Welcome to the club and the book of Second Kings.

In chapter one of Second Kings, King Ahiziah, son of Ahab, takes a fall and thinks he's dying.

Rather than consulting God, as he should have done, he tries to get answers

from Baal's above a Philistine God. Well, God's angry, and God's not going to have that. So he blocks

the way to Philista with his power prophet Elijah. And Elijah says Ahiziah is going to die. Ahiziah then

tries to capture Elijah, but God rains fire on the soldiers

and their captain. And then God does it again. And then there's a third captain that comes. He's a little

more humble than the first two. And Elijah goes with him, confronts Ahaziah, and he dies. Ahaziah tries to capture Elijah three times, but God

rains fire on the first two soldiers and their captain, and then the third captain comes in a little

more humble than the first, and Elijah decides he'll go with him. So he then confronts Ahiziah, and dies like he said he would. Ahiziah has no sons and is succeeded

by his brother, Joram. Okay. First and second kings are aptly named because they primarily focus on

the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and particularly whether or not they followed the Lord. However, there was another

cast of characters that were a contrast to the kings. They were the prophets, and they were as

faithful as the kings were unfaithful. Now, the role of the prophets here in kings and throughout

the Bible is to remind the people

of their covenant relationship with God and to call them back to faithfulness when they stray.

They were the keepers of the first and second commandments, which say this, you shall have no other

gods before me, and you shall not make for yourself an image

in the form of anything. The prophets challenge the people to love and serve God alone,

the First Commandment, and they condemned the worship of idols and false gods reinforcing the

Second Commandment. Now, the Prophet Elijah is our current power prophet. He has been

confronting Ahab, Dezabel, Ahaziah, and the prophets of bail, directly challenging idolatry, and calling

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