While
Christians all around the USA are heatedly debating over which power-hungry
politician should sit in the White House, something absolutely nefarious has
been happening right under our noses.
In March of this year, the New York Times reported that on April 19, 2016, a replica of a 50-foot arch to an ancient temple of Baal (Bel) would be erected in Times Square of New York City, and in London as well.
The builders
of the arches (Who are being backed by the United Nations in this project) have
plans to erect 1,000 of these Baal arches in major cities all over the world.
Why is
this even happening? Because in August of 2015, ISIS destroyed a Syrian
temple to Baal that was dedicated in 32AD, and the United Nations declared this
act a “war crime” and “an intolerable crime against civilization”.
Really?
Do you know what happened at temples of Baal? Scholar Ray Vander Laan writes,
“At times of crisis, Baal’s followers sacrificed their children, apparently the
firstborn of the community, to gain prosperity. The Bible calls this practice
‘detestable’ (Deut. 12:31, 18:9-10).”
Baal temples were also famous for wild acts of sexual perversion.
“Yeah,”
you might say, “but that’s Old Testament stuff. The New Testament doesn’t
really deal with Baal.” Actually, it does. Jesus basically equates Baal with Satan
in Luke 11:14-20. In Revelation 2:12-17, Jesus says that,
practically speaking, there are Baal worshippers in the church of Pergamum. In
the church! And He says if they don’t repent He will personally make war
against them.
God hates Baal worship, but
evidently His people have a strange affinity for it.
You may
be thinking, “I don’t care if they build one of those dumb arches in my
city, I will never worship Baal.” I pray that’s true, but can we think through
a few passages of Scripture together?
In 1 Kings 18, the prophet Elijah has a
confrontation with 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel over who is the true God:
Baal or Yahweh. Many Israelites are there who have been trying to worship both
Baal and Yahweh at the same time. Elijah proves that Yahweh is the real God by
praying, and having God send fire down from heaven to consume an animal
sacrifice. Elijah then kills all the prophets of Baal.
In Revelation 13, the apostle John
describes a scene from the last days, where the false prophet of the Antichrist
is revealed. Verse 13 says that like
Elijah, the false prophet, “performs great signs, so that he even makes fire
come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.”
What
happens next? In verse 15, the false
prophet of the Antichrist declares that, “whoever does not worship the image of
the beast will be killed.” Kind of seems like Satan wants some payback, doesn't it? And honestly, if you saw a man actually call fire down from heaven in the
name of the lord (Baal means ‘lord’ or ‘master’), can you say that
wouldn’t shake your belief system, even in the slightest?
Paul
warns Christians in 2 Thessalonians 2
against being deceived in the last days. He tells us that Jesus will not return
until the great apostasy, a falling away from the faith, occurs first, and the
Antichrist is revealed. Paul calls the Antichrist the man of lawlessness, the
one who leads the world to disregard and disobey the commands of Jesus.
Paul then
says that the actions of the Antichrist will be infused with the power of Satan
himself, “with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the
deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the
love of the truth so as to be saved (Vs
9-10).”
Those who
are deceived by the Antichrist and false prophet will perish because they
refuse to love the truth. Perhaps they will acknowledge the truth. They just
won’t love it enough to forsake wickedness and cling to the commands of Jesus
alone.
Baal, or
Bel, was one of the main gods of the Babylonians when they basically ruled the
world. When Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, asked Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego to include worship of the image he erected into their religious
practices, they refused to practice syncretism. They respectfully and
steadfastly refused to combine two opposing religions or worldviews just for
the sake of attaining worldly comfort, safety or success. It’s a good pattern
for us today.
So may we
heed the advice of early Christian, Cyprian, and imitate the three Judean citizens
of God’s country who courageously lived in a foreign, idolatrous land:
Let us imitate the three children
Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, who … when bidden to
worship the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had made, stood forth stronger
both than the king’s threats and the flames, calling out and attesting their
faith by these words: “O king Nebuchadnezzar … the God whom we serve is able to
deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of your
hands, O king. But if not, let it be known unto you that we do not serve your
gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.” …
