SO ELIJAH’S FIRE DIDN’T COME FROM GOD…

I wanted to talk about a different matter today, but I got really attacked by this one. They said my submission wasn’t good enough and that I should prove it in context.

So, in the spirit of pretext, context, and postext😊, let’s do some analysis from the scriptures that were used in his defence.

FIRST SCRIPTURE:

2 Kings 1:
9 Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.
10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
11 Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.
12 And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
13 And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.
14 Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.
15 And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.

So in verse 10, Elijah’s exact words were “If I be a man of God… Then let fire come down from heaven… “. If you ask me, that’s already enough context, he wasn’t corporating with Satan as Dr Abel Damina said, his alliance and allegiance was clear, “If I be a man of God…”. God clearly permitted the fire because Elijah was a man of God. Also, the concluding part of verse 10 tells us that fire actually came down from heaven. The last time I checked, Satan has been cast out of heaven to join the inhabitants of the earth. If the bible says fire came from heaven, then it definitely didn’t come from Satan.

In verse 12, when Elijah called for the same fire upon the second captain of fifty and his troops, the scripture specifically says “and the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty”. THE FIRE OF GOD, not the fire of Satan.

Just in case you think it’s an error in translation, I used my concordance to check for which God was used in all the verses, including verse 12 that says a “fire from God”, and they all have the same number 0430 in the Hebrew dictionary, which is translated as “elohiym el-o-heem”. We all know that Elohim is the name of our God.

When the third troop arrived and pleaded with Elijah not to call down fire like he did the previous two times, THE ANGEL OF THE LORD spoke to Elijah to go with the captain to honour the king’s invitation, and that he should not fear. If you read every account where God tells people not to fear, it’s always because His presence will back them up.

SECOND SCRIPTURE:

Luke 9:
51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem
52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

So the disciples felt offended by the hindrance and suggested that Jesus should call down fire like Elijah did, and Jesus’s response was a open rebuke, because he expected them to know that he came with a different mission, a mission which is to save lives, not destroy them.

Notice that the “spirit” used in that scripture is in small letter, which means He wasn’t exactly referring to the Spirit of God. By implication, it could mean a vital principle or a mental disposition. And that would make spiritual sense because when the children of Isreal cried out to God not to speak to them anymore in His real voice, their major request was that God would send them a prophet whose words would not scare them to death. Moses revealed this prophetic account in Deuteronomy chapter 18. Let’s see how scriptures put it:

Deuteronomy 18:
14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

Notice verse 15 and verse 18, God’s plan was to raise a prophet like Moses, the same Moses that was the meekest, one who had undying love for God’s people. I’m happy Dr Abel Damina agrees that some characters in the bible came after the likeness of another. Just as John came in the likeness of Elijah, Jesus came in the likeness of Moses. When we say likeness, we don’t necessarily mean that the person must possess every character trait or quality the other person possessed, it just means certain vital principles or mental disposition would be adopted. For instance, John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, yet he didn’t perform any miracle. He was even beheaded at the request of a little girl. You’d recall that Jezebel attempted to behead Elijah, but it didn’t work out. What was not possible with Elijah became possible with John that came in the Spirit of Elijah.

THIRD SCRIPTURE:

Hebrews 13:
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

After all that I’ve explained, it should now be clear that this scripture was used out of context. The Apostle was clearly charging them to maintain the character of Jesus. He encouraged them to keep following their teachers who teach them the Word of God as long as their sermons do not portray the character of Jesus to be violent and destructive.

The article is already too long, I would have delved into the character of God the Father and that of Jesus Christ, but maybe some other time. I hope I’ve not displayed any form of arrogance or pride by this. If I did, I sincerely apologize. The only reason I’m doing this is to veto the unnecessary attacks amongst preachers. The ways of God cannot be completely unravelled by one man, even if you’ve read the Bible a million times. Always make your submissions in love, humility and respect, because you may realize tomorrow that what you thought was the best today isn’t even qualified to be good tomorrow.

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learnt about God is that He loves everybody and as much as He wants us to mature, He’s longsuffering. Which means He’s willing to relate with us at our level of understanding per time. So if you believe that God will prosper you by paying tithe, then God will prosper you (ofcourse by giving you favours and wisdom on what to do to earn more money). It’s why you’d have multitudes of testimonies on how paying tithe has blessed people. Nobody is going to hell for paying tithe or for believing in the principles of tithing. As long as you believe in Jesus, God can work with that until you come to a place of maturity. Only preachers who doesn’t know this about God exert energy on correcting doctrines. Preach the truth as revealed to you and allow the Holy Spirit reprove the hearts of men. Don’t be the preacher and the reprover at the same time. Yours is to preach, while the Holy Spirit reproves. Stop forcing a change, corporate with the Holy Spirit to create a change. Even among your own congregation, give people room to practice at their little faith. Don’t force a new born baby to walk, you may cause damage to the leg that he may never recover from.

I now hear that Pastor Jerry Eze is being attacked because of the multitudes that gather for his online prayer, I’d talk about this on Monday. But until then, preachers, let’s preach the gospel with humility of heart.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

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