Elijah: Strange Provision in a Prophetic Mission in the Political Realm
By Julio Severo
If you think that the rampant obsession for abortion (which is child-killing) and sodomy in the Western “civilized” governments is a modern issue, think again. Almost 3,000 years ago, the Israeli government, under King Ahab, was obsessed with child-killing and sodomy.
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| Elijah and the ravens |
The state religion of Baal had newborn sacrifices presided by homosexual priests. Sodomy was connected to the sacred state religion of Baal. Child-killing and sodomy were sacred.Separation of church and state? It was very real in the old Israeli government. They separated God from their government and introduced the state religion of child-killing and sodomy.
America, whose republic was essentially founded by evangelical Christians, is experiencing the same apostasy. They had God in the beginning of their nation and government, but later they separated themselves from God by using the “separation of church and state” rhetoric and introducing the sacred state religion of child-killing and sodomy.
God sent Elijah to say to Ahab:
“As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” (1 Kings 17:1 ESV)
No rain as result of national sin. No rain because of “separation of church and state” that meant separation from God. No rain because of the sacred state religion of child-killing and sodomy.
Modern Christian theologians, whose class is mostly debating and even approving abortion and same-sex “marriage,” have many doubts about miracles and a God punishing child-killing and sodomy with a severe national drought. They cloak their incredulity with scientific and sophisticate theological arguments. In fact, they would also doubt Elijah as a prophet.
They prefer science as a tool to justify child-killing and sodomy than validating God’s miracles.
Ahab had the incredulity of these theologians, but without their sophistication. Elijah challenged the president of his nation and, sure, there would be consequences. (Try to challenge directly a U.S. president over abortion and sodomy, and FBI, CIA, NSA, SWAT and other federal agencies will treat you as a national threat and international pariah. The powerful U.S. media will demonize you.)
There was danger. Danger from the government. Danger from the sacred priests of sodomy. This is why God spoke Elijah. But if scientists cannot prove that God speaks, then modern theologians will fully obey their “science”!
“And the word of the LORD came to him, ‘Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.’” (1 Kings 17:2-4 ESV)
“Flee and hide yourself!” was God’s command.
If you were Elijah, what would you think about hearing a small voice in your head (in your spirit) saying that God commanded ravens to feed you in a brook? “God, could you not provide a house near the brook? God, your Word says that ravens are unclean birds. You command me to avoid unclean birds, and now do you want to use them to feed me?”
Modern theologians would have a very simple answer to Elijah: If the small voice said God will use birds disapproved by His Word, this is not God!
Doubt-filled theologians would fill Elijah with their doubts.
Elijah could argue, “But the same small voice spoke to me before and happened…” Theologians would not be willing to debate about his God’s voice “problem,” but they would give full consideration to debate with Ahab about if God’s Word justifies abortion and sodomy.
Elijah was spiritually mature and able to distinguish between God’s voice, his own imagination and demonic voices. His heart, untainted by theological doubts, obeyed.
“So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.” (1 Kings 17:5-6 ESV)
Elijah received bread and meat every day from ravens because God is above His Word that teaches that ravens are unclean birds, to be avoided. If the Word’s God spoke, Elijah was not going to avoid the living God’s Word.
Even without God’s Word, anyone would suspect such source of bread and meat. Probably, the ravens brought food by very small quantities and Elijah had to gather them to form a decent meal. “Decent?” doubt says, “What about if the bread was tossed to dogs? What about if the meat came from a corpse? If those birds are unclean is also because they gather unclean food, from corpses from other animals and even humans!”
Theologians would have solid incredulity with solid science and solid dead theology to explain the source of the strange provision to Elijah, who had only a child-like trust in God.
“If God spoke to you,” they would question Elijah, “why send ravens? Why not give you a comfortable house with chicken, poultry and abundant and rich food? Why give you a suspicious food? Your provision was not perfect. So what you heard was not God’s voice!”
Even today ravens are “suspicious.” Sorcerers love them. American writer Edgar Allan Poe, who is loved by Satanists for his macabre books, has a book titled “The Raven.” It was exactly his love for macabre things that inspired also his book “The Pit and the Pendulum” exploring the tortures of the Catholic Inquisition.
The raven is generally thought to be a symbol of sadness, loss, death, Satan and bad luck in most European countries.
Yet, in Elijah’s case, there was no bad luck, because God is sheer “good luck,” and Elijah was not worried about questioning God with nonsensical doubts, “Why do you want to send me unclean birds? Have you no clean birds to feed me?”
To obey, for Elijah, was more important than understanding why, how and what.
If God chooses overrules His written Word and send an unclean animal, Elijah is willing to obey.
If God chooses to overrule His written Word and send unclean tools such as Satanists or things loved by Satanists, Elijah is willing to obey.
If it was unconventional for ravens to provide for Elijah, it was more unconventional for astrologers to provide for baby Jesus.
