Elijahs Wanted

By A. B. Traina

     Malachi plainly tells us that, in the last days, Yahweh will send us "Elijah" to warn us of the coming of the dreadful day of Yahweh and turn the hearts of the people unto righteousness so that they should not be smitten by the curse. The Jews asked the Savior when this would occur. He told them that He was the promised Messiah. They asked, "How can this be? Was not the Messiah to be preceded by the coming of the prophet Elijah?" The Savior answered, "Yes, the Messiah was to be preceded by Elijah, but Elijah had come and preached repentance, and they had killed him." This He spoke of John the Baptist (see Matthew 17:10-13.

     In verse 13, we are told that the apostles recognized John the Baptist as the Elijah who was to come, for the Savior had said that not the original personal Elijah was to precede Him, but one possessing the same spiritual power.

     The Jews, in the days of Yahshua the Messiah, were looking for the personal Elijah, and they did not recognize the Elijah who fulfilled the prophecy. Today, we are confronted with the same condition. The preachers and teachers of the present day are teaching the return of a personal Elijah, and the people as a whole are believing and looking for the miraculous resurrected Elijah the Tishbite, and, like the people of the Savior’s day, they will not recognize the person, or persons, sent in the spirit and power and service of Elijah. They will reject and refuse to listen to them, even doing them violence, so that it behooves us to examine the evidence and the identification marks, so that we may be able to identify those sent to fulfill the Elijah work, that is, to warn the people of impending judgments and to restore righteousness through the everlasting evangel. This study is dedicated to the purpose of identifying the modern Elijah, or rather, the Elijah movement.

     When the Ten Tribes of Israel separated from Rehoboam and established themselves into an independent government in Samaria, under the leadership of Jeroboam, the latter, fearing that Israel would return to the House of David if they continued to go to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh, thought to perpetuate his reign over them by establishing a religion of his own and enforced it by decree. He ordered the casting of two golden calves, and proclaimed, Behold thy deities, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. This thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan, (See 1 Kings 12:28-30). This continued until the reign of Omri. When Omri died, Ahab his son succeeded him, and intensified Israel’s apostasy, as we read in the Scripture:

Thus Baal, or Lord, worship was introduced in Israel.

     Elijah a man of faith and conviction, lived in Israel at that time. He was in communion with Yahweh, and Yahweh gave him a commission. It was not an easy task that Yahweh had given him. But because Elijah was a man of courage and conviction, he did not ask to be excused. His was the responsibility of rebuking the king, as well as the people, for apostasy, and to pronounce the sentence of punishment. As Yahweh the Elohim of Israel liveth, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word.

     He, then, in obedience to the commandment of Yahweh, turned eastward and hid himself by the brook Cherith, near the Jordan river, where some nomad Arabs supplied him with bread and flesh every morning and evening, and he drank water from the brook. (I know that some of you will want to correct me on this, saying that it was the ravens that fed Elijah, but the Hebrew word for raven is “arab,” the very same word that is used in describing a person of Arabian nationality. It is also a word used for Arabia. The King James translators, wanting to bring some magic into the story, translated it “raven.” But let me emphasize this fact: It was more of a miracle for the Arabs to feed Elijah than it would have been for the bird we call the raven to do so. The Arabs hated an Israelite bitterly, and would rather have killed him than feed him. It was a miracle for Yahweh to have so touched the hearts of the Arabs as to feed his servant Elijah.)

     Elijah stayed in this hiding place until the drought dried up the brook; then he received his marching orders from Yahweh. He was told to go to Zarepath near the city of Zidon, where Yahweh had touched the heart of a widow outside the confines of Israel. She would give him food and lodging for the duration of the drought which was to last three and one-half years (see Luke 4:25, 26).

     Elijah was not inactive during this time of hiding from the authorities who were seeking to kill him. Both Jezebel, representing the church of that day, and the King, representing the government, were after him. During this time Elijah was preaching under cover, but his services were only to those who were worthy. He was also performing miracles. There was a famine in the land—for the word of Yahweh as well as for bread and water. What a preview for the last days (see Revelation 11:3-8). After three and one-half years of this suppressed witnessing, Elijah was commanded to come out of hiding and show himself to Ahab and to challenge both the church and state to a showdown (see 1 Kings 18:1). So Elijah went forth to meet Ahab.

And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh and thou hast followed after Baalim [Lords]: Now, therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets [preachers] of Baal [the Lord] four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves [shrines] four hundred which eat at Jezebel’s table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If Yahweh be Elohim, follow Him; and if Baal [the Lord], then follow him. And the people answered not a word, 1 Kings 18:18-21.

