25That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.b Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah polec beside it.26Then build a proper kind ofd altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the seconde bull as a burnt offering.” (Judges 6:25-26)
Thoughts: The Israelites had begun to merge and syncretize faith in God with the Canaanite worship of Baal and Ashtoreth. Baal worship was not just religious. It also involved sexual immorality as it sought fertility for the land. It encouraged prostitution as a part of its worship. Freud (who said sex is the most powerful drive of life) would easily be a Canaanite. The Israelites suffered because they mixed their religion with sexual immorality. Gideon started to change things when he tore down Baal's altar and the Asherah pole to seek God's help.
Today I heard a speaker talk about sex trafficking in my state of South Carolina. It is a 100 million dollar business. About 1,500 children averaging 15 years old are coerced into prostitution. Young girls are abused and treated as dirt. This would not happen if mainly men would stop giving into lust. Some are even addicted to sexual immorality like a drug addict is addicted to a drug. Pimps prey on vulnerable teens who lack self-esteem and are lonely promising them attention and gifts. Soon they are trapped and sent out of state. In some ways, this is Baal fertility worship. We turn away from God and turn toward false gods of sexual immorality. Lighthouse for Life- is a house in Columbia that is filled before it is even finished building. This is the secret epidemic in our land.
Prayer; Lord, help me to worship you, and you only. Keep me from objectifying and abusing others.
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