God declared the famine in Jerusalem.
God is omniscient and omnipotent.
1) Why the famine ?
Amos 4:
6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
As said in Amos 8, this famine is about bead and water.
Why does God allow this ?
Leviticus 26 explains the conditions for it.
Amos 4 gives you the context again:
1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
The cow is a clean animal, yet this one comes from Basan
Psalm 22:
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
(There are indexation troubles with this psalm, like many other scriptures like Galatian 5, from one Bible version to another the verse numbers don't match)
This cow is a prostiture. Instead of keeping her virginity for the Lord, she slepts with the kings of the earth, calling them to drink (the wine of her prostitution). She is over Samaria, the land of the gentiles.
Amos 4
4 Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
It's all about sin. Man likes to cover his sin with rituals, instead of seeking forgiveness and producing the fruits of a true repentance.
2) Restoring the Bible ?
The Bible is changing, we are after bread and water.
We can either accept it, repent and humiliate ourselves before God, or try to fix it by ourselves.
I say that because I tried to restore some chapters, and found out is is not a great idea.
First, would it be possible it would go against the will of God.
Second, I saw several brothers and sisters losing themselves in the process. There seems to be a curse attached to that project.
Documenting the changes and inform the brethren is one thing, pretend to restore the Bible comdemned by God is another.
At some point pretending it will make you like the false prophets of Jeremiah 14. The context is familiar:
Jeremiah 14:
2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
10 Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
11 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
13 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
3) Understand what is left of the Bible
Now I try to understand as deeply as I can the Scriptures I know.
Spending time in the Spirit decoding the whole meaning of a scripture enables us to unlock a paragraph, a chapter. Then it is written in our heart.
To me this is more satisfactory and enriching than making lists. The two approaches are complementary, since those making lists can show what's happening to many, and that's a perfect work.
I started making schemes and drawings, I hope it can bless someone. Sometimes a drawing is better than many pages of explanations.
Here is a link: Drawings
4) Remove sin
This is the focus. Everything comes because of sin in the church.
Take time to discern what you are doing wrong, pray God that He shows you. God, like any good father, loves the children who strive to get better.
There is no time, and there is no more place to rest on here.
This is the hour to show faith. Get rid of idols, selfishness.
God will show us our way through the valley of shadow and death.
