Chapter Three

The
Original Prophet –
Elijah

God sent Elijah to King Ahab of Israel with the announcement of the famine at just the right time in their ongoing history to try and turn the kingdom around before He possibly would have brought total disaster upon them.

It was between the years of 915-895 B. C. that Elijah was enlisted in God’s service as a prophet to be sent by Him to Israel.

Though it is not specifically stated, it is necessary to repeat that Israel was at the crossroads between possible total rejection by God as His chosen nation, and God then possibly striking the earth with total destruction! (Malachi 4:6)

Remember, the threat was made once before by God, and would have happened, had not Moses pleaded with God for Israel (Exodus 32:7-14).

The Thread of History

In view of how Manasseh and Ephraim began to degenerate since World War II, it is necessary that we see the downhill slide of Israel after the deaths of Moses and Joshua and compare the two different times. 

There is a real parallel between the two. And though the circumstances vary some, the sins were exactly the same at that time as they are in this end-time. Different times, but the same abominable and horrible sins then as they are today!

By following the thread of history it will become easier for us to see and understand why God sent the original Elijah then, and the Elijah of this end-time. Both were sent at the very exact times they were needed, and for precisely the same reasons.

To enable us to see the parallels of the downward spiraling of the degeneracy of Israel to the very bottom of the moral cesspool and their horrible idolatrous pagan worship of Baalism in all its forms along with that of Astarte at that time, we will begin after the death of Joshua and pick up with their up and down relationship with God in the Book of Judges -- a very bloody Book of the Bible!

In view of that period of time, and the very possible destruction of Israel as a people, we can only express our thankfulness to God that the mission for which Elijah was raised up and used by God was successful enough that God spared them. Had it not taken place, NO ONE would be alive today, including you and me!  Think about it!

The State of Israel during the Judges

After the death of Joshua the judges ruled the kingdom of Israel. The book of Judges makes known the time when things really began to go wrong with the Israelites. It records a series of events that was repeated several times in the next 300 or so years.

The people of Israel would drift away from God. To correct them, God allowed them to be oppressed by the nations around them. In their affliction they would cry out to God and He would deliver them by raising up a judge. This was repeated over and over again during those many years.

The Book of Judges is the bloodiest book of the Bible for the simple and revealing reason of not having a strong king ruling over them; and as the result they did that which was right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).

This long period of time was followed by the next two Books, commonly called I and II Samuel. In the beginning of the first book we find God raised up the prophet, Eli, a sincere but ineffective ruler. 

Israel Receives a King to Rule Them

After his death, Samuel, who was both a prophet and a judge, replaced Eli. He proved to be a very righteous and respected prophet.

Toward the end of his life Israel demanded to be ruled by a king like the nations around them after seeing the sons of Samuel were not going to be righteous rulers.

God heeded their demand and gave them Saul as their first king – a very popular choice, but lacked the most important characteristic of a leader, character! At the end of 40 years he was slain in battle and replaced by David, a man after God’s own heart.

Due to God’s good blessings under David’s capable rule, Israel prospered and was established as a major power in that time. He also reigned for 40 years. Before he died, he appointed his son Solomon to succeed him (I Kings 1:28-40).

The Reign of Solomon

Solomon began his reign in 768 B. C., slightly under the age of 20. His reign was known as the golden age of Israel. The nation controlled the major trade routes and became very wealthy.

Israel had inherited the Promised Land that had been given to them because of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:7; 13:14-17; 22:15-18). They had power, prestige and prosperity. God was prepared to give them even more if they would only obey Him (I Kings 9:4-7).

Jesus Christ spoke of Solomon’s glory, while comparing his golden age to the lowly lilies of the field at the height of their beauty and glory, when He said,“And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:29)

This man was blessed far more than any man due to God appearing to him twice in dreams and granting him his desire of an understanding heart to rule the people of Israel wisely while discerning the difference between good and evil. His wisdom was known far and wide and greater than any man before or anyone after him. It gained him fame and is celebrated both in the Bible and in legend.

World leaders sought audiences with this very wise king to gain answers to their very hard and difficult questions (I Kings 3:12; 4:29-34; 10:1-13).

Solomon Builds the Beautiful Temple of God

God used Solomon in the beginning years of his reign to build the magnificent and beautiful Temple that was designed by none other than God Himself! It was awesome to behold and became known as one of the wonders of the world (I Kings 6:11-14, 38). 

