I love the Bible re-accountment of Elijah, and his work as a sole surviving prophet of Israel. I love how God did so many amazing things through this wanted man. He wasn't wanted because he had broken some law, no he was wanted because he loved God.

I would love to be a person so on fire for Jesus, that everywhere I went people would say, "There goes that Christian... He's crazy because he believes that the only way to go to heaven is through the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, I just hate him so much, that intolerant jerk. We should make it illegal to for him to be like that. We should kill him, so that there wont be any more like him."

That would be great, to be able to stand for Christ in the midst of any and all oppression. To declare aloud "Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and NO ONE gets to the Father except through Him." And for people to hear that and think it intolerant, would be correct. Christianity is not a belief of tolerance. Its a belief of faith in Christ Jesus that He died as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (past, present, and future), allowing us a relationship with a Holy God, instead of complete and udder destruction and eternity in hell. That belief is the one and only way for someone to get to Heaven, it is very intolerant.
Instead of the more common belief of the world that as long as your a "good"(what constitutes "good" in this fallen world?) person you can go to Heaven. Well the heaven that they are going to is not the Heaven I would like to go to. A heaven where there is no glorification of God in all His splendor, no endless praising of God, no New Jerusalem, just hangin' out with all the "good" people, who did "good" things according to their own opinions of "good." With no real belief in anything, no care for others eternal security, not wanting anything except for themselves, and for others to say "What a good person. I hope to chill with them in heaven some day, playin' my harp." Bleh...

Back to Elijah, In I Kings 18:20-40 Elijah is talking to King Ahab, and King Ahab says,

"Is that you (Elijah), O troubler of Israel?"

Elijah's response is,

"I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals."

No fear in Elijah, he's talking to the king of Israel, he stands firm in the truth of God. Whomever he talks to. Then he issues a command,

"Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table."

First you think, why is the king even listening to this guy still, he just totally bad mouthed him directly to his face. This king has already killed most of the prophets of God, why not one more. This just shows how great God is, in that one could stand in front of a king and tell him he is wrong.

So all the false prophets were gathered together, along with all of Israel on Mt. Carmel (great name by the way, we're going down candy cane lane next time). And Elijah said,

“How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.”

He's like "Dude, ya'll can't be like 'I worship the LORD', and then the next minute turn and start worshiping Baal. Ya'll gotta choose." Thats like the people who are like "I'm a Christian but I believe in evolution too", or "I'm a Christian, but I like some of the Buddhist beliefs too." That's basically saying, I don't really trust in God to be my one and only, He's just not "big" enough to have created the earth in 6 days, or He's just not wise enough to think of this philosophy. Guys(gals too), God made it all... how is it so difficult to read the first freakin' verse of the Bible you "believe" in and still say evolution is the truth.

Well just like most people nowadays react when confronted with this sin, Israel "responded" appropriately,

"But the people answered him not a word."

They knew they had sinned, they knew they were in the wrong, they had no answer for their polytheistic ways.

Then Elijah challenged the people and their "prophets",

“I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”

The way Elijah phrased this, he was already secure in who would win this challenge, "...and the God who answers by fire, He is God." I think that is awesome, to be so secure in one's faith that they are unafraid to blatantly point out the outcome before the challenge has even begun. That's like me going to the first Angels game of the season and saying before the first pitch is thrown, "Hey, you pit your teams against mine, and when the Angels have scored enough runs, we'll call them the world champions." That's giving them everything before anything has even started.

And all Israel responded in a "can't wait to see this fashion",

“It is well spoken.”

Don't be too excited, your about to see an amazing thing happen, false god vs. The LORD. Saturday all-day PPV event, call your local cable provider for details. Held at beautiful Mt. Carmel, bring the kids, its a great family event. Baal vs. The Creator of the Universe. Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!

Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal,

“Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”

Nice of him to give them first go. Builds up the suspense a little bit. "This guy is nuts, Baal is gonna torch this thing and he wont even get a chance to try." Read on.

So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.

Hmm... I wonder whats going on... "But there was no voice; no one answered." Maybe jumping jacks might help, you know gets the blood flowing, maybe Baal doesn't answer unless your in top physical condition. Read on.

And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.”

Now Elijah, you'll get your turn, you don't have to be rude. This wasn't necessarily supposed to be mean, he was just pointing out how some of their beliefs in Baal were goofy and dumb, for a god to be sleeping, traveling, busy, or meditating is fairly ridiculous, because how is this god supposed to be a god if he is napping. I guess you gotta get in touch with his assistant and make an appointment for some fire from nowhere.

So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention."

Baal must be commanding fire somewhere else, but we'll get ya'll some band-aids anyways. Now its Elijah's turn.

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.

Whats wrong with this guy... water won't burn. He must be trying to make a lame excuse for when his prayers go unanswered. 'The wood was too wet.", etc... Crazy old Elijah, too many raven burgers, they've gotten to him. And where does he think we'll get this water, there is a drought going on...

Then Elijah prayed,

And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

I love this prayer. He has the earnest desire for Israel to turn back to God and away from the idolatry. And that last word of the prayer is sad... again. Not just turning their hearts back to God, but having turned away so many times in the past that that word "again" has to be used. I can't believe how unbelieving a nation such as Israel could become after witnessing such great and miraculous things. It just makes me want to scream. But that wont help.

Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

Beautiful! The fire of the LORD burned up everything, even the dust. The dust! And even more beautiful, it "licked up" all the water that had over flowed into the trench around the altar. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and see just how amazing this act was. But with the Bible, and a good imagination I can get some idea, but nowhere close to what actually happened.

Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”

Oh... so now you believe... it only took one fantastic miracle, oh no what... God currently has a drought going... oh and then theres only The Exodus, David vs. Goliath, etc... God was constantly working miracles, and ya'll refused to believe. Ya'll decided "you" knew better than God.

And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.

Fantastic, get rid of them while they're in one place. Also while the people are all gung ho for God again. But it will fade... we all know it will fade.

I look at Elijah and see how one can be a fantastic witness for God in any circumstance. I wish I had the boldness of Elijah when he stood before Ahab and spoke the truth. To proclaim God as the LORD of all to all that were there, and for all that read or hear about it later. Thank you Elijah for your love for God and your desire for Israel to return to Him. I see where John the Baptist is Elijah returned. His only desire was for Israel to turn back to God and see that the Messiah was soon coming.

We should all be like Elijah or John the Baptist, with our desire to be like Christ and seeking Him, so strong that we want nothing more than for others to have that same desire, no matter the cost, be it ridicule, embarrassment, suffering, or hatred.

Thanks for reading, I gotta get to sleep.