F.M. Riley (10
June 2018)
"7000"
Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
"Look up," and Do Not Be Discouraged,
The Lord God Still Has His
"7000"
By Pastor F. M. Riley
June 3, 2018
"Yet I have left Me seven thousand in
Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every
mouth which hath not kissed him," 1 Kings 19:18.
Introduction
On this Sunday morning, June 3rd,
I have been praying for some of my brothers and sisters in
Christ, who I know are having a hard way to go today, and also
about what the Lord would have me to study and write
on. I do pray for the Lord to lay on my heart the
subjects He wants me to study and write on in His Word, that
will bless His people, and be of benefit to lost seeking souls.
Praise the Lord! He answered my
prayers this morning in a wonderful way. This study is one
of the answers. I pray it will be both enlightening
and a blessing to every reader.......
Elijah's Discouragement
Who was ancient Israel's greatest
prophet? This question is easy to answer. It was
ELIJAH! Why do I believe and say this?
Because.....
It was Elijah who appeared with
Moses on the mount of transfiguration, during the personal
ministry of Christ, Matthew 17:3; Mark 9:4. And.....
It will be Elijah who will be sent back
to minister to modern Israel, as one of God's "two witnesses"
during the coming Tribulation period, Malachi 4:5-6; Revelation
11:3-4. So let's renew our acquaintance with Elijah.....
When ancient Israel went deeply
into apostasy against the Lord, during the reign of Ahab and
Jezebel, it was Elijah, who became downhearted and
discouraged. Carefully study 1 Kings 19.
Elijah became so discouraged, and fearful for his life, that he
fled into the wilderness of Judah, 1 Kings 19:3-4. He was
so discouraged that he actually ask God to allow him to
die. However God had other plans. Elijah had no
food, yet the Lord God provided food for him, 19:6. Then
"the angel of the Lord" escorted Elijah on a forty day and forty
night journey, taking Elijah from the wilderness of Judah
all the way to Mount Horeb, 19:8.
Mount Horeb - Mount Sinai
Does the reader take God's Word at face
value for what it actually and literally says? Every true
believer should!
Mount Horeb is the exact same mountain
as Mount Sinai, where Moses was given the Law. That
mountain has two names in the Bible. The first name is
Sinai, as set forth in Exodus 16:1, 19:1, and 35 more places in
the Bible. But the second name is Horeb, which occurs 17
times in the Old Testament, These two different names are
speaking of the exact same mountain. Why am I emphasizing
this?
For the knowledge and enlightenment of
God's people. The mountain commonly referred to today as
Mount Sinai, is as phony as a four dollar bill. The
inspired Word explicitly states here in 1 Kings 19:8 that Elijah
went "forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of
God." Believe it!
Dear readers, it is not a forty day
journey to the phony mountain which is today claimed to be Mount
Sinai. This phony mountain is near the southern tip of the
Sinai Peninsula, and located on the mountain is St. Catherine's
Monastery. It is documented history that the Catholic
religion selected this mountain when they decided to build a
monastery there, and proclaimed it to be Mount
Sinai. Hello!
However, the real Mount Sinai is
located in the nation of Saudia Arabia, a long ways from the
phony mountain in the Sinai. A few years ago, a dedicated
Christian brother drove into the desert of Saudia Arabia and
located the real mountain. And guess what? The
Muslim religion knows that the real Mount Sinai is in their
territory. They have
completely surrounded the mountain with barbed wire, guard
towers, and search lights, and it is guarded 24 hours a day to
keep any Jewish or Christan "snoopers" from discovering the
deception. The brother wrote a book on the subject, The
Real Mt. Sinai, complete with photographs, maps, and
illustrations. He also made a formal request to the Saudi
government to allow him to go up the mountain.His request was
denied.
