CHARLATANS CAN’T HIDE BEHIND BIBLICAL APOSTLES & PROPHETS (PART II)

“Elijah Fleeing from Jezebel Proves That Power Belongs to God—Not to Man”

By Akin Ojumu

Isaac Omolehin’s horrifying ordeal at the hands of bandits was the subject of one of my recent commentaries.

I concluded that piece with these words:

“Isaac Omolehin deserves compassion in his suffering. His family deserves safety. The children in that orphanage deserve protection… But none of that requires us to pretend that the contradiction is not there. A man who tells the world that his prayers once sent chairs airborne with people still sitting on them should expect someone, eventually, to ask the obvious question when armed men send him running from his own home: Sir, whatever happened to all that power?”

In response to the write-up, a commenter lamented what he apparently considers the unfortunate modern tendency to scrutinize and fact-check the supernatural claims of so-called “men of God.”

He wrote:

“The same question we would ask Elijah that called down fire from heaven to consume a waterlogged sacrifice and killed 400 prophets of Baal but started running when he heard Jezebel was looking for him. Or the same Jesus who did several miraculous work that John wrote that if they were written the earth would not contain the book was killed like a chicken in the midst of thieves and heaven did not open. Or was it Peter and Paul who wrote so many supernatural powers that Angels delivered them from prisons but Peter was crucified upside down and Paul beheaded and nothing happened. Sometime I wonder why we doubt the supernatural claim of men of God?”

To a considerable extent, this commentary series is an answer to the sentiments expressed in that comment. If the commenter happens to read this, I would encourage him to read the entire series.

In Part I, we addressed the fundamental error of equating modern self-styled “anointed men of God” with Elijah. 

Such a comparison collapses distinctions that Scripture itself carefully maintains. 

Elijah was not merely an unusually gifted preacher who had somehow accumulated an industrial quantity of “anointing.” He was a covenant prophet occupying a unique, divinely appointed place in redemptive history.

Today, however, I want to examine the specific argument that Elijah’s flight from Jezebel somehow provides cover for modern miracle merchants whose extravagant boasts suddenly evaporate when ordinary danger comes knocking.

It does not provide such a cover. 

In fact, Elijah’s flight proves almost the exact opposite.

ELIJAH DID NOT OWN THE POWER HE DISPLAYED

Elijah’s flight from Jezebel demonstrates that he did not possess God’s power as a permanent supernatural ability available for deployment whenever he pleased.

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah stands before the prophets of Baal. He calls upon the LORD. Fire falls from heaven. The sacrifice is consumed. The wood is consumed. The stones are consumed. Even the water is licked up.

It is one of the most dramatic displays of divine power in the Old Testament. And yet, almost immediately afterward, Jezebel threatens Elijah’s life.

What does the great prophet do?

Does he stand at the palace gates and announce, “Does Jezebel know who I am?” Does he thunder, “Does she know the anointing I carry?” Does he declare, “I called down fire yesterday. Let her come near me and see what happens!” 

Does Elijah organize an emergency prophetic conference entitled: HOW TO ACTIVATE THE FIRE DIMENSION OF YOUR MANTLE?

No.

Scripture says:

1 Kings 19:3

“Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life.”

The man ran.

And that apparent contrast between Mount Carmel and the wilderness is not an embarrassment to the biblical narrative. It is part of its theology. Because Elijah had already told us precisely why the fire fell.

Listen carefully to his prayer:

1 Kings 18:36

“Let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.”

There it is.

“AT YOUR WORD.”

That phrase demolishes a great deal of modern “anointing” mythology.

Elijah was the servant. God was the power. Elijah’s authority was derivative. It was never autonomous. The fire on Mount Carmel was not Elijah demonstrating a supernatural ability he personally possessed. It was God acting through His servant according to His sovereign purpose.

Elijah did not own the fire. He did not carry the fire around inside his spiritual briefcase. He could not withdraw it from the heavenly ATM whenever trouble appeared. God answered Elijah on Mount Carmel because God had ordained to vindicate His own name before apostate Israel.

That did not turn Elijah into a walking arsenal of divine omnipotence.

THE MAN WHO CALLED DOWN FIRE COULD STILL BE AFRAID

This is precisely why 1 Kings 19 is so important. 

The man through whom God had just performed one of the most spectacular miracles in Scripture remained a frail human being. He could become afraid. He could become exhausted. He could become discouraged. He could despair.

James later makes the point explicitly:

James 5:17

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.”

Read that again.

A man. 

Not a demigod. Not a spiritual superhero. Not a human generator of divine electricity. Not the owner of some celestial power station.

A man. A servant. An instrument.

Mount Carmel did not make Elijah invincible.

And this is precisely where much modern theology of “anointing” goes off the rails. 

People reason backward from the miracle. God performed something extraordinary through Elijah. Therefore, they conclude, Elijah must have possessed extraordinary supernatural power within himself.

But 1 Kings 19 wrecks that argument.

If Elijah personally possessed a permanent fire-from-heaven ability, Jezebel should have been the least of his problems. He had just watched fire consume an altar. What was one angry queen?

Yet Elijah ran. 

Why? 

Because the fire belonged to God. Not Elijah. God sovereignly answered at Carmel. That did not mean Elijah now possessed an unlimited miracle-working facility that he could deploy against every subsequent threat.

There is an enormous difference between these two statements:

God can work powerfully through a man.

And:

That man therefore possesses divine power at his personal disposal.

Those propositions are not remotely the same thing.

FROM MOUNT CARMEL TO THE BROOM TREE

The transition from 1 Kings 18 to 1 Kings 19 is almost jarring.