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men [astrologers] from the east came to Jerusalem.” (Matthew 2:1 Amplified)
“Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judaea, in the days when Herod was king of the province. After his birth there came from the east a party of astrologers making for Jerusalem.” (Matthew 2:1 Philips)
“Now Jesus having been born in Bethlehem of Judaea, in the days of Herod the king, behold magi from the east arrived at Jerusalem.” (Matthew 2:1 Darby)
Magi is plural for magus, which means “sorcerer.” Astrology is also a form of sorcery. Why would God use sorcerers? By the same reason He used ravens. Not to test the faith of baby Jesus. To test His human parents and even other people.
Ravens, magi, astrologers and sorcerers as God’s providers offend theological minds. The religious and theological reason would complain: “There was no lack of theologians in Israel for God to provide for baby Jesus. Why call sorcerers from far away to do it?”
Good question! Elijah would have the perfect answer to help Joseph and Mary.
God condemns sorcery, magic and astrology. But He is free to use the resources of sorcerers, magi and astrologers to bless His Elijahs, Josephs and Marys. By this He shows that the kingdom of darkness and its resources are under His control. The God who condemns sorcery, magic and astrology has power and authority over them and can use their resources. We cannot choose what God has condemned, but when God chooses to use them to show His power and sovereignty, we accept God’s will.
What the sorcerers gave to Jesus’ parents was enough for this poor couple to flee to Egypt and have resources for their survival in the years they had to live in this foreign nation.
As Elijah, who was fleeing and hiding from Ahab and his wicked government, Joseph and Mary were fleeing and hiding from a murderous government. Both were provided for by “suspicious” channels.
We are not supposed to accept ravens and sorcerers as normal channels of God’s provisions. They are just God’s exceptions. In these circumstances, a man or woman of faith follows the God of exceptions, not the exceptions of God. Elijah did so. Joseph and Mary did so.
If God wanted to send ravens, sorcerers, astrologers and even Satan to feed him, Elijah would trust in God, not in the strange unclean tools. He knew that when God commands, even Satan obeys.
After some time, the brook dried up. Elijah was without water. He was thirsty. “Oh,” the theological chorus would attack again, “God’s provisions are perfect. If the brook were a God’s provision to Elijah, it would never dry up! Are you seeing? He did not hear God’s voice! It was just his imagination!”
“And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him, ‘Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’” (1 Kings 17:7-9 ESV)
Without water, Elijah prayed and the small voice said, “I have commanded a widow to feed you.” If ravens tested Elijah and his ability to hear and obey God’s voice, “the widow’s test” was the hardest. Even today, if you say that you heard God saying that He commanded a widow to feed you, people will laugh at you and label you an exploiter. They will certainly say that you have a sexual interest in her and want to take sexual and financial advantage from her.
The widow’s test seemed a sexual scandal enough to undermine and terminate the ministry of a prophet! In fact, fed by ravens and a poor widow would be the perfect curriculum for Elijah not be approved by any modern theological institution — both conservative and liberal. He would have many more chances if he espoused fashionable liberal views for our days: pregnancy termination (abortion) and gender orientation (homosexuality). Liberals would love it! But if he said that God talked to him, liberals and conservatives would hate him.
If widows today have small resources, in past times they had nothing. Married women were totally dependent on their husbands for survival. When their husbands died, there was no social system to protect widows, their children and survival. It would make sense if Elijah had heard, “I am sending you to feed the poor widow and her son.” The best theologians would agree that this would be the only reasonable instruction and approach. But, even in this case, to avoid questioning about his sexual motivations, they would understand that he should have sent a woman to feed the widow.
Besides, the widow was a pagan woman, and the Jews were ordered by God’s Word not to have any contact with pagans, especially women. The widow, just as the raven, was an “unclean” woman by God’s Word. So this kind of contact was directly forbidden by God’s Word.
To flee and hide from a wicked government to take refuge with a poor widow challenges all good sense! There was nothing sublime and spectacular in this. On the contrary, there was more than enough reason to be ashamed.
Actually, God’s instruction to Elijah destroyed common sense. But it was the Word’s God making an exception to God’s Word. He is God and He is free to do whatever He wants.
To challenge the lack of common sense in an Israeli society and government obsessed by child-killing and sacred homosexuality, God destroyed “common sense” in Elijah and his personal life by teaching him to trust more in Word’s God and His small voice than in his personal and religious sense.
The cost of becoming a prophet against a culture of child-killing and sacred homosexuality is to flee and hide from a wicked government system to be fed by “suspicious” channels. It is to let God give any training and send anything He wants to feed the prophet: ravens, sorcerers, astrologers, widows, Satan, advocates of the Inquisition, etc.
I know this cost.
A theologian could not survive these tests. But a true prophet, who reads, loves and obeys God’s Word and the Word’s God, survives.
And when he survives, he is ready to give his testimony against the sacred state religion of child-killing and sodomy.
Through him, God’s voice reaches society in a powerful way theologians can never do.
Elijah’s God and his prophetic missions (trained by strange and challenging “unclean” provisions and a small voice) are available to impact today’s political realm.
Recommended Reading:
Anthony Comstock: the first pro-life activist in the modern history
