#266 Leviticus 20 Part 1 Who's Your Molech?

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.

4 And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:

5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. Leviticus 20: 1-5 KJV

So again this Molech is mentioned, and from what I read he is a deity that was worshiped by those to whom Israel had association. As was so often the case with Israel and is found to be in the church today, these pagan practices were assimilated in to the lives of Abraham's children. It is a violation of the commandment:

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.3"You shall have no other gods before Me. 4"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.…Exodus 20:2-4

I have read several descriptions of this, some describing an image made of metal that was heated to intensity. The children of those, who held such superstitious notions, were passed through the heat of the arms, and in this way preserved against infant mortality. It must have been a strong tie to the culture of the time, because it is mentioned by name and twice. God's demand is that we not make up our own gods, nor adjust our ideals to our neighbors. Here, the people are also commanded to not pretend that it is not happening. It will put you in an uncomfortable position for sure, and if you do not agree with every fancy or superstition that men subscribe to, then some will label you a bigot. "Look at the piece of wood" they say. "That is not wood, it is metal," you correct them. "That is not free," you tell them, someone had to earn it. "That is not the equivalent of your tonsils, it is a human being." In all this, and no matter how justified by way of truth and reason you may feel, it is ours to hate the lie and it's behaviors, not the sinner. If you truly hate the sin then you will most definitely find love and pray for mercy for the sinner, because you will see that same place from whence you came. You will find in yourself daily that need to confess your sin, and bring to God that which you did not find nearly so grotesque in days past. Pray for your neighbors and throw away your idols. 

20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sisterd whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. 1John 4: 20&21

Rage against God

#265 Playing Church

20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her.

21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.

22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:

25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.

26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:

27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)

28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.

29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

30 Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 18:20-30 KJV

I remember being at a particular church as a young man, a church where the pastor had made himself unpopular with his parishioners. He did so by sharing what the word of God had to say about adultery, and for coming out against the men in the church for not taking responsibility. One of the matriarchs in the church even approached him, on behalf of the members, and asked that he leave the home life out of his messages, it was making some of the church uncomfortable. It is a misconception about pastors and or "Christians" in general that the Bible is so vastly open to interpretation, and that one must either find a pastor to their liking or bend the pastor to their will. The mistake here is assuming that this somehow makes right, that the pastor or any other reader of the word has such authority as to customize the gospel to your liking. 

5 So Christ has made us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get all tied up again in the chains of slavery to Jewish laws and ceremonies. 2 Listen to me, for this is serious: if you are counting on circumcision and keeping the Jewish laws to make you right with God, then Christ cannot save you. 3 I’ll say it again. Anyone trying to find favor with God by being circumcised must always obey every other Jewish law or perish.4 Christ is useless to you if you are counting on clearing your debt to God by keeping those laws; you are lost from God’s grace.

5 But we by the help of the Holy Spirit are counting on Christ’s death to clear away our sins and make us right with God. 6 And we to whom Christ has given eternal life don’t need to worry about whether we have been circumcised or not, or whether we are obeying the Jewish ceremonies or not; for all we need is faith working through love.

7 You were getting along so well. Who has interfered with you to hold you back from following the truth? 8 It certainly isn’t God who has done it, for he is the one who has called you to freedom in Christ. 9 But it takes only one wrong person among you to infect all the others.

10 I am trusting the Lord to bring you back to believing as I do about these things. God will deal with that person, whoever he is, who has been troubling and confusing you.

11 Some people even say that I myself am preaching that circumcision and Jewish laws are necessary to the plan of salvation. Well, if I preached that, I would be persecuted no more—for that message doesn’t offend anyone. The fact that I am still being persecuted proves that I am still preaching salvation through faith in the cross of Christ alone.

12 I only wish these teachers who want you to cut yourselves by being circumcised would cut themselves off from you and leave you alone! Galatians 5:1-12

So church membership, being circumcised, programs, customs and traditions, are not an alternate gospel. They in no way remove our need of the cross. There were plenty of false teachers in Paul's time, flatterers and self seeking prophets, so now you tell me that you found a pastor who agrees with you. You say you have a teacher that feels right, because she is all about love. Your teacher said that your lifestyle is a right of birth, and only condemned for the Jews who were under the law, yet were the people of Sodom and Gomorrah under such ceremonial laws? Do they even have anything to do with each other? I would think as people of the book we should want someone to tell it like it is, because how loving is it for your teacher to seek your approval at the cost of the truth and your relationship with a just God? Is He a God of confusion, or do His moral judgments still stand? You are not a person of the book, a Christian, if you are unwilling to view the whole of it, and telling me that you love me, without telling me the truth of God, is counterfeit. I was not born to any magical race though, and I have no special powers that separate me from the likes of all of humanity. Like you, I was born a sinner, but I know that there is power not of myself, but in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Though the land would want to vomit us out, there is this hope in Jesus Christ for me and all my fellow human beings. I love you, and so I beg of you, please come to the Cross, trust in Jesus, not in men, pastors, religion, or yourself. 

13 For, dear brothers, you have been given freedom: not freedom to do wrong, but freedom to love and serve each other. 14 For the whole Law can be summed up in this one command: “Love others as you love yourself.” 15 But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always critical and catty, watch out! Beware of ruining each other.

