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Chapter 1: New Days, Old Demons
June 30, 2023 · 46 min
In the first chapter of Pastor Mark's new book "New Days, Old Demons", we put an AI program to work replicating his voice! Get the full version only at RealFaith.com/fire
Series Mark Driscoll Audio June 30, 2023 · 46 min · Mark Driscoll Audio
In the first chapter of Pastor Mark's new book "New Days, Old Demons", we put an AI program to work replicating his voice! Get the full version only at RealFaith.com/fire ...more Show the full description Show less In the first chapter of Pastor Mark's new book "New Days, Old Demons", we put an AI program to work replicating his voice! Get the full version only at RealFaith.com/fire
Series Mark Driscoll Audio
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With Pastor Mark, it’s all about Jesus! He is a spiritual leader, prolific author, and compelling speaker, but at his core, he is a family man. Mark and his
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0:00 Well, howdy. It's Ashley Chase here, the executive director of Real Faith Ministries, which I get to run with my parents, pastor Mark and Grace. If you want to be the first to receive exclusive content and updates from0:10 Real Faith and my parents' bible teaching, you can text REAL to 99383. You'll get ebooks, sermons, videos, and more sent straight to your phone every week to keep you from sliding into0:22 heresy and apostasy. You're welcome. That's REAL to 99383. And if you're strengthened, encouraged, and built up by my parents' teaching, consider partnering with us at real faith dot com. Every dollar you give reaches0:33 100 people with the gospel. And as our thanks to you, we'll send you an ebook of Pastor Mark's systematic theology, which is called Doctrine. It's all about Jesus. It's an incredible resource, whether you just met Jesus0:43 or you've known for a long time, and we hope it answers some of your questions. Again, just give a gift at real faith dot com, and we'll send you a copy.0:49 Chapter 1. In the ancient days preceding the prophet Elijah, in places where God had been worshipped, there started appearing large demonic images of bulls. These tributes1:01 were to the demon god Baal, the arch enemy of the lord and a god worship or wealth. Following the stock market crash of 19 87 in 19 89 near1:13 Wall Street, bail again appeared. To this day, the image of the bull stands as a symbol of strength and virility, power, and money, just as the worship of bail1:25 always had. The bull is 11 feet high, 16 feet long, weighs 7100 pounds, and is curiously golden just like the idol created by people1:37 to worship demons in the days of Moses, now representing hopes of blessing us with a bull market. For too long, too many people have read the bible as if it were a1:48 primitive, outdated, and unhelpful view of the world. CS Lewis refers to this common hubris as chronological snobbery, as if we have2:00 evolved beyond the fool's parade of history that preceded us. The truth is, while we have evolved externally, we have not evolved internally. We have more modern amenities and2:12 technologies around us, but we are no more loving, kind, truthful, or healthy than generations that preceded us. In this book, we will examine how old demons are back doing evil in2:24 new days. No longer hiding in the shadows, they are unblushingly in plain sight for those who have eyes connected to a renewed mind. In the ancient and modern2:35 world, Baal was and is worshiped for wealth and power. As the god of the rain, it was believed he would make the crops grow, which fed the livestock, which together sustained human2:47 life and grew the economy. Baal was so popular in the ancient world that the bible speaks against this powerful demon and arch enemy of God over 100 times. Often, will see the2:59 name Baal followed by another name that is for a local city or region. Entire cities and regions name themselves in tribute to bail. And today, it would be spiritually3:11 accurate to rename cities like Bale Seattle, Bale Portland, Bale San Francisco, Bail Chicago, Bail New York, Bail Washington DC,3:23 etcetera. Today, the worship of Bail is manifest in the lust for power and money at any cost. In the ancient world, Jezebel is the demonic mother of prostitution, pornography,3:35 and pleasure. Ancient art depicting her is vulgar, crass, and pornographic. She had sacred prostitutes who were influencers in their day like porn stars and underdressed social media3:47 mavens in our day who are worshiped as goddesses. In the ancient and modern world, Jezebel is about taking sex, which should be in marriage out of3:59 marriage, should be private into the public, should be for adults to children, and should be done in love instead for profit. Jezebel turned sex into a religious counterfeit4:11 by offering your body as a living sacrifice to the gods. The Jezebel spirit continually erases any sexual boundaries and in our day is4:22 pressing for legalized prostitution and the removal of any meaningful age of consent as children are being sexualized at a young age in school curriculum and4:34 on social media platforms. The result is a fast increasing sexual abuse of minors, which has proven to increase the rate of gender confusion and4:45 transgenderism. In their youth risk behavior surveillance survey, the Center for Disease Control also confirms that sexual abuse and related trauma experienced in childhood4:57 causes sexual