Day 169: Trial by Fire

1 Kings: 18:21
“If the Lord be God, then follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him.”

Many of you know by now that I am a big fan of old movies. One of my absolute favorites is “A Man Called Peter,” a biography of Peter Marshall, originally from Scotland, who answered God’s call to preach the gospel and rose to become the pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, and also was appointed Chaplain of the United States Senate in 1947 until his untimely death in 1949. The movie is full of notable sermons, each one leaving a lasting impression on me. “Trial By Fire,” a message delivered on March 11, 1944, moves me each time I read it. Wherever our country is historically, politically or spiritually—such as in 1944, when the sermon was first delivered, in 1955 when the movie premiered, in the 80s when I first saw the movie, or in our 21st century—this profound message rings true. Rather than making a poor attempt at condensing its powerful content, it is submitted to you in its entirety:

“The leaders of ancient Israel (including the king) had come together to make a great decision. It was a national emergency. Elijah the prophet had summoned them to meet on Mt. Carmel to settle no less a question than whom they should worship.

William Penn has said that men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. Here then was a Hebrew prophet facing the very same issue and making his people face it with him. They all knew the history of their nation. How God had led their fathers out of bondage into a new land as pioneers. How His Holy Law had been written into the nation’s Constitution. How The Ten Commandments had become a Bill of Rights and a Declaration of Dependence. But something in the nation’s life had begun to fade. Moral decay had set in. They had begun to love things more than principles. They had become materialists. And materialism had a god—a god of the flesh. And his name was Baal.

Now Elijah saw the danger. He saw what would happen to the nation when its moral fiber was weakened. So he summoned the 450 prophets of Baal, the king, and the nation’s leaders. It HAD to be either/or. They had to get on one side or the other.

You remember the dramatic test—the trial by fire. How on the parched, sun-baked slopes of Carmel, Elijah announced his proposed test. Let sacrifices be laid upon the altar. Let him be god who would send down fire and consume the offerings. And let Baal and his priests have the first inning.

Then began the weird, pagan performance. With Elijah jibing at them with pointed sarcasm, “Cry louder why don’t you? Cry louder! He is a god you’re crying to, isn’t he? Perhaps he’s gone for a walk. Perchance he’s asleep. Cry louder! Wake him up!”

All day long he taunted at them, until hoarse with their shouting, wearied with their paganistic dancing, they were exhausted. Yet no voice spoke. No voice answered.

Then Elijah went over to an abandoned Jehovah altar, set upon it a sacrifice, and offered his prayer to Jehovah—not ranting or foaming or shouting. And the answer came in fire, which consumed the offering. Then the people looking on cried as they fell on their faces, ‘The Lord! He is God! The LORD! HE is God!’

Now, I suggest to you that America needs a prophet today—a prophet that will set before the nation the essential choices. In the words of that great poet and essayist, J.D. Holland, God give us men—men whom the lust of office does not kill—men whom the spoils of office cannot buy—men who have honor—men who will not lie—men who can stand before a demagogue and damn his treacherous flatteries without winking—tall men, sun-ground who live above the fog in public duty and in private thinking.

Millions of people in America live in moral fogs. They move in a sort of spiritual twilight. Modified morality; modified dishonesty is the practice of millions more. Surely the time has come for us to be honest about it. If we have thrown away our national heritage; if we no longer believe that this nation was founded under God; if contrary to what is stamped upon our coins, our trust is not in God, but in Baal, LET US SAY SO!

Let us at least not be hypocrites. Yes, like the ancient Hebrew nation, America needs a prophet like an Elijah – a prophet who will have the ear of America and will say to her now:

IF THE LORD BE GOD, THEN FOLLOW HIM! BUT IF BAAL, FOLLOW HIM…AND GO TO HELL! “

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You, our God, for You alone are Holy. There is no other God we desire to worship. But we have turned our backs on You and other, lesser gods have crept into our lives to make themselves at home. Either we have let our defenses down or have actually invited the evil one in. We acknowledge our sin and beg for forgiveness, dear Lord. Clean our spiritual home—our hearts—and our earthly homes as well. May we never again make room for other gods to reside there. Thank you for the reminder of this message that our country has fallen prey to false gods as well. Have mercy on our nation and us as its citizens, O God. You are the LORD our God, and we choose to follow You alone! In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.