Volume 2001/11
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Elijah-company of Prophets
God is raising a company of believers at this end-time which have been coined "the Elijah saints".
These saints will all be prophets of the calibre of the old Elijah the prophet. Hence the terminology "Elijah saints" was coined.
I believe this is taking place now and I therefore will like to talk today on the hard-life a prophet is called to live. Since there will be multitude of saints raised up to this level of prophets at this end time, it is a worthwhile exhortation to remind ourselves that prophets are called to a relatively hard life. I will cite some examples to point out that prophets 1) are always rejected by their people,
2) usually are unsociable and therefore common believers are not comfortable around them.
3) God does not make life easy for the prophets either.
A missionary called Papa Elton spoke one time in our college fellowship in 1974 or 75, and he described the hardship prophets are passed through by God. Then he asked, "after hearing all of these, does anyone still wish to be a prophet?" I remember a brother raised his hand that "yes, he will still like to be a prophet". Papa Elton did not believe him and was skeptical. The fact of the matter is, most of the time, God does not choose those who say they will like to be prophets. God does not choose those who are excited at the job and are jumpy to accept the position. It were those who are running away from it.
When they are running away, God corners them and arrest them. That may be the reason why the life of those prophets are always hard.
When one is running from God's call, God will use iron hand to deal with the person.
You may say, wouldn't it be better if God use those who run to him to be made prophets, rather than wrestling with those who don't want the job? Perhaps God knows those folks have a different agenda.
Rejection was part of the life of the prophets: Rejection by the people they were called to minister to. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ made us to know that we are called to have the same life-style. Don't expect the people to clap for you. Don't expect them to kiss you because you make the lame to walk. They may even stone you. Apostle Paul preached in a city and made a lame man to stand up and walk. The crowd first thought he was a god, but minutes later, they stoned him unconscious. (Act.14:9-12).
Christ said, "if they had hated me, they will hate you also." Therefore, know that this is the life the Lord has called every Christian to live. However, when talking about these Elijah company of believers, these prophets will be in the front-line for such rejection, not only by the public, but also by the carnal Christians in the churches.
Remember God always only send prophets of this calibre when apostasy is high, so as to call people back to order.
I will list three examples to show that most of the prophets were rejected in the bible.
An example was the prophet Elijah himself.
It came to a point that Elijah told the Lord that he was the only prophet left.
Elijah was reporting to God: "And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel has 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." (1Kgs.19:14).
That must be rough upon him, wasn't it. They wanted to kill him, and he ran. That is rejection! Why would he run away? Remember what Elijah did: he called the fire of God down upon the sacrifice before the people in the mount Camel showdown. All the people shouted "The Lord is God!" You think the people should have said "this is a true prophet of God, let's all follow him". Well, for a while, that was their response. The prophets of Baal were arrested and killed in support of Elijah. But the second day, or hours later,
Elijah received a letter from the queen Jezebel, sworn to kill him as Elijah killed those Baal prophets. Elijah might think king Ahab also had changed his mind since the king was present when those false prophets were slain.
Therefore Elijah ran for his life. What I am pointing out is that Elijah was rejected.
Jeremiah the prophet also had it very rough.
God made it clear to Jeremiah before he was sent, that the people would fight against him. This means, God let it be rough against those prophets. There may be reason for that. All the prophets were rough-handled by men to whom they preached. They were rejected by men.
So we shouldn't expect anything less. Even church folks may not embrace you. For a while they may embrace you, but in the end, they may persecute you. So let's be prepared for this, if we are called at this end-time to be in the company of the Elijah-saints. That shouldn't make you run away or be afraid. It should make you be ready and prepared to serve God. Those who are called to be prophets however cannot avoid it. Like Jeremiah said when he attempted to stop speaking for God because of the opposition he was facing, "his word was like fire shut within my bones". He could not keep it in, but had to speak to the people the words of reprove which God put in his mouth.
Even though these prophets were persecuted, God did not let them have it easy either.
