Related Articles:
- Chapter 1 - Abortion: The Religion of Witchcraft and Child Sacrifice
- Chapter 2 - Abortion in Biblical Perspective
- Chapter 3 - Abortion ... The Devil’s Mousetrap
- Chapter 4 - The Origin of Child Sacrifice
- Chapter 5 - The History of Human Sacrifice
- Chapter 6 - Modern Witchcraft and Child Sacrifice
- Chapter 7 - Witchcraft, Feminism and Child Sacrifice
- Chapter 8 - Do What Thou Wilt - Witchcraft and Satanism
- Chapter 10 - Tearing Down the High Places
Chapter 9 – Defeating Jezebel
by Eric Holmberg and Jay Rogers
In one of the few instances where they agree, both Ms. Magazine and the Bible label the various permutations of spirituality that support the feminists and abortion movements as “witchcraft.” And biblically, witchcraft is linked to rebellion – specifically, rebellion against God’s authority.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15: 23).
It is true that the state should have minimal say in deciding anyone’s fate – male or female. But the state’s intrusion into a woman’s fate in forbidding abortion is nothing compared with the decision that the unborn child’s fate should be death. In addition the Church, as God’s representative in the earth, has an duty to proclaim the revealed will of God on every issue – including child-killing – binding men’s consciences to the perfect will of their Creator, whether they like it or not.
Psalm 2 makes it clear that often they don’t.
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:1-3).
But this insistence that men don’t have to be accountable to God and His laws should be seen for what it is: rebellion, childish futility, and a form of suicide. For in the end we don’t just break God’s laws, they will break us.
When we consider the word “witchcraft,” one Bible personality stands out. Jezebel, more than anyone else in scripture, represents the corrupting influence of witchcraft. In the book of Kings, the prophet Elijah mentions Jezebel along with two of the satanic deities we have already discussed. He asks to see: “… the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table” (1 Kings 18:19).
Nearly one thousand years later Jesus spoke to the church at Thyatira in Asia Minor about another Jezebel:
“But I have one thing against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and she teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they commit acts of immortality and eat things sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20).
This admonition cuts to the heart of the church today. Truly, the church here and throughout much of the world has become the modern equivalent of Thyatira. Jezebel has not only been tolerated, she has been celebrated, even ordained.
According to WORLD magazine: “One of the Religious Left’s premier organizations is the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. RCAR is a hard-line supporter of federally funded abortions and the Freedom of Choice Act (and) represents groups of liberal Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Brethren, Moravians, Jews, Humanists, and Unitarians” (Steve Beard, WORLD magazine, May 22, 1993).
And George Tiller, the infamous late-term abortion doctor who personally killed over 60,000 babies – many of them viable children who could have lived if they had been removed by C-section – was a member in good standing of a Lutheran church in his hometown of Wichita, Kansas. He was actually serving as an usher, with his wife in the choir, when he was shot and killed. While we condemn the vigilantism of his killer – the fact remains that one of the worst mass-murderers in history was not only tolerated; he was allowed membership and even a place of service in a church that called itself “Christian.”
God’s command is that the Church “repent of her deeds” and drive Jezebel out of the Church and from our nation. To help us understand the magnitude of the battle this represents, the prophet Malachi announced that God would send the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord. 400 years later, Jesus connected John the Baptist with the ministry of Elijah. The distinguishing feature of both Elijah and John’s lives was their boldness in confronting wickedness and their command to repent. Scripture calls this ministry: Preparing the Way of the Lord.”
In the same way that Elijah confronted the wicked rulers of his time and John prepared the way for the advent of Christ by preaching repentance, so God’s man in the earth, the Church, has the responsibility to confront injustice, particularly as it is directed against the weak and defenseless, the “least of these” in the words of Jesus.
There are many ways in which the Church has been called to “prepare the way” – the most notable being the Great Commission – to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” But just as Jezebel was Elijah’s greatest challenge, we too, must confront and defeat the forces of witchcraft that have manifested themselves through abortion. And just as Elijah was almost defeated by Jezebel and John was killed by the witchcraft of Herod’s wife, we must also realize that this is no easy battle.
There can be no victory without the radical commitment to fight.
The spiritual pattern that led us our present abortion holocaust can be summarized as follows:
• Through the incestuous acts of Lot’s daughters a new demonic foothold was established in the earth.
• Their descendants, the Moabites and Ammonites, became increasingly subject to this stronghold; leading eventually to the worship of a demonic deity – identified variously as Asherah, Ashteroth, Moloch or Baal – through child sacrifice.
