I received a message earlier this week from a friend asking me if I had heard of a temple of Baal being constructed in New York City and London. I researched several articles, the YouTube link provided by my friend and even came across an article in the New York Times concerning this issue. From what I have read, there will be reproductions of the temple’s archways placed in New York City’s Times Square and London’s Trafalgar Square on April 19, 2016. This particular temple of Baal was located in Palmyra, Syria and was destroyed by ISIS in August 2015. Though the New York Times article discussed the reproduction of the temple arches is being done to honor the razed temple as a world heritage site. However, could something more sinister be at hand?
Who is Baal?
In order to fully understand the implications of reproducing arches to an ancient temple, we must understand for whom the temple is named. Baal was a Canaanite fertility god worshipped in the land of Canaan before the Israelites came into the Promise Land. Despite God’s many warnings not to worship the gods of the Canaanites, Israel fell into idolatry, for which they were judged and punished multiple times by God. Baal, like the other Canaanite gods and goddesses was worshipped in what the Bible calls “the high places,” which were simply altars built on top of hills and mountains.
Israel’s history of Baal worship
“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.”(Judges 2:11-13, KJV).
“And they [the nation of Israel] left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire [child sacrifice], and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.” (2 Kings 7:16-17, KJV, brackets mine).
Kings of Israel and Judah who worshipped Baal
There is an adage that says, “As a nation’s leaders go, so go its people.” In the Old Testament, as kings turned away from God, so did the people turn away from God.
Ahab
“And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.” (1 Kings 16:31-33, KJV).
Ahaziah
“Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. For he served Baal, and worshipped him and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.” ( 1Kings 22:51-53, KJV).
Manasseh
“And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father destroyed; and he reared up the altars of Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab, king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.” (2 Kings 21:2-3, KJV).
God’s Instruments of Judgment against Baal Worship
*Gideon destroyed his father’s altar to Baal (Judges 6:25-32).
*Elijah confronted and slayed the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:19-40).
*Jehu destroyed all Baal worship in Israel, but did not follow God (2 Kings 10:18-31).
*Jehoiada the priest led the people to destroy the house of Baal (2 Kings 11:18).
*Josiah removed the high places, smashed altars and ordered the priest of Baal to be slain (2 Kings 23:4-6).
*722 BC- The Assyrians invaded Samaria and Israel ceased to be a nation (2 Kings 17:18; Jeremiah 23:13).
*586 BC- The Babylonians conquer Jerusalem and begin the process of the seventy year exile (Jeremiah 23:25-27; Jeremiah 32:29-35).
The Bible makes it explicitly clear that we are to worship God and that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. If we worship any other entity or idol, we are engaging in idolatry. For any nation to erect even a replica of any temple or building where child sacrifice took place is the epitome of apostasy. New York and London, to put it bluntly are building monuments to Satan in the most prominent places in their respective cities. I have placed the links to the original New York Times article and the YouTube video below. Please study the Scriptures for yourselves and pray that God will move upon the hearts of the nation’s leaders and people. Pray that people’s eyes will be opened to the truth. Satan is a deceiver, a liar, and the father of lies who wants to lead astray as many people as he can in these last days. God bless you all.
YouTube Video; The New York Times article
Triumphant In Christ 