1 Kings 18 [The Message]

King Ahab hated Elijah. He sought to kill him. Ahab thought Elijah was Israel’s problem. Elijah KNEW Ahab and his idolatrous ways was the real problem. To prove his point, Elijah challenged Ahab to assemble all the prophets of Baal (450) and other assorted idol prophets (400) and have a showdown. The God (god) who showed up with fire to consume an offering was indeed the REAL God.

The prophets of Baal went first. Nothing was happening to their offering, so Elijah began taunting them. “Maybe your god is asleep. Cry out louder.” They even began cutting themselves to elicit a response from Baal. They used every religious trick they knew to no avail.

Then, Elijah took action. He requested that his offering be soaked with water. God sent down fire from heaven and licked up the entire offering and the water and the stones and everything. Elijah, with the support of all the people, promptly took the 850 false prophets down the mountain to the Kishon stream and slaughtered them. Elijah was good with fire.