Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 02 Sept. 2012
By Captain Michael Ramsay
We have a friend in our congregation from the Dominican Republic. We met last week. He was looking around for anyone who spoke Spanish or French. Unfortunately, I don’t. Being from Vancouver Island, I was born pretty much as far away from Quebec and French-speaking Canada as any native born Canadian can be.
As I spoke to our new friend, my mind raced to find the only French that I could actually remember from high school. This is one of the French phrases that I probably heard the most in school. Let’s see if anyone here recognizes it? Does anyone recognize this phrase – the almost only one I remember from Grade 11. My teacher used to always say to me: ‘Ne lances pas la papier; ne lances pas la papier.’ (Don’t throw the paper!) French wasn’t my best subject. That being said I did do all right on my final grade. I’m guessing though that that might have had something to do with the fact that the student who sat nearest to me, Edmund, I think, earned the highest mark ever in French 11 and he was kind enough to…um… share his work with me… Occasionally during a test, I may have been known reach behind me take the test off his desk and copy, I mean, compare and check my work with his… Now I don’t want to set any bad examples here. I did do really well on my provincial examination and for some reason they wouldn’t let me anywhere near Edmund for that test. In the end I did actually study hard and earn my grade. It is too bad though that indeed I have forgotten much of what I did learn in French class.
Our story in Judges today talks about a people who forgot a lot more important things than a second language. They disregarded the most important thing their teachers, their leaders, their parents taught them. Judges 2:17: “…they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands.” Judges 2:12-13: “They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the Lord to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.” This is sad. There are consequences for forgetting whom most of even our parents, relatives, or at least our ancestors knew: the Lord.
In our text today it mentions Baal and the Ashtoreths; do we know who they are? They were false gods, regional deities, idols. Baal was known as the god of storms and rain and therefore the controller of vegetation. Baal worship was very popular in the Ancient Near East and Ashtaroth was the consort of Baal, and she was known as the goddess of war and fertility.[1]
We remember what is the first commandment, Deuteronomy 5:7 (Exodus 20:3; cf. Leviticus 26:13; Numbers 15:41; Deuteronomy 13:4-5): You shall have no gods before the LORD. Judges 2:17: “Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands.” This is sad. This is very sad. S. Dean McBride points out that often times in their history, the worship of the LORD wasn’t even Israel’s official religion much less its most popular faith. As often as not it seems that Baalism was their state religion (cf. 1 Kings 11:1-8; 16:31-33; 2 Kings 21:1-9). Even when the worship of the LORD was the primary religion in their country, Israel many times worshipped both God and Baal and the Ashtorehs at the same time (e.g., 1 Kings 18:21; 2 Kings 17:29-34; Jeremiah 7:9-10; Zephaniah 1:4-6).[2] Did you know that King Solomon, King David’s son, as well as erecting the Temple to God also promoted the worship of Ashtorehs (1 Kings 11:15)?[3]
Their country often followed both religions. It would be like people today who come to church but have a lucky rabbit’s foot on their key ring or read their horoscopes in the newspaper or pay attention to their fortune cookies. I read newspapers on-line. Did you know that the most viewed page in some newspapers is the horoscopes? Like people in our time and place, the ancient Israelites seemed also to try to have it all. They seemed to want to worship the Lord sometimes but they seemed to also want to turn to other gods when it suited them. Ancient Israel was primarily an agricultural society (herdsmen and shepherds especially). Baal, credited as the god of the storm and the rains, was seen as the controller of vegetation. Sure, they would still sacrifice to God but for good measure they might just turn to the ‘specialist god’ too. Astarte was a goddess of fertility, love, and war, often linked with Baal; so if you were going to war, or if you wanted a certain someone to notice you, or if you were trying and trying and trying and just couldn’t get pregnant, as an ancient Israelite you might just turn to the Ashtorehs for a little extra help as well. The Israelites, after Joshua died, Judges 2:17: “…prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands.” This led to the collapse of their whole society by the end of Judges.[4]
Well how about us? Are we any different? Canada was intentionally founded on the word of God. Our Country’s motto is taken from Psalm 72:8 and our Country’s highest order, the Order of Canada’s motto is from Hebrews 11:16 but today we seem to be walking away from the Lord, turning from the way in which our forefathers walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands.
Our Holiness Test of a couple of weeks ago displayed the truth that when we make our decisions based on our finances or popular opinion, rather than on prayer to God and study of His Word, we are indeed turning away from the Lord and putting other gods before Him (cf. TSA doc. 2). Baal and the Ashtorehs are long gone. What are some of the false gods that Canadians, Judges 2:17, prostitute ourselves to and worship that our forefathers didn’t serve?
Democracy seems to be a false god that our culture puts a lot of faith in. North Americans have provoked and waged wars all over the world in the name of spreading Democracy. Not only has this caused a lot of death and destruction of innocent people but did you know that in our countries’ race to promote the false god of Democracy, we are contributing to the persecution and near annihilation of some of the oldest Christian communities in the world?
