Heralds Digest

  “ Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again .”” I Kings 18 : 37 NKJV The primary objective of all provoked proclaimers of the gospel is the turning of halted hearts to holy hearts. This is because the slightest displeasure or discouragement in life can halt any heart’s relationship with the Holy God. For example, when Elijah’s heart himself became halted, he ran away from Jezebel and turned to God for a suicide mission, rather than seeking God for sustenance. But here, Elijah’s humbleness was focussed on turning the halted hearts of Ahab and the people of Israel from the worship of Baals to the worship of God. It implies that halted hearts do not have any proven benefits in support of their patronage of idols or man-made gods, including materialism, socialism, and populism. Their actions and dispositions are merely a reflection of faithlessness, a statement of unbelief, and a declarati...

  “ Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.” Acts 17 : 18 NKJV The preaching of the gospel has always been strange news to sinners, backsliders, and the unrighteous systems of this world. Those who must dare to preach the gospel must be provoked by passion for souls and obedience to the mandate. Like Paul and his coworkers before the citizens of Athens in the New Testament, Elijah in the Old Testament was provoked by the need to preach the gospel to Ahab and the backslided people of Israel. Therefore, the three common lifestyles of provoked proclaimers include (1) being treated as strange fellows and babblers; (2) being threatened by exhaustion and depletion of the basic things of life; and (3) being blessed by consistent heavenly resources at the time of needs. Unfortunately, those who are...