1 Kings 18:21-29 – Where Is America? – Bible study

1Kings 18:21-29 Where Is America? That is a good question. I have said it many times before. America is where Israel was. These two nations have such a similar history, although America is NOT Gods nation. Israel and Israel alone is Gods nation. Yet, if you know history, you know these two nations have shared a supernatural founding, miraculous blessing, and divine protection. Yet, as there is no one more blessed than a nation that follows God so there is no one more cursed than a nation that turns from God. "Where Is America?" Three Thoughts. I. A Nation Turned A. Much of Israel had turned from God to Baal worship. 1Kings 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 1. Elijah made it sound like the people were about half-and- half, with half worshipping God and half worshipping Baal. 2. However, Elijahs count for that day showed the false prophets far outnumbered Gods preachers. 1Kings 18:22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baals prophets are four hundred and fifty men. a. Baal – 450 priests b. \#19\ That was not counting the 400 prophets of the grove! c. And that would not be all, just those King Ahab had invited to his pagan party. d. Jehovah – 1 prophet 3. God would later update Elijahs figures, giving him the total number of God-followers. 1Kings 19:18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. a. While 7,000 God-followers sounds much better than 1, it appears God was saying He had 7,000 followers in the entire nation. b. That is not very many in a nation that Jehovah God Himself founded, blessed, and protected. c. The remainder of the nation either followed Baal or some other god. 4. Who was Baal? a. Baal was a make-believe god, originally worshipped by the Canaanites. (1) By the way, the Canaanites are the people that Israel took their land FROM. (2) You are either very foolish or very desperate to worship a god of the people you DEFEATED. (3) With Israel, I am going with them being very foolish. b. Baal was the Canaanite god of the sky, including thunder, lightning, and storms. c. So worshipping this made-up god was not just something done around Israel by the pagan nations, but it was being done in Israel by Gods people also. d. We know two other things. (1) Worshipping any god other than the true God is idolatry. (Anyone or anything that you love more, reverence more, or serve more is an idol.) (2) When you worship any god other than the true God, you are really worshipping the devil. (a) The devil does not have to get you to bow to him to win. (b) All he has to do is to keep you from following Jesus. e. Baal worship was not just a passive religion in Israel. (1) Israel would offer their children as sacrifices to Baal. Jer 19:5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: (2) So Israel, the nation that was founded, blessed, and protected by Jehovah God, was worshipping the devil by slaying and offering their children to him. B. In seemingly unrelated news: On January 22, 1973, in what is referred to as a "landmark decision," the Supreme Court ruled AGAINST the unborns rights to protection, to be born, or to live. 1. On that day, the High Court ruled it was the Constitutional right of a mother to kill her unborn baby if she chose to do so. a. I add the word "unborn" baby because today if the abortion fails and through some miraculous event, the baby survives the abortion attempt, he will be left to die by the doctors and nurses. https://www.lifenews.com/2019/01/25/new-york-law-legalizing-abortions -up-to-birth-revokes-medical-care-for-babies-born-alive-after- abortions/ b. And some, like Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, believe and suggested that a baby born might still be murdered "if thats what the mother desired." https://www.bizpacreview.com/2019/01/30/virginia-gov-suggests-baby- can-be-killed-right-after-birth-what-it-went-from-fetus-to-infant- and-hardly-anyone-noticed-719235/ 2. Since that time, an estimated 63 million children in this country alone have been murdered. 3. Let me stop right here and say that if you have had an abortion, repented of that sin, and turned to God, I have no desire to hurt you. a. That is the past not the present. b. If it is under the blood, you are the only one who is remembering it because God forgave you of it and then forgot it. c. That is what mercy and forgiveness does. 4. However, the awful truth of abortion is that it is murder, plain and simple. 5. God is both the Giver and Reclaimer of life. a. God is the ONLY ONE who can give life. (1) Mans intellect can tell us the chemicals and elements that make up the human body. (2) They can tell you the bodys ratios and amounts. (3) they can tell you our composition and the make up. (4) They know the body parts and what they do. but no one anywhere can create life but God Himself. b. And God is the ONLY ONE who can reclaim life. (God commanded the death penalty as well.) C. Someone might say, "Preacher, that is tragic but it has nothing to do with Baal worship." 