"These [in Berea] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." - Acts 17:11

(23) Moreover, I lifted up My hand {and} swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the [heathen] nations and disperse them in the countries, (24) Because they had not executed My ordinances but had despised {and} rejected My statutes and had profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers' idols. (25) Wherefore also I gave them [over to] statutes that were not good and ordinances whereby they should not live {and} could not have life, (26) And I [let them] pollute {and} make themselves unclean in their own offerings [to their idols], in that they caused to pass through the fire all the firstborn, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know, understand, {and} realize that I am the Lord.

Amplified® Bible copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Notice the emphasis on the personal pronoun "My." The source of the law or the values we submit to is the sovereign. This aids us greatly in determining whether idolatry is present and how our conscience will respond.

God forcefully contrasts His laws with pagan commands and practices. He clearly implies that those who submit to pagan commands are guilty of putting another god before the true God. The Israelites—in sincerity and a clear conscience, perhaps even fervently—brutally sacrificed their sweet and innocent firstborn in the fires to Molech, and all the while they were guilty of a horrible, vicious idolatry!

Today, we may not throw babies onto Molech's altar, but we abort 4,200 pregnancies a day, ending the lives of these potential members of God's Family in the name of free choice and self-concern. The law of the land permits this atrocity! If that is not idolatry, what is? What kind of morality, what religion, permits men to enact such heinous laws? People have become blinded by focusing on their own pleasure, failing to see even that murder is involved, let alone the idolatry. God's law nowhere permits such a depraved activity.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

To learn more, see:
The First Commandment (1997)



 

Topics:

Abortion

Idolatry

Molech

Murder

Paganism




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