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Prophecy; the word evokes intense thoughts and emotions in people. It mystifies us because it has connotations of the supernatural or the unseen. It confuses us because prophecies are often difficult to understand. It amazes us when we believe a prophecy has come true. And it causes disdain in the skeptical, who firmly ground themselves in only what they can observe with their own senses. From the writings of Nostradamus to modern day claims about the end of the world, those who refer to themselves as prophets and the prophecies they utter have interested the human race for centuries. And although our secular world would be loath to admit it, the reason for all of this fascination is that the human race was designed with a built-in enthrallment with the mysterious. Ecclesiastes 3:11 puts it like this: He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. God intends for us to be continually mesmerized with the mysterious and the supernatural and the unseen, summarized here as eternity, without ever actually revealing the answers to the questions which this fascination inevitably raise.
And although the full range of answers which we would like to have are barred from our understanding, God has provided an avenue through which we can achieve at least some level of satisfaction in our pursuit of eternity; namely the Holy Bible. Out of all the ancient religious texts which litter human history, only the Bible contains prophecy as one of its principle forms of literary style. Not only does it contain this prophecy, but much of it, having already come to pass, is verifiable through the study of our past and has been authenticated for us by previous generations of theologians. However, what is interesting about the Bible is that not all of its prophetic writings are exclusively concerned with the fore-telling of future events. Some biblical prophecy is rather of a communicative nature wherein God reveals Himself to His creations through the medium of those men in ancient Israel whom He chose to be His mouthpieces; the prophets. These communications sometimes take the form of intimate conversations between creature and creator, written down and preserved through the centuries for our enjoyment and edification today.
One such prophetic interlude is with a relatively unknown man by the name of Habakkuk. We know almost nothing of him. He is not referenced anywhere in the Bible other than the book which bears his name where he is referred to simply as “Habakkuk the prophet” in verse 1 of chapter 1. All that we know of him comes solely from this small book; only three chapters long. In spite of Habakkuk's relative obscurity, we are able to place him historically through inferences found in chapter 1. These clues give a time frame of the late 7th century B.C. Chapter 1, verse 6 specifically mentions “The Chaldeans”, the ethnic and geographic term for the Babylonian Empire. The following four verses build a picture of these people as fierce, warlike, and domineering. This clearly has in mind the meteoric rise to power that Babylon experienced under first Nabopolassar who came to power in 626 B.C. and then his son, Nebuchadnezzar who began his reign in 605. But the context of these verses, specifically the expressions of amazement found in verse 5 imply that the conquests listed are future events at the time of Habakkuk's writing. In addition to these hints, Habakkuk's original complaint which prompted him to cry out to the Lord, found in verses 1 through 4, describe a time of moral and spiritual decay, presumably in Judah where he lived. Josiah became king of Judah in 641 B.C. when he was 8 years old. 2 Kings Chapter 22 reveals that in his 18th year of reigning, the book of the Law, or Torah consisting of the five Mosaic books also known in English as the Pentateuch, was discovered in the Temple. When it was read to King Josiah he “tore his clothes” in the traditional ancient custom of showing great remorse or dismay, presumably due to Israel's failure to abide by the law of God. Josiah immediately began a series of spiritual reforms on a national level in an attempt to bring his nation back into a right relationship with the Lord. These moral renovations were mostly successful in re-establishing, at least on a surface level, the Mosaic Law as the guiding principle of the land. Sadly though, this spiritual revival was not to last. Josiah was killed in battle with Pharaoh Neco of Egypt in 609 B.C. Incidentally, Neco was attempting to pass through Judah on his way to assist the remnants of the Assyrian Empire in Haran who were on the run from Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army, who had already begun their ascent to Mesopotamian domination. Under Josiah's successor, Jehoiakim, Judah quickly slid right back into the spiritual cesspool they had started to climb out of. This seems to fit perfectly with Habakkuk's concerns mentioned above. These two historical anchors, namely a period of spiritual decay in Israel just prior to the Babylonian conquest, combine to allow us to dial in the historical placement to a great level of precision and mark the book of Habakkuk as being written between 609 and 605 B.C.
