in the Inquisition. And it most certainly has faltered in the modern world, for a list of reasons I cannot even begin. It is not a holy place. It has no protection from God’s wrath. It is a very human institution, much like Israel in Amos’ day.

As I have discussed in this project, Israel received a greater punishment than its neighboring nations. Why? Because God set it apart. God selected Israel to accomplish his will. God gave Israel the Law, and stomped on it in Amos. He set the church apart, too. God is not going to rapture the church. If and when the end comes, the church will not escape his wrath. It will face the brunt of such fury.

1. Shalom M. Paul, “Amos 3:3-8: The Irresistible Sequence of Cause and Effect,” H AR 1 (1983) 203-20.

Yet, the church will not face this judgment. You are definitely familiar with the extrabiblical concept of the rapture. Before this day of judgment comes, God is going to rescue the church and place it in heaven. The sins of church-going Christians? Forgotten. Erased. As long as you attend church, proclaim the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and deny your former unbelieving self, you will not face the wrath due to, say, Hollywood.

In Amos, God does not save his chosen from justice. He does not move these people and then destroy the land in which they lived. Because they are his people, they are even more deserving of his wrath. We’ve covered the Oracles Against the Nations. The foreign nations are doomed, no doubt. But Israel, the nation God selected to fulfill his will, faces a lengthier and more painful fate than its neighbors.

Let me clarify that I am not arguing Amos is an apocalyptic book. Its focus does not lie in the end of the world. But it reveals an interesting aspect of God’s character that you will not hear about in the church. God does not overlook the sins of those who recite a statement of faith. Because they are committed to him, and yet continue to stray from his commands, they stand in greater judgment than those who do not know him or reject him.

Open your eyes to the evil of the modern evangelical church. The sex abuse scandals rocking the Southern Baptist Convention (which it tried to hide), the abuses of power and bigotry from Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church, the corruption in the Catholic Church that has defined it for centuries. And the list goes on and on. The church is supposed to be a safe haven, a reflection of what heaven is like. But every church I have attended is marred with scandals. And it isn’t just my luck.

A Timeless Warning from Amos

In the prophetic literature of the Old Testament, we find a time in history where God’s chosen were defined by their sin. And God does not rapture them. Consider what Amos prophesies for Israel:

“Now then, I will crush you
    as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.
The swift will not escape,
    the strong will not muster their strength,
    and the warrior will not save his life.
The archer will not stand his ground,
    the fleet-footed soldier will not get away,
    and the horseman will not save his life.
Even the bravest warriors
    will flee naked on that day,”
declares the Lord.

Israel will be crushed. The swift cannot escape. The archer will falter. And the bravest of the brave, the strongest of the strong will flee naked. They do not escape the wrath of God; they are at the very center of it all.

In the preceding verses (2:9-12), God reminds the nation of how he has cared for them. He destroyed their enemies. He orchestrated the exodus. He gave them prophets. He saved the nation from the punishment they deserved. But they continue to neglect him; and this time, he will not revoke the punishment due to them. Shalom M. Paul words this concept with great precision in his commentary: “The acts of kindness of God stand as a stark antithesis to their persistent deeds of disobedience.”¹

Like the previous oracles, we must interpret the oracle against Israel within a military context. The crimes for which the first six nations will suffer are war crimes; the crime for which Judah is indicted is theological. We find a sense of synergy in the oracle against Israel; because they are God’s chosen, the oppression and injustice the nation has caused will result in military defeat. God is not going to simply wipe Israel off the map with natural disasters; he is going to use its enemies to destroy it, and he will weaken the nation to ensure their defeat.²

What does this mean? Imagine you are an Israelite in the sixth century BCE hearing Amos’ proclamation. Surely, you would want to deny this impending doom. A nation is going to overtake us? Well, we have a great army, so good luck! But Amos does not simply say a nation will rise up against them. God, their God, will weaken their strongest warriors. As Tchavdar Hadjiev argues, “Under divine pressure human skill loses its usefulness.”³ And thus, Amos’ message challenges the idea that somehow, some way, Israel will avoid God’s wrath.

Let us return to the present. We hear that the church will avoid God’s wrath at the tribulation. Where do you find this in the Bible? Can you? Not without taking select passages out of context, as the church does with great ease. The church is hardly innocent. They bear the special status of God’s chosen, as Israel did in Amos’ day.

Does this mean the church will avoid God’s wrath? I believe Amos would agree that, no they would not. In fact, they should expect to face the brunt of it all.

