“This is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.”
– 1 Samuel 5:5
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever been someplace where you have felt alone with God? Have you ever been someplace where you have felt alone with Satan? What do you think would happen if God and Satan were someplace alone together? Who do you think is more powerful – God or Satan? Samuel recounts in his Samuel Book – in 1 Samuel 5, when God’s holy presence was deliberately placed in the temple of Dagon. Dagon was a Satan super god. Per Canaanite mythology, Canaanite people group guys and gals thought of Dagon as being either the son or the bro of El and the father of Baal. God’s holy presence was in the ark of God – which is also known as the holy of holies as well as the ark of the covenant, which His specially chosen guys built after God gave the specs for how He wanted it to be built to Moses when He met with Moses on Mount Sinai. After possessing the ark of God for around 400 years, God’s specially chosen guys and gals – who were the Israelite people group guys and gals, had the ark of God taken from them by the Philistine people group guys. After the Philistine people group guys captured the ark of God, they put the ark of God in the temple of Dagon that was in the city of Ashdod. The Philistine people group guys and gals inhabited the Gaza Strip land area. The Philistine people group guys and gals venerated Dagon as their ultra deity. When some Philistine people group guys arrived at the temple of Dagon the morning after the ark of God had been set next to Dagon, they found Dagon lying face down facing the ark of God. The next morning – after the Philistine people group guys had sat Dagon back up again the day before on the same spot where their pet idol always sat, the Philistine people group guys not only found Dagon again lying face down facing the ark of God, they discovered that Dagon’s head and arms had been broken off the thing’s body. Verse 5 says, “This is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.” The Philistine people group guys and gals who were living in the city of Ashdod were driven by God to a frantic tizzy when God’s heavy hand began to devastate their city and immediate area by a sudden occurrence of deadly tumors.
After the Philistine people group guys – who were living in the city of Ashdod, called an emergency meeting with their area rulers, the Philistine people group rulers made the decision to move the ark of God from where it was in the city of Ashdod to the city of Gath. The city of Gath along with the city of Ashdod were two of the Philistine people group’s five major cities. When the Philistine people group guys and gals who were living in the city of Gath began to also experience God’s heavy hand on them, the Philistine people group guys and gals who were living in the city of Gath sent the ark of God on to the city Ekron. The city of Ekron was another one of the Philistine people group’s major cities. The presence of God in the ark of God caused the Philistine people group guys and gals who were living in the city of Ekron to go into a frenetic panic over the ark of God being in their city – as they too began to have tumors that brought death havoc in their homes. If you were living somewhere around 3,000 years ago on the Gaza Strip and you were having to witness death, devastation and tumors in three of the major cities that are in your land area – where a rather small rectangular shaped object had been taken, what would you have wanted your people group guys and gals to do next?
Can you visualize God’s presence? Do you want God’s presence envisaged? Do you believe in something that you cannot see? The Philistine people group guys and gals could see Dagon. The Philistine people group guys and gals could not see God’s presence in the ark of God. Katie Branders was a missionary on OC International’s field missionary team in Guatemala. Katie was a teacher at CAG (Christian Academy of Guatemala) the first couple of years that she was living in Guatemala City. When Katie arrived in Guatemala City to join OC International’s field missionary team, your grandpaa was OC International’s Guatemala field team leader. While Katie was attending a Guatemala City evangelical church, Katie met Vidal Lopez. Vidal is an indigenous Mayan. Vidal’s Mayan tribal heritage is Tektitek. The Tektitek tribal clan is a small tribal clan. A Wycliffe missionary couple had taken Vidal to Guatemala City to help them translate the Bible’s New Testament into Tektitek dialect. After Vidal and Katie were married, they moved to Ixconoli. Ixconoli is Vidal’s hometown in Tektitek’s land area. Vidal is now becoming an Ixconoli and Tektitek community leader. Vidal is actively evangelizing his Tektitek tribal clan. There are very few Christ-follower guys, gals and kids among the Tektiteks. The Tektiteks are animistic in their worship norms. Vidal is on a soccer team that plays in a local league. Through Vidal’s witness, some of the guys on Vidal’s soccer team have become Christ-followers. Vidal and Cathy sent an e-mail two days ago to your grandmaa and grandpaa asking for their prayer for one of Vidal’s soccer teammates. Rodual was asked by the Academic Maya officials to take the position of being their treasurer. Before he can begin in this honored position of being the Academic Maya treasurer, Rodual may be asked to go with the area Tektitek leaders into the mountains to carry out demonic activities – which includes making sacrifices to Mayan gods while a witch doctor chants. What do you think that Rodual should do?
1 Samuel 5 (1053)