A worldly and carnal church leadership creates worldly and carnal Christians and causes Christians to deviate from God and move further away from His Word and walk on sideways. This leadership doesn’t produce mature Christians that know the will of God and discern good and evil, but pseudo-Christians that have a form of godliness, but live the same lives as the world and persevere in sin. It’s just like the time of King Josiah, who lived in a wicked time in which the previous kings and priests opened the gates of God’s temple and the land for the devil and his host and lived wicked lives as the pagans in idolatry, boloi, Boloi, and fornication and took all the people with them in their wicked walk and practices. Leha ho le joalo, Josiah did and found something that changed the wickedness and idolatry in the land and God’s house and returned God’s people to the Lord their God and reinstated His covenant and the Passover.
Is a child too young to serve the Lord God?
Many times parents say that their child is too young for the Bible and to understand the words of God. Khabareng, they feed their child with the words and entertainment of the world and all the (boloi, sexual unclean, and violent) garbage of (sechabeng) mecha ea litaba.
You are not allowed to speak about the devil and the spiritual war, but children are raised in the light of the world with all the lies of the devil and the images and occult garbage of darkness and be made bana ba diabolosi.
Josiah was only eight years old when he began to reign. He reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.
God didn’t consider Josiah too young to reign; otherwise God would not have chosen Josiah and appointed him as king.
Before he was born, during the reign of King Jerobeam, who did evil in the sight of the Lord, God announced the birth of Josiah and his righteous and holy walk through the mouth of the man of God.
God not only made his name known, but also his obedience to God and his acts that would derive from his obedience to God (1 Morena 13:1-6).
Although Josiah’s own father, King Amon, forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord but did evil and walked in the way of his father Manasseh, who didn’t listen to the Lord but seduced the people to do evil and sin and did abominations and wickedness and shed innocent blood, and served the same idols that his father served and worshipped them in the places that his father built, Josiah didn’t follow the example of his father.
These words, seo ke o laelang sona kajeno, e tla ba ka pelong ea hao: 'Me u tla li ruta bana ba hao ka mafolofolo, o bue ka tsona ha o dutse tlung ya hao, le ha o tsamaya tseleng, and when thou liest doen, le ha o tsoha
Deuteronoma 6:6-7
What did Josiah do that was right in the sight of the Lord?
In the eighth year of his reign, when Josiah was 16 lilemo tse ngata, Josiah began to seek the Lord God. And in the twelfth year of his reign, Ha a ne a le teng 20 lilemo tse ngata, Josiah began to purge (hloekisa) Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the groves, the carved images, and the molten images.
Even in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeone, and even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about, he broke down the altars and the groves, and beaten the graven images into powder and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel.
Josiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to the word of the man of God. He not only sought the God of his father David, but he also walked in all the way of his father David and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
In the twelfth year of his reign, Josiah began cleansing Judah and Jerusalem. Whether Josiah removed then all the idolatry and pagan worship places from the land and the temple after seeking the Lord in the eighth year of his reign (according to 2 Likronike 24) and hearing the word of the Lord, which also came to him through the prophet Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of his reign, or that Josiah removed all the idolatry and pagan worship places after finding the Book of the Law in the neglected temple of the Lord, and hearing the words of the covenant, ntho e le 'ngoe e tiile: when Josiah came to the knowledge of the truth of God, he obeyed the word and did the will of the Lord and removed all the abominable things from the land and from the house of the Lord.
King Josiah sent Shaphan the scribe to the house of the Lord
In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, King Josiah sent Shaphan the scribe to the house of the Lord to Hilkiah the high priest and commanded him to count the silver that was brought into the house of the Lord and give it to the doers of the work that had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the Lord to repair the breaches of the house.
King Josiah assumed that it was only necessary to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord that were visible in the natural.
Leha ho le joalo, God not only wanted to restore His deteriorated house but the whole land and that the people returned to Him and kept the words and commandments of His covenant.
