Black Snake Road

The Friendship Baptist Church is located on Friendship Road in Clanton, Alabama.  The road got its name after a couple of residents did not like living on Black Snake Road.  It is named black moccasin snakes which make the creek their home. 

One spring the bridge on Black Snake Road was out for repairs.  A great spiritual truth came to me during the bridge outage.  I heard vehicles stopping and turning around in the Friendship parking lot.  There were barricades at each end of the road which warned that the bridge was out. 

Local people that lived either side of the bridge knew that one could not pass the creek.  They knew that it was to stop travelers before they went too far and plunged into the creek.  Most travelers ignored the barricade and tried to continue anyway.  They did not realize the deadly plight if they were to enter the creek.  One police officer had to shoot his way back to his patrol car after he had investigated the new work of the bridge.  He said the moccasins were everywhere.  The barricades were to help travelers even though it did inconvenience them with a three-mile detour.

The Book of Amos has a story about a barricade.  Amos tries to warn the king and the kingdom about impending danger.  Like the travelers on Black Snake Road, they did not heed the warning.  He had a challenging preacher named Amaziah who did not agree with him.  Amaziah does not see the brevity of the kingdom due to immorality.  Amos sees destruction for those who ignore the warning.  People of the kingdom agreed with Amaziah because it was convenient religion preaching to itching ears.  There was no accountability. 

Amos was as believers are to day.  That is he was the reason things were bad.  He was a threat to the community going forward.  Amaziah saw Amos as a threat to the kingdom and the temple.  Amos had the message from God.  He compared the nation to a plumb line.  The nation was out of line with God.

The message is the same today.  Nations, communities, churches, organizations, and individuals that are not plumb with God face destruction.  Those who want to seek the gods of the world openly disdain and defy God’s people.  Living and preaching the Word of God threaten the “status quo.”

The Amos 7:10-11 tells us that people believe worldly gossip more than the gospel. Gossip feeds on jealousy and indifference and is not always repeated exactly.  The Gospel is truth. 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.  For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.

Verses 12-13 remind us that people want worldly economic stability more than morality.  Competition disrupts the status quo.  Amaziah tried to discredit Amos and run him from the area, tying him to economic problems which were sin problems of the nation. 

People did not want their sin pointed out by the preacher Amos.  Morality does not have a price and immorality cannot bear the words of morality.  Prosperity is not always a sign of God’s approval and Amos tried to relay that to the nation

Verses 16-17 teach us that living by gossip, worldly economics, and fearing man does not give peace and leads to destruction.  Mankind cries peace, peace without God.  There is coming a time when the world will suffer without the voice of believers available.  There will be a time when God’s grace has passed. The Word of God goes out through reading and proclamation, but is not heeded.  People reject the message and sometimes the messenger.  May we, believers in Jesus Christ, continue share the Gospel in a world that darkens with evil and the return of our risen savior is drawing near.