Not A B C’s

Created by Debbie Chaney

Cut down your Father’s altar to Baal Cut down the Asherah pole Build an altar to the Lord

- on the hilltop- lay the stones carefully- sacrifice a bull- use the pole for fuel

Gideon took 10 helpers and did it- Cut down Baal’s altar- Cut down the Asherah pole- built an altar to the Lord

At night tho’, cuz he was afraid …

Baal was a Canaanite god of weather, war and fertile land

Asherah was represented as a nude woman

Her power was over reproduction Therefore, her statues (poles) were often

made to represent large reproductive organs

Often made of tree trunks, or cones of stone

Her poles were considered sacred poles …

Baal worship involved all kinds of perverted, sexual practices and orgies

Baal worship involved ritual prostitution of men and women, with both men and women

Baal worship encouraged adultery, shameful practices, brutality, filth, and immoral indulgence

On a hill, surrounded by a 150 x 200 foot wall,

with open sky above Within the walls were 10 stone pillars, 5-11 ft. high

Where Baal worship took place

The High Place (for Baal worship)

Found in the ruins of several high places were large quantities of grossly exaggerated sex organs

These were designed to excite people

by archeologists

Baal worship involved child sacrifice Found under the debris of a “high place” were

jars of remains of children who’d been sacrificed to Baal

Killed in worship to Baal

This part of Baal worship involved –

When a house was built, a child was sacrificed and it’s body was built into a wall or door frame to bring good luck

God wanted His people, Israel to be free of these gross sexual practices

God wanted his people to be free from child sacrifices

God wanted His people to be free from idolatry

What God asked him to do was go against the flow of the entire culture!

Sexual excitement Immoral practices Child sacrifices False gods Cut them out! Build an altar to the Lord (seek God’s

ways)

Gideon took 10 helpers and did it- Cut down Baal’s altar- Cut down the Asherah pole- built an altar to the Lord

At night tho’, cuz he was afraid …

Remember

this slide?

Now you understand

what Gideon actually

did

God wants you to go against the flow of the entire culture!

The sexual excitement The immoral practices The child sacrifices (sacrificing time & energies on perverted

things) The false gods we serve Cut them out! Build an altar to the Lord (seek God’s ways)

CUT SIN out of your life BUILD a personal relationship with Jesus

through daily prayer, study & accountability

C – Cut out sin B – Build A – an Altar to the Lord