One of the most dramatic scenes in Old Testament history is when Elijah the prophet single-handedly confronted over four hundred prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel to demonstrate God’s supremacy over that false god. He challenged the Israelites who were present and had betrayed their God by giving allegiance to another.
So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word. 1 Kings 18:20–21 (NASB95)
God proved his supremacy over Baal by consuming Elijah’s water-soaked offering with fire from heaven.
Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God.” 1 Kings 18:38–39 (NASB95)
It took a dramatic demonstration of God’s power for the Israelites to come to their senses, at least temporarily.
Today I believe we are in such a time as in the days of Elijah. God is calling us Christians all over the world to come to our senses and throw off the web of deception that engulfs the earth.
In Elijah’s day, the people were divided in their opinion regarding whether the God of the Bible was supreme or was Baal. Today we Christians are divided over whether God’s Word has supreme authority regarding what is true or does the combined testimony of those who claim to be scientists.
One question before us today is, “Will we believe the Bible’s cosmology or the world system’s?”
Elijah’s bold move at Mt. Carmel was certainly impressive, but even he was not prepared for the push back he immediately received from Queen Jezebel. She was not about to let him get away unchallenged for having destroyed her prophets. She issued a threat against Elijah’s life that so unnerved him that he fled for refuge in the wilderness.
Unflinching allegiance to God always comes at a cost.
The price of allegiance to God can sometimes be more than we are willing to pay at the moment, but just as God challenged Elijah in the wilderness to act the man and return to carry out his responsibilities as a prophet of the Lord, he is challenging his people to rise up.
I think the US Marines have got it right. Their motto is “Semper Fi” – always faithful. When they go into battle, retreat is not an option. If a comrade is wounded, he will never be left behind. I have come to believe that loyalty is one of the highest expressions of love. Loyalty can also be described as faithfulness and allegiance. Our faith-full-ness proves we have faith. People who are full of faith are loyal. This is true in marriage, battle, and the kingdom of God.
Allegiance to Christ is one important way we prove our love for him.
Our allegiance to Christ includes being loyal to his Word. Jesus is the Word of God become flesh. (John 1:14) Our Lord said that those who show allegiance to him and his Word will be honored. Those who are ashamed of him or his Word will suffer loss in God’s eyes.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25 “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? 26 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9:24–26 (NASB95)
Usually we think of this as applying to our willingness to be counted as followers of Christ and boldly share the gospel.
However, our allegiance to his Word and to him as Creator includes standing for what Genesis says about creation and the world in which we live.
We cannot abandon God’s clear words about the creation and the nature of the heavens and earth when challenged by the satanic giant of modern astrophysics and still claim that we are being faithful to God in this area.
Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly reliable? 7 The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them. Proverbs 20:6–7 (NLT)
In Roman times, during the early history of Christianity, there were times when any who refused to worship the pagan gods of the empire or call Caesar “Lord” were persecuted and killed because they were regarded as enemies of the state and a danger to society in general. It was believed that their refusal to bow the knee incurred the wrath of the “gods.”
Probably no one was martyred for making the non-threatening claim that Jesus is our personal savior. They were put to death for declaring his lordship over all things, including Caesar.
The same kind of thinking emerged with regard to obedience to the state, most recently with regard to medicine during the Covid scare. Those who refused to obey the government’s dictate to be injected with their experimental “vaccine” were denigrated and even sometimes hated for being “science deniers” and threats to the well-being and health of those who went along with the government’s demand.
We were told to “trust the science,” which meant we were supposed to believe whatever its high priests told us. Without proof, we were expected to trust that we were being told the truth. Rather than being tested completely and proven safe, we were told to “Trust the Science.”
Such “science” has become a religion whose tenets must be believed without evidence.
Trusting in God is not sufficient for these “science” devotees. “Science” was given a place above even the Creator. This was evident because the premise for the mRNA injection was that our immune systems, which “science” says evolved instead of being God-given, are deficient and need to receive an upgrade from scientists. Well-meaning physicians trusted their journals and proclamations from the AMA, FDA, Big Pharma, CDC, et. al. They certainly did not do their own independent research or they would have discovered, as did many of us, that the entire operation was faux science.
We now know that a large part of what the “science” claimed about Covid and the so-called “vaccine” was a well-orchestrated worldwide lie.
What we do not yet know for sure is how much damage has been done to those who surrendered their bodies to “science.” Many of our citizens were ordered to take the jab under pain of censure, ridicule, job termination, or refusal of medical treatment. Some self-righteous devotees of “science” suggested that disobedient subjects even deserved to die. (Shades of Rome!) We found that many of us did not have the courage to stand against the lie.
Those who refuse to bow their knee to the true God are bold in their defiance. In his 2006 book The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins wrote:
“The temptation [to attribute the origin of life to a supernatural designer] is a false one, because the designer hypothesis immediately raises the larger problem of who designed the designer. The one thing that makes me dislike the God hypothesis even more than spontaneous generation is that spontaneous generation, even if it were true, would be a one-off event, whereas God would have to be infinitely more complex and unexplained.”
A foundational tenet of the religion of science is that, unless we can explain something, it is not worthy of being believed. Never mind that proponents of the Big Bang cannot explain from where the original point derived. There is always the unexplainable in life and death.
God deliberately includes mystery in his being and in creation so that we must operate by faith in something.
We must face the fact that many people in the world system hate God and refuse to give him glory. Those who worship the human mind believe in their own speculations, but those who are loyal to God believe his Word is true, even if it does not always make complete sense to us.
We admit that we do not understand everything and that truth is not measured by our ability to understand.
Mainstream “science” has gained such admiration that many Christians believe that the Bible cannot compete with it; so, we sadly capitulate to its supposed authority by reinterpreting Genesis Chapter One to fit heliocentrism. Such eisegesis is not serious. The early Hebrews did not do this. The early Christians did not do this. The authors of Scripture did not think like this. We only reinterpret the Bible because we feel under pressure to make it agree with “science.” If the truth of such poetic scriptures can be dismissed, what shall we do with the Psalms? If Genesis Chapter One is not literally true, when does the Bible start to become literally true? Chapter Two, Three…?
Perhaps we would rather toss aside the Bible than risk being exposed to shame for believing something contradicted by “science.”
When we do this, the world laughs at us, observing our obvious duplicity and cowardice. Either God’s Word is true because God is true, or why should we bother to serve him at all?
...Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him, “You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win your case in court.” Romans 3:4 (NLT)
It seems we are at a moment in history reminiscent of the days of Elijah on Mt. Carmel.
I believe God is challenging us to make a decision for either him or science falsely so-called.
Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. 21 Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness. May God’s grace be with you all. 1 Timothy 6:20–21 (NLT)
Paul promised us that…
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Romans 16:20 (NASB95)
I believe that Satan’s attempt to dethrone the God of truth in the hearts of his people is coming to an end.
We can all do our part by renouncing allegiance to everything that contradicts the Bible and return to a childlike trust in the words of the God of truth, Jesus our Creator, Redeemer, and Lord. Will you be one who glorifies God by doing this?
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. John 17:17 (NASB95)
