Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 33:1-9 - Idol Worship Is Always a Cheap Imitation for the Worship of Yahweh

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2 Chronicles 33:1-9 - Idol Worship Is Always a Cheap Imitation for the Worship of Yahweh · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Welcome to Passion Week of Friends and faithful listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Before we get into today's chapter, here is a quick
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  Speaker 1: word from a sponsor or. Two. Okay, today we're going
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  Speaker 1: to be reading Second Chronicles thirty three, verses one through
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  Speaker 1: nine and talking about this really terrible king in Judah's history.
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  Speaker 1: This guy is named Manassa, and he does a lot
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  Speaker 1: of really awful stuff. So we're going to get into
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  Speaker 1: all this crap that he introduces into Judah, and also
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  Speaker 1: some of the ways the Judaites would worship these new
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  Speaker 1: idols that Manassa introduces. So let's read Second Chronicles thirty
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  Speaker 1: three one through nine. As usual, I'll be reading from
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  Speaker 1: the web. Manassa was twelve years old when he began
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  Speaker 1: to rain, and he reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: He did that which was evil in Yahweh's sight, after
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  Speaker 1: the abominations of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out before
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  Speaker 1: the children of Israel. For he built again the high
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  Speaker 1: places which Hezekiah his father, had broken down, and he
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  Speaker 1: raised up altars for the bales made Asherith, and worshiped
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  Speaker 1: all the army of the sky and served them. He
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  Speaker 1: built altars in Yahwai's house, of which Yahwais said, my
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  Speaker 1: name shall be in Jerusalem forever. He built altars for
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  Speaker 1: all the army of the sky in the two courts
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  Speaker 1: of Yahwai's house. He also made his children to pass
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  Speaker 1: through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnham.
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  Speaker 1: He practiced sorcery, division and witchcraft, and dealt with those
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  Speaker 1: who had familiar spirits and with wizards. He did much
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  Speaker 1: evil in Yahway's sight to provoke him to anger. He
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  Speaker 1: set the engraved image of the Idol which he had
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  Speaker 1: made in God's House, of which God said to David
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  Speaker 1: and Solomon his son, in this house and in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: I will put my name forever. I will not any
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  Speaker 1: more remove the foot of Israel from the land which
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  Speaker 1: I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will
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  Speaker 1: observe to do all that I have commanded them, even
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  Speaker 1: all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given by Moses.
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  Speaker 1: Manassa seduced Judah in the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that
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  Speaker 1: they did more evil than did the nations whom Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: destroyed before the children of Israel. It's amazing how fast
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  Speaker 1: things can change, you know. Hezekiah was the king in
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  Speaker 1: the last few chapters, and we talked about how good
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  Speaker 1: of a king he was. We talked about the religious
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  Speaker 1: reform he did in Judah and Jerusalem, how the Passover
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  Speaker 1: was being celebrated again, and how the people just had
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  Speaker 1: a fire for Yahweh, and the people actually went out
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  Speaker 1: and destroyed all of the high places and got rid
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  Speaker 1: of all of the idols because they wanted to worship Yahweh.
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  Speaker 1: It's amazing how in just a few short years everything
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  Speaker 1: can change. Hezekiah died and his son Manassa, who was
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  Speaker 1: twelve years old, reigned in Hezekiah's place, it says, and
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  Speaker 1: he reigned for fifty five years in Jerusalem. So this
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  Speaker 1: right here proves that the prosperity gospel is nonsense because
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people think that, you know, if you
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  Speaker 1: worship God, he's going to grant you with success and
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  Speaker 1: health and wellness and money and prosperity and a long life.
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  Speaker 1: Whereas Hezekiah, you know, we see a lot of the
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  Speaker 1: issues that he struggled with, He had sickness. He actually
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  Speaker 1: didn't have that long of a reign. I believe he
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  Speaker 1: only reigned for thirty something years. I can't remember specifically
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  Speaker 1: what it was. Thirty five years, which was actually not
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  Speaker 1: as long as some of the other kings that had reigned.
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  Speaker 1: And now Manassa, who was one of the most wicked
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  Speaker 1: kings in Israel's history. He now reigns for fifty five years,
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  Speaker 1: which was the longest reign I believe out of any
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  Speaker 1: of the kings. Possibly Solomon reigned longer, but even David
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  Speaker 1: didn't reign for that long. Like Manassa reigned in Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: for a very very long time. And that shows that
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  Speaker 1: God doesn't bless people necessarily because of the good things
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  Speaker 1: that they do. There's a verse in scripture which says
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  Speaker 1: God sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.