Personal Reflection

Not all churches are bad. Not all pastors are scandalous liars. But can we say the global church is innocent? Look at its history. Look at the controversies going on in the present day. I do not think anyone can argue that the church is without sin. If and when the end comes, will the church avoid God’s wrath? A biblical answer would not support the idea of the rapture. A biblical answer would say that the church is due for an even greater punishment than those who do not know God.

I have spent the better part of my life attending church. For a few years, I even worked for a Southern Baptist megachurch. Regardless of denomination, the church concerns itself with lesser things. It’s all about attendance. It’s all about a show. It’s all about convincing the audience to overlook the crimes of the church and support its cause (especially financially!). The church is a business. It is not what the early Christians created, a haven of hope and justice.

It is characterized by rampant injustice. And maybe I’m just crazy, but I believe God will not save the church from what it deserves. I believe the God of the Bible, the God of Amos, the God of the church, will ensure that even the most prominent pastors flee naked on that day of judgment.

1. Paul, Shalom M. Amos: A Commentary on the Book of Amos, edited by Frank Moore Cross Fortress Press, 2016, 87

2. Hadjiev, Tchavdar S.. Joel and Amos : An Introduction and Commentary, InterVarsity Press, 2020, 114.

3. Ibid

This is the question begged in the New International Version’s rendering of Psalm 121:1. Odds are, it won’t take you long to formulate an answer to this question. You answer may be, much like the following verse, “my help comes from God.” That’s it. That’s the end of the story, you could say.

Where will your help come from?

This is how the Complete Jewish Bible translates the same question posed in Psalm 121:1. Notice a difference? The question is not a matter of where your help surely comes from, but from where will it? Will your help come at all? Will your help come from God? Will it come from the church? Will it?

Readers of the Bible in the 21^st Century take this verse as a hopeful assurance that God is their help. There may be nothing wrong with this, but we need to keep in mind the same thing I address in every post: the Scriptures we read were written in a different time, under specific circumstances, and for specific audiences. The Psalmist did not simply decide to pen a few sweet words to remind him of his faith in God.

An important question to ask in biblical exegesis is this: where is the author at when crafting these words? I do not mean geographical location. I am not concerned with which mountain the psalmist has set his eyes upon. Where is he at spiritually? In many of the psalms, the writers are not in desirable states. They may write beautiful words and ideas about who God is, but they do this as they are walking in darkness you and I can hardly fathom.

For the record, we have no idea who wrote this Psalm. There is no mention of an author or geographical location, and what we do find of such in the text is ambiguous. It is widely believed that the psalmist is referring to Mount Zion, being the mountain where God resides in the Old Testament, but this is not definitive.¹ What we do know is that the psalmist “is full of ardent longing yet fearful of the dangerous journey” that lies ahead.²

So what purpose, then, does this psalm serve? According to one commentator, “Psalm 121 is about individual human life, always threatened, and the promise of Yhwh’s all-encompassing protection.”³ Our lives on earth are characterized by suffering. Indeed, I might argue, our lives are engulfed in suffering. Each day is a journey in which we gaze upon the mountains and ask, “From where will my help come?”

I would also like to address the symbolism in this passage. What do you think the psalmist means by “mountains?” Are they referring to physical mountains? Are they looking to the greatest heights on the earth and questioning if their help is greater than the grandeur before them? Maybe so. But commentators offer some different suggestions.

Firstly, the mountains may represent the difficulties we face in life. The mountain may be the mountain of grief, the mountain of pain, the mountain of loneliness, etc. Under this interpretation, “Verse 1 would then be a very concrete expression of concern and anxiety.”⁴ It is certainly a debatable point, but often what causes anxiety is not where we have come from, but where we are headed. Will God meet us at the peak of the mountain? Or will we find ourselves alone?

Another interpretation suggests that the mountains may represent various sources of help. I personally find this interpretation more fitting within the psalm’s context. It was written in a time and place where if you did not believe in one God, you believed in multiple gods. One mountain may represent Zeus, the other Astarte. Similarly, in a modern reading, one may represent the church, another the government. Will our help come from one of these?

The psalmist answers that question, “No.” There is one source of strength. There is one source of help in times of distress. It is not one mountain; it is not any of the mountains. That help, he proclaims, is “Adonai, the maker of heaven and earth” (121:2). His help comes not from the mountains; it comes from the maker of the mountains.

