Historical Background
Isaiah delivered his prophecies between 739 and 681 BC to the Southern Israeli Kingdom of Judah that had chosen to ignore the God’s guidance. Rather than approaching their service with humility and demonstrating love towards their fellow neighbours, the people of Judah presented empty offerings in God’s temple in Jerusalem and perpetuated injustices across the land. This prompted Isaiah to issue warnings and judgments in the hope of rekindling their relationship with God.
Despite the nation of Israel being (arguably) one of the more advanced ethically and socially advanced nations on the Earth at the time, their moral downward spiral was left unchecked resulting in remarkable evil behaviour as they served their newly found foreign gods. Either by ritual requirement or by general spiritual malaise, Judaean society descended into social and economic injustice (especially for the weaker members of society) – child sacrifice, all manner of sexual perversions and oppression, religious hypocrisy.
Isaiah and other prophets often decried the worship of these foreign gods and the accompanying idolatry, calling upon the people of Israel to return to the worship of the one true God of Israel. The worship of foreign gods was considered a departure from their covenant with Yahweh, and it was a recurring theme in the biblical accounts of that era. Israel had fallen from a great height.
These warnings were not heeded. The Bible is explicit in detailing that this is the reason why they were brutality invaded and as a nation carried away to Babylon as exiles for 70 years.
What was the Root Cause of Israel’s Stumbling?
7 So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.
Judges 3:7
(Refer to “Israel and Transgenderism” section below for an introduction to the pagan god Ashtoreth).
26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 27 who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbour, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.
Jeremiah 23:26-27
15 And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. 16 So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a moulded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
2 Kings 17: 15-16
Baal was the competing god from the Canaanite region that Israel had taken possession of. As per the other pagan gods (e.g. Aphrodite = Isthar = Venus), the name Baal was adopted and modified to suit other cultures, regions and cities. A more commonly known name for the Baal god in Western culture is “Zeus” which is an incarnation from Greek culture. However, the concept of Baal was that he was the “lord”, “owner” and “master”. Baal was considered the chief of gods; the leader of spirits. Baal ultimately became the enemy of the God of Israel. The proposition of Baal was one of increase, fertility and general all-round prosperity. To obtain this promise of prosperity the people had to forsake their true God and worship the Baal idols.
The Baal Effect
Baal therefore, was a god that competed with the God of Israel. His proposition was that of prosperity. He was the god who made people forget the living God and His commands. He turned them away. He was the apostasy god.
This process has exactly repeated itself in Western society in the past 70 years or so. God and Christian doctrines, once fundamental and at the heart of our civilised society, have been eroded over time. Secularisation has pushed God out to the very fringes. We have chased the promise of liberation, enlightenment and prosperity and in doing so have forgotten our God. The west is in a state of apostasy.
For further details on the worship of Baal today, refer to our Insight, “The Re-Packaging of Ancient Paganism for a Modern World”.
What Happens Next After Turning Away from God?
…21 because, having known God they did not glorify [Him] as God, nor gave thanks, but were made vain in their reasonings, and their unintelligent heart was darkened
Rom 1:21, Young’s Literal Translation
In this verse the writer, the Apostle Paul, is looking retrospectively at how mankind pulled away from God in the beginning. However, this pattern has and will repeat itself many times as mankind goes through the cycle of coming nearer to God or walking away from Him. What we learn here is that when people turn away from God a first step is that they are, “made vain in their reasonings”. Note a dictionary definition of the word, “vain”:
excessively proud of or concerned about one’s own appearance, qualities, achievements, etc.; conceited:
proceeding from or showing pride in or concern about one’s appearance, qualities, etc.; resulting from or displaying vanity:
“vain”. dictionary.com. 2024. https://www.dictionary.com .
When society turns away from God there’s normally a sense of pride and a sense that their thinking is on a higher level, somehow enlightened. That their liberation is just around the corner. In reality, the very opposite happens – where there once was clarity and reasoned thinking, an embrace of all things foolish takes hold (their unintelligent hearts were darkened). Today’s pertinent example is that a man can identify as a woman and many state authorities will support this foolishness and even prosecute those who maintain the truthful biological fact. Where there once was intelligence, there is now unintelligence. Where they once could “see”, their hearts were darkened and not able to see.