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  Speaker 1: So just because Manassa had a very long reign does
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  Speaker 1: not necessarily mean he was blessed by Yahweh. And we
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  Speaker 1: see that he wasn't blessed by Yahweh because here's what happens.
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  Speaker 1: It says in verse two that he did that which
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  Speaker 1: was evil in Yahweh's sight, after the abominations of the nations,
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  Speaker 1: whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel, he
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  Speaker 1: built again the high places which Hezekiah his father, had
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  Speaker 1: broken down, and he raised up altars for the bales,
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  Speaker 1: made asharith, and worshiped all the army of the sky
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  Speaker 1: and served them. So now Manassa is bringing in more
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  Speaker 1: idolatry into Judah than any king before him, even a Has,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a Has did bring a lot of idolatry in.
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  Speaker 1: He was the one that introduced human sacrifice into Israel's history. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: and not even just any old human sacrifice, but specifically
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  Speaker 1: infant human sacrifice, which is especially disgusting. A Has didn't
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  Speaker 1: even bring in as much idolatry as Manassa did. It
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  Speaker 1: says Manassas, bringing in all of these foreign gods, these
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  Speaker 1: ones that nobody heard of before. It says, he's worshiping
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  Speaker 1: the army of the sky, and he served them. He
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  Speaker 1: made altars for all the bails, the Ascharith, and the
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  Speaker 1: army of the sky. It says he built altars in
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  Speaker 1: Yahwai's house, of which Yahwais said, my name shall be
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  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem forever. He built altars for all the army
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  Speaker 1: of the sky in the two courts of Yahwai's house,
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  Speaker 1: now the army of the sky. This was Babylonian in nature.
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  Speaker 1: The Babylonians were historically very interested in astrology, and we
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  Speaker 1: actually saw a little bit of this in the last
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  Speaker 1: chapter when the Babylonians came and visited Hezkaiah. Remember when
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  Speaker 1: God actually made the sun stop in its place, or
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  Speaker 1: rather moved at times so that it was ten hours earlier.
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  Speaker 1: And the Babylonians are freaked out, obviously because they worship
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  Speaker 1: the signs in the sky. They worship the stars and
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  Speaker 1: the moon and the Sun. I believe their biggest deity
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  Speaker 1: was the sun god. And so they see the sun
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  Speaker 1: just like disappear behind the horizon, and they look at
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  Speaker 1: their sun dials and they realized that it's now ten
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  Speaker 1: hours early than it actually was just a few minutes ago,
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  Speaker 1: and they are freaked out. They are freaked out, so
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  Speaker 1: they go and visit Hezekiah because they hear that Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: might have done this. So they go to inquire, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: did your god Yahweh do this to the sun that
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  Speaker 1: we worship, And unfortunately, Hazekiah dropped the ball and did
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  Speaker 1: not evangelize in Yahwei's name, which is very unfortunate. But
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  Speaker 1: that story shows us that the Babylonians were very interested
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  Speaker 1: in the things that were happening in the sky. So now,
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  Speaker 1: because Babylonian influence is beginning to sort of take hold
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  Speaker 1: around the world, the Babylonian gods are what Manassa starts
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  Speaker 1: to worship. It says in verse four that he built
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  Speaker 1: altars in Yahway's house, of which y always said, my
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  Speaker 1: name shall be in Jerusalem forever. He built altars for
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  Speaker 1: all the army of the sky in the two courts
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  Speaker 1: of Yahwah's house. So now God's house has not become
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  Speaker 1: a place of worship for Yahweh. It is now a
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  Speaker 1: place of worship for any God you want to worship,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's the Sun God or the moon God, or
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  Speaker 1: Venus or Asherah or Bale or whoever whoever you want
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  Speaker 1: to worship, you can go to God's house and you
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  Speaker 1: can find an altar there where you can sacrifice something
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  Speaker 1: to the moon, goddess or whatever. And God specifically warned
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  Speaker 1: against this in Deuteronomy chapter four. Here's what Moses says
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  Speaker 1: in verses fifteen through twenty. Be very careful, for you
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  Speaker 1: saw no kind of form on the day that Yahways
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  Speaker 1: spoke to you in horeb out of the middle of
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  Speaker 1: the fire, lest you corrupt yourselves and make yourselves a
