"They set their abominations in
the house which is called by My name, to defile it. And they built the
high places of Baal which are in the valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their
sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not
command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination
...'
Jeremiah 32: 34,35
The anger of the LORD
burned against His people, Israel, because they had turned from the ways (the
commands) He instructed them. They chose to worship the gods of the
nations around them (God had told them to destroy everyone and everything, as
they took over the land God gave them, but they did not obey the LORD and destroy everything He told them, thus these nations became
a snare to Israel, see Joshua 23: 3-16).
The people of Israel sacrificed their
children to Molech (a fire raged in this hollow bronze god of the Ammonites, and
then the children where placed on his out stretched arms and burned alive), they
built high places to worship Baal (Canaanite god) and they brought their Asherah
(Canaanite goddess of fertility) poles right into the temple of the LORD. They worshipped the starry hosts and erected poles to
them in the Temple of the LORD.
Upon reading this we may think, "Oh, how could
they do such a thing!?" Beloved, this is going on right at this very
moment in the body of Christ, His Temple. There are many who have the
obvious gods like money (what ever you place above the God). There are the
less obvious gods, astrology, angels (some pray to the
angels - prayer is a form of worship). Some compromise Christianity
by embracing the theologies and philosophies of other religions (I know a lady
who incorporates the Indian religion with Christianity, she's very sincere
but she is sincerely wrong), there are those who are embracing the aroma therapy
fad - this is from the New Age religion. Heresy, such as is
taught in the Word Faith doctrine, is allowed to be shared in some
congregations and these churches even allow these men to be Deacons and
Elders, fully aware of the false teachings they embrace.
"Well, at least we don't sacrifice our children
to Molech." you may say. No, beloved, we've gotten more subtle in
our culture, today it's called abortion and there are several types, including
most birth-control pills. There are many Christian woman today taking
these pills (not realizing what the pill does) that cause there babies to self
abort. Beloved this is a hard message I know, but God loves you and
so do I. We must be aware of (and educated about) what we are
participating in and allowing to happen around us.
Beloved we must not allow the ways of this
world to snare us. We must turn to our Lord and do what is right and
pleasing in His sight; not what is pleasing to this world (to our
flesh) and participating in it's ways. I challenge you, as
Joshua challenge the people of Israel, "choose for yourselves today whom you
will serve ... ; but as for me and my house we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15.
Have a joyous day in our
Lord!
April
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The above
message is sent to you as an encouragement. Please feel free to pass this
on to friends and family. To add yourself or a loved one to the mailing
list reply to [email protected]
Subject: "add to" (to be removed indicate
"remove")
Stop by and visit "Encouragement From The Heart"
Website; Updated July 1999. Special thanks to
our Webmaster, John! Our God is Awesome!
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/1483/encourag.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++