the spirit of Elijah

The above image may fairly well represent how most people--who know anything about the prophet Elijah--perceive him, in their imagination.  Elijah called down fire from Heaven.  Elijah slew 850 prophets of Baal and of the "groves".  Elijah was bodily taken up to Heaven by a chariot of fire in a whirlwind.  But there was another aspect of that charismatic prophet's personality, which was no less a part of the man he was...

You see, Elijah was very much alone.  Indeed, the intensity of his feelings of isolation was at times so painful that, at one point, Elijah even asked God to take away his life:  

But [Elijah] went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers....  And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?  And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.  (1 Kings 19:4; 9-10)

And just why did Elijah believe himself to be alone amongst the thousands of Israel?  Let us hear his own words, where he said: "I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left."  Elijah walked uprightly before God, with his whole heart; while Israel had turned away from God, to their idolatry.

Today, the church-scene in America is overrun with modern-day prophets and so-called apostles.  To be recognized by others as being a prophet or an apostle, is, to them, I'm sure, a distinction of honor--as evidenced by the fact that multitudes of churchgoers are willing to pay to attend the conferences and purchase books and DVDs produced by the gaggle of contemporary prophets and apostles.  Unlike Elijah, whose grief, due to Israel's backsliding, was sometimes more than he could bear, and whose isolation was largely due to Israel's rejection of God's truth and of God's messenger, modern-day prophets enjoy the limelight--so long as they speak what the people want to hear.  But such are not true prophets of God.

According to Jesus, John the Baptist also came in the 'spirit of Elijah'--whom we see in Scripture that John also was a solitary individual, who lived alone in the wilderness and ate locusts and wild honey. The characteristically important thing about both of those prophets, Elijah and John, is, that each of them appeared on the scene during a time of great apostasy, and they passionately cried out for Israel to repent and turn back to God--notwithstanding fierce opposition from their contemporaneous religious leaders.

Whereas Elijah called down literal fire from Heaven, to focus men's attention upon the all-important sacrifice which was then presented to God.  John the Baptist, likewise, called down spiritual fire from Heaven, to focus the world's attention upon the ultimate Sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God.  "Repent; prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight!" was the resounding cry of those faithful prophets of God.  And in each case, God answered by sending Revival to those who would receive it, in order as they renounced the worldliness of their respective Age and turned with their whole heart to obey and to serve the Lord.

Jesus furthermore said that Elijah--that is to say, the spirit of Elijah--was not only manifested in John the Baptist but, moreover, that that same spirit of Elijah would yet again appear among the world just prior to the soon-coming Tribulation period:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD  (Malachi 4:5).

While there is reason to believe that Elijah himself will return to the earth as one of the "two witnesses" spoken of in the Revelation, yet, there is equally good reason to believe that God will send forth the 'spirit of Elijah'--which spirit was also manifested in John the Baptist, to prepare a People for the return of Jesus Christ.  Not coincidentally, the Church is right now suffering an unprecedented epoch of Apostasy--which the Bible calls the great "falling away" (2 Thessalonians 2:3).  Everything we know of Scripture testifies that the coming of the Lord is imminent.  Thus, it is evident that we are now living in that time when we may expect--yea, when we should look for that 'spirit of Elijah' to appear: to boldly cry out against the prophets of Baal; to demand repentance and a return to the truth of God; to rally the people of God to seek the Lord for restoration and Revival; and, to "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and of the children to their fathers" (Malachi 4:6).

