We must constantly return to Scripture and ask “Who is King?” over
these areas. To the extent that Christians let the State usurp the God-given
roles of family and church, we have accepted the legitimacy of a false god. The
fires of Molech will continue to consume and grow until Christians lose the
ability to withdraw. Withdraw from your interest in the tophet schools and the
false-prophet State systems of Molech while you still can. Ask yourself the
question “Who is King?”
A lot depends on your answer.
Kings and
Total Sacrifice
In the 1
Samuel 8 passage we just covered, the Hebrew uses the standard
word for “king”—mlk, or melech. This common word appears all
through the Old Testament, but when referring to a particular practice of
neighboring pagan divine-king States, the Hebrew scribes replaced the vowels
with those from the Hebrew word boseth, “shame.” The resulting name
“Molech” refers to the pagan total-State, the great tyrannies incurred where
the civil State usurped the place of God and worship in society and demanded
ultimate sacrifice.
The
symbols of these tyrannies are perpetual servitude to the State in both person
and property, and the unforgettable legacy of child sacrifice. For this reason
the Hebrew scribes distinguished between “kings” (melech) and
“king-mandated human sacrifice” (molech). The commands forbidding
child-sacrifice appear in Leviticus 18:21, 20:1–5, and in Deuteronomy 12:29–32, 18:9–10. These commands
appear among sections of God’s law that forbid divination, false prophecy, and
other attempts to control the future. In other words, God’s law recognized the
propensity of kings and the State to attempt total control of its people,
capital, environment, and future (as a god would do), and that same law
condemned these actions. “The Moloch state simply represents the supreme effort
of man to command the future, to predestine the world, and to be as God.…
Moloch worship was thus state worship. The state was the true and ultimate
order.… The state claimed total jurisdiction over man; it was
therefore entitled to total sacrifice.”1
And
sacrifice it was: The “Molech sacrifices” of children were widespread in
Mediterranean culture.2 Archeologists have
uncovered—from Tyre in the Middle East to Carthage in North Africa, and even in
Italy and Sicily—thousands of urns and burials containing the charred remains
of infants and small children. One find notably uncovered inscriptions of mlk
’mr and mlk ’dm—“molech amar” and “molech adam”—meaning
“king-sacrifices of lamb,” and “king-sacrifices of man.” Ancient
historians as well attest to pagan rituals of rolling children into an
idol-furnace shaped like a god with horns, whose hollowed midsection belched
fire—sacrifices by the hundreds, even thousands.3 A
fairly recent site near modern-day Tyre uncovered so many cinerary jars and
urns that the number “cannot even be approximated.”4
Despite a
clear mandate from God Almighty, the community of the “faithful” could not
refrain from acting “like all the nations.” It was not immune from even these
barbarous practices. We find Judah’s kings Ahaz and Manasseh leading the
country in pagan worship and even in the fires of Molech (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6), and we see the people of Israel
following right along (2 Kings 17:17).
Historian Vaux comments,
The
sacrifice of children, then, by burning them to death probably made its way
into Israel from Phoenicia during a period of religious syncretism. The Bible
mentions only two specific instances, and they were motivated by the same
exceptional circumstances as the Phoenician sacrifices [see 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6].5
“Exceptional
circumstances” allegedly being the portents of invasion and war, for which the
sacrifice of children expected to gain the pagan god’s favor for salvation and
victory. Whatever the circumstance may have been, the fact of
human sacrifice is what concerns us. Formerly faithful people adopted the
practice, following the God-denying, State-worshiping cultures around them.
During this
time of social decline, the Valley of Hinnom—just outside the city of
Jerusalem—became a center of such worship, including the erection of a
“tophet,” or furnace for sacrifice. Jeremiah decried judgment upon the “tophet”
which the children of Judah had built in order “to burn their sons and their
daughters in the fire” (Jer. 7:31–32). It took the reform efforts
under good king Josiah (contemporary with Jeremiah) to destroy the
shrine-furnace “that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the
fire to Molech” (2 Kings 23:10). In other
words, it took a return to God’s word, and correction of the doctrine of God, a
concurrent correction of the doctrine of king, and civil action in
society to overcome the total sacrifice demanded by a pagan
view of society and State.
Consent
of the Civilized
Do not
make the mistake of believing this total sacrifice existed
only among ancient primitive peoples or particularly bloodthirsty tribes. The
aforementioned Tyre was part of ancient Phoenicia, the people who pioneered
maritime trading across the Mediterranean and who also invented the alphabet.
