One of Bible's blackest verses

Amos 7: [9] And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

[10] Then Amaziah 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.

"You remember who Bethel is from Amos 4: 'Come to Bethel and transgress.'

"Here's the heart, the seat of the Baal worshipping apostate religion in Israel. They claim to be Israel, they claim to be worshipping the God of Israel, they claim to be faithful and true," explains Richard Jordan.

"They're the crowd Jesus says of in Matthew 7, 'Many are going to say in that day, Lord, Lord, and I'm going to say I never knew you. They're going to say, Hey, wait a minute, we cast out devils in thy name, we did this, that and the other, and I'm going to say I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity. You're in a false religion, claiming to be mine and you're not.'

"Satan never flies under his own banner; he always flies under the lie. He's a counterfeiter. He's the imitator.

"Listen, you get a Bible that tells you in Ephesians 5 that you're to be an imitator of Jesus Christ, you know what you got. An imitator is not the real thing.

"So, the religious leaders of the northern kingdom, up in Bethel, they come to Jeroboam, the king of Israel . . . now you got the religious leaders going to the political leaders, saying, 'Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words.'

"They're going to go to the government and try to get the government to move on you: 'What I'm saying is the standard; the government says so!' So they go to the king and say, 'King, they're against you!' 

"Amos is preaching against religious, spiritual corruption, but the king was doing it too, so they're going to use the government. They say, 'We took a poll and we've discovered that the people don't want it this way.'

Amos 7: [11] For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.

[12] Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
[13] But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.

"You notice how they've blended the two together and made them one. And those that stood up like Amos did and denounced sin, well, they didn't love them. It was, 'Let's kill them.'

*****

"If you want to see one of the blackest verses in all of the Word of God, it’s in the first verse of II Chronicles 18: [1] Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab.

“You know what he did? He went over to the side of a Baal-worshipping king who didn’t care anything about God’s Word or people and was married to Jezebel, the priestess of Baal.

“From that point on, Jehoshaphat went in the tank. The lesson is you don’t want to compromise what God’s Word says; you'll wind up in a mess.

"Just in the previous chapter (II Chronicles 17), Jehoshaphat King of Judah was commended for his zeal in suppressing idolatrous worship: [6] And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.

[7] Also in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes, even to Ben-hail, and to Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nethaneel, and to Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.
[9] And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.

“They had their Bibles and once they got through Bible school, they went out and started teaching. So you see what we do isn't strange at all.

"The Book was the key. You go on down in that passage and you see there was tremendous victory for them. Nobody made any war. Everybody sent them presents, peace and prosperity.

“As verses 10-11 say, [10] And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
[11] Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and tribute silver; and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he goats.