THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of Kings: The Kings Of Israel And Judah From Solomon To The Babylonian Captivity

II. The Divided Kingdom, 1 Kings 12:1-22:53

J. Personal Edification And Effectiveness Amid Aggressive Apostasy

(1 Kings 16:29-17:1)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Apostasy, the defection from Scripture's God, is becoming ever more brazen and aggressive, and we illustrate:

(1) When "House Speaker Paul Ryan" recently "forced Reverend Pat Conroy to tender his resignation" as "chaplain of the U. S. House of Representatives," a political firestorm arose as "a top Ryan aide" said "something like 'maybe it's time that we had a Chaplain that wasn't a Catholic.'" (Andrew Taylor, "House chaplain regains job after letter to Ryan," Rep.-Amer., 5/4/2018, p. 8A) Under intense pressure, Speaker Ryan reinstated the chaplain, Ibid.

Amazingly, the reasons for the firing involved first (a) an opening, Marxism-promoting prayer the chaplain gave before the House that went as follows: "'May all members be mindful that the institutions and structures of our great nation guarantee the opportunities that have allowed some to achieve success, while others continue to struggle . . ." (Elizabeth Dias, "House Chaplain Was Asked To Resign. He Still Doesn't Know Why, nytimes.com, 4/26/2018) This critique of the government for not spreading the nation's wealth around by taking from the rich to give to the poor is typically held by Jesuits like Chaplain Pat Conroy (Ibid.) seen in a work by Arturo Sosa, General Superior of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) when he wrote in support of "'the legitimacy of . . . the transformation of the capitalist society into a socialist society.'" (Ibid.; Fr. A. Sosa, "The Marxist Mediation of the Christian Faith," traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/A701-Sosa.htm)

(b) The other reason for the chaplain's firing was his use of Muslim imams to be guest speakers in delivering prayers before the House (Jim Newell, "Why Did Paul Ryan Ax the House Chaplain?", 4/26/2018; slate.com)

(2) However, (a) Marxist ideology affects not only the Chaplain of the House, but aggressively filters down to impact our whole society: the term "social justice . . . was coined by Jesuit Luigi Taparelli in 1840 and picked up by Karl Marx in 1848" when he wrote The Communist Manifesto (Brannon Howse, The Coming Religious Reich, 2015, p. 185), but now even neo-evangelicals use the term supportively! (worldviewweekend.com, Brannon Howse, "Why The Social Justice of Karl Marx, Neo-Evangelicalism & The Vatican Is Not Biblical," 11/19/2012)

Also, (b) "(r)adical Islam . . . is a . . . mixture of motifs . . . from the Muslim past and Marxist-Leninist ideas imported through . . . polemicists," D. Linker, "The Marxist roots of Islamic extremism," 5/25/2016; theweek.com.

Need: So, we ask, "How does God direct that we stay edified and effective amid such aggressive apostasy?!"

I. When Ahab became king, he aggressively promoted greater apostasy than past kings, 1 Kings 16:29-34:

A. Ahab was Israel's most evil king to date, viewing Jeroboam's religion as trivial and marrying the Phoenician king's daughter and worshipping Baal and his mother goddess, Asherah, 1 K. 16:29-33; B. K. C., O. T., p. 522.

B. Under Ahab's aggressively apostate influence, a man named Hiel brazenly rebuilt Jericho, violating Joshua's curse against doing so and losing his eldest and youngest sons in fulfillment of the curse, 1 Kings 16:34; Ibid.

II. Remarkably, Ahab's aggressive apostasy is actually related to the aggressive apostasy we face today:

A. Ahab's Canaanite Baal and Ashtoreth gods came from the ancient Babylonian Semiramis-Tammuz mother-child cult. (Zon. Pic. Ency. Bib., vol. One, p. 358; Harry A. Ironside, "Babylonian Religion," Idolphin.org)

B. That same ancient Babylonian cult led to a communistic impact in both Christendom and Islam:

1. This cult entered the Church in Constantine's era, exalting Mary and making sacraments required to save. (D. Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast, 1994, p. 157-158, 203-204 [citing W. Durant, The Story of Civ., 1950, v. IV, p. 75; v. III, p. 657]; Ibid., Ironside; W. Walker, A His. of the Christ. Ch., 1959, p. 102, 105)

2. Pagan ascetics then influenced the rise of Monasticism in Catholicism that led to the idealizing of Christ's poverty and interpreting Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32 to mean the Early Church held to the abolition of private property and communism. (Ibid., Walker, p. 125; "What are the origins of monasticism?" aleteia.org)

3. The "'Society of Jesus'" order (Jesuits) in the Roman Catholic Church thus came to hold to "'common poverty which forbids the possession of assured incomes,'" newadvent.lorg/cathen/12324a.htm as cited in "Karl Marx, Social Justice and Communism are all Catholic monastic/Jesuit creations," reddit.com.

