Child Sacrifice
Posted: October 29th, 2008, 1:28 am
HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #129h Re-Written 29OCT08 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw
Gatekeepers—Part Eight: Child Sacrifice
by rev dave c
Psalm 106:35 …[The Children of God] mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. 36 They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. 38 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. 39 They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. 40 Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. 41 He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. 42 Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. 43 Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin (NIV).
As we sit at our computers, or in our easy chairs, or at a table and read these passages (and others like them from the Old Testament) we are shocked at the barbaric practices of Middle Eastern peoples of 3,000 years ago. It is beyond our ability to imagine how parents could take their children and place them onto the burning hot arms of an idol as a votive offering to the ancient god, Moloch. How could the people of the Lord God Almighty join in this horrific butchery of their offspring? How could Solomon, Son of David, build “a high place” on the Mount of Olives to such a blood-thirsty deity (1Ki 11:7)? How could King Ahaz, in his reprobate depravity, murder his own children in order to improve his chances for success in this world (c730 BC, 2Ch 28:3)? From Cain’s blood sacrifice of his brother, Abel, to the Carthaginian Phoenicians of North Africa during the early Christian era, to the Chinese in Asia and the Aztecs of Central America up through the 17th Century—all around the World wicked people throughout the ages have practiced human sacrifice to evil gods.
How fortunate we are to be alive during a time and in a culture of such great sophistication, knowledge, and technological achievement—to be living in an advanced society where ignorant and abhorrent customs like child sacrifice are the subject of our incredulous disgust. Oh, now and then we hear rumors of dark ceremonies where kidnapped children, or babies “bred” for the purpose, are ritualistically abused sexually and murdered by post modern Satanists—but they are a throwback, fringe element of such small numbers that we can count them among a handful of social deviants that include the serial killers and mass murderers who surface periodically in an otherwise increasingly civil existence. We have indeed reached a level of civilization where much of myth and magic has been debunked and we look forward to the eventual eradication of all primitive beliefs and practices.
In the past, misled and misinformed people killed their children in hopes that their god/gods would grant them a more productive life...to have more money...to encourage successful relationships......to generally improve their daily living conditions. There were too many children, anyway. Especially girl babies. They felt that it was far better to pick and choose only those children that they really wanted so that everyone, including the children who survived, was “better off.” While the contemporary Chinese government may be enforcing restrictive breeding practices for reasons very similar to the barbarism of bygone eras, we of the West would never be so crass as to tell people who may propagate and when—and we are not so foolish as to think that “sacrificing children to Moloch” will gain us anything (we are far too sophisticated to believe in any God, god, or gods). We simply abort “fetal material” up to and through “partial birth” by the tens of millions. We have come a long way, haven’t we?
We can only imagine the horrific screams of the Hebrew children as they were burned to death on alters built to demons—the smell of their flesh as it sizzled and fried. We can only wonder at the callousness of parents, friends, and neighbors who watched with hopeful anticipation as their own children were stabbed and slaughtered as a bloody sacrifice for the future of the parents. In our sophistication of the 21st Century, we would never actively participate in such gruesome customs. We have legally secured a mother and father’s right to choose to hire others to medically, surgically, fix mistakes conceived from poor sexual decisions while they are still in the womb—and everyone throughout our society benefits. Best of all we can’t hear the screams of the pre-born as he, or she, is burned to death by a saline solution. We can’t see perfect little arms and legs struggle to escape dismemberment by knives and forceps. We don’t have to witness the flesh and blood of a scissor punctured skull or listen as the child’s brain is sucked out by a vacuum cleaner. We claim no god in the efficacy of our medical procedures—they are based upon the humanistic philosophies of science, so we are without blame and guilt. There is no other price to pay—now, or later.
I’m sure that the God of Abraham, the Father of the very Jesus Christ whom we of the Church worship with our words, understands that we belong to a different era than the societies of the Old and New Testaments. Obviously the words of Psalm 106 do not apply to us: They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. God, if there is still time...please forgive us.
