Special Note: This article is included in Jim’s book “An Attitude of Thankfulness” along with 19 other articles and is available for purchase in Paperback and for FREE download in eBook format at this link:  Jim’s Books

Background:

I can’t get this topic off of my mind … and it troubles me how calloused we are as a society to allow this to be the law of the land without major outrage.  What troubles me even more is the continuous slide by our nation into total immorality.  Our nation teeters on the collapse of our balanced form of government founded in 1776.  Our forefathers saw fit to create a republic consisting of three branches of government … the executive, the legislative and the judicial.  Counter to popular opinion we are not a democracy as so many have been taught to believe through our governmental supplied public school system.  By design, the three branches are supposed to independently counter-balance each other.  By and large, the system has worked very well for our citizens.  However, recent decisions by the Supreme Court during this early summer session and the recently announced presidential support for same-sex marriage provide further validation of the mess that we are in after only 236 years of existence as a sovereign nation.  Our downward spiral continues.  But that is not exactly the subject of this article.  My hope is that by the end of this article you will see how our governmental mess relates to the stated topic, On Child Sacrifice.

Late this afternoon my wife drove us from our Lookout mountain home in Alabama to our favorite restaurant in all of the world, The Canyon Grill, located on Lookout mountain in the New Salem, Georgia community above the valley town of Trenton, Georgia.

The restaurant is located near the Cloudland Canyon state park.  Perhaps you have been there.  What a beautiful view of God’s creation from the top of that canyon!  Many of you know that I have had health problems for some time that have kept me near to home most of the time.  But I am feeling better these days and we ventured the fifty mile round trip to enjoy a delicious and delightful dinner.

While we were waiting for our food we couldn’t help but overhear the conversation of the six folks seated at the table next to us.  In a loud and firm voice the mature gray-headed gentleman said something like this:  “Well, it comes down to this … if you favor same-sex marriage and abortion, then vote for the democrats.  If you don’t, then vote for the republicans.”  That thought struck home with me and I immediately turned my mind to the thinking that I had been doing earlier this week about this article.  I believe that God allowed me to hear the man’s comment in order to cement into my mind and record the contents of this writing.

Scripture:  (all NKJV unless otherwise noted)

2 Kings 23:10 – And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.

Jeremiah 7:31 – And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

Jeremiah 19:12-15 – ¹² Thus I will do to this place,” says the Lord, “and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet. ¹³ And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’” ¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’”

Isaiah 30:31-33  – ³¹ For through the voice of the Lord Assyria will be beaten down, As He strikes with the rod. ³² And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, Which the Lord lays on him, It will be with tambourines and harps; And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it. ³³ For Tophet was established of old, Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much wood; The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, Kindles it.

Matthew 5:22) – But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire (Gehenna).

Matthew 18:9 – And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.

Discussion:

If you know anything about ancient history you will know that many societies often practiced the ritual sacrifice of humans and even their children to gain the favor of their gods.  We often think of this as being related to primitive or tribal people with barbaric lifestyles.  Child sacrifice was practiced in Old Testament days by many of the Israel’s neighbors and mentioned multiple times in the Bible.  Those who worshiped the god Molech in the Valley of Hinnom (2 Kings 23:10) allowed their children to be burned with fire (Jeremiah 7:31).  The valley of Hinnom runs east-west and lies on the southern side of the city of Jerusalem.  The cultic site referred to as Tophet (sometimes Topheth) was in this valley.  A note in The Thomas Nelson Chronological Bible relates that the Biblical prophets often mentioned the fire of Tophet in describing Almighty God’s judgement on those who were not faithful to Him.  For example, see Jeremiah 19:12-15 where the prophet says that God would make Jerusalem and the towns around it like Tophet — like a place of burning — because they had “stiffened their necks” against God’s will.  Isaiah also pronounced that a similar punishment would fall on Assyria (Isaiah 30:31-33).  Isaiah said that God’s anger would be like a “flame of devouring fire,” the fire of Tophet.  The flame would be all-consuming and more than adequate to punish all offenders.  Verse 33 closes with the statement that “… the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone kindles it.”

By New Testament times the Valley of Hinnom was referred to by the Aramaic word “gehinnam” which was also known in Greek as Gehenna, or the “hell fire” (see Matthew 5:22).  Jesus warned about the Gehenna, or the “hell fire” in Matthew 18:9 inferring that Gehenna would be a fiery judgement like the fire of Tophet as proclaimed by Isaiah.