1. The two events have more in common than most realize, and it is coming out more each day. The following article entitled: Satanists Posted a Dallas Billboard Advocating for Reproductive Rights: Abortions Save Lives!, was published at DallasObserver.com by Simone Carter on December 22, 2020: Just in time for Christmas, drivers cruising down Highway 80 in Dallas can now catch a glimpse of a 10-by-40-foot bulletin from The Satanic Temple declaring, Abortions save lives! (The article went on to say) The temple unveiled two designs last week; both state, Our religious abortion ritual averts many state restrictions. The Dallas billboard goes on to say, Pregnancy complications are the sixth most common cause of death among women between the ages of 20 and 34. (The CDC say is it the 9th cause of death from women from 20 to 40.) The second billboard depicts a woman telling her friend that Satanists dont have to endure state-mandated waiting periods for an abortion. Erected last week, Dallas billboard will stay up until mid-January, Goodwin said. It seeks to notify local Satanists of the temples abortion ritual, a process by which members reflect on Satanic tenets and a personal affirmation while receiving an abortion. 2. So, some of the strongest advocates of abortion are Satanists, and they before abortions as a Satanic ritual. In a collaborating article (and there are many) entitled "Satanic Temple Challenges 18 States Abortion Laws With Religious Exemption Claim," published at Newsweek.com by Daniel Villarreal on December 31, 2020: The Satanic Temple, a national religious rights organization with chapters in 21 states, has recently erected two billboards in Texas and Florida encouraging followers to challenge state restrictions on abortions conducted during the first trimester by claiming that the restrictions violate their religious beliefs as Satanists. Over 18 states have such restrictions. (The article then references the bill board in Dallas before continuing to describe another one in Miami.) Another billboard from the group outside of Miami features a vintage black-and-white image of two smiling young women from the 1950s drinking bottled sodas and wearing button-down shirts and skirts. A word bubble over one of the women says, "Susan, youre telling me, I do not have to endure a waiting period when I have an abortion?" The other woman replies, "Thats true if youre a SATANIST!" The words, "Our Religious Abortion Ritual Averts Many State Restrictions" is printed on the right side of the billboard below the groups logo bearing a horned goat skull over a pentagram. https://www.newsweek.com/satanic-temple-challenges-18-states-abortion -laws-religious-exemption-claim-1558399 3. The sad truth is abortion has always been a sacrifice to the idols of pleasure, promiscuity, and privilege. a. Those three are the idols which are being worshipped. b. But we remember. Anything that is offered to a false god is actually being offered to the devil. c. Every abortion clinic is as much a Satanic temple as these being advertised! 4. Abortion has never been anything but modern mans medically approved sacrifice to the devil himself. 5. It doesnt matter if the emblem on the wall is the medical staff with swirling snakes around it (which itself is the emblem of the made-up god of medicine) of the horned goat skull over a pentagram. https://www.medicinenet.com/medical_symbol/definition.htm D. So as it turns out, two nations which were founded, blessed, and protected by Jehovah God turned from Him to Baal worship or some form of it. II. A People Stood By – What kind of people do this? kill their babies? offer them to idols? of even stand by and watch while it is being done? A. Counterfeit Preachers 1. That would be the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the grove. 2. The counterfeit preachers are those who proclaim there is: a. another god, b. another gospel, c. another way to heaven, d. another way to worship, or e. another way to live. another way to live than what the Word of God proclaims. 3. They are counterfeit, selling a bill of goods that, like a counterfeit dollar, is not worth the ink it took to print it. a. Their message may be, "Bow down to my idol," or it may be "Dont worry it about. Everything will be all right." b. Either way their message takes everyone to same miserable end, damnation. 4. Our land is filled with so many counterfeit preachers, priests, and religions that some have just thrown their hands up in confusion and walked away from all religions. a. I understand their frustration, but that is also part of Satans plan. b. He doesnt have to get you to bow to him to follow him into hell. c. All he has to do is to get you to do nothing at all, and you will spend eternity in the same hell that he does. d. Before you walk away from everything, you better check out Jehovah God because He is the real McCoy. B. Corrupt Politicians 1. That would be King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel. 2. This whole event was at one of their pagan parties. 3. King Ahab is one of the most wicked kings in all of the Bible. Listen to what God said about him. 1Kings 16:31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32 And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. 