     In reading the verses quoted above, we notice that the people answered not a word. They did not seem very enthusiastic about it. In fact, they did not even understand what it was all about. They had been taught that when they were worshiping Baal or Adonai (Chaldean,of the English word Lord), they were worshiping the Creator of heaven and earth, the Mighty One of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Holy One of Israel who had brought their forefathers from Egypt. They did not know that it made any difference by what name they called Him. They did not know that by not calling Him by His original name, they had actually separated themselves from the worship of the True Creator and Everlasting Father. It came as a shock to them to hear from Elijah that there was a marked difference between Baal, Adonai (the Lord), which the apostate church of Israel had substituted in the place of the true Elohim of Israel, and the sacred name Yahweh, the name that the Creator had revealed himself by.

     What a picture we have before us—a whole nation indifferent to their true religious standing; a corrupt clergy following the line of least resistance (state religion), playing politics; and the challenge of one man with convictions and the courage to stand out and oppose the false system of worship.

     The contest was on; Elijah said to the multitude, I, even I, only remain as a prophet of Yahweh; but the prophets of Baal [the Lord] are four hundred and fifty men, 1 Kings 18:22. Elijah brought the fight to the enemy. Having made the rules of the debate, he told the prophets of Baal (the Lord) to sacrifice their bullock, and let their Baal (Lord) send the fire to consume it.

     The prophets of Baal (the Lord) having carefully made their preparations for their sacrifice, began to pray that Baal (the Lord) would send the fire. Their cries of Baal [Lord] send the fire, brought no response. They leaped up and down upon the altar; still no response. Elijah taunted them, made mockery of their devotions, until they went to the extreme of cutting themselves and letting their blood run on the sacrifices to show their sincere devotion to their deity, but he answered them not. Finally they were exhausted and gave up in despair.

     All Israelites know that the name of their Elohim, the Holy One of Israel was Yahweh, but they had been taught by their prophets and preachers that there was only one Elohim, and it did not make any difference what name they called Him by, so long as they were religious and observed the golden rule. In fact, they had been taught that they should not use the true name, because it was supposed to be unpronounceable. All nations, these teachers said, believed in one deity, the Creator of heaven and earth, and as all nations spoke different languages, they reasoned that they all called him by a different name. Therefore, they should use the name that was most popular.

     It was this kind of reasoning that brought about the condition of which the prophets complained, as in Jeremiah 23:27. Which think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell every man his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten My name for Baal [the Lord], and also in Jeremiah 23:13, And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria [the ten tribes], they prophesied in Baal [in the name of the Lord], and caused My people Israel to err.

     Elijah did not reason this way. He knew otherwise. He knew that Yahweh was and still is JEALOUS of His name (Exodus 34:14 and 23:13). He also knew that the third commandment of the Decalogue, reading from the Hebrew, says, Thou shalt not falsify [or substitute] the name of Yahweh thy Elohim; for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who falsifies His name.

     Elijah contended for this truth, that there was no other Elohim but Yahweh, and that the deities of other nations were but deified men. They were the SUN deities, who were the descendants of Ham, who became mighty men in opposition to, or in the face of, or before, Yahweh. And behind the names adopted for these deified men, was the old enemy of the Garden of Eden, Lucifer himself, the old devil, or Satan, who hid behind these different masks of names in order to divert the people from the worship of Yahweh to himself (1 Corinthians 10:19-21 and Isaiah 14:12-14). The clergy of Israel, having miserably failed to prove their contention that Baal (the Lord) was the name by which the Almighty was to be called, stood by, while the lone Elijah began to prepare his case to prove that Yahweh was the only true name by which the Eternal should be addressed.

    First, he gathered twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, to symbolize that the One who separated Israel unto Himself, saying Israel is thy name, would manifest himself to the people of His choice. With these stones Elijah built an altar to the name of Yahweh. Then preparing the sacrifice, he called upon Yahweh to receive it by sending down fire from heaven. Yahweh heard the petition addressed to Him in the Sacred Name, by which He had revealed himself to Abraham and his seed; and, as a result, He sent the fire and consumed the sacrifice, thus vindicating His Name. Elijah was proved the true prophet, despite the fact that he was in the minority.