A self-regulated sense of right and wrong
How did a leading nation such as Israel descend into such foolishness. The prophet Isaiah hits the nail on the head:
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
Isaiah 5:21
And prudent in their own sight!
In perfect alignment with the standard pattern of decay, they started with rejection of God’s wisdom and substituted that with their own understanding.
Legislating evil for good
One of the consequences of Israel’s departure from God was that they inherited poor leadership that made the wrong calls:
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Isaiah 5:20
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
The take up of pluralistic thinking (all truth is relative, there is no ultimate right and wrong) has resulted in governments legislating what is evil as good in the statue books. We will give two pertinent examples here. Firstly, the re-definition of marriage as being not exclusively between a man and a woman. This piece of legislation passed under the premiership of Theresa May (British Prime Minister 2016-2019) aided and abetted by the European Union. And secondly, the legislating of hate speech laws which have led to the limitation of free speech, especially when speech is seen to be against IDE ideology. A loving and caring parent can for example, loose their employment for merely expressing concern within the context of a private conversation about sexualised primary education. What was considered good, light, and sweet, for millennia under the Christian tradition, has in a handful of years, become evil, darkness and bitter. Anyone or thing (concepts, values, beliefs) that disagrees is pursued with militant fervour with an objective of silencing or prosecution.
Open, unhindered expression of sin
8 Jerusalem staggers,
Judah is falling;
their words and deeds are against the Lord,
defying his glorious presence.
9 The look on their faces testifies against them;
they parade their sin like Sodom;
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
They have brought disaster upon themselves.
Isaiah 3: 8-9
Open parading of sin is a sign of the final steps of moral degradation of a society.
In 2020s Western World we have a selection of open, brazen-faced promotions of what is wrong:
Israel and Transgenderism
The sexual revolution has gained much traction since it crept into Western society. Initially, this ideology promised freedom (“free love”) by suggesting sex could be taken out of marriage. This has been and continues to be extremely damaging to family structures, woman and children as well as being economically expensive. As the revolution progressed, it set its sights on other areas of sexual unrestraint, firstly the normalisation of homosexuality and then in recent years, onto transgenderism. Today, it has (disgustingly) set its sights on normalising paedophilia.
During Israel’s departure from God, one of the gods embraced in the wider region was Ishtar who is referred to as Ashtoreth in the Bible. Ashtoreth was the goddess of love. Other cultures within the sphere of the Middle East and Mediterranean over the years adapted the deity and her roles and attributes. To the Greeks she became Aphrodite and to the Romans she became the goddess, Venus.
The worship of Isthar resulted in all manner of sexual perversion, homosexuality and transgenderism. No one, young or old was excluded. It is remarkable to learn how this ancient worship of the goddess Isthar is fleshed out in our western societies today. Isthar was praised for being able to, “turn a man into a woman and a woman into a man”. For details refer to our Insight, “The Re-Packaging of Ancient Paganism for a Modern World”.
Killing of Children and the Unborn
Molech was a pagan deity who demanded child sacrifice. In worship, parents would cause their own children to be burned alive. In other ages, the practice of infanticide was practiced which involved leaving babies outside exposed to the elements, so that the gods could determine whether they were deemed fit to live or not.
Whilst we do not have these two practices today, abortion, driven largely by the consequences of the sexual revolution, is at unprecedented levels. Furthermore, it has to be noted the thirst for more abortion is a key priority of the liberal left and the globalists. Examples include the United Nations pushing for the relaxation of abortion laws in the third world, or governments using the cover of the Covid-19 pandemic to make self-medication abortion easily available. Free speech voicing opposition is not to be tolerated and has led to individuals in the West being arrested.
Make no mistake, the demonic world is thirsty for abortion. Apart from its intrinsic evil, the Biblical stance is that the spilling of blood invites curses on a nation. This means short cuts to a host of other ills are induced such as economic malaise, debt, poor mental health etc. It is therefore no surprise that abortion has been singled out as needing aggressive promotion with supporting legislation by our new elites.
For further details on the worship of Molech today, refer to our Insight, “The Re-Packaging of Ancient Paganism for a Modern World”.