In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the need for restoration in the church. He highlights the resistance that will be faced in rooting out traditions, church policies, and methods of operation that hinder the true pattern of God. The speaker questions whether the current state of the church reflects the unity and selflessness seen in the early church, where believers shared everything and had no need among them. He warns of the impending judgment and the need for the church to wake up from its complacency and proclaim the truth to a world living in ignorance.

Continue. May we hear not only your words, but the voice of your speaking, the tone and the mood of it, the disposition, the urgency, what it is that your own voice resonates in and through and beyond the words themselves. We are a generation that needs to hear not only the words of the Lord, but the voice of the Lord. Grant us that privilege, even now and in these days. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. So the ministry of Elijah is the ministry of restoration. Elijah must restore all things. What does that word mean to you? Restore what? I wish that we had more of a chance to interact. I could hear from you. I would not be asking you rhetorical questions, but actual questions. What does restore mean to you? If that's our calling, that there's an Elijah task, an Elijah company, that the corporate thing made large, we're not talking about a single individual in the last days, but a corporate band bearing the Elijah task to restore all things, not some things, all things. And let's be truthful. You didn't know that there was anything to be restored. You're quite satisfied with the status quo, with things as they are. What does the word restore imply? Something that at one time existed, an earlier time that no longer exists now. It's been lost. Lost through time. Lost through the indifference of men. Through the ignorance of men that did not know that there was something to be retained, kept and preserved because it was original, given by God. And that needs to be restored. Even the prophetic calling itself. The church as it was at the first. Have you heard of Watchman Nee? How many have never heard of Watchman Nee? Yeah, don't be embarrassed. You have to remedy that. A Chinese teacher of the word among his books, the normal Christian church, the normal Christian life, you want to read an exposition on Romans chapter 6? Go to Watchman Nee. He'll tell you what death to self means. Who spent 25 years in a communist prison camp. Because to whom much is given, much is required. You have an obligation to know who Watchman Nee is. An obligation to be familiar with his principal writings. One of the giants of the faith of the 20th century. Make it your business. It's basic literacy. You heard of Leonardo da Vinci? Michelangelo? I won't ask you to hold your hand up if you've never heard. Basic cultural literacy. The great men of the renaissance. What's the renaissance? Cultural literacy. History. That has influenced modern times. You have an obligation to know these things. I don't want to be carried away from my subject. Evidently there's something to be restored. If it's not restored, the Lord will not come. Acts chapter 3. I think it's verse 20 or 21. He is contained in the heavens waiting for the restoration of all things. Spoken by the prophets. All the prophets since the world began. Haven't you ever seen that? The Lord himself is self-contained. He has imposed upon himself a restriction by which he cannot come. He has required a condition out of his divine wisdom that something must be restored that allows his coming restored by whom? Who do you think? What if I say I'm not going to go on? If you don't answer that question class is dismissed. I'm going to go home and pout because you couldn't answer that question. The Lord himself is waiting bound and contained in the heavens waiting for the restoration of all things spoken by all the prophets since the world began. It must be important. He'll not come unless his offerings are restored. It's the ministry of Elijah restored by whom? Come on, tell me. Who's going to restore? The world? The church! The church! And the church that does not consciously recognize its task that enables the Lord's coming by its restoring all things that does not consciously understand this does not consciously embrace this is not the church. And you can continue to have services but you have lost your apostolic authenticity. Your reason for being there is to restore what the church ought to be as it was given at the first. What the prophetic call was when it was given at the first. What the function of the Holy Spirit is when it was given at the first. Many things the restoration of Israel itself to its place in God as his covenant people through the church of a prophetic kind. Do you say Mamma Mia in Spanish? Wow! This is more than a schedule of services. This is an ultimate task an ultimate requirement that must be fulfilled in the last days that must be fulfilled in the last days by a church of an ultimate kind Who is sufficient for these things? We need to say that more often with trembling and we will not fulfill this except as the church in its corporateness in its corporate strength as the body of Christ together Are we in that place now? No It needs to be restored Those that believed were together They were so together It meant more than sitting alongside each other in the pew They were so together that no man thought that the thing which he had was his own There was no need among them It affected even the view of their economy how to perceive their possessions and their relationship with each other Is that our condition