"[Elijah] was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months." (James 5:17)
I don't know anyone, personally, who has ever been in a place where it had not rained for three and one-half years. Still, we know what happens as the result of such severe drought. Everywhere, the ground becomes fissured, as in the above photo. As water resources are depleted over a period of weeks and then months, grasses and other plants soon die. Food reserves then begin to be used up. When drought persists for a year or more, famine begins to take its toll, first, on animals. Wild animals become more dangerous, as they are driven to hunt for food in closer proximity to--and even amongst--human populations, in times of famine. In the second year, famine can become a more direct threat to humans. By the third year (as must have been the case in the days of Elijah), the threat posed by famine, to human life, becomes exceedingly great. Not only food but especially water--in a drought of such long duration, are nearly impossible to find anywhere in the region of drought. As I re-read the Scriptures in preparation for writing this essay, I saw something which I never noticed before: according to the passage of Scripture, quoted above, the drought which occurred in the days of Elijah may have involved the whole world: "...it rained not on the earth..."!
In the days of Elijah, during that long drought and the famine which resulted, the people and the land of Israel suffered greatly. I imagine that in the early stages of the famine there were animal carcasses scattered about the landscape. As the famine progressed, those carcasses were reduced to mere bones, by scavengers. I imagine, too, there was a stench which lingered in the air beneath the cloudless sky. Every kind of business and trade eventually came to a grinding halt, as the drought devastated natural resources. People everywhere were reduced to subsistence-level existence--if they did not die. Death became Israel's portion.
Elijah prayed for all of that. Earnestly.
What on earth could have motivated Elijah to pray in such a way? The answer is not hidden in Scripture. When God asked the prophet, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" The prophet answered the LORD: "I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword..." (1 Kings 19:13-4). The Israel (the "ten tribes" of the northern kingdom) of Elijah's day was decadent and corrupt, largely as the result of having long been ruled by a succession of ungodly kings. Whereas, Elijah was a man who cared deeply about God's honor, as well as Elijah cared about the things God cares about. The secret of Elijah's power in prayer, was rooted in his identification with the will of God. The fact that Elijah loved what God loved--and hated what God hated, leads us to understand how that Elijah was thus able to pray according to God's will. And that is the real key to prevailing prayer; as the Bible says:And it pleased the Lord.
"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth [gives audience to] us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." (1 John 5:14-5)Do we--dare--pray as Elijah prayed? Apparently, not. But why not? In this present Age characterized by lawlessness and perversion, why will we not call upon God with all of our might--for example, to withhold every drop of rain from the earth for a period of three and one-half years, similarly as did Elijah?
The reason we do not and will not pray like that is self-evident: which is to say, that--unlike Elijah, we are not willing for ourselves to suffer in the midst of, and as the direct result of, our own such praying.
Yes, God divinely provided for Elijah throughout that long period of drought and famine. Nevertheless, Elijah first prayed for the drought and, afterwards, he received help from God, as that was needed. Even so, Elijah still suffered deprivations of a kind and in such measure as would not otherwise have been the case, had he not prayed to withhold the rain.
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America deserves and NEEDS God's judgment
Is it not true that, in America, every social institution is now become so corrupt that none can be remediated (fixed)? That question is so unspeakably important, I hope you will pause to consider it.
Government, including the legal system; business, including the banking and finance system; the healthcare system; the education system; even the institutional churches: each and every one of those "systems" entails corruption (in principle and in fact,) which is so pervasive and integral to the very existence and maintenance of those systems that any kind of meaningful "reform" must necessarily result in a complete re-making of those systems.
How are we then praying about those very things just mentioned, which things profoundly affect our lives? Of course, every real Christian disapproves, in principle, of the wickedness of modern-day American culture. But how many--or, rather, how few actually are doing anything to oppose the forces and the works of darkness which are destroying this nation? And while it is true that there are some (very few) who, for example: protest against abortions; or, who participate in political campaigns; or, who contribute to raise public awareness pertaining to multifarious social plagues (substance abuse, homelessness, pornography, etc.); nevertheless, even those efforts, generally speaking, have little or nothing to do with undoing those institutions and systems which themselves are serving to the undoing of this nation.
Multitudes of professing Christians are even now hoping, while many of them are even taking steps, to enroll their children in some or another American university--in the belief that participation in those institutions and in that system, is needful or at least advantageous to the future well being of their children. Yet, I cannot tell how many (with whom I have personally spoken,) whose faith in Christ--or even in the idea of God's existence--was undermined, if it was not in fact destroyed as the direct result of their attending university. I will further say that I believe the majority of professing Christians neither understand nor do they then believe that the education system in America is corrupt beyond redemption. From pre-schools all the way through to the highest levels of academia, the education system in America is shot through with scientifically-developed methodologies and curricula aimed at re-socializing American society and culture, in the mold of atheistic/communistic beliefs and practices. The education system--more explicitly than does any other social institution in America, promulgates the spirit and doctrine of antichrist. The downfall of America was principally engineered by so-called philosophers and educators; while the philosophies and objectives they advanced continue to lead the effort to re-make America in the image of Satan. The American education system is the number-two cause of America's downfall.
