The Three Elijahs |
There were three
Elijah’s,
|
Chapter Four
The
Kings Ruling Israel Led Them Astray
Under the rulership of the previous kings, Israel had become very involved in the beliefs and evil practices of the religion of Baalism contrary to the WARNING from God, which was very explicit:
“When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, TAKE HEED to yourself that you are NOT ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you DO NOT enquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods, I also will do likewise.’ “You shall NOT worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination (margin: detestable action) to the LORD which HE HATES they have done to their gods; FOR THEY BURN EVEN THEIR SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN THE FIRE TO THEIR GODS! Whatever I COMMAND you, BE CAREFUL TO OBSERVE IT; you shall NOT add to it NOR take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).
Because of the kings of Israel’s failure to obey God’s law about entering into marriage with men and women of Gentile nations with their abominable religious practices, the way was opened wide to the people of Israel to fully accept these same practices and be absorbed by them (Deuteronomy 7:1-11).
King
Ahab married the very worst and most influential of the Gentile women,
Jezebel. She was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the
Sidonians (Eth-baal, ‘with Baal’ king of Tyre, and priest of
godless Astarte).
Princess Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, after becoming the wife of King Ahab, and now queen, brought into Israel the very worst kind of worship of Baalism. She was also a priestess and prophetess of Baal and Astarte:
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume III, Page 1676
“... it must be clear that the Baal whom Jezebel attempted to introduce was the Phoenician Baal, pure and simple, he was another god, or rather in him was presented an idea of God very different from Jeh, And further, ‘in Phoenicia, where wealth and luxury, had been enjoyed on a scale unknown to either Israel or the Canaanites of the interior, there was a refinement, if one may so speak, and at the same time a prodigality of vicious indulgences, connected with the worship of Baal and Astarte to which Israel had hitherto been a stranger .... It was like a cancer eating into the vitals or a head and heart sickness resulting in total decay (Isaiah 1:6). In Israel, moral deterioration meant political as well as spiritual death.”
To those who have eyes to see, the parallel of today reveals a great similarity to what we find in the nations of Israel and its Churches in our time today! When we consider this overview of the continued political and spiritual deterioration of Israel, and how Satan used this evil woman to introduce the very worst kind of worship of Baal and Astarte in Israel, it is plain to see she stole away the heart and soul of God’s chosen nation!
It was at this low level in the life of Israel that God sent Elijah with the effort of turning them back to the true God. Due to the miracles God performed through him, Israel did make a turnaround back to Him. We can only imagine what would have happened to them otherwise.
With this in mind, perhaps we can better understand the mission given to Elijah by God; the very same commission given to the Elijah in our time because of the very same cancerous growth in our society today that could have brought God’s wrath so severe as to blot out human life.
Holy Scripture makes known the critical judgment and foreboding problems to be brought on Israel is from God Himself! And each time it was intended to be corrective with the desire of turning His chosen people back to Him, the true God.
As it was then, so is the same true in our time today that God would send another man who would be in the same spirit and power of Elijah to fulfill the like mission (Malachi 4:4-6; Matthew 17:11). This will be made known later in this book.
An Overview of God Dealing with the Wicked
Due to the flagrant disobedience of God’s warning through Moses to them (Deuteronomy 12:29-32), Israel completely put the true God out of their minds. They went all out in the practices of Baalism; and because of this, that period of time was so violent, wicked, and evil, that God used Elijah, and a little later, Jehu, to slaughter all those in Israel who had become involved in that despicable religion.
King Ahab and Jezebel themselves were killed later, but at different times. True to His promise of WARNING FIRST (Amos 3:7), God used Elijah as His prophet and representative, to begin the removal of Baalism, by first making known to King Ahab the severe famine that would last for three and one-half years because of their extreme wickedness and vile idolatrous practices.
This was intended to be a corrective measure, and it did turn out that way due to God’s miraculous answer to the prayer of Elijah at the offering of the sacrifice. The people of Israel who were gathered there then returned to the true God upon seeing this awesome miracle.
Elijah then had Israel kill all the prophets of Baal!
However, Jezebel was clever enough to keep her prophets with her; and they remained alive. A little later God used Jehu, as a leader of Israel and representative of Him, who would practically eliminate the worship of Baalism and Astarte by slaughtering all who were connected with it. He even had Jezebel killed.
As the result, there was no longer a wholesale sacrificing of babies during that time. Presumably, most of the people of Israel had their hearts turned back to their families.
In a similar manner, God was to send a man today to turn the hearts of the families around to one another -- LEST HE SMITE THE EARTH WITH A CURSE (Hebrew: utter destruction, Malachi 4:6).
