Amos Visits America

Peter Ediger
 

(Amos first prophesied in Israel around 750 BC. Almost three millennia later, in 1971 AD, he visited America, warning the nation to repent or face the judgment of God. The Protectors of the Status Quo quickly banished him back to the Bible. But here he is again.)
 

The words of Amos, the resurrected prophet of old
which he saw concerning America
in the days of Barak Obama and the Tea Party people,
one year after the reign of George W. Bush

And he said,
The Lord roars from Washington
and bellows his voice from the heartlands;
the marketplace mourns,
in city and suburb the peoples tremble.
 

Thus says the Lord
for three transgressions of Al Qaida, and for four
I will not withhold the law of the harvest; they shall reap what they have sown
because they send suicide bombers around the world
killing innocents by the tens and hundreds and thousands,
blaspheming my name by their terrors,
training their young to hate the infidels whom I love,
therefore they will be hunted as wild beasts in the wilderness,
their terror turning back upon them as boomerangs.
 

Thus says the Lord
for three transgressions of North Korea, and for four
I will not withhold the law of the harvest;
they shall reap what they have sown
because they pervert priorities
starving their people as they fatten their military
posturing in pompous parades.
Therefore I will isolate them from their brothers and sisters
and their people will suffer from deprivation of body and soul.
 

Thus says the Lord
for three transgressions of Iran, and for four
I will not withhold the law of the harvest;
they shall reap what they have sown.
Their leaders grasp absolute power, stifling dissent
executing those who threaten their regime. Therefore I will isolate them from brothers and sisters and neighbors.

Thus says the Lord
for three transgressions of Israel, and for four
I will not withhold the law of the harvest; they shall reap what they have sown
because they cease not to settle on land which is not theirs
smashing houses which they did not build and vineyards which they did not plant
sending tanks to crush dissent
killing those who dare to stand in defense of their homes.
Therefore they will be terrorized by suicidal bombers
striking now here, now there, with much wailing in Jerusalem.

Thus says the Lord,
for three transgression of America, and for four
I will not withhold the law of the harvest; they shall reap what they have sown.
Because they have bowed down in worship to the gods of Mammon
building idols on the street call Wall,
taking from the working poor and bloating the bowels of the boardroom rich.
And when the people call for justice,
false prophets Rush to their airwave altars crying “class warfare!” blatantly oblivious to the warfare waged on the poor for decades
by their lobbied legislators. And now they’re busy building idols to the gods of Mars,
gods of metal designed in their pentagon,
from which they send their warring mercenary missioners around the world engaging in pre-emptive wars of shock and awe.

Hear the word of the Lord, O America!
Who made you the savior of the world?
Who commissioned you to occupy country after country,
establishing your military bases on every continent?
How did you catch the cancerous disease of “America uber alles”?
Where did you get this need to be the dominating Superpower?
O America, America!
You who have been blessed among the nations of the world with energy and productivity;
how can I bear to see you destroying yourself,
losing your soul as you seek to gain the world?
Listen, America!
Am I not the God of all the nations?
Are not the people of Iraq and Iran and Afghanistan the children of my creation?
Does not my judgment and my love hover over all?
Is any exempt from my judgment or my grace?
Woe to you who can’t imagine that judgment will ever come to you, America.
Hear this word, you who love to say “God bless America!”
How can I bless you when you curse and kill those of my children
who call me by another name?
How can I bless you when you fly your messengers of death in all my skies, dropping your hellfire missiles wherever you will?

Listen, America! I sent you my messenger Martin
who had a dream about who you could become.
You listened for a time, and declared a holiday to honor him.
But when he named you the greatest purveyor of violence in the world,
when he warned you that when you spend more money on military defense
than on programs of social uplift, you are approaching spiritual death;
then you shut your ears and hardened your hearts.
But Martin’s voice speaks on
speaks on in a growing crescendo of voices which will not be silenced;
voices speaking of a new Way:
a new Way of seeing what it means to be human;
a new Way of being in the world as one human family.

Thus says the Lord,
Listen to those voices, O America!
Those voices speak my truth.
Those voices speak my love.
Those voices speak my hope for you and for all peoples of the world.

Thus spoke the prophet Amos in his second visit to America.

Z