“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” – Amos 5:21-24
Sunday after Sunday, across the land of this backslidden nation of America, multitudes of professing Christians gather to worship the Lord together. Most believe they are truly saved, and that the Lord is pleased with their church attendance. They see going to church as a special favor for the Lord that somehow satisfies Him and makes Him happy. If you are a genuine Christian, a fully devoted and recklessly abandoned disciple of Jesus who has forsaken all to follow Him, and you do not attend a “building” where you worship God with other “Christians”, then you are seen as a weak Christian or even as unsaved and heretical. Most professing Christians completely look down upon and shun those who do not attend a building with others where they worship God together. The immediate thought someone thinks when they hear that a person does not attend a building and submit to a “shepherd” is that they are either in rebellion or they are a weak Christian (if at all saved).
However, the Lord is so terribly grieved with the present state of the church in America that He hates, no He despises, the shameful things that go on at these “feast days” and “solemn assemblies”. As multitudes gather together and sing their songs, clap their hands, dance and leap for joy, and offer the “sacrifice of praise” to the Lord, His anger and wrath is kindled more and more. This is because most of the people who honor Him with their lips have hearts that are far from Him. They lift up their hands to the Lord, but their hands are filthy with the rotten stain of sin. In lifting up their hands to the Lord, calling on His name, they are flaunting the filth of their sin right in His face. They do not have clean hands and pure hearts, instead, their hands are defiled with sin and their hearts are full of all manner of filthiness. Instead of lifting up “holy hands” in the sight of the Lord in worship and adoration, they are lifting up “unholy hands” that are defiled with sin in their self-deception, provoking His anger.
The “sacrifice of praise” in the solemn assemblies of our churches across this nation is absolutely defiled with all sorts of sin. As the offering of praises rise up before the Throne of the Holy One like the smoke of a burnt offering, the Lord takes a sniff and is utterly sickened by the detestable stench. He doesn’t smell purity, righteousness, holiness, love, and obedience to His Son. Instead, He smells adultery, fornication, divorce & remarriage, lying, cheating, covetousness, idolatry, pride, worldliness, and all manner of other evil things. The Lord hates and despises our feast days when we gather together to worship Him hypocritically as we feast on the words of ear-tickling speeches that comfort us in our sins. He utterly refuses to smell in our solemn assemblies because the fragrance of our praise that is ascending before Him is no fragrance at all: it is an abomination! It is a stench to His nostrils and He will not smell because of the blatant and hidden sin! Sin is detestable in His sight, and the smell of defiled praises from lukewarm and sinful “Christians” isn’t a pleasing aroma, it’s a rotten stench that smells more like burning flesh than like the prayers of holy saints.
Under the old Covenant, a lamb that was sacrificed had to be as absolutely perfect as possible. It had to be the best of the flock. It could not have any spots or blemishes whatsoever or it would not be accepted. In fact, if it did have spots or blemishes, it did not please the Lord…it actually made Him angry! Likewise, the sacrifice of our praises that are spotted and blemished with the stains of sin do not please God…they make His wrath burn as He weeps in brokenhearted anguish over the churches that are no longer delivering people from the bondage of their sins by pronouncing the power of Christ to redeem and set free; instead, these same churches have become holding pens for multitudes of deceived sheep heading straight for the day of slaughter: totally unaware! And the hireling shepherds (pastors) are leading their own sheep straight to the butcher (Satan), rather than to the Chief Shepherd (Jesus) who gave His life for His sheep to set them completely free from the dominion, control and power of sin!!!
Though multitudes offer Him sacrifices of “burnt offerings”, “meat offerings”, and “peace offerings”; offerings of tithes and money, of energy, and attention, and of setting aside a time each Sunday morning to sacrifice the morning to Him each week, this all means nothing to Him. It is not what He wants. He will not accept such sacrifices, especially since they are defiled with spots and blemishes. I know of men who religiously devote their time and service into the maintenance and upkeep of the church building in which they attend. They sacrifice their money, time, energy, abilities, and everything they can to upkeep the religious system and “sacrifice unto the Lord” of their labors. However, rather than being pleasing to the Lord, they are only up-keeping an unbiblical system that continues to hold people in bondage and continues to offer up defiled sacrifices before the Lord as they lift up their defiled hands to flaunt their sin in His face. The Lord will not accept such sacrifices, for this is not what He desires.