today? Far from it We are the aggregate of individualities sitting alongside each other being in the same room of course so we can receive the benefit of the lectures but in terms of our actual life islands of individuality coming together only because we have to to receive the benefit of the class otherwise we prefer our isolation and our privacy as the world does also Something needs to be restored and it's going to take something because it will be powerfully resisted The task of restoration is ultimate task For one reason so many things have grown up over the ages the traditions of men church policies methods of operation that needs to be rooted out plucked up destroyed before there is a building in plantation You think men are going to willingly give up their traditions? This is the way we have always done it Always since when? 20, 30, 40 years? Was this the way it was in the beginning? Watchman Nee says You want to understand what is the pattern of God? What is the intention of God? Go back to the beginning See what it was at the first Originally That's what needs to be restored Not in some wooden way that we're playing with the book of Acts Was that essential reality affected and established in our time in the same spirit, truth and reality in which they knew it so that it can again be said Those that believed are together Really together Tradition will oppose it Flesh will oppose it Our own desire for privacy will oppose it And men might resist physically You constitute now a threat to the things that are established that men think normative and don't want to see altered They're comfortable that way and secure that way and they'll say of Elijah what they'll say of you They'll say of you what they'll say of Elijah Have you come to trouble Israel? Trouble Mecca? You're disturbing the church That's the Elijah task God waits for it and it must come and when it comes it will come through the church of an ultimate kind of a prophetic kind Elijah had to challenge all Israel and he commanded Ahab to assemble all Israel on Mount Carmel Bring your false prophets whom you trust and think to be God's own prophets Let them build their sacrifice build their altar I'll build mine Let that God be God who answers by fire If we're going to require things of the nation and of the church to restore its primeval glory they will be greatly resisted We will have to demonstrate our credentials by fire So we're not just talking about a little period in the history of Israel Although it was that We're talking about a pattern A paradigm Do you know that word? Something essential that was expressed through a flesh and blood man But it's not limited to history It's God's statement and intention for all generations Especially the last Our generation Upon whom the ends of the age have come Who know that they are living in the last days Do you know that? Do you know that? Is that in your deepest consciousness? Or not at all? Or these days are just like any other days? And everything remains as it always has been? And will continue to be? Wow! I know! You're in a place of apostasy yourself! You don't know that these are the last days? And you're not living as though these were the last days? And we're going to warn others? You see how much needs to be restored? You're living as though these were not the last days You're not living prophetically Your life itself is a lie that needs to be repented of It's not that you don't know that these are the last days because you weren't instructed Your human spirit refuses to know It doesn't want to know It's not convenient to know For the last days are apocalyptic The judgment of God The fire of God That will require a new heaven and a new earth When He destroys all things contrary to His holiness You didn't sleep well last night brother See that you get good rest tonight You don't want to doze off in class And miss this As if it were another class And you could afford to lose it There's too much at stake There's a whole world that is living in the lie That does not know That there is an impending judgment coming To all nations There's no anticipation They're living in a fool's world Living for their pleasure and delight But when the end comes And it comes suddenly And the Lord comes in fury And in judgment These same easy living men Who have blasphemed the Lord And seek for clefts in the rocks to hide In terror and in panic For the face of Him who comes Because they had not been warned By a people who knew These were the last days And that those things must come Must come shortly And are at the door now And we have not warned men Because we could not speak the words Because we're not living in that expectancy And it shows That's why Elijah is a wilderness prophet And I would ask you again What does wilderness mean? Why was that critical and essential for him? Couldn't he have lived in Jerusalem? And still spoke the same thing? Why outside? Why in the wilderness? Why wearing a camel's hair garment? Living from locusts And what's the other thing? Such a simple diet What are the amenities of life? Doesn't the man deserve a little comfort? Why is it necessary for him to be outside? And be stripped Not just of luxury The ordinary amenities of life To be a voice crying out In the wilderness To clear the way For the coming of the Lord Come on you guys Aren't you students? Are you just going to regurgitate back again The information you give on a test? That's okay in the world This is the kingdom You have an obligation What does wilderness mean? Why was it necessary for Elijah? If it's necessary for him Is it necessary for us? Is there a way that we could live In our towns and cities In the homes of our families And still be in