And yes, a man traveling by foot from
the wilderness of Judah would likely have to walk a good forty
days to reach the true Mount Sinai in Saudia Arabia. The
phony mountain in the Sinai Peninsula? One can drive there
in their car today. If I recall correctly, the Lord Jesus
warned His disciples to "beware of false prophets" who would
come dressed "in sheep's clothing," Matthew 7:15. I
believe the Muslims refer to the founder of their religion
as "a prophet."
Back to Elijah
When Elijah reached Mount Sinai, he
took refuge in a cave. There, at the entrace to the
cave, the Lord spoke to Elijah "in a still small voice," 1
Kings 19:13. And there Elijah laid his complaint before
the Lord God, telling the Lord how the Jewish people had turned
away from the Lord, and claimed that he was the only one left
who was still serving the Lord, 19:14. The Lord's answer
to Elijah was to deflate Elijah's ego, and let him know that
there were still seven thousand of the Jewish people, who had
not "bowed unto Baal," and "which has not kissed him,"
19:18. It was customary in that time for idol worshippers
to bow before their idol gods of stone and wood, and to kiss
them during their worship of them. There is only one
religion that I am personally aware of today, which continues
this practice.
Our World Today
Just as the Lord prophesied, in this
repetition of "the days of Noah" today, [Luke 17:26-27] sin and
wickedness, and apostasy, is abounding in about every area of
life one wants to examine. If a true believer spends much
time thinking about the sin and wickedness that is going on all
around us today, they can easily become very discouraged.
I truly believe this is why
the Apostle Paul was inspired of God to write Philippians 4:8,
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things
are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things."
But No! You are not, I am not,
the few believers you may associate with are not, the only ones
still loving and serving the Lord. The Lord God still has
reserved to Himself, His faithful "7000," who have not bowed or
caved in to this wicked world system. The faithful few
today who still live separated, holy, lives, who do not indulge
in the wicked pleasures and practices of this present world, who
still study their Bibles and pray, and seek the Lord's presence
and guidance in their lives, and who still assemble together in
church capacity with other believers, where there is a Bible
believing, Bible preaching, church with which to assemble.
The reader may not be aware of who they are, yet they are a part
of God's "7000." Is the reader of this study one of them?
Sometimes today true churches are hard
to find, for many churches today have compromised with the
world, and now preach a "social gospel." But as long as a
true believer has a Bible, they can still study it in their
home, and receive the blessings of God for having done so.
Read again John 6:63, 15:3 and Hebrews 4:12.
One of the 7000?
As I was meditating on these
things today, and praying for the Lord's encouragement and
guidance, another believer sent me the following news
report......
A lady by the name of Jalene Hinkle was
offered an opportunity to become a part of the U.S. Women's
National Team [I have no idea what "team" this is referring to,
for the report did not say]. To become a part of that team
had been a lifelong dream of hers. But she verbally and
pubicly turned it down. Why? Because she would be
required to wear one of their "team" uniforms, and their
uniforms display advertising in support of the homosexual
movement. She has stated publicly that this movement is
absolutely against her beliefs. Now she is being verbally
and viciously attacked by the news media, and by some in
professional sports. I do not know whether this lady is a
true believer or not, but it appears that she has strong moral
convictions. Is she one of God's "7000?" I do
not know, but please pray for her.
Even in such sin and wickedness, as is
being practiced in America today, the Lord God still has His
people [7000...?], like Jalene Hinkle, who have not bowed
their knees to Baal, neither have they kissed him. Look
up, dear readers! Encourage yourself in the Lord Jesus,
and His Word. We are not alone, in this battle for
righteousness, Hebrews 13:5.
Glory to God! Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord! Thank you Lord Jesus!
Another News Item
The coming of our Lord will not be
over, until it's over! The nation and people of Israel
will observe the 51st anniversary of the Six Day War of
1967, beginning on June 5th, just two days from this writing.
