Only Jehovah can ignite wet wood!
Today, we toured the summit of Mount Carmel where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal and proved that pagan gods where no match for Jehovah!
Elijah challenged them to a duel: let’s see whose god can ignite a fire! So the false prophets called on their god, shouting and cutting themselves to show their desperation. Elijah mocked them, saying that maybe their god is on a journey or maybe he is using the bathroom (I Kings 18:27)! After they were exhausted, Elijah asked that water be poured on the altar to make sure that no one will think that the anticipated miracle was the result of spontaneous combustion. Then he prayed, and the fire fell and even licked up the trenches of water!
There is a lesson here: the world has the right to ask us to authenticate our message. We do that today, not by miracles--but by demonstrating the transforming power of the Gospel “which is the power of God unto salvation.” Today we are awash with ideas and seminars on church growth, emphasizing “strategies” “techniques” and “creative advertizing.” We must return to the early church, whose growth can be attributed to one overwhelming truth. The pagans saw that the true Gospel changed lives.
Let the skeptics know that even though today our God does not answer with fire, He does answer with power. And in His presence all false gods are exposed.