dysfunction. The mental health problem of gender dysphoria, unhealthy behaviors such as increased promiscuity, and obviously pornography addiction. Together,5:09 these demons have overtaken Western culture at every level, political, educational, spiritual, financial, etcetera. They are no longer hiding in the shadows, but instead5:21 operating in plain sight because we have given them dominion over cultures and nations through our sin. Baal and Jezebel worked together in the ancient world as the highest5:32 ranking demons presenting themselves as male and female. To worship these demons included sexual sin of every sort and kind, removing sex from marriage and5:44 childbearing, creating a culture of monetizing sex, sexual addiction, and child sacrifice. In the west, this began with the sexual and cultural revolutions of5:56 the 19 sixties and everything from sex to drugs, no fault divorce along with legalized abortion and Jezebelian feminism of the 19 seventies, ballistic6:07 materialism and consumerism of the 19 nineties, increasing cohabitation and dependence upon government along with the decline in church attendance in the early 26:19 thousands to the complete culture war now playing out online with more division and deception along with temptation than ever before. Anyone who believes the bible or6:30 even traditional values is labeled a heretic and attacked by a demonic mob. This is precisely what happened in the days of Elijah, and we are now also living in the6:42 demonic days of Elijah. Hell is hot and so are demons today. While church attendance and the percentage of people professing to be Christians has6:54 been trending down for years, the demonic counterfeits are more popular than ever as spirituality and entertainment has grown darker and more sinister. Newsweek says7:06 Pew Research reported that 62 percent of American adults believe in hell, up from 58 percent in 20 14, and pop culture appears to be taking full advantage of7:17 the curiosity that surrounds hell and its inhabitants. The devil is front and center in movies, TV shows, podcasts, and even children's books. There are Satan after7:29 school clubs. There's the exorcist files in which father Carlos Martins recreates exorcisms, and the podcast routinely tops the list of the most popular in the spirituality7:41 categories. On Netflix alone are dozens of titles dealing with hellish demons, including warrior nun, devil in Ohio, the bastard son, and the devil7:52 himself, and Lucifer, in which the ruler of hell runs a piano bar in California, comedy is also fair game. Thus, Ted Danson plays a8:04 torturous demon who is prone to mistakes in the Netflix series, the good place. Humans crave spirituality, says Martins, who is the host of the exorcist files.8:16 But a Gallup poll in 20 21 noted that for the first time in US history, less than half of all Americans were members of a church, synagogue, or8:27 mosque. To fill the void, many are embracing a rejection of received social customs and expected behavioral norms in favor of embracing8:39 me first. Pleasure pursuing intense feelings and experiences. Martins told Newsweek, the adoption adoption of Satan as a figurehead is merely another shock8:51 ceiling through which the movement has broken through. God creates, Satan counterfeits. Throughout the Bible, God creates and Satan9:02 counterfeits. Genesis 1 1 says, in the beginning, God created. Second Thessalonians 2 9 through 10 speaks of the work of Satan as counterfeit power and signs and9:14 miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception. In the homes our children lived in, when they were little, all our light switches were simply on and off. Some years into our9:26 marriage, we were able to purchase and move into a newer home, which had more modern amenities that were new to our children. For example, our kids were used to light switches9:38 that were simply entirely on or off. However, our newer and more modern home had multiple rooms where the lights were on a dimmer switch. Our children9:49 could often be found playing with the dimmer switch. They found it quite amazing to be able to control the lighting on a range from dark to light. 1 of the primary metaphors the bible uses10:01 to describe spiritual warfare is light versus darkness. God wants his people to live in the light, and Satan wants us to live in the darkness. Much like a dimmer switch,10:13 Satan and demonic forces know that if they simply flip everything from light to darkness, it would be too obvious and start. So evil forces at work in the world10:25 slowly turn things darker and darker, hoping that over the course of years and generations, the darkness is winning without being alarming. This is precisely the10:37 backdrop for the ministry of Elijah. Things had grown dimmer and darker for generations, and Elijah came to turn the light on. Demonic counterfeits are often referred to as false10:49 throughout the scriptures and include everything from false teachers to false prophets, false apostles, and false teaching. Christian discernment is the ability to11:00 rightly distinguish between that which God creates and that which Satan counterfeits. In the book, Win Your War, Thy Wrote With My Wife Grace. We delve deeply11:12 into this reality of spiritual warfare and give numerous examples, including angels versus demons, truth versus lies, spirit filled versus demon possessed,11:24 humility versus pride, forgiveness versus bitterness, worship versus idolatry, shepherds versus wolves, spirit versus flesh, church versus world, and11:35 heaven versus hell. The backdrop of the life and ministry of Elijah is spiritual warfare as God is seeking to sustain his kingdom that he created. And Satan is at work11:47 through succession of demonic kings creating a counterfeit kingdom to tempt God's people away from worship and into idolatry. God was very clear about his commands11:59 for kings to worship him alone and serve as the worship leader of his people. God says in Deuteronomy 17 14 through 20, when you come to the land that the12:11 Lord your God is giving you and say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me, you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will12:22 choose. 