God saw the wickedness and idolatry of the adulterous priests, who defiled His house.
He saw the idolatry and wickedness of the adulterous kings that defiled the land and caused the elders and the people of the land to follow their example.
God had seen both the building of His temple and the ordinance of the temple service, but He also saw the decline of the temple and the neglecting and defilement of the temple service during the reign of King Solomon, the son of David.
This all happened because Solomon’s love for pagan women was greater than his love for God. His sexual interaction with women was more important than his service to God.
The slow decline of God’s house and the sin in the land that started under the rulership of King Solomon and grew worse under the rulership of the next kings and became so great under the rulership of King Manasseh that God had to intervene according to the universal laws.
Hilkiah, moprista e moholo, found the book of the law
And so it happened that Hilkiah the high priest found the book of the law in the house of the Lord and gave the book to Shephan. Shephan read the book of the law and brought the king word again.
Saphan read the words of the book of the law and after hearing the words, Josiah rent his clothes. That was the result of the words of God in the life of the devoted King Josiah.
The words of God didn’t leave him indifferent. Neither did he burn the book of the covenant as his son Jehoiakim, kgosi ya Juda, did. Sebakeng seo, the words of God brought Josiah to repentance.
Josiah humbled himself for the Lord and acknowledged that the wrath of the Lord that was kindled against them was great, because their fathers had not hearkened unto the words of the book of the covenant, to do according to all that which was written concerning them, but they rejected them.
Josiah commanded Hilkiah the high priest, Ahikam (the son of Shaphan), Achbor (the son of Michaiah), Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah, a servant of the king, to enquire of the Lord for him and for the people that were left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that was found.
The men went unto Huldah the prophetess and spoke with her (2 Marena 22:3-14; Likronike 34:8-22).
The prophetess Huldah prophesied mischief (bobe)
Now the prophetess Huldah didn’t speak sugar-coated words. She didn’t say what they wanted to hear, but she spoke the words of God that prophesied evil.
The Lord said that He would bring evil upon that place and upon the inhabitants thereof. God would bring all the words that Josiah, kgosi ya Juda, read upon them. Because they had forsaken the Lord and burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke the Lord to anger with all the works of their hands.
Ka hona, God’s wrath would be kindled against that place, and would not be quenched.
The Lord said unto King Josiah that because his heart was tender and he humbled himself before the Lord when he heard the words that the Lord had spoken against that place and the inhabitants thereof, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and rent his clothes and wept before the Lord, the Lord heard him.
Ka hona, God would gather him unto his fathers and would be gathered into his grave in peace, and his eyes would not see all the evil that the Lord would bring upon that place (2 Marena 22:14-20; 2 Likronike 34:22-28).
The acts of king Josiah after hearing the words of God
After hearing the words of God, Josiah didn’t stay passive and continued his life waiting for the time that the Lord would gather him unto his fathers. Sebakeng seo, Josiah took action.
Josiah sent a message and gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem (2 Marena 23:1; 2 Likronike 34:29).
King Josiah made a covenant before the Lord
Ea pele, King Josiah went to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets and all the people both small and great. In the house of the Lord, king Josiah read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.
Then king Josiah stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in the book.
And all the people stood to the covenant (2 Marena 23:2-3; 2 Likronike 34:30-32).
King Josiah removed the pagan objects of idolatry from the house of the Lord
After making the covenant, Josiah commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove (Asherah, a Canaanite goddess), and for all the host of heaven (the gods of the Assyrians).
He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kieron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el (2 Marena 23:4).
King Josiah removed the idolatrous priests
King Josiah removed the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem. Even them also that burned incense unto Baäl, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven (constellations of the zodiac (2 Marena 23:5).
King Josiah removed the Asherah from the temple
Josiah also brought out the grove (Asherah, a Canaanite goddess) from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem unto the brook Kieron, and stamped it to powder and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people (2 Marena 23:6).
