Unauthorized Fire

Author: Michael Gott

There is an incident in the book of Leviticus which is unknown to many people, even Bible students, of a tragedy in the life of Aaron’s two sons. No sons could have a father in a more important position, for he was the High Priest in the holy tabernacle. Yet in spite of it all, they offended God and suffered a terrible fate. “. . . fire came out from the presence of the Lord, and consumed them, and they died . . .” Why such terrible and devastating severity?

They had offered to God forbidden, profane fire (Leviticus 10:1). Moses defined their offense in detail, “You must distinguish between the holy and the profane, between the unclean and clean,” and you must uphold God’s standards. (Leviticus 10:10)

God has specific instructions of how He wants His name presented to the world. He wants things done His way; not more and not less, but His way and only His way.

I remember a humorous story of a handsome man very much in love with a beautiful young woman. He learned it was her birthday. He said to her on the telephone, “I’ll send you a long-stemmed rose for every one of your birthdays!” Without knowing, his florist thought that because the man was such a good customer, he would do something extra for him. So he added ten roses to the order. The young man never understood why the relationship was never the same again!

Sometimes anything extra is not a good thing but a bad thing! God wants fire but not profane, false, forbidden or unauthorized fire.

What is the equivalent of this today? It happens when the evangelist lowers the standards and compromises the gospel of Christ. We must admit there is today a popular brand of Christianity that gives people enough experience to make them happy but not enough truth to make them holy. Some peddle a popular brand of religion that deals with surface issues but never gets down to the root of the matter that changes the character of people. Jeremiah, speaking for God, called such people in his day “prophets of deceit” (Jeremiah 13:26). These people used the same words and phrases that God gave but stopped short of saying that God demands repentance and a holy life. Comfortable compromise is far too common today.

Warren Wiersbe sees the reality today, “We no longer confront the world the way Moses confronted Pharaoh or John the Baptist confronted Herod. We stopped being ambassadors and became diplomats, and then bragged about our acceptance by famous people.” Possibly, we all need to be reminded that a synonym for idolatry is embracing substitutes instead of God.

For example, there is a form of religious pragmatism that concludes if it works, then God is blessing it. But once we make the “profane fire” of getting results the chief aim no matter what—there is no limit to where a person will end up and what compromises a person will make later. If numbers are a substitute for God’s presence, then we need to clearly hear the impression of A. W. Tozer, “The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.” What about integrity in evangelism? Yes, unauthorized fire indeed!

Is it not possible to make people a means to an end? Getting more results may not prove anything other than that we have compromised or coerced! There are many dangers with numbers, and one is competition. Who had the largest crowd? Who had the most decisions? And soon we are involved in manipulation as a way of proving who is most blessed! Too often surefire methods are not based on a biblical theology or a New Testament standard. Someone said if the medical profession operated with the same compromising attitude of some ministers, we would all be dead!

There are some who have become hijacked by their own supercharged egos.

Many godly churchmen in Eastern Europe and Africa now regret the day when some American evangelists arrived with their video cameras. It now seems it was more of a photo opportunity than a serious desire to see lives changed. So, to these enterprising evangelists it was “anything” to get people to come forward in front of the photo lens. One evangelist in Africa, at the end of his sermon, said, “Come, come, and get a nice free Bible.” And, of course people living on a dollar a day came like a hoard of locust. Could that be called profane? It was done for the benefit of the camera effect.

There is also the false fire of high-pressure invitations which become an evident form of manipulation. And even worse, it may create a cynical resentment of the gospel itself. Christ would have never done it!

We do not try to trick people into believing— we are not interested in fooling anyone. We never try to get anyone to believe that the Bible teaches what it doesn’t. All such shameful methods we reject. We stand in the presence of God as we speak and so we tell the truth, as all who know us will agree. II Corinthians 4:2, Living Bible

There is a difference between being popular and being godly. Erma Bombeck helps us here. She said, “Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one, and Helen Keller is the other.” Is success our “profane fire”? Let the quote arrest us all; hear with an open heart the words of the Scottish man of God George MacDonald: “A man may sink by such slow degrees that, long after he is a devil, he may go on being a good churchman or a good dissenter and thinking himself a good Christian.” That eclipse happens far too easily!

Thank God for prophets who speak the truth. “The last word of our Lord to the church is not the Great Commission,” said dear old Vance Havner. “The Great Commission is indeed our program to the end of the age, but our Lord’s last word to the church is, ‘Repent.’” Thank you, Vance!

One evangelist was well known for his temper flashes. Before a large crowd, once, he shouted his contempt at teenage boys sitting alone atop the football stadium. They were talking while he preached, and he exploded. Later, when he was confronted, he simply excused it by saying, “I just got in the flesh!” Could that be considered an example today of profane or unauthorized or even unholy flames breaking out of control?

But just as troublesome, the man who suddenly canceled at the last minute an engagement saying “God had led him to do it,” and yet it was later discovered that the real reason was a better opportunity had presented itself! Of course, profane fire burning in a person’s personality helps him to justify that decision without any regard for pure Christian integrity.

But today as never before all evangelists must remember people want to see that our lives are a visual proof that the message we preach has actually changed our lives. We must be marked by Christlikeness and the kind of holiness of which the Bible speaks. Our world today is wanting to see people of real Christlike integrity. We must never forget that they are amazed when they see it. Mother Teresa was an example of it as is Billy Graham, who was called in a secular newspaper “Mr. Clean.” We are called to be holy people unstained by the moral evils of the world system. This includes our lifestyle, our moral standards, and our conduct in private and public.

I suppose all of us should ask—what should we do now? Maybe we should face things honestly and call things by the right name and turn to God, get quiet before Him and repent from the heart. God still restores and revives. Because he is a God of unbelievable patience, we have not yet suffered the fate of the sons of Aaron. However, the last chapter of our ministry is not yet written, and we all need reverential fear.

What is the standard?—Simply this, we are to be as holy as the God who called us is holy! We are to be people set apart for Him, and the proof of it is in our conduct and conversation. The acid test of true faith is expressed in a continuous passionate quest for New Testament holiness and godliness that penetrates every area of our lives. We must maintain God’s standard and “distinguish between the holy and the profane . . .”

Through the years people touched by God have been called “ablaze for God” or “burning with God’s Spirit” and as “a flaming servant of the Lord.” For example, David Brainerd, the evangelist to the American Indians, exclaimed, “Oh, that I might be a flaming fire in the service of the Lord.”

When God puts His flaming Spirit deep into our personalities, He naturally burns within us with Pentecostal-like fire. Not only do we become ablaze, but we set others ablaze with the authentic fire of God. Let such holy fire burn on and never burn out.

God would have us distinguish and clearly see the contrast—unholy fire and holy fire, the fire that profanes and the fire that purifies as it burns; let us all seek it.

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