ETERNAL SECURITY AND APOSTASY – Part 2 of 2

(2 Chron 24)

(Continuation of Part 1):

  King Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord in the days of Jehoida, the priest. Perhaps Jesus was remembering Joash when he said, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 18:3). He often referred to his disciples as “little children.” One example of that is in the passage, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me” (John 13:33).
  What made the disciples as little children? Paul defined who are the little children, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Gal 4:19). Little children are those who God has reborn. Spiritual rebirth is like a seed planted – belief in God – as the beginning as Christ is formed in them. The “seed” is the imbuing of the Holy Ghost, and filling of the Holy Ghost requires time. The Holy Ghost (aka, the Ghost of Jesus) is formed in those who are born-again until they are spiritually mature. Those who are reborn are also called “babes in Christ” (1 Cor 3:1).
  As long as the “babe” Joash was growing under Jehoida, Christ was in formation within him. Things were prosperous in Judah for much of Joash’s rule. The nation then turned from God to idols, and Joash transgressed with them. When Jehoida had died, Joash’s faith faltered. The influence of sinful Judah was too great, and Joash fell. (2 Chron 24:15-22).
  Joash represents righteous men (and women) who fail God. He once believed with all his heart because Jehoida kept him safe as a constant reminder of the Word. Jehoida was a type of Yahweh. God keeps sinners safe from the evil one and the law of sin. As long as Jehoida was alive in Joash’s heart, he was safe, awaiting only his own death. If he had endured to the end, Joash would have been saved (Mat 10:22), but he remained always a “babe in Christ” who depended on Jehoida to keep him safe.
  Joash’s life was dependent on Jehoida (“to build”; representing the Creator God). His safety depended on the presence of Jehoida, until he died. If Joash had preceded Jehoida in death, his death would have been gain. Does that not sound familiar? “For to me (Joash) to live is Christ (Jehoida), and to die is gain.” (Phil 1:21).  Of course, “me” was Paul, and “Christ” was God in the flesh, but that passage applies to everyone - Joash as well!
  After Jehoida’s death, Joash’s safety was compromised. His faith in his spiritual father waned after Jehoida died. Then the evil one’s, worshipers of Baal, came after him and Baal’s false doctrine made him falter. He swung to and fro from one belief to another until finally, he chose his new master.
Remembering that Joash remained a spiritual child of God (Jehoida) when “God” was gone from his presence, Joash was as a child in danger!  Paul warned of that when he wrote, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephes 4:14).
  If Joash had matured as a Christian, and saw that “Jehoida” would return, he would not have died!

KEY VERSES: And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus, Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it. (2 Chron 24:20:22).

  It should be obvious that Zechariah is a type of Jesus to Jehoida’s type of the Father. As with all Jews who have faith in Yahweh, but not the Son, in Joash’s reign it was the same with him. He was ripe for deception from the evil ones, and Joash fell away from God. 

  God remembered Joash by providing for him Jehoida’s son, and as such never forsook Joash. Joash, however forsook God! “Well,” you say, “Jehoida died!” No he did not. God cannot die, and neither can God’s faithful as Jehoida was until the end. Those once faithful whose faith waned, can and will die. Joash, we find, died shortly afterward as is written, “His own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died” (2 Chron 24:25).

  Zechariah received a portion of his father’s spirit just as Jesus would at his baptism. Zechariah had Jehoida’s spirit “come upon him.” Does that sound familiar? 

And I (John) knew him not: but he (the Father) that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, “Upon whom (Jesus) thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” (John 1:33)

  Even the blind should see that Zechariah was a type of Christ, and Joash only needed to await his priesthood! The name Zechariah means, “Yahweh remembers.” Jehoida nor God had forgotten Joash, as promised, but remembered that Joash needed a personal priest. With Jehoida gone, God had not forsaken Joash, but Joash did forsake Yahweh. Zechariah explained (from the key verses), “Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you.”

  Joash had committed apostasy! Perhaps Joash only thought that he would be ruined, not destroyed, because of what Zechariah said: “Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper?” Most Jews always thought that “prosperity” meant the “land of milk and honey” with its riches. “Prosperity” is in the heavenly Paradise, not in paradise on Earth. Transgression (doing what he wanted to do) leads to loss of prosperity, and God wants that “none should perish” (John 3:16).

  Because he was accused and convicted by Zechariah (Jesus), Joash had two choices: (1) He could repent, or (2) become angry. Because he was king, Joash became angry, had Zechariah stoned, and slew him. The passage on that must be read again to see its impact: “Thus, Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son.” 

  Joash forgot about Jehoida (the Father-figure) and killed his son. That’s what all the “Joashes” did on Calvary; they forgot the Father and killed the Father’s Son. Mosaic law (for presumptive sin) requires that the accused be stoned. Although it is not written that he was, it is implied because of the Law and as Jesus was disfigured, that he was indeed stoned before he was crucified. Zechariah’s typology validates that. He was stoned in the manner which Jesus would be. 

  The last passage is ambiguous: “The Lord look upon it, and require it.” It seems that Joash’s life would likewise be required of him. In other words, he would die for his apostasy. Scripture means spiritual death! True, Joash’s life was required of him as is written, but the Lord looked upon Zechariah’s death, and would also “require it.” There may be a double-meaning therein. Not only would Joash’s life for apostasy be required of him, but Zechariah would be the example of God’s Son whose life would also be required! 

  Joash’s apostasy is the Old Testament example which applies to the New Testament. Faith is not for a moment, or even for years, but for a lifetime! We all must endure in faith until the end. If not, our lives will be required of us, and our prosperity taken away as Joash lost his life and his kingship.

  Ours, like Joash’s, is a battle of who would be king. Would it be Joash or Yahweh? Will it be us or Jesus?

  On the Holy Cross, a sign was prominently displayed; Jesus is King, and we are not! There were no such signs on the crosses of either the lost thief nor the one who gained prosperity that day. He looked at Jesus, and saw the real King! His meekness provided the prosperity. He knew he was no king, and that he deserved to die.

  We must be that way ourselves. None of us are kings, but deserve death as Joash did. Zechariah did nothing to deserve death, but he died in Joash’s place who eventually got what he deserved as he killed Jesus! Not of course literally, but figuratively. He killed Jesus within his hardened heart.

  His heart didn’t harden immediately; it took time. Baal was a patient god, and Satan is a patient fellow. Both killed Joash by hardening his once soft heart, as the little child he was in the beginning. The doctrine of eternal security denies that, but Joash’s apostasy reveals the true doctrine.

  I wish that eternal security was the Way to eternal prosperity, but it seems not to be correct doctrine. It is easy doctrine which most follow, but it is not right doctrine! It is cheap grace.

ETERNAL SECURITY AND APOSTASY - Part 1 of 2

ETERNAL SECURITY AND APOSTASY

KEY CHAPTER: 2 Chron 24

  There is one true doctrine, and that is the Doctrine of Christ. There are many false doctrines, but they can be categorized as the “doctrine of men.” Speaking of unity in Christ, Paul said, “Be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephes 4:14). The commonest doctrine of men was the necessity for obedience to the Commandments (Col 2:22). The “Commandments” are still God’s Will, but the efficacy of keeping them is the problem.
  “Conversion” is breaking a person’s will. It is an alignment of their will to God’s Will. In Acts 2, finally, when Christians became of one accord, then God’s Holy Ghost communed with them. It seems that the Jews in Jerusalem began to love one another just for the sake of it, and the command to do so was unnecessary!
  God is love, and they began to love God and others. God did not make them do that nor coerce them, but their hearts were changed. They had been born again, or converted from unloving and argumentative to loving and long-suffering. They became new persons under Christ, and were thenceforth adopted by God (Ephes 1:5), as He predestined or willed them to be.
  Predestination is not God deciding which men would love Him, but knowing in advance who would. Since salvation is for everyone, “predestination” is God’s desire that none should perish (John 3:16) in that is His Will for us.
  Misunderstanding “predestination” and “election” has led to grievous sins. Those are the bases for eternal security (“preservation of the saints”) taken from, “For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:28).
   However, there is a contingency on preservation: “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 97:10).
  Therein, nothing is said about keeping dietary laws and rituals. The contingency is love! Wickedness is a desire, using one’s own will, to not love God. Sinners don’t necessarily hate God, but fail to love Him.
  Most sinners are merely apathetic to God and His Will for them! Love can be described using a bell-shaped curve. The people are hovered around the mean which is apathy toward God. On the left tail of the curve are the few who truly despise the Lord, and on the right tail are the few who truly love the Lord and seek His Will. The bell-shaped curve is a graphic representation of who takes which gate to destruction or to salvation:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Mat 7:13-14)