In chapter 18:

Elijah confronts a king. Elijah confronts hundreds of false prophets. Elijah mocks Baal. Elijah prays. Fire falls. Israel falls on its face.

But in chapter 19:

Jezebel sends a death threat. Elijah runs. He enters the wilderness. He sits underneath a broom tree. And he asks God to let him die.

1 Kings 19:4

“It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life.”

What happened to the mighty man of God?

Nothing.

He was never mighty in himself. God was mighty. That is the point.

The Elijah standing triumphantly on Mount Carmel and the Elijah collapsed beneath the broom tree are the same man. His so-called “anointing level” did not suddenly drop from Level 9 to Level 2.

Scripture is simply allowing us to see what the human instrument looks like when God is not presently performing the extraordinary miracle.

And notice how God responds.

God does not say: “Elijah, where is your anointing?”

He does not say: “Activate your mantle.”

He does not tell him: “Release fire against Jezebel.”

He does not instruct him: “Make prophetic declarations until something shifts in the atmosphere.”

Elijah sleeps. An angel gives him food. He sleeps again. He receives more food. God ministers to an exhausted servant.

There is something wonderfully human about that scene.

No spiritual theatrics. No performance. No swagger. Just a weary man being sustained by his God.

And when Elijah later complains that he alone remains faithful, God reminds him that He has preserved seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

1 Kings 19:18

“Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

God had preserved them. Not Elijah. Elijah was not carrying the kingdom on his shoulders. God was.

THIS IS WHERE THE MODERN POWER RHETORIC COLLAPSES

Now consider the modern preacher who boasts:

“I carry unusual power.”

“There is an extraordinary anointing upon my life.”

“Demons know me.”

“My words carry fire.”

“I release power.”

“There is an increase in the anointing upon my life, and you can collect your portion.”

Then danger arrives. Suddenly he needs police protection. Security officers. Bodyguards. Evacuation. Doctors. Lawyers. Hospital treatment. Emergency flights. A fortified compound. Perhaps even an armored vehicle.

Now, there is absolutely nothing shameful about any of those things. There is nothing ungodly about fleeing danger. There is nothing spiritually deficient about seeking medical attention. There is nothing unbiblical about calling the police when armed criminals threaten your life.

The contradiction arises elsewhere. It arises when a man has spent years cultivating the impression that supernatural power resides within him as a continuing personal capability.

That is where the problem begins.

Because Elijah never made such a claim.

Elijah never said: 

“Because God used me to call down fire yesterday, I now carry fire-power against anybody who threatens me tomorrow.”

That theology has been manufactured by people who have turned divine sovereignty into spiritual celebrity.

Elijah fleeing from Jezebel therefore does not expose Elijah as a fraud. It exposes the false theology people have imposed upon Elijah.

THE APOSTLES SHOW EXACTLY THE SAME PATTERN

Paul performed extraordinary miracles. Yet when people plotted to kill him in Damascus, Paul escaped by being lowered through a window in a basket.

2 Corinthians 11:33

“Through a window in a basket I was let down along the wall and escaped his hands.”

Think about that.

Paul did not stand before his enemies and announce: “Touch not the Lord’s anointed!”

He did not declare: “Anyone who comes against this apostolic grace will die before sunrise!”

He got into a basket. And they lowered him down a wall. So much for spiritual swagger.

Why did Paul not simply strike everybody blind? After all, blindness had occurred through his apostolic ministry before.

The answer is obvious. Miraculous power was never Paul’s personal property. God remained sovereign.

Peter likewise performed miracles. Yet when Herod imprisoned him in Acts 12, Peter did not activate some internal reservoir of apostolic power and walk through the prison walls. God sovereignly sent an angel and delivered him.

And here is the part that should permanently destroy the idea that anointing guarantees supernatural immunity:

In the very same chapter, James, the brother of John, was executed by Herod.

Peter was delivered. James was killed. Same Lord. Same Gospel. Same apostolic office. Same Church. Different providential outcomes.

That makes absolutely no sense if “anointing” is some supernatural force permanently deposited inside certain elite Christians to guarantee their protection.

But it makes perfect sense if God remains sovereign over when, where, how, and through whom He chooses to exercise miraculous power.

POWER BELONGS TO GOD

Elijah fleeing Jezebel therefore teaches something exceedingly important.

Being used powerfully by God does not make a human being powerful in himself.

Elijah could call down fire when God ordained fire. He could announce drought when God ordained drought. He could participate in miraculous provision when God ordained provision.  But Elijah could not put the omnipotence of God into his pocket and pull it out whenever circumstances became inconvenient. 

God’s power remained God’s power. Always.

So, when someone argues: “Elijah was powerful, therefore modern preachers can legitimately say, ‘I carry power,’” 1 Kings 19 gives the devastating response.

Elijah called down fire from heaven in chapter 18. Then Elijah ran for his life from Jezebel in chapter 19. 

Not because God had become powerless. Not because Elijah had misplaced his mantle. Not because his “anointing had reduced.” And certainly not because he failed to “activate the fire dimension.”

Elijah ran because he had never possessed God’s omnipotence in the first place. He was a servant through whom God sometimes chose to act extraordinarily. And when God did not act in that particular extraordinary manner, Elijah remained exactly what James said he was:

“A man with a nature like ours.”

That distinction is everything.

There is a world of difference between God using a man powerfully and a man possessing the power of God.

One is biblical. The other is the mythology upon which much of the modern celebrity-anointing industry is built. And 1 Kings 19 burns that mythology to the ground.

The fire belongs to God. It always did. Elijah knew it. The apostles knew it. It is the modern spiritual celebrity who appears to have forgotten.