One God Only

Read 2 Kings 21
 
2 Kings 21:4-5 Manasseh built pagan altars in the Temple of the Lord, the place where the Lord had said, “My name will remain in Jerusalem forever.” 5 He built these altars for all the powers of the heavens in both courtyards of the Lord’s Temple.
 
IT is believed Manasseh began ruling with his father Hezekiah when he was 12 years old, about four years after God healed Hezekiah and destroyed the 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian army. Think of a child witnessing God’s great miracles to protect his father and his nation. Would he not devote his life to the LORD, his father’s God? But it seems the Almighty God was not enough for Manasseh. To place idols in the Temple and throughout God’s Promised Land was the king confession, “I want more than you, LORD. I’ll worship what I desire as it pleases me.”   
   Before we judge Manasseh, let’s consider what has occurred in the Christian church throughout the centuries. There have always been people who wanted to add to or subtract from God’s Word, to change God to fit their own view. The church is continually infected with many divisions. Loud voices inform, “I have a new revelation about God. Let me tell you what is really true.” And there are always people to follow the new idea. But history merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Influences from self-informed voices and pagan religions have steadily slipped into the church to turn our minds “worship God only” to “believe in God as you like”. There is much in our culture and in the church today that says, “Seek your own truth. Look within yourself. Find your own meaning to life.” Eastern religions attract hearts and minds to subtract God from our lives and add our own ideas to fill the void. Our mixed beliefs will even sacrifice our children to Satan’s desires.
   Let’s then see Manasseh’s deep and dangerous sins as a warning to be alert to our own hearts’ desires. We have seen through the gospels’ eyes God’s power to bring forth a light out of darkness. We witness the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Son of God, Son of Man. The apostles’ testimonies allow us to clearly view the miraculous work of the Triune God to save us into eternity. Why would we think we need anything else?
   Manasseh reigned 55 years. And then something quite surprising occurred near the end of Manasseh’s life. So the Lord sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon. 12 In deep distress, Manasseh sought the LORD his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.13 And when he prayed, the LORD listened to him and was moved by his request. So the LORD brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the LORD alone is God! (2 Chronicles 33:11-13)
   Why must we wait for distress to learn the LORD alone is God? Pray for a pure heart and a pure church to worship God only.