Many honest Christians have for too long been kowtowed (intimidated and silenced) by the mere existence of something generically called "churches".  But what is it that gives any of those entities--comprised of organizations, buildings, and groups of people--what is it, I say, that gives any of those entities any kind of spiritual authority?  The Bible plainly states that "there is no power [authority] but of God" (Romans 13:1).  And, "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God" (2 John 9).  Consider, too, that the devil's modus operandi involves deception.  Are those, apostate "churches," walking in the authority of God, according to the Word of truth?  Are they not transgressing and refusing to abide in the doctrine of Christ, as evidenced by the fact that they promote the use of Bible-substitutes in place of the true Word of God?  Are they not actively (even if unwittingly) engaged in deception, by substituting a perverted 'gospel' in place of the truth of God?  Those who preach "unconditional love" and unbounded "grace", while neglecting or refusing to warn people against hell, rebuke those who sin, and separate themselves from unholy professors of religion: are they not the ones whom the Bible identifies and condemns (in Jude 4) as being guilty of "turning the grace of God into lasciviousness (a license to sin)"?  Those "entities" which habitually allow immodestly dressed persons to remain among the 'church' assembled, have no right to be called a "church".

Neither, then, should genuine Christians uncritically accept such "entities" as being true "churches".  A steeple on the roof and a name over the doorway does not make any such entity a "church", any more than does a wedding ring and a shared surname make a woman a "wife".  Nearly 40 million 'married' men and women, in America, were recently exposed as hedonistic adulterers and adulteresses, by reason of their Internet mating-connection site having been 'hacked' and their personal information publicly disclosed (the so-called "Ashley Madison" scandal).  In the Bible, whorish "churches" are identified as belonging to a condemned and hated religious system called "Babylon"--which is appointed to suffer God's wrath.  Doubtless there are yet some real Christians who are still affiliated with "entities" such as herein discussed.  Nevertheless, the clear and straightforward warning of Scripture, to such Christians, cannot be mistaken:

Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities (Revelation 18:4-5).

Who--or what--is the Holy Ghost urgently commanding God's people to "come out of"?  Surely, not out of the world, as such; for, the Scripture itself denies that that is God's purpose (1 Corinthians 5:10).  What, then?  If the "mystery" which is called "Babylon" is not a form of apostate Christianity, then, what is it?  It is self-evident that "Babylon" cannot mean Islamism, or Buddhism, or Hinduism, or any other '-ism': for, "my people", that is to say, God's "people" are not affiliated with any of those '-isms'.  But it is the case that many of God's people are affiliated with apostate 'Christian' "churches".  

And it's not working!!  I myself used to believe that I might, through God, be able to influence such entities to repent and turn to God, in spirit and in truth.  Only after many years of laboring to reform numerous such "churches", without any discernible success, have I come at length to believe that we, true Christians, must look at things from a different perspective.  Why isn't the Church already experiencing genuine Revival?  For, truly, the need for Revival is great indeed.  Moreover, judging from my admittedly limited vantage-point, I have yet to see anything resembling a real movement in the direction of Revival, amongst those "churches" which I have observed.

I do not, of course, say that there is not one godly church in America.  It is not my intention to judge the Church, nor even to castigate the "churches," wholesale, as it were.  I trust in God that I myself am a member of that faithful Remnant of Jesus Christ's true disciples; and I know certain others who also are Christ's true disciples.  Yet, I am consciously and earnestly urging that it is high time that those, true disciples of Christ, ought to (according to Scripture, I am convinced,) come out from among those Babylonish (apostate) "churches," having the purpose and determination to come together with other, true Christians, to avail ourselves of the communion of the Holy Ghost in the Body of Christ and to seek God for real Revival.

Let me tell you that, at present, this is a very lonely road to walk.  For, thus far, very few have even appeared willing to seriously consider the things I have herein discussed.  Nevertheless, I believe the time is fast approaching, when the enmity of worldly "churches"--not only toward God but toward God's people--will be so pervasive that, to remain among such self-willed "churches," shall result in the incautious and undiscerning 'believer' being "led astray with the error of the wicked".  In fact, I honestly believe that is already the situation amongst a majority of America's "churches".

The call, to "come out of her" (Babylon)--'or else', has resounded ever since the days when the apostle John first penned those fearful words.  Now, as the door is rapidly closing upon the two-thousand-year-old Church Age, and the final Trumpet is just about ready to sound, that 'call' seems almost to fall upon deaf ears.

But after the Rapture, and the true Church is gone, that 'call' shall then have no more purpose nor meaning.  For anyone.