Personal Reflection

Recently, I found myself in a place comparable with that of the psalmist. I asked from where my help will come. I believed my help would come from those close to me. When that failed, I believed my help would come from what I do. That failed. I believed it would come from within. More than the previous, that failed and it hurt when it did.

Where does my help come from? Where will it come from? As I mentioned in my previous post, I found myself at the bottom—again. When you find yourself at the lowest depths imaginable, you can no longer look down. There is nothing there. It forces you to look up. Not to look up to the mountains, but to look beyond them. Beyond what our eyes can see. That, I believe, is where our help will come from.

1. Adamo, David T. and Bukola Olusegun. “The Assurance that Yahweh can and Will Keep His Own: An Exegesis of Psalm 121:1-8.” Theologia Viatorum (Sorenga) 46, no. 1 (2022), 2.

2. Ibid.

3. Hossfeld, Frank-Lothar, Erich Zenger, Linda M. Maloney, and Klaus Baltzer. Psalms 3: a Commentary on Psalms 101-150. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2011, 320.

4. Ibid., 321.

Wow! Is God speaking to me in this verse? He has a plan for my life, and I should not let my struggles discourage me from understanding that he is working things in my life for the greater good.

What I have just provided in a few short sentences is the contemporary Christian interpretation of one single passage from the Old Testament. But is this the way we should interpret the text? If you ask me, it seems rather self-centered. If you believe in God and if you believe that God has a plan for you, I do not wish to discourage you from this line of thought; what I would like to do, however, is correct the way we approach this verse from a modern perspective.

I will be the first to say it, and I will be rather blunt: Jeremiah 29:11 was not penned with you in mind. It is in the Bible and it may provide practical knowledge for navigating your life on earth, but the purpose of this passage is not the gratification of 21^st century readers. Its purpose is not to construct a theology of a God who intercedes on your behalf when you mess up or make the wrong decision. Like the rest of the Bible, it was written in a specific time, for a specific people, as part of the message of one of the biblical authors.

I’ve discussed the problems with isolating single verses before. When we do this, we ignore the greater context of the book and interpret it in the way we want to, rather than what it was written for. Again, I will use the trail-mix analogy. To read the Bible, you cannot pick out the pieces that you like and want and discard the rest. You have to take the whole scoop and process every part. Otherwise, you are doing yourself and the Bible a great disservice. You are seeing things only the way you want to, rather than for how they really are.

What Does the Text Say?

Jeremiah was written around the time of the Babylonian exile in 586 BCE. At the time of composition, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had fallen along with much of Judah.¹ The nation is in a dire state of suffering and continues to reject the teachings of the prophets, who preached repentance. The general message of Jeremiah is that Judah is going to be destroyed by Babylon if the nation does not repent; however, it will eventually recover, and Babylon will later be destroyed.² Jeremiah is attempting to wake the nation up so that they will not face doom, but the hearts of his audience are stone cold.

Now, let’s zero in on Chapter 29. Jeremiah 29:1-32 contains three letters. I will only deal with the first letter here, which comprises verses 1-23. It is believed that this letter was sent after the deportation of exiles around 597 BCE.³ Interestingly, there is no opening salutary superscription with this letter, leading many scholars to believe that what we possess in 1-23 is not a verbatim copy of the letter, but a general summary.⁴ Additionally, you will notice that the letter is preceded by an editorial superscription which describes the circumstances of the letter, what it concerned, who wrote it, and who delivered it.

In the letter, we find that God has orchestrated the exile (he has caused the suffering of Israel). He encourages the exiles to participate in the welfare offered by the land they have been sent to (29:7). He also warns them of false prophets active in the land, pleading with them to reject these teachings (8). He then explains that Babylon’s rule will only last seventy years, then he will fulfill his promise of returning them (10).

And then we have the verse in focus. God is aware of the plans he has made for these people, and he intends to bring them into fulfillment. After this promise, he continues to promise that he will listen when they pray, they will find him when they seek him, and, lastly, he will reverse their exile (12-14). And then, as is customary of the God of the prophets, he will incite violence against the Babylonians.

The promise of Jeremiah 29:11 is a specific promise. Does this mean that modern believers cannot find practical application of this text? Absolutely not. In the following section, I would like to offer my personal exegesis of this.

