Every person who has ever lived was born into a cognitive environment. A cognitive environment is the sum total of all the things a person understands and recognizes and knows intuitively. One does not need to be a football fan to recognize what the Super Bowl is—provided one lives in America. A Maasai woman in…

My wife loves deleted scenes. Every movie has them. Not all material that is filmed makes it into the final movie. Sometimes it’s clear why a scene was “deleted”; it added nothing to the story. Sometimes, though, a deleted scene offers a bit of insight into the story, but was cut solely for the sake…

The prophet Amos proclaimed God’s word against the nations surrounding Israel and Judah. When pronouncing judgment against Tyre and Gaza and Damascus and Edom, etc., those hearing him would have cheered. What person wouldn’t want to hear how angry God is with his enemies? If nothing else, hearing of God’s anger and judgment on those…

Amos was a shepherd. He did not aspire to any great position. He was quite content looking after his sheep. More technically, he was a sheep-breeder. He did not merely look after sheep as they grazed; he bred them so that they would be bigger or stronger or they would produce better wool. We know…

So often when we hear of “prophecy” we think “predicting the future.” While the prophets often spoke of the future, revealing the future was never their primary purpose. The prophets were messengers of God. When we read the prophetic books we often read the phrase, “Thus says the LORD.” This indicates that their primary responsibility…