Though his father, King David, had desired to build this beautiful Temple that would represent the presence of God dwelling in it, he was denied that opportunity and blessing (I Chronicles 17:1-4; I Kings 5:3).

However, God did choose to give the design and details of the construction of it to David (I Chronicles 28:19). He then began to accumulate all the materials that would go into the building of it.

In so doing, he said, “... the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries. I will now make preparation for it” (I Chronicles 22:5).

The Building of the Temple Completed

After the completion of this magnificent Temple of God, Solomon had the ark of God brought into the Most Holy Place inside the Temple from where it had been located in the city of David, which was Zion (II Chronicles 5:1-3; I Kings 8:1-2). 

Solomon then assembled the elders and people of Israel to dedicate it during the Feast of Tabernacles, while asking in prayer on his knees with arms uplifted for God’s good blessings upon it and His people (II Chronicles 6:12-42).

God Responds to Solomon’s Prayer

God appeared the second time to Solomon after the dedication and his prayer for the people of Israel. Solomon was then told that his prayer had been heard and His blessings would be upon his family and Israel AS LONG as they obeyed the laws of God (I Kings 9:2-9). 

If they disobeyed then Israel would be CUT OFF from this Promised Land and the Temple would be cast out of God’s sight! It would be destroyed! (I Kings 9:1-9; II Chronicles 7:19-20).

Solomon reigned well for the first few years. But in his older age he began to show a serious character flaw by disobeying God by taking many foreign women as his wives.

Solomon’s Departure from God

Solomon, in all his glory, began to forget the wonderful God who gave him such great and famed wisdom that surpassed all of mankind.

True to the warning from God, these foreign women led him away from the worship of the true God and he became involved with these wives in worshiping Baal! In so doing he led Israel into the same idolatrous worship by his example.

Even though he saw the magnificent Temple on a daily basis, he let slip from his mind that this great and beautiful Structure represented God’s holy presence in their very midst; the true and only God who had appeared to him twice.

Solomon’s downfall was like that of many world leaders, and mankind in general: a love for women. Scripture reveals he had 300 wives and 700 concubines. Among them were the foreign women. And because of his love and desire to please these beautiful women he permitted them to lead him into idol worship and his rejection by God. 

These foreign women were steeped in the worship of pagan gods and had been expressly forbidden by God for him to take as his wives (I Kings 11:1-9). As the result, they led Solomon away from the true worship of God into an idolatrous worship:

“For it was so, when Solomon was old (probably early 50s), that his wives TURNED HIS HEART AFTER OTHER GODS; and his heart was NOT LOYAL to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David” (I Kings 11:1-4).

Solomon even built a high place for the worship of the pagan god Chemosh. It was a place where the people of Israel and his foreign wives could worship and even sacrifice their little children to this pagan deity, as Scripture makes known:

Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, ... Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods (I Kings 11:6-8).

God Turns Against Solomon

Because of Solomon’s continued sinning against God, He raised up adversaries against him and the kingdom of Israel, just as we find with the house of Joseph today (I Kings 11:14-26). Before his death, God made known to Jeroboam through His prophet Ahijah, that He was going to TEAR AWAY the 10 Tribes of Israel and make him their king.

God explained through Ahijah that this was because they had forsaken Him and worshiped Ashoreth (female goddess, Semiramis), the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of Ammon. (I Kings 11:30-33).

The Reign of Rehoboam and Jeroboam

After Solomon’s death, he was succeeded by his son, Rehoboam, who began his rule over all of the tribes of Israel. 

It was at the beginning of his reign that God brought about the split between the 10 nations of Israel and the Tribe of Judah (Benjamin and Levi chose to remain with Judah). The 10 nations of Israel were then given to Jeroboam, who was to be their new king (I Kings 12:15-16).

Even though Jeroboam heard the same warning from this prophet of God that was given to Solomon, he later put it out of his mind for fear of losing his kingship over the 10 Tribes of Israel.

Israel Fully Departs from God

Like so many despotic rulers, Jeroboam feared the loss of his rulership over the 10 tribes due to the reuniting with Judah (Benjamin and Levi were afterwards obscured under the one name of Judah) during the Holy Days when all were commanded to go to Jerusalem to observe those Days.

To prevent this from taking place, Jeroboam then established his own festival patterned after the Feast of Tabernacles, but moved it forward to the eighth month instead of the seventh month as God had commanded (I Kings 12:25; Leviticus 23:33-34).

