Amos 7:10–13

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said:

‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
And Israel shall surely be led away captive
From their own land.’ ”

Then Amaziah said to Amos:

“Go, you seer!
Flee to the land of Judah.
There eat bread,
And there prophesy.
But never again prophesy at Bethel,
For it is the king’s sanctuary,
And it is the royal residence.”

Amaziah calls Amos a seer (חֹזֶה “kho-zeh”), instead of a prophet (נָבִיא “nah-vee”). Seer is simply a reference to perception (natural or supernatural). This falls far short of the proper label. Amos is a prophet and Amaziah knows it.

But Amaziah’s misquote of Amos is worse. He tells Jeroboam that Amos said, “Jeroboam shall die by the sword.” Amos didn’t say that. He said, in Amos 7:9, “I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.” In 2 Chronicles 13:20 Jeroboam dies and there’s no mention of a sword.

So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him, and he died.

So Amos speaking the truth leads to his words being twisted into lies.

What a surprise.

We live in an age of twisted words. The internet is an explosion of information—and disinformation. There’s no central point of reference for what truth is. Of course, we know that the point of reference is the Bible, but that isn’t accepted by everyone. The result is chaos. People don’t know what to believe.

So, someone gets the bright idea to publish “fact checks.” That should solve the problem, right?

Not a chance. Fact checks are just as fallen as every other human institution. Facebook recently claimed, in court, that their fact checks are not even presented as facts, and thus constitutionally protected opinion.

facebook-admits-fact-checks-are-nothing-more-than-opinion

We can see this as depressing or as fields white for harvest. People are tired of lies. They’re hungry.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.