  “Enter ye” puts emphasis on the convert. Jesus paid it all, but Christians must walk his walk! The “strait gate” is the Doctrine of Christ. It is the basis for judgment. It can be found in Holy Scripture, and not the doctrines of men. Those false doctrines are the wide gate to destruction. The bell-shaped curve represents the doctrines and the "doctrine of men" with evil on the left and "goodness" on the right. The dispersion of people on the curve represents who will and won’t go through the gates. The curve itself is narrow; it’s merely a small line above a broad area. That is the Way.
  While walking the narrow line, God has much leniency. Drunks stumble and fall when they can’t toe the line. Christians stumble as well. Really drunk people can’t see the line and walk wherever chance takes them. Sober people may walk the line, and even drift-off for a while. However, they keep their eyes on the Lord, and he brings them back! That is preservation of the saints.
  Those who are not sober are apathetic. They drift off just because they do not care where they go. They often go along with the crowd. Rebellious people avoid the curvy line intentionally. The punishment for the rebellious and apathetic is the same. Since neither group shows love, God will not keep them safe.
  Deitrich Bonnhoeffer referred to those Christians who see the path, but do not see fit to toe the line as beneficiaries of “cheap grace.” Theologians call them “antinomialists” (antinomianism) in that they reject laws and legalism.
  God’s Will is written as statutes to which adherence is desired. Just because He doesn’t require His children to do and not do certain things, does not mean that He doesn’t care! For instance, tattoos and cuttings have no bearing on preservation of the saints, but if truly “saints,” then faithful people should not want tattoos and cuttings because they should want to please God. Loving God is doing His Will, not because we must, but desire to!
  Antinomialists may still be among the few who enter into Heaven, but it is because of their love despite their failure to do God’s Will. The Ten Commandments (Prescriptions) are still great for eternal healing but only if done with a loving attitude. The lesson learned from Scripture is that God doesn’t look at our failures against Him, but our attitudes about pleasing Him! Christians should want to NOT sin, and that is LOVE demonstrated - the one contingency for preservation of the saints. A “saint” is one set apart, or sanctified, and that is, “Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine” (1 Tim 4:6).
  “Preservation” is to sustain the life of those with “good doctrine” which is living righteously. How is that accomplished? By willingness to please God by doing His Will. It all goes back to doing the Ten Prescriptions for eternal life. Those who love God, but become rebellious or apathetic to Him, are in apostasy as they have defected from God. They may not have intentionally affected to Satan, but if they are not God’s, they are children of the Devil (John 8:44). The Devil wants everyone to do his will, while thinking that they are independent or free-thinkers. Free-thinking is delusional; it is controlled thought!
  That background on “eternal security,” “once=saved-always-saved,” or “preservation of the saints” is information for the apostasy of Joash (2 Chron 24) which will be continued tomorrow.

ATHALIA'S OBELISK

  Athalia was the daughter of King Omri of Israel, and wife of King Jehoram of Judah until his death when she became queen regnant. After a reign of a few years, she was put to death by the people, and the rightful heir, the young son of Ahaziah, named Jehoash. Ironically, “Jehoash” means “Yahweh-given” and that’s exactly what God did in making him king!
  Of the line of evil King Ahab and priestess of Baal, Jezebel, Athalia brought Baalism from Israel to Judah. The Judeans never turned away from God but added Baal to their religion. Athalia, as was common, was the “bargaining chip” to bring an alliance between Judah and Israel, and ultimately between Yahweh and Baal. What commandment was broken? The Greatest Commandment – to love God with all the hearts, souls, minds, and strengths of His people. That one commandment embraces the first four of the Ten Prescriptions (Commandments), and its violation is called “syncretism.”
  In modern times, people feel it is alright to tolerate other gods, and perhaps perform service to them, as long as they still acknowledge the God of Abraham. Without a whit of discernment, they bow to some other invisible, non-existing God with whom they have union as Yogi do with Yoga. Let me identify that unknown god – he is Baal, and he is trying to get in you with any ploy he can!
  With Jehoram and the nation of Judah, Baal got in through a political alliance with the harlots Athalia and the nation of Israel. Off message for a moment, I believe modern-day Jerusalem is the “harlot Babyblon” from the Book of Revelation, and not Rome. The point is that Baalim will sneak in any way they can! Of course, Baalim, in general, are any type of false gods.
  Throughout the Old Testament, Baalim most often penetrated the Hebrews through marriage of foreign wives who had other gods than Yahweh. Satan most frequently uses men’s greatest weakness to undermine them: Think of Samson and Delilah, Salome and Herod, and many others. Think all the way back to Adam and Eve!
  Adam and Eve had a pure marriage in Holy Matrimony because God ordained it. Athalia and Jehoram had unholy marriage because Omri and Baal ordained it. Face it, Baalim always uses penises to arrest the real God! Obelisks represent power; which male is greatest. There are numerous obelisks which celebrate male power all over the world.
  Obelisks have always been phallic symbols, and represent the ecstasy that only men can have. In psychoanalysis, the phallic symbol represents male generative powers. Satan knows the value of the penis, and used Athalia to “erect” Baal in Judah. The “high places” of the Old Testament are phallic symbols in the name of Baalim, and if there are no high places, those who served Baals erected ziggurats of which the Tower of Babel is the most notable.
  The erection of the male phallus is most often why men fail God. Many believe that original sin was pleasuring rather than multiplication as commanded because the two formerly innocent “children” of God immediately covered their genitals with aprons. The Serpent (the first Baal – Beelzebub himself), knows how to get at Yahweh through the libido of the male!
  Omri could not win-over Judah to Baal, so he sacrificed his own daughter on Baal’s behalf. Does that not sound familiar? It should: Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son to God, and Yahweh did sacrifice His Son for mankind!
  The first sin was accounted to Adam. Why is that when it was Eve who first sinned? Because Eve was of Adam; she was his responsibility! God created Eve for Adam’s company, and for reproducing little Adam’s. He did not create Eve for the Serpent’s company, nor for sexual pleasure! God could have continued to generate men without Eves. He did not need Eve for His Plan, but used her as a vessel for His generating other little humans. That’s the same for Mary. She was nothing more than a fairly clean vessel with a placenta which kept Jesus consecrated in the womb as sinful “blood” and disease cannot pass through the placenta.
  Adam was for God’s companionship, and Eve for Adam’s. However, it soon turned out that both pleasured the Serpent when they fornicated against Yahweh.
  Athalia was Jehoram’s legitimiate wife. Why then is fornication important? Because Jehoram and the nation of Judah fornicated against God, and Omri used Jehoram’s penis to do that. That appendage was Jehoram’s “high place” just as Baal had his high places. Jehoram affectively used his penis to gain power, and it worked for awhile until he died and Athalia became queen.
  That was Omri’s plan all along! His alliance was nothing more than a power grab. God always warned to not make treaties with foreign countries who are adversarial. That is still done, and is often dangerous and even fatal.
  Godly nations must depend on God, not meaningless treaties! Stalin, Hitler, and many others have demonstrated time and time again that evil people cannot be trusted. Omri could not. He was seeking David’s throne for the house of Jeroboam who was not even kin to King David. If Athalia had retained power, the House of David would have ended and the Abrahamic Covenant broken. With that, there would have been no Messiah. Because Athalia died is why Jesus lives!
  Athalia means, “the Lord is exalted.” The question is, “Who is her Lord?” Well, Baal was. When my daughter stepped on a Yoga mat with her shoes on, the “instructor” rebuked her with, “That’s disrespectful!” Heather thought, Disrespectful to whom? Of course, it is disrespectful to the Buddhist Baalim.
  Jehoram means, “Yah is high.” Yahweh should have rightfully been on Jehoram’s “high place” but his phallus was instead. He traded Yahweh off for a little time with “Asherah” who Athalia represents. Asherah is the goddess of fertility, and the wife of El. Athalia was attempting to begin with a tryst – Asherah, El, and Yahweh. Why start there? Because fornicating with El is fornication against Yahweh.
  Christians use the word “El” to mean Yahweh. “El” is nothing more than a title, but Yahweh Is God’s Identity. It Is Who He Is!
  When Jehoram fornicated with Baal by having a marriage covenant with Athalia, he was dishonoring his covenant with God. He still loved God, but tolerated another god. He had another god in God’s face, which is literally what the First Commandment means.
  Athalia is a type of Eve, and Jehoram a type of Adam. The first sin was Adam’s because he shirked his responsibilities. As a royal priest to God, Adam should have been dismissing the false doctrine of the Serpent, but Eve took on that role. She was the first “feminist” and Adam the first “wus.”
  When Jehoram was gone, Athalia did what feminists do; she wore the penis. She exerted phallic power to gain power. God didn’t have Eve’s feminism in mind nor Athalia’s. Eve became submissive outside God’s Paradise, and Athalia was thrown out into the “valley of death” and replaced with King David’s rightful heir, Jehoash, so that Jesus would someday be King; not of Israel, but “King of the Jews” as the sign at his crucifixion read.
  “Jews” are citizens of Judah, not Israel. Is it not prophetic that the Kingdom of Israel is dead to this day, but the Kingdom of Judah is not; the Jews still exist worldwide, but the Israelites remain in name only!
  What do Athalia and Jehoash have to do with Jesus? Both have to do with Jesus’s birth! Athalia would have aborted Jesus in God’s Womb (Mary), but Jehoash kept Jesus alive in reality by becoming a useful “tool” for God’s Plan for the Messiah.
  Many righteous men are still today ruler by their penis. When it comes to Jesus or their “Baal,” their phallus becomes their “high place.” Many televangelist have failed because of their phalluses, and many ordinary Christian men, and even preachers have fallen because “their place” is higher than God’s place.
  Many women are Athalia’s because they flirt with trouble. Eve questioned herself when she seemed to acknowledge that to the Serpent with “or do not touch.” Many people wonder about what she should not touch when she thought that! Women should not get near Baal, nor titillate as the forbidden tree did to her and Adam. Adams (men) still are accountable for the sin, but women for the temptations. Men are the Jehorams and women the Athalias.
  Holy Matrimony is a triangulation of man, woman, and God. Secular marriage as Athalia’s and Jehoram’s is triangulation between them and their “Baal,” and most often the “Baals” are their penises and vaginas. When married to radical feminists, both of them attempt to have the "obelisks!"

