Dr Paul Allen

Below is Dick Harfield (Quora) answering the following submitted question:  Is Prophet  Amos  the 'first historically verifiable prophet' in the Bible? There may have been other prophets, all the way back to Abraham, but their existence has not been verified and is increasingly considered unlikely. Based on  Amos  1:1,  Amos  began to prophesy in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel and two years before the earthquake of 760 BCE, making him just a little earlier than the prophet Isaiah. On the face of it, that means that  Amos  may be the first historically verifiable prophet in the Bible. Amos  6:2, which warns the reader to see what the Assyrians had done to the cities of Calneh, Hamath and Gath, provides reason for doubt. Assyria defeated the kingdoms of Calneh and Hamath in 738 BCE, and Gath in 734, much later than the earthquake during the reigns of Uzziah and Joash. Since it wo...

The Book of Amos is about the sovereign God of creation and covenant who announces judgment upon disobedient Israel, and yet proclaims a future kingdom hope for the people of God. In one sense, this could describe most prophetic books of the Old Testament. Yet Amos does not throw away his shot, highlighting these features in several distinctive ways. The opening verse of Amos sets the historical context within which the book is to be read. Amos 1:1 identifies the prophet Amos as a shepherd from a city in the Southern Kingdom (cf. Amos 7:13–14). This Judean prophet is given a message “concerning Israel” (on the divided kingdom, see 1 Kings 12:1–20). The two kings mentioned in the superscription, Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam (II) king of Israel, anchor the ministry of Amos in the 8th century BC. Apart from the opening verse, the only other biographical information known about the prophet Amos occurs in Amos 7:10–15, where he denies being a professional prophet (i.e. he did not earn ...

Prophet Amos, old Russian Orthodox icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God ." ( Romans 14:12 ) There is only one thing that is absolutely sure to happen to every person--everyone will have to face God some day. Not even "death and taxes" are certain for every one, but meeting God for an accounting of one's life is certain! Therefore, as the prophet Amos warned some 2,500 years ago: "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel" ( Amos 4:12 ). "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" ( Hebrews 9:27 ). To the Christian believer, of course, there is no need to fear hell, for there is "now no condemnation |that is, 'judgment'| to them which are in Christ Jesus " ( Romans 8:1 ). The Lord Jesus has paid for our sins and purchased our redemption with His shed blood. He "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" ( Rom...

Image via Wikipedia "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant." ( Psalm 25:14 )   This is an amazing promise. The word for "secret" means the "inner counsel," evidently of the triune God Himself.   But how can those who fear the Lord really know the secret counsels of the Godhead?  The answer can only be by divine revelation to God's prophets. Thus the prophet Amos affirms: "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but [unless] he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" ( Amos 3:7 ).   When these ancient promises were given, however, much of God's revelation, though already "settled in heaven" ( Psalm 119:89 ), was still not revealed to men. Then Christ came and promised His disciples, " The Comforter , which is the Holy Ghost . . . shall teach you all things" ( John 14:26 ).   "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fat...