“He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.”
~ 2 Kings 21:6
Hi James and Ellen,
Ask your dad to tell you what a bad guy or gal is like. Ask your dad to tell you what a good guy or gal is like. Can you tell just by looking at a guy or gal whether or not a guy or gal is a bad guy or gal or a good guy or gal? Your grandpaa knows that it is very easy to judge another kid – or a guy or gal, just by the way that he or she looks, acts and/or talks. Your grandmaa and grandpaa led six summer teams during the years that they were missionaries on the South America Mission field missionary team that is in Bolivia, South America. A summer team would have mostly college age guys and gals participating on it. South America Mission’s summer teams would spend between seven and eight weeks in the countries where South America Mission had a field missionary team that was willing to a host summer team. Your grandmaa and grandpaa because of the very positive experiences that they had with the almost forty member South America Mission summer team that they went on to Colombia in 1976 looked forward to each summer that they led a South America Mission summer team that was in Bolivia. A South America Mission summer team one year arrived in Bolivia on Father’s Day. A gal who was on that summer’s South America Mission summer team said to your grandpaa as she met him ‘happy Father’s Day’. Your grandpaa trying to be . . . told Kim that he was not her father and . . . during a time of debriefing at the end of the summer, Kim shared that what your grandpaa said when she first met your grandpaa about him not being her father made her wonder whether or not she was going to enjoy the summer. Your grandpaa did not connect that well with Kim throughout the summer. Another gal – Sandy, heard what your grandpaa said to Kim at the airport when Kim first met your grandpaa. Sandy told your grandpaa later that when she heard him say to Kim what he said about he not being Kim’s father, she knew that she was really going to enjoy her time in Bolivia because what your grandpaa said to Kim was the way her favorite uncle would have responded to her after she had said something to him.
What do you think is the reason that kids like you become a bad guy or gal or a good guy or gal? As your lives are unfolding nanosecond after nanosecond, your lives are being constantly influenced by what other guys, gals and kids say and/or how other guys, gals and kids act, technology, events, vistas, etc. The kid friends who you have are kids who you sense having an internal connection with because of what they say and how they act. The things that you do are things that you know that you enjoy doing because these things – such as playing a video game, reading a book, watching TV, etc. answer an internal desire to have fun or to learn. Your grandpaa says that kids grow up in an environmentally conditioned way to be who they are when they become adult guys and gals. The values that your dad and Aunt Lynn have today reflect the values that your grandmaa and grandpaa have, the values that significant other guys and gals have who your dad and Aunt Lynn connected with at different points in their lives’ journeys and the values that are inherit in the trends and mores of the micro cultures and societies that your dad and Aunt Lynn have been in during their lifetimes. The values that you will have when you become an adult guy or gal will reflect the values that your dad and ma have, the values of kids and adult guys and gals who you will connect with on your lives’ journeys and the micro and macro societies that you will find yourselves in during your lifetimes.
Manasseh’s dad was Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a good king for the first fourteen years that he reigned over the guys and gals who lived in Judah’s land area. When Hezekiah became deathly ill and after he pled with God to heal him and after God told him that he would let him live another fifteen years, Hezekiah was not as faithful to God as he had once been. Manasseh was seven years old when God let Hezekiah live those extra years. When Manasseh turned twelve, Manasseh became co-king with his dad over the guys and gals who lived in Judah’s land area. When his dad died ten years later, Manasseh became the sole king. Manasseh would be for another forty-five years the king over the guys and gals who lived in Judah’s land area. Your grandpaa does not know what values conditioned Manasseh but . . . the guy turned into a really bad dude per what the King Books historian recounts in 2 Kings 21. Verse 6 says, “He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.” Before Hezekiah experienced his life threatening illness, Hezekiah had Isaiah – one of God’s prophet spokesmen, be an influence his life. When Hezekiah died, there may not have been any prophet spokesmen available for God to speak through to warn and/or encourage His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Judah’s land area and in the city of Jerusalem. Your grandpaa thinks that Manasseh did not have the kind of environmental conditioning as a kid that would have kept him from doing bad things when he became an adult. Your grandpaa thinks that Manasseh was influenced by guys and gals from other people groups of guys and gals who had beliefs that trusted in what stars were purportedly saying, what inanimate manmade gods – such as Baal and Asherah, were purportedly saying after a sacrifice were burnt on an altar to them and what mediums and spiritists were purportedly saying was to be done after having met a departed spirit through them. Even though Manasseh was as bad of a guy as they come, God let the guy live. God would use Manasseh’s badness to condemn once and for all His specially chosen guys and gals who lived in Judah’s land area and in the city of Jerusalem. It is imperative to always surround yourselves with guys and gals who truly know God.
2 Kings 21 (555)