Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Sacrificing Our Children


Can you imagine people in the Old Testament sacrificing their babies and children to the gods of Baal and Molech?  They did.  It's not a pretty thing to talk about, but God has given us these examples to learn from.

Jeremiah 19:4-6 says this, "Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind; therefore, behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter."

In the New Testament, hell is often referred to as Gehenna.  Gehenna is a reference to the valley of Hinnom--which was an actual place--a valley where there was a perpetual fire and where children were sacrificed.  It was a horrible thing which came because of a progression of sin.  It all began when people turned away from God to follow their own lusts....and it eventually led to child sacrifice.  And that became "normal."  Even Solomon--the wisest man who ever lived and the king who built the temple--got caught up in it and he finished badly.

We may not serve an actual idol of Baal or Molech, but the signs are all there.  We're a nation who has turned from God to follow our own lusts.  And our children are paying the price.  

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