After a 3-and-a-half-year drought God told the prophet Elijah to go and have a show-down with King Ahab over his pagan Baal worship. Elijah met up with the chief of Ahab's palace Obadiah, but he was reluctant to announce Elijah's presence. However Obadiah plucked up courage, told Ahab that Elijah wanted to see him, and so they met with Ahab insulting Elijah as a trouble maker. The prophet replied that the trouble maker was him abandoning God's commands and following the Baals. So Elijah threw down the gauntlet to Ahab to bring Baal's 450 prophets and Asherah's 400 prophets to decide once and for all if the Lord is God or if Baal is God - and they gathered for the challenge of fire on Mount Carmel. Each was to sacrifice a bull and call down fire to consume it, and the god who answers by fire is God. So the prophets of Baal cried out all day long for fire to fall, but to no avail and Elijah ridiculed them. Then it was Elijah's turn to call upon the name of the Lord and first of all he had water poured over everything. When Elijah prayed the fire fell consuming the sacrifice, wood, stones, soil and water - so the people cried out the Lord, he is God - and they slaughtered the prophets of Baal! Elijah then prophesied that the rains would return and it was only for the 7th time of looking at the sky that his servant saw the first sign of rain coming. Then down came heavy rain and Ahab took off in his chariot in the rain to Jezreel, but ecstatic Elijah beat him running anointed by the power of God!
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