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  Speaker 1: carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness
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  Speaker 1: of male or female, the likeness of any animal that
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  Speaker 1: is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird
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  Speaker 1: that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that
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  Speaker 1: creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that
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  Speaker 1: is in the water under the earth. Unless you lift
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  Speaker 1: up your eyes to the sky, and when you see
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  Speaker 1: the sun and the moon, and the stars, even all
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  Speaker 1: the army of the sky, you are drawn away to
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  Speaker 1: worship them and serve them, which Yahweh or God has
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  Speaker 1: allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky. But
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh has taken you and brought you out of the
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  Speaker 1: iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be to him
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  Speaker 1: a people of inheritance, as it is today. So God
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  Speaker 1: specifically warned his people. He's like, do not worship any
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  Speaker 1: specific image, whether it's male or female. Do not worship
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  Speaker 1: the host of Heaven. You know all the stars and
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  Speaker 1: the moon and the sun. Don't worship these things. These
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  Speaker 1: are creation. And on top of that, you saw no
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  Speaker 1: image of God. You didn't see anything when He spoke
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  Speaker 1: to you at Horeb. You saw no image of him.
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  Speaker 1: So don't make any image at all. You don't know
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  Speaker 1: what God looks like, and any image could possibly cause
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  Speaker 1: you to fall away from the true God. So just
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  Speaker 1: don't worship any of these things. But unfortunately, Manessa brought
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  Speaker 1: all of this crap into Judah once again. After Hezekiah
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  Speaker 1: had taken years to get all of this filth out
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  Speaker 1: of Judah, Manasagist brings it right back in. And we
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  Speaker 1: can see how bad things really get. If you turn
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  Speaker 1: to Jeremiah chapter seven, verses eight through eleven, here's what
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  Speaker 1: it says, and this is from the NLT version. Don't
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  Speaker 1: be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because
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  Speaker 1: the temple is here. It's a lie. Do you really
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  Speaker 1: think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie and burn
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  Speaker 1: incense to bail in all those other new gods of yours,
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  Speaker 1: and then come here and stand before me in my
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  Speaker 1: temple and chant we are safe, only to go right
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  Speaker 1: back to all those evils again. Don't you yourselves admit
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  Speaker 1: that this temple which bears my name has become a
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  Speaker 1: den of thieves. Surely I see all the evil going
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  Speaker 1: on there, I the Lord have spoken. And then jumping
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  Speaker 1: down to verse sixteen through nineteen, here's what he tells Jeremiah,
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  Speaker 1: pray no more for these people, Jeremiah, do not weep
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  Speaker 1: or pray for them, and don't beg me to help
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  Speaker 1: them for I will not listen to you. Don't you
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  Speaker 1: see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah
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  Speaker 1: and in the streets of Jerusalem, no wonder, I am
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  Speaker 1: so angry. Watch how the children gather would and the
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  Speaker 1: fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women need doe
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  Speaker 1: and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven.
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  Speaker 1: And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods.
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  Speaker 1: Am I the one that they are hurting, asks the Lord?
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  Speaker 1: Most of all, they hurt themselves to their own shame.
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  Speaker 1: So that shows that the entire family was involved in
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  Speaker 1: the worship of these idols. The children, the fathers, and
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  Speaker 1: the mothers. They were doing these sacrificial rituals to these
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  Speaker 1: idols that they were worshiping. God specifically mentions this idol
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  Speaker 1: called the Queen of Heaven. Actually, and the Queen of
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  Speaker 1: Heaven is mentioned multiple times in Jeremiah. So if you
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  Speaker 1: jump over to Jeremiah chapter forty four, here's what the
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  Speaker 1: people themselves say about the Queen of Heaven. Now this
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  Speaker 1: was right before Judah got invaded by the Babylonians, or
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  Speaker 1: maybe right after. I can't remember the timeline of things.