the wilderness? Is that possible? It's not only possible It's necessary What does wilderness mean? It's detachment Radical separation So that you'll not be compromised The false prophets Ate at Jezebel's table And they ate well And they burped their way All the way to hell Compromised by their stomach And their enjoyment At the wrong table Loving luxury And of course having to express that In a way that would be acceptable To the institution that feeds them Oh, I pray you'll be students That you'll not just read through a text The wilderness prophet Without understanding What wilderness is Why it's essential How God can provide it In the midst of our conventional life Do you want to know my wilderness experience? It's not where I'm presently living And have lived for 25 years In the North American wilderness Eight miles to the closest town Population 200 We are in nowhere still Living on a farm Learning to be sustained from the soil In the severest climate of the North American continent Forty below zero weather is nothing for us Winter is nine months out of the year We had one of our sisters who was pregnant Going to give birth In the wintertime We plugged the car in An electric heater We all have that in our engines You plug it in all night And it keeps the oil warm So you start the car in the morning It'll turn over Or else the whole thing is frozen stiff And we couldn't take a chance with this woman We had the car plugged in all night The next morning she had to go to the hospital She was hemorrhaging The car started But we could not shift the gears They were frozen stiff 25 years But that's not my wilderness experience My wilderness experience was in Denmark My wife's country Where I was driven After speaking a radical message At the full gospel businessmen's convention In Washington D.C. That few understood And hated I was pushed out The Lord had me to live with my family in my wife's country It's one of the most comfortable countries in the world Maybe the most comfortable Creature comfort Is the way of life Coffee? Every day Four o'clock Stop! Let the world be coming apart Coffee Three kinds of cake First this kind, then that kind Every day for me Was an agony That was for me wilderness Do you know what a wilderness is? Any place where God would bring us To any condition to which he would bring us That strips us Of our conventional comfort Of our customary attitudes Of the things that we thought assured We've got to be strict God has got to deal with us At the root of our being And the amenities of civilization Not evil in themselves Insinuate themselves To take the edge off To dull And tranquilize us From the things that are ultimately real And ultimately true As God himself sees them And desires them to be seen And expressed To be a wilderness prophet Is not only your experience in training It is your continual experience As it is mine Are you willing for that? Are you a pilgrim And a stranger and a sojourner in the earth? Or the world is too much with you? You're the expression of your culture Your nationality Your time No prophet ever was that He stood above time Above his culture Above his generation He was a man for all seasons He was a heavenly man He never condescended to the world He wasn't compromised by it He was a wilderness prophet God provided Even by ravens Twice a day When Elijah had to leave And live by the book sheriff Why did he go there? The word of the Lord came to him He said, go and abide there But Lord, there's no provision And I will send ravens Twice a day Morning and evening They'll carry your food in their beaks So Elijah arose And he went According to the word of the Lord If you guys are going to bury me one day Yeah Who knows? May take place Put this on my gravestone Art Katz Born 1929 Died 1990 something And these words So he went and did According to the word of the Lord That's the statement of his life And it says everything Is it your statement? Are you willing that it should be? Are you here because the Lord said so? Then he said, get thee up And get thee to the Bible school In Guatemala City Or you decide it It'd be a nice thing to go I don't have much better things to do with my time It's bound to be a blessing The girls will probably be pretty Be pleasant Why not? Is that how you make your decisions? You'll never be a prophet Decisions predicated on reason Logic Self interest That's the way the world does it That's not the way the prophet does it The word of the Lord came to Elijah So he arose And he went And the Lord brought him Food by the ravens And he got his water from the brooksheriff Even in the family Now I know you're not Jewish But do you think that a raven is a clean bird? Not at all A raven is a Bird that eats dead carrion God says I'll feed you twice a day I'll send you your food through the ravens Through the vultures Those that eat dead and rotting things What a provision for a Jewish prophet Couldn't he have used another means? Something more suitable to the man's culture? It's as if God went out of the way To choose that which would be most offensive Much greater a test But show me where it says Elijah complained Where Elijah reminded God that he's Jewish And where your own word says we should have nothing to do with unclean things Not a word Of protest Or of complaint Or even asking for an explanation He arose and he went According to the word of the Lord Don't you love that? How would you like a church like that? My God That house will be filled with glory This is for our instruction This is not an historical peculiarity This is a pattern Of the last days thing Elijah must come And restore all things And reconcile the fathers to the sons And the sons to the fathers Lest the