Shelly grabbed the kitten as they jumped on and began pedaling! But… the bicycle/time machine did not move! The back tire was spinning, but they were not going anywhere! The Professor said, “Ooops!” Shane yelled, “The tires are covered with oil, that’s why they are spinning!” The king and the soldiers were almost there! They pedaled faster and faster, but the bicycle/time machine did not move. Shelly yelled, “Professor, try shifting it into high gear anyway, let’s see what happens!” So, the Professor shifted the bicycle/time machine into high gear!
Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly the street filled with cats, the solders and the king disappeared and….
They were going up a steep mountain! The wheels were spinning wildly because of the oil on the tires! They strained to keep pedaling, and eventually got to the top! At the top of the mountain there was a huge crowd of people, and in the middle of the crowd there was another group of people doing a dance! The ground was so dry that the dancer’s feet made clouds of dust rise into the air! Shelly got off the bicycle/time machine and right away she turned the handle on the side of the bicycle/time machine so that they could get out of there in a hurry if they had to. Meanwhile, the Professor decided to join the dance, it looked like a lot of fun! So, he tried to start dancing, but of course he was very clumsy and tripped over his own feet! He fell on the ground and began rolling right toward the group of dancers! He rolled faster and faster and smashed right into that group of dancers just like a bowling ball hitting the bowling pins! The dancers went flying in all directions! The Professor said, “Ooops!” Shane said, “Look at him! He knocked them all down like bowling pins! The Professor got a strike!” While the dancers were trying to get back on their feet Shelly said to Shane, “Look at that!” and she pointed to something in the middle of the dancing area that they had not noticed before.
It was a big pile of stones with a dead animal on it! All these people had been dancing around a dead animal on a pile of stones. The dancers got back on their feet and some of them drew their swords, others picked up spears or rocks! The Professor said, “Ooops!” But the dancers did not attack the Professor; they began dancing again and cut themselves with their own swords, spears and rocks! Shane said, “This is crazy! Why are these people doing this?” Shelly said, “I think I know the answer, this is another Bible story. Hold on a minute until I look it up!” Shelley got out the Bible and after a few minutes she found the Bible story in the book of I Kings chapter 18 verses 20-46. She was about to tell Shane about the Bible story when suddenly they heard a loud voice! The voice said, “Why isn’t your false god Baal listening to you? Maybe he is busy or taking a nap! Maybe he is in the bathroom! Why don’t you yell louder?” Shane looked around to see where this voice was coming from, and he saw an old man standing by himself outside the crowd of people. Shelly whispered to Shane, “That old man is Elijah; he is a great prophet of God. He told this crowd of people that they could not serve both the true God and the false god Baal, so he challenged them prophets of Baal to a contest. They both would make an alter and sacrifice an animal on it, but then they would pray and ask their god to light the sacrifice on fire. The dancers are the 450 prophets of the false god Baal, they aren’t doing so good, and Baal can’t answer them because he is a false god.”
The false prophets of Baal continued their dancing until afternoon. They danced wilder and wilder, and yelled louder and louder, but nothing happened! The sun got hotter and hotter, and the dust cloud around the dancers kept getting dustier and dustier. Shane asked Shelly, “Why is it so dusty?” Shelly answered, “God has kept it from raining so these people would learn to worship only the true God”
In the late afternoon Elijah got 12 big stones and built on alter to the true God. Elijah put the sacrificed animal on the alter and then dug a ditch around the alter. Elijah told the crowd of people, “Please bring me 12 large jars of water!” The Professor grabbed a large jar and went to the well to get water, but the jar slipped out of his hand and fell all the way down into the well! It landed with a splash way down in the well! The Professor said, “Ooops!” Other people from the crowd got 12 other large jars and filled them with water for Elijah. Elijah took the water and dumped all of it onto the sacrifice that was on the alter! There was water everywhere! The sacrifice was soaking wet, the stone of the alter were wet, and the ditch around the alter was filled with water! The false prophets of Baal laughed and said, “That is never going to burn now, it’s all wet! Elijah is such a fool!” Elijah did not pay any attention to them. He made everyone get away from the alter, then he said, “God will burn this sacrifice even though it is wet! All you people will know that there is a true God in heaven, and you should worship Him only!”
Then Elijah looked up to heaven and simply said, “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Immediately a firestorm came from heaven! The fire landed right on the alter and instantly the sacrifice was burned up! The stones of the alter crumbled from the intense heat and turned to dust, and the water instantly disappeared in a giant cloud of steam! The Professor said, “Ooops”! All the people fell flat on the ground and yelled, “The Lord – He is God! The Lord – He is God!” Elijah yelled, “Seize the false prophets of Baal, and don’t let them escape! Take them down into the valley!” The people obeyed Elijah. Shane said to Shelly, “That was awesome! God proved to these people that He is the one true God and that they should worship Him only!” Shelly answered, “Yes, I know that I always have to be careful to make God number one in my life. It is so easy to let something or someone else become the most important in my life, then I end up worshipping that thing or that person.”
Meanwhile, Elijah knelt and prayed to God and asked God to send rain. Elijah prayed the same prayer seven times, and then there was a dark storm quickly coming toward them! Shane yelled, “Let’s get out of here! It’s not good to be top of a mountain during a bad storm!” So, the Professor, Shane, Shelly, and the kitten got onto the bicycle/time machine and began pedaling down the mountain as fast as they could. Soon they heard footsteps catching up to them. Here came Elijah running on foot! His robe and long beard were blowing in the wind, but that old man could run! He caught up to the bicycle/time machine and began to pass it! Shane yelled, “It’s a race! Pedal faster!” So, the Professor, Shane and Shelly began pedaling even faster, but Elijah just started running faster! The Professor shifted the bicycle/time machine into high gear. The Professor said, “Ooops!”
Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly Elijah disappeared and….
Application:
Review the story of Elijah and the false prophets of Baal in the Bible. It is found in the book of I Kings chapters 18 verses 20-46
It is true that people naturally end up worshipping whatever is the most important person or thing in their life, but God should be the most important person in our life and we should worship Him only!
Make a list of some of the things that become so important in your life that you end up worshipping them. Remember, if they are more important to you than God, then you are worshipping them.
In the Bible, in the book of Exodus chapter 20 verses 3-17 contain the list of rules from God that we call the 10 Commandments. In the first commandment God says that we should not have any ‘gods’ besides Him. In the second commandment God says that we are not to worship anything in heaven or on earth except for Him!
Take the list you made of the things that have become more important in your life than God and pray (talk) to God about this problem. Ask His forgiveness for worshipping something other than Him and ask Him to help you not to fall into this sin again.