Child Sacrifice

There was an article about child sacrifice in the northern part of Africa. A rich man had hired a witch doctor to cast a spell to maintain and enhance his fortune. The witch doctor kidnaped a young girl, dismembered her, and used his grisly tokens for a sacrifice. Seems like Mr. Witchie and Richie did not know the basics of "sacrifice."

David spelled that out in 2 Samuel 24:24 (also 1 Chronicles 21:24)
     "I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing."

The culprits in this heinous crime missed the critical component in sacrifice. If it doesn't cost anything, it is not really a sacrifice. Cost anything to YOU, that is. And, sadly, being in the lawless part of the continent, these fiends may and probably will escape punishment...for now. There will be an ultimate accounting and they will answer for their acts.

It would seem that such an activity would be meaningless if there is no value involved. It would seem that only demonic motives could justify just such actions. And, there, my friend, is the heart of the matter.

David spells it out for us in Psalm 96:5:
    For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.
There is only one God Who is worthy of worship and sacrifice. He has forbidden the sacrifice of our–actually His–children. Whenever we read of such horrendous actions we can be sure that the idol is behind it. And what is behind the idol?

Paul explains it in 1 Corinthians 10:19, 20 "Do I say...
     that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons."

This reinforces Deuteronomy 32:16–17 and Leviticus 17:7. We do not have to look far to find other examples of demonic worship. Revelation 19:20 relates that in the final days of the Tribulation, demonic idol worship will be prevalent. And what we see around us is just a harbinger of what is to come.

Romans 1:25 summarizes for us:
     For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

And the results are excruciatingly detailed in the rest of the chapter. They developed a depraved mind, as we can see, and degenerated from there. You can read the rest for yourself. Some pastors will not even read this passage out loud from the pulpit. They do not need to do so. We can read about it in our daily news.

The end is coming. Be aware. Be vigilant. (1 Peter 5:8) Be ready