The prophet Amos foretold a time when people would search in vain for the word of God: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it" (Amos 8:11-12).

Is it possible that a famine of the word in our time will be the result of a process that began in the apostle Paul's time?

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:18-20).

Romans 1 describes the unrighteous who want a worldview without a creator, freeing them to live out their sexual desires without any higher moral constraints.

What Paul described 2000 years ago appears to have culminated in the theory of evolution, whose adherents have "changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things" (verse 23).

Today not only evolutionists believe in the theory, many theologians and Christians do, too. There is already a famine of the word of God in some aspects because certain parts of the Bible pertaining to the creator and to moral restraint regarding marriage are no longer believed and preached.

In our time most people, even professing Christians, have become Bible illiterates. Without the love of the Truth, the Word of God (John 17:17), they will become easy prey for the deception of the false prophet (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

With this ongoing development as a backdrop, we must strive to make full use of the opportunity we have to preach the Word, in accordance with Christ's commission. "As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work" (John 9:4; NIV).

With these thoughts I wish everyone a rewarding Sabbath!