Personal Note

I have long noticed a very individualistic drive within the church when we interpret the Bible. Christians, including my former self, tend to ask “What does the Bible say to me?” It may not sound like there is anything wrong with asking this question, but there is. It promotes an individualistic worldview. It robs the Bible of its original context. And, most importantly, it promotes complacency.

When we read Jeremiah 29:11 from the perspective of the self, we fall into the trap of assuming “it’s just me and God; nothing else matters.” We lose sight of community. Our will to help others, and to be helped by others, diminishes. We become focused on the struggles of ourselves and reject that everyone is hurting. The Christian. The agnostic. The atheist. The pagan. Everyone is hurting. And while it is more than okay to be hopeful for ourselves, we need to think about how we can give hope to others. It doesn’t have to be religious hope. I am ABSOLUTELY NOT asking you to go converting people. Accept that there are differences and show love.

The Old Testament is the foundation of the three major Abrahamic religions. What Jeremiah 29:11 says will read differently to the Jew than the Christian, or the Christian than the Muslim. What I love about studying the Bible from a historical (and not religious) perspective, is that I find universal truths within it. I do not find truths confined to the church. This does not mean my view is greater than someone who reads it in a Christian or Jewish light, but it shows what I can apply from this text as a nonreligious person. And what I find is that there is something we can all agree on.

Lastly, and this point touches on a religious rendering of the text, I believe modern interpretations of Jeremiah 29:11 promote complacency. If God has a plan for me, then I do not have to do anything! Whether I love or hate, whether I attend church or don’t, whether I am active in my community or not, God has plans and he will bring them into fruition. This is dangerous. What will this do to minimize the prevalent suffering in the world? Nothing! If God has a plan for you, then he has a plan for the other person. For the Jew. For the Christian. For everyone. It is okay to believe that there is a god who has a plan for you, but please; do not become complacent.

Make a difference in this world. Every action, no matter how big or small, makes a difference. Make it a good one! Again, we all have trials. But let us not become so tied up in those or our hope to escape that we fail to help others in their suffering. God may have a plan for them, and that plan could be you.

1. Henry H. Halley, Halley’s Bible Handbook, 24^th edition, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1965, 307

2. Ibid., 308.

3. Kaiser, Jr., Walter C.. Walking the Ancient Paths : A Commentary on Jeremiah, Lexham Press, 2019, 242.

4. Ibid., 245.

While there is no problem with patriotism, American evangelicals take it to a much different extreme. Look at their fearless leader, lord, and savior, Donald Trump, for example. Evangelicals want to ‘make America great again.’ But was it ever “great,” to begin with? The rest of the world is familiar with American history, while America tries block out its most embarrassing acts. Evangelicals are at the forefront of this drive to rewrite history. But as Amos makes clear, there is nothing that can make his God look away from such destruction.

Amos’ Oracles Against the Nations make it clear that the enemies of God’s “chosen” will not go unpunished for their atrocious crimes. Imagine this setting in the modern world. Imagine a prophet, called by God, appearing to MAGAland to tell them of the forthcoming destruction of its enemies. Russia? China? Iran? God is going to set fire to them. Surely, these evangelicals would follow along with dreamy eyes.

But what about when the prophet suddenly changes course, and begins to lash out against America? What if the prophet speaks of American slave history, or the inhumane experiments conducted by the U.S. government in the twentieth century (ex. Project CHATTER, MKUltra)? The current social injustice, prevalent racism, sexism, and oppression? What, when the prophet declares that America faces a more sure destruction than its enemies? I don’t know about you, but I hear chants of denial in the distance.

Amos, from the southern kingdom of Judah, focuses his prophetic activity in the northern kingdom of Israel. The book starts out with the oracles against foreign nations. Then, suddenly in 2:6-16, the prophet condemns the nation of Israel itself in an oracle lengthier and more descriptive that the previous ones. And that will become the bulk of his message to this kingdom.

“Your hands are covered in blood, maybe even more so because I have set you apart, and you have rejected me and your own people,” is essentially Amos’ message from God.  Or, as James Luther Mays explains in his commentary on the book, “The certainty that Yahweh has already initiated the punishment of his foes and cannot be restrained is the foundation of Amos’ entire message.”¹

The first six nations have committed war crimes well deserving of divine intervention. Judah, the questionable oracle, is guilty of not keeping God’s instructions. But what is Israel to be charged with? Social injustice and the rejection of God’s commands. Their crimes are socio-economic and religious.²

And because they have the special chosen status that American evangelicals now proclaim, they are even more deserving of punishment than any of the aforementioned nations. They see this special status as something to be taken advantage of, something to boast about; not something to make them hold themselves more accountable. It was so for the Israelites in Amos’ days, and it is still true and relevant for the world we live in today.