Being persecuted by men is one thing, the hand of God was heavy upon them is another thing. Even if they tried to refuse to deliver the message to the men for fear of rejection, they cannot, because they are hooked. God will deal with them very terribly. Now whom will you rather suffer from: from the hand of God or from the hand of men? That is why God does not call everybody into the class of prophets. God uses iron hand upon them to do what he called them to do. They have got to say what he told them to say, no matter the response they will get from the recipient.
For example, in Jeremiah 38, (verses 3-6), he said "thus saith the Lord, this city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it."
Now the rulers did not like what Jeremiah prophesied and they wanted Jeremiah killed.
"Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you."
God saved him only by changing the mind of those princes, so that instead of killing him immediately, they decided to throw him into a dungeon. (a muddy well). Someone else came later to rescue him out of there.
Another example of the rejection of a prophet is the story of Micaiah. (1Kg.22). I am laying this foundation to show that the life which God has called us to live is a rough life, so that people can be ready for anything, to be bold against anything the enemy wants to do.
Micaiah prophesied to Ahab. He told them the conference which took place in heaven to make Ahab fall, and that a lying spirit had been sent to Ahab's personal prophets:
"Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the lord hath spoken evil concerning thee."
The king did not believe him, and he was rejected. In fact in verse 24, "But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah (one of the other prophets) went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?"
Some religious people will also confront you if you are a prophet of God. Some church leaders will confront you or speak against you from their pulpit and via the press.
"And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction until I come in peace." (v.27).
He did not come back alive anyway. The prophet that told them the truth was rejected, and imprisoned. All these prophets were rejected by the people. So if someone says he is a prophet, and he is being praised by the people, well, he better check what he has been preaching.
The next point is the characteristic of these prophets.
They are not sociable! Why is that?
Sometime it is the anointing upon them that irritates the nominal believer. They may talk at awkward time. Prophets are usually like that, because they speak for God. And because of the iron hand of God in their life, they dare not hold back a word of God from the people when God gave the word. The word through the prophets, most of the time, is to correct people, and those who do not want to be corrected will always be offended.
There is anointing upon them also so that wherever they appear, people don't feel comfortable around them. Their personality may be completely not presentable: that is what God had regularly chosen. The prophet may be not in the same class socially with the rest of the people, or they look at him, and they just don't like him. They may not know why they don't like him, but it is the anointing upon the prophet that does not make the people like him. The anointing irritates the devils and irritates the lukewarm spirits, and the compromising demons, which hang around the body of believers. People have to watch out for this. The anointing upon the prophets is what irritates them. He may speak at awkward time: to the listeners it will look like awkward time.
Folks could have suggested that the prophet speak in a gentler way, you know, diplomatically. But they cannot, lest they lose the heat of the message. Let me show to you why they cannot. In the book of Ezekiel, the Lord implied, if he tells the prophet that a wicked man will die, and he refuses to tell him, (or he changes the word till the seriousness was lost), the prophet himself is in trouble. (Eze.3:17-18)
"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand."
This is why the prophets will say the word as it comes to them, and it may be unsociable sometime.
I said the anointing upon the prophets alone irritates some people and they will not know why they do not like the man of God. For example, when I was still in college, there was a time I just completed a 3-day or 7-day fast, and I went into the computer room to do my homework. As I entered the computer lab, one student, who must have had a devil inside him, turned around nervously from the computer to stare at me. As I walked inside looking for a vacant computer to work with, this student hurriedly packed his books and ran out of the computer room. About 15 minutes later, I decided to go to the other computer room, and I met this same fellow there. The same thing happened again with the same student when I entered the room. I quickly gathered that the boy had a demon upon him, and was restless around my anointing.
There is anointing upon the prophets which will be totally not comfortable around the lukewarm, those who have a wrong spirit, those who hate correction, and those who are worldly.
I remember watching a television program when well-dressed Christian ladies, with glassy dresses were on the stage, and a roughly-dressed evangelist was narrating his wild experiences in the jungles and in the streets of evangelism. One of the ladies commented to him, "well, by the way we are dressed, we are not even fit to follow you to those evangelistic outreaches, isn't it?"
