Don’t Forget Elijah

Our country is headed for harder times than you or I have ever seen in our lifetime. I believe that the Liberals have finally pulled off the destruction of the United States. By making it impossible for America to get fuel – petroleum, coal, electricity – they have finally managed to send fuel prices into uncontrollable, unstoppable skyrocketing price increases. Things aren’t even bad, yet. Right now we are in the, “Keep doing what we’ve always been doing…but gripe about the prices” mode. Within the next year, no matter which Liberal gets elected president, we will begin to see massive layoffs, the curtailing of travel and hardship worthy of the Great Depression. Already there has been a News Mafia initiated run on one bank and they have stated they are gunning for twelve more. The goal of CNN and the rest of the professional killers in the News Mafia is nothing short of the total destruction of the United States of America. Our country was founded on the Bible that they hate and centered around the God that they hate so it must be destroyed. I may be wrong. I hope I am wrong. But I think that the upward raging gasoline prices are going to spell success for the America haters.

If our economy goes and the world quickly switches to the Euro, we will be a third-world nation within a year’s time. It will probably not be a time when Americans “pull together” and overcome it. We now have forty years of Americans raised with no fear of God or biblical values instilled in them. They have all been told they are little “champions” and “deserve” the best. This young group of “champions”is going to demand “their fair share” of what everyone else has and the fight will be on!

If this happens you will wake up each day with only two concerns: how to get food and how to keep it. You won’t be thinking about your vacation or your golf swing or your “fantasy” football team. When this happens you will transition into an existence of self preservation for you and your family. You will think about getting what you and your family need and everyone else will have to fend for themselves. You may well have lost your primary source of income by this time so each meal will be a job to procure.

I know this is a “worse case” scenario but I want to give you some advise for when, or if, it happens that may mean the survival of your family. While your attention is fixed on supplying for your family there is a Bible example you don’t want to forget.

In 1 Kings is the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. It says: 1Kings 17:8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,

9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

12 And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

There are several things to note about this passage. First, God said He had commanded this widow to provide for Elijah but she didn’t even know it! She never said, “Oh, you must be the prophet God told me about.” But, still, God had planned on her helping Elijah.

Second, she gave food to Elijah even before she provided for her own family.

Third, God blessed her & her family for taking care of Elijah.

Here’s what I’m getting at. If the economy collapses and hard times follow don’t forget your Pastor! No, I didn’t say, “Sam Gipp, the evangelist.” I believe every church member has the responsibility to take care of their Pastor. When times get tough don’t forget this responsibility.

I know, I know, “But he made me mad so I’m not going to help him when he needs it.” Well, personally I think it was a bit brash for Elijah to demand food first. It may have made the widow angry. But she did it and God provided for her. Every church member is responsible to see to it that their Pastor and family are provided for in tough times. (If you are a “regular attender” but not a member God will still hold you responsible. “You eat the food, you pay for the meal.”) I don’t care if you’re mad at your Pastor or don’t like him or what. He provides spiritually for you, you should provide physically for him. Your care will never be more important than in times of trouble. And it is too easy to write your own Pastor off because you’ve seen his humanity and this allows a good time to get even by simply doing nothing.

Secondly, don’t forget your missionaries in foreign countries. If our country goes down, these folks may be stranded thousands of miles from the U.S. They are already experiencing the disastrously damaged U.S. dollar’s decline. Don’t let them die half-a-world away from home because you intend to keep all the toys possible. We are their lifeline! Don’t follow the old adage, “Out of sight. Out of mind.”

I know what you’re thinking. “What about evangelists?” It is too easy for an evangelist to trumpet his own importance just to get taken care of. So I won’t. I am not writing this hoping that someone will take care of Kathy & I if things go south. So here’s what I might suggest about evangelists. They are all going to be somewhere when the bottom drops out. So, rather than worrying about your “favorite” just take care of the one stuck in your area. Since God had “delivered” Elijah to the widow, take care of the evangelist that God “delivers” to you. Wherever God “delivers” us we plan to help take care of that pastor.

I hope nothing bad happens to America, but we have no idea what the rising fuel prices are going to do to our country. If God does not intercede it will break our economy and destroy this country. Imagine 300,000,000 selfish people, Christians included, fighting over what little food is left. It would be easy to overlook your responsibility to take care of the Man of God. But the biblical example is that he gets taken care of first. No, I don’t believe in a holy priesthood or “The Lord’s Anointed” but I do believe in the Call to Preach. We Christians have been so loath to have any kind of a Clergy/Laity format that we work hard to humiliate our Preachers just so they don’t “think they’re special.” But the Call to Preach IS special! If God chose to call a man to feed His flock, that makes that man special. I don’t have to quote Scripture to you about your Pastor taking care of the congregation’s spiritual needs while the church takes care of his physical needs. And if you can off-handedly dismiss your responsibility because you’re mad at your Pastor or simply greedy you are a shame to the name of Christ.

If you think I wrote this to get you to send me money…send it to someone else! Give it to your Pastor or a missionary or another evangelist. If I heard someone helped another evangelist because of something I wrote I would think, “Good! Someone got the message.” Don’t forget Elijah! I’m not Elijah.