1 from among your brothers, you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother, and he shall not acquire many12:34 wives for himself, lest his heart turn away nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book12:46 a copy of this law approved by the Levitical priests. And he shall read in it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law12:58 and these statutes, and doing them that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and that he may not turn aside from the commandment either to the right hand or to the left,13:10 so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel. In disobedience to God, King Solomon built the temple for the worship of God and sadly13:22 took many foreign wives who turned his heart away from God, eventually causing him to sanction and support the worship of demonic false gods. That included child sacrifice, the same13:33 murderous act of modern day abortion. After the death of Solomon, his kingdom was divided into 2 parts, the northern kingdom Israel and southern kingdom Judah. Keeping this13:45 fact in mind is helpful when studying the Old Testament because there is division between God's people and 2 kings and kingdoms from this point forward in13:57 history. In some ways, the situation would be akin to what America would look like had the civil war resulted in 1 nation in the north and a separate nation14:08 in the south. For Israel and Judah, both kingdoms had numerous evil kings who despised God and deceived God's people, angels and demons.14:21 Throughout the story of Elijah, there is the appearance of both angels and demons or gods, including named demon gods like Baal and Asherah. There is only14:32 1 true God, Yahweh, the creator of heaven and earth. And all other gods are no more than powerful angels. Spiritual beings who can14:44 do supernatural things but are nothings when compared to Yahweh, the Old Testament clearly states that there is only 1 God and the New Testament is in full14:55 agreement. The bible also teaches that there is no 1 like God, Thus, claiming to be like god is a satanic lie.15:07 However, demons, all in spirit beings, may also pose as gods and illicit worship, possibly even through counterfeit signs, wonders, and miracles. This15:19 is precisely what happens in the book of Exodus and is also the backdrop for Elijah's ministry in a spiritual war against these counterfeit demon gods working15:30 through a godless king and false prophets. These gods are very powerful fallen angels and other spirit beings who rebelled against god. They revile the real15:42 god and want to replace him with gods. Practically, this means that there are incredibly powerful demonic spirits with names such as Baal15:54 and Ashra who are center stage in life of Elijah along with other named demon gods such as Chemosh, Malek, Brahmin, Jezebel, Allah, mother16:05 earth, Mammon, money, and Aphrodite sex that are wrongly worshiped by multitudes as gods. 1 major theme of the bible is that god creates and16:17 Satan counterfeits. False gods are behind false religions led by false teachers who perform false miracles. All schemes to lead people astray16:29 from the real god to the false gods. Bible teachers have tended to simply refer to everyone in the unseen realm as angels. The bible does speak of16:41 angels a lot, some 300 times in roughly 90 percent of the books of the bible. There, we learn about innumerable angels and thousands upon16:52 thousands and 10000 times 10000, only 2 angels are named, Gabriel the messenger and Michael the warrior. There are also categories of angels like archangel17:04 and commander, which denote senior leaders and also kinds of angels such as cherubim and seraphim. Angels are also referred to as stars and morning stars because they are between17:15 us and the heavens spiritually like the stars are physically. Angel means messenger, and angels are most likely lower level divine beings in17:27 God's divine family. In addition to angels, however, there are numerous other divine beings referred to throughout scripture as watcher, holy 1, holy ones, host17:39 of heaven, prince of the host, prince of Persia, chief princes, man clothed in linen, and a lord. When God's divine family gathers, they are referred to as the17:51 divine council, assembly17:53 of17:53 the holy ones, the council of the holy ones, hosts, the seat of the gods, the mount of assembly, the court, judgment, and the heavenly host. It was the divine council that met with Jacob18:04 traveling down a ladder at Bethel, meaning house of God. And it was the divine council that Daniel, Isaiah, and John reported seeing gathered around Jesus on the throne in the unseen realm.18:17 There is also long standing