Many people claim that these wars that have been waged in the name of Democracy have really been fought for the false god known as Mammon, Capitalism, or Materialism. K. Lawson Younger says, in our society, “Materialism with its pursuit of possessions and financial independence and security are [is] probably the biggest obstacles to spiritual advancement.”[5]
Younger also speaks of the false god of Self. Our “narcissistic society constantly promotes the self over all others… It urges ignoring, and if necessary dispensing with, whatever and whoever stands in our way in this quest for personal satisfaction.”[6]
Richard L. Christensen reminds us, “Christians in today’s pluralistic society are confronted by numerous rivals to the God revealed in Jesus Christ, rivals with strong appeal to contemporary people. [As another example he reminds us that] Atheists write books attacking the idea of the Biblical God on the basis of the god named Reason”[7]
In our world today, there is no shortage of false gods staring down at us from our flat screen TVs, I-Pods, or computer monitors seeking our obeisance. Our forefathers chose our nation’s motto from Psalm 72:8. Our forefathers chose Hebrews 11:16 for the Order of Canada. Now, of our generations they might rightfully say with the author of Judges 2:17, “Yet they …prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands.” But let us take an even closer look at this, shall we.
It is one thing to stand up here and pontificate about what is wrong with the world. We all know that. We all know that there are problems in the world. We all even know that there are problems in Canada with turning away from God and towards money, self, and power but what about in Saskatchewan and Swift Current? We’re still doing good, right? There is a church on almost every corner here it seems. Most of the people we know here are Christians, right? We’re okay. We’re safe from serving other gods. You might even say to me, ‘Captain, look it doesn’t really matter about money and politics; that’s the world we in which we live.’ You even might say, ‘those aren’t really idols and false gods, that is a bit of a stretch.’ You even might say, ‘Captain, look maybe they actually worship other gods in Vancouver and Victoria where you’re from originally – Buddhism, Sikhism, Wicca, New Age whatever – but this really isn’t relevant to our life here. No one I know really worships false gods.’ You might say, ‘my kids are safe growing up here: they aren’t going to séances and contacting dead spirits or being proselytized by demonic evangelists or people from other religions.’ You might say, ‘Captain, my children and grandchildren are safe here from this worshipping of other gods nonsense.’ You might say this… but you would be wrong.
Here and now in Swift Current it is not in this way that much different from then and there in the book of Judges. I went to a funeral about a year or so ago in this city led by a (lay) minister in a local church who aspires to teach children in the art of contacting the dead and seeking their spirit guides. This is a person who serves in a church in this city; this is a lady who councils maybe even your own children or own grandchildren in this community; this is a lady who teaches drama to children, maybe even your own children or your own grandchildren; this is a lady in town here who promotes to children and to everyone else who will listen these false gods and traditionally anti-Christian religious practises that are condemned in the Bible. Do you know who I am talking about? Let me read you this from the Internet: “Christine _______: Certified Soul Coach and Past Life Coach, Registered Private Practice Counsellor, Drama Therapist, and Drum Circle Facilitator.” The service she offers are: 28-Day Soul Coaching Program, Soul Journeys, Past Life Soul Journeys, Bell Clearings & Feather Clearings, Soul Oracle Card Readings and Clutter Clearing Consulting…
What is soul-coaching, that was mentioned in this lady’s biography? It includes the following: finding your Spirit Guides, Power Animals, Past Life Guides and more. These are things that would have had her executed in the times of the book of Judges. This lady is very active in the community and she actually teaches the Saskabilities people once a week. She has access to the most vulnerable in our small city here. She wants to – and maybe she even does - teach your children or your grandchildren drama, drumming, zumba. Like the churches often try to point the children to salvation at an early age, the Enemy wants to turn them the other way. This isn’t just in some big city. This is in Swift Current. In this community we used to follow God. Now we here seem to, Judges 2:17: prostitute ourselves to other gods and worship them. Unlike our forefathers, we are quickly turning from the way in which our fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands and like the people in the book of Judges, as we turn away from God, leaving Him behind, He will not be with us anymore and that is sad.
Now so far this is only one lady who is possibly trying to turn people away from the Lord in our community that we have been talking about. If it were just her that would be one thing. It is not just her though. There is a lot more of this encouragement to turn away from the Lord, the God of our forefathers, and towards false gods in our city. There is this place called Kokopelli’s. Events and workshops at Kokopelli’s this summer included a number of things that the Bible considers idolatry: Aura Photography Readings, Past Life Regression & Progression, Tea Leaf Readings & Workshop, and it goes on and on and on... each taught by a different person here in Swift Current. In this very community where we used to follow God, now people seem to, Judges 2:17, prostitute themselves to other gods and worship them. Unlike our own forefathers, we are quickly turning from the way in which our fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands.