NOTE: Though Jeroboam was from the Tribe of Ephraim, and reared in Israel, he had recently spent time in Egypt out of Solomon’s reach, where he had learned of their ways, worship of the heathen gods (Jeremiah 10), and religious customs (I Kings 11:26-28, 40).

Jeroboam gave Israel their gods, just as did Aaron and the leaders of Israel in the desert while Moses was up in the mountain with God for 40 days (Exodus 32:4, 8). These gods he introduced to Israel in defiance of the direct teachings of God (I Kings 12:28; II Chronicles 11:15; Deuteronomy 12:30-32; 18:9). 

From the Ambassador College Correspondence Course, Lesson 40, Page 11, we learn that this is the first Bible record of the celebration of Halloween – a holiday that corresponds to God’s Feast of Tabernacles. Halloween is a counterfeit of God’s Festival, which reveal, not goblins, but the resurrection.

Dr. C. Paul Meredith once told me that he felt the state and local fairs were designed to replace the Feast of Tabernacles. 

People can derive happiness of a sort from attending them and as such they do not miss out completely from the happiness they would have had attending the Feast of Tabernacles. He did not say, nor do I, that it is wrong to attend these fairs, but they should never replace the joy and happiness derived from observing the Feast of Tabernacles.

Jeroboam chose to place his festival close enough to the commanded time of observance so that the people of Israel would not feel left out of all the joy and happiness that comes through the celebration of the real Festival.

The Golden Calves Represented Satan Worship

Jeroboam also set up the two golden calves for Israel to worship (explained above). The desire was still there to worship this calf that was molded into the form of a cherub with wings, as Satan, the fallen cherub (Ezekiel 28:14).

To make the worship of it convenient, he set one up in Bethel and the other one in Dan. This saved them from making a much longer trip to Jerusalem to observe the true Feast. He realized the nature of the people of Israel in not wanting to travel any farther than they had to, for the roads were dusty and the sun was hot.

At the same time, they had no real desire to worship the true God any longer, for His laws restricted them from a licentious and immoral way of life. They had their gods with no real restrictions! 

Rather than seeking the Levites to be priests, Jeroboam chose men of his own devising from every class of people (I Kings 12:31); men who really knew not the laws of God. He also changed the observance of the 7^th Day Sabbath to the Day of the Sun-God, the day we call SUN-day, the first day of the week.

In addition to other pagan beliefs, the king of Israel followed in the same teachings until Israel went into captivity to Assyria.

A Brief History of Israel’s Idolatry while in Egypt

For further understanding of what we find with Solomon’s turning away from God, to then be followed by Jeroboam who turned fully to the worship of idols, we need to briefly review the beginning history of Israel from the time of Abraham; for it is through his descendents that the nation of Israel came into existence and prominence as God’s chosen nation.

The Life of Abraham

When we study the life of Abraham we find a man who obeyed the voice of God and walked in all His commandments, statutes and judgments (Genesis 26:5). Because Abraham’s heart was devoted to Him in obedience, God knew he would obey whatever he was told to do by Him.

With His great plan for the ultimate salvation of mankind, God told him to leave his home country and go to a land that was unknown to him. 

It would be in his land that God would make of him a great nation and would give him and his offspring forever all the land he would see (Genesis 12:1-4). Sometime later Abraham was shown in a vision that first his descendants (12 grandsons) would be forced to go to Egypt due to a famine in Palestine.

There they would dwell for 400 years, and during those years they would become the slaves of the Egyptians (Genesis 15:12-16; Exodus 1:11). Further, God told him his descendants would return to the land He would send him in the 4^th generation (Genesis 15:16).

The land of Egypt, according to other evidence, was full of the worshipers of the Mysteries of Semiramis. (NOTE: The SYMBOLS that represented those pagan teachings and worship were in evidence when I visited Cairo, Egypt in 1981.) The Israelites remained captives among them for most of those 400 years. 

There they learned how to worship the first ‘savior’ – Tammuz and his ‘virgin’ mother – the queen of heaven (Semiramis). They forgot the True God, but God had not forgotten them because of His promise to Abraham (Genesis 15:16).

True to His promise, God led them out of Egypt and promised He would make them the greatest of nations if they would forsake their idol worship and follow Him. If they would not, He said He would punish them severely (Leviticus, chapter 26).

It was only a short period of time after the Israelites began their journey to the Promised Land that the people demanded Aaron make them an idol to worship, instead of God; the same old pagan gods they had known in Egypt (Exodus 32:1).