Lord come and smite the world with a curse We ought to call a moratorium on every other subject And concentrate on Elijah alone For he's the pattern of the end And our call The Elijah band Don't look for some single hero This is for us all Or it's not at all The church And its corporateness Together Understanding itself as a last days entity With a last days task And determined to do it Willing for the preparation Of being separated from seducing and compromising comforts That it might be a wilderness people Even in the midst of the civilized place Brother, do we have to wear camel's hair garments? That's symbolic But we don't have to wear the best clothing And have many changes of clothing And be so concerned for our appearance And pamper our bodies As if that's where our effectual life is Not the external thing It's the internal thing By a people who simplify their life And are not seduced by style And have to be the first ones in their neighborhood To have it So you can show off As if what you are is external Simplify Reduce The influences of your life That you not be subtly compromised And to be single eyed before God Eating what he puts before you Wearing what he provides You have a task Well Didn't I say this was a pattern? Elijah and Jezebel Unholy alliance A holy alliance Politics And religion Of an occultic kind This is ecumenical And we are in process toward it now World religion With governments Establishing global order And peace And security In the last days Without God It's what the world needs There's too much division Too much enmity and strife One world One faith One religion One political order It's what mankind needs It's what mankind wants Global logic makes it evident There's only one who stands against it Only one Elijah It's unholy It's not God's way It's not God's answer And he opposes it And so also must we You watch this This is going to become increasingly true Ecumenicism Catholics and Protestants together With Islam With the Buddhists With Judaism The world's great faith No longer divided by its different doctrines Doctrines are not all that important Especially when they divide World unity is what's important Peace It's happening now Already Who will oppose it? Who will blow the whistle against it? That men of whom the world was not worthy Shed their blood Were burned at the stake Were pulled apart by horses Were thrown asunder Have lived in caves and holes in the ground For the faith That was once and for all given the saints And without compromise its truth For human convenience And died for it And are overhead right now Looking upon us As an invisible cloud of witnesses Who are not complete without us Oh brother, now you've gone too far Now you've lost credibility You believe that? That what's going on here Is that important? That there might be over our heads An invisible cloud of witnesses The word witness means martyr Of those who have suffered and tortured and were killed For the faith Of whom it says they're not complete without us They're not complete without it And they're waiting But they're not waiting idly They are already in the eternal realm They are overhead As invisible Looking, watching us, praying for us Bringing something to bear To help us through Because they understand the importance of these days Far beyond we ourselves You really have a heightened sense of importance of these days You're carrying on as if this is some historic event That will affect the church of the nations In the last days And be a factor in the Lord's own coming As if eternity is at stake Yes, exactly That's the way I view everything That's how the prophets viewed everything That's how the apostles viewed everything This is definitive seeing And we have moved away from it One day is like another Without the sense of the eternal importance The sense of once and for all That shall not be given again So critical God has his witnesses over us That seeing needs to be restored So it's true seeing And gives to life The importance that it deserves Or we condemn our lives And our churches with us To triviality That's prophetic seeing Needs to be restored You need to fight for it Everything will contend against it Your own family and friends will call you fanatics And you will be accused of arrogance What makes you think you're that important I can tell you this out of my experience That which is real humility Will be construed as arrogance Not just by the world, by the church Not just by the world And that which is arrogance Will be thought humility Oh brother don't call on me I'm not a public speaker the way you are That appears to be humility That's arrogance That's denial against God If he's calling on you to speak Don't give him that salesman stuff Oh don't call on me Don't give him that salesman stuff Oh I'm not called to speak The world will misunderstand you Misinterpret you Count on it And be able to bear it For the Lord's sake This is the church Of a prophetic kind That needs to be restored Restored You can say amen If you agree You know what Elijah said to the nation When they assembled before him in Mount Carmel They were happy to come Yes let the prophets build their sacrifice And Elijah And let that God be God who answers by fire That's not going to happen But we'll get rid of this nuisance Once and for all We'll reveal him for the fraud that he is There's no fire from heaven Especially on his altar Because he is the false prophet He says unpleasant things If any fire falls it will come from their sacrifice They're the true prophets They tell us pleasant things They speak peace How long do you hold between two opinions Elijah is addressing an apostate nation What are the two opinions The one is the external continuation