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.)