Reflection:

So, here’s where I tie all of this together.  I think most will agree that “child sacrifice” for any reason is just plain “murder.”  That, of course, violates one of God’s Ten Commandments.  In my mind and in accordance with what the Bible teaches, I have to ask this question – How is abortion different from “child sacrifice” and thus murder?  Aborting a child to me is equivalent to child sacrifice and murder.  Murder is equated in the scripture with unlawful killing resulting in bloodguilt.  So we have passed and upheld “laws” that make abortion lawful and not resulting in bloodguilt.   So what is bloodguilt anyway?  Follow this link to a Jewish explanation of bloodguilt as presented in numerous Old Testament scriptures.  The New Testament validates the Old Testament teachings.  If you have doubts about the validity of my statement, then refer to the following scriptures: Matthew 23:30-35, Matthew 27:4, Luke 11:50-51, Romans 3:15, Revelation 6:10, Revelation 18:24.  In particular, abortion results in the shedding of innocent blood and is viewed as a direct offense against God as our Creator since all men are created in His image.

So how can so many blatantly ignore that the “murder” of an unborn baby, a child, or an adult for that matter, is totally against what God and the Holy Bible teach us about the sanctity of life?  Yet all three branches of our government … executive, legislative and judicial … have  proposed, discussed, passed and verified under close examination that abortion is legal in the USA.  As I view it, this means that by mans’ law we have allowed the “child sacrifice” of more than fifty-four million (54,000,000) babies under the banner of legal abortion since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973.  How staggering and sickening!!  That is more than the population of any state in the Union by a long shot.  For example consider the population of California (approximately 36 million), Texas (23 million) and New York (approximately 19 million).  If you want to look at the abortion statistics compiled by the NRLC I have quoted above yourself, then follow the link.  Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D. wrote an article (Fifty Million Lost Lives Since 1973) in January 2008 containing a profound statement I reproduce below without further comment because I can’t say it any better in my own words:

“By the time you read this sentence, America will have passed a tragic, momentous, and most sobering milestone. Within a day or two of January 22, 2008, the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, baby number 50,000,000 will have been sacrificed on the altar of Roe v. Wade.

The magnitude of the killing is staggering. Fifty million represents a population greater than any state, greater than California (36 million), greater than the next two largest states—Texas and New York—combined (23 million and 19 million, respectively). In fact, if you combined the entire populations of all of the 25 states with the fewest people, it still would not equal 50 million.

Of course, the issue isn’t numbers. Each abortion represents at least one lost life and what may be a deeply wounded woman’s soul. Families, too, suffer, and society itself pays a dear price, with lost innovation, productivity, and creativity.

How many great books, symphonies, films have been lost? How many profitable businesses never came to be? What if we aborted the child who would have found the cure for cancer? How much love and laughter has the world been deprived of?”

How can our government be guilty of passing so many laws that are so absurdly immoral and ungodly?  I believe our forefathers, were they alive today, would be loudly and passionately voicing their opinions about the lunacy of many of the “laws” we have enacted that go directly against Almighty God’s directives.  Some of you reading this may be thinking that the separation of church and state means that our laws do not have to follow the principles found in the Bible.  I don’t go so far as to say that we should use the rule of law to mandate a religion.  In fact, I believe quite the opposite.  The first amendment to the US constitution reads:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

But common sense should tell you that much of what we have legislated into law and are practicing as a nation to be “politically correct” is not good for our country’s future and is an abomination to God.   If you have followed my writings for any amount of time, then you know that one of my constant themes is that when people and nations go against God and the Bible’s teachings, there are both earthly and eternal consequences that will have to be paid for such unGodliness.  The USA will suffer the consequences of ignoring God’s commands.  There is no doubt in my mind about that.  Our leaders who take us to that immoral ground will also suffer.  And there is no doubt in my mind about that either.

As a people the majority in the USA seem to have “stiffened their necks” against God’s will when it comes to abortion.  God will not let this continue without major repercussions.  God’s anger will be like a “flame of devouring fire,” the fire of Tophet.  The flame will be all-consuming and more than adequate to punish all offenders.   “… The breath of the Lord, (will be) like a stream of brimstone (that) kindles it (Isaiah 30:33).”  How are we that different from the primitive or tribal people who practice child sacrifice?  I say … we are not that different at all.  We have the bloodguilt of more than 54 million souls on our hands.  How many more abortions will it take to wake us up?  And as a final note, I will be voting Republican in the November elections.

To read more of more of my related articles on the topic of abortion and the sanctity of life use the following links:

So Where Is My Choice? A Father’s Day Message on the Sanctity of Life

On the Sanctity of Life and Abortion

Lifestyle Choices and Biblical Truth

Child sacrifice to Molech

Child sacrifice to Canaanite gods

Child sacrifice in modern day Uganda

   Child Sacrifice in modern-day USA!  54 million since 1973 …. and counting!!  Dear God, how can you ever forgive us for sacrificing our children to “Molech” in the fire of Tophet?