The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-02-08
Sunday School Column
Side Lights,o on Next Sundays Les
son for Teachers and Pupils
BY CHAs. K. MEYERS
Feb. 12.-Elijah,S Victory Over the
Prophetsoof Baal Kings IS, l, 2, H.

PrOphetS,Of Baai.. Kings H. L. z, IL
40.
Our lesson this, week presents one
of the most exciting and eXtraordin-
airy Incidents of the Old Testament
times. The children will. in particu-
lar, be interested. Once we'll in mind,
the history of the overcoming of the
worship. of the heather. diety Baal, and
the overthrow of his prophets, it will
never be forgotten.
Calling to mind for a. moment the
condition .of affairs in the Kingdom of
Israel at the time Of our lesson, we
will remember that the wicked King
Ahab and his abandoned queen, Leze-
bel, were ruling, Israel, and that she
had killed. all the priests or leaders
of the worship of the true God. Things
were in terrible shape, and the people
becoming more stepped in abominable
idolatry. each. year. 1t was a time
when. somet thing. out Of the ordinary
must be resorted to-, having in mind
to bring the people back to sense
of the true Cod.
Now appears the great prophet,
Elijah, and confronting the king he
proclaims there shall be no more rain
until such a time as he wills it back
again.. 1t is now some three years
since that meeting, Of the king and the
prophet, and there is now another con-
| fronting OF the two men. Ahab,. as
was most natural, accused Elijah of
being the cause of the, drouth and the
| famine. Elijah came back with the
true reply to the effect that the king
by his wickedness was the cause of
| the great calamity.
Knowing that the times called for
decisive action, and the doing of
something which would thoroughly
convince the people of the supremacy
of the true God, Elijah proposed that
a test be made in a way which all
could see. whether Baal really could
and would answer prayer. He staked
everything on such tesz. and it was
made. The details we will not re-
count in FULL except to say that both
Elijah and some $50 priests Of Raal
prepared the meat of cattle and then
prayed THAT fire come and burn the
lSQInl m Tho No.
to see the test. The Baal priests
inst tried what they could do, and
they took long time, finally giving
up from physical exhaustion. Then
came the terrible scene when Elijah
prayed for consuming fire. with conf
dence that his petitions would be grant
| ed. The assembled people were
amazed to behold fire falling on the
pile of stones where the meat had
been laid, burning up meat. stones,
wood and licking up water in trench
about the altar. Elijah had asked
the people, TO make choice, saying,
How long halt We between two opin-
1OnS!' When they saw the fire and
it's works the people cried OUT, "rhe
Lord is God, the Lord is Cod
We now consider briefly what great
| truths come to us by the. study of this
part of the bible. 1st How often
we see men and women defying Gods
laws, both moral and physical, and
when the natural consequences come,
they revile God, blaming Him for
their troubles, when all have come
because of their wrong doing. Ahab
blamed Elijah and his God for the
famine when his own wrongs had been
the prime cause. End. AS did Elijah
of old, so do the pastors and the chris
tian leaders of today, call out "Why
halt We between two opinions. but
serve the true God now The great
leader Joshua in his day had put the
same truth this way, Choose you this