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  Speaker 1: But Jeremiah, of course is prophesying to the people, telling
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  Speaker 1: them to get rid of their idols. And here's what
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  Speaker 1: the people respond to Jeremiah. So this is Jeremiah forty four,
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  Speaker 1: starting in verse fifteen, again from the NLT version, it says,
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  Speaker 1: then all the women present and all the men who
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  Speaker 1: knew that their wives had burned incense to idols, A
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  Speaker 1: great crowd of all the Judaeans living in northern Egypt
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  Speaker 1: and southern Egypt, answered Jeremiah, we will not listen to
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  Speaker 1: your messages from the Lord. We will do whatever we want.
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  Speaker 1: We will burn incense and pour out liquid offerings to
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  Speaker 1: the Queen of Heaven just as much as we like,
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  Speaker 1: just as we and our ancestors and our kings and
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  Speaker 1: our officials have always done in the towns of Judah
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  Speaker 1: and in the streets of Jerusalem. For in those days
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  Speaker 1: we had plenty to eat, and we were well off
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  Speaker 1: and had no troubles. But ever since we quit burning
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  Speaker 1: incense to the Queen of Heaven and stopped worshiping her
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  Speaker 1: with liquid offerings, we have been in great trouble and
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  Speaker 1: have been dying from war and famine. Besides, the women added,
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  Speaker 1: do you suppose that we were burning incense and pouring
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  Speaker 1: out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven, and making
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  Speaker 1: cakes marked with her image, without our husband's knowing it
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  Speaker 1: and helping us. Of course, not then, Jeremiah said to
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  Speaker 1: all of them, men and women alike, who had given
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  Speaker 1: him that answer, Do you think that the Lord did
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  Speaker 1: not know that you and your ancestors, your kings, and
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  Speaker 1: your officials and all the people were burning incense to
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  Speaker 1: idols in the towns of Judah and in the streets
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  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem. It was because the Lord could no longer
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  Speaker 1: bear all the disgusting things that you were doing, that
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  Speaker 1: he made your land an object of cursing, a desolate
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  Speaker 1: ruin without inhabitants, as it is today. All these terrible
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  Speaker 1: things happened to you because you have burned incense to
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  Speaker 1: idols and sinned against the Lord. You have refused to
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  Speaker 1: obey him, and have not followed his instructions, his decrees,
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  Speaker 1: and his laws. So the people were adamant in their
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  Speaker 1: worship of these starry hosts. Basically to the very end,
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  Speaker 1: Babylon is at their doorstep hunting them down, and the
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  Speaker 1: people are like, no, we are still going to offer
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  Speaker 1: these liquid sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven. Now, the
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  Speaker 1: queen of Heaven was probably a goddess that Manassa himself
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  Speaker 1: introduced into Judah's worship. The queen of Heaven was likely
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  Speaker 1: Astarte or possibly Ishtar, which would have been one of
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  Speaker 1: the gods that the Babylonians worshiped. And this goddess was
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  Speaker 1: related supposedly to the moon and also to Venus. And
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  Speaker 1: if you do some research on Astarta, you see that
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  Speaker 1: she is basically the exact same recycled goddess that has
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  Speaker 1: always existed. She is the same as Asherah, an Ashtarith
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  Speaker 1: and Ishtar and Nana and a nat an Aphrodite, and
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  Speaker 1: Venus and Hathor. It is all the same idol no
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  Speaker 1: matter what period of history. And you can see the
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  Speaker 1: same with Bail and some of the other gods of
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  Speaker 1: the region. They just get recycled over and over and
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  Speaker 1: over again. Because Satan, he's a father of lies, and
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  Speaker 1: he's very good at lying, but he's not super creative.
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  Speaker 1: He's been doing the exact same thing that he's always
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  Speaker 1: done from the very beginning of time of his time,
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  Speaker 1: so Satan is not super creative. So of course these
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  Speaker 1: idols are all exactly the same thing, but people think
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  Speaker 1: they're different, they think they're unique and creative. Every single
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  Speaker 1: time this new idol pops up and it's like, no,
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  Speaker 1: nothing is new under the sun, as Solomon would say.
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  Speaker 1: But the way that as Starte or Ishtar or Asterith
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  Speaker 1: would have been worshiped or all three of them together,
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  Speaker 1: because it's very possible that Vanessa introduced all three of
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  Speaker 1: these goddesses thinking that they were different even though they're not.