Gatekeepers—Part Eight: Child Sacrifice
by rev dave c
Psalm 106:35 …[The Children of God] mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. 36 They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. 38 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. 39 They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. 40 Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. 41 He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. 42 Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. 43 Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin (NIV).
As we sit at our computers, or in our easy chairs, or at a table and read these passages (and others like them from the Old Testament) we are shocked at the barbaric practices of Middle Eastern peoples of 3,000 years ago. It is beyond our ability to imagine how parents could take their children and place them onto the burning hot arms of an idol as a votive offering to the ancient god, Moloch. How could the people of the Lord God Almighty join in this horrific butchery of their offspring? How could Solomon, Son of David, build “a high place” on the Mount of Olives to such a blood-thirsty deity (1Ki 11:7)? How could King Ahaz, in his reprobate depravity, murder his own children in order to improve his chances for success in this world (c730 BC, 2Ch 28:3)? From Cain’s blood sacrifice of his brother, Abel, to the Carthaginian Phoenicians of North Africa during the early Christian era, to the Chinese in Asia and the Aztecs of Central America up through the 17th Century—all around the World wicked people throughout the ages have practiced human sacrifice to evil gods.
How fortunate we are to be alive during a time and in a culture of such great sophistication, knowledge, and technological achievement—to be living in an advanced society where ignorant and abhorrent customs like child sacrifice are the subject of our incredulous disgust. Oh, now and then we hear rumors of dark ceremonies where kidnapped children, or babies “bred” for the purpose, are ritualistically abused sexually and murdered by post modern Satanists—but they are a throwback, fringe element of such small numbers that we can count them among a handful of social deviants that include the serial killers and mass murderers who surface periodically in an otherwise increasingly civil existence. We have indeed reached a level of civilization where much of myth and magic has been debunked and we look forward to the eventual eradication of all primitive beliefs and practices.
In the past, misled and misinformed people killed their children in hopes that their god/gods would grant them a more productive life...to have more money...to encourage successful relationships......to generally improve their daily living conditions. There were too many children, anyway. Especially girl babies. They felt that it was far better to pick and choose only those children that they really wanted so that everyone, including the children who survived, was “better off.” While the contemporary Chinese government may be enforcing restrictive breeding practices for reasons very similar to the barbarism of bygone eras, we of the West would never be so crass as to tell people who may propagate and when—and we are not so foolish as to think that “sacrificing children to Moloch” will gain us anything (we are far too sophisticated to believe in any God, god, or gods). We simply abort “fetal material” up to and through “partial birth” by the tens of millions. We have come a long way, haven’t we?
We can only imagine the horrific screams of the Hebrew children as they were burned to death on alters built to demons—the smell of their flesh as it sizzled and fried. We can only wonder at the callousness of parents, friends, and neighbors who watched with hopeful anticipation as their own children were stabbed and slaughtered as a bloody sacrifice for the future of the parents. In our sophistication of the 21st Century, we would never actively participate in such gruesome customs. We have legally secured a mother and father’s right to choose to hire others to medically, surgically, fix mistakes conceived from poor sexual decisions while they are still in the womb—and everyone throughout our society benefits. Best of all we can’t hear the screams of the pre-born as he, or she, is burned to death by a saline solution. We can’t see perfect little arms and legs struggle to escape dismemberment by knives and forceps. We don’t have to witness the flesh and blood of a scissor punctured skull or listen as the child’s brain is sucked out by a vacuum cleaner. We claim no god in the efficacy of our medical procedures—they are based upon the humanistic philosophies of science, so we are without blame and guilt. There is no other price to pay—now, or later.
I’m sure that the God of Abraham, the Father of the very Jesus Christ whom we of the Church worship with our words, understands that we belong to a different era than the societies of the Old and New Testaments. Obviously the words of Psalm 106 do not apply to us: They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. God, if there is still time...please forgive us.