Mount Carmel, the highest peak in northwest Israel, is one of the few places in the Scriptures where a showdown pitted the idols of men against the living God of heaven. The prophet Elijah and the 850 Baal and Asherah prophets fought to the finish (1 Kings 18:19 – 46).

To be fair, Elijah gave these idol-worshiping prophets the benefit of the doubt. Baal was the god of storms, able to hurl lightning bolts from the sky. If he could do anything, he should be able to start a fire. For added support, Mount Carmel might have had a Baal shrine on its summit (as did most of Israel's mountain peaks at that time). But in spite of their screaming and pleading, the prophets of Baal were powerless and Elijah's faithful God miraculously set his altar aflame. The battle that day was the Lord's — just as it is every day.