It's biblical, remember Elijah and how he challenged Baal (Satan) and his worshipers? And fire rained down from heaven and devoured them all?
.
Here's a nice simple rendition of it.
It's kind of interesting to me that the author calls it a "Contest" and God led me to call mine a "Challenge".
And, after I started to write it for the webpage,
I noticed that my last name, Cahall, has the same 5 letters as the first 5 letters in the word Challenge.
The word Challenge almost spells my last name in the first 5 letters.
That was kind of cool to me.
Like it says in the story below, this is just a little "challenge" to show who is the REAL God
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1 Kings 18:17-46
THE GREAT CONTEST
A story about Elijah and the Prophets of Baal
by Linda Edwards
The drought conditions were continuing to get
worse. There was hardly any water to be found ANYWHERE.
The creeks had dried up LONG ago, and the rivers had become
patchy mud puddles. Food was scarce for people and for animals.
In fact, many of the animals had already DIED because of the
shortage of grass.
King Ahab was beginning to worry about his OWN herds of
cattle and flocks of sheep. He called Obadiah, one of his
servants, to his side.
"Obadiah," he said, "something MUST be done before all the
animals die. We must find grass and water. You go in one
direction and I'll go the other. There MUST be grass SOMEwhere."
So King Ahab and Obadiah set off in different directions, in
search of fresh grass and water.
* * *
While Obadiah was looking here and there, trying to find mud
puddles and grass, he saw a man walking toward him. "I wonder who
that could be," he thought to himself. As the man came closer,
Obadiah recognized him. "Why, that's ELIJAH!" he exclaimed out
loud and ran to meet him.
"ELIJAH! ELIJAH! Is that really YOU?" he asked excitedly.
"Yes, I am Elijah, and I want you to do me a big favor."
"What is it, sir?" Obadiah asked politely.
"I want you to go tell King Ahab that I am here and want to
see him," Elijah explained.
Obadiah instantly became fearful. This was NOT something he
wanted to do. "How can you even THINK of asking me to do such a
thing?" Obadiah asked with astonishment. "Don't you know that
King Ahab HATES you? Don't you know that the King is blaming YOU
because there has not been any rain for all these years? Besides
that, the King has been LOOKING for you. Every time he thinks he
knows where you are, you leave and no one can find you. If I tell
him you are here, then you will leave again; he will want to kill you
AND me. I'm sorry, Elijah. I just cannot do it!"
Elijah looked at Obadiah and patiently explained, "It will
be fine, Obadiah. I promise you that I will be here. I PROMISE
you that I WILL see the King. Now please, just go and tell him I
wish to speak to him."
* * **
"YOU! YOU! YOU are the one that is causing trouble for
Israel!" King Ahab shouted in anger. "YOU are the reason we have
had no rain!"
"No, King," Elijah replied. "YOU are the cause for
all this trouble. You have turned away from Jehovah,
the one true God.
You are worshipping the false god, Baal. You
have caused the people of Israel to sin by worshiping idols. YOU
have brought all this trouble to Israel."
Elijah continued his speech. "I want you to gather 450
prophets of Baal, and 400 prophets of of Ashtoreth, and have them
meet me at Mount Carmel."
King Ahab did as Elijah said and gathered the prophets. A
large crowd of people gathered also to see what was going to
happen.
Elijah stood before the crowd. "How long are you going to
try to worship Baal and Jehovah? You cannot serve more than one
god. If Baal is God, worship him! If Jehovah is God, worship Him!
You MUST make a decision. You must choose one or the other."
Then Elijah said, "We are going to have a contest to see who
is the REAL God." He told them to bring enough wood to build two
altars - one for Jehovah, and one for Baal. He told them to bring
animals for the sacrifice - one for Jehovah and one for Baal.
The 450 prophets of Baal built their altar. They
prepared the animal for the sacrifice. Then they
started praying: "O Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear us!" From morning
until noon they kept up the shouting.
Elijah was taunting and making fun of them: "What's wrong?
Can't your god HEAR you? Has he taken a trip? Why isn't he
answering you? Perhaps he is talking to someone else. Maybe you
should scream LOUDER."
Midday had passed, and now it was getting late into the
evening, and the prophets of Baal were still shouting and
screaming at the top of their voices. Baal STILL was not
listening.
Elijah told the people who were looking on to gather around
him. He took 12 stones for his altar, used the wood that was
brought, and prepared the animal for the sacrifice. Then he did a
very strange thing indeed.
He told the people to bring him four barrels of water. It
sounded pretty strange to them, but they DID bring the water. He
poured the water on the altar and on the sacrifice.
He told them to bring him FOUR MORE barrels of
water. "What's wrong with this guy? Doesn't he know
there is a shortage of water?" they were mumbling among
themselves. But they obediently brought the water. He poured the
water on the altar and on the sacrifice.
That wasn't enough for Elijah. He told them to bring him
FOUR MORE barrels of water. "How much water is he going to
waste?" someone whispered. Again they did as they were told and
brought the water. He poured that water on the altar and on the
sacrifice. The sacrifice was soaked with water. Water was running
off the wood, onto the stones, and onto the ground. He dug a
ditch around the altar and filled it with water also.
Then he began to pray a simple prayer:
"Lord God, let the people know that You are
the true God of Israel and I am your servant.
Let them know that I have done these things
because You told me to do them. Hear me, O
Lord, so these people will know that You are
the Lord God, and they will serve You again."
SUDDENLY, fire came down from heaven! It burned up the
sacrifice! It burned up the WOOD! It burned up the STONES! It
EVEN licked up all the water that was in the ditch around the
altar!
When the people saw it, they dropped to the ground in fear
and cried out, "The Lord, He is the God; THE LORD, HE IS THE GOD!"
Then Elijah turned to King Ahab and said, "Get up! Eat and
drink! There will be an abundance of rain!"
So King Ahab had something to eat and drink, and Elijah took
his servant with him to the top of Mount Carmel to pray to God
and wait for the rain. "Look toward the sea and tell me if you
see rain," Elijah said to his servant. The servant peered into
the distance but didn't see any rain.
Elijah kept praying.
"Look again," Elijah told him. He looked again, but still
there was no rain.
Elijah continued praying.
He looked six times, and each time there was no rain. Not
even a small cloud was in sight.
Elijah prayed one more time
and asked the servant to look again.
This time the servant saw a little cloud way out
in the distance over the sea. "Run quickly!" Elijah
commanded. "Go tell King Ahab to get his chariot ready and get
off the mountain before the rain starts."
It was just a little while before the sky became dark
with clouds.
The wind began to blow.
There was a drop of rain...
...then another.
...then another.
Then
there
was a
GREAT
DOWNPOUR.
THE DROUGHT WAS FINALLY OVER.
And everyone in Israel knew for certain that Jehovah was the
REAL God and Baal was just pretending to be a god.
* * *
REMEMBER: Everyone must choose between good and bad. It is
impossible to serve God and the devil.
". . . choose you this day whom ye will serve . . ." (Joshua
24:15).
LET'S PRAY
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Dear God, thank You for loving me even though
sometimes I make bad choices. Help me to
always love You more than anything else and
want to serve You with all my heart.
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
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