TYPOLOGY OF ELISHA

KEY VERSE: Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

 

  Jesus identifies himself with three characteristics: the Way, the Truth, and the Life, or: a traveled road, what is ultimately true, and with vitality, respectively. Then “the life” is explained: “No man cometh unto the Father but by me.”

  The Father is on His throne in Heaven wherein there is eternal life. To obtain eternal vitality, it is through Jesus and Jesus alone. Consequently, “the Way” is the road traveled to immortality, and “the Truth” is the “straight gate” in which to enter into eternal life.

  Complementing the key verse is this passage:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Mat 7:13-14)

  The highway to Heaven is narrow, and truth to enter therein is ultimate. Not forgetting that cherubim guard Paradise on Earth, they guard Paradise in Heaven as well to keep the unworthy from entering in. Angels prevent improper entry into Heaven and check the “credentials” of those who attempt entry. The credential to enter-in is that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and by his Name, there is salvation from eternal death (Acts 2:21).

  In an earlier commentary, I discussed that Elijah was a type of Christ, and that the Jews believed Elijah was Jesus as Elijah never died. Now consider Elisha; he received Elijah’s mantle (1 Kings 19:19). As Elijah is a type of Jesus (the Word; John 1), Elisha is a type of Holy Ghost.

  A mantle is a long cape that covers the wearer from the shoulders down. It is a sign of authority. Remember that Adam and Eve who had no authority as they made for themselves aprons of fig leaves, gained authority (and salvation) when God covered them with a cloak of skin.

  Elijah’s authority was passed along to Elisha. Elijah never died; he lived on in Heaven and on Earth through Elisha, and people accepted Elisha’s authority! “The Comforter” is the Holy Ghost (John 14:26). That specific “substance” is the Holy Spirit of God who experienced death on the Holy Cross in the Flesh of God. Only the KJV delineates between “Holy Spirit” and “Holy Ghost” (John 7:39). The “Holy Spirit” is the Spirit of God before He experienced death, and the “Holy Ghost” is God’s Spirit after experiencing death.

  Think on that as you would the Man, Jesus. He was the Son of Man until he experienced death, then he was the Son of God.

  The mantle of Jesus fell on the Holy Ghost upon Jesus’s death: The centurion recognized what death does, “And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.” The centurion saw the Son of Man (“this man,” he said) transfigured into the Son of God by experiencing death. What he did not see was the Holy Spirit of God transforming into the Holy Ghost of the “Man”, Jesus.

  Jesus, after forty days, ascended into Heaven and out of site (Acts 1:9). His ascension was much like Elijah’s. Some of his last words were, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you…” (Acts 1:8) in answer to the question, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus implied that his Holy Ghost would restore Israel just as Elijah had not but Elisha would! That is exactly what Elisha did!

And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel. (2 Kings 13:25)

  That was just as Elisha instructed Joash to do.

  It should be obvious that Elisha represents the Holy Ghost of Jesus because he succeeded Elijah who was a type of Jesus. Upon Elisha’s departure from life, Joash said about him the same words said about Elijah upon his translation from this world. Elisha’s “Spirit” was the same as the Spirit in Elijah.

  Elisha asked Elijah to give him a “double portion” of the Spirit that he had (2 Kings 2:9). That was a bequest for Power from the Almighty. Elijah was a prophet who used words. He knew what God intended for Israel and told them the Plan. He spoked the word of God and was the “mouth” of God who John describes as Jesus.

  On the other hand, Elisha spoke little. He worked miracles. His miracles were “the double-portion” that he had asked for. His potency was so intense that after his death, a dead man was laid against his body, and the man was restored to life! (2 Kings 13:20-21).

  The Holy Spirit is the Power of God – His vitality – which is referred to as “virtue going out” out of Jesus (as in Mark 5:30). When the Holy Ghost departed from Jesus, he died from a loss of virtue to provide vitality to those who believed the truth! Elisha had a double portion of virtue in that he had the Power to work miracles. Jesus’s Holy Ghost worked the greatest miracle of them all; he delivered all the sins of mankind to Hell so that none should perish! Elisha’s “Spirit” was still alive in the tomb, and he lost virtue to resurrect the dead man.

  Elisha was “the Comforter” type because he kept Israel safe, and restored her vitality. Israel has yet to be saved, but thanks to Elisha taking on their sins, in the end, it will be!

  Israel was not saved, but safe in that the Syrians were only struck three times rather than more, which would have destroyed them. Just as Elisha kept the people safe as a type of Holy Ghost, only the Name, Jesus, can save (Acts 4:12). In the end, Jesus will save Israel, and in the end, he will save Christians. Elisha kept Israel safe from Baal and King Hazael of Syria, and the Holy Ghost keeps Christians safe from sin and the Evil One!

  In Acts 1, Jesus ascends. In Acts 2, the Holy Ghost descends. That is reminiscent of Elijah ascending and the mantle falling on Elisha. Not only that but Elisha, as did the Holy Ghost, made Israel of one accord, as Baal was sent to the scrap-pile for a while.

  Elijah was a speaker of words, and he represents “the Truth.” Elisha was a worker of miracles, and he represents “the Way” to life. At the Creation, the Father thought it, the Son spoke it, and the Holy Spirit empowered it. When Israel was restored, God willed it, Elijah spoke it, and Elisha worked the miracles that restored life into a dead nation! In the end, that’s what Jesus will do to God’s Plan through the Power of the Holy Ghost!

  Always ask when reading the Old Testament, “What has this got to do with Jesus?” and you’ll find that it always does. You can’t just read the Bible; it must be contemplated. Contemplation provides instruction to our weak minds through the Holy Ghost of Jesus, if indeed, he dwells within our souls.

HELL IS FOR REAL

HELL IS FOR REAL

OR

WHY  A GOOD GOD ALLOWS PEOPLE TO GO TO HELL

KEY CHAPTER: (2 Kings):

  One of the most used excuses for sinful lives is, A good God would not send anyone to Hell. With that said, thought, and believed; comes a ticket to sin with impunity! Why not sin, if there is no punishment? That thought is contrary to Holy Scripture and is as much of a fiction as the Easter Bunny.

  God is to be loved and feared (Deut 10:12). Morally, the Hebrew word for “fear” is “to revere” the Lord which is to honor Him. Why honor Your Honor the Lord? For the same reason that one would honor a judge in civil court – the judge holds the scales of justice, and the defendant is at his mercy.

  Why would anyone love the Lord? Because He is our Father, both in natural and spiritual aspects. He not only generated life in Adam, but did in each person as well! Why would children honor their biological father? For the same reason – his seed “breathed” life into his children.

  God expects His children to love and fear Him. As with any good father, He punishes because He loves us so (John 3:16)! Many parents have said when using corporal punishment, “This hurts me more than it will you.” That is a true statement for good parents know that they must punish to bridle the instinct in children that they go where they should not go!

  On a personal level, I remember asking Mom, “Why is their pain?” That little-educated Kentucky “hillbilly” said, “So we can avoid danger.” She then went on to tell how a burn from a hot stove warns of imminent danger. My friend with diabetes stepped bare-footed on hot pavement, and could not feel the pain. He burnt both his feet terribly, and it took years to heal. The point is that pain is necessary.

