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Episode 610:In this episode, we dive into a captivating story from the Old Testament, focusing on the prophet Elijah and his bold confrontation with King Ahaziah of Israel. We explore the context of the narrative, where Ahaziah, after falling through the latticework of his palace and sustaining serious injuries, seeks guidance from Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, instead of turning to the God of Israel. Elijah, instructed by the angel of the Lord, confronts the king's messengers with a powerful message: because Ahaziah sought answers from a false god, he would never leave his bed and would surely die.
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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Here we are here, We are back again, We are here, back at it. Yes, we're in our studio, which, by the way, nobody really knows where it is, do they. Well, it's secret. It's in a secret bumper bunker. It's like the Secret Bible Guys studio. We're broadcasting to you from the batcave. Nobody really knows where it is, but it's it's but it's in between where you live and where I live. That's correct. Yeah, how about that? That's good and and you have to know us to know what that means. Yeah, if you're looking for a good studio, our friend David Damcheck runs this podcast studio. Lots of different people use this podcast studio. Yes, really great. So if you ever looking for a good studio, let us know. Yes, yep, yeah, there you go. We we didn't even plan on saying that, but what great to say. Yeah, this is good. Wait, today we are wrapping up our week. Because it is Friday, and we are going to launch into a very familiar segment. But before we get into that, segment or before we get into the big story today, because this is Elijah confronting a king. Yes, right, and but before we do that, we need you to confront all of the societal problems in our lives. What you're doing the transition, I know, I'm becoming an expert at this man. Wow. And so this is everybody's favorite segment because on behalf of all of us, you let us know what made Chris mad this week? Yes, well I'm mad for the world, Jeff, Yes, thank you. I'm not just thank you me. You're good to us, Chris. That's what I'm trying to say, thank you, And I think you'll agree with So what made Chris mad this week? By the way, I said, Oh hey, by the way, the next segment is what made Chris mad this week? He didn't even look up from his page. He goes, already know what that is? Yeah, So you didn't even have to think. You didn't think for a second about it. You didn't have to look up. You just went, I know what it is? Yes, okay, yes, And here's what it is. And it's in one one phrase. Somehow, the new telemarketers are finding ways for your phone to ring and it says a name, a random name. Oh did you know that? I didn't know that. So so instead of it saying like potential spam, which thank goodness for those calls, right, we just hit you know, decline or whatever. Now the last thirty calls that have come in because my name must be on a list, right, I. Bet your name's on a lot of lists, Chris. There's Billy Madison where there's a list of people. He wanted to kill the kid who in front of him. Anyway, the point is is that sorry, my random brand, but anyway, Yeah, so now the last thirty calls I must be on a list have come up and they just say a name, and sometimes you look at the area code and you're like, oh, is this a person? I know? You know, they must be my contacts whatever it is, but they have now found out a way to attach it to this. Well, here's what made me Matt. I was on a very very important call. I was on a call about with the bank. And because you do wheels and deals all the time, right at that time, yeah, you're talking to one of your bankers, Yeah, one of my bankers. And I'm on the phone call. But then what ends up happening. Is this random uh uh, you know, telemarketing call comes in and it says a name and just coincidentally happened to be the last name of a funeral that I'm doing, And so I thought to myself, oh no, did I get the funeral time wrong? Is this a family saying where are you? Like? Which you know, of course it wasn't. And so I'm on the phone with this bank talking about opening up this account and all these different kinds of things, and I said, I'm so sorry, but I have to put you on hold. And this lady on the other end is like, I'm sorry. What I'm like, I I'm so sorry, I have to put you on hold, And so I put her on hold. I click over, and then you know, it just doesn't say anything for a minute, you know, and I'm like hello, Hello, and then just waits like ten seconds. They goes all of a sudden, you know, clicks, and all of a sudden you hear all the tele you know, and it's and it's usually somebody who lives across the world, right, And they goes somebody in India air or something, and and hello is this mister? And of course they came from Assal Hell is this mister z click? You know, I just click immediately, right, and I go back, and I'm like, I'm so angry. Oh and then I lost the call. I go to click back. Yeah, and then it was