FROM THE TREE TO THE CROSS

Before Abraham was called by God to come to the land of promise
The land was inhabited by the caananites, a mixed bunch of the cursed descendants of ham
False idol worship had always been a prevailing issue but inevitably all such groups of people succomb to child sacrifice in order to appease their false gods.
The terebinth tree or tamarisk tree, was most likely something resembling a live oak tree with large spread out branches and was a favorite place to do such sacrifices because the superstitious people believed that spirits or gods inhabited the trees themselves, hence why they had become so large.

In the ancient past most people were either farmers or herders.
The very worst things that they feared was war, famine and plauge
It is here that we see the evolution of man because of his fears, superstitions and his wicked heart attempt to determine his own luck and fate by creating and then praying to the gods that he himself created from stone and wood.
But what might start as a seemingly harmless superstitious act of creating an idol transforms into the monster that corrupts the mind of men to the point of doing the unthinkable, sacrificing one’s own children to something that has no life in itself.
How does this happen, how could people stoop so low as to do such things.
It goes something like this

A man sits at a fire in the night gazing up at the stars
he is doing something with his hands that makes a scraping, grinding noise.
We see a small piece of stone that he methodically works back and forth with his hands shaping it into an image of a bull.
A mere animal that to this man for whatever reason has become  a symbol of power and fertility.
The man has a young child and wife with him who are watching him create this idol.
The man places the finished idol on the finest cloth they own and then sets it on the table and begins to pray to it.
This idol and image continue to be revered by the child until many Generations pass by with more idol creation and idol worship.
The idols become larger and larger and the place of idol worship becomes a public social location and event, where the people offer gifts and sacrifices of their livestock.
But when a famine deveststes the land for almost a year the people become desperate and start seeking advice from so called priests of the idol gods as to what they should do to appease the gods and stop the famine. They believe that the gods are unhappy with them and are punishing them with the famine and that repentance and self punishment is the only way to convince the gods of their remorse and repentance,
The ultimate sacrifice that anyone could give is their own flesh and blood to the gods, and this was repeatedly the eventual outcome of false idol worshipers in order to appease the gods and end the famine or plauge.
Once the famine or plauge ended of its own course of time, the people continue to sacrifice their children as a ritual to further appease the gods and ward off upsetting them again and cause them to bring back the famine or plauge.

The Modern Altar

Fast forward 4,000 years.
We look back at those Canaanites with disgust. We think, “How barbaric. We would never burn our children alive just to ensure a good harvest.”
Or would we?
The human heart has not changed; only the currency has changed.
We no longer fear a literal famine of bread; we fear a famine of relevance. We fear a famine of status. We fear the “plague” of being average or poor.
So, we return to the workshop.
We don’t carve bulls out of stone anymore. We carve careers. We carve portfolios. We carve digital avatars on social media that look like the “gods” we want to be—perfect, wealthy, and powerful.
And just like the man by the fire, it starts innocently.
“I’m just working late to provide for my family,” we say, shaping the stone.
“I need this promotion to secure our future,” we say, building the altar.
But then the famine hits. The economy turns. The bills pile up. The fear sets in.
And the False God of “Success” speaks the same lie Molech spoke under the terebinth tree:
“If you want to survive this, you have to sacrifice what you love most.”
So we do.
We sacrifice our time with our children, leaving them to be raised by screens and strangers.
We sacrifice their innocence, exposing them to the “spirits” of the internet age just to keep them quiet while we work.
We sacrifice their spiritual heritage, skipping church for sports practice because we believe a scholarship is more real than God.
We place our children on the altar of “A Better Future,” not realizing we are burning their present. We don’t hear their screams because the noise of the Market is too loud. We don’t see the fire because it looks like a corner office or a new car.
Idolatry is simply the attempt to secure your future without God.
The Canaanite sacrificed his child to ensure the rain would come.
The Modern Man sacrifices his child to ensure the money will come.
The Altar has changed shape, but the cost is exactly the same: Life.
The only way to break the cycle is to realize that Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide) is the only God who demands no sacrifice from you—because He has already provided the Lamb Himself.