MEN DEALING WITH THE TRUE AND FALSE SUPERPOWERS

MEN DEALING WITH THE TRUE AND FALSE SUPERPOWERS

 

Is it because there is no God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron?" 2Ki_1:3

 Ahaziah the son of Ahab had succeeded his father upon the throne of Israel. He was not so strong a personality as was his father, but he gave himself wholly to the most abominable idolatry, in that he served and worshipped Baal. In the midst of difficulties created by the fact that Israel was at war with Moab, he sought counsel from Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron. It was then that Elijah, who had been in seclusion, suddenly appeared, and asked this question. Again it was a question vibrant with satire. BAAL-ZEBUB WAS NO GOD. THE GOD OF ISRAEL WAS GOD, AND BESIDE HIM THERE WAS NONE ELSE. And yet this man Ahaziah, excluded by his wickedness from the true God, sought counsel of one who was no god! How amazing that such wickedness can develop in a man’s heart. And that is ever so. MEN CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT SOME KIND OF TRAFFIC WITH POWERS SUPERNATURAL, and so superior to themselves. When they are out off from direct communication with God, they turn to the under-world, to those dark and sinister forces which are no gods. That is the meaning of all forms of Spiritism. God is ever available to man, but if, man by-sin exclude himself from God, then he turns to false methods of dealing with the supernatural. Such methods are all, and always, destructive. Sooner or later, God breaks in again upon the soul, if not in healing revelation in response to penitence, then in swift judgment.