error within biblical scholarship interpreting the Old Testament word Elohim as 1 of the names for God.18:29 Alright, guys. Pastor Mark here to let you know about the latest book, New Days Old Demons. It's a prophetic word against pathetic wokeness. You guys understand exactly what I'm talking about. Hopefully,18:41 it is on sale. If not, it's coming out very, very soon. Would appreciate your prayers as we punch a lot of people and things in the mouth. And if it's a help, get a copy.18:50 But also numerous other divine beings, which leads to the faulty conclusion that the Old Testament is polytheistic with many gods. Doctor Michael Heiser explains the fact that19:02 biblical writers label a range of entities as Elohim that they elsewhere take pains to distinguish as lesser than Yahweh tells us quite clearly19:14 that we ought not understand Elohim as having to do with a unique set of attributes possessed by only 1 being. A biblical writer would use Elohim19:26 to label any entity that is not embodied by nature and is a member of the spiritual realm. This otherworldliness is an attribute all residents of19:38 the spiritual world possess. Every member of the spiritual world can be thought of as Elohim since the term tells us where an entity belongs in terms of its nature. The spiritual realm19:50 has rank and hierarchy. Yahweh is the most high. Biblical writers distinguish Yahweh from other Elohim by means of other descriptors exclusively20:01 attributed to him, not by means of the single word Elohim. When the demonic queen Jezebel vows her loyalty to the gods, this is the20:13 precise word she is using. In so doing, she is giving her undying allegiance to a created being, a fallen angel, rather than to the creator God.20:25 A simple way of summarizing all of this is to say that any being in the divine realm is referred to in the Bible as an Elohim. That includes20:37 God and other divine beings. Psalm 82 1 is 1 clear example of this principle. God Elohim has taken his place in the20:49 divine council. In the midst of the gods Elohim, he holds judgment. From the beginning, god's people have lived with constant pressure to accept other religions and gods as equally21:01 worthy of worship as the god of the bible. Too many times people are like Solomon and divide their devotion between god and the gods. His failure to remain devoted solely to god set in21:13 motion the splitting of 2 kingdoms and the succession of demonic kings that we will study next. To embolden us, the bible presents stirring21:24 stories of faithful followers like Elijah. And Elijah, who would not compromise their devotion to God despite facing opposition and persecution.21:36 Israel's evil kings. Just prior to the entrance of Elijah in first Kings 17, the scene is set with the reporting of the demonic kings who became increasingly21:48 evil with every generation in the northern kingdom of Israel. King Jeroboam, we are told in first Kings 13 33, did not turn from his evil way,22:00 but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. First Kings 14 16 speaks of the sins of22:12 Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin. King Nadab's brief reign is reported in first Kings 15 25 through 26.22:24 Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, he reigned over Israel 2 years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in his22:35 sin, which he made Israel to sin. King Bashah killed Nadab and murdered all the descendants of Jeroboam. God rebuked Nadab saying in first Kings22:47 16 2 through 4, you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have caused my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins. Therefore, I will22:59 consume Basha and his house. Anyone belonging to Basha who dies in the city, the dog shall eat, and any 1 of his who dies in the field, the birds of the air23:10 shall eat. King Elah's short worthless reign is reported in first Kings 16. 8 through 10 and 13, he reigned 2 years, but his23:22 servant Zimri conspired against him. When he was drinking himself drunk, Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him. Because of all the sins of Basha and the sins of his son23:33 Elah that they committed and that they caused Israel to commit, provoking the lord god of Israel to anger with their idols. King Zemri's short and sick reign23:45 is reported in first Kings 16 15 through 19. Zimri reign 7 days. Now the troops heard it, said Zimri has conspired and he has23:57 killed the king. Therefore, all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. So Omri went up and all24:09 Israel with him, and they besieged Tyrzeh. When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house. He burned down the king's house24:21 over himself with fire and died. Because of the sins that he committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam and for the sin that he24:32 committed, causing Israel to sin. King Omri established Samaria as the new capital instead of Jerusalem. First Kings 16 22 through24:43 26 says, Omri became king. He reigned for 12 years. He bought the hill of Samaria. He fortified the hill and called the city that he built Samaria. Omri did24:55 what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did more evil than all who were before him for he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam and in the sins that he caused Israel25:07 to commit, provoking the lord, the god of Israel, the anger by their idols. Samaria was considered so accursed by god's people that for the next nearly thousand years, devout believers25:19 from the north would travel around Samaria to avoid the Samaritans until Jesus Christ told the famous parable about the good Samaritan was falsely accused of being25:31 a demon possessed Samaritan and walked through Samaria to sit down with a woman at a well who became an evangelist to the Samaritans. King Ahab, we're told, is the worst of the worst25:43 in first Kings 16 29 through 33. Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned over Israel in Samaria 22 years. Ahab son of Omri did25:54 evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nabat, he took as his26:06 wife Jezebel daughter of king Ethbaal of the Sidonians and went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built26:18 in Samaria. Ahab also made a sacred pole. Ahab did more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than had all the kings of Israel who were before him.26:30 First Kings 21 25 concludes, there was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his26:42 wife incited. The message is clear. Things can always get worse, and government is usually the problem, not the solution. This haunting historical backdrop26:54 sets the stage for the entrance of Elijah. According to a bible commentator, the prophet Elijah prophesied to Israel the northern kingdom during the tumultuous reigns of king Ahab 87427:06 through 53 BC. And king Ahaziah 853 through 32 BC. In every age, including Elijah's and our own,27:17 there are too many politicians and too few prophets. Politicians tell people what they wanna hear. Prophets tell people what they need to hear. Politicians are worried about27:29 keeping their power. Prophets are worried about honoring their god. Politicians are covert and dishonest. Prophets are overt and honest. Politicians say what27:41 they want. Prophets say what God wants. Today, as much as in the days of Elijah, we need far more prophets and far fewer politicians. This is especially true in the27:53 church where the politicians too often get onto the board, into the pulpit, or running the denomination. Elijah serves as a courageous and fearless example of a prophet28:05 who keeps having the head on collision with the politicians. Civil disobedience. Throughout the story of Elijah, the men of God, Elijah and28:16 Obadiah, defy the government and practice what is known as civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is what true believers must do when the28:28 government either commands them to do something that God forbids or forbids them from doing something that God commands. In the days of Elijah, when Ahab and28:40 Jezebel had the churches closed, bible teaching schools outlawed prophets killed and commanded the worship of Baal and Ashra. There was no choice but to obey God and disobey the28:52 government. According to the Bible, human authority is derived from God and not innate in self. God has all authority, and he delegates it to politicians, parents, pastors, and29:03 others along with commands regarding how they are to exercise that authority. When a person in authority abuses the authority God has given them, using it in a way that is29:15 sinful and against God's commands, their authority is negated. Believers should not be rebellious, anti authority, or lawless as a general rule because our god29:27 prefers order over anarchy. However, when the government is wrongly exercising authority in an evil manner, believers often understandably struggle to make29:38 difficult decision of whether to obey or disobey. 1 scripture that is perhaps most often misquoted in these instances is Romans 13 1.29:51 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. The first30:03 half of the verse declares that those under authority should honor that authority. The second half of the verse declares that those in authority should honor God's authority30:14 over them. A person under ungodly authority needs to remain loyal to God as their highest authority, hence civil disobedience. This explains why Paul30:26 not only wrote this scripture, but also got arrested and convicted by the government numerous times, even writing 4 New Testament books from prison for practicing civil disobedience.30:38 Civil disobedience is a frequent act of worship to God through godly people in the bible. In Egypt, the Hebrew midwives would not kill babies, allowing Moses to live, grow30:50 up, lead the Exodus, and write the first 5 books of the bible. In Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego did not bow down to worship the image of king31:01 Nebuchadnezzar. It is believed that roughly 300000 people bowed to worship an idol, including many professing believers, while only 3 stood up31:13 literally sticking out like a sore thumb. In Persia, Daniel prayed publicly when king Darius outlawed it. In the days of the early church, Peter and the31:25 disciples were commanded not to preach Jesus 4 18 and did so against the law, saying in acts 5 29, we must obey God rather than men.31:37 Lastly, the Lord Jesus Christ was killed by the Roman government by welcoming people to honor him by declaring Jesus is Lord. In that day, a Roman citizen was welcomed to31:49 worship any deity they wished so long as they declared Caesar is lord. The highest allegiance was to be to the national political leader or what is commonly called emperor worship. The32:00 government executed Jesus Christ, at least in large part, for what they considered