THE GOD THAT ANSWERS BY FIRE There is a glaring evidence that the church has misunderstood and misinterpreted the theological basis for Elijahs Holy Ghost prayer. The idea of invoking fire to attack seeming enemies is done so frequently and indiscriminately that it has become a concern to the church and close observers. The Holy Ghost prayer formula is characterized by its spontaneous and judgmental nature. Holy Ghost fire prayers are prayers in which the Holy Ghost is invoked to consume some unpleasant and stubborn problems. It is charismatic and aggressive in nature. This prayer form is most commonly witnessed in the pentecostal circles, deliverances circles and sometimes in the mainline churches and the Holy Ghost is dispatched in prayers as an errand boy to pursue peoples offenders. What is obtained in our modern churches is a radical shift from the Divine ordination of prayers. Prayers should fundanmentally be theocentric and not anthropocentric. In prayers, God should be given the prerogative of determination of fate, and the enforcement of His sovereingnty should be solicited for. The Holy Spirit is sent to the church to exert more positive influence on her but the church abuses His role and relevance when she subjects Him to the work of a destroyer and a retaliatory force. HOW THE HOLY GHOST PRAYER STARTED Elijah emerged when the worship of God was sustituted with Baal worship. Baal worship was a worship of strenght and power. So Elijah decided to put and end to this dual worship. His defence for true and sole worship of God was climaxed at the Mount Carmel. The demand placed on the 850 prophets of Baal and Ashera was for them to get their god to answer by fire. Any of the gods who answers by fire, that means who devoured the sacrifice with fire emerged as the true and only God to be worshiped and hence it was declared the God who answers by fire, he is God. Elijahs proposal and option of fire was therefore appropriate for the contest because fire was used as a yardstick for determining the true God. Fire was not invoked in this instance as punishment. Fire was a cleansing agent used for purging and purification. God Himself did not choose any other means to reveal Himself to Moses, He led the Isrealites in the wilderness through the pillars of fire and He also confirmed His visit to Manoah by sing of fire. All through the law, God used fire to consume sacrifices and to prove His acceptance of certain sacrifices. So on the day of the contest, Elijah stepped forward and prayed and his concern is about Gods name and desired that people may know that God is God in Isreal. At last the true God consumed the sacrifice. By answering by fire, God gave an indubitable and tangible proof that God is God and Baal is impotent. The exegesis of Elijahs prayer portrays the lapses in our prayers in modern times. Unlike Elijahs prayer, christians now pray with self gratifying motives. Elijahs focus in his prayer was for the preservation of Gods name and integrity. In modern churches, the Holy Ghost fire is not invoked to purify, purge and thereby save sinners, Holy Ghost fire is arbitrarily invited to strike ones enemies and thereby reducing Holy Ghost Fire to a retaliatory force and weapon of destruction. The church and people must learn from the example of Jesus the head of the church who turned down the suggestion of sons of Zebedee who wanted to call down fire on the samaritans. THIS ABUSE MUST STOP.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 14:50:15 +0000
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