4. Marx's "social justice" in communism was then influenced by Jesuit Luigi Taparelli (See our introduction).

5. Marxist-Leninist ideas now are mixed with Muslim past teachings to promote radical Islam. (Introduction)

C. Incredibly, though, that same ancient Baylonian Semiramis-Tammuz cult also impacted the forming of Islam:

1. The Semiramis cult spawned mystery religions that led to Gnosticism, Ibid., Ironside; Ibid., Walker, p. 53.

2. Gnosticism affected Muhammad in his forming of Islam, R. Spencer, The Truth About Muh., 2006, p. 55f.

III. Yet, 1 Kings 17:1 shows how God edified Elijah to be effective in facing Ahab's aggressive Semiramis-based apostasy, guiding us on being edified and effective to face the aggressive Semiramis-based apostasy we face:

A. First, Elijah was personally upright with the Lord as impacted by godly parents: "Elijah," means "Jah[weh](the "I AM") is my Elohim [Creator God]," Zon. Pic. Ency. Bib., vol. Two, p. 284. Elijah's parents gave him that name, so he came from a godly home where he grew up believing in and being dedicated to the Lord.

B. Second, Elijah's theology was entirely Biblical in contrast to Baalism: he referred to God as the "Lord God of Israel," an expression revealing Elijah was entirely biblical in his beliefs as opposed to Baalism (as follows):

1. "Lord" translates Jawheh (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 542), the "I AM" Who saved Israel from Egypt in the Exodus and entered into a covenant relationship with Israel at Mount Sinai (Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to Ex. 3:14) in which she was to make no other god nor worship any other god but Him, cf. Exodus 20:1-4.

2. "God" translates Elohim (Ibid., Kittel), the Creator God of Genesis 1 (Ibid., p. 1-2), Maker of heaven and earth and all that exists in the universe, including rain, moisture and the ability to be fertile, powers falsely attributed to Baal and his female mother-goddess, Asherah, Ibid., Zon. Pic. Ency. Bib., vol. One, p. 432.

3. The words "of Israel" refer to God's rightful place as the Israel's only, true God versus Baal!

C. Third, Elijah was spiritually gifted of God to serve Him as His prophet: the words "before whom I stand" (KJV) indicate Elijah stood before God to take orders from Him and to give an account to Him as a servant in relation to his master, so Elijah had to be spiritually gifted by God to serve as His prophet. (cf. Jer. 1:11-19)

D. Fourth, since masters were responsible for the livelihood and protection of their servants (Ibid., vol. Five, p. 358-359), Elijah as the servant of the Lord was sustained and protected by God in his ministry assignment.

E. Fifth, Elijah was given a destiny from God in serving Him, making Elijah effective in his coming ministry:

1. Elijah's name, "Jah[weh] is my Elohim," is reflected in the cry of the people at Mount Carmel when Elijah later called fire down from heaven. The people of Israel then cried out, "Jahweh, He (emph. pron.) is the Elohim; Jahweh, He (emph. pron.) is the Elohim," versus Baal being the Creator God, Ibid., Kittel, p. 546.

2. Thus, right at Elijah's birth, God had a ministry destiny in mind for him, as He does for us, 2 Timothy 1:9.

F. Sixth, Elijah gave God's fully correct message:

1. Baal was the pagan god of rain and of fertility, Ibid.

2. Thus, to challenge Baal fully, Elijah said there would be no rain or dew, for in the summer, 20 to 25 nights a month, Israel has heavy dews via the Mediterranean sea air that comes over the land, what can preserve vegetative ground cover and nourish some animals, Ibid., vol. Two, p. 118. The presence of such dew would still give Baal credit as god of fertility, so Elijah rightly prohibited both rain and dew!

G. Seventh, Elijah was confident in God's authority to back up his ministry: he told Ahab there would be no rain or dew for several years according to his word, knowing God would back up this claim as it was God's Word.

Lesson: Amid aggressive apostasy akin to what we face today, Elijah was equipped to be edified and effective.

Application: To be edified and effective amid the aggressive apostasy we face in OUR era, may we (1) trust in Christ to be saved (John 3:16). (2) Then, may we heed Elijah's example to (1) be upright with God in our walk and in our homes, (2) hold to Bible truth, (3) use God's spiritual gift to serve Him (Romans 12:3-8), (4) trust God's supply and protection, (5) trust He has a successful destiny for our ministry effort, (6) give God's correct message and (7) be confident He will authoritatively support our assigned ministry efforts before others.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

We address the claim some make that the Early Church was communistic. It was not, and here is why:

(1) First, Jesus' poverty is not God's calling for believers in the Church era according to Mark 10:29-30!

(2) Second, (a) in Acts 2:44-45 and 4:32, believers voluntarily sold their lands to give to the needy opposite Marxist governmental seizures of private property, the sin of stealing that is prohibited in Exodus 20:15! (b) Also, Exodus 20:17 prohibits covetousness of material possession, the main motive driving Marxist ideology. (c) In addition, money given in the Early Church was not evenly distributed as in communism, but met needs as they rose, Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 360. (d) As proof of these points, the Apostle Peter told Ananias and Sapphira they were free to do what they wanted with their property and money both before and after they sold their land, Acts 5:4 ESV! Their sin was in lying by pretending to give all of it to the Church, not that they kept back some of it for themselves!

May we trust in Christ for salvation and heed Elijah's example in addressing aggressive apostasy today.