The contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel remains one of the most dramatic illustrations that the Lord alone is God, while idols and man-made rituals are powerless. New Age practices resemble the prophets of Baal’s empty and prideful rituals with chanting, drumming, and ecstatic trances that promise power yet deliver delusion.

The prophets of Baal worshiped Baal, a demon who the Canaanites considered to be their storm and fertility deity during Ahab’s reign (1 Kings 16:31-33). Rituals to Baal often included ecstatic prayer, music, and self-mutilation, believed to compel the false god to act.

These practices reflected the conviction that the deity’s power could be manipulated by human technique. This is similar to the basis for modern New Age, occultic, and false gospel teachings.

On Mount Carmel, Elijah challenged the prophets to prepare a bull for sacrifice without setting fire to it. Whomever answered by fire would be revealed as the true God (1 Kings 18:24).

From morning until noon, the false prophets cried out, “O Baal, answer us,” but “there was no voice, and no one answered” (1 Kings 18:26). They leapt around the altar, performed frenzied rituals, and even cut themselves until blood gushed, yet the text repeats the solemn refrain: “There was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention” (1 Kings 18:29).

Their rituals were elaborate, emotionally charged, and exhausting, but they were futile because Baal was a demon and not the true God. No matter how intense or sincere the performance, empty rituals can’t summon divine power when directed toward a false god.

In contrast, Elijah’s prayer was simple and direct. After repairing the altar of the Lord with twelve stones, he drenched the sacrifice and the wood with water three times until the trench around the altar overflowed (1 Kings 18:33–35). Elijah soaked the wood in water to glorify God and make it abundantly clear that only the true God could burn the drenched wood.

“O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back.” (1 Kings 18:36-37)

Immediately, the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the soaked wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water in the trench (1 Kings 18:38). Unlike Baal’s prophets, Elijah didn’t try to manipulate, nor did he chant or mutilate himself. He simply prayed, and God answered in sovereign power. The contrast glorified God by showing the powerlessness of idols on one side, and God’s power on the other.

The prophets of Baal believed that their rituals would unlock supernatural power, yet all their efforts were in vain. Their failure demonstrates that the only power belongs to God according to His will. Theatrical performances don’t wield power except for demons using them for counterfeits and spiritual warfare.

Spiritual performances that are commonly used in New Age, the occult, and false gospel gatherings are powerless because they’re pridefully directed toward idols. These rituals are all about glorifying men, not God. This is one of many reasons why Scripture consistently warns against idolatry as both foolish and deadly (Isaiah 44:9-20; Psalm 115:4-8).

The prophets’ frenzied cutting of their flesh also reflects the destructive nature of false religion. They shed their own blood in an attempt to gain divine attention, yet God has already provided the blood of His Son as the only acceptable sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 9:11-14). All other self-inflicted rituals are a distortion of the truth.

False Prophecy Schools vs. Elijah’s Training of Prophets

Another modern parallel to empty ritual is the rise of so-called prophecy schools where people pay money to become “certified prophets.” These programs market the gift of prophecy as if it were a skill that can be purchased for a fee, with promises to receive certificates of completion and the supposed authority to speak in God’s name.

Yet Scripture teaches that prophecy isn’t a human credential or technique but a gift of the Holy Spirit, distributed as He wills: “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good . . . to another prophecy . . . but one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills” (1 Corinthians 12:7,10-11 truncated).

To claim that the gift of prophecy can be bought or taught by men for profit is to misrepresent the work of God’s Spirit. It’s the same as Simon the sorcerer who also tried to purchase spiritual gifts (Acts 8:9-24).

This counterfeit also distorts the biblical pattern of prophetic training. The prophets Elijah and Elisha oversaw groups known as the “sons of the prophets” (2 Kings 2:3-7). Yet these weren’t commercial enterprises where men bought spiritual titles. Rather, they were communities of young men dedicated to learning God’s Word and faithfully proclaiming His truth. The emphasis was on hearing and obeying the Lord. Elijah’s authority came from God’s direct calling and the Spirit’s empowering.

There’s a big difference between these biblical schools and modern prophecy training programs. Elijah’s protégés depended upon God’s calling, while today’s prophecy schools depend upon deceitful marketing. Elijah’s ministry displayed God’s power through prayer and obedience, in contrast to modern counterfeit schools which elevate man’s ambition through certificates and fees.

The Lord has never once suggested that His gifts could be purchased. In fact, Peter rebuked Simon the sorcerer for desiring to buy the gift of God with money, saying: “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money” (Acts 8:20).

The lesson is clear that the gift of prophecy belongs to God alone, and not to men who claim to sell it. Just as the prophets of Baal sought to manufacture divine response through ritual, so these schools attempt to manufacture prophetic authority through payment and training. Both are empty, because only God can raise up His servants, and only His Spirit can bestow His gifts.

Parallels with New Age Practices

The scene on Mount Carmel is similar to the spiritual practices found in New Age circles today. Modern rituals such as chanting, drumming circles, moon worship, ecstatic dancing, and trance states are believed to open portals to higher consciousness, channel spiritual energy, or summon guidance from “spirit guides.” Like the prophets of Baal, practitioners assume that intense rituals will compel spiritual realities to respond.

Chanting mantras, for example, is thought to align one’s frequency with the universe, yet it mirrors the repetitive cries of Baal’s prophets who thought their false god would respond to endless invocation. Drumming and dancing intended to induce altered states of consciousness parallel the leaping and frantic movements described in 1 Kings 18:26. New agers who appropriate shamanic practices believe that extreme emotional or physical exertion like sweat lodges and journeying lead to visions and spiritual encounters, echoing the prophets’ mutilation of their bodies.