an act of civil disobedience by placing himself above the government. The truth is, God is above the government,32:12 and many corrupt and demonic governments seek to overtake the church and replace God as the highest authority. This is precisely the backdrop of the life and ministry of32:24 Elijah, a spiritual warfare case study in civil disobedience when government declares war on God. In our day, this lesson is vital. For example,32:36 as various states in America demand that parents of children with gender dysphoria give them puberty blockers, start them on a lifetime of hormones, and mutilate their genitalia if that32:48 is what the minor child wants or risk losing custody. And having the child seized by the state to be medicated and mutilated, their response must be civil33:00 disobedience. The bible is clear that marriage is for 1 man and 1 woman and that Christian couples have male and female children that they are33:11 supposed to raise as sons and daughters. Anytime the government tries to override and overrule God, believers are forced to practice civil disobedience to33:23 government in Christian obedience to God. As some Christian denominations slide into apostasy and false teaching on closed handed historically essential33:35 Christian doctrines. For example, male and female gender, marriage solely for 1 man and 1 woman, full authority of the bible as God's33:46 word, need for sinners to repent of sin to be saved, etcetera. There will need to be Christians who leave their churches and churches that leave their33:58 denominations to honor God. When a denomination of churches or a local church is disobedient to God, a godly Christian must be obedient to God. For34:09 example, during COVID, when some governmental agencies in Canada forbid churches from gatherings surrounding the buildings with fencing, and worshipers tore the fences down to enter34:21 the church and worship the Lord. It was the right thing to do. As antichrist lawmakers throughout the world increasingly seek to restrict bible preachers from teaching the whole34:33 council of god's word or punish Christian churches and ministries were not embracing same sex marriage, there must be godly and orderly civil disobedience as34:45 we see in Elijah's constant conflict with godless government. Elijah's miraculous ministry. As the world grows spiritually34:57 darker, we can find a great encouragement and example in the life and ministry of Elijah. In the midst of dark and demonic decline, 1 man stepped onto the stage of35:08 history from prior obscurity. We're not told about upbringing, education, or much of anything else. All we are told is that he was from Tishba and35:20 Gilead. Tishba is apparently such a small ancient town that to this day, we don't know exactly where it was. Elijah started as literally a no 1 from nowhere. His35:31 name means my god is Yahweh. Gilead is a region known as a remote place of refuge. It was home to rugged mountain men who enjoyed the privacy of the35:43 desolate and rocky hill country. The people living there generally lack social etiquette and educational credibility. There is a television show called alone where outdoor35:55 survivalists are dropped into remote areas with only a few items utterly alone. They must build shelter, obtain water, hunt food, and manage a fire to remain36:06 alive. The person who can endure this rugged lifestyle the longest without tapping out emotionally or physically each season is declared the winner. Elijah would have easily won this show.36:18 At 1 point, he even hiked roughly 100 miles of rugged terrain through the heart of Asherah worship while on Israel's most wanted list to visit the widow and her son36:30 at Zarephath. Elijah was a rugged mountain man and looked every bit the part. Second Kings 1 7 describes the reported sighting of Elijah the unpolished36:42 prophet. He said to them, what kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things? They answered him. He wore a garment of hair with a belt of leather about his waist.36:54 And he said, it is Elijah the Tishbite. In many ways, Elijah and his successor, many years later, John the baptizer, are brothers in spiritual battle. Matthew37:06 3 4 reports, John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locust and wild honey. How Elijah got a meeting with the evil king37:17 Ahab, we will never know. A man of few words, he makes it clear that a battle is brewing between the powerful demon Baal worshiped by Ahab and the 1 true37:29 God, the Lord, the God of Israel. Like Jesus, who would later stop a storm by the sheer power of his word, Elijah prophesies that rain will not fall for 337:41 years until he prayed to God for rain to fall again. God has Elijah openly and publicly starting a fight with Baal who was worshiped as37:53 the god of rain and who was believed to control the seasons, crops, and fertility. In addition to prophesying, James tells us that his power came from praying.38:04 Most of what we know about Elijah is found in first Kings 17 and the report of his spiritual war against king Ahab and his demonic wife Jezebel.38:16 Elijah was a prophet with a prophetic name that foreshadowed his ministry. Eli means strength of the lord, and Jah means my god is Jehovah.38:28 Together, Elijah means I live by the strength of the lord, my God. Simply stated, the Holy Spirit sustained Elijah to live beyond his natural limitations, to liveShow more
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