  Human nature is to avoid as much pain as people can, but they still get too close to the fire thinking, I am getting hot but will not be burned. Sin is much that way – people sin as much as they can, believing they will never be burned. Why would God warn of the “hot burner” in the afterlife? So that people would have the intelligence to avoid the “heat” in this life. That “heat” is the desire to sin. Paul referred to it when he said, “It is better to marry than to burn (with lust)” (1 Cor 7:9).
  God said right after he created man, “Thou shalt not eat of it (the Wisdom Tree): for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:7), but the Serpent said, “No you won’t” (Gen 3:4). Dying is perishing in Hell, not the death of the flesh. They never understood that, and people still don’t!
  If anyone believes God is too good to punish, then they honor the Devil. Their “god” is Baal, and ultimately, they believe what they want to believe, and are “as God” in their own eyes as the Serpent rightfully indicated (Gen 3:5).
  God indeed is Good! All that he generated was “very good” (Gen 1:31). His “goodness” was creation of the human race, and free will. God warns to not gear near the fire (temptation), or the deceived person will sin, and ultimately suffer the burn.
  There must be a place for punishment or God would be a liar. God is Truth, therefore Hell must be for real! It has a purpose as well – it’s where the unrepentant perish.
  In Kings 10, consider again biblical typology as the Old Testament is full of it! Why would the story of Jehu’s cruelty be in the Bible and why would his cruelty be ordained by God? Because it is a warning to all people; there will come a day when due punishment will come. Kings 10 presents typology of judgment and Hell. It’s not a pleasant thing to read or consider, but Hell is not a pleasant thing!
  The Bible is not only about love and reward, but crime and punishment as well. Love and reward would only be half the story, and the rest is on “page two” as Paul Harvey would say. The full-gospel is that there is a reward for trusting God, but there is punishment for failure to do so. We hear nearly every Sunday about the reward, but people won’t go to church to hear about the punishment!
  King Jehu of Israel would have dragged the worshipers of Baal to “come to church” for the “sermon” on punishment, but he used deception to get them there. He led them to believe that they were coming to worship Baal, but that wasn’t the case!
  Is it not easier to get a person to come to a celebration than a dirge? Jehu knew that. The worshipers of Baal came to party with Baal. Although “Baal” was a specific “god” (Zeus for the Greek), that word came to mean any god. Almost all gods gave pleasure, and if they were not worshiped, they withheld pleasure. Many, as was Baal, were associated with fertility.
  Baal-worship often employed sexual pleasure, and there were even male temple prostitutes for homosexual pleasure. Infanticide was how Baal worship dealt with sexual freedom. It was the earliest form of abortion. Those who loved pleasure came to worship Baal. False gods often use sexual pleasure to entice (proselytize) into their false religion.
  Jezebel had been the ultimate apostle for Baal, and she was also known for her alluring methods and beauty. Like the forbidden tree, Jezebel was pleasing to the eyes (2 King 9:3), and was a harlot (2 King 9:22). She was “queen of the heavens” in the eyes of the people of Israel.
  Jehu sorted out the people marked for extinction. He was a type of death angel much like in the exodus from Egypt. Jehu sorted out the worshipers of Baal from the worshipers of Yahweh, and tagged them for destruction.
  God judged the Baal worshipers guilty, and Jehu carried out the punishment just as Satan will do. Jehu was, however, not righteous himself; he still allowed golden calves that represented Baals to exist. He destroyed the worshipers, but not the “god” as God did with Dagon.
  That’s much what happens when sinners die – sinners perish, but Satan still lives and is there to worship again. Of course, in the end, Jesus destroyed all “Baals” when he died on the cross, and the gospel makes it clear that everyone is a Baal unless they are born again. Now examine the typology in Jehu’s destruction of the “sinners” in ancient Israel:

And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah. (10:17)

  First off, Jehu killed Ahab, who was a type of El, representing Satan, and all those who he was king over. Jesus did the same thing on the Holy Cross; he didn’t die there, but the “serpent” Judas did on another tree. Ahab is a type of Judas as well, and both types of the first Beast.
  And who did God represent in this story? Jesus, because God’s Word Is Jesus (John 1:1-3,14).

And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much. (10:18)

  Therein is where Jehu, working to God’s instructions, used deception to lure those who serve Baal into their temple. God often has to use deception to get people to do His Will. He allowed the Serpent to do that, He knows it works, and He created the Devil for the very purpose of deceiving. God knew that they would not come to an execution, but they would for a celebration!

Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. (10:19)

  God’s intent for Jehu’s was to call sinners to come home. God called them to stay home, but Baal called them to his temple. The people were not forced, but made a decision themselves. They followed Baal and never heard the Word of the Lord who would have saved them from death by not entering in the temple.

And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to another. (10:21)

  All the worshippers of Baal came freely. All sinned by honoring Baal by coming into his “house.” Most served Baal, and only a few remained faithful to the Lord as learned elsewhere.
  This passage warns what Jesus said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mat 12:13-14).
  The doors to Baal’s temple was the “wide gate” of which Jesus spoke. Of course, the “strait gate” was freedom beyond the doors of Baal’s temple and was in Jerusalem. Liberty to worship the One True God is the “strait gate.” Those who served Baal came willingly and in great numbers to Baal’s house just as few today will gather in great numbers to hear their Baals, but few will ever enter into God’s House, the Church.

Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but the worshippers of Baal only. (23b)

  If you remember, the “gate” to the Garden of Eden is guarded by cherubim so that those unworthy could not enter in. (Gen 3:24). Those cherubim were there to guard the Tree of Life, which we know from Revelation 2:7 is in the midst of Paradise in Heaven. Those cherubim still guard entry into Heaven, and only those faithful to the end can enter in.
  When Jehu had his soldiers guard the door to the temple of Baal, it was for the protection of God’s chosen. God keeps His people safe if they serve and honor Him! Those soldiers were the “cherubim” types. Rather than keep the sinners out of Paradise, in this case, kept the faithful out of Hell.    Cherubim, then not only guard from unworthy entrance but protect those who are worthy to enter the strait gate.

…Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out… (10:25b)

  The two-edge sword is Jesus’s tool of destruction (Rev 2:12). Christians think of Jesus as only the Savior, but he is also destroyer of those who will perish. Why love and fear God? Because Jesus will save and punish the faithful and wrong-doers, respectively. That passage represents punishment for sinners which is perishing by the Word of God. No, Jesus will not behead, as the Beast does, but his Word will (Ephs 6:17). There will be no blood shed on his part when Jesus allows sinners to perish, but the Beast will take care of that, as Jehu did.
  It is not known for certain who the “death angel” is but it makes sense that Lucifer is. Then Jehu may also be a type of Lucifer.

And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day. (10:27) Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. (10:27-28)

  That passage is typology that represents Satan’s destruction when Satan is cast into the fiery pit. It also represents, “They should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads” (Rev 9:4) when the bottomless pit is opened. Baal’s Temple, not only represents Hell but the bottomless pit. The “door” to that pit is the wide gate to destruction, and appears to be the Foundation Stone which has the “keyhole” for the keys to the bottomless pit (Rev 9:1).
  Those who served Baal would go to Jerusalem, but not for the rapture of the saints, but to ascend into Hell beneath the Foundation Stone!

… the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart… But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart (10:30a-31a)

  Jehu was like Lucifer in that he seemed to serve God because as Satan, Lucifer is Tempter. Like Lucifer who seeks God’s Throne in Heaven and is Prince of the Power of the Air, that’s what Jehu represents as bad king of Israel.
  Kings chapter ten was not written for nothing. It is a warning that God does not lie! There is a penalty for sin, and that is death. The killing of those who served Baal was immediate but their dying is still occurring even at the present time. That’s what deluded people don’t understand about death – it never ends; sinners merely cross over.

THE PARODOX OF TIME

KEY VERSE: Therefore, sent he (the King of Syria) thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God (Elisha) was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, “Alas, my master! how shall we do?” And he answered, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. (2 Kings 6:14-16)

  I have written many times that rebirth is the first step to salvation is the interval between a condition of “safety” and finally “saved.” In the key verse, Elisha opened the eyes of his young helper to see that Israel was not alone, but were quite SAFE! Invisible to the man previously, but now seen, was that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire.

  Christians are never left alone. God keeps them safe. Although Christians are blind to it, there is an army encircling Christians to protect them from the evil one. God never leaves righteous men to contend with evil alone. The best example of that is with Moses and his seventy “judges” when God said, “I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.” God provides for those who are His. It’s that simple!

  Israel belonged to God, and He provided safety against their adversary, and they were certainly not pure! God wanted them to be safe for His purpose – as the place where Jesus was born!

Likewise, God keeps Christians safe for His purposes – that they be saved. Job had a spiritual “hedge” about him to keep him safe from evil (Job 1). There seems to be an invisible presence that cannot be seen, except with bright eyes. In the key verse, God gave the young man bright eyes so that he could see the safety that God provided!