just a big thing, right, and so anyway, it was just terrible, and I just thought to myself, I am so angry that now telemarkers have found a way to ruin my life again, you know, for a while, until I can figure out how to just ignore everybody miss important calls. I don't know what to do. Do you just, yeah, you just miss everything. I don't answer anything. I don't recognize. Yeah that it's off the top of my head. So that's what some people do. But in the case of the funeral, I was afraid it was also. Means I missthinks sometimes. Yeah, I feel bad about. That, Yeah for sure. But anyway, that's but I'm not walking around raging either, right, So there's it. Yeah, So anyway, how do you know that that guy that called you though, wasn't from a bigger bank offering you a better deal from India? Yeah, I don't. I don't think so, you. Know, Actually I think they were connected to King that they wanted me to email toll. Just just in Amazon carts. Right yeah, anyway, okay, anyway. That's so, that's what made you mad, is that the telemarketers are finding a way around the thing. Yeah. And what's what's ironic about that statement is I when telemarketing very first came out. You were in nineteen ninety, I. Was I was making a ton of money, the most money I've ever made by far during that time, because I was a great telemarketer. Ye. So but now you hate them, Well, it's what comes what goes around comes around, Chris. This is a lord just repaying you. You're paying your dues, buddy. Yeah, yeah, that's right, the fiddler. Right, you planted a seed and now you're reaping a whirlwind. Right yeah, you plant a wind and reap a whirlwind. Isn't that what God said? So you know, when you plant one colonel of corn, you end up getting a six foot stock with two or three ears of corn, with hundreds of kernels of corn on it. Listen, so you know what's coming. I am mad. I think of the think of the thousands of telemarketing phone calls you've planted. All those little seeds are kind of gone back in the hundreds of thousands. It's everybody. There are people out there that are experiencing what I'm experiencing. Those of us that know that you were a successful telemarketer are struggling to feel compassion for you. There's no compassion for there's no compassion because you're the one that the problem. You're the one who refined the system. Hey, you're the one who made it better, and it came to. Un I did it at a time where everybody actually listened. Remember when Jesus to Peter, if you live by the sword, you'll die by the swords. It's true. It's true. That's true. Fine, No, I'm gonna laugh. I'm laughing with you, not at you. Okay, No, I'm laughing at you. Should be honest. Hey, I almost feel like I have no defense. You don't have any defense. You have no defense, right because I I did build a living off of really destroying the concept of people. Call the sanctity of your own home the sanctity back when people only had one phone, back when they had one phone. Right, it's the only thing you had to get up out of your chair and run over because it might be Grandma, it might be you know, some big news. It might be art link letter telling you that you want a million dollars, right, and instead it was our boss selling you beds. Or long distance or discover cards or all sorts of things. So anyway, it's good for you, Chris, okay. Speaking of good for you and being confronted by telemarketers, Elijah has to confront King a Haziah confrontations. Confrontations, that's right. Yeah, So in Second King's chapter one, verse eighteen. Well, you already you already preemptively did the transition. You just did two transmits. I know I gave you two. I'm feeling particularly generous with transitions today. You're so generous today. So uh, well, I gave you a million points yesterday for every correct answer. You know what, I'm just telling you. I am feeling so unbelievably generous. I think it's about time we acknowledge your generosity. I'm a good guy. You are a good young Speaking of good guys, Elijah confronted. Wow, that's my third transition. He goes. After King Ahab's death, the land of Moab rebelled against Israel. One day, Israel's new King a Haziah fell through the lattice work of an upper room at his palace in Samaria, and was seriously injured. So he sent messengers to the temple of bailz Abub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether he would recover. I don't think I'd be checking out Belzebub's answers about anything, doubt. Why would he be named that, because yeah, all false gods come from the devil. Anyways, But the Angel the Lord told Elijah, who was from Tishba, go and confront the messengers of the King of SAMERI and ask them, is there no god in Israel? Why are you going to belz Abub, the God of Ekron, to ask whether the king will recover? Now, therefore, this is what the Lord says. You will never leave the bed you're lying on. You will surely die. So Elijah went to deliver the message. When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, why have you returned so soon? And they replied, A man came up to us and told us to go back to the king and given this message. This is what the Lord says, There's no is there no god in Israel? Why are you sending men to bales abub the god of Achron, to ask whether you recover. Therefore, because you've done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will surely die. What sort of man was he? The king demanded, what do you look like? And they replied he was a hairy man and he wore a leather belt around his waist. Elijah from Tishpa, the king explained, exclaimed that. Maybe that's where we get the rugged description. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there it is right there. Yeah, he saw. Then he sent an army captain with fifty soldiers to arrest him. They found him sitting on top of a hill, and the captain said to him, man of God, the king has commanded you to come down with us. But Elijah applied to the captain, if I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your fifty men. Then fire fell from heaven and killed them all. Wow. So the king sent another captain with fifty men, and the captain said, of the man of God, the king demands that you come down at once. Elijah applied, if I'm a man of God, let fire come from heaven and destroy you and your fifty men. And again the fire of God fell from heaven and killed them all once more. Not learning his lesson, the king sent a third captain with fifty men. But this time the captain went up the hill and fell to his knees before Elijah. He pleaded with him, Oh, Man of God, please spare my life and the life of these your fifty servants. See how the fire from heaven came down and destroyed the first two groups. But please now spare my life. Then the angel Lord said to Elijah, go down with him, and don't be afraid of him. So Elijah got up and went with him to the king. Elijah said to the king, this is what the Lord says. Why did you send messengers to bales above the God of Ekron to ask whether you recover? Is there no God in Israel to answer your question. Therefore, because you've done this, you will never leave the bed you're lying on, and you will surely die. So a Haziah died, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah. Since Aziah did not have a son to succeed him, his brother Joram became the next king. This took place in the second year of the reign of Jehoram. Son of Jehashaphat, king of Judah. The rest of the events in a Haziah's reign are recorded in the Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. Yikes, so, yikes, in that whole story. Yeah, yeah, I think this calling down fire from heaven things becoming a habit for Elijah. Well, he knows it'll happen. Yeah, rightly, you have pretty. Much confidence, right, I mean, so Johasaphat apparently is no longer king, and now Jehoram No, no, no, no. I was gonna say, Jehoram is the king in Judah. Yeah, and Joram is the king, yes of the Yeah, thanks for that. Let's just make it confusing. It's it's consistently like that. Remember it was Jereboam and Raya Boham. Now it's Joram and Jehoram. Right, Yeah, anyway, people need to work on their names. So uh so poor as a Hyah was only king for less than two years and uh and he has a terrible injury and he fell through lattice, right, and he's seriously injury and uh. And he sent messengers to the Temple of Beelzebub, Temple of beelz isn't that crazy? Yeah? Yeah, it says here Bail's abub Bail. It's not bl zebub. Its bail ubb bail zubub. Yeah. With another popular god whose temple is located in the city of Akron. Because this god was thought to have the power of prophecy, King a Hasah sent his messengers to Akron to learn his fate. Supernatural power and mystery were associated with Bail's above. A Hasiah's action showed the king's disrespect for God. So this isn't the same god as the god. Bail, right, it's bail Zubub. It's above related to Bail. I have a random comment. Okay, back in the seventies there was a show called Morkan Mindy. I remember Mark Mindi. And uh uh he he would grab his ears and he. Would go h he would do that. Oh, which which is which. I always thought, even back then it was bad that. I was like, I was like, why would you say that? Well, yeah, back then, will I just remember now, no, Nana? Yeah, right, that's right, yeah, right, so I remember. Okay, So anyways, you know we're old, no doubt. Yeah. The next thing it is, you start talking about Ponderosa. By the way, I was gonna say, we've we lost like three. Quarters our young demographic was growing, and we just wiped the whole thing out with that one thing. We're sorry, hey, Charlie, sorry about that. Exactly right. So it says that Elijah was a hairy man and he wore a leather belt around his waist. I love it when he goes, Okay, what kind of guy? What he looked like? Oh, he was a hairy man and he wore a and he. Goes, elijahja tis belt. He knew immediately, man. Yeah, remember on another old show, remember Seinfeld, Yes, where he goes, right, that's newman, right, that's it right there, So he knew it. Well, what an amazing phrase. One of the things I love about this, by the way, is Elijah's consistency. So he, you know, the angel says, is there no God in Israel? Why are you going to bails above the God of Ekron to ask whether the king will recover? Go and challenge