I was reading through Leviticus 18 in my devotions the other day and as I read through the things that Israel was NOT to do I couldn’t help but be struck by verse 21. It seemed to stand out to me because out of all the things which God commanded them not to do this verse identified a very specific false god that the Israel was to avoid.
Leviticus 18:21 (NASB)—“You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.”
Having been a while since I took classes on ancient pagan gods I set out to brush up on my history. Basically, Molech was a “deity” to whom people sacrificed their children as a form of “worship.” He was constructed of metal and the base of the statue was left hollow. Inside the base a large fire was built. It would make the entire statue into an entire furnace. Then the children were placed in the arms of the statue which were open and resting in his lap. There they would burn to death while their parents and other people in the community danced and shouted around the idol.
My first reaction was probably the same as many of you. I thought, those uncivilized monsters! How could they do this!
Then, as I thought on it the rest of today I began to wonder . . . is our culture really any different? Are we any better? The answer is a resounding no. True we may not build an altar to Molech in America and lay our children on it to die . . . but we are no better.
We have replaced the statue with a “dignified” medical building that we refer to as a clinic. We no longer use fire to heat up the furnace at the base, but use fire and chemicals to sterilize the tools that will be used to bring death to the child in the womb. We don’t lay our children on the lap of the idol, no do we have a "high priest of Molech" do it. We pay a “doctor” . . . a so called professional... to do it for us. The shouting and dancing and screaming done at the base of the idol, most likely to cover the sounds of the shrieking child, have been replaced with cries of “a woman’s right to choose” and “tissue not human.” Clearing our conscience and playing God as if we had any right to decide what life is brought into this world.
It was a gut check for me. Before we are quick to look at anyone else or any other group and declare ourselves more righteous than they, we ought to carefully look at ourselves in the God’s mirror... the Law.
Romans 3:19-20 (NASB)—“Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
The Law stops us from justifying ourselves before God. In fact, Scripture teachers that we wouldn’t even KNOW sin BUT by the Law (Romans 7:7). Makes complete rational sense to me.
Satan is the great deceiver. Crafty and good at what he does. Deceiving more and more as the end nears. Doesn’t it stand to reason then that he would eventually replace one false god (Molech) for a false deity that we would less recognize? Namely . . . ourselves . . .
We, not only in the realm of abortion, have transgressed the Law of God. Offended the God who has given us the blessing of life. In doing so we all stand before Him guilty. Without Christ we have no hope of a verdict of not-guilty.
As a nation America, I believe, is in danger of becoming a nation such as is referred to in Romans 1. We are day by day creating idols. More and more blatantly we make them . . . even to the extent that there are televisions shows with the word “IDOL” in them. Justify them how you want, an idol is an idol . . . how much more blatantly can we thumb our nose at God?
Believers, I am calling you to stand in the streets and call this nation’s people to repentance lest America , more so than already, is handed over to the wicked desires of her people. Warn the people of their impending court date before God and their desperate need for the forgiveness of the Savior Jesus Christ! That is the only hope we have.
This is not an Anti-American blog post. Please don’t misconstrue it. I consider myself blessed to have been born in America and want to see this country return to following God as it was founded so many years ago!
These comments are not reflective of the views of Answers in Genesis or its affiliates.