The Phoenician colony Carthage practiced child sacrifice extensively, while
growing rich through international trade, and requiring three Punic Wars before
finally succumbing to the power of Rome. And Rome! The great civilizer of the
known world, the paver of Europe, and the benevolent dictator behind the Pax
Romana! Even great civilized Rome sacrificed humans in order to control her
State gods. Despite the fact that early Rome had “officially” outlawed human
sacrifice for the people, the State practiced it widely. The great
historian Lord Acton elaborates:
But in
Rome, where religion was more real, the awe of the gods greater, the view of
life more earnest and gloomy, the morals more severe, human sacrifice was less
hateful to the popular mind. . . . The deification of the State made every
sacrifice which it exacted seem as nothing in comparison to the fortune of
Rome; and the perils which menaced it from Carthage or Gaul, Epirus or Pontus,
Parthia, Spain, or Germany, each demanded its human victims. . . .
In every
generation of the four centuries from the fall of the Republic to the establishment
of Christianity, human victims were sacrificed by the emperors. In the year 46
B.C. Julius Caesar, after suppressing a mutiny, caused one soldier to be executed,
while at the same time two others were sacrificed by the
flamen of Mars on the altar in the Campus Martius. . . . Five years later, when
Perugia was taken, Octavian sacrificed three hundred senators and knights to
his deified predecessor; and the altars of Perugia became a proverb. In the
same age Sextus Pompeius flung captives into the sea, as a sacrifice to his
father Neptune. . . . When Germanicus died, his house was found to be lined
with charms, images, and bones of men whom Tiberius had sacrificed to the
infernal gods to hasten his end.… Nero, by the advice of the astrologers, put many
nobles to death, to avert himself from the evils with which a comet threatened
him. . . . Didus Julianus offered sacrifices of children. . . . At the
beginning of the fourth century Maxentius divined the future by sacrificing
infants, and opening the bodies of pregnant women. . . . Children were publicly
sacrificed to Moloch in [Roman] Africa until the middle of the second century.
. . .6
I have
omitted many of the instances Acton lists. The practice was widespread, and
accepted by many if not most of the most civilized nations in the world. It
took the advance of Christianity to end it for the most part (it still survived
in some small pockets). The reader should see now what even the most civilized
and well-intentioned States can do when made complete arbiters of life and
death. The cradle-to-grave Nanny State is the replacement of God, and will just
as easily end your life as sustain it when it so deems it beneficial to its
agenda, or “the whole.”
The
sacrifice of children and humans in general can only occur where an earthly
power has total control, and (excepting the possibility of kidnapping, which
does not appear to be in play) where parents are brainwashed into handing their
children over to an earthly king for some ungodly cause, even to the point of
mindless murder in case of “national emergency” or for “the common good.”
Human
Sacrifice Today
What goes
unstated or unnoticed is that human sacrifice continues openly today despite
the advance of every measure of religion, science, and reason. In fact, we
could say that the butchery is often aided and promoted by the march of both
science and what passes as science. Likewise, human sacrifice in the “open
society” is carried out by the most prosperous and self-appointed rational
people on earth: most of Western Civilization. The massacres continue under two
main guises: abortion and unnecessary war.
The
practice of abortion, from a pro-life perspective anyway, stands as an obvious
modern counterpart to the ancient Moloch worship of sacrificing infants, only
today done for human convenience, money, or social status, rather than
religion. But don’t assume the difference is so great. The ancient pagans
ritually killed infants as propitiation of a false god that didn’t exist.
Today, it is done for the propitiation of a false god called man, humanity,
society, woman’s rights, choice—this demon is legion. As a result, nothing has
changed but the object of worship: society has exchanged a non-existent false
god, Moloch, for an existent false god, man.
The case
of war is no less controversial, but no less clear. Without any intended
reference to current wars (though it may apply), it should be obvious that if
any war is waged unjustly, and troops are killed in that battle for an ungodly
cause, then the perpetrators of that war have offered human blood as an
agent of social change, rather than relying on godly principles. This is
human sacrifice pure and simple. Christians should not be afraid to oppose war,
to oppose it vigorously, and to oppose hasty wars especially. Well does the
Anglican prayer book include in its military prayer, “Ever spare them from
being ordered into a war of aggression or oppression.”7
Even when
modern States do not engage in blood sacrifice outright, they nevertheless call
for total sacrifice—the full offering of one’s all to its mandates.
When the State makes claim to your service, your children’s service, your
property, your wealth, and meddles in the medical and “end of life” care you
get, then there is no other name for it than total sacrifice.
On top of
this, most Christian parents today unquestioningly pass their children through
the fire of Molech education; they have offered their children up to the
tophet-furnace of the king’s public schools, funded by the God-rejecting
State’s property taxes and divine-State multiple-tithes. These arms of the
State’s power teach—at every opportunity, for hours per day, from every
angle—every idea that contradicts the law of God and supports the State’s power.
It is child sacrifice to the gods of the State, and a rejection of God’s
command for families, not the State, to educate their children in the ways of
God (Deut. 6:6–9; Eph. 6:4).
In this
matter, Christians have failed, and secular humanists (who believe the State is
the highest expression and guardian of man, and thus god) have consciously
accepted Christian children as sacrifices toward advancing their social agenda.
