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Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up to the Temple of the Lord with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, along with the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. There the king read to them the entire Book of the Covenant that had been found in the Lord’s Temple. The king took his place of authority beside the pillar and renewed the covenant in the Lord’s presence. He pledged to obey the Lord by keeping all his commands, laws, and decrees with all his heart and soul. In this way, he confirmed all the terms of the covenant that were written in the scroll, and all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the Temple gatekeepers to remove from the Lord’s Temple all the articles that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the powers of the heavens. The king had all these things burned outside Jerusalem on the terraces of the Kidron Valley, and he carried the ashes away to Bethel. He did away with the idolatrous priests, who had been appointed by the previous kings of Judah, for they had offered sacrifices at the pagan shrines throughout Judah and even in the vicinity of Jerusalem. They had also offered sacrifices to Baal, and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the powers of the heavens. The king removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. Then he ground the ashes of the pole to dust and threw the dust over the graves of the people. He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the Lord, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole. Josiah brought to Jerusalem all the priests who were living in other towns of Judah. He also defiled the pagan shrines, where they had offered sacrifices—all the way from Geba to Beersheba. He destroyed the shrines at the entrance to the gate of Joshua, the governor of Jerusalem. This gate was located to the left of the city gate as one enters the city....King Josiah then issued this order to all the people: “You must celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as required in this Book of the Covenant.” There had not been a Passover celebration like that since the time when the judges ruled in Israel, nor throughout all the years of the kings of Israel and Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem. Josiah also got rid of the mediums and psychics, the household gods, the idols, and every other kind of detestable practice, both in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Judah. He did this in obedience to the laws written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the Lord’s Temple. Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since. 2 Kings 23:1-8, 21-25[2]
October 31st is the
celebration of two different worlds; one is Halloween, something of a dichotomy
between good and evil. It is All Hallows
Eve, the beginning of Allhallowtide, three days of remembering those who died
in Christ, but also coinciding with many ancient traditions of harvest time,
including the Gaelic (or Celtic) festival of Samhein, a time of thanksgiving
tied to some Christian and some pagan roots.
The most nearly modern Christian church celebration is Reformation Day,
celebrating Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 theses to the church door at
Wittenberg, Germany 503 years ago[3]. Luther was a Catholic priest who saw the
depths of hypocrisy and death-inviting sin into which the church had slipped. Those theses were 95 challenges to kickstart
a holy cleansing revival in the church.
When that failed, and Luther was excommunicated, the Protestant
rebellion was on. Calvin, Luther,
Wesley, and a host of others led the way in schism. Today there are so many denominations it is
hard to say just how many.
And it’s harder still to say which
denomination, if any holds the corner on the market of being right
in its preponderance of doctrines and rules.
There is one safe thing to say; in all the preaching, opinions,
self-righteousness, wonderment, and wishing, only God’s Word holds truth
without mixture of man’s error.
When king Josiah, a young man, heard
the Word of God it convicted his heart.
And he not only felt remorse, Josiah changed
his ways. The young king
offered his heart to God, and his life to the cause of helping others know
God. He emptied the Temple of every
pagan vestige and practice, and sent the lying priests packing. He burnt the Asherah poles of pagan worship
and banished the male and female prostitutes connected with such worship.
For
You Today
These
days when denominations are confronted with God’s holy Word they usually
rewrite their Bibles instead of their rule books. Josiah was different; he was willing to turn
the whole world upside down to agree with God and not man’s new ideas. Join me in praying for Josiah to visit our
land!
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day! 
Go to VIDEO
[3] See the Encyclopedia Britannica
article here
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