November 11

2 Kings 24 I can’t help but see the same cycles which Judah experienced occurring in our nation today. In 1973 we permitted the taking of human life in the womb for the sake of not being saddled with the responsibility of raising unwanted children. Since then, we have lurched from one president to another who each seem to be opposites on their stand to the taking of human life in the womb. With each cycle we seem to move a little more toward a president who is more permissive of the murder of children in the womb or partially born or in some cases infanticide. Last spring president Obama addressed Planned Parenthood. He proudly announced his support of preserving ‘women’s rights’ to privacy of their own bodies. The code words take the focus of what is being destroyed onto what is supposedly being preserved. But if we are indeed destroying innocent human life, then what kind of rights are we preserving? We are preserving the right to destroy a human being who is created in the image of God. We are lashing out at the Creator who made us. 2 Kings 24:3–4 Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon. What is the ‘innocent blood’ which Manasseh shed? Is it God’s glory that He would not pardon it? Manasseh had led the nation in sacrificing children to Molech. He even made his own sons pass through the fire. While Manasseh repented of it later, the damage was done. He made it culturally acceptable in his time. His repentance did not carry over to all of the people. Yes, there was a temporary revival under Josiah where the people seemed to repent, but inside rebellion was rife. As soon as Josiah died, and his evil son was on the throne, the people returned to their old ways. The Lord would not pardon, and rightly so. If there is not repentance, how can there be pardon? Thousands of year later in a land far away, our land, we still sacrifice our offspring to the god of our own pleasures. Even if president Obama were to repent, I fear it is too late. We may postpone the judgment of God by a temporary revival, as did Josiah, but judgment is coming. Too much innocent blood has been shed. The judgment will bring glory to God, but men will not recognize it. The souls of innocent slain in heaven will recognize it and give glory to Him, and so will I. Yes, forgiveness is available to individuals who repent and trust in the Lord, but corporately, I do not think He will pardon. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john Taken from the western end of the Hinnom Valley looking through the length of the valley to the East. In the distance modern Silwan is seen where the Hinnom meets the Kidron Valley. Manasseh sacrificed his sons to Molech in the valley. The nation followed suit. After the exile the nation turned it into a garbage dump where garbage was constantly burning. By Jesus’ day the valley had become called Gehennah, a corruption of the Hebrew, Ben Hinnnom. Gehennah became a metaphor for Hell because of its constant smoldering and rotting garbage. Judas was buried at the Eastern end of the Valley, the Potters Field. Today it is kind of a park and pleasant to walk through, although its cliffs are riddled with tombs and graves.