4. He sinned against and blasphemed Jehovah God, setting up false idols and building a pagan temple to Baal in Samaria, then commanding the people to worship there. a. If that man has anything like blood in his body today, its boiling in the pits of hell. b. I take no delight in saying that, but its true. (1) The second hottest compartment of hell should be corrupt politicians. (2) The hottest compartment should be counterfeit preachers. c. Those who either in ignorance or willful rebellion create a path that leads men and women away from the one and only God THEN command people to follow it, these are the corrupt politicians. (1) If you want to see some of them, just turn on the television set. (2) Most every politician will be a demon walking in a human body. 5. His wife, Jezebel, was from a pagan country. a. She was an out-and-out murderer without a conscience. b. Raised a pagan herself, she poured gasoline on Ahabs pagan tendencies. c. Together they mocked, ridiculed, and persecuted the prophets of Jehovah God. C. Carnal Population 1. That would be those Elijah spoke to in verse 21, "How long halt ye between two opinions?" 2. These people had no spiritual drive, no spiritual understanding, and made no spiritual decisions. 3. As it was, so it is. a. The majority of the people are unconcerned about eternity, their souls, where they came from, and where they are going to. b. They will listen to the opinions of the few loud- mouthed people and when they hear something they like, like a dog to the dinner bowl, they will follow them. c. Let me tell you straight up, dont you follow me. (1) I dont want your blind loyalty, your unquestioning obedience, or your mindless devotion. (2) Dont you dare hang the responsibility for your soul on my preaching. (3) I am not trying to get a following. (4) I am just a man who found something in the Bible that changed my life, my soul, and my eternity; and all I want is for you to go to the Bible and read it for yourself. (a) Read the Bible as if your soul depends upon it. (b) Read the Bible as if the souls of your family depend it. (c) Read the Bible as if heaven or hell depends upon it, because it does, my friend. It does! D. Confused Parishioner 1. They are not found in the verses we read this morning, but earlier in this chapter \#1Kings 18:1-16\. 2. There was a good godly man by the name of Obadiah to whom Elijah first showed himself. a. 3 1/2 years earlier, Elijah first shows himself to Ahab, telling him that it is not going to rain again until he says for it rain. b. And it didnt for 3 1/2 years. c. Now, Elijah revealed himself to Obadiah, who said, "Oh, no. What have you done to me? King Ahab has spent the last 3 1/2 years searching for you, not just in Israel but all over the world. Whenever a nation said you werent there, he made them swear it. Now you appear to me, and I will go tell King Ahab, he will want me to take him to you and the Lord will snatch you away again, then King Ahab will kill me! Why did you do this to me? Have you not heard how I hid 100 of Gods preachers when Ahab and Jezebel were killing them? How I fed them and took care of them? Oh, why did you do this to me?" 3. Obadiah was a good, godly man. a. Even though he worked for the king, he used his position to safe and care for the 100 of Gods preachers, at great peril to his own life; but he was confused. b. He did not know what God was doing. c. He was afraid. d. He was confused. 4. What are Americas Christians doing? a. I think many are like Obadiah. b. They are confused. They are scared. They dont understand. c. "What does God want us to do?" is there question. 5. I cant answer that question in detail now. I dont have enough time, but I will tell you: a. God does not want us to be confused or frightened. b. We do not have to know what is going on. c. All we have to know is that Gods knows what is going on! III. A Prayer Was Sent 1Kings 18:36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. 37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. A. Elijah was praying for the impossible. 1. He was praying that fire would fall from heaven and consume a sacrifice that he had made. 2. To make it more difficult, he had dug a trench around the altar, and 12 barrels of water poured on it. 3. Then he prayed but he never asked for fire. 4. He asked that the carnal and confused people of Israel might know that God was alive, well, and speaking to him. B. And before he got his closing "amen" out, the varoom of a holy fire could be heard and the flame and heat from Gods heavenly torch encompassed the soaked altar, the soused sacrifice, and even sodden trench, sucking up even the wet dirt on the ground. C. And what was the effect? 1Kings 18:39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. 1. For at least a time, confusion and carnality were gone. 2. For at least a time, the people knew God was in charge and they did not have to understand anything, just believe and obey. 3. And, friend, that is where we are today.