It should be realize that Elijah, or John, nor the man sent by God in our time, would totally turn the hearts of all the families in Israel back to each other during their missions. Scripture implies it would only be a large enough number so that God would spare everyone.
To aid our understanding, consider a principle drawn from ancient times when Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of the righteous dwelling in those cities. God listened and promised to turn away His destructive wrath if there were as few as 10 righteous people found to be living there (Genesis 18:22-33).
From this and other examples in the Bible, we can see that when the majority overwhelms the righteous, God removes the righteous and deals severely with the wicked. This can be seen with Noah and his immediate family, Lot and his immediate family, and the Church in Jerusalem in 70 A. D.
From what can be witnessed in our time the majority is well underway of overwhelming the righteous and will fully do so just before the Great Tribulation.
The difference with John the baptizer and the Elijah in this end time would NOT be to slaughter the wicked, but to MAKE KNOWN AND TO WITNESS of the coming slaughter that Jesus Christ Himself will inflict on them when He returns to this earth!
And Scripture reveals Jesus Christ will do this, UNLESS there is REPENTANCE of their evil and wicked ways (Ezekiel 3:17-21; 33:1-20; II Thessalonians 1:7-10).
There was no real indication of repentance by Judah during the mission of John the Baptizer nor in Israel from the preaching of Elijah in this the end-time though the warning was preached to both of them.
Even many of those who did hear and turn away from the idolatrous worship of Baalism and sin, turned back to their old way of life after the deaths of Elijah, John the Baptizer, the Messiah, and the Elijah to come.
Scripture makes known that those of us who yet remain within the true teachings will continue to be tested with even more difficult trials before the coming of Christ. The most difficult time will be when deception will be the strongest due to miracles being performed by false ministers – possibly by those who are now within the Churches of God (Matthew 24:23-24).
This will be followed by severe persecution by its leading false prophet on those who refuse to accept the idolatrous worship of Baalism, and will have the man, called the Beast, to enforce it’s mark (666) on pain of death (Revelation 13:15-18)
And from what the new man in that office is saying about Sunday observance being a real necessity, as well as other things, it appears he could very well be the one that Scripture tells us about being in the final office. It will not be very long before we will know for sure.
Once this mark is enforced, the whole Christian world will return to their mother church and be absorbed completely within the embrace of this universal Church by the real representative of Baalism (Revelation 13:13-14)!
It will only be the very true people of God who will refuse to become a part of this great false religion! The protesting daughters (Protestants) will be forced to change their minds and accept the worship of this chief prophet of Baal, and the Beast, and their system, or they will be killed as well (Revelation 13:11-18)!
This rigid religious system will last only for a short space of time, for when Jesus Christ comes back to earth again He will destroy completely the worship of Baalism (Revelation19)!
Christ will then utterly remove this despicable religious system along with the forcible removal of all the other evils, just as He used Elijah and Jehu in type to do in their time (I Kings 18:39-40; Matthew 24:14; II Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 18:1-24).
The Depth and Impact of the Evil
It is as difficult for us to grasp the real depth of the evil in this society today, BOTH SPIRITUALLY AND PHYSICALLY, just as it is for us to understand it during the time of Elijah.
Yet it is before our eyes and ears all the time in the media, movies and on television! And because of it happening all the time, it is very easy to become somewhat desensitized and conditioned to it. We have to struggle against letting this become a part of our lives, in part, or in whole.
Based on what God makes known in Scripture, God will be looking favorably only on those who view these things as did Lot when he dwelt in Sodom: “... and DELIVERED righteous Lot, who was oppressed with THE FILTHY CONDUCT [termed by the holy Bible as SODOMY, called ‘GAY’ today - a politically correct word] of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, TORMENTED his righteous soul from DAY TO DAY BY SEEING AND HEARING their lawless deeds)” (II Peter 2:5-8; Ezekiel 9:4-6).
Table of Contents
Chapter One THE
ELIJAH -TO COME!
Chapter
Two The
Three Elijahs
Chapter Three
The
Original Prophet –
Elijah
Chapter Four
The
Kings Ruling Israel
Led Them Astray
Chapter Five The
Primary Rulers And
Judicial System of the House of Joseph Have Legalized Sodomy And Murder
of the Unborn
Chapter Six A Review of the Background and the Escalation of Lawlessness
Chapter Seven Against This Background of Sin God sent to Israel the End-Time Elijah
Chapter Eight The Sacrificial Murder of Babies
Chapter Nine Legal License to Murder the Defenseless
Chapter Ten The Beginning Advances of Technology and the Work
Chapter Eleven The Mastermind of all Evil, Satan the Devil
Chapter Twelve The
First Stages of Famine