In the Old Testament, priests were called by God to offer sacrifices unto God, and they had to follow a set of guidelines in order for it to be accepted by God. These sacrifices were normally for the remission of the sins of the nation of Israel, and if it pleased the LORD, He would forgive them of their transgressions. However, if the priests of Israel chose to exalt themselves in pride and do the sacrifices their way, or if they tried to follow the routines of the sacrifices that idolatrous people made to their idols, then they would only reap a curse of destruction.

In Leviticus 10:1, Nadab and Abihu, who were the sons of Israel, tested God by doing just that. They offered strange fire unto God, meaning that it was something that was not in God’s plan or arrangement. Since it was totally idolatrous in nature, they were cursed with death, and Moses commanded Aaron, Eleazor, and their sons to not even mourn over their deaths because their deaths were the result of the judgment of God. His fire was either to consume the sacrifice as being accepted or the priests as being a sign of judgment, and in this case, judgment had come upon the priesthood.

In today’s time, a great deal of strange fire is being offered to our God, which is resulting in a curse upon our nation. The sacrifices that many in the church are offering to God are idolatrous in nature. They are sacrifices such as compromising the gospel in order to win a bigger crowd. They compromise the truths that are found written in the Word of God in hopes of earning the tithe money of wealthy people who are publicly living in sin. Then, there are others are who offer strange fire because the fire that they have is not the fire of the Holy Ghost. They have learned how to mimic a shout, dance, and even a tongue to appear holy when they are absolutely unholy. They party on Saturday nights and sing on the frontline of the praise team on Sunday mornings, which causes more harm than good. They try to fake it until they make it, but this type of counterfeit Christianity will not last. The only way for the fire of the Holy Ghost to come back into the church is if we lay our own lives down on the altar and become a living sacrifice unto God, giving up our sins to become more like Him (Romans 12:1-2).

Finally, we have strange fire in our churches because we have pastors who are burning in anger and hate rather than consumed by the fire of God’s love. They are not true shepherds in the Kingdom of God because they only beat up and abuse their flock with their words. They gossip about other people who attend their church when they miss a single service. They try to compete with other churches when they are called to be on the same team. Instead of reaching out to the lost and add more members, their vision is to take members away from other churches. They do not seek the power of the Holy Spirit, but they depend so solely upon their own definition of holiness, which is manmade tradition, to produce a self-proclaimed anointing. We must be cautious of these things because this strange fire will keep the Holy Ghost fire from falling! We must repent of our sins and purify the priesthood of the church by living lives of prayer, fasting, and holiness unto God if we want God to move like never before. Revival does not start with the world, but it begins with the church that goes out into the world, compelling all of the lost to come and find salvation in Him!