June 2: Pornography and Old Testament Idolatry are one and the same!

1 Kings 13:33-34, 14:1-18, 2 Chron. 11-13, 1 Kings 14-15

Asherah poles are sex shrines. Study it out. Almost every time I read about idolatry, Asherah is mentioned.

1 Kings 14

Amplified Bible (AMP)

14 Then Abijah [the little] son of Jeroboam became sick.

2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray you, and disguise yourself, that you may not be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that I should be king over this people.

3 Take ten loaves, some cakes, and a bottle of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.

4 Jeroboam’s wife did so. She arose and went [twenty miles] to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.

5 And the Lord said to Ahijah, Behold, the [a]wife of Jeroboam is coming to ask you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her. When she came, she pretended to be another woman.

It's interesting to me that when Jacob fooled his dad into giving him the blessing of the firstborn, God allowed it. God could have warned Isaac about Jacob pretending to be Esau, but he didnt. Because He had a plan involving Jacob/Israel. This time, however, God didnt allow the prophet Ahijah to be fooled.

6 But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door, he said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with heavy news for you.

7 Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel

8 And rent the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes,

9 But have done evil above all who were before you; for you have made yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke Me to anger and have cast Me behind your back—

10 Therefore behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from [him] every male, both bond and free, in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam as a man sweeps away dung, till it is all gone.

11 Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and any who dies in the field the birds of the heavens shall eat. For the Lord has spoken it.

12 Arise therefore [Ano, Jeroboam’s wife], get to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.

13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam’s family shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good and pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

14 Moreover, the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam this day. From now on

15 The Lord will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will root up Israel out of this good land which He gave to their fathers and will scatter them beyond the [Euphrates] River, because they have made their Asherim [idolatrous symbols of the goddess Asherah], provoking the Lord to anger.

16 He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam which he has sinned and made Israel to sin.

17 So Jeroboam’s wife departed and came to Tirzah. When she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.

18 And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord spoken by His servant Ahijah the prophet.

2 Chronicles 12:1

Amplified Bible (AMP)

12 When Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.

1 Kings 14:22-24

Amplified Bible (AMP)

22 And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, Whom they provoked to jealousy with the sins they committed, above all that their fathers had done.

23 For they also built themselves [idolatrous] high places, pillars, and Asherim [idolatrous symbols of the goddess Asherah] on every high hill and under every green tree.

24 There were also sodomites (male cult prostitutes) in the land. They did all the abominations of the nations whom the Lord cast out before the Israelites.

I've said it before: We think the world we live in is shockingly evil. Well its no different than it was back in the days of old.

"Asherah, or Ashtoreth, was the name of the chief female deity worshiped in ancient Syria, Phoenicia, and Canaan. The Phoenicians called her Astarte, the Assyrians worshiped her as Ishtar, and the Philistines had a temple of Asherah (1 Samuel 31:10). Because of Israel’s incomplete conquest of the land of Canaan, Asherah-worship survived and plagued Israel, starting as soon as Joshua was dead (Judges 2:13).

Asherah was represented by a limbless tree trunk planted in the ground. The trunk was usually carved into a symbolic representation of the goddess. Because of the association with carved trees, the places of Asherah worship were commonly called “groves,” and the Hebrew word “asherah” (plural, “asherim”) could refer either to the goddess or to a grove of trees. One of King Manasseh’s evil deeds was that he “took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple” (2 Kings 21:7). Another translation of “carved Asherah pole” is “graven image of the grove” (KJV).

Considered the moon-goddess, Asherah was often presented as a consort of Baal, the sun-god (Judges 3:7,6:28,10:6;1 Samuel 7:4,12:10). Asherah was also worshiped as the goddess of love and war and was sometimes linked with Anath, another Canaanite goddess. Worship of Asherah was noted for its sensuality and involved ritual prostitution. The priests and priestesses of Asherah also practiced divination and fortune-telling.

The Lord God, through Moses, forbade the worship of Asherah. The Law specified that a grove of trees was not to be near the altar of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 16:21). Despite God’s clear instructions, Asherah-worship was a perennial problem in Israel. As Solomon slipped into idolatry, one of the pagan deities he brought into the kingdom was Asherah, called “the goddess of the Sidonians” (1 Kings 11:5,33). Later, Jezebel made Asherah-worship even more prevalent, with 400 prophets of Asherah on the royal payroll (1 Kings 18:19). At times, Israel experienced revival, and notable crusades against Asherah-worship were led by Gideon (Judges 6:25-30), King Asa (1 Kings 15:13), and King Josiah (2 Kings 23:1-7)." S. Michael Houdmann

I invite you to research these scriptures on Asherah worship. It involved having sex at the feet of the gods and godesses, and sacrificing children. Really. Doesn't this sound like modern day pornography? Oh, and God's response to Asheroth worship was not pretty. Again:

15 The Lord will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will root up Israel out of this good land which He gave to their fathers and will scatter them beyond the [Euphrates] River, because they have made their Asherim [idolatrous symbols of the goddess Asherah], provoking the Lord to anger.

This is only one of the many scriptures concerning what happens to people who embraced Asherah worship. Hey folks, if you even have a teeny suspicion of pornography being viewed in your home, get it out as quickly as possible! Root out the evil in your home and in so doing you will defer God's wrath from coming upon your family. Seriously. Fall on your face and ask God to bring to light any evil deed happening in your home. Fathers, where are you? Are you allowing garbage in your home? What are your wives and children watching? Do you even know? Fathers, as you sit and look at porn, do you realize you are willingly lifting God's hand of protection off of your family?
"Dear God, I am convicted by Your word today. Do I even know what is going on in my home? Do I have a live and let live attitude? Am I cleansing out my heart and my home regularly? I can't expect you to bless me if there is sin in the camp. If there's sin going on in my home, please bring it to light so that we as a family can deal with it! Purge our home, Oh Lord. I don't want Your hand of protection lifted off of us. I don't want Your blessings gone. I will give You all the glory and honor for the great and mighty things You are doing in me and my family, Oh God. Thank you for Your word of truth that is sharper than any two edged sword. In Your precious name I pray, AMEN."

Joshua 7:1

Amplified Bible (AMP)

7 But the Israelites committed a trespass in regard to the devoted things; for Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the things devoted [for destruction]. And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel.

Hebrews 4:12

New International Version (NIV)

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.