If you are looking for a very presentable personality, don't look for a prophet. Their appearance may irritate just as their word may burn the lukewarm. If you are looking for a fashionable person, you will be irritated by a prophet.
John the Baptist said about the Lord Jesus Christ that he comes to purge the floor. The life of prophets is like that. "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Mat.3: 11-12).
Do you see the purging mentioned in that verse?
That is the purging that will be uncomfortable with those who do not want to be corrected. It is the anointing of the prophets, which God puts upon them. God makes sure of that! Because of his hand upon them, even if they themselves want to be sociable, they just can't.
The Lord said he was hated without a cause.
No matter what he did, the people still did not embrace him. "If they have hated me, they will hate you also". That is the anointing that is upon every believer, but it will be more visible upon the prophets of God.
"If the world hated you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you." (Jn.15:18). "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause." (v.24-25).
We who are filled with the Holy Ghost are examples of Christ. The prophets carry more of the anointing so that people just may not see eye-to-eye with the prophet. He may have never said anything to the people, yet his lifestyle will make them withdraw from him.
They are not comfortable when he is around.
I remember all the years I was fasting regular long fasts. The other brethren were not comfortable around me. I did not know why. It was just the fasting lifestyle. Those who are eating and feasting every time will not be comfortable around those who are fasting all the time. Their conversations are not at the same level.
The third point is that God also does not make it easy for a prophet. It may be because they are not always the people that jump up and say, "I'll like to be your prophet, O Lord!" They are those who try to run away and God cornered them. For example, Jeremiah was one person who said "Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child."
But the Lord said unto him "Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak." "Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them." (Jer.1:6-7,17).
All the prophets have a struggle with God, and are now to struggle with men. They are caught in between! Whom are they going to obey?
They will fear God, and not be afraid of the people to whom they are sent. This is why God does not make it easy for them.
God honors them, but God does not make it easy for them. If they disobey, or try to run away, God does not make it easy for them.
It's like if you are grabbed by your hair, and you are told your hair will be pulled out if you don't gently follow.
Because it hurts, you will follow. That kind of summed up the rough hand of God upon his prophets.
Remember Jonah. He didn't want to go, and God did not leave him alone. He ran, but God made the sea to stop him, and a fish to catch him. Inside the whale-like fish, he cried unto God, and after three days, he was spewed out.
God said, "will you go now or won't you?" See? God didn't make it easy for his prophets. That is why the prophets come with fire on their faces! That is why they may look like Saddists. You too will be like a Saddist if you are dragged by the hairs of your head in agony.
Ezekiel wrote the same thing (Eze.3:14) "So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me."
It shows that it was not a jolly ride. He was in bitterness. So at this end-time, God is sending multitudes out in the Elijah-company of saints. They better know these because God's heavy hand will be upon their back, and he is not making it easy for us either.
People that understand this, will honor the prophets, and take the word from the mouth of the prophet as from the Lord. Better to take the word humbly and not to fight the word because of the way the messenger presents it.
Ezekiel was made to eat dung to prophesy a point. God does not make it easy for the prophets.
After all these said, God stands by the prophets so that the word of his prophets will come to pass. When the prophets are obedient to the Lord, the heavy hand of God upon them is eased. When the obedience is complete, they can now go and face the king or the governor to whom they are sent.
I pray that the believer will honor God by being submissive to the word. May we not offend nor fight the word, in Jesus name. Amen!
Bro. Julius Adewumi
Gospel Distribution Ministry
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[In lieu of recent events, the following vision is worth repeating. Given in 1995. Let's pray, and be led of the Spirit: Nuclear bomb likely pointed to here].
Another bomb blast?
In my vision, it was a tall building. The building is used for international commerce. Money matters are being discussed in the building. Like United Nations or IMF talks. Then someone brought in a narrow- necked pressurized bottle and ignited it. (Was the guy an insider like an employee in the building, or a suicide-bomber?). I thought it was a nuclear bomb due to radiation felt before it was ignited. There was a big explosion. [Given Nov. 95 FW45].{vis95.11.a}