them he's and tell him he's never gonna leave his bed. You will surely die. So Elijah goes and says those exact words, is there no God in Israel? Why are you sending men to bales above the God of Ekron to ask whether you recover. Therefore, because you've done this, you will never leave the bed you're lying on. You will surely die. It's easy to tell other people a thing like that. But then the king finally goes, Okay, bring you in. He comes in and he looks at King Rate in the eye and says, this is what the Lord said. Why did you send messengers to bails above the God of Achron to ask whether you recover? Is there no God in Israel to answer your question. Therefore, because you've done this, you will never leave the bed you're lying on. You will surely die. He never changed his message. Right, Yeah, well you read it literally three times. He gave it exactly the way that God said it. He didn't change it, he didn't soften it. He didn't. He just said. And I think that there's a tremendous amount of power of not trying to explain away what God says to just come in and go listen. This isn't me, this is God, and God is saying, Thus saith the Lord. And this was going to happen because I think I would be tempted to soften it when I come and talk to the king. Maybe it's easier to talk to the messengers because they're just messengers. But when you when you're talking up to somebody bigger and more, what you feel like is more powerful than you. Although I don't know that this king has called dow on fire from heaven a few times, so maybe Elijah had a different view of this king. But he came in and spoke directly and exactly without altering God's words. And I would always caution anybody to be careful about listening to what they read on the internet or listening to somebody who changes the meaning. Well, God didn't really mean it that way. Those were the old days, those were the old times. That was a cultural thing, you know. There's all these kind of phrases. If the Bible says that, you can believe it, and then the Bible will correct itself need people to correct it, so the Bible will be its own best commentary. And so if the Bible is consistent and continues to carry the same consistent phraseology and the same consistent things from Moses to Jesus to Paul, Okay, then guess what I don't need to change it, and I don't need to find some loophole to get around it. It's what God said, right, and then we just stick with that. And this is one of the things I loved about Elijah is you never find Elijah saying anything different than what God said exactly the way that God said it. And I think that might be part of the big power that Elijah seems to have. Right. Yeah, and you know what, it's I just talked about this the other day. There was somebody that came in one that meet with me and and he's he married into a Greek family, so we had a connection because my daughter's dating and yeah, and we talked about just the idea that sometimes there are topics where they're they're uncomfortable, they're hot topics, they're controversial, it'll split a crowd immediately, and it's uh, you know. And we talked about how, well we're just gonna we're just gonna unapologetically say what the Bible says. That's it. And then if people get really really mad, you can say, well, don't get mad at me. Yeah, I didn't write it. I didn't write it right, Right, this is what the Bible says. And there are times but you know, you got to choose those times, and you got to you got to choose when and where you say those things. But when you say them, you say them unapologetically. Right, Yeah, you speak the truth in love, that's right. So there's been many times where somebody wanted to confront me about, you know, what does hair to Church believe about? You know, some major social issue. And I will say, listen the way you're asking the question, this is a really big deal to you. And I know that there's a lot of emotion and feelings in this, and so I recognize that I see that, And before I answer your question, the first thing I feel like what you're really asking me is do I accept you? And do I love you? And the answer unequivocally is yes, I love you? Right, I said. But then, if you're coming to me as a pastor saying what does God say? Right, if you're saying what is hair to church? Say hair to church? As I love you, you're saying what does God say about this? Then, as a representative of God and God's word, this is what God says? And then so I can express love and at the same time speak the truth, right, Right, And I found myself doing that many many times. Well that that precursor statement is it oftentimes softens people because what they're coming in is, am I welcome here? Are you going to tolerate me? Here? Are you going to treat me as a second class citizen here? Or whatever? And when you say, hey, listen, love is love is the core of what we're about. But also thus say it the Lord. Those two things together, sure, and I love you enough to tell you the truth. Well, it's neither do I condemn you, Now go and send no more right, right, So it's it's looking at the rich and ruler and loving him and then saying, now