Where, then, are those Christians who are praying--as in the spirit of Elijah--against that system of antichrist?
But if the education system is the number-two cause, then, what is the number-one cause, of America's decline? If one examines the teaching materials and methods of (public) education, as those appeared in the early days of the American (school) experience (from the early-1800's to very early-1900's); and, then, compare and contrast those with the teaching materials and methods which began to appear from about 1920 and onward; it thus becomes possible to discern how it was that the education system in America was subverted and turned to evil purposes. For, in the early days of public education in America, school books as well as teaching methods, almost universally, were Christ-centered and Bible-based. So long as that was the case, American society and culture remained spiritually healthy. But in order as the denominational churches in America rapidly apostatized, beginning from the mid-1800's and onward (coinciding with the time of the opening of the First Seal), the consequences of that Apostasy were quickly (and, at first, quietly) reflected in the changes which then occurred in public education. Therefore, we may rightly judge that the number-two cause of corruption in American society was (and yet is) necessarily related to the number-one cause, namely, the Apostasy in America's mainstream denominational churches (which, that Apostasy, now affects practically all of America's churches, including the non-denominational, or independent, churches).
The same question thus arises, again: Where, then, are those Christians who are praying--as in the spirit of Elijah--against that system of antichrist? (Truly, the deception is great; so great, in fact, that even the godly seem to recoil from the thought of praying that God would judge the vast majority of America's churches.)
If America's churches, for the most part, are corrupt (and they are); and, if America's education system (which exists for training and developing the mind) is corrupt (and it is): then, how does any suppose it may nevertheless be possible that any of America's other social institutions and systems are not also corrupt--reflecting, in themselves, the very nature of the underlying Apostasy? Who can deny that American systems involving government and law, for instance, do not reflect the nature of the Apostasy that characterizes so many of America's churches and schools? Sexual licentiousness and other expressions of lawlessness are cultural phenomena; which cannot first obtain amongst the higher orders of government; but a spirit of lawlessness arises from amongst the people themselves; only thus may some lawless ones among them be capable to rise up through the ranks of political power and, so, come to institutionalize antichrist policies and practices.
I conclude, therefore, that America not only deserves God's judgment, but in fact America NEEDS for God to judge and to punish, so as to remove, evil from amongst this land. I furthermore conclude that the only reason why so few Christians will earnestly pray for God's judgment to come to America, is the very same reason why those same Christians will not earnestly pray for Revival: that is, because they are yet content, indeed, they are yet even comfortable, with the status quo! But let me warn all who are such: You will surely incur to yourselves the severest of God's judgments: you, who pretend that you are Christ's disciples when, in fact, you love what God hates, and you hate what God loves. Do you not love to watch the "Super Bowl," O backslidden "Christian"? And do you not hate to attend the prayer meeting? Liar! Your deeds betray your contemptuous heart.
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A generation prepared for Christ's return
Those, Christians, who say they believe the coming of Jesus Christ is now imminent: Do they, really, believe it? How is it, then, that I see them (almost without exception) still speaking and acting as if they expect that even their children may yet live to see old age? Is this not that generation, after all, which is truly ready to receive deliverance?
There was a generation of Hebrews in ancient Egypt, who--though they had long endured the most oppressive slavery; and, notwithstanding their deliverer (Moses) stood in their very midst; yet, that generation was not truly ready to be delivered. How do I know that was the case? When Moses once tried to interpose himself between two Hebrews who were striving with each other, one of them rebuked Moses, saying:
"Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?" (Exodus 2:14)In his rebuke to Moses, that man (figuratively) spoke for that, his own, generation of Hebrews. Though doubtless they wanted to be delivered from slavery, yet, they were not willing for God to use whomsoever He would, nor for God to deliver them according to His own will. Therefore, God removed Moses (for forty years), until that the next generation was then given the opportunity for deliverance--on God's terms.
What I mean is this. If we genuinely believe the coming of Jesus Christ must occur within even the next, let us (liberally) say, 20 years (I cannot fathom the possibility that the world can continue any longer than that, on its present course, and yet sustain human life!): How ought that to radically affect our thinking and our conduct during what may be but a few years--if not, perhaps, only months or even weeks--remaining to us?
Surely, it is high time that we must begin to think how it is that we--who say we are sincerely preparing for the coming of the Savior from heaven, ought to be thinking, and speaking, and living . . . and praying -- like Elijah.