• The religion spread as the gods and goddesses of fertility – under various names – were worshipped throughout the ancient pagan world as a part of a widespread “Mother Earth” cult.
• The spread of Christianity in many areas began to suppress and eventually nearly eradicate these demonic practices as pagans were converted and light triumphed over darkness.
• As a result of apostasy and subsequent occult revivals – for example like the one in seventeenth-century France – earth cults, witchcraft and the worship of the goddess resurfaced in various forms. Witchcraft, as an organized religion, was revived in Europe and America beginning in middle part of the 20th century.
• And finally, goddess worship has resurfaced in the 20th and 21st centuries as feminist spirituality. Not coincidentally, abortion – today’s form of child sacrifice – has come right along with it.
It is important to note the historic rationale of those who in ancient times offered up their own children to idols. They believed that the sacrifice of blood rejuvenated and strengthened the deity to whom it was dedicated at the same time binding him or her to the offerer of the sacrifice. In other words, when they sacrificed their children to an idol, they became spiritual slaves to the demon it represented. Even more frightening was the effect upon the spirit – greater power was released through the outpouring of innocent blood.
The book of Kings recounts a battle where one of the descendants of Lot’s daughters, the King of Moab, was about to face certain defeat at the hands of the Israelites and their larger though spiritually compromised army. In a desperate attempt to curry favor with his gods and gain the spiritual advantage, the king offered up his oldest son and heir on the wall of his city as a sacrifice. The fact that it was a burnt offering tells us that it was undoubtedly made to Baal, Moloch or Ashteroth. And what is even more sobering is what happened next.
And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land (2 Kings 3:21-27).
The sacrifice of innocent blood apparently tipped the scales and gave the pagan king victory over a more powerful army that was no longer enjoying the blessing of God.
The account of 2 Kings 3, the Moabite rebellion, is actually recorded by the king of Moab on the Mesha Stele, or “Moabite stone,” which was discovered in 1868. In lines 15 -19 it says:
And I went in the night and fought against it from the daybreak until midday, and I took it and I killed the whole population: seven thousand male subjects and aliens, and female subjects, aliens, and servant girls. For I had devoted them to destruction for Ashtar Chemosh. And from there I took the vessels of Yahweh, and I presented them before the face of Chemosh. And the king of Israel had built Yahaz, and he stayed there throughout his campaign against me; and Chemosh drove him away before my face.
This amazing yet little known archaeological find corroborates the account of 2 Kings chapter 3:
When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him 700 men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not. Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land (2 Kings 27,28).
The corroboration between the Moabite stone and the Bible dispels any doubt that the nations surrounding Israel were engaged in this monstrous practice of human sacrifice in the days of Elijah and Elisha in the 9th century before Christ.
Note that the Moabite stone mentions The Hebrew name for God, “Yawheh.” It also confirms the human sacrifice that took place on the altar of Molech and Ashteroth.
Modern archaeologists believe that Chemosh and Molech were one and the same deity and that Ashtar is simple a regional variation of Ashteroth.
Thus Ashtar-Chemosh is the goddess of child sacrifice.
Evil will ultimately be allowed to prevail, at least initially, against the backslider almost every time. This is a principle America would do well to consider as the spiritual heritage of the Moabites and Ammonites is alive and well in our own day through abortion. The church is now fighting against those same spiritual forces for the very survival of our nation. Without true repentance and all-out spiritual warfare, what are our chances for victory when the demons’ lust is now being gorged on the blood of not just one, but well over a million children sacrificed each year?
The land that God chose to bring His people into after their long captivity in Egypt was filled with nations that practiced child sacrifice. And what was his commandment to Israel?
“When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then shall you drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. And destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places” (Numbers 33:51, 52).
This scripture provides a model for our response to paganism, child sacrifice and every other great evil. The Old Testament provides temporal examples and insights into what we, God’s New Covenant people, must accomplish in the spiritual realm. In the same way, for example, that Israel followed a man named Joshua into the promised land, so the Church, spiritual Israel, follows a man named Joshua, or Yeshua (Jesus), into the land of promise. Everything that the Israelites underwent has a direct New Covenant application. How do we to “drive out pagan idolatry and demolish their high places” in the New Covenant? Should we, like the ancient Israel, attack the individuals responsible for the idolatry?
Absolutely not – for our ultimate battle is not against flesh and blood.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).
In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given in the way that we experience Him today. Without access to the sanctuary, to the throne of God, mere men had neither the anointing nor the authority to confront the demonic powers directly. In order to defeat the forces of wickedness, there was no recourse except to destroy the people through whom those forces acted.