  This commentary, however, is not about conditional or eternal security; it’s about the unseen. Faith is two-fold: (1) Seeing God in the creation, and (2) seeing the unseen, as evidenced by two passages: (1) “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse,” (Rom 1:20) and (2) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1).

  The young man saw the creation (for instance, the mountain). He knew it was real, and being with Elisha he surely believed in the Creator God as most Israelites did. Many, on the other hand, believed in many creator gods. “God” for them was not personal, but were those of wood, clay, silver, gold, and so forth. The young man was about to see that God was a personal God. He needed to trust that God, indeed, would take care of them. When the young man showed fear at the magnitude of the enemy, Elisha knew that the young man needed an increase in faith. Elisha prayed and God revealed to the young man the “hedge of safety” which protects God’s people even when they don’t deserve protection.

  The young man’s faith was increased, because God gave him evidence of things not seen. He saw a Holy Mountain with horses and chariots of fire. It can be assumed that he saw Jesus on his white horse, as was written much later from John’s vision: “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer” (Rev 6:2). Well, the young man saw Jesus ready to conquer on behalf of his people - Israel.

Jesus always protects his chosen people. Although they at times deserved a loss of protection, in the end Jesus has kept Israel safe for all these thousands of years because they are his chosen (peculiar) people as Christians are! Note that Israel is not saved yet, but shall be saved. Israel’s salvation comes at the end of time (Rev 21) when they are saved from the adversary forever.

  Previous to that, chariots of fire came in the whirlwind to take up Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand… A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. (Joel 2:1, 305)

  The young man saw what Joel saw! Incidentally, Isaiah saw into the future the vision of chariots of fire as well. “For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire” (Isa 66:15).

  Isaiah saw Jesus leading the armies who will someday defeat the world-wide armies of Satan at the Battle of Armageddon (Rev 16:6). The young man saw the army of God who would eventually win the war of all wars when Jesus himself comes to lead the angelic army!

  The future army was prepared in the days of Elisha. The spiritual horse and chariots of fire are still around God’s peculiar people. As the young man, they are the safety of Christians, but that takes trust in Jesus. Do you believe Jesus will keep you safe? Do you believe that you will remain safe until the Adversary is put down? Being born again (John 3:5) is seeing what the young man saw. He trusted God for salvation, just as the Hebrews trusted God to keep them safe from the poisonous vipers as they are reminded by Jesus (John 3:14).

  In my book, On the Origin of Man and the Universe, I hypothesized that “heaven” is not out there, but coexists with us. Enoch wrote of the ten heavens, and the first heaven was the avenue of both men and spirits. (2 Enoch 4). There are “layers” of heaven with various substances and beings in each of the ten heavens. Enoch saw into them as the young man did, but angels actually took him there. Enoch was translated into the heavens. Enoch was taken to heaven on angels’ wings (2 Enoch 3:3 where he saw the “ether” and “great sea” greater than the Earth’s sea.

  Firmament is often taken to be a dome in various translations. The “curtain” of the firmament of Genesis, I wrote, is the celestial sphere which appears flat from any point on Earth. Its volume is its infinite radius times the area of the sphere. However, the content of the firmament is “ether.” “Shamayim” (heavens) in Genesis 1:1 is defined as the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve” (Strong’s Dictionary).

  Strong’s definition for the Hebrew aligns well with what Enoch saw! Enoch saw the ether – the cosmos – on one side of the firmament – and a great sea, or sky, on the other side.

  The firmament seems to be a barrier between the Earth and the heavens which can only be crossed with special vision or with special causes; those which God gave to the prophets, the young man to increase his faith, and to those glorified. “Glorification” is more than it seems; it is the ability to cross the firmament in bodily form. The rapture is a trip just as Elijah and Enoch made in bodily form. It took trust in Jesus for the young man to see into the heaven, and trust of Jesus for Christians to obtain Heaven.

  I use the word, “obtain,” rather than “go to” because Heaven is just another existence which does not take time to be there. How is that known? Jesus told the thief on the cross beside him, “And Jesus said unto him, ‘Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise’” (Luke 23:43). “Today” was that evening when they both had died. They needed not travel any distance because Paradise shares the same space as Jerusalem.

  Human eyes only see the physical Jerusalem. It is “the foundation of peace.” Those who see what John the Revelator saw see more than the mountain on which the Temple stood, but the City of God where New Jerusalem exists now!

  People look to the sky and to the celestial map for Heaven. “Heaven is existence; the seen and the unseen.” They co-exist, it seems, in the same place. How silly it must be that the people of Babel built a tower to see Heaven, and that scientists seek knowledge of heaven from the stars. Why can’t they find Heaven? They look in the wrong manner in the wrong direction. The Kingdom of God is everywhere! It is where God Is, and it is now in the hearts of men. Christians know that Heaven exists because we sense God’s Presence.

  The proof of Heaven and God is known through Christians’ relationships with God. The Way to Heaven is through the straight gate. That is the Holy Mountain whereon Christ was crucified. It is the Holy Mountain where Jesus ascended, the Holy Mountain whereon Elijah was taken in a whirlwind, and the Holy Mountain whereon the young man saw into Heaven.

  Jesus was transfigured on a Holy Mountain. He was readied for his short journey. When he ascended into Heaven, he disappeared into the clouds. He did not “go” anywhere. He was translated into a different realm. John revealed where Jesus went in his Revelation. He remained in Jerusalem, and is still with us! (Acts 2).

  People find it difficult to understand God’s Presence. God’s “Person” – Jesus – is in Heaven; that is another realm. His Holy Spirit remains on Earth. That essence is the Holy Ghost of Jesus. Jesus is still in earth as He is in heaven. He remarked that, that is how we should pray: “When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth” (Luke 11:2).

  TransIators got that right; they did not capitalize “heaven and earth” because it does not refer to places but realms (existences).

   I always had trouble with the phrase “in earth.” That either meant in the material “earth” or in “Earth.” We think of ourselves as “ON Earth.” Our material consists of two things: the elements called “earth” and God’s Spirit. The “dust” and the “spirit” co-exist, not ON Earth, but “in the elements “earth.”

  That co-existence, of course, does not mean that we are already IN Heaven, though. Heaven must be obtained (Luke 20:35) as a reward for trusting God that it exists. Take God’s Word for it: The Creation is real, and it is both the seen and unseen. You must trust God that that is so!

Hell is in the “heavens” as well. It is a spiritual place. We know that from both Enoch’s tour of the ten heavens, and from the New Testament story of Lazarus and the rich man. There was a “great gulf” between Heaven and Hell (Luke 16:26).

  Neither is Hell a physical place, but existence in the heavens, but isolated entirely from Heaven. Hell is for real. God generated that as well. Lucifer and the angels existed therein before we existed in earth. As scripture indicates, our “cup” (the soul) existed before the foundation of the world (Ephes 1:4).

  With that said, human souls were created concurrently with the spiritual world, including the angels and Lucifer! What period was that? It was on the second “day” or the second process when God created Heaven in the heavens. On the next day, God formed the Earth from the “earth” (particle matter) that was generated in the first process.

  Christians understand that Lucifer and the angels are created beings, but neglect when they were generated. There was an interval of what is called “time” when Lucifer and the demon angels rebelled. Human beings were similar to the angels, but us a little lower (Psalm 8:5) since Jesus was made in human form, we also are a little lower the angels.

  Angels are created beings that were created during the same process in which human souls were. That was in the second process before the “dust” for the physical body of man was made as the foundation in the third process. That dust would provide the elements into which the heavenly soul and the physical body were joined together in the sixth process. (Gen 2:7).

  We should cease looking at “heaven and earth” as distinct existences, but as two substances created in the first process. It was when the seen and unseen were generated together, in the same space; one of invisible material and the other invisible. Scientists call that matter and antimatter. God called it “earth” and “heaven” and like matter and antimatter, they exist together, but matter is seen and antimatter remains unseen, although it has been detected.

  As an engineer, I always had trouble reconciling the paradox of time. The idea that “warming” and “cooling” for “days” and “nights” pertain to thermodynamic processes resolved that in my mind, with all the processes created before the “clock” (the Sun) was in use by mankind!

THE HARLOT EMPIRE - PART 2

THE HARLOT EMPIRE

1 Kings 18 (Cont.)

And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? (18:17)

  Elijah was accused of troubling Israel just as Jesus was accused of troubling Judea, especially his home, Nazareth which was in the Samaria, or ancient Israel. Being “troublesome” requires a reference for perspective. Ahab wanted to hear what he wanted to hear. It was troubling that he did not! His standard for reference was himself, and Ahab was devoted to Baal.

