Sermon Central
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When God Confronts The Gods Of Your Enemies
Contributed by Bode Ayodele on Sep 5, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: As Christians we know there is only one true God. However, many others do not realise this, in fact they believe and serve many false gods. This message looks at taking the battle beyond the realm of men into the spiritual realm. It explains how, to put
By Bode Ayodele
Every individual has a god of some sort. The person who claims not to believe in God serves the god of unbelief. There are those who openly worship the elements of Heaven such as the moon, sun and even powers from beneath the sea. All of these - to such individuals -are the gods that they worship.
Those who practice witchcraft serve such gods. Whenever they confront a problem in life it is witchcraft powers that they consult for assistance. For protection they consult these powers and likewise for help when engaged in warfare with perceived enemies.
In many cases battles rage on between individuals that serve different gods. The Christians who serve the only true God of heaven and earth are engaged in battle with Satanist-who worship the Devil; Witches and Wizards -who serves gods of the earth (they serve Satan and his demons although most of them do not realize this) and Moslems -whose god is Allah.
Witches and wizards cannot stand those who profess Christ while those who directly worship Satan detest others who are averse to such practices. Every one seems to wish that the god he serves reigns supreme, and in most cases, is ready to engage in battle with those who feel otherwise.
But there are cases where it is the god’s themselves that do battle with each other. In other words we are not referring to human beings at loggerheads. We are talking about the various gods, whether the true God of heaven and earth, or fake gods (as all of the others are) engaging in duels with each other. Such battles always end in favour of the creator of heaven and earth, the only true God. Our God has never lost of battle!
There are indeed cases were engaging your enemies in battle is a mere waste of time. They keep coming back since the gods they serve are the source of their strength. These fake gods (mainly fallen Angels and demons) give such people (your enemies) the confidence to keep going on.
Under such circumstances the only solution is to set up a battle of supremacy between the God that you serve and the fake gods backing your enemies.
Do not be deceived, even the bible acknowledges that there are gods aside the only true God. These are powers that God created but chose to be worshiped rather than worship. It is unfortunate that a lot of people are worshiping them.
There is a classical example in the bible where a servant of God set up a battle between our God and the gods of his enemies. In fact there are numerous examples of such incidents but we will start with that of Elijah.
1) The God of Elijah versus Baal
Elijah lived in the midst of a perverse nation. Although he served the only true God to whom all Israel owed their salvation and existence he discovered that at this point in time he made the right but unpopular choice.
Most Israelites in those days turned away unto the god called Baal. In fact it was risky to serve or profess any other god at that time, and many servants of the only true God were maimed or killed.
It was this that prompted Elijah to set up a battle between the opposing gods.
As the story is narrated in I Kings 18 Elijah earlier commanded that there should be no rain on the face of the earth for a period of three and a half years. This made him unpopular with King Ahab who sought for his head. The lord appeared to Elijah and told him to show himself to Ahab. He also promised to produce rain.
Elijah however added a new dimension to the story. He knew that it was not only the only true God of heaven and earth that was worshiped in Israel. He also realised that the prophets of the other god- in this case Baal- would equally benefit from the rain that was about to fall.
For the three years when there was no rain in the land (at Elijah’s word) none of these false prophets were able to get their gods to produce a drop of water!
Elijah however, must have realized that if he did not set up a battle of supremacy between his God and the false god Baal, the latter’s prophets- who were in the majority- would claim it was Baal that brought about the long sought after rain!
The book of first Kings Chapter 18 reads:
(22) Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
(23) Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:
