“For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD.” (2 Chr. 28:19).

King Ahaz appeared to be a great solution to Judah’s problems. In the end he would be a nightmare. When we read the Bible we see these men as monsters with blood dripping from their fangs.  This is not true. He appeared to be a leader much like any politician appeared to be, with new ideas promoting the history of Israel as a nation, the need for economic recovery and bi-partisan leadership.  I am sure that the nation of Judah thought at first that it was about time that an open-minded, tolerant and progressive King ruled the land. Evil is not always so dramatic at first, in fact it seems so practical. Yet shrouded beneath this veneer God sees the heart and what he sees disgusts him, thus we see his record in the scriptures.

When Ahaz first began to reign, he reimagined and reinvented the worship of God by placing idols in God’s temple (1 Kings 16).  He did not completely replace the LORD with false gods; he just placed other gods side by side with Yahweh. This is called pluralism today, but we used to call it polytheism. It is an ideology that promotes coexistence of all religious paths as equally valid. The Bible describes people today in this horrible state,“A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.” (Hosea 4:12NIV). It is idolatry.

I thank God for the internet; it can promote biblical teaching and evangelism but it is clear that this philosophy has saturated our culture and all the religions once separated by continents are now available via the world-wide web. It has created confusion and has become a snare and a trap to people worldwide. There is so much religious noise, offering many ways to God and salvation. Christians cannot compromise. The Bible is clear: there is only one God (the Trinity) and one Holy Book (The Bible) and one way to Salvation (Jesus Christ). There is no other way, no other God. Yahweh is jealous he will accept no rivals. He decimates the competition for they are dead idols invented by the imaginations of men. It was no surprise that King Ahaz ended up shutting down all the worship of Yahweh because it is incompatible with idolatry (2 Chr 28: 24-25). He cut himself off from the salvation of God by closing the doors to God’s house.

Ahaz worshipped idols that involved the worst kinds of practices and lifestyle imaginable. He sacrificed his sons by burning them alive in offering to the false god Moloch or Molech. “The image of Moloch was a human figure with a bull’s head and outstretched arms, ready to receive the children destined for sacrifice. The image of metal was heated red-hot by a fire kindled within, and the children were laid on its arms and rolled off into the fiery pit below. In order to drown the cries of the victims, flutes were played, and drums were beaten; and mothers stood by without tears or sobs, to give the impression of the voluntary character of the offering.” (Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor International Standard Bible Encyclopedia” 1915; Public Domain).

I am sure they had someway even then of justifying these gruesome murders. They wanted to make it clear to do this was the choice of the parents, it was acceptable in that culture and all the arguments they used-we use. It is horrifying how they could present this as so relevant or even political in their day.

This is what the Bible calls an abomination or a practice that is repulsive and disgusting to God. God says, “I will resolutely reject that man and his family, and him and all who join him in prostituting themselves in the rituals of the god Molech I will cut off from their people…” (Lev. 20:5-7NLT). We may not bow down to statues in our country, and we may be taken back by the practice of the Molech worshippers in the day of Ahaz, but  what shall we say to this abortion ridden world, that is covered with torrents of blood from murder of babies by the millions. There are 42 million estimated abortions annually and 115,000 per day worldwide.  This is a holocaust of human life that has become the norm. God is sickened by this vile murderous demon that is worshipped worldwide.

God will come in justice!  “The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.” (Isa 11:14NLT). This won’t happen with the bombing of some clinic as madmen in the past have done. No. God will repay them to the face. There will be no doubts. In this day and age where people do as they feel and reject God’s laws- they fail to see God coming with just anger against this vile practice. They won’t even see him coming but it will no doubt be Him.

Ahaz was eventually losing against the pagan nations around him. You would think Ahaz would turn to God in this time and repent of his sins but instead, Isaiah asks Ahaz, “Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?” (Isa. 7:13).  Despite the warnings of Isaiah, Micah and Hosea the prophets-Ahaz worshipped every idol he thought would save him from his enemies, “In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me. But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.” (2 Chr. 28:22-23NLT).  How sad is the life with no touch of God upon it!

Ahaz was like so many today, he starts looking at Christianity as just a traditional religion, a religion identified with a certain political party and desires to worship the new or more relevant, contemporary gods because he is deceived by the idol worshipper’s temporary success! Paganism has become vogue, the eastern religions that have destroyed their own countries with vile practices are now part of the pluralistic country in which we live. These false gods cannot save!  It is ironic to read that, “the LORD his God handed him over to the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought them to Damascus.” (2 Chr. 28:5)

This is a state everyone should be afraid of, a place where, a person, “is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him.” (Prov. 5:22NLT).  How many addicts testified of this type addiction where they said there was a point when they stopped using drugs and the drugs started using them. But this is not just an addiction to drugs or alcohol but an addiction to sin: this where people stop sinning and sin starts using them. Sin runs unchecked! God deliver us from such a state! It is the worst form of spiritual slavery and self-deception. The Bible says, “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” (2 Thess. 2:11-12NIV).

© 2011 Stephen S. Gibney Soul Health Care

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