Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?—therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’ ” 

17 So he died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken

In the 1970’s when I was growing up, the horoscope was in its prime. Many people would go right to it to see how their day would go. I kid you not. I also remember the Ouija Board in our house. Fortunately, by the time I came along, it had fallen into disuse except as a clipboard. The kings of Israel, Ahab, and his son Ahaziah, were especially prone to looking elsewhere for their guidance and direction. The results were predictable. Ahab died and his blood was licked up by dogs. Ahaziah suffered the fate related in the above verses. The judgment of God fell on Ahaziah because he would not listen to the Lord or Elijah his servant.

Horoscopes and Ouija Boards are still around but today there is a far more nefarious source of guidance for the people of this society. It is society itself and its culture. The culture tells us that if it feels right to us it is not only right, but is our right and our very identity. No one, no prophet, no book, no religion, can tell us what to do.

God will not be mocked. Just as Ahab and Ahaziah paid a stiff price for their insolence. Kids are today’s experiment in gender identity but will sadly become tomorrow’s epidemic of confusion and despair. It is time to declare…

The word of the Lord that he has spoken.