This was their plan from early on, as Charles Potter, as signer of the first
Humanist Manifesto clearly stated:
Education
is thus a most powerful ally of Humanism, and every American public school is a
school of Humanism. What can the theistic Sunday-school, meeting for an hour
once a week, and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide
of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?8
The
schools are humanistic because the system of socialism in
which the State taxes other people to pay for other people’s kids’ education is
humanistic and deifies the State. The secular Molech has increased his power,
and the Christians have fed the beast!
This
failure repeats the sad, recurring legacy of people of faith—a pattern we see
in 1 Samuel as well. The priesthood grew corrupt (1 Sam. 2:12–36), and a generation arose
without proper education in the ways of God. Even Samuel’s two sons departed
from God’s ways even though Samuel had appointed them to judge over Israel (1 Sam. 8:1–3). As Samuel grew old the people
sensed his decline and began to fret about leadership. Instead of falling back
on God’s word and trusting in God, they appealed to Samuel to give them their
king “like all the nations.” This was a failure of national faith. It led to
the national tyranny outlined above.
The cycle
repeats itself today. Christians have accepted humanistic ways of doing things
“like all the nations.” In the health care debate, in education, in other
public programs, and in economics, Christians have sacrificed their lives and
the lives of their children in exchange for the protection and security offered
promised by the humanistic State. Unless we return quickly to God’s ways, we
will enter the period of God refusing to hear our prayers for some time.
Conclusion
Some
Christians ask me why I write so much about “politics.” The answer goes far
beyond the simple idea that we should apply God’s Word to every area of life.
The answer must include the fact that if we don’t apply God’s Word to every
area of life, the forces of darkness will push their word in the neglected
areas. There is no neutrality. Either God reigns and His law is honored, or the
enemy rules and humanists carry out their will in law, politics, and ethics.
The reason for Christians in politics—and all other areas—begins with the
answer to question, “Who is King?”
Most, if
not all, of the problems we face in society stem from the State’s transgression
of Christ’s Kingship. This does not mean that Christ ceases to rule in these
areas; rather, the State interferes in areas Christ has not decreed for it to
manage. As a result, the State sets itself up in the place of God in these areas.
This is false kingship, and with it comes judgment for idolatry and for
worshiping a false god. Society progresses into the judgment of its own making.
The
progression into a sin-dominated culture happens slowly, and Christians tend to
accept the drift unless sudden changes drastically strike at obvious issues.
Thus, Christians speak out against abortion and homosexual marriage. Meanwhile,
more subtle things creep in: Social Security, public education, Medicare,
welfare, multiple taxes, etc, and possibly compulsory national service. Each of
these programs violate biblical principles of property and life, and strike
just as severely at the biblical idea of family as do homosexual marriage and
abortion, yet Christians accept and even applaud them. The applause comes for
many reasons—apparent benefits, self-interest, the programs appear moral,
sustainable, and they are already established by our parents and grandparents.
What gets lost in the whole process is a consistent, biblical assessment of the
God-determined boundaries for Family, Church, and State.
We must
constantly return to Scripture and ask “Who is King?” over these areas. To the
extent that Christians let the State usurp the God-given roles of family and
church, we have accepted the legitimacy of a false god. The fires of Molech
will continue to consume and grow until Christians lose the ability to
withdraw. Withdraw from your interest in the tophet schools and the
false-prophet State systems of Molech while you still can. Ask yourself the
question “Who is King?”
A lot
depends on your answer.
***
Get the
full book at God versus Socialism: A Biblical Critique of the New Social Gospel.
Notes:
1.
Rushdoony, Institutes, 35, 33.(
)
)
2.
Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions,
trans. John McHugh (New York, Toronto, and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1961),
445.()
)
3.
Vaux, Ancient Israel, 445.()
)
4.
Helga Seeden, “A Tophet In Tyre?,” BERYTUS 39
(1991); (accessed August 26, 2009). Despite acknowledging that “probable human
bone” was found among the urns’ contents, and that some of these fragments
“consisted of shaft bone a few millimeters of diameter,” the report naïvely
concludes that “their size was not consistent with them being remains of small
infants.”()
)
5.
Vaux, Ancient Israel, 446.()
)
6.
J. E. E. D. Acton, “Human Sacrifice,”Essays in Religion,
Politics, and Morality: Selected Writings of Lord Acton, 3 vols. ed.
J. Rufus Fears (Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1988), 3:413, 415–7.()
)
7.
The Book of Common Prayer (Reformed
Episcopal Church of North America, Third Edition, 2003) 63.()
)
8.
Charles Francis Potter, Humanism: A New Religion (New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1930), 128. Quoted in David A. Noebel, J.F. Baldwin,
and Kevin Bywater, Clergy in the Classroom: The Religion of Secular
Humanism (Manitou Springs, CO: Summit Press, 1995), vi. I have taken
this from Gary DeMar, “Why Creation and Prophecy Can’t Be Separated,”
(accessed August 27, 2009).()
)