  Baal’s standards are the standards of the world. There are only two sets of standards, but only one God! Thus, God’s standards are the Law of God and all the rest the law of sin. Be reminded again, that ultimately sin is wanting “TO BE”… to be what? As God. Therefore, all the other numerous gods are mere “wannabees” and their doctrine is from the law of sin.

  The Law of God is twofold: (1) Love Him, and (2) love His creatures. Consequently, the law of sin is (1) Hating God, and (2) hating His creation. Not just his “creatures” but despising the idea that God made the heaven and the earth!

  Ultimately, love is desiring that none should perish (John 3:16). That includes God and any of His creatures. Hatred condenses to not caring whether Jesus died or not, and not caring if fellow creatures are Hell-bound or not. Hatred is more apathy to God’s Will than despising intensely.

  Elijah wanted to “drain the swamp.” He didn’t want to destroy anyone, but reform what was in Israel. Israel had a pagan religion, an evil king who was unrighteous, and a melding of the false religion and the governing authority. It was much like America under the Clintons and Obama. In fact, Bill Clinton seems to have been a type of Ahab and Hillary a type of Jezebel!

That seems partisan but it is not. Bible prophecy ceased when the book of Revelation was written, but fulfillment of prophecy continues on until the end. America as Japhethites who “live in the tents of Shem” (Gen 9:27), are a great part of prophecy. It is still Israel-centered, but the relationship of America to Israel is prophetic.

  Israel needed Ahab and Jezebel so that Elijah could save the Israelites from them, and fulfill prophecy. America needed Bill and Hillary to fulfill end-of time prophecy as well. The battle in progress right this moment is between the Deep State and the Legitimate State:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Eph 6:12).

  In the end, the people will not listen to sound doctrine (2 Tim 4:3). That’s the way Ahab and the Israelites were and that’s where the Clintons, Obama, and the Deep State is at the present. The Deep State prefers the lie. They keep repeating it, and as Joseph Goebbels wrote, ““If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it… for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

  Goebbels was entirely correct; people prefer the lie. It offers so much! Lies, unknowingly enslave, as the world discovered with Nazism, but the truth will set men free (John 8:32). At the moment, I have many loved ones who believe the lie because they want free things: health care, education, tuition, etc. However, to obtain those seemingly free things, there is a great cost: Socialism demands that God be misrepresented or totally denied. Social justice misrepresents God, and Marxism denies God.

  With that said, Godless Marxism troubles the nation at the present. In Israel, it was Ahab and Jezebel who troubled the nation; they blamed God and the world still blames God to the extent that The Deep State has killed off the doctrine of God. (Refer to my book, Killing God, for more details.)

Elijah knew who was troubling whom! He said, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” Just as with Jesus who was not the troublesome one, neither was Elijah. God is the Righteous One and Elijah was as well.

  Sinful people always blame. The first case of blame was when Eve blamed the Serpent and Adam blamed Eve (Gen 3). Ahab blamed Elijah, and irrational peoples still blame anyone else available. Trump said something as, It is not me that they are after, but you, and they must come through me to get to you.

  In the end, it’s not even “us” they want, but God who they do not want. Rebellious people want what is right in their own eyes, and for that “to be” God must not “BE.”

Socialism troubles America and Islam troubles the world. In combination, they are Baalim. Both have forsaken the True God. Ahab was a type of socialist and Jezebel a representative of ungodliness as is Islam.

  Elijah asked the people, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” (18:21). Like Israel, Christians must decide who it is they will follow! They cannot follow both God and men. Christians often vote for the politician who promises the most without regard from whom they will appropriate the funds (steal it from.)

They ignore the abortion, same-sex marriage, anti-godliness, and lascivious life-styles, and go into the voting booth and vote for “Ahab” and “Jezebel!” Christians ought not do that; either you are for God or against Him (Mat 12:30). Christians, as the Israelites of Elijah’s day, cannot be of two opinions.

  “Two opinions” has much ado with the modern Church. The true Church follows strictly the Law of God. Essentially, the Law of God is to love God and His creatures. The Ten Commandments, or better said, The Ten Prescriptions, identify how to love.  Ultimately love, as written earlier, is wanting that none should perish and go to Hell.

  The other “opinion,” or doctrine, is desiring that none should do without material things. “Love” is the Doctrine of Christ. “Supplying” is the doctrine of men. The two “opinions” in the modern Church are “Divine Justice” and “social justice.” The Doctrine of Christ is that Jesus came to save sinners from sin and perishing because of it. The doctrine of men is that Jesus came to save the underprivileged from not being privileged.

  The doctrine of men offers the same fruit as the Tree of Knowledge. People, yet today, still prefer the Epicurean “fruit” of the forbidden tree to the nourishing “fruit” of the Tree of Life.

The modern Church has allied itself with the modernistic government. Social justice is socialism, and with that governing system, the tenets of Marx preclude the principles laid forth by Jesus.

Elijah wanted that none should perish. He wanted to save the people: “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again” (18:37).

  In this day of division, the left hates the right and perceive that the right hates the left. The Christian right TRIES to love the left, but it is a hard thing to do! Christians are tested by their ability to love their political enemies.

  The modern Church professes love, but has institutionalized hatred by insisting that others ignore God and go with the doctrine of men. Ironically, those who try not to hate are accused of the hatred, when it is those who profess love so intensely who hate so rabidly.

  That is not God’s Way! The modern Church uses pagan doctrine. Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance is how the modern Church and anti-church justify hatred: “In order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance.”

  That translates to, “Hate the haters to promote love.” Is that right? Is that righteousness? Hatred, for any reason, remains hatred. The modern Church is full of haters and is little different than the anti-church. The anti-church is more transparent; they admit that they despise God. The modern Church is opaque; it claims to love God but despises His doctrine!

  Why is all this important? In the end, Christians will be required to choose who to follow. Will it be the Church of Social Justice belonging to Baalim, or will it be the Church of Divine Justice belonging to the True God? God will not continue to allow those two opinions to co-exist. God’s people must choose!

THE HARLOT EMPIRE - Part 1

THE HARLOT EMPIRE

(1 Kings 18)

  King Ahab of the northern kingdom (Israel) was evil as he worshiped the many gods of his heathen wife, Jezebel. King Jehoshaphat of the southern kingdom was righteous, walking in David’s footsteps. He was the first king to tear down the high places as well as the wooden idols.
  King Ahab sought an alliance with Jehoshaphat to go against Ramothgilead. Jehoshaphat replied to him, “I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war” (18:3). The naïve king wanted nothing more than unity. Although he was a godly man, Jehoshaphat was badly mistaken; his people were righteous, but the Israelites unrighteous. Jehoshaphat allied himself with heathens. Perhaps that is the source of Paul’s warning:

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? (2 Cor 6:14).

  Unity is not always a good thing. Christians understand that they must be set apart (sanctified) from the world. Digress for a moment on the ecumenicalism movement: The true Church is one, as Paul said so succinctly:

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Cor 1:10-13)

 Unity is often a good thing! Paul recommended it highly. However, look at the focus: “By the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jehoshaphat united with Ahab under the name of the Baalim. That was a bad decision because Ahab was killed in battle, and Jehoshaphat escaped merely by the grace of God (18:31).
  To commence the exercise of destruction, symbolic of perishing in John 3:16, Jehoshaphat asked Ahab, “Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord to day” (18:4). “The Word of the Lord” is the same as The Angel (Messenger) of God who became flesh. Jehoshaphat wanted to enquire of pre-incarnate Jesus!
  In response to that, Ahab called together four-hundred prophets of Baal (18:5). Jehoshaphat was not interested in what Asherah, El, or Baal had to say, but true prophecy. He asked, “Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him?” (18:6).
  Israel had become a heathen nation. Ahab, unashamed said, “There is yet one man, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil” (18:7). He referred to the Lord’s prophet, Micaiah, but tried to dismiss him as biased. Ahab preferred only good news, and not the truth. Perhaps Paul was referring to that when he wrote:

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2 Tim 4:2-4)

  As soon discovered, Ahab should have hearkened unto the voice of Micaiah, not the goddess, Asherah, through the false words of her prophets. It should be noted here, that Ahab made the same mistake as Adam who hearkened unto the voice of Eve (Gen 3:17). Godly people must be wary of whose word they listen! Ahab wanted to hear his own thoughts repeated by, not four-hundred, but four-hundred and one! Although everyone believes a lie does not make a lie the truth.
  Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich’s propaganda minister said, ““If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Four-hundred told the lie to Ahab, and for him it was perceived as the truth!

