Let’s consider Israel in Elijah’s day. Under Ahab there was a variety of religious persuasions.
There were those who were faithful to God and His word and recognized Him as Creator and the source of all that is good. Then there were those who took a more contemporary or progressive view of the origins of nature and its laws, gender, and the source of temporal blessings (PK 120.1).
And there were those in between (1Ki 18:21).
One religion was more favored by the government but the other one was somewhat tolerated… UNTIL there was an international crisis, a pestilence. Wait, no I mean a drought.
There was a debate as to the origins of the virus, I mean, drought. Some said it was due to wickedness in high places (1Ki 18:18) but they were laughed at and scorned.
Most said it was just a natural occurrence. Others suggested mother nature was angry. Then there was a dispute on how to stop the drought. Some said we need to return to God and obey His laws (of health), but they were mostly ignored. Most people did not want to make permanent changes to their lifestyle. They wanted a quick fix. The government was ready with just that type of solution and took charge to force its methods on everyone. Had not these methods been reported to work so well in another country that faced a similar situation (Jer 44:15-18)?
Those who disagreed were to remain silent. If they voiced opposition with the dominant narrative and government mandates on how to deal with the drought (1 Kings 18:10), they were called unscientific, were accused of prolonging and spreading the pestilence, I mean drought, and were barred from public places.
But the quick solution failed and the drought dragged on. Instead of finally heeding the message of God, repenting and reforming (making lifestyle changes), the government worked with Pharmakeia to develop its own message (messenger RNA) that was spread throughout the land and sent to other nations (1 Kings 18:10). Those who disagreed with these new methods were de-platformed, had their resources cut off, and many lost their lives (1 Kings 18:4,13). God’s true church went underground (literally) and Obadiah diverted resources (even tithe money would be justified) to sustain the faithful prophets dwelling in caves (Heb 11:38).
Ok, so it’s not a perfect analogy… yet.
I don’t believe it was a sin to cooperate with many of the mandates and some were even persuaded in their own mind, looking at their age and risk factors (Rom 14:4), to get injected. That is fine.
But no one has the right to force other people to get an injection. If the injection works, then those who want it and receive it are protected regardless of what other people choose. We should protect the elderly and vulnerable but there are better ways to do that than forcing injections on everyone (i.e. involving people with natural immunity to care for the vulnerable, proper use of PPE, elderly shop first, etc). Nor should we have given it to kids and babies who have very little chance of benefiting and definite possibility of long term harm.
Was it really a good idea to inject genetic material into toddlers to try to protect society (2 Kings 17:17)? Shouldn’t adults try to protect children, not the other way around? The pestilence we just faced was a small test compared to what is coming and what Israel faced with 3 and ½ years of drought.
What Could Have Happened
Let’s consider another end time scenario in the book of Esther. Mordecai worked for the government and carried out its laws and protected its rulers from harm until there was a decree that went against his conscience. Then he refused to obey (Esther 2:19-3:3). His colleagues tried to persuade him but he persisted in obedience to God rather than man. He explained that as a Jew he only worshiped the God of heaven and would not bow down and worship any man. Finally, having lost patience with him, his colleagues decided to see if his religious exemption claim would stand against the laws of the land. They notified the authorities who became very angry with him and decided to destroy him and everyone like him (Est 3:4-6).
What Could Have Happened
Now did the Jews abandon Mordecai? Did they say among themselves, “It is better that one man die for the people than the whole nation perish”? Did they tell the authorities, “Mordecai does not represent what we believe. We actually have no king but Caesar (Ahasuerus) and we have no problem bowing to him for the sake of unity and the common good”?
What Actually Happened
In response to the death decree the Jews banded together and fasted and prayed. God worked through his faithful stewards who were in high positions in the government “for such a time as this” in order to save his people. As a result Israel's God was exalted throughout the world.
What Could Have Happened
Imagine if Adventists, with all our institutions that receive government funding and have been faithful to the government’s reasonable regulations had stood up, stood tall, and refused to bow to unjust government mandates. Imagine if they had been a bulwark for every individual's right to choose what goes inside his or her body, his or her temple. God could have worked mightily for and through His people in all lands and He would have been exalted throughout the world.
What Actually Happened
Instead, Mordecai was abandoned. Many who stood for liberty of conscience had their reputations impugned, resources cut off, and worse. Then God worked through agencies outside the church to stop the madness while most of His people remained lukewarm among a faithless and perverse generation (Mat 17:17). We missed an opportunity to glorify God in the body of His church (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
How should we respond?
