Elijah Confronts the False Prophets - Part 8

 Hello Everyone:
After yesterday's post regarding Bishop Athanasius Schneider's demand for Eucharist Reparation to be made; this post follows suit! (Bishop Athanasius Schneider confronts the false priests!)
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Taken from 1 Kings 18:21-24  Ahab now orders the false prophets to Mount Carmel for a spiritual showdown. Now the people of Israel were curious to see this battle as all people have this curiosity. The people knew that Elijah had escaped the wrath of Jezebel which alone was a miracle. Israel, like our own day, was in a crisis. Like our own time, not only an economic and social crisis but more importantly – a spiritual crisis.  The drought of the land was significant of the drought of their souls.

Elijah was a man of God and filled with the holy zeal for God's glory and for the salvation of these souls who were on the way to perdition. Elijah yells out to the people of Israel, “How long – how long, O Israel, are you going to stagger and stumble between two loyalties? If the Lord be God then follow him. If Baal be God, then give him your full allegiance!”

It was a serious question to reach the heart of every one who heard the cry! Israel, like our own day is plagued with divided hearts and divided loyalty. Again and again, people tend to fall into the pits of deception and follow false gods. Over and over again, God continues to send us judges, prophets and priests to bring people back from the brink of total destruction. Their indifference was as stubborn as our present day. It takes a great jolt to wake people up from their slumber.

Elijah shouted at them a second time, “I alone remain as a spokesman for the Lord! This is your very last chance, O Israel, to hear from heaven. You have 450 false prophets of Baal who will lead you astray!” Elijah was not afraid to stand alone. He had a message from God that they all needed to hear or lose their souls for all eternity. The danger to his own life did not matter if he could bring back the people of God to their senses.

Now he was to challenge them by crying out, “Bring out two bullocks. One for me, one for the prophets of Baal. Each of us will butcher a beast; lay it upon wood on a prepared altar, and appeal to our respective gods to send down fire to consume the sacrifice. The God who does , be it Baal or the Lord, is God indeed!"

Their response was one of excitement – “Well said – well said, Let it be so.” They were open to a little sport.

The offering of a bullock declared to God Elijah's own unworthiness. This was a sacred rite instituted by God Himself for the cleansing and purification of his own servants. By choosing a bullock, it was a message that even a man like Elijah, like the prophets before him, had need of a proper preparation in spirit, soul and body to stand as an intermediary between God and man.

(And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. Lev. 16:6)

The bullock was a sin offering. It showed that the true heart must be made right always with God in utter humility and complete contrition.

Lesson for us:
It is always the humble and contrite heart that God listens to and dwells within. He draws near to the one who senses his sin, seeks cleansing, and believes with complete trust that God will accept.

Those in the days of Elijah and in our own day – do not truly understand the need of a Savior; therefore their services are mere man-centered. Look at the present day worship – Look at the handing of our Lord and Savior in the Eucharist which Bishop Athanasius Schneider has asked for Eucharistic Prayers and Reparation.
 
Elijah is an example for us that we are all humble servants of God in true need of forgiveness of our sins. Since Elijah prayed to God with honor due His name – he would be heard!

When we honor Our Lord Jesus Christ truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, we can be sure that our prayers will be answered because we are honoring the true God.
Let us turn from our inferior ways of worship and turn to the true way to honor Jesus Christ Who is Our Lord and Savior. May we go to a Mass that truly is the unbloody sacrifice of Calvary and honors the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and of the Blessed Sacrament, pray for us!
​St. Elijah, pray for us!

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