The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-05-08
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON


meets the King in the palace where
he is accused by the quavering
King of being the 'troubler of
Israel" Too often the trouble
makers in the church or commun-
ity are the very ones who glibly
accuse others of being guilty. This
happened to be the case in Israel.
The fiery prophet stood before
the King and told him to just
bring all the priests of Baal and
AShtoreth to the top of Mount
Carmel and there they would test
the power of each. Elijah agreed
to face all the prophets of the
false gods alone. Let them build
an altar, place thereon a sacrifice
and then call upon their god to
send fire to consume it. Then
Elijah agreed to build an altar,
pour it full of water, and call up
on Jehovah to send fire to con-
sumo the offering. The god who
would send fire it was agreed,
would be the God of Israel.
The Test
The old King agreed to the pro-
position. He called the people,
thousands of them to witness the
test. Then Elijah speaks. He is
alone facing the four hundred and
fifty hostile priests of Baal. He
stands before King Ahab and his
wicked Queen Jezebel. He faces
the eager appealing eyes of the
thousands of Israelites and then
he says, 'How long will you go
limping between the two sides? If
Jehovah be God, follow him; but
if Baal, then follow him." That's
fair.
The pagan priests start first.
They began with a great show
dancing wildly about their altar,
springing up and dropping to the
ground, gashing themselves with
knives, screaming, "Hear us, 0
Baal, hear u.s." But the heather
god does not, cannot answer with
fire - only fire of the flesh.
1t is Elijah's turn. He directs
that a slain bullock be placed on
the stone altar. He directs that
four barrels of water be placed
on the offering. He tells them to do
it the second, and the third time
twelve barrels of water until it
ran over the offering and filled
the trench. Then Elijah stands
quietly by and prays, Hear me,
God! Send fire, and turn back the
hearts of this people from Jeze-
bells gods" The fire fell and con-
Sumed the offering and licked up
the water as the crowd fell to their
knees and their faces in the dust
as they cried, 'He is God" The
hero of the day took the prophets
of Baal down to the brook Kishon
and slew them there, then he said
to Ahab, "Get thee up, eat and
drink for there is a sound of
abundance of rain"
Churches Not Wanted
A churchless world would be
tragic. Israel did not want the re.
lgion of Jehovah. A church in
Sacrament, California was denied
a building permit because it vio-
lated a coming ordinance. One in
Baltimore was denied because it
would impair realty values and
destroy the 'sanctity' of private
residences. One was denied in Nat
chez, Mississippi because of the
inadequate size of the building lot.
One In Detroit was denied because
the court ruled it would be a com.
munity nuisance. Heather gods of
lust and avarice, of envy and NAL
ice, still operate to prevent the
rising spires of houses of God in
Christian America? A baptism of
fire is needed to bring all 'trou.
blers' to their knees that they
might recognize the only one and
true God, the God of love and
mercy.
BASED ON copyrighted outlines
produced by the Division Of Christi
ian Education. National Council of