Sin is so rampant among the people who call themselves Christians in America that the name of Jesus is being blasphemed repeatedly among those that are “in the world” and have no desire to become Christians because of such blatant hypocrisy. Millions upon millions upon millions of souls across America who gather together in their solemn assemblies to worship God have sin in their lives! This is more common than not. Those who do not live in willful sin are very few and far between, which is clearly a practical explanation of the testimony of Jesus Himself when He said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. “ (Mat 7:13-14). In fact, Jesus also said, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luk 13:24). MANY will SEEK to ENTER IN, but SHALL NOT BE ABLE. What a solemn warning!
Those who continue in willful sin and profess the name of Jesus at the same time fall under the judgment of Hebrews 10:26-31: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But aertain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Such people who have willful sin in their lives (sin that they know is wrong and keep doing it anyway), and claim to be Christians, not only do not have forgiveness for their sins, but they are, according to this Scripture in Hebrews:
1. Under the fearsome judgment and fiery indignation –WRATH-- of God which will devour His enemies (and logically are counted as enemies of God Himself despite their lip service and hypocritical shows of religious pretense and hype).
2. Thought worthy in the sight of God of receiving much more terrible judgment than those who died without mercy under the death penalty of the Law of Moses.
3. Guilty of trampling Jesus Christ, the Son of God, under foot.
4. Guilty of counting the blood of Christ as some common, unholy thing (and of having a form of godliness without the power by acknowledging the power of the blood intellectually but denying the power of the blood experientially in its’ ability to deliver and set FREE from all sin.)
5. Guilty of taking advantage of the Holy Spirit and of taking advantage of the very grace that was supposed to forgive and transform them into new creatures in Christ.
6. Going to fearfully fall into the hands of the Living God who promises to take vengeance and judge His people.
7. (Obviously) Commanded to repent immediately and stop willfully sinning against the Lord.
As these multitudes of deceived “Christians” gather together in their church buildings, the clock hits it’s programmed mark and the singing begins. The songs start playing and the people start singing lies. Their excitement and expectancy is built up and they totally cast aside all sense of godly discernment as they embrace spirits of sensuality and soulishness in the name of entertainment and “blessing”. The Lord says in the opening Scripture in Amos, “Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs”. It couldn’t be clearer.
In our day of cookie cutter “Christianity”, where we cut out an institutional mold that we derived from the world and try to shove God in it, we have completely missed the mark and gone astray. Rather than pleasing God by offering ourselves up as living sacrifices and walking in purity, holiness, and righteousness in His sight, we have taken God and tried to mold Him into something that we want Him to be. The mold we created that we try to jam Him into is a mold of prosperity, blessing, lukewarm-ness and compromise. In doing so however, since the One True God refuses to become a pawn in the hands of selfish and sinful men, or of anyone for that matter, we have created a false god that loves the things we love and that is all about “US” and our benefit always. However, this has led to blatant idolatry in the church and is a grievous abomination that cries out for the Lord’s judgment.
How long shall He bear the burden of our iniquities?
The Lord will not listen to the noise of hypocritical songs. He hates the stench of sacrifices and offerings that are stained with the spot of sin. He will not smell in our solemn assemblies so long as they continue like this. This is never what He wanted and history, coupled with clear Scripture, prove this un-excusably. Instead, He only asks for one thing: That we, “…let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” The True God desires the righteous judgment of wholehearted love & affection, and righteousness that flows like Niagara Falls. He doesn’t want fancy shows with large choirs, hip songs, smiling preachers and lukewarm pew-sitters. He just wants, no, He jealously longs for the undivided affection and love of His people who forsake all that is in the world to follow Him in obedience because they desire to please Him. That is all.
If you are among those that lift up their sins in the face of God with unholy hands, and you partake of the evil deeds of hypocrites by supporting their foolish facades, I beseech you to “come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Cor 6:17). Be separate from them, and be holy, for holy is the Lord God who calls out to you. Now is the time to repent. He would rather you be hot, on fire for Him, and burning with zeal, or to be cold, chilled, and full of hate than to be lukewarm, tepid and indifferent with blatant hypocrisy. Don’t partake of those who are lukewarm and thereby share in their sins, for those who trample Christ underfoot by living in willful sin and trying to praise Him anyway shall receive the greater damnation. Instead, wax on fire for God in genuine and heartfelt repentance and let the light of Christ shine through you in blazing holiness by the power of the HOLY Spirit. Let judgment run down as rushing waters, and let righteousness come down as a mighty stream.
“For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.” – Jeremiah 23:18-20
-Josef Urban