Why did King Ahab follow Baal instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
I believe one of the reasons is that he became conformed to the pattern of his society.
As king he had authority; he was fully responsible for what he did. But he refused to stand against the tide of public opinion even though public opinion was wrong-it did not agree with the Word of God. God help us if public opinion rather than God's Word governs our lives.
Another reason; he was conquered by his passions. Baal worship was based upon sexual lust. This became the normal way of life for people. And thirdly he was controlled by his wife-the notorious Jezebel!
Rather than be God's king for the good of Israel he was influenced by Jezebel, turned against God, and gave approval for the execution of the prophets of God.
Elijah stood before the king and said, You are wrong. Because you have forsaken the commandments of God, because you have followed Baalim you have brought judgment upon your people. Then he commanded king Ahab: "Gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred...So Ahab sent unto all Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel." 1 Kings 18:19-20.
Note the proportions: 850 to one! Can you imagine standing before 850 people who hated you, who wanted to kill you? King Ahab must have thought, How can I lose-850 to one!
Fast forward to the present hour in the 'United' Kingdom and we see a parallel with HM Queen Elizabeth II, don't we? Has she not become conformed to the pattern of our ungodly democratic society? As ungodliness increases with each passing generation, I should think it won't be long before the masses even know what a Bible is! Under her 'watch' the state education system has got rid of God's Book (in 1972 as an eleven year old I was given a Bible-not that I read it! nevertheless)...capital punishment has been abolished, abortion legalised etc. and this from everyone's favourite 'Christian' grandmother!
It is all very well and good to say that the queen is a Christian and has been let down by her advisers as indeed they do, but at the end of the day, God's Word says "it is appointed unto men once to die,but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27. Great and small alike; we all pass through the portal of death alone and without advisers! On judgment day how will the queen explain to the King her actions in giving royal assent to same-sex marriage in 2014 by putting her signature on that document-to approve what God has not joined together? I for one, would not want to be in her shoes-abdication would have been a far more preferential route! Is it so difficult to stick to basic biblical guidelines and principles, are they that hard to discern?
"But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife." (not his husband!) Mark 10:6-7.
"Let Marriage be had in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled: but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." Hebrews 13:4.
I am sure HM has read these verses? the sin of Sodom was not exclusively sodomy, but also pride (Ezekiel 16:49) nevertheless the two always come together in opposition to God, and unbelief is the one great sin, and in our day the LGBT movement has helped accelerate wickedness into warp drive!
A friend e-mailed me and said in regard to HM:
"You seem a little disappointed with her disloyalty to the Word-and her friendship with the world....
The queen has never been a true, spiritually regenerated Christian-all she has ever been is a broad road, 'cultural' christian."
The queen is at best a professing Christian, and to those that know the Truth, it is clear from her actions that she is none other than an impostor (2 Tim.3:13 RV) and a bad one at that! Nevertheless, as an evangelical Christian if I were ever to have an audience with her (and I can't see this happening anytime soon!), I would tell her to repent of her wicked acts, believe, and abdicate! I don't want any to perish, but nevertheless I know they will.
It is surprising (or is it? such is the deception of our age!), however, how many professing Christians believe that HM is a real Christian. To any true Christian with a little discernment, he or she would know that in the last days wickedness will increase greatly (1 Tim.4:1 ff, 2 Tim.3:1 ff etc) before Christ will destroy the Antichrist and the whole Anti-christian world with "the brightness of His coming." 2 Thess.2:8. So, how can the Antichrist ever come if the whole world was full of God fearing, Bible believing monarchs, prime ministers, presidents etc? Bible prophecy could never be fulfilled-so we need wickedness to be prevalent in high places! (Eph.6:12).
Just because we need increasing wickedness to happen, doesn't mean I want it to happen per se, but to paraphrase what that old pre-millennial saint, J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) said "If I didn't see ungodliness, wickedness, and unbelief increasing around me, I would believe the Bible not to be true." He said it back then!
Back in the late 1990s, in our unconverted days when we used to spasmodically attend our local Baptist Union Baptist Church, I noted that the minister and elders ever seemed to be praying to God to stop all the bad things that were going on in the world, yet despite their 'intercession' things only seemed to go from bad to worse! How many 'Christians' are ignorantly praying against His will to be done? Is it not incumbent on the true believer to have an intelligent understanding of what the prophetic Word says before praying to the Most High? We might find ourselves praying against Matthew 6:10! Let our words be few! read Eccl.5:1-3.
Christians cannot stem the tide as many errantly think; the Gospel is to be preached as a witness to His Name (Acts 1:8), not to convert the world to Christ! The Great Commission was to "make disciples of all the nations" Matt.28:19(RV). "To take out of them (the Gentiles) a people for His Name." Acts 15:14, Rom.9:24. He will do the converting and restoration upon His Return (Zech.12:10, 13:9, Acts 1:6-7 etc).
The revived Roman Empire is taking shape before our very eyes.
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