go sell all your possessions. So it's the same thing where you know, we took this course that talked about they give it weird names. They talked about invitation and challenge. How Jesus would always have the inviting part of himself, the love part, right, and then the challenge was the uncompromising, hard truth of God. So Jesus would often express complete love and then here's the truth, and uh and so and I love how you know you could you can also say truth and grace, right, truth and grace. And I always liked how Andy Stanley praised it. He said, when you dumb you have to have truth and grace. Right. So like John one seventeen. Jesus said, Moses can't bring you the law, but I've come to bring you truth and grace. It brings both dynamics. And so when you the way Andy. Stanley says it is, if you dumb down one, you miss out on the other. So when you dumb down truth and you say, well, I'm really a good person, I don't need God that much as much as other people to get into heaven. So you're dumbing down truth, and what you're gonna do is you're gonna miss out on all the grace that is required because because actually the truth is, no matter how. Good you are, you fall just as short of. Heaven as everybody else you need. And they say hard truth, right, so you know what that means. That means now you're in the position, once you receive the hard truth, you're in the position to receive all the grace that God has for you. Right. And so, well, that's a powerful statement that you made right there. It doesn't matter how good you are. You would you say it doesn't it matter how good you are you're as short. Yeah, you fall just as short. You fall just as short. Everybody else, yeah, everybody else. Because we tend to measure ourselves by well, I didn't do as many bad things as right, because we know bad people exist on the planet, right, we read on a correct yeah, Hitler right. I can't tell you. I bet you. I've had a dozen times where somebody says, you know, I'm not perfect, but I'm not hitler. I've had that phrase so many times. So my answer always is, well, your mom must be so proud. Right, if that's the threshold, right, the threshold of whether I'm a good person a bad person is Hitler right, that's how bad it is, right. And so we tend to do that. We tend to go, well, I know that worse people have existed, and it's really surprising to relatively good people. It's surprising to find out that we are in every bit as need of God's grace as the worst human on the planet. That's right, right, all of us need God's grace that much. And yeah, it's just it's a funny thing. It's a surprising thing. I think the Christians on that. Yeah. And then and then one thing that you just quoted last Sunday. Is that famous quote by Tim Keller. Oh yeah, who's a former pastor and he's deceased, but he say, he said, the definition of the Gospel is that you are far worse off than you ever imagined. But the good news is you are far more love than. You ever dreamed, you ever dared to dream. Ever dared to dream. Right, So it's just there's something close to that. Yeah, But it's just it's realizing our complete and utter depravity and then being in position then to receive God's amazing love. And so all of that we went down the rabbit hole of saying it's always truth and love, which is why Jesus said, he said, this is a brand new commandment that that I bring you love one another. You've heard it said love your friends and hate your enemies, but I tell you love your enemies. And so he says, love one another, and he says, this is how people will know you're my disciples if you love. And so it's a good reminder for all of us Christians, for those of us who follow God, is that we could bring the hard truth of God, but we have to know when to deliver it and how to deliver it, and it has to be delivered in love. That's what Jesus say, is right. So hey, that looks like our time. Yeah, I would just say that. One other thing that I was just kind of reserving and I throw it out there is the frustration that God seems to have and that Elijah is bringing to him, is why are you going for mystical solutions and information about the future. Is there not a God in heaven? Right? Is there not a God in Israel? You know what? You threw off the God of Israel. And now you've got to go to go find what the star to say, or what some mystic says or somebody sees in a crystal ball or some palm reader or some astrologist. That's what you're gonna do. There's no God in heaven that can provide answers for you. You've got to go and find some mystical solution. And God responds very strongly to that throughout the Bible oftentimes, and so I think it's a caution. Sometimes Christians can kind of get caught up and playing around with some of those things just as silly or whatever. God doesn't consider it a silly thing. It's a big deal, and it's almost always rooted in some kind of it's a pathway towards evil, and in this situation, it was Biales above. So that's great. Yeah, So I just cautioned all of our listeners on that one piece as well. That's all right. Well, that's our time and hopefully we will see you on Monday on the Bible Gush