It was the best of times. It was the worst of times ... It was an age of belief. It was an age of incredulity." Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, was highly vexed at the pronouncements of Amos, who warned of God's coming judgment on Jeroboam and the people of Israel. Amos was no extraordinary prophet. He lacked the sophistication, flamboyance, and eloquence of some high prophets, but he knew that God had called and anointed him to preach judgment to the people of Israel. Amos was not well connected politically. He was not part of the political and religious establishment. He was not part of the in crowd, but simply a "country preacher," a herdsman, a dresser of sycamore trees whom God had anointed to bring a Word to the people from on high. He would therefore would not shirk his prophetic dut…