of Molech and renunciation of sins

There is something on my mind which I cannot share directly, because it is way to close to home for me personally, and way too sensitive.... by which I mean none of you would thank me for explaining myself in precise detail.

However, I have a very real question about how 'people' should be dealt with by those within the church to whom they turn for spiritual advice.

If I knew the answer to the question, believe me, I would not be asking it...... but, I've noticed scripture is very quiet on this in the New Testament, and in the Old Testament, the solution was supremely simple...... just kill'em! (That was God's preferred way of bringing such sin to an end.)

Please read the following verses. (I searched for 'Molech'.)

Leviticus 18:21
'And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through [the fire] to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I [am] the LORD.

Leviticus 20:2
"Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: 'Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives [any] of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.

Leviticus 20:3
'I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given [some] of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name.

Leviticus 20:4
'And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives [some] of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him,

Leviticus 20:5
'then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.

1 Kings 11:7
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that [is] east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.

2 Kings 23:10
And he defiled Topheth, which [is] in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.

Jeremiah 32:35 'And they built the high places of Baal which [are] in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through [the fire] to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.'

Now these:

Acts 19
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."

14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

15 And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"

16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

18 And many who [u][b]had[/b] believed[/u] came confessing and telling their deeds.

19 Also, many of those who [u][b]had[/b] practiced magic[/u] brought their books together and burned [them] [b]in the sight of all[/b]. And they counted up the value of them, and [it] totaled fifty thousand [pieces] of silver.

20 [b][u]So[/u] the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.[/b]

and

2 Corinthians 4:2
But we have [u]renounced the hidden things of shame[/u], not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

To be completely clear, I am interested in the received wisdom on how to minister to a person who comes and confesses serious crimes..... both physical and spiritual..... which cause death or spiritual distress to the victims, as with the worship of Molech, which required the sacrifice of children.

Quite a few years ago, I saw a short video on mission work in a remote part of New Zealand. In the passing, the missionary commented that the gospel was well-received by the people, who were glad to hear they didn't have to sacrifice their children any more.

This got me thinking on several aspects of these issues, but, HERE, I particularly wish to discuss whether there are certain sins (which sins?) which simply [i]must[/i] be declared to AN OTHER, and certain sins (not necessarily the same ones), which simply MUST be renounced..... which is a public thing (or so the dictionary suggests)......

I ask, because I don't recall ever seeing anyone renounce anything in a congregational setting - not at their baptism or as a formal stage following prayer to become a Christian on the day they first give their life to Jesus.

Does this mean there is something missing from church life, or is such confession and renunciation going on all the while behind closed doors?

[i]Whichever[/i]..... does the lack of publicity for this supposed-to-be public event, mislead would-be believers and believers alike into thinking they DO NOT have to confess certain sins in an 'official' way...... which then has the effect of them never actually being freed from those sins?

I would be honoured if some of the experienced ministers who don't usually post, would share how they view this matter, and any experience they have, of people getting [i]really[/i] free [i]without[/i] confession and renunciation of specific, serious sin / crime.

What scripture (if any), can be found to support the church's apparent silence on this very important matter?

Phillip, thank you for an answer..... But, I have the feeling no-one knows quite what kind of discussion I'd hoped for, from my leading post.....

Well, in the Revival forum in the thread posted by Greg on Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival, HeartSong quoted this from the opening post:

He taught four basic points: people must confess all known sins, renounce doubtful habits, obey the Spirit's prompting, and confess Christ publicly.

[b]So why do we not all do this?[/b]

In fact, I had wondered if we would be discussing which sins required renunciation and which did not..... (if indeed they can be divided this way).

Perhaps someone would like to answer the question

'So why do we not all do this?'

first?

PassingThru said

I think this is a very important question.

2 Cor 4:2
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

It is preceded by

1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

I'll just leave those scriptures for readers to dwell upon. These two verses are loaded with a challenge.....

PassingThru, I could have quoted your whole post; thank you.

The first step is to make sure the sin has been dealt with fully.

In some way, the public renunciation of them should be a formality, confirming one's heart state.... rather as the oath to which you refer, which is taken by a person who has [i]already[/i] in their heart, committed it to serve sin.

One of the factors with "curious arts" is that they involve sworn dedication to the enemy. Oaths are always taken before testimonies, so I guess breaking with it also requires a clear, just as public, break of oath.

I can see that unless that person feels they have been freed from the words they spoke, and now comes under the protection of a higher power - God Himself who commands Lucifer (whom masons worship both unknowingly, and knowingly, at certain 'levels') - they may continue to feel unempowered as Christians. This is just one example which affects our western society.