of their Judaism They have their priests, their sacrifices Their high feast days They have continued in all that But it's only an opinion It's not where their true life is Just like the church today Sunday phenomenon At an hour that we could at least say Sleep in a little bit After we were out late Saturday night In pleasure that we deserve Give us a chance to sleep in And then we'll have our service An hour or two But not enough to ruin the day There'll still be time for the golf course And the football game And watching how many homers are being hit It's the religion of convenience It is normative Christianity Even in its charismatic form Where is the prophet Who will not let God's people get away with it How long are you going to hold In this condition Having some form of religion for Sunday While your regular life reveals Where your true interest is Business as usual We're willing for any kind of religion That will allow you to perform business as usual Because the religion is not where your heart is It's where your business is Your self interest Your security Your comfort And I'm not going to let you get away with it How long do you hold between your opinions It's the ultimate challenge And it needs to come again By an Elijah band Who themselves do not hold Or they could not speak that to others They are on God's side As the Lord God of Israel lives Before whom I stand I don't stand before men I don't eat at Jezebel's table I don't join your ministers' alliances I'm not one of the boys who goes along I'm single-eyed I'm exclusive I'm fanatical I'm a fanatic I'm absolute I stand before God Somebody else may be paying my salary But they're not my God He is That's the provision It comes through a company Or the government Might just as well come through What's those birds? Ravens Because I have such a view That sees through circumstances And men and situations Everything comes to me From God I stand before Him Therefore I can call you To stop between two opinions And let God be God Let this come into your spirit Nothing has changed It's the ages-old conflict Religion as a nominal culture Giving a certain appearance Of relatedness to God Which in fact is not true Because men have their real gods Who are the gods of this world The gods of their business Their profession Their golf course Their pleasure It's the ages-old conflict And only a prophet can see through it And cry out against it And call men to the absoluteness of God Or they will be eternally ashamed But in order to see through that Which is very subtle Because the worship is so impressive It has other forms But the heart of it Self-serving Convenient To allow men their real business Their first priority Is not God And the prophet knows it And will not let them get away with it So God sends the prophet to the brook And feeds him by ravens Until the brook itself dried up Do not think that the prophet is exempt From the conditions of the judgment Which his word itself brought He has to live in the world that is judged And somehow find his provision in God And so He has to live in the world that is judged And so day by day No rain The brook began to dry up And Elijah being a logical man Recognizing that without water there is no life That he could see the source visibly drying Has got now to begin to make other arrangements So he's sensible He's logical He has to preserve his prophetic life His ministry is too important To perish for the want of water So he begins to think of alternatives And takes them That will be your temptation To move out of the obedience of God Make your own arrangements Reasonable Logical You can't be blamed for that Isn't that why God has given us a mind Elijah did not move He would have remained in the same spot Until the water had stopped flowing Until the stream went dry And he would have perished there He's not moved by circumstances He's not moved by his own logic He's moved by one thing only The word of the Lord And until it comes He stays If you're not obedient to the word of God Unto death How then is that obedience How then is that faith Faith Partial obedience is disobedience We mustn't determine our own movements Only the word of the Lord That's what made Elijah what he was He did not determine by what he saw By what he heard Only the word of the Lord His principle reason was not self-survival His principle reason was not self-survival Self-preservation Isn't that where the rubber hits the road Isn't that where the hammer hits the nail Come on brother, let's get realistic In the last analysis With all of this talk about religion, prophets, spiritual things The law of life is self-preservation The law of life is self-preservation God didn't call you to be a fool The water is running out Get yourself up Make your own determinations Preserve your life Self-preservation The foundation of all reality What else could it be The glory of God Exactly The true prophet has another motive The world has its motive Self-preservation By whatever means The prophet, the glory of God Whatever means Obedience Even unto death These things are written for us Upon whom the ends of the age have come For I tell you dear children With all authority that I have in God You can count on it The brook will dry up It will dry up There's a famine coming Economic institutions are going to topple The just shall live by their faith And a God who speaks And whose word can direct us When he sees that we will not be directed by any other means The word of God will come And it will bring us to another place Where did it bring him The word of the Lord came to him Arise and go To the city of Jezebel To Zarephath Verse 9 Which belongs to Sidon Jezebel's country And dwell there Come