Amos begins with Yahweh’s condemnation:

“For three sins of Israel,
    even for four, I will not relent.
They sell the innocent for silver,
    and the needy for a pair of sandals.” (Amos 2:6, NIV)

Once again, slavery is presented as an abomination to God. But, differing from the crimes of Philistia and Phoenicia, Israel is not selling prisoners of war into slavery, as was custom in the war culture of the ancient Near East. The key word here is “the innocent,” translated from the term saddiq. According to Mays, this term “designates the innocent party in a legal process, the man in the right whom the court should vindicate.”³ The “needy” in the last line of the verse represents those who have no money, power, or even aid from the courts.⁴

Now, think of the political landscape in the United States. Think of George Floyd. Think of the victims of school shootings. Simply open the news and look at the injustice dealt to the innocent, the victims of wrongdoings, those affected by natural disasters. Instead of the nation pulling together to address the problems, every act is politicized. A school shooting happens and one party advocates for gun reform, the other insists that guns are not the problem. The media is full of commentary, but no actions. Very infrequently even a call to action. And where is the church?

As former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, J.D. Greear, misunderstands:

“We love our country, but God has not called us to save America — he’s called us to build the church and spread the gospel and that is our primary mission.”⁵

From “Woke War: How Social Justice and CRT Became Heresy for Evangelicals”- see footnote for further reading on the topic!

We focus so heavily on the acts that occur, but give very little consideration to those dealt the injustice. Why do we listen to politicians and news outlets, and not the ones who have experienced the trauma firsthand? Why do we advocate for change, and then sit by and expect change to magically occur, as Greear does? We do not listen to the innocent. Instead, we publicize them and use them as political weapons. Where is the true change?

The point is that social injustice is a very real, very frightening thing. And it is prevalent. I cannot say that I know how it is dealt with around the globe, but I see how it is handled in the United States. Every day, it seems. Evangelicals, more often than not, are the ones advocating for the right to own guns. They downplay the social injustice in the country. As such, the blood is on their hands, too.

Christians should be at the forefront of the fight against social injustice. After all, they have the better moral compass! But no. You do not see evangelicals advocating for gun reform. You do not see evangelicals fighting racism and oppression. You see them urging us to “return to God.” That will surely stop the violence, right? All the oppression we see is just the result of a moral failure! The church will surely make it right. If everyone sits in the sanctuary listening to a pastor spew lies and presuppositions concerning the Bible, that will fix everything!

Meanwhile, the church sits by as all the madness ensues. Instead of striving to make a difference, they want to grow congregations. They want church attendance to go up. Pastors preach on how we can live with the madness, instead of how we can advocate for change. What do we learn from Amos’ Israel? That they, too, sat by idly while oppression raged. They fed into the mayhem, as modern evangelicals do. And they faced God’s judgment. So, too, will the evangelical church of America.

A Note on the Political Nature of this Post

I hate politics. I absolutely despise American politics. My thinking does not align with either of the major political parties in the United States (since, you know, they are the only options). I trash Trump because he is a trashy human. I attack the Christian right because it does nothing when it should. As I mentioned in the post, everything in the States is politicized. I am not attempting to politicize the Bible. Social injustice should not be a political dilemma, but it is here and that is a problem. That is why this post is heavily critical of American politics and the church’s role in such a matter.

1. James Luther Mays, Amos: A Commentary, in The Old Testament Library. Edited by G. Ernest Wright, John Bright, James Barr, and Peter Ackroyd. Philadelphia, PA: The Westminister Press, 1969, 24

2. Ferry Y. Mamahit and Pieter M. Venter. “Oracle Against Israel’s Social Injustices: A Rhetorical Analysis of Amos 2:6−8.” Hervormde Teologiese Studies 66, no. 1 (2010): 3, DOI: 10.4102/hts/v66i1.729.

3. James Luther Mays, 46

4. Ferry Y. Mamahit and Pieter M. Venter, 6

5. Bob Smietana, “Woke War: How Social Justice and CRT Became Heresy for Evangelicals,” Religion News, February 7, 2022, https://religionnews.com/2022/02/07/woke-war-why-social-justice-became-heresy-for-evangelicals-owen-strachan-crt-southern-baptists-trump/