But with the coming of Jesus, the whole balance of power changed. For the first time we see a man directly confronting the spiritual forces of darkness. Jesus even defines this as one of the primary signs that the kingdom of God has come into this world:
“But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20).
— After the cross, where the atonement for sin was accomplished, Satan’s head was crushed and the veil that separated mankind from God’s sanctuary was rent;
— After Jesus’ ascension, coronation and enthronement at the right hand of the Father;
— After all earthly and heavenly authority was granted to Him and, by extension, to us as his deputized earthly ambassadors;
— And after the power of the Holy Spirit came upon the Church and we were granted sanctuary access from where we could now pray, prophesy and proclaim God’s kingdom in the earth.
God’s people can now direct their efforts to the real problem: the spiritual realm.
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).
The simple, glorious fact is, Jesus has defeated Satan. As a new Adam, He has given the earth back to man – specifically his born-again descendents –and has re-commissioned them to subdue and cultivate – in a word “heavenize” – this world.
And He has granted us all manner of precious and magnificent promises that we can and will, in the end, prevail:
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
Sit at my right hand (the Father told Jesus after His enthronement) until I make all your enemies a footstool for your feet. (Psalm 110:1).
All things are possible for one who believes (Mark 9:23).
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith (1 John 5:4).
I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
This last verse – and there are many more like these five – is particularly relevant to our subject matter here because of its mention of gates and hell.
Gates in the Bible represent places of authority – economic, government and military – and are thus critically important from a spiritual warfare perspective. They’re also primarily defensive in nature. So the picture we have in this glorious promise by Jesus is one of the Church charging the gates – the stronghold of hell – and hell not being able to withstand the assault.
This great truth was wonderfully echoed in the famous quote by the renowned missionary C.T. Studd:
“Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.”
That child sacrifice is Satan’s stronghold and will be what we find as we near hells’ gates can be seen in the word that Jesus most often used to refer to hell, the place of judgment where the devil, his angels and all that do evil will ultimately be cast: Gehenna. For example:
“It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell [gehenna] where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:47,48).
Gehenna – an abbreviation of the proper name “valley of the son of Hinnom” – was a valley outside the southwest wall of Jerusalem. It was near there that the backslidden King Solomon first erected a place of worship for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Moloch the abomination of the Ammonites.
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Moloch the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7).
Later kings like Ahaz and Manasseh went even further in this idolatry, causing their children to quote “pass through the fire” – to be burned to death in a satanic sacrifice – in this very valley.
He [Ahaz] even made metal images for the Baals, and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel (2 Chronicles 28:2,3 ).
And he [Manasseh] burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom (2 Chronicles 33:6).
Rabbinical history records that large brass representations of these pagan deities were crafted that featured a brazen altar area formed from the idol’s outstretched hands. It was then heated until the hands became red-hot. The sacrifice was made to “pass through the fire” by being placed on the hands and burned to death while priests beat drums in order to drown out the child’s screams.
Later, during a season of spiritual revival and national repentance, king Josiah put an end to this abomination, destroying the idols and high places and rendering the area ceremonially unclean by covering it with human bones and other corruptions.
And they chopped down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he cut down the incense altars that stood above them. And he broke in pieces the Asherim and the carved and the metal images, and he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 34:3-5; cf. 2 Kings 23:10,13-14).
Eventually, the Valley of Hinnom became a literal cesspool and smoldering dump, a place of defilement and a fit representation of the withering judgment God brings against sin – particularly the abomination of child sacrifice. It was this precise place that Jesus used as a metaphor for hell — the place where the worm of man’s fallen nature will never die and where the fire of his lusts will never be quenched.
“It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell (gehenna), ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’” (Mark 9:47,48).
Do you want to know where the gates of hell are; where we’re to focus our efforts as we run our rescue mission on its very doorstep?
It’s wherever children are being sacrificed to satisfy the lusts and conveniences of others. Take courage Christian, as we commit ourselves to this battle, as we finally decide to act with the focus and resolve commensurate with the horror of babies being murdered in our own backyards, our Lord has promised us that the gates of hell will in the end be unable to stand against us.
Again C.T Studd:
“When we are in hand-to-hand conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil himself, neat little Biblical confectionery is like shooting lions with a pea-shooter. God needs a man who will let go and deliver blows right and left as hard as he can hit, in the power of the Holy Ghost. Nothing but forked-lightning Christians will count.”