There is more still. This transgression of the covenant with God in today’s scriptures through the worship of false gods, it led to the Hebrew society slipping into anarchy in the book of Judges.[8] This very same worship of other gods is seemingly rampant here, not only in our city but also in our churches and Christian schools. I know that a Christian school in this community, when the students were waiting to perform for a Christmas –or some other sort of concert- they played for the students (whose parents in good faith sent them to a Christian school!) Disney’s ‘The Princess and the Frog.’ For those who aren’t familiar with this movie, a review of this movie says that it is pagan, mixed worldview movie with light humanist and strong occult elements where a voodoo witchdoctor communicates with the dead and possibly even the devil; he conjures up scary, demon shadowy figures (who seem to be able to be killed by light, which could have Biblical connotations), tries to tempt main characters into making a deal with him by showing them the futures that they desire, and also engages in spells and occult practices such as tarot cards, charms, potions, a talisman, etc…[9] They showed this movie in a Christian school to children entrusted to them by some Christian parents. They promoted, I trust unintentionally, Judges 2:17, they “…prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands.”
There is more, Susan showed up at a youth event in a Christian church, in a trustworthy denomination, in Saskatchewan. In a church, with young children from Christian churches all over the province, Christian leaders ignorantly were going to show to our children a movie entitled, “The Golden Compass.” Part of a review of that movie says that it promotes a pagan worldview encouraging getting rid of all authority, lying, killing, plus a church organization is demeaned. Also there is strong occult content, commending such things as witches and everyone has an animal companion externally embodying one’s soul and the soul-spirits are called daemons (pronounced: dee mons) like the evil beings who serve Satan.[10]
In Saskatchewan and Swift Current we are showing movies in officially Christian schools and presumably Christian churches openly promoting demons, voodoo, and witches. There are courses taught in this very city, not only to willing adults but also to vulnerable children, about Spirit guides, contacting the dead, and the occult. Even here and now in Swift Current, Judges 2:17, they prostitute themselves to other gods and worship them. Unlike our fathers, we quickly turn from the way in which our fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands.
Now this has been a lot of bad news. The book of Judges too ends on even more bad news as the ancient Israelites suffer the consequences of repeatedly transgressing their covenant with God through this very same worshipping of false idols. When I went to seminary, Training College, they taught us to always end a message on a good note. This is sometimes difficult to find in a book that starts by telling us what will happen if we forsake the Lord to follow other gods and finishes after the people have repeatedly done just that.
There is good news today though. The good news is that, because of the grace of God and the salvation provided through Jesus Christ, it is not too late to avoid the same fate as the ancient Israelites. As real as the threat is for our hearts and the hearts of our children to turn away from the Lord, as long as we have breath in our body there is still time to return to the Lord, the God of our forefathers. God promises that when we are faithful we will be blessed for generations. As we return to the Lord, He is waiting here for us with open arms. He loves us. It hurts Him that we are turning away from Him but as we come back what a day of rejoicing that will be.
God did not give up on the ancient Israelites. God did not give up on them and God will not give up on us. As bad as everything can get in our lives: when everyone around us seems to be turning away, when it looks like all those who are around us are going to perish, when we are caught in the midst of trouble, God is good. He is still there for us. Even after maybe we have disobeyed or even defied God like the Israelites and even after we have suffered some of the consequences of those actions, it is not too late to turn back around - as long as we still have breath in our body there is still time for us to repent, there is still time for us to return to the God of our forefathers, who is the creator of heaven and earth; there is still time for us to experience that salvation which Christ provided between the cross and the empty tomb. As long as we have breath in our body, even if thus far we have turned and served false gods like the Israelites in the book of Judges, as long as we have breath in our body, we can still repent, we can still return to the LORD and we can still be a part of His Salvation both now and forever more.
Let us pray.
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[1] Arthur E. Cundall and Leon Morris, Judges and Ruth: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1968 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 7), S. 70
[2] S. Dean McBride, ‘Essence of Orthodoxy: Deuteronomy 5:6-10 and Exodus 20:2-6’ Interpretation 60, no. 2. (April 2006): 134.
[3] Cf. Scott Langston, ‘Ashtaroth’ in Holman Bible Dictionary, ed. Trent C. Butler (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991), 112.
[4] Cf. Susanne Gillmayer-Bucher, “Framework and Discourse in the Book of Judges”, Journal of Biblical Literature 128, no. 4 (2009): 687.
[5] K. Lawson Younger, Judges/Ruth in The NIV Application Commentary, ed. Terry Mick (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), 96: He continues, “Everything in our culture… pushes us in the direction of advancing our standard of living for more comfort, pleasure, and self-confidence without any thought of the Creator”
[6] K. Lawson Younger, Judges/Ruth in The NIV Application Commentary, ed. Terry Mick (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), 97. He also says of Materialism, “It encourages at every turn the pursuit of personal happiness and gratification.”
[7] Richard L. Christensen, “Colossians 1:15-28”, Interpretation 61, no. 3 (July 2007): 319
[8] Cf. Robert H. O'Connell, The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges. Cited in Review by A.D.H Mayes, ‘The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges’, Journal of Theological Studies 49 (1998).
[9] This review can be found at http://www.movieguide.org/reviews/movie/the-princess-and-the-frog.html
[10] This review can be found at http://www.movieguide.org/reviews/movie/the-golden-compass.html
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