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  Speaker 1: They were all fertility idols. So some of the ways
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  Speaker 1: that this goddess would be worshiped was through dances, likely
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  Speaker 1: very provocative dances, a temple, prostitution, animal and human sacrifices,
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  Speaker 1: also the baking of cakes as we mentioned here in Jeremiah,
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  Speaker 1: and pouring out liquid offerings. I believe specifically with Ishtar,
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  Speaker 1: it was worshiped through something called a sacred marriage ritual
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  Speaker 1: where a king would symbolically or physically couple with a
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  Speaker 1: high priestess. Yeah, I mean, it just happens to include
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  Speaker 1: all this like sexual deviance, which always cracks me up
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  Speaker 1: because it's like, yeah, this god that I'm worshiping, it
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  Speaker 1: wants me to have sex with everybody. It wants me
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  Speaker 1: to have sex with the people I want to have
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  Speaker 1: sex with, and it's like, well, that's very convenient for you,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it. And that's why God would get so angry
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  Speaker 1: because idolatry at its core is selfishness. What can I
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  Speaker 1: gain from worshiping this thing? It's always about the self.
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  Speaker 1: That is what idolatry comes down to. So let's go
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  Speaker 1: back to Second Chronicles thirty three and see how this
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  Speaker 1: really plays out. It says in verse six that Manassa
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  Speaker 1: made his chill to pass through the fire in the
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  Speaker 1: valley of the son of Hinham. He practiced sorcery, divination,
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  Speaker 1: and witchcraft, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits
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  Speaker 1: and wizards. He did much evil in Yaway's sight to
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  Speaker 1: provoke him to anger. Manassa took it so far that
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  Speaker 1: he actually offered his children, his baby children, and killed
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  Speaker 1: them in order to gain something for himself. And you
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  Speaker 1: can see how selfish that is, to sacrifice your child
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  Speaker 1: for your own selfish gain. If I sacrifice my child,
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  Speaker 1: if I kill my child, I'm going to gain something
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  Speaker 1: for myself. That is idolatry. It's selfishness through and through.
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  Speaker 1: What can I gain? What can other people give me?
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  Speaker 1: What can killing my child gain for myself. It says
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  Speaker 1: that Nassa also placed an engraved image of an idol
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  Speaker 1: which he had made in God's house, which God said
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  Speaker 1: to David and to Solomon his son, in this house
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  Speaker 1: and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all
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  Speaker 1: the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
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  Speaker 1: So the image that Manessa put in the temple ended
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: up being the Asherah, which was just a sex thing.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: So essentially God's temple became a brothel because that's where
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: people would go to get their religious prostitutes. They'd go
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: to God's temple, go inside and worship the Asherah by
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: hiring a prostitute, and there would be these curtains that
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: would be put up that the people would go behind
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: with their prostitute and do the ritual act of sex conveniently,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and then give their money to the temple and go home.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: And it was not just men that did this. Women
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: did this too. There were male prostitutes as well that
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: were very common in the cult of Asherah. So this
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: was a disgusting act being done in God's temple, disgusting
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: for so many reasons, not to mention just the STDs
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: and the filth taking place in God's temple absolutely disgusting.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: And this is what Manassa introduced. He says in verse nine,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Manassa seduced Judah and the inhabitants of jerusalems that they
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: did more evil than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: before the children of Israel. And that's where we end
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: for today. So Manassa, he was a bad, bad king.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: He caused Judah, the people of Yahweh to sin even
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: greater than the Canaanites had sinned. Remember, all the way
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: back in the book of Genesis, God told Abraham, he said,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to bring you into the Promised Land
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: yet because the people who live there have not filled
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: up their sin yet. So God told Abraham He's not
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: going to drive those people out yet, not until they
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: sinned so greatly that God was disgusted with them. And
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: now Judah had sinned even greater than the Canaanites had sinned.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: This is how bad this became. The selfishness of idolatry
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: was everywhere. People are murdering their children so that they
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: can gain something for themselves. People are going into God's
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: temple and committing lewd acts with a prostitute, male or
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: female so that they can I don't know, have more
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: kids or whatever. Can you imagine going into a church
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and hiring a prostitute, And yet that's what people are doing.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Not to mention all of the offerings that they're wasting
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: by giving them to these false idols, the animals that
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: they're killing needlessly for these false idols, the amount of
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: violence that took place. If you turn to Second Kings,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: chapter twenty one, it actually says that Manassa also shed
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: a lot of blood. In verse sixteen, it says moreover,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Manassa shed innocent blood very much until he had filled
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem from one end to another, in addition to his
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: sin with which he made Judah to sin in doing
