Deuteronomy is the fifth book written by Moses.  It is called the “second Law” in that it summarizes the Lord’s mindset as expressed in the previous four books.  In this book Moses addresses the 12 Tribes of Israel, telling them and their descendants (the true church today) what He commands of them, the blessings He would pour out on them for fulfilling His commands and the curses with which He would afflict them for not fulfilling His commands.  Students of the Old Testament know that our spiritual (and physical) ancestors failed miserably and the price they paid for doing so.  They also know that their descendants are paying the same price, for the same reason, and that their end will mirror that of their ancestors–military defeat, slaughter and enslavement in the lands of the victors.  Our recent defeat in Afghanistan is simply one more example of our spiritual downfall.  America has not won a war since WWII and will never win another one.  Prophecy declares Israel’s decline, defeat and enslavement at the time of the end and it will come to pass.  God’s true saints also know that there is a way to avoid the inevitable death and destruction looming just ahead of the United States, Britain and the Jews of the Middle East.  This website continually reminds the reader of the Truth relative to what is going on in the world today.

One of the self-inflicted wounds administered by ancient Israel and her modern day descendants involves their association with fallen angels/devils/demons.  Most church people do not believe in them and are therefore easy prey for Satan and his spiritual assistants (demons) and physical workers (church leaders).  In Deuteronomy 32 Moses reminds Israel of their apostasy (separation from God) caused by their dealings with heathen people through whom Satan had lured into his flesh-pleasing religions and their man-pleasing gods.  Jesus would later identify Satan’s man-centered religions in Matthew 16:23 where He says to him: “Get behind Me, Satan, for you savor (put forward) the WAYS OF MAN and not the ways of God.”  “Ways of man” simply means ways of Satan, who wants man to have whatever he wants.  Man wants self-rule.  Adam and Eve were the perfect example of the desire for self-rule.

The problem with ancient Israel was that their self-centered religiousness naturally channeled them into the grasp of Satan and his false gods whom the heathen worshiped and served as if they were real.  In reality there was (and is) only one false god–the devil himself.  All other gods: Allah, Budda, the sun, moon, star formations, animals, fire, the gods of Catholicism and Protestantism, etc., are actually Satan’s representations of himself designed to fit the religious desires of different people.  And if a group has a different concept of god, right, wrong, etc., he simply creates a new religion or denomination in which those people can worship and obey him.  In his world the religious mantra is: “you-want-it-you-got-it.”  In several cases, even human beings have been worshiped.  Google Jim Jones–a self-proclaimed god who had a large following.  Hundreds of people committed suicide because Jones told them to.  Among other men who were revered as gods were Father Divine and Sun Myung Moon.

Whether in the form of a man or something else, heathens, including Catholics and Protestants, all have the same god–Satan.  He presents himself in whatever form and by whatever name man wishes.   In Deuteronomy 32:16-19 the Lord, through Moses, warned the Israelites then and their church descendants now about provoking Him (God) to jealousy and anger with their “strange gods” which were (are) an abomination to Him.  In their worship services Israelites sacrificed to their false gods.  For this reason He “abhorred them” because they led their children to follow in their abominable footsteps.

In Leviticus 20 we find Israel not only worshiping another god (Molech), but sacrificing their children to him.  The so-called Christian celebration of Christmas is the modern version of Molech worship.  The only difference is that today people sacrifice their children spiritually rather than physically.  Easter is a Satanic holiday held in honor of Simiramus, the mother of the sun god–Tammuz (Eze. 8:14).  Tammuz was supposedly the miraculously-conceived god who supposedly had been killed on Friday afternoon, arose on Sunday morning.  He  returned on his birthday (Dec. 25) each year to leave gifts under the trees his worshipers had brought into their homes (Jer. 10:1-5).  Sound familiar?  Various societies worshiped the Goddess of Fertility by different names.  One of those names was “Ishtar,” which in English is “Easter.”  The goddess was worshiped using colored eggs, rabbits and baby chicks.  Sound familiar?  St. Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s day are two other celebrations of heathen origin.  As is the celebration of birthdays.  Note that nowhere in the Bible are we told to celebrate birthdays.  The wearing of wedding bands proclaimed a couple’s service to their god–the sun, which was symbolized by bright finger rings.  Christmas lights are also symbols of a family’s worship of the sun.

God’s chosen people failed to obey God by mixing and mingling with their heathen neighbors from whom they learned to contact “familiar spirits” through wizards and “holy men.”  Nothing has changed.  Satan worship, witchcraft of various sorts and names are popular in the so-called “Christian nations” throughout the world.  Such child-oriented entertainment venues as the Harry Potter book and movie series have made such practices acceptable.  In some churches they are used as a teaching tools to teach young children about the spiritual world.  The only seance I have ever attended took place in a protestant church.  In Psalm 106:35,36 the Psalmist tells about Israel’s practice of sacrificing children to their heathen god after they had “mingled with the heathen and learned their works.”  The Introduction to this website lists a number of such “works,” beliefs and practices.

Even the ultra-wise Solomon came under the spell of various heathen gods after he married the daughters of the heathen kings with whom he made covenants of mutual support and protection.  His wives pulled him away from God.  He in turn pulled Israel away from Him and turned her into a Satan-worshiping nation.

In 2 Chronicles 11:14,15 we find King Jereboam causing Israel to pay homage to devils in the form of bull calves.  So abominable were his religious practices that the Levites left him and returned to Jerusalem.  Jeroboam, having turned away from god, would not allow them to perform the duties prescribed by the Lord.  The king then appointed priests who directed religious services in which the people worshiped devils and statues of bull calves on “high places” designed for that purpose.

The ministers who are instrumental in leading professing Christendom to follow, worship and serve Satan are the products of his and his demons’ efforts to subvert the work and ways of the Biblical God.  This is not a new phenomenon.  In Isaiah 30:9-11 we read that the prophets of God were often shunned, disrespected, and in some cases, physically attacked by the Israelites who did not want to hear what God had to say through His true prophets.  Instead they demanded to hear “smooth things, lies and deceits.”  They told him and his fellow prophets to stop speaking the things of God and to stop telling them about Him.  In the Book of Acts we find Stephen suffering the same rejection and for the same reason.  He was stoned to death by Israelites (Jews–tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi) for reminding them of what was written in their Holy Book.  Nothing changed in the centuries following Christ’s death.  In the next posting we will look at the work of the devil and his angels during the days of the early church.  L.J.