King Josiah broke down the houses of the sodomites
After cleansing God’s house and the removal of the pagan images, Josiah broke down the houses of the sodomites (the male cult prostitutes, bafebi) that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wore hangings for the grove (Asherah (2 Marena 23:7)).
King Josiah purified the land and brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah
King Josiah brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba.
He broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.
Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
King Josiah defiled Topheth, in the Vally of the children of Hinnom
Josiah also defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man would make his son or daughter to pass through the fire to Molech (2 Marena 23:10).
King Josiah took away the horses at the entering in of the house of the Lord
King Josiah took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun (and were used for religious use), at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire (2 Marena 23:11).
King Josiah removed the altars on the top of Ahaz’ upper chamber and in the two courts of the house of the Lord
The altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king beat down.
Josiah broke them down from thence and cast the dust of them into the brook of Kieron (2 Marena 23:12)
King Josiah defiled the high places on the mount of corruption
Even the big places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had build for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
He brake the images (sacred pillars) in pieces and cut down the groves (places for pagan worship) and filled their places with the bones of men (2 Marena 23:13-14).
King Josiah broke down the altar at Beth-el according to the word of the man of God
Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Neat, who made `Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
When Josia turned himself, he spied the sepulchers that were there in the mount, me a rometsoe, and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
Only the grave of the man of God was let alone (2 Marena 23:15-18)
King Josiah removed the temples of the high places in the cities of Samaria
Josiah removed all the temples of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel made to provoke the lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.
He slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men’s bones upon them (2 Marena 23:19-20).
After cleansing the house of the Lord and the Land, King Josiah returned to Jerusalem and kept the passover
After cleansing the house of the Lord and the land, king Josiah returned to Jerusalem and kept the passover. Josiah and the people celebrated the Passover unto the Lord their God as it is written in the book of the covenant (2 Marena 23:19-23; 2 Likronike 35:1-19).
King Josiah put away the workers with familiar spirits, the wizards, litšoantšo, idols and abominations
King Josiah also put away the workers with familiar spirits and the wizards (spiritists), and the images (household gods) and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem.
Josiah removed everything, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord (2 Marena 23:24).
boikokobetso, pako, and executing God’s words of the book of the covenantGod
All of this was the result of seeking the Lord and finding the book of the law of the covenant that God made with His people.
The words of God caused Josiah to humble himself before the Lord. The words of the Lord brought Josiah to pako. And by obeying the words of the Lord, Josiah executed the words of the book of the covenant and removed all the idolatry, (thobalano) ho se hloeke, and evil works of darkness and cleansed the house of the Lord (tempele), naha, and the lives of people.
Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God.
During King Josiah’s life, God’s people stayed faithful to the words of the book of the law of the covenant. God’s people didn’t depart from following the Lord, the God of their fathers (2 Likronike 34:33).
The Lord didn’t turned from the fierceness of His great wrath
Leha ho le joalo, despite the humbleness, pako, and obedience of King Josiah and the works that came out of it, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of His great wrath, wherewith His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
The Lord said that He would remove Judah also out of His sight, as He had removed Israel and would cut off the city Jerusalem which He had chosen and the house of which He said that His name would be there.
And the Lord did according to His word.
After King Josiah died, Nebuchadnezzar arose during the kingship of his son and captivated Judah and Jerusalem (2 Marena 23:26-27).
God always speaks and warns people before destruction
God never does anything without warning man and making His plan known. The Lord revealed His plan to Noah, Abrahama, Moshe, baporofeta, Jesu (Lentswe), and also with the new man through the Bible and the Holy Spirit.
This also happened to Josiah, when he sought the Lord God and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but was ignorant concerning the book of the law and the words of the covenant and the evil that God would bring upon Judah and Jerusalem.
But God cast a thought in Josiah’s mind, that eventually led to finding the book of the law of the covenant by the high priest Hilkiah in the house of the Lord.
