Sign of the Times

Scripture: And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 2 Kings 23:4

Observation: In chapter 23, here is the list of everyone Judah is worshiping that Josiah destroys: Baal, Asherah, the moon, the sun, the constellations, hosts of heaven, Molech, Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Milcom, and an unnamed cult with male prostitutes. That is six named gods, one unnamed cult, and four natural objects. My first reaction in reading this is, "How could one nation have a dozen different gods when the Lord was so good to them and so blessed them?" Of course, that question is immediately answered ...

Application: How many "gods" do we have in the United States? Probably thousands. In just looking at core religions, we have gods ranging from Vishnu to Buddha. Just as Asherah started as a warped concept about Yahweh, we have Allah. We have constellation worship (astrology). We have unnamed practices. We have religions that think they worship some version of a god that blends every god into one nature (Bahai). We have people who worship Satan, people who worship 'nature', and people who worship a collection of self-help principles (Scientology). We have people who simply think sex is a religious experience. And we have people who ignore absolutely all of it and worship ... themselves.

For the practices of Judah and Israel related to a dozen alternative belief systems, God destroyed them. I'm not saying ... I'm just saying.

Prayer: Lord, it is obvious that there are only two possible outcomes for our country. We will be destroyed and removed from the landscape of mankind, or we will reverse course with an awakening of faith. Well, I certainly don't see a King Josiah anywhere in our future. So please come, Lord Jesus. I do hope you remove your Church before those things that must occur, but no matter what your remnant will be faithful. Amen.