    “El-i-jah” mean “El is Yah,” bringing to us the conclusion that this intrepid prophet was raised up for the purpose of contending that El is Yah, and thus turning the people’s hearts back to the true Elohim and His righteousness. While Israel had gone into apostasy by adopting the names of the deities of the nations, Yahweh raised up a man and called him by the name of the cause he was to proclaim, the great truth that “El is Yah,” and beside Him there is no other. And no other name is given unto men whereby we must be saved but the name YAHSHUA, Yahweh our Salvation.

    Elijah won the contest and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal were slain; but he had to go and hid himself from the wrath of Jezebel. Having gone into the wilderness of Beersheba, he complained to Yahweh of the weariness of his life. Here an angel was sent to comfort him, and make preparations for his successor and wait for his translation.

    Israel of the present day as well as Israel of old, in contacts with other nations, has adopted the names of the deities of those nations, viz.: the Manito of the Indians, the Ie-seus of the Greeks, the Pan Bog (the goat god) of the Poles, Nehusta (the snake god) of the Hungarians, the Lord (Baal) of the English, Deus of the Latins, the Dio of the Italians, Dios of the Spaniards, and so on, ad infinitum. These are the names which in this very day and age, are being applied to the Holy One of Israel, the Mighty One of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the accepted Bibles of the Catholic and Protestant churches of these and other countries.

    The great and dreadful day of Yahweh is near, with the attending apostasy. Therefore, there is now due the promised coming of Elijah to warn the people of impending judgment and turn back to the worship of Yahweh. In the words of Jeremiah the prophet, The harvest is passing, the summer ending, and we are not saved, Jeremiah 8:20.

    We have come to the end of the age; the time of the world’s great harvest, and in the words of our Savior, Yahshua the Messiah, the harvest is great and the laborers few. We need to pray, therefore, not only for Yahweh to send laborers into the field, but prepare us to take the field. Not only are the present laborers few, but all are so divided and so scattered, that they are ineffective. Our Savior obtained his workers from among the common people; from the fishing nets, from the farms and from the slums. Having united them around Himself, and they in turn being united and with the mind of the Savior, accomplished a great work in laying the foundation for the New Covenant Assembly. While this spirit of unity prevailed, success followed; but jealousies began to creep in, and, thus, competition started, ending with the Nikelaity taking over. Once again our Savior is looking for real workers for His harvest. He wants men and women who will volunteer for service in this EL-I-YAH group, not for men who consider themselves sole Elijahs, but for men who are willing to take their places in the Elijah group. Each member of this great body, whose head shall be Yahshua Himself, shall function according to the plan derived from the Scriptures alone.

    Those who consider themselves as the only representatives of Elijah and do not realize that Yahweh has His seven thousand who have not bowed their knees to Baal, are hindering, not only their own progress, but also the work which an enlightened assembly ought to be doing. We all know of the great exploits of the one Elijah, how he confounded the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal (the Lord) and the four hundred prophets of the groves, but do we realize what seven thousand such Elijahs could have accomplished had they been in touch with each other and cooperating with one consent? They could have confounded all the forces of evil, and would have destroyed forever the altars of Baal. Think of it, if one could chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, at that ratio, what could seven thousand Elijahs have done in eliminating Baal (the Lord) worship from Israel.

    Once again is evident the great challenge between Baal-worshiping Israel with a Baal-worshiping ministry, against the minority of Yahweh worshipers. The superior number of the enemy should not confound us, but the separation in our ranks should make us ashamed; for, while united we may stand, divided we shall surely fall, and the work of preaching the everlasting evangel is left undone. Truly the laborers are few, not for lack of individual believers, but for lack of cooperation among them.

    The day for the appearance of the evangelical Elijah is here, and Yahweh is looking for those whom He can send forth into the field already white with harvest. As in the days of Isaiah, Yahweh is looking for those who are willing and ready to go forth. Yahweh's message is still, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? It is expected that those who have received and believed the message will answer like Isaiah of old, when his lips were touched with the holy Spirit, and the flame of the sacred name message was burning in his heart, Here am I, send me.

    Then be sure you get the message that follows:

    What better or clearer description could be given of the condition of the supposed believing church today? What is harder for them to understand than the Sacred Name message with its purifying doctrine? Their teachers have immunized them against the Elijah message, hardened their hearts against the truth, and made it more difficult for them to hear and believe the truth.

    May Yahweh open your hearts, not only to the truth, but also to the obligation of your part to cooperate in the spreading of this Elijah message for the closing days of this age. Closer cooperation and more constant communication among the Yahwist groups should be maintained. May Yahweh enlarge our vision is my prayer.

HalleluYah!