Consider the story of Naboth's vineyard in 1 Kings 21. Here, King Ahab wants his neighbor’s vineyard. He promises him a better source of wine (the wine of Babylon) and/ or riches (gold and silver that is cankered and rusted (James 5:3). Naboth says, “No, I already have the best wine. I have the uncorrupted source of new wine that has been handed down from my fathers (Mark 2:22). And I don’t need your riches. I have the gold tried in the fire (Rev 3:18). Why should I lose my eternal inheritance for the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:25)?”
Ahab wanted to uproot the vineyard and turn it into a garden of herbs. Is he trying to uproot small businesses and expand his large gardens? But don’t worry, he will still help small businesses like Naboth with government incentives. Or maybe he wants to de-platform and uproot his neighbor’s source of truth since it is not part of the official narrative. Perhaps Ahab will turn over the land to the pharmaceutical industry for medicinal herbs? Ok, you might say, we are reading too much into the story.
However, the fact remains that Ahab wanted to expand governmental power and control. I'm sure it was for the greater good, the good of the community, but he was denied by stubborn individual liberty and rights, toxic individualism. Ahab became discouraged.
Then help came from the official church and the daughters under her control. The church knows how to deal with heretics and trample upon the rights and conscience of the individual. The church knows science and how to spread rumors and lying reports and cancel and de-platform and stir up the mob. So Ahab gets his way and there is peace and safety (Thess. 5:3) throughout the kingdom with no more dissenting voices.
Then God sends Elijah, that nonconformist, that troubler of the people! His message of rebuke and coming calamity actually causes Ahab to repent (at least kind of, sort of, for a little while) and the judgment is delayed. Notice there are some congressmen, some people in government, who realize the mandates were not a good idea and maybe have kinda, sorta repented.
Now we know, according to prophecy, Jezebel will not repent (Rev 17:5), but will any of her daughters repent at the message of Elijah? Or will they say, “We have Ellen White as our mother (Luke 3:8). We thank God we are not in slavery like the daughters of that harlot woman (Luke 18:9-14, Rev 17:5). We are rich and increased with goods (Rev 3:17) and have never been in bondage to anyone (John 8:33). We will do God service (John 16:2) by casting him out and the eternal inheritance will be ours (Matt 21:33-46). I hope this does not sound too harsh but “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs 27:6).
Change Course
A large vessel was traveling in the night. Suddenly a light appeared straight ahead in the distance. The ship signaled to the light, “You are on a collision course with us. We suggest you adjust your course 10 degrees north” The light signaled back, “You adjust your course 10 degrees north.” The great ship signaled back, “We are the Seventh Day Adventist Church. You adjust your course 10 degrees north.”
The light responded, “I am a supporting ministry. You adjust your course 10 degrees north.”
The ship replied, “We are following a course that has been mapped out by ADCOM and not altered (actually not allowed to be discussed) by the world General Conference in session! We demand you adjust your course 10 degrees north!”
The light meekly answered, “I am a lighthouse built upon the Rock. I humbly warn you to adjust your course before you make a shipwreck of faith.”
The only safe ship is our relationship with Jesus. Only those who have their faith founded on the Rock will weather the storm (Mat 7:24-25). Please read “The Great Controversy” Chapter 37—The Scriptures a Safeguard.
The Elijah message has never been popular, especially with those in authority (consider Enoch, Noah, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and his friends, John the Baptist, Paul, Luther, Miller, Jones and Waggoner). But it has always been necessary for repentance, revival, reformation and to prepare the way of the Lord (Mat 3:2-3).
“And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee” (Daniel 9:3-7).
We have been wandering in the wilderness for not one but many generations. And we just missed another opportunity to be a peculiar people that would shew forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9).
Instead we have wanted to be like all the other health care systems and institutions around us (1 Sam 8:5). With all our resources we think we are rich and increased with goods but we are lukewarm and are like the salt that is fast losing its savor. Please Lord, don’t cast us out yet. Don’t spew us out of Your mouth but instead heat us up with the fires of affliction (Rev 3:14-22, Mat 5:13). Make the flames seven times hotter if needed to consume our dross and burn the ropes that tie us to the things of this world (Dan 3:19-27).
“Create in us a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within us. Cast us not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy spirit from us. Restore unto us the joy of thy salvation; and uphold us with Thy free spirit. Then will we teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee” (Psalm 51).
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