| From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase |
Part four of a series. Read part three.
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The religious compromise of Israel's kings is reflected in today's deception called the "full service church."
We come now to the last of the deadly "three Rs" of compromise, the area of religion. Once again let me call your attention to the Lord's words to the future kings of Israel, given centuries before the first of them would reign, in Deuteronomy chapter 17:
When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, "I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me," you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, "You shall not return that way again." Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
In this article and the final one to follow we shall focus especially on these commands:
Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this Law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:14-20)
The kings of Israel were commanded not to compromise regarding religion. They were not to follow after the false gods of the pagan nations.
Solomon's "Full Service" Religious Compromise
Once again, Solomon was one of the greatest recorded violators of this direct command of God. We read in First Kings chapter 11 that he brought the worship of all sorts of other gods into the nation of Israel alongside of the worship of the one true and living God.
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant..." (1 Kings 11:5-11)
It was not long before the worship of the one true and living God was overrun and largely cast aside in favor of the worship of these demonic gods. Parents literally sacrificed their children in the fire to the pagan god Molech (2 Kings 23:10, Jeremiah 32:25). Booths for the ritual practice of sodomy were actually built in the house of God (2 Kings 23:7).
Why did Solomon do this? Because he thought he had to please everyone, that worship had to be "all things to all people" - all of his pagan wives, and all of the powers whose resources he acquired and relied upon in defiance of the Lord.
Several hundred years later, the godly King Josiah had to take action to eradicate these abominations that had been first instituted under the leadership of Solomon, and had even persisted after the partial reformation under Josiah's great-grandfather Hezekiah.
The Deception of the "Full-Service Church"
Today the Purpose-Driven Church movement rushes headlong into compromise with the word's false religions. Reputedly evangelical pastors stand on the same platforms in religious gatherings with Roman priests, Mormon leaders, and Muslim imams.
Today many parents who profess to be Christians are sacrificing their children in the spiritual fires of false religion by remaining in visible churches that are no longer true to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. They go for the programs. They go for the entertainment. They go for the outward trappings.
They put great stock in the idea of a "full service church" - a church that is "all things to all people." But most churches that boast of such things are doing little or no true service for Christ. There is no spiritual life, because the church in which these parents mistakenly think they are doing good for their children is but a shell of a church; a spiritually dead and defeated church despite what may outwardly appear to be success; a gathering increasingly dominated by unbelievers and dwindling numbers of deceived Christians, all living in comfortable compromise with this present evil world.
Today growing numbers of "full service churches" are welcoming unrepentant sodomites into the congregation, just as they were given a place in the house of God in ancient Jerusalem. After God repeatedly called Israel's kings, religious leaders, and people to repentance, and they remained stiff-necked in religious compromise that had grown into full-scale religious rebellion, He poured out His wrath upon them.
Can today's church, if it does not repent, expect the holy God to do differently?
Next: How Is It With You?
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