Though there were hints of change here and there in the Kingdom of Israel regarding the worship of Baal and Asheroth, Scripture makes known that every one of the 19 kings that ruled over the House of Israel never ceased worshiping THE GOLDEN CALF – the symbol of the FIRST ‘SAVIOR!’

A Renewal of their Pagan Worship

With Jeroboam as their new king, and his full acceptance of the idolatrous worship of the two golden calves, Israel eagerly accepted the same idolatrous worship they had known while living in Egypt.

Though Solomon had opened up the way for them to begin the worship of Baal and Asheroth, Jeroboam led them even more deeply into that pagan worship, along with the golden calves, by changing the observance of God’s Sabbath to Sunday. He also caused them to cease from observing the Holy Days by establishing his own calendar.

They begin worshiping the pagan gods of the land and accepting their evil, vile, and murderous practices, along with a great loss of morals as well.

Jeroboam made his own decrees regarding calf worship and also the religion of Baalism (I kings 12:26-33). What he did carried through all the kings of Israel and, believe it or not, it yet exists today with the public at large in the House of Israel, and in their religious worship – some of it has even carried over into God’s Church, as will be explained further on in the latter part of this writing.

The Kings Who Followed Jeroboam

All the kings who followed Jeroboam were bad until Omri, who was very bad (I Kings 16:23-26). However, he only paved the way for his son, Ahab, who was to succeed him after his death, and who was worse than all of the kings before him.

It is during this king’s reign where one wonders if Israel might have been destroyed during this king’s reign had God NOT sent Elijah to them.

Is there a possible parallel with the last man or woman who will become the president in the modern-day tribe of Manasseh – and at that time? I seriously wonder? Read on and we will consider this possibility.

Israel Reaches Bottom

With this background in mind, and the most evil king of all to follow, it should make it easier for the reader to understand the whys and wherefores that brought about the necessity of God sending the prophet Elijah to the king of Israel to declare a terrible famine to come on Israel. 

A famine that would be so severe that it would make possible for God through Elijah to get the attention of the evil king and the people of Israel with the purpose of turning them around – even though it would only last for a little time.

King Ahab the Worst King of All Kings in Israel

Ahab, the son of Omri, succeeded his father on the throne of Israel. As already stated, his reign was the worst one of all, as Scripture reveals: “But there was no one like Ahab who SOLD himself to do wickedness in the sight of the LORD, BECAUSE his wife STIRRED HIM UP. And he behaved abominably in following idols (as do Christian Churches today), according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD had CAST OUT before the children of Israel (I Kings 21:25-26). 

It is not difficult to see the parallel of today’s society and Queen Jezebel who STIRRED UP Ahab, her husband. Consider what God led another prophet to write about our time while considering the women who are members of the House of Representatives and Senators, Governors and Judges along with other very high positions in Government, and even as ministers in the world’s Churches.

 “As for My people, children are their oppressors, WOMEN RULE OVER THEM. O My people! THOSE WHO LEAD YOU CAUSE YOU TO ERR (margin: lead you astray), AND DESTROY THE WAY OF YOUR PATHS...” (Isaiah 3:16-24; 3:12)

From the writings of retired Judge Robert Bork, Slouching Towards Gommorah, Pages 208-225, he wrote of the impact that Radical Feminism is having on this country.

Please note short quote from his writings on that subject: “Radical feminists today, like the radical students of the sixties, have discovered that they have the power to make the Establishment cringe, and back down, and so, their demands escalate” (page 216).

Speculations abound from high officials and others as to who could become the next president in this country in 2008. Many expect it very well could be Senator Hillary Clinton. If so, one can be sure her husband will be at her side.

At the same time we would do well to learn about the man who might be the next president and wonder how much influence his wife might have on him, as Jezebel did on King Ahab. It won’t be long before everyone will know.

Definition of Names

For further understanding, I think it is necessary that we understand the meaning of the name of Baal and the name of the Amorites. Both of these names played a major role in the history of Israel and led to their alienation from God and their demise as a kingdom.

It may be surprising to some, but Baalism never did fully go away! It is well established in a most prominent role in the religions of today. 

With this in mind, it is needful to know and understand these pagan gods’ names and how they were worshiped.

BAAL – A general name for heathen gods. When Israel entered the land of Canaan they found that every piece of land had its own deity, its owner. Thus, there were many Baals.

AMORITE – Though this was the name of a specific people of Canaan, the name was also used as a general term for the inhabitants of Canaan (Genesis 48:22; Joshua 24:15).