When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12
When God gave instructions to the people of Israel regarding how they were to live once they reached the Promised Land, He gave them a strong warning. They would be surrounded by pagan nations whose beliefs and practices were an abomination to Him. The Israelites were not to imitate them or adopt their ways. Yet despite God’s warning, that is exactly what eventually happened. Over time, they forsook God and embraced the sinful practices of the nations around them. Their departure became so great that God said through Ezekiel, “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters” (Ezekiel 16:48).
It is a sobering thing for God’s people to become indistinguishable from a culture that rejects Him. Yet that danger has existed in every generation. When the Bible warns us about the world, it is warning us against the values, desires, attitudes, and practices of a fallen world system that is opposed to God and His truth.
Our greatest concern should not simply be how sinful the culture around us becomes, but whether its thinking is beginning to shape us. Little by little, practices we once recognized as wrong can begin to seem normal, and convictions rooted in God’s Word can begin to weaken. God has called us to live by His truth rather than allowing the values of the world around us to determine what we accept.