I am old enough to vivedly remember
that war. There was a massive gathering of troops by Syria
on the north of Israel, and by Egypt on the south of Israel,
along with Jordan, who had possession of half of the city of
Jerusalem on the east. Jordan was saying nothing about
their intentions when the war would break out, but it was
expected that Jordan would ally themselves with Syria and Egypt,
and they did!. There was great public boasting on the part
of those nations, that they were going to drive Israel into the
sea. Other Muslim nations were encouraging Syria and Egypt
by providing some troops and military equipment to the gathering
armies. More than 100,000 troops were preparing to launch
an attack against little Israel on all three fronts, however
they never publicly said when they were going to attack.
But little Israel was able to gather
enough information to learn that the attack was planned for June
6th. And yes, there were indeed some real surprises in
that war. But it wasn't Israel who was surprised!
Before daybreak on June 5th, Israel
launched a pre-emptive strike against all three countries.
Israel's airforce bombed Egypt's airbase, and destroyed the
entire Egyptian air force before Egypt could even get their
planes off the ground. Neither Syria nor Jordan had that
much of an airforce, and the few planes they did manage to get
into the air were quickly shot down by the Isreali fighter
planes.
By June 7th Israeli soldiers had driven
the Jordanians completely out of Jerusalem, and the whole city
was back in the possession of Israel for the first time in 1,897
years. I watched all of the reports of the war on TV, and
cheered, and rooted, and prayed for Israel. On the 8th day
of June hundreds of the Jewish people who were not fighting,
went into the old city of Jerusalem and kissed the ground and
stones of the city, and gave worship and praise to the God of
Israel, for giving them back their beloved city.
Egypt had an entire armada of tanks
they planned to use against Israel, but Egypt made the bad
mistake of sending their tanks through the Mitla pass in the
mountains. That pass is very narrow, so that only one tank
at a time could get through the pass. That forced Egypt to
line up their tanks to go through the pass. As such, they
were "sitting ducks" for Israel"s planes and
artillery to blast them out of existence.
And oh yes! Many of Egypt's tank
drivers just abandoned their tanks and fled into the
desert. Why? Because they later swore that as they
approached the Mitla Pass they literally saw a "giant Moses" in
the sky above the mountains, and that he would raise his arm
above his head. Then each time he dropped his arm, the
Israeli shells would blow their tanks all to pieces. The
Egyptians who reported this, said they had no doubt that God was
fighting for Israel. Folks, this was actually reported in
newspapers and on TV back then.
Israel's forces then pushed into both
Egypt and Syria. The Israeli forces were within just a few
miles of the capitol cities of Cairo, Egypt, and Damascus, Syria
when the U.N., Russia, and America, called for a cease fire, and
the war was halted on the 10th day of June. Just six days
and the little nation of Israel had whipped the pants off of a
hundred thousand enemy soldiers gathered against them.
What a miracle of God's goodness and grace towards His chosen
people. Glory to God!
The anniversay of that Six Day
war will be observed this week beginning on June 5th. Is
that date a "possibility" for the coming of our Lord to
resurrect and rapture His Church and New Covenant believers out
of this present evil world? Galatians 1:3-4. I don't
know, but.......
It is still in the Spring of the
year, Songs 2:8-13. Think about it!
Conclusion
Dear readers, all of the "signs" the
Lord told His people to "watch" for, as an indication of His
coming to resurrect and rapture His people to glory, have
already come to pass, or are coming to pass nearly every
day. If any presently unsaved reader is hoping to be saved
before the rapture occurs, and you are left behind to go into
the terrible Tribulation period, then you better be calling upon
the Lord for salvation right now, Romans 10:8-13; John 3:36;
5:24.
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Permission is granted to any true
believer, or Bible believing Christian ministry to reproduce
this study to share with others, or to quote from it in context
as written.
Those readers who would like to
contact me personally may do so by using one of the following
methods.....
POSTAL.......Pastor F. M. Riley, 14275
Co. Rd 8120, Rolla, MO 65401
EMAIL..........francismriley34@gmail.com
PHONE........573-202-6493
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