Traditionally, Christians usually experience fear and timidity when sharing the gospel with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and idol-worshipers, especially on their soil on the Third World. But we are now in the Last Days, and the Lord is now restoring the spirit and power of Elijah to His disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God with power and authority to those living in dark, gospel-resistant regions of the world and who never heard.
With what to us today would be unimaginable boldness, Elijah in 1 Kings 18 challenged the prophets of Baal to pray to their god to send the fire to burn up their sacrifice—while he prayed to the Lord to do the same for his sacrifice. Most significantly, this boldness was then accompanied by manifest power as fire descended from heaven to consume Elijah’s sacrifice. Only in this way did the Israelites fall prostrate to acknowledge the LORD as the True God.
This boldness is now being restored to present-day disciples for proclaiming the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to those people groups who like the backslidden Israelites of Elijah’s day are resistant to the gospel. How can we get this extraordinary boldness?
It is from understanding the supernatural authority and power the Lord has delegated to us disciples. When we learn from the Scriptures how Jesus taught His disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons using this authority and power, we can proclaim the Truth to the lost just as boldly and effectively as Elijah proclaimed to the Israelites that the LORD is God.
In Acts the disciple Philip won a clear and decisive victory for the gospel over witchcraft in a similar way.
Acts 8:4-13 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. (5) Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. (6) When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. (7) For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. (8) So there was great joy in that city. (9) Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, (10) and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” (11) They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. (12) But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. (13) Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
I personally have witnessed such things when preaching the gospel in Africa. During open-air evangelistic meetings there I will challenge witchdoctors who are present to come forward to heal the sick using their witchcraft. None have ever dared to step forward to accept the challenge. After that we servants of the Most High God lay hands on the sick with power and authority in the name of Jesus. Many are then miraculously healed and come forward to testify before the people what the Lord has done for them. When I then invite forward those who want to put their faith in Christ Jesus alone as Lord and Savior, people come streaming forward to repent and follow Jesus.
Any disciple can now be trained to preach the gospel with such boldness and subsequent manifestation of power as evidence of the truth of the gospel to the lost. This can be in one-on-one evangelism as well as before crowds.
No longer do disciples and missionaries need to experience fear and timidity when sharing the gospel with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and idol-worshipers. The spirit and power of Elijah are being restored as Malachi prophesied along ago.
Malachi 4:5 See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
This prophecy was fulfilled the first time 2,000 years ago with the appearance of John the Baptist just before the first coming of the Messiah. It is now being fulfilled for the second time before the second coming of the Messiah during these Last Days.
This is the very purpose of The Elijah Challenge Training.