16 I advise you to obey only the Holy Spirit’s instructions. He will tell you where to go and what to do, and then you won’t always be doing the wrong things your evil nature wants you to. 17 For we naturally love to do evil things that are just the opposite from the things that the Holy Spirit tells us to do; and the good things we want to do when the Spirit has his way with us are just the opposite of our natural desires. These two forces within us are constantly fighting each other to win control over us, and our wishes are never free from their pressures. 18 When you are guided by the Holy Spirit, you need no longer force yourself to obey Jewish laws.

19 But when you follow your own wrong inclinations, your lives will produce these evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, 20 idolatry, spiritism (that is, encouraging the activity of demons), hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group—and there will be wrong doctrine, 21 envy, murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

22 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control; and here there is no conflict with Jewish laws.

24 Those who belong to Christ have nailed their natural evil desires to his cross and crucified them there.

25 If we are living now by the Holy Spirit’s power, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26 Then we won’t need to look for honors and popularity, which lead to jealousy and hard feelings. Galatians 5:13-25

#264 Cut Off His Head

6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.

7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.

9 The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.

10 The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.

11 The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

12 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: she is thy father's near kinswoman.

13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: for she is thy mother's near kinswoman.

14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.

15 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son's wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is thy brother's nakedness.

17 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.

18 Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.

19 Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness. Leviticus 18: 6-19 KJV

One would think these are common sense practices, that need not be mentioned. Leave your kinfolk alone. It's no secret that these practices have long been condemned, but now people question them, in light of so called "science". After all the Bible is "old and archaic", right, and as so many memes on Facebook have stated, "why is Christianity so concerned with other people's bed rooms and or reproductive organs?" It is a fair question, why should I be concerned? After all, I am told, that you can't help who you love, that we can now perform genetic testing to ensure that incest does not lead to deformity, and if two people cannot control themselves then they can also terminate the resulting life, if "need" be. So yes, we do have technology, and we can see in part why these laws were made, but yet they extend past those relations of blood. They extend far past those concerns of genetic degradation. There is more than just the letter here; there are matters most spiritual indeed, for if there is a God of creation then He be that same God over pro creation. In the spiritual, which we so quickly move away from or confuse with our own preferences for religion, there is also this foundation of marriage and family. It extends it to the extent of oneness, in that thy son's wife, brother's wife, daughter of a woman, even though not your own daughter by blood, it is a sin against thy son, brother, wife, and therefore against thine own person. These things were all common practice in the surrounding cultures, and even this week I have turned on the news and heard such a story about a man and his daughter. Christians are human too, and come from this world. It is no less a sin when it is heard of in the church; it is there the ultimate hypocrisy for aren't our very lives and testimonies to convict the world of sin? The concern is there, even an atheist has his opinions on such matters; it easy to pretend there is no absolute measure of right or wrong or that it is none of your business, and that you just want everyone to be happy, but there always comes a point where it matters. Do you protect your children? Do you condone all behaviors? Let's not forget that it is not the Bible that has so elevated the act of procreation that it has justified the prejudiced against sexual responsibility that is now so prevalent. It is not Biblical Christianity that sacrifices millions of children each year, promotes sex slavery or parts farming. The reality of it is, we live in a fallen world, but Christ came to seek and save the lost. The Bible points out these behaviors as sin, and they effect us both physically and spiritually. The whole of humanity has a view of sexuality that comes from this fallen and idolatrous nature. So, why do I care?

“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father,where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” John 16:1-15

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Mark 16: 15&16

I have to care, I have to change, I have to live it and speak it, or else I have not loved you. 

#263 Embrace the Wind I Did

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God.

3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.

4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God.

5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord. Leviticus 18: 1-5 KJV

It is an interesting opener to contemplate, since He is God regardless, and there is no other outside the vanity of the mind. This repeats the commandment that we shall have no other gods before Him. So what does it say about our natural state, the one He first finds us in? It is well put that we are at enmity with God, maybe not with lower case god, but with the God that presents Himself through the inspired Word, the clash is inevitable. I have done many things in response to God: first I smiled and then invented lower case god, after all the imagination is a wonderful place. There it is that I am the hero in that novel and god has recruited me, so I go to him when I need something. It was not till much later that I realized God was never in need of or waiting for my endorsement. Secondly, I forgot about God, I did that a lot, I still have my moments when I allow the volume of all else to be turned up too high. His voice is still there, He is still God, the volume of life, the noise, the drama, none of it changes Who He is or what He has said. Thirdly, I laughed and tried to create an even lower case straw man, a god that I could easily burn down with my understanding of "science" or sarcasm. Here it was though, when the scales are pulled back from the eyes, I find myself not so logical as I thought and in fact quite  bent to my wants and emotions. I realize, the problem with the straw man is that defeating him is defeating a creature created for defeat, created by myself and the world, but the Creator of everything, oh my, and no wonder He has to say, "I am the Lord your God." He has to tell us that we are no longer like that from whence we came, and we cannot be like the people in the land where we presently dwell. To say, yes there is God, but to not change or be set apart, is to create this god, this little, impotent, clay figurine. Sure, we may so easily crush him later or the world may grind it to dust, but don't hold your head so high, because it was never God you sought. 

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Romans 12: 1-3 KJV