We can conclude from this that Hilkiah, moprista e moholo, didn’t operate according to the book of the covenant, but walked according to the (motho) knowledge and precepts that had been taught to him.
Just as many preachers and pastors teach and adhere to a doctrine they are taught that derives from the human mind and man’s view instead of the Spirit of God and the Word of God.
King Josiah had a humble heart and was appointed by God to restore the dilapidated temple and remove all the sins and pagan garbage from the house of the Lord and the land (that entered and defiled God’s temple and the land through the kingship of Solomon and his love for pagan women (worldly women) had only become worse through his sons), and cause the people to return to the covenant of the Lord, executing the words of the covenant, and remember and celebrate the holy Passover.
The deplorable state of the church
The state of the church is just like the house of God and the land of Judah in the time of Josiah, deplorable (terrible).
God speaks and God warns, but the people that call themselves Christians and lead or visit the church are dull of hearing and don’t want to listen. They refuse to humble themselves before the Lord God and submit themselves to the Word.
Just like the book of the covenant lay under the dust and was hidden in the house of the Lord, the Bible is also covered in dust in many homes and the words of God are hidden to many people.
The people don’t read and study the Bible themselves, but feed themselves – and rely on the words of their pastor and elders, who are not all born again and spiritual and don’t walk after the Spirit and speak the words of God, but are carnal and speak their own words that derive from a worldly and carnal mind, and walk according to the will, ditakatso, le litakatso tsa nama.
And that can be seen by litholoana tseo ba li behang in their lives and the works they do (Oh. Mattheu 7:16-20; Luka 3:8; Bagalata 5:16-26).
A spiritual weak and sick church leadership
Due to a spiritually weak and sometimes even sick leadership, the visitors of the church are spiritually weak and sick. Many Christians are carnal (unspiritual) and don’t do what is written in the Bible, because they consider it legalistic and outdated.
Everything has to be modern and the church has to move with the times, whereby the church has become a humanistic social movement that focuses on earthly activities and entertainment instead of winning and the keeping of souls and raising the children of God in holiness and righteousness through the words of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so they are led by the spirit of this world, speaking the words of the world and living as the world in sin and idolatry and consider it normal.
The doctrine and practices of the world are adopted in the church
The doctrine and (boloi, e sa hloekang) practices of the world are slowly adopted in the church and Ea Bokreste. This happened so slowly that hardly anyone noticed.
And so the church mingled with the world and now all sorts of yoga (i.e. christian yoga, cross yoga, holy yoga, yogafaith) le karate, fitness, Ho Hloka kelello, Ho Thuisa, horse therapy (equine, hippo therapy) and other pagan rituals, methods and occult practices. are practiced in the church and sexual uncleanness tolerated.
Unlike King Josiah, who dealt with the idolatry in God’s house and the land and removed the horses that were used for pagan rituals, the church has opened the door for idolatry and the horses that are used for therapy that originates from Hippocrates, who was a physician in the temple of Asclepius and the founder of medical science. They have more faith in therapy with horses and consider it more powerful than faith in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Everything is normalized because of a carnal and worldly leadership in the church that grieves God and mocks Jesus Christ and the gospel.
Empa ba lebala ntho e le nngwe. God is the same and remains the same.
The Almighty ‘I am’
The idolatry, boloi, bohlola, and all the other abominations that were practiced under the leadership of the apostate and adulterous kings in the land and apostate and adulterous priests in the house of the Lord were not tolerated by God.
And all of this is still not tolerated by God the Father, Morena oa Rona Jesu Kreste, Mora le Lentsoe le Phelang, Moea o Halalelang. No matter what people say.
But this is also predicted by God, and He shall execute His plan that is written in the Bible. And when the measure of sin is full, then shall the antichrist arise, and evil shall come upon the earth. Just like God brought evil over Judah and Jerusalem by the rise of Nebuchadnezzar.
‘E be letsoai la lefatše’