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Why Elijah prayed
The first time we are given to see the prophet Elijah, in Scripture, is after that the northern tribes comprising the kingdom of Israel had steadily and deeply apostatized, largely as the result of a succession of several generations of wicked leaders who led the people further and further away from God. In the days of Ahab (and his wife Jezebel), Elijah suddenly appeared--as if from out of nowhere--to stand before king Ahab; to whom Elijah boldly announced:
"As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." (1 Kings 17:1)You can be sure that God didn't drop that word in Elijah's heart while he was out playing golf. Nor was Elijah stirred to conceive of such a thing, by listening to some watered-down preaching on the I-LOV Jewish radio station of his day.
Elijah probably didn't "mix" well with the socialites in his hometown; his hairy appearance and leather loincloth didn't go nearly far enough to pacify their sensitivities. Elijah was concerned neither with being "politically correct" nor with being "socially acceptable". I don't mean that he was brutish; far from it. But Elijah was "virtuous"--which, in the Bible, means "manly": as in 'being what God created a "man" to be'. Elijah was neither uncaring nor insensitive; it's just that his affections were "set on things which are above, and not on things of this world"; and, he was sensitive to the moving of God's Spirit--instead of being sensitive to man's opinions and/or feelings.
Probably it was just those things: the arrogance of the "well-to-do" Israelites; the apostasy of the "religious" Israelites; and the affected (pretended) righteousness of the "respectable" Israelites--not to mention the corruption of Israel's government and society in general; which caused Elijah to feel himself to be increasingly isolated and alone. We know, for a fact, that Elijah did feel that way: for, Elijah complained to God that he (Elijah) was the only one left in Israel, who remained faithful to the Lord (1 Kings 19:10, 14).
Although God informed Elijah that he was not the only one but, in fact, there were actually seven-thousand in Israel who had not "bowed their knee to Baal"; nevertheless, Elijah (who was a "prophet") was evidently unaware that there was even one (much less 7,000) of his fellow Israelites who remained faithful to God. True though it was, that none of those 7,000 had worshiped Baal. Yet, few if any of them, apparently, expressed their dissatisfaction with the status-quo: at least, not in any way such that Elijah heard anything about it; nor, such that Elijah might at least have suspected he was not alone in his stand for godliness. Elijah believed he was completely alone in his standing for righteousness.
What does all of that say about the condition of the Church, today? No, I do not mean the "professing" Church; for, I have often enough decried the apostate condition of those deceived persons. But I mean to suggest that the condition of the true Church, at this present time in America, it seems to me, is rather like it was in the time of Elijah. That is to say, there may indeed be a considerable number of faithful Christians who have not "bowed their knee to Baal," so to speak. But if that is the case, then, why do we (the few I personally know who are seeking God wholeheartedly), like Elijah of old, feel so completely alone? If there is a significant number of faithful Christians living in the populous metropolitan area where I live, then, why do I not know it? -- seeing, that I am one who very earnestly seeks to find and to embrace such Christians as fellow-soldiers, as it were, to walk and work and pray with me, and at such a momentous time as this? I'm looking for such Christians! I do not say that I AM alone; only, that I feel very much alone. And does that not, perhaps, suggest that there is not yet the kind of cooperation (not to mention community) amongst sincere Christians living in the area where I live, such as the present Crisis calls for--indeed, such as Christ in His Word calls for? and such as the Holy Ghost has long been calling for, in the Body of Christ?!
The situation I'm describing sometimes reminds of Satan's boastful (blasphemous) remarks, where, in Isaiah 10:14, the devil (figuratively) said:
"[M]y hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped."Elijah prayed, because the Enemy was robbing and destroying the people of God, and Elijah was desperate for God to move.
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How Elijah prayed
The Bible does not say so; but, I strongly suspect that Elijah must have spent a great deal of time somewhere in the "wilderness," alone. Such an environment (solitude or, at least, isolation from worldly influences) actually presents certain real advantages to the Christian. I am convinced, that the majority of professing Christians are spiritually weak and ineffectual largely because they are averse to being "alone (with God) in the wilderness," so to speak. They want, instead, to be socially active and continually entertained--even if by diverse "religious activities". To them, the experience of giving oneself to seek God in prayer and in His Word, is like being in a wilderness. They do not know, evidently, that the wilderness may be the very place where they will find God:
Jacob saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, upon which the angels of God ascended and descended . . . in the wilderness.
Moses stood barefooted before the fiery, burning bush, in the Presence of God . . . in the wilderness.
Elijah caught on fire with the flame of God's jealousy . . . in the wilderness.
John the baptist discovered the fire of Revival . . . in the wilderness.
Jesus--full of the Holy Ghost and fire, fought the devil, and won . . . in the wilderness.