  Apply that to the current situation in the Unites States. The lie is, President Trump colluded with the Russians and must be impeached.” Any astute person knows that has been repeated thousands of times by the Democrats and their propaganda machine – the media. At first it was outlandish, and the people who were polled did not believe it.
  After being mouthed millions of times by the Deep State, polls indicate that the people now accept it as the truth. Their minds have been influenced by repetition. How can that accusation be wrong when so many people have said it is true? Americans have seen the propaganda machine work effectively in the invisible reich, or of you prefer, another of the Democrat’s Invisible Empires! You are seeing the KKK rise again as it did in the 1920s.
  Ahab was diminishing the Lord God of Judah. The Deep State is not after President Trump; they are after God. Ahab seduced Jehoshaphat by seemingly uniting, but war was on Ahab’s mind! With Mr. Trump, they are not using seduction but coercion. The left’s call for unity is done in an atmosphere of intimidation. It is war between two states – the United States and the Deep State. The confederacy has arisen but still hide behind their hoods!
  In the daylight, they appear as civil and loving, but in the dark, are nefarious and merciless! That describes Ahab as well!

(To be continued tomorrow regarding the modern church.)

A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY: JESUS AS ELIJAH

KEY VERSES: And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:16-17)

And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.  And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them (the Samaritans), even as Elias did? (Luke 9:53-54)

  When Jesus began his ministry, like John the Baptist before him, they thought that he was the prophet Elijah who had never died, but went up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). Jacob saw the ladder of God, and Elijah (Elias) had the whirlwind as his “ladder.” It would come to pass that Jesus’s “ladder” was the Holy Cross! A “ladder” as them all, was the way to heaven.
  Note that the translators failed to capitalize “heaven.” Elijah and Jacob viewed the spiritual “celestial pole” (aka the silver cord) to the unseen. As I have written before, the celestial pole, Jacobs Ladder, and Elijah’s whirlwind, were the access from the Earth unto the heaven, and the celestial sphere seems to be akin to the “firmament” through which they gained access from the visible realm into the invisible.
  Jesus’s “ladder” was the pole, tree, or cross on which he was crucified. Moses likened it to a “pole” as Jesus referred to the Way to rebirth with the Serpent dead on his pole of brass (John 3:14.) Of course, Genesis 1 infers that Jesus is the Tree of Life and Revelation 2 reinforces that notion.
  The true “celestial pole” would be Jesus. He freely crossed over from the Earth into the heavens, and at his death, his Ghost went directly into Heaven, but not before translating to the part of heaven referred to as “Hell.” That is where he carried-off all the sins of mankind.
  Now back to Elijah. He too carried-off the sins of a certain group of people. They were those who trusted the Lord God of Israel. Safety, then, is the same as safety now!  Elijah was the enunciator for “The Angel of God” just as John the Baptist was for Jesus (Mat 11:14). The Jews in Jesus’ day surely believed that Elijah was the Savior, and at first mistook John for Elijah, then Jesus! However, Elijah was both a type of John the Baptist and a type of Messiah.
  Elijah was certainly NOT the Messiah, although in the New Testament, both John and James believed him to be Elijah so strongly that they asked Jesus to consume the Samaritans with fire, just as Elijah had almost one thousand years before (from the second of the key verses above). At that point, it seems their faith was still in Elijah, and not The Angel of God who was Elijah’s Strength and Power.
  To prove that neither Elijah nor Moses were the Messiah, at the Mount of Transfiguration, both of them were with the Person and Spirit of God; with Jesus and the Father whose purpose was to validate the Spirit and the Flesh as One God!
  In the first of the key verses, an angel of the Lord, likened John unto Elijah in whom the faith of the Jews still lied. Elijah, in their minds, seemed to be the Power behind the destruction of the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel. It was not Elijah, as will be shown, but Jesus who destroyed Baal!
  The commentary which follows is about Elijah’s Victory at Mount Carmel, as the Jews still believe it was Elijah, and not Jesus, who destroyed Baal in the eyes of Israelites. The thread in this commentary is that there was no victory in Elijah but there is victory in Jesus! The Messiah is not Elijah but Jesus. The Jews seemed to be confused by that!
  Baal was considered to be the god of lightning, wind, rain, and fertility. Israel, cursed by God for worshiping Baal, turned the tables on Baal. Rather than a period of fertility and moisture, at this time in Israel it was arid and the entire country was scarce of food. Baal’s godhood was likely in question to all but those faithful to him. Jezebel was Baal’s most proliferent apostle.
  Asherah was the consort of El. Because of polytheism, El was associated with Yahweh, just as Allah is with Yahweh in later times. As a consequence, Asherah was considered to be Yahweh’s “wife” because of the Israelites’ syncretism. Ironically, Asherah is symbolized by trees and wooden images. She was part of the Phoenician pantheon of gods and goddesses.
  As a side note, it seems remarkable that Asherah was associated with trees, as the trees of the Garden of Eden were metaphors for living souls as well as real trees! Also, that Genesis 1:1 uses the transliteration from the Hebrew to be “create” but it is more primitively, “cutting wood.” Jeremiah the prophet called Asherah the “Queen of Heaven (Jer 17:17-18) to whom Jews made cakes, as did the Israelites before them in Samaria.
  That Yahweh “cut wood” to generate the earth is significant. It’s what Asherah was noted for! The reader can see why that Israelites accepted a female counterpart to God. Who was it who really “cut the wood” to tend to the “trees” of the Garden? He was called Jesus – the son of a carpenter and the son of God!
  Keep the concept of “wood” in mind as the commentary is continued. Now consider Elijah:

SUPPORT BOOK - 1 KINGS: (All sources listed without a book are from 1 Kings.)

SUPPORT VERSE 1: And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. (18:7-8)

  Elijah is demonstrated in that passage to be a type of Jesus. First things first: Look at the etymology of the name. Obadiah means “servant of God” and Elijah “my God is Yahweh.” Obadiah identifies to whom he serves, and Elijah’s name identifies the specific God among a pantheon of them. The name “Elijah” and Jesus are both theophoric and mean the same thing!
  Both those men were prophets. Obadiah was an Edomite convert to Judaism who hid out one-hundred faithful prophets from King Ahab. He was a prophet of prophets.
Elijah was a prophet as well. Since Obadiah paid homage to him, Elijah was the prophet of prophet’s prophet! Obadiah called him “my lord.” No wonder the Jews confused both John the Baptist and Jesus with their most important prophet!
  Elijah never died but was caught up in a whirlwind:

 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. (2 King 2:11)

  Elijah was translated from earth to heaven, from the seen to the unseen, by God’s Holy Spirit. This would be the first instance of the living arising to meet Jesus in the sky. That is what theologians refer to as “the rapture,” meaning to “snatch up.”
  Elijah was privy to the spiritual celestial pole. Of course, that “pole” was in Israel on the Jordon River. His “assumption” was prophesied earlier, and is a picture of Jesus’s “assumption” into Heaven.
  Compare Elijah’s assumption (acceptance) to Jesus’s reception in Jerusalem:

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:2-4a)

  It seems that Elijah was ushered into Heaven much as Jesus’s Holy Ghost was ushered downward from Heaven. Then examine how Jesus went up:

Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:8-11).

  It would seem that this passage was referring to Jesus’s appearance in the clouds to translate Christians. That will be a physical occurrence. Acts 1 is referring to Jesus’s Holy Ghost; “after that the Holy Ghost is come down upon you.” That happened when a whirlwind usher Jesus’s Holy Ghost down.
  Elijah, as Jesus, would come and go between the natural realm and the supernatural always in this manner and always in Israel. Surely, Elijah had the keys to Heaven (Mat 16:19) as he came back at the transfiguration of Jesus.  Therefore, don’t be amazed that they thought that Jesus might be Elijah and him translated back to Earth.

SUPPORT VERSE #2: And it shall come to pass, as soon as I (Obadiah) am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell (King) Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth. (18:12)

  Obadiah prophesied Elijah’s assumption into the Kingdom of God. Usually prophets prophesized deaths and whether they would be catastrophic or rewarding. In this case, Obadiah prophesized no death at all! Elijah, unlike Jesus, never suffered death, therefore Elijah did not die for anyone, and was not the Messiah, albeit the Jews thought that the Messiah would apparently never need suffer death! Why would they reject Jesus as Savior? Because Elijah-type saviors never die!

SUPPORT VERSE #3: And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day. (8:15)

  When Elijah said “to day” he would show himself to God, the Hebrew word is “yowm,” meaning “hot” and in this context it means Elijah’s “lifetime.” That is meant to be eternal life as Elijah never died! “Lifetime,” as proposed in my book, On the Origin of Man and the Universe, means “process.” Elijah’s physical life was a process, and in his case, a never-ending one!

SUPPORT VERSE #4: And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?  And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. (18:17-18)

  As a type of Jesus, Elijah got the blame and was accused: Aren’t you the guy who causes trouble in Israel? In Acts 24:5, Paul was called “a troublemaker” because he belonged to the sect of the Nazarenes. That infers that Jesus was chief troublemaker! In Luke 9, it is seen that Jesus certainly did not come to cause trouble, but he was accused of being like Elijah (Luke 9:8) and they thought that Elijah had “risen again.”
  It seems that they had trouble believing that Elijah had went to heaven alive, but that he had risen from death. That’s what Jesus did! Elijah was not the Messiah and never professed to be.