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: that which was evil in Yahweh's sight. And there's a
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: legend not necessarily true, but it's possible that Nassa killed
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Isaiah the prophet. It would make a lot of sense
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: if he did, actually, because Nassa is probably targeting the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: prophets of God who were saying things to him like
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: you got to stop, or God is going to punish you,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and Judah, you got to stop. Nassa is likely killing
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: those prophets not to mention anybody else who got in
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: his way, or anybody he didn't like, or anybody he
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: wanted something from his own children. Vanassa was a bad,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: bad man, but God's mercy is really great. And that's
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: what we're going to talk about on Wednesday, because even
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: though Nassa is this bad of a guy, he ends
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: up kind of turning it around a little bit. We're
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: going to talk about how God is merciful to Mnassa
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: even after all of this evil that he had done.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: On so faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed today's episode
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: and learned a little bit of history today. I always
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: like talking about these different idols and delving into the
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: history of how these things were worshiped, because it's always
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: disgusting and it's always a fake, cheap imitation of how
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: people worship Yahweh. In fact, I'm going to wrap up
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: by talking a little bit more about the fakeness of
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: idolatry after this last word from a sponsor. So I'd
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: like to wrap things up by talking about how idolatry
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: is always imitating Yahism because Satan is really really good
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: at making things look kind of truthful, so he takes
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: elements of truth and twists and corrupts them so that
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: people fall into sin and fall into untruths. So I
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: looked up one of these goddesses that Manassa probably introduced
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: into Judah, specifically Ishtar, which, like I said, they're all
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: the same anyway, so it doesn't really matter. But Ishtar
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: it says that a sacred marriage ritual would take place,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and I mentioned this earlier on the podcast, where a
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: king would symbolically or physically couple with a high priestess,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: so basically have sex with a high priestess. Now, the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: reason this is a fake imitation is because God actually
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: did want the kings to work side by side with
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the high priest so that the king could take care
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: of the government side of stuff and the high priest
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: could take care of the spiritual side of stuff. So
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the king and the high priest were supposed to work
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: hand in hand in taking care of the people. But
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: in this worship of Ishtar, instead of working on the
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: spiritual well being of the people, the king would work
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: side by side with her by essentially having sex with her.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: It also says the worship of Ishtar included bringing food
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: and drink offerings often involved with the creation of special
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: shaped cakes, which some scholars believe were created in clay
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: molds offered by individuals. Now, we know that looking through
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament, people were supposed to bring food sacrifices
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: to Yahweh drink offerings. And now instead of offering those
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: offerings to Yahweh, you're offering them to a goddess who
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: can't eat them, who can't smell them, who can't see them,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: who can't feel them, who can't do anything with them.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: So that's another fake imitation. Is just a waste of
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: food and a waste of resources. Now here's another way
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: that this ishtar was worshiped. Kings and warriors worshiped ishtar
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: for military prowess protection in battle, and they would offer
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: animal or human sacrifices to ishtar during times of war.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: That is another disgusting fake imitation of worship of Yahweh.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Because God required a bull or a goat or a
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: lamb to be offered as a guilt or sin offering
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: to him. It was only supposed to be one for
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: your sin, and that animal was to be treated with
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: a modicum of respect. Actually, because the priest was to
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: lay their hands on that animal and signify how this
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: innocent creature is dying on behalf of the sinful human being.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: And then the animal was to be sacrificed very humanly actually,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: But with the worship of Ishtar, these poor animals are
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: dying needlessly. These poor human beings are dying needlessly, just
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: loss of life for absolutely nothing gained. It also says
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Lapis laza Lee would be offered to Ishtar as well.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, Lapis Lazoli is mentioned as one of the
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: stones surrounding God's throne in the Book of Revelation, So
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: that's another thing associated with Yahweh that is being imitated
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: here in the worship of Ishtar. Then there's the worship
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: through hymns. Obviously we're supposed to worship God through hymns,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: not to mention priestesses and other cult practices. All of
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: these things are fake imitations. They seem a little bit truthful,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: because that is what Satan is very good at, twisting
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: the truth to make it look truthful, but it's actually not.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: So we'll talk more about Manassa on Wednesday, and I
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. But until then, I
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: happy listening, and God bless. I just want to take
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeudio dot com you'll find dozens
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.