A Great Sin of Israel

Leviticus 20:1–5 ESV

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name. 4 And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, 5 then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech.

The Command: Do Not Worship Molech!

His name resembles the Hebrew word for shame

He was an ammonite diety

How Did Israel Worship Molech?

Worship started by Solomon in his desire to worship his many pagan wives gods

1 Kings 11:7–8 ESV

7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. 8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

King Ahaz (Elijah’s Day) and Manasseh of Judah sacrificed there

Pass Through the Fire

It was a ritual of child sacrifice

The place of worship was called Topheth

The word Topheth

Topheth, where the valley of Ben-Hinnom is located, can mean “furnace,” “fireplace,” or “oven.” April Favara, “Molech,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

It is believed that idols of Moloch were giant metal statues of a man with a bull’s head. Each image had a hole in the abdomen and possibly outstretched forearms that made a kind of ramp to the hole. A fire was lit in or around the statue. Babies were placed in the statue’s arms or in the hole.

The Tophet was later destroyed by King Josiah

The Valley of Ben Hinnom from Mt. Zion (the foot of the Temple.

The Valley of Ben Hinnom

What you can see, is it would be easy to both be at the temple and see the idol and be at the idol and see the temple

Jeremiah identified it as a symbol of God judement and called it the “valley of slaughter”

Jer 7:32 “32 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.”

Jer 19:6 “6 therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.”

During the Maccabees the bodies of the enemies would be burnt there.

Valley of Ben Hinnom in Hebrew would be gey venei-hinnom and was later shortened to Gahanna during the inter-testamental period.

Gahanna is the word Jesus uses that we translate Hell because it was associated with unquenching fire and God’s judgement.

Worship of Molech was even found into Northern Africa where he was exported into Greece and became a Titan by the name Kronos.

Why Did Israel Worship Molech?

Financial blessing

For future children

What Happens Because of Worshiping Molech?

If someone worshipped Molech, the Israelites were to stone him

If the Israelites did not punish him, God would cut him off

God would punish his clan (family) for allowing this sin

Why is it a Sin to Worship Molech?

The First Commandment

Exodus 20:1-3 “1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”

The Second Commandment

Exodus 20:4-6 “4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

The Sixth Commandment

Exodus 20:13 “13 “You shall not murder.”

What About Today?

Do we still worship Molech today? Yes.

Why? For the same reasons

As a nation we sacrifice somewhere between 600 and 900,000 unborn humans per year

Since the legalization of abortion we have murdered over 63 million babies

Compared to slavery where there were about 10-12.5 million total slaves

Abortion and race:

More than 20 Million (current population of 41 million).

2:1 when compared to white women

Why do people argue for abortion?

Financial

It will hurt the mom’s career

The mom cannot afford the child

Sounds like Molech worship to me

Rape (0.3%)

Health

This isn’t abortion

Ohio’s Proposed Amendment’s

Issue 1

Issue 1 does not address Abortion, is not an attempt to counter abortion but was moved quicker due to abortion

Changes the amendment process in three main ways

1: requires signatures from all 88 counties not just the larges

This is to combat signature harvesting ($35 million is being spent this year)

2: After signature review, if there are not enough there would no longer be an extended period

3: Moving from 50%+1 to 60%

In November turnout is predicted to be 8% so 4% of Ohioans can currently make amendments to our constitution.

All opponents of issue 1 require greater than 60% to amend their bylaws

The US Constitution is drastically more difficult to amend (by design)

Very few stats have this same 50%+1 requirement

Ohio Abortion Amendment

Be it Resolved by the People of the State of Ohio that Article I of the Ohio Constitution is amended to add the following Section:

Article I, Section 22. The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety

A. Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on:

contraception;

fertility treatment;

continuing one’s own pregnancy;

miscarriage care;

and abortion.

B. The State shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against either:

An individual’s voluntary exercise of this right or

A person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right, unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care.

However, abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability. But in no case may such an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.

C. As used in this Section:

“Fetal viability” means “the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures. This is determined on a case-by-case basis.”

“State” includes any governmental entity and any political subdivision.

D. This Section is self-executing.