"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire..." Deuteronomy 18:10 Though I've written on Deuteronomy 18 many times, I always focused on the verses following this one, the verses which are the go-to verses strongly forbidding involvement in the occult. But is this one also applicable to today? Absolutely! What is making one's son or daughter pass through the fire? Where does that practice come from? God had strictly forbidden the Israelites from involvement with any of the gods of the countries surrounding them. In fact, the verse above begins this way: "When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations." Deuteronomy 18:9 But the Israelites disobeyed. They made marriages and began following after the gods of the surrounding countries - in this case the god Molech who demanded child sacrifice. The image of Moloch was a human-like figure of forged metal with a bull's head and outstretched arms ready to receive the infant. It was heated red hot, ready to receive the children destined for sacrifice who were placed on the arms of Molech and were then dropped into flames beneath. As these sacrifices were being conducted drums were beaten loudly so the people wouldn't hear the screams of the infant. A couple would sacrifice their firstborn, believing that Molech would then ensure financial prosperity for the family and future children. Israel erected such a statue in Jerusalem, in the Hinnom Valley, which Jesus Christ later referred to as "gehenna," translated as, and a picture of ...hell. This passage in Deuteronomy 18 is the passage in which the Lord absolutely forbids all occult involvement and it goes on to specify many types of occult activities such as witchcraft, fortune-telling, etc. It's interesting that the Lord would place this prohibition of causing a child to "pass through the fire" as the first one mentioned. He goes on to say that anyone who partakes in any of these activities is an abomination to God; not that the occult activity is an abomination, but it's so grievous that the person committing it is an abomination to God. In other places in Scripture the Lord reveals that the curse upon those who do these things is so severe that the curse actually goes down to the person's children to the third and fourth generation. I never understood why the Lord placed that first prohibition about sacrificing children at the head of the list, thinking no one practices that anymore, no one sacrifices their children in these days. But oh… Abortion is the sacrifice today. In abortion the child is murdered. In one type of abortion, the child is murdered before birth by filling the amniotic sac with a saline solution that literally burns the child alive! It's barbaric. Is this not the sacrifice to Molech - otherwise known as Satan? What judgment America is bringing upon herself! Back when Israel was sacrificing their children - they lost their land, their Temple, their country, and were dispersed throughout the world. The nation of Israel was destroyed. The Lord reveals why: "But 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, to cause Judah to sin." Jeremiah 32:34-35 Abortion may be the last straw in America's defiance, bringing the judgment that will destroy this country. God didn't spare Israel, and he won't spare America. God sent a warning judgment on America on September 11, 2001. He toppled the symbol of the American gods of finance, pride, and defiance. But the warning was soon forgotten. When the state of New York passed a law allowing the murder of the pre-born infants up till the day of birth - New York celebrated by lighting up the new One World Trade Center. In lighting up the One World Trade Center, New York was deliberately sticking its finger in God's eye ...defying the God who toppled the towers. Defiance continues all the more boasting itself. What will this deliberate out-and-out defiance of Almighty God bring? "...none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." Daniel 12:10 The wise ...see and recognize the judgment coming.
"He came to his own, and his own did not receive him."
John 1:11
Perhaps the greatest desire a believer has is the desire that his/her loved ones be saved. But in many cases they "do not receive him." That pits family member against family member and causes all kinds of hard feelings and distress among them.
Why is this? Why does the Lord call one or two out of a family?
"I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion."
Jeremiah 3:14
The context of that verse is speaking of Israel, but the principle is the same. God will have no other gods before him, and anything we place before God becomes an idol. It becomes a pre-condition. I'll follow you if... You have to save my loved ones before I'll give you my whole heart.
What is of utmost importance to the Lord is that the believer love him with no pre-conditions. There's no place in the life of the believer where he can say to God, "I'll follow you IF ..." No, the Lord wants the whole heart and complete faithfulness with no pre-conditions - it's just too important to him. And most often, we will be put to the test in order to establish the faithfulness of our hearts even while our deep desires remain unfulfilled.
Friends, we're dealing with the Creator, the Lord of the universe, almighty God and we can have NO other conditions placed before him in our hearts. The grief we bear over unsaved loved ones is the testing ground upon which the faithfulness of our commitment to Christ will be revealed. If we follow Christ, it will cost us.
"For I have come to set a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.
He who loves father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me."
Matthew 10:35-36
But that's not the end of the story. God is faithful. He knows our hearts and the love we have for our loved ones, and he WILL save them. The Scriptures show us example after example of this. God sent an angel to bring Lot and his family out of Sodom before the cities were destroyed, for Abraham's sake (Genesis 19:29). Throughout the history of ancient Israel, the Lord sent deliverance because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is faithful. Even the harlot in Jericho saw her family be saved before the fall of that city (Joshua 6:25). When Paul was unexpectedly set free in the prison, it resulted in a great story of salvation to a whole household. The prison guard asked:
"'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' So they said,
'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you will be saved, you and your household.'"
Acts 16:30-31
We can trust God for our loved ones, but our hearts must be set on faithfulness to the Lord even if our loved ones only come to him after we're gone. We cannot stand before the Lord with any preconditions. Entrust your loved ones to him, knowing he is absolutely faithful and they WILL come - at an appointed time. In the meantime, let them go. He knows. Firm up your heart to follow the Lord with absolutely no conditions. He is FAITHFUL.
"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life." 2nd Corinthians 1:8 There are times in our walk with the Lord when we are shocked at the intensity and persistence of the siege in Satan's attacks against us. You have to have experienced it to even come close to understanding that statement. Most never do because most are not a threat to the Satanic kingdom. Paul is making a statement here that is describing something only a true servant of God will ever experience, and that is that he went through something that burdened him "beyond measure" and "above strength." It brought him to the edge of death itself. The intensity of the siege against him cannot possibly be overstated. It was beyond him. vs 9-10: "Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death…" When one is called to go into the enemy's camp and take prisoners to bring them to Christ, the enemy is enraged and will fight with supernatural venom and try to destroy him. The fact of life is that he will come close. He will almost succeed. We are no match for him. He is a fallen archangel. A destroyer. He will bring you to the point to where you will "despair even of life." God will seem distant. You will feel abandoned. "Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat." Luke 22:31 When Satan is allowed to sift one as wheat, that person is going to feel abandoned until it is over. It happened to Peter, it happened to Paul, and it happened to Job. For no sin, for no failure, but because Satan challenged God concerning these righteous men. So they were sifted as wheat. Cut off from God, or seemingly so, not able to hear from him. But Jesus continued: vs 32: "But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.” There is purpose in our trials. Though Satan means them to destroy us, God uses them to mature us. No believer serving God will be exempt from trials because suffering is the way to maturity, and reaching maturity is only reached through the crucible of suffering. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ;”
1st Peter 1:7
"But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold."
Job 23:10
That is not the end of the story. Satan tried to destroy Peter but God brought Peter through and Peter went on to turn the world upside down. Satan tried to destroy Job but God brought him through, and God restored to him double of all that he had lost. Satan tried to kill Paul, but God brought him through and Paul, while in prison, went on to write a large part of what is now called the New Testament.
"'For a mere moment I have forsaken you,
but with great mercies I will gather you.
With a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,'
says the Lord, your Redeemer."
Isaiah 54:7-8
Take heart embattled saints, the siege is allowed but will be over, and then the Lord will restore you with great mercies and with everlasting kindness.
And you will go on to turn the world upside down.