SUPPORT VERSE #5: And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. (18:21-22)

  Elijah’s role was to turn the people from “two opinions.” They never abandoned Yahweh, but just added other gods. They even assigned Yahweh a wife – Asherah. Does that not seem to be the same heresy as the Gnostics who assigned Mary Magdalene as the bride of Christ when it was the Church along!
  Jesus answered the question that Elijah asked:

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Mat 6:24). 

   Jesus was born to answer Elijah’s question! How did the Jews answer it? Yes, we can; we can both serve God and ourselves. They answered wrongly as they often did in ancient times! When Jesus said “Marvel not; ye must be born again!” (John 3:7), he also referred to which Master must be served. In John 3:14; “the Master” is the one who can overcome the Serpent. That Mighty Warrior is Jesus! The Israelites in the viper field were of two opinions: (1) I can heal myself from poison, and (2) Only Jesus heals from the Serpents’ poison. Of course, that “poison” is sin.
  John wasn’t the first to stage Jesus’s coming. Elijah did that centuries before! The Devil appeared first as the Serpent, but in the case of Elijah, the Serpent was in Ahab. Ahab was a “beast” and a foreshadowing of Judas Iscariot. Obviously, Jezebel was the type of the “harlot” of the Book of Revelation.

SUPPORT VERSE #6: Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. (18:23-24)

  Asherah was goddess of the wood and forests. According to her identity, Asherah would have been stronger than Yahweh. Again, from Genesis 1:1, God was the “Woodcutter” who built the heaven and the earth. Asherah was a false god. She built nothing! Do you not see why that belief in the creation and the Creator is imperative? False gods claim that power, but Asherah could not even burn the wood, let alone be the “craftsman” who built the fire pit!
  Whose God is stronger? was always the question and still is! The answer to that is Yahweh because He alone is God. The test God designed was to diminish the gods of Israel and elevate Himself. That’s what it takes to be born again! If the Israelites elevated Yahweh above Asherah and the phony god, “El” they would be safe.

SUPPORT VERSE #7: Call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. (18:25b-26)

  Baal, representing a pantheon of false gods, has no voice! God does; His “Voice” is called the Word, and Yahweh spoke to mankind often commencing with His, “Let there be’s.” God thought, spoke, and things came “to be.” They did not exist before, but then they did! Baal could not even put the fire out! God could and did. They cried out to Baal, and he remained silent as false gods’ idols always do.
  I wrote in my aforementioned book that “day” meant “hot” in the Hebrew and night meant a twist on that, or cooling. A day is a process – of the Earth progressing around the Sun. Each process (called “day”) in Genesis 1 was the “fire of God” whose “fire” is known as the Holy Spirit (Acts 2)  and is the Power of God (Micah 3:8).
  “Burning the wood” was demonstration of a living God whose processes create and destroy, or heat and cool. Yahweh was able to Light the fire while Baal stood by, did nothing, nor said anything.
  Jesus is the ONE intermediary between God and man (1 Tim 2:5); Mary is not, nor was Asherah! For a change, a female remained speechless as the fire did not burn… and that was her “job” according to her worshipers!

SUPPORT VERSE #8: And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. (18:28-29)

  Their gods could not light the fire, so the Israelites tried themselves. They cried out to their gods, and they were useless. Then, perhaps as a last sacrifice to their gods, they shed their own blood. Israelites to this day still endeavor to do what they perceive God cannot do; they don’t trust God so they over-value themselves. By works, they try to be saved!
  Jesus propitiated his own blood on behalf of everyone, but herein, it can be seen that the Israelites were propitiating their own blood to save their own lousy flesh from the True God’s Power and justice.
  They attempted to sacrifice their own flesh. It was as futile as male circumcision for they failed to circumcise their hearts as scripture directs: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked” (Deut 10:16). Their inability to, “halt ye between two opinions” (Support verse #6), made them “stiff-necked.”
  Time-out now for a short recess. In the situation comedy “Malcolm in the Middle,” the father had difficulty every morning making a decision on which cereal to eat for breakfast. His wife would always have to choose for him!
  Then, one day, he was designated the administrator of a neighbor’s living will. He was required to decide whether life support could be removed or not. It was his decision alone! The father became paralyzed with anxiety from the waste up. That is a fictional event that demonstrates how difficult it is for people to decide between God and mammon.
  Each offer something: Mammon offers decadent pleasure, superficial beauty, and prideful attitudes as sinners esteem themselves more highly than God. On the other hand – the right hand side of God – is Jesus who offers nourishment, safety, contentment, and eternal life. Stiff-necked people are paralyzed from the neck up, and are not able to choose one or the other, but think they can have it both ways!

SUPPORT VERSE #9: And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar. (18-31-32a)

  “Israel” was meant to be the twelve tribes from Jacob’s (Israel’s) sons. The twelve stones meant unity under the Word (Jesus). Elijah made a bequest, that the twelve tribes must cease discord and be in one accord. Acts 2:1 makes that a pre-requisite to the appearance of the Holy Ghost. Elijah was most certainly previewing the advent of Jesus and his return as the Holy Ghost.
  Elijah built and altar “in the name of the Lord.” God is without name, but He is called Jesus (Mat 1:25). Elijah’s altar was for Jesus. At that time, it was built of rough stones, and the altar to God – the Church – is built of “lively stones” (1 Pet 2:5). Elijah was building a Church for Israel since they had none. The Temple belonged to the southern tribe of Judah, and the Israelites had only two temples for Baalim (plural false gods).
  The trench about the altar was a hedge of safety of sorts to keep the fire from spreading to where it was not intended. The Book of Job refers to that safety as a “hedge.” After Christ came, he put an invisible safety barrier inside those born again. It is a tempered soul, not filled with water as with Elijah’s altar, but living waters, meaning the Holy Spirit.

SUPPORT VERSE #10: And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. (18:33-35)

  To be brief, perhaps Elijah “baptized” the invisible Temple represented by the altar for God. Perhaps the three times that water was poured, it represented the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in whose Name Christians are baptized. Perhaps Elijah saw Jesus, along with the Father and Holy Spirit! It certainly seems so. 

  Then the “water ran round about the altar.” It seems that the Holy Trinity, the three in one aspect of God, was revealed. Whose God is the True God? The One with three substances: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. (Mat 28:19).

  Elijah was symbolically fulfilling the Great Commission. He was “baptizing” the Israelites in the same manner Jesus said to do centuries afterwards! 

SUPPORT VERSE #11: Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God. (18:37-39) 

  Elijah defined conversion with his worship. Conversion, or “born again” was defined: “That this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.”
  Rebirth for the Israelites was two-fold: (1) Know the True God, and (2) have changed hearts; they have different “wills” -one doing their own will to another to do the Will of God! Those same two are still required to this day. Many people know God but their hearts remain unchanged. Those fully persuaded will say, “The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.”

SUPPORT VERSE #12: And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. (19:5,7-8)

  The Angel of the Lord touched Elijah twice. That was not just an ordinary “angel” but THE Angel of the Lord. Throughout scripture, that description refers to God manifested who would be called “Jesus.” At that time, the Spiritual “Jesus” was called “The Angel of God” as he was God manifested and the intermediary between man and the Father. The Angel of God surely fed Elijah the Bread of Life, of course, in remembrance of him (Luke 22:19).
  Perhaps the TWO “awakenings” represent the Covenant of Abraham and the Covenant of Grace, both of which are now efficacious.

SUPPORT VERSE #13: Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. (19:18)

  It should be obvious that the seven-thousand left of the multitudes represent the narrow way to salvation. The altar, of course, would have represented the straight gate whose doctrine was narrow:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Mat 7:3-15).

  If one would recall the false prophets in Israel, they were the majority and they were everywhere. That remains unchanged. “Bowing down to Baal” is more than some other god; it is people who too highly esteem themselves who are the Baalim.
  The narrow Way in Israel was 7,000 out of nearly 700,000! The ratio of the saved” seems to be 7,000/700,000, or 1%! That truly is a broad path to destruction! How many will live? In Ahab’s Israel, 1/100. Perhaps today, 1/100 will be led unto life in Heaven.
  That may sound cruel but look around you! How many believe in God but are not new creatures with new attitudes in him?

  In summary, if you want to learn more about Jesus, then learn more about Elijah. He was not Jesus, but knew him thoroughly. So intense was their bond, that Elijah was brought to the Mount of Transfiguration for Jesus to show him in person who he saw in his mind long ago. As I write, I “see” Jesus in the Creation, in the Old Testament, in the burning bush and fiery furnace. I see Jesus even on Elijah’s altar!