These practices may feel powerful, but like Baal worship they’re empty of true divine presence. At best, they stir psychological and emotional states mistaken for spirituality. At worst, they open doors to demonic deception as Scripture warns that idols are connected to demonic powers (1 Corinthians 10:20-21).

All Glory to God

The defining difference between Elijah and the prophets of Baal was that Elijah prayed to the true and living God, and God answered. The prophets prayed to a non-existent deity, and silence followed. This principle exposes that rituals can’t manufacture divine power. Only the true God acts in power according to His will, His ways, and His timing.

This truth provides us with both comfort and warning. For believers, it reminds us that prayer doesn’t depend upon elaborate performance but upon God’s faithfulness. For unbelievers, it exposes the futility of chasing spiritual highs that lead only to emptiness and demonic deception.

God’s fire on Mount Carmel was a call to repentance: “When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God’” (1 Kings 18:39). God was glorified so that people would turn back to Him and away from idols. Likewise, the Gospel proclaims that salvation is in Christ alone, who reconciles sinners to God through His finished work on the cross.

While Baal’s prophets shed their own blood in vain, God provided His own Son whose blood was sufficient for the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7). While the prophets tried to manipulate their false god with noise and frenzy, Jesus quietly submitted to the Father’s will in Gethsemane and on the cross. While Baal’s altar remained silent, God answered Elijah with fire, and later He answered sin and death with the resurrection of Christ.

These stark contrasts reveal the emptiness of every false system of worship. New Age rituals that promise peace and power apart from Christ only mimic the powerless prophets of the false idol Baal.

Christians must resist the temptation to be impressed by ritualistic displays, whether in pagan spirituality or even in churches that prioritize theatrics over Biblical worship. Because worship that relies upon performance, emotional manipulation, or mystical techniques drifts toward the error of Baal’s prophets. After all, Jesus taught that true worshipers worship the Father “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).

Believers must also mark and avoid rituals that originate in paganism, such as yoga, mantra chanting, or moon worship. Scripture commands us to flee from idolatry, not to try to Christianize it (1 Corinthians 10:14). These practices aren’t like the redeemed meat of 1 Corinthians 8 and 10; they’re like the nonredeemable pagan temple and pagan prayers.

The attraction of these pagan practices often lies in their promise of control over health, finances, or relationships, yet Elijah’s example shows that only God has true power, and He acts according to His sovereign will, not human feeble attempts at manipulation. We must trust in the Lord with all of our heart (Proverbs 3:5) and not try to impose our will upon Him.

Why New Age Prayers Aren’t Effective Prayers

Modern New Age practices echo Baal’s rituals with their chanting, drumming, idolatry, and trances, and they too are powerless. Prayers aren’t a mystical formula or a way to manipulate outcomes. Prayers are communication with our Creator who made heaven and earth.

God hears the prayers of His children through Jesus Christ because of His mercy and grace. “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18) exposes why New Age prayers aren’t grounded in truth.

Before I was saved, I heard from people whose shaky faith was shipwrecked because they believed God was ignoring their prayers. They entered the New Age because they believed that it was the only way to get what they wanted. Yet the manifestation methods that the New Age teaches are built upon the shifting sand of demonic deception and dissociative magical thinking.

New Age prayer often centers on self rather than God. It focuses on manifesting desires, attracting “positive energy,” or speaking things into existence. Yet Scripture says that God alone is the Creator, and that only He has the power to bring something from nothing. When someone says affirmations like “I am creating my reality” or “The universe is responding to my vibration,” they’re echoing the serpent’s lie in Genesis 3 that: “You will be like God.” That’s not biblical prayer, because it’s pride disguised as spirituality. The Bible says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

True prayer is about surrendering to God’s will, not trying to bend spiritual laws or harness cosmic forces. Jesus Himself prayed, “Not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). That’s the opposite of New Age philosophy, which tells people to visualize their desired outcomes until they manifest. God doesn’t grant requests that glorify the self or which conflict with His Word. “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66:18). Prayer requires repentance and submission, not positive thinking or “high vibrations.”

New Age prayer also directs requests to “spirit guides,” “ascended masters,” or “the universe.” Scripture is clear that praying to anyone other than the one true God is idolatry. Deuteronomy 18 warns that divination and spirit contact are abominations to God. The devil disguises himself as an angel of light to make people feel spiritual while leading them away from the truth (2 Corinthians 11:14). God never answers prayers that are directed to demons masquerading as light.

1 John 5:14 says, “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Effective prayer begins with faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ who came to earth as fully God and fully man to take the punishment for our sins to redeem us through His shed blood on the cross.

There’s no shortcut, no mystical method, and no universal energy that replaces the intercession of Christ. He said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). That means no one’s prayers reach the Father apart from Him.

So if someone’s been praying New Age prayers such as manifesting, visualizing, affirming, or calling upon “the universe,” it’s time to stop and turn to the one true God who actually hears. He isn’t distant, He isn’t an energy, and He isn’t a law of attraction. He’s a personal, holy, loving God who desires relationship, not rituals. Through Jesus Christ, He promises to forgive, restore, and listen when we come humbly to Him in faith.

The lesson from Mount Carmel is clear that man-made rituals are powerless and spiritually dangerous. God reveals Himself in truth and power, calling people to turn from idols and confess, “The Lord, He is God.”

For more from Doreen please visit her page here at Servants of Grace or at our YouTube.