Dangerous Prophets

“Now Elijah the Tishbite, from the Gilead settlers, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, I stand before Him, and there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command!’” (1 Kings 17:1)

Introductions are important. We place a high degree of emphasis on first impressions and first introductions to new people.

In our new devotional series, we’ll be observing the prophet Elijah, but unlike many other people referenced in Scripture, we know almost nothing about him. Elijah steps onto the scene suddenly, and we know next to nothing about his past, other than where he’s from.

We get no introduction to him—he simply appears in the seventeenth chapter of 1 Kings. However, God uses him in extraordinary ways as a prophet in the Old Testament. Elijah’s past might be a mystery, but he became a dangerous prophet. What does an Old Testament prophet have to do with our story today? God wants to use us in extraordinary ways like He used Elijah.

We often think of prophets only in the past tense. We forget that we have been given permission to prophesy—Paul told the church in Corinth that he wished they all prophesied (1 Corinthians 14:5). God wants to pour out the gift of prophecy on people right now in our lives. Why? Because just like in Elijah’s time when people were turning to other gods and encouraging teaching that goes against God’s Word, we are living in that time again.

We need bold prophets to stand up.

In our culture today, not just in America but in every nation, there’s a message that’s being shoved in our faces every day called “tolerance.” You don’t agree with the way someone lives? Too bad. You must tolerate it. You don’t agree with the way someone feels? Too bad. Tolerate it.

The tolerance message gets pushed almost constantly until Jesus comes into the conversation. Have you noticed this? Christians are being called narrow-minded, arrogant, and critical because we believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. The moment we call sin for what it is, we suddenly become cynical—we’re intolerable, and according to the world, that’s not fair.

It’s dangerous to preach the Word today. It’s dangerous to go against the grain of society and choose not to buckle under the pressure. Everywhere you look, God is being removed – our schools, our government, our stores. What will we do?

God called Elijah to be the vessel for truth. While everyone was falling into tolerance of sin, Elijah stood up and called the people back to God.

It’s a dangerous calling, but there’s never been a time like the present for God’s people to help carry the load, to carry the calling, so that people see the truth rather than lies.

God is calling out dangerous prophets.