Pachamama at the Vatican / Blending faiths is nothing new

The Sacred Site at Shechem and Joshua’s Covenant Witness

And afterward, the men of Shechem, they make him king, it says, beside the terebinth tree, you know, by the pillar. So this was a sacred site. And here's why that's important. You know, there's no detail in the Bible that's just sort of a throwaway statement.

Why does it mention that he was made king at this sacred site? One commentator writes this, the terebinth tree, or the oak of the pillar. Remember, this is where Joshua erected a pillar as a witness of the covenant renewed between God and Israel.

That's Joshua 24 verse 26. This place they chose to signify that they still owned God and their covenant with him and did not worship Baal in opposition to God, but in conjunction with him or in subordination.

To him.

Now that's really important. I want to read that again. So why did they make Abimelech king at this worship site? This is where Joshua set up the pillar. They chose this site to signify that they still owned God, they still believed in God, they still believed in their covenant with God, they did not worship Baal in opposition to him, but in conjunction with him.

So if that's correct, and I believe it is, that's significant. Remember, Abimelech's uncles, they got the money to fund the revolution from the temple.

Of Baal.

Blending Jehovah Worship with Baal and Asherah

You know, Christians oftentimes will read how Israel was worshipping Baal or worshipping the Baals in Asherah, and we often think that Baal replaced Jehovah. And while I'm sure that did happen at times, more often, and what's happening here is that the two faiths were blended together.

So did Israel still worship Jehovah?

Yes.

Were they worshipping Baal?

Yes.

They were worshipping both. Now in God's eyes, if you're worshipping Baal at all, you're not worshipping him because the worship of God has to be pure. God is a jealous God. If you're worshipping Jehovah, Baal, and Asherah, you're not worshipping God.

But in their eyes, we're just going to recognize all these different gods. So just as an Israelite man would marry a Canaanite woman, these two faiths would often both be upheld. So just imagine this, a Jewish man, they weren't called Jews back then, but an Israelite man marries a Canaanite woman, the Israelite, he worships Jehovah, the Canaanite worships Baal, and they just kind of decide and make this agreement, well, okay, the family, we'll just kind of recognize both.

And they blend the two together. Just to help us understand this, because this still happens. A few years back, the Pope brought a pagan idol into the Vatican before the high altar, and this made a lot of waves.

It was in the news. And Pachamama, I think was what the idol was called, it was basically a naked Amazon goddess that was brought into St. Peter's Basilica. And the Catholic Church is known for this, they'll go into a country, missionaries will set up a church, and they'll take the pagan gods, and they'll all just worship everyone together and worship Jesus and these Pachamama and these other idols.

It's very common, it happens all over the world. Again, there's nothing new under the sun. So an Israelite man worships Jehovah, Canaanite woman worships Baal, they get married, their children are brought up with both faiths, so you just blend it all together.

Christian, Jewish, and Secular Blending Today

There are people today who profess to be Christian, maybe they are, Lord knows. You know, sometimes saved people do really dumb things. And I don't want to say that, well, it's a mistake, we'll just put it that way.

But there have been Christian men or Christian women who have married Jews, religious Jews, and that's two different religions. The husband and wife, they get married, they agree that their kids will, and I've known people who have done this, they say, well, we'll take our kids both to church and to the synagogue, we'll celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah.

Of course, more often than not, over time, one spouse ends up getting their way more than the other, so one faith naturally takes precedent over the other. Or maybe both faiths are dropped in favor of secularism.

But the point is, here in Judges, it happens today, happened back then. Just because they were worshiping Baal doesn't mean Jehovah is completely out of the picture. They made Abimelech king, even when they were worshiping Baal Bereth, and they did it at this worship site for the Lord God.

So, let's just blend it all together. That's what's happening.