Newsletter #250 - August 1999 - By Shepherds Chapel - http://www.shepherdschapel.com/

There is a great difference between chaff and wheat. God will separate the wheat from the chaff. The prime of the Hebrew word for chaff means to hang down or fall off. To fall away means to apostatize. Chaff is not good. The elect must stick with God's Word and not fall for the chaff. God has things for us to do. Let's begin our study in Amos.

Amos 8:1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And He said, "Amos, what seest thou?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then said the LORD unto me, "The end is come upon My people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

Summer fruit means ripe fruit. This fruit is ready for harvest, meaning the last days are near. For the most part, the harvest means chastisement. Most will be deceived.

Amos 8:3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

Biologically speaking they are alive; however, they are spiritually dead.

Amos 8:4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

The false teachers cheat the needy out of truth. They are robbing people of God's Word. The chaff is causing God's children to fall away from Him.

Amos 8:6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?'

The refuge is the chaff. How will antichrist come into power? He will offer prosperity and peace. He will be able to buy many souls. Is your soul for sale?

Amos 8:7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

God doesn't forget good works or evil works.

Amos 8:8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

Satan will send a flood of lies? How are you doing? You should be immune to that flood of lies, because you love God and have His seal in your mind.

Amos 8:9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

That will be a day of darkness to some. The children of light won't be in darkness. Hold your places in Amos, and we are going back one book to Joel.

Joel 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

The enemy is great and strong. There has never been nor will there ever again be so many deceived by the enemy. That is the reason for the darkness. Let's return to Amos 8.

Amos 8:10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

When those who see the true Messiah returning after having worshiped antichrist, it will be a sad sad day for them.

Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

The famine of the last days will not be for physical food or water. The traditions of men and false teachers are causing God's children to spiritually starve and thirst. God's Word is filled with promises and blessings; however, if you never hear His Word, you can't claim the promises and blessings. Don't allow the chaff to become mixed with your wheat! Let's turn to Micah.

Micah 3:5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, "Peace;" and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

False prophets don't put truth in the minds of the people. Not only that, but their sole purpose is to rip the people off.

Micah 3:6 "Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

Separate yourself from them. They are losers. They are bound for darkness. Be a child of light.

Micah 3:7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God."

God doesn't answer those that are ignorant of His Word. God foretold us all things in His Word. It is written. Have you read it? Let's continue our study in Isaiah. Do you want to know what it will be like in the latter days?

Isaiah 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

This verse frightens many people. They don't understand that these verse are the burden of Babylon. The Lord will destroy Babylon, which is to say confusion, with truth. You have nothing to fear.

Isaiah 13:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: 8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

The labor pangs are ever closer together. The birth of a new age is near. Some of you have a fantastic role to play for God at the end of this dispensation and the next.

Isaiah 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Habitual sinners that refuse to hear God's truth will be destroyed with Satan at the end of the millennium.

Isaiah 13:10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

The light of Jesus Christ is so bright that other sources of light will be overshadowed.

Isaiah 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

You should feel sorry for those who treat you wickedly. It is just as if they stuck their finger in God's eye. They will pay.

Isaiah 13:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

Ophir is the purest gold. That is what God thinks of His children that love and serve Him. Don't sell yourself out to antichrist. You are precious to the living God. Let's go to the New Testament. If you tend to worry, these scriptures are for you.

Luke 12:22 And He said unto His disciples, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

You don't need to worry about these things.

Luke 12:23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. 24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?

Your souls is precious to God. You will be spiritually fed, if you go to His Word for meals.

Luke 12:25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?

Those who worry aren't able to add one moment to their lives is the meaning of this verse.

Luke 12:26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

God is able to make your life beautiful, if you love and serve Him.

Luke 12:28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith? 29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

Worry is a waste of time.

Luke 12:30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

Father knows what you need, and He will provide for your need, if you are doing His will.

Luke 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. 32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

It pleasures God to provide for those who seek Him.

Luke 12:33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

Your real riches are those tucked away in your mind that can change someone's life. Spend those riches freely. Plant seeds of truth.

Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

I hope you can truly say that your most valued treasure is your relationship with God. If it is, no thief can steal your treasure, and no moth can corrupt it. Don't buy the chaff off the false teachers. Give the wheat of God's truth to others freely. God will make sure you never run out.

In His service,
Arnold Murray.