| By PKD Lee |

2 Kings 17:17 And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.
The sermon on Sunday mentioned the abomination done in Israel of offering their children as an offering to the gods as a sacrifice, and killing their children. We shudder to think of the same, and wonder how people can do such things. But we also often sacrifice our children to the idols of our hearts, without thinking twice about the same!
Ezekiel 14:7-8 reads, “7 For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the LORD will answer him by Myself. 8 I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.”
What is an idol of the heart? It is something that I love and desire, so that it becomes more important than behaving like a Christian. A few parents desperately want to be better than their neighbours. So, if the neighbour’s child does well in class, thy want their child to do well. They are constantly comparing their child with other children, so that their idol of the ‘ego’ can be satisfied. This effectively decimates our children who lose their self-esteem and identity, as they try to be someone else or better than someone else.
Some sacrifice their children to the god of wealth, commonly known in India as the goddess Lakshmi. Just because we do not use this name for the idol of our heart does not make it less of an idolatry. When it comes to choosing a career or even a marriage partner, again the god or goddess of wealth takes precedence over our children’s happiness and desires. They are forced into professions they have no heart for on the excuse that you can earn more money elsewhere.
I have seen the children of Christians with amulets and other objects for prosperity and good luck. Black threads to ward off evil tied around arms and legs are all part of what 2 Kings 17:7 calls witchcraft and soothsaying.
What the Israelites did in the past are being done routinely by Christians in India while hypocritically expressing horror at the Israelites apostasy. Should not Ez 14:7-8 apply to us also?
Let us build our children the way God has designed them - not to satisfy our ambitions and egos, but the gifts which God has endowed them with.