Just like Moses, and John the baptist, and Jesus himself, Elijah came from the wilderness, to begin his public ministry. There, in the wilderness, the fear of God took hold of his mind and began to transform his thoughts about everything: about God; about himself; about the world in which he lived; about what God wanted in his life. The more that Elijah talked with God about all those things, the more he came to understand God's thinking and God's heart. And the more Elijah came to see things from God's perspective, the more disturbed he was concerning the condition of God's people in Israel--where he himself lived.
If Elijah prayed like so many professing Christians do, he might have prayed something like this: "Dear God, bless Israel; and help (so-and-so) to win the next election. Amen." But I doubt it.
Elijah's prayers probably sounded more like this: "O, God, we're really in trouble. You've gotta do something!"
After some weeks or months passed, and as Elijah continued to seek the face of God, I can then almost hear Elijah praying: "God, maybe I shouldn't be praying like this. But I just don't see how you can stand by and let Ahab and that wicked Jezebel get away with any more! They've killed a lot of good men: your prophets! There doesn't seem to be a real man in Israel anymore, none who will stand up for what's right! Even at the synagogue, all I ever hear said is how we're s'posed to be nice to everybody and forgive everybody and don't rock nobody's boat and...well, God, everything's just so kissy-kissy! I tell ya, God, I've just about had a belly full of that kinda stuff! It's just plain cowardly. Don't you agree, God? Well, don't you?"
The answer came, in an unexpected way:
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.""But, God, how can I do that? How can I show Israel their sins?"
"Shut up heaven against them.""What? How?"
"Forbid the heavens to give rain; command the clouds to dissipate, whensoever they may appear. See, I have made you to be a Watchman to Israel."Now, let's fast-forward three and a half years, to the day when Elijah set his mind to pray for rain. Here is the Scripture text pertaining to the events of that day in history:
"And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain." (1 Kings 18:42-5)It is somewhat difficult to rightly interpret the meaning of a certain portion of the foregoing text; yet, it appears that Elijah actually prayed eight times, for it to rain. What could possibly be the reason he had to pray so many times? Did God not hear his prayer in the first instance? Of course, God must have heard him. Was it then, perhaps, something which was lacking in Elijah's faith the first seven times he prayed? That could not have been the case.
There evidently is something instructive in the fact that Elijah prayed eight times for rain, before he saw with his eyes any indication that it was then going to rain. I believe the reason Elijah had to pray so many times--on that day, for rain, was likely due to his having prayed every single day, throughout the past three and one-half years, that God would withhold the rain, from day to day. There must have been occasions during the course of those three and a half years, when clouds began to appear in the sky. I believe it must have been the case, that Elijah, from time to time--if not daily--implored God to cause a wind to blow and to dissipate every cloud in the sky.
The devil, you will recall, hangs out in the wilderness--where, he knows, men and women of God are wont to meet with God "on praying ground". That "old serpent" doubtless had seen and heard Elijah many times crying in prayer out to God, in the wilderness. He knew HOW Elijah was praying. And you can be sure that that was one time in history when the devil must have wanted, not drought, but rain to fall. Was there no warring in prayer for that, then, on Elijah's part?
If my "interpretation" is correct, concerning what the Scripture means which states, that Elijah "prayed earnestly that it might not rain"; then, might that not explain why it was that Elijah then had to pray, repeatedly, for the rain then to come forthwith? For, Elijah's spirit was "filled with the power of a drought," by reason of his long and unyielding determination in prayer. Elijah had so often and so fervently prayed against the rain, that now he had to pray over, and over, and over, again (eight times), in order to "overcome" that former flint-like mindset. Elijah's manner of prayer, involving the drought, in fact, is what the Bible sets forth as a preeminent example of prevailing prayer.
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Praying--like Elijah, for Revival . . . and for judgment
I perceive that God has been moving to raise up prayer warriors, for Revival. And I have written extensively upon that subject. But I also believe that, in the context of the present world Crisis and, important too, in view of the imminent return of Jesus Christ and the coming of Antichrist, those same prayer warriors must be earnestly praying for God's righteous judgments to destroy that spirit of antichrist together with the works of darkness which now seem to fill the whole world.
It is not the truth of God which keeps us from praying so. Rather, we still appear to be shackled by so much conventional (carnal) thinking, that it is thus difficult for us to perceive, much less are we willing to adopt, modes of prayer which are very different from (and, sometimes, seemingly at odds with) all of our previous experiences.
Nevertheless--as I accept that very weighty responsibility for what things I teach, I will say that I believe the Spirit of God is lately revealing things which have never before been seen nor understood--not, at least, by me. All in order to prepare a holy Remnant, a Bride, in and through Whom God the Holy Ghost can work--without those hindrances which have grieved and constrained Him hitherto.
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