on Lord One thing to be fed by rabbits And now I'm to go into the enemy's own camp That hates my guts For the spirit of Jezebel cannot bear The spirit of the Hebrew prophet Lord this is not reasonable You know what the next line says Underline it in your Bible First line of verse 10 Mark it with a yellow marking pen That it will only stand up off the page It speaks to all the ages Very few words So he arose And he went To Zarephath No ifs, no buts, no ands No requirement for an explanation God speaks He goes Do you know why God answered Elijah's word In that day at Carmel When all Israel was assembled before him And the false prophets Had all day been leaping on their sacrifice And cutting themselves And crying out Showing that they were deceived That they thought that an answer would actually come They thought they were actually in contact with God And were false and didn't even know themselves as false And he mocked them And he chanted them Maybe your God is sleeping Maybe he's in the men's room He wasn't too polite Then he came to his altar And they looked up at heaven God If fire doesn't fall now This is my last day on earth These people will pull me apart There won't be enough left of me to pick up with a bladder But there's something here more important than my physical preservation My father and my God You've got to show yourself To a nation that has forsaken you And doesn't know you as a living God And has gone after false gods They have mocked your servants They're not expecting fire to fall But if I have been obedient to your word Honor my word Honor my prayer And let your fire fall And it did It consumed the sacrifice The wood and the stones Saturated by water The people when they saw it They fell on their faces The Lord is God The Lord is God Fire came down At Elijah's word Why? Because Elijah had obeyed God's word So he arose and he went He lived by the word He honored the word And God honored his word And he will honor our word When everything comes to the final crisis And God has got to authenticate us We'll answer by fire He will honor our prayer Because we have honored his word And lived by it Not by circumstance Not by reason, not by logic, not by analysis This was written for us Upon whom the ends of the age have come So what brought you to this Bible school? You thought it would be a good idea? Why not? Got to be a blessing? Did the Lord say so? Did you even so much to think as to ask him? Or did you automatically assume that he would follow behind and confirm your choices? The way everybody does The way all Christians do And nobody ever faults them Or raises the question Because we're not accustomed to prophetic obedience That moves only by God's word And no other consideration Brother, I'm here because the Lord said so I hope that's true of you And if I can encourage you You are here because God has said so Even though you didn't think to ask him Because I've already prayed Lord, assemble your congregation before me Those whom you have appointed Even though they're in the right place for the wrong reason But now, after today They will walk differently More consciously By the word of the Lord And the word of the Lord only So I want to pray for you To conclude our time together Hallelujah Do you love the high call of God in Christ Jesus? You're called You're chosen You're appointed God's last days servants Prophetic men Handmaidens of the Lord That are not moved by circumstance But only by the word of the Lord They have the faith to believe for it And if it does not come They will not move Even if it means their death For there are more important things than dying It's God His word His honor His glory Let the words that have come this morning Go into their hearts like a shaft Find them in their foundations In the real spring of their life In the deeps Where their real life is And put this word there As a living word That will not fade away They're children of obedience Who love God More than their life And will serve Him Uncompromisingly Until the end Seal them Raise them up Establish them I bless them In Jesus' name Just a suggestion It wouldn't hurt If you found a private place Even before you go to lunch Maybe even here at the steps of this platform Lord It's true I didn't even think to ask you I assumed that you would Be blessed I presumed upon you And this is arrogance This is exalting my opinion Over you And I don't want to take a step To go anywhere, do anything Before I get this straight with you Forgive me For that presumption By the grace of God, I'll never do it again But I ask your forgiveness now Even for the decision to come To a good thing That I assumed you would necessarily approve And I had not thought to ask Or to wait Forgive me Wash me by your blood Of that sin of human presumption Because I want to keep God Current with you From this day forth I'm making a resolution A vow before you I'm receiving this as my commission I will live only by the word of God That comes Like Elijah Find a place of prayer Establish that Turn our time together Into an event Because you transacted with God He will hear you It will change everything For the future Bless you Every day is a remarkable journey with you Unpredictable Because you're the God who is A creator The one who makes all things new You're a living God So Lord, we just come before you this morning Take us where you will Do with us what you will It's got to be good Because that's what you are So we're so privileged To be the sons and daughters Of such a God as you are Oh, redeem our time together, Lord Change us Deepen us Enlarge us To serve you With all our hearts In these last days In power To the eternal praise of your glory In Jesus' name we ask it Amen