With that historical context in mind, before we even examine the text of this book of prophecy, we must consider the state of affairs in Judah at the time. As mentioned previously, the nation was sliding down the same slope of depravity and idolatry that their ancestors had been riding for the past three centuries. Habakkuk would have had a front row seat to this disturbing decline. And what exactly was he witnessing? In short, idolatry of such an immense scale and pervasive influence and abhorrent evil as to make grown men pale in consternation. If you think that is an exaggeration then I encourage you to think again.
Judah's idolatry centered around three primary pagan deities, who together bring to mind “the stuff of nightmares” as author Winkie Pratney puts it in his book “Devil Take the Youngest”. These entities of purest evil were brought in wholesale from the Canaanite nations around them that Israel had failed to eradicate as God commanded in Deuteronomy 20:16-18 and other places. The names of these abominable false gods were Baal, Asherah or Ashtoreth, and Moloch. As G.K. Chesterton lamented, their names sound like laughter in hell. And although they each had their own distinct characterizations and patterns of worship there was a significant amount of parallelism and crossover in both their origins and forms of devotion.
Baal served as the supreme god in Phoenician and Canaanite cultures. He was their version of a sun god such as Zeus or Jupiter in the Greek and Roman pantheons, respectively. The Babylonians knew him as Bel. His name literally meant “lord” or “ruler”, and he reigned over the material universe. Because of his relation to the sun it was thought that worship of him was best practiced as close to him as possible, in other words as high as possible. So “high places” were erected, essentially artificial mounds or hills made of stone and dirt. On these high places were conducted the pagan rites of Baal worship. This worship revolved around agricultural fertility and produce such as wool, flax, bread, water, and oil. All responsibility for providing these things were laid at his feet. Needless to say, the people who worshiped Baal were very eager to curry favor with him, since what he provided was necessary not just for satisfaction, but for life itself. This was especially relevant in an area like Palestine, which had little rainfall and few natural sources of fresh water.
The lengths that worshipers would go to in seeking to please Baal were nothing short of the very worst debauchery and vile practices imaginable. These traditions stemmed from the mythical history built up around Baal himself. Legend had it that during the height of summer, when temperatures were hottest and water was scarcest, Baal was thought to have been killed by Mot (representing sterility and drought). Asherah, his goddess consort, searches for his body, finds it, and after sacrificing hundreds of animals, restores Baal to life. To commemorate this cycle of life and death, Baal followers engaged in alternating forms of worship.
First, when Baal was thought to have been killed they mourned and mutilated themselves. This unsightly practice is even recorded in scripture. 1 Kings 18:27-29 records how, in the duel on Mt. Carmel, after failing to receive an answer from Baal regarding the sacrifice they had prepared, his priests began to cut themselves. They used swords and lances, the Bible tells us, until “the blood gushed out on them.” Clearly, these were no minor nicks or gashes. Stories even tell of men severing sexual organs and running madly through the streets in an insane attempt to hear their god speak to them and receive his blessing.
The second custom of pagan worship entered into by the followers of Baal was to celebrate his supposed resurrection each year. The typical method of paying tribute to this event was to engage in ritual cult prostitution of both sexes as well as wild orgies where people gave themselves over to every conceivable type and act of debased fornication, the fullest extent of which were typically reserved for Baal's counterpart, Asherah, alternatively known as Anat or Anath.
Where Baal represented the male aspect of this pagan idolatry Asherah brought the female counterpoint into full view as the moon-goddess, or “queen of heaven” as she is referred to in Jeremiah 44:25. Her symbol was a limbless tree trunk known as an Asherah pole, carved into her likeness and planted into the ground. Baal worship was done at high places in an attempt to be nearer to him but Asherah worship was often conducted in forested groves in association with the carved trees or on earthen mounds which represented her genital center, the “birthplace of all things”. With Baal sexual immorality was a component of his worship. When it came to Asherah, it was the whole package. Sexual indulgences of every sort were not just favored, they were commanded. Sodomy, lesbianism, and bisexuality with both male and female prostitutes and transsexuals were all part of the normative worship services of Asherah.
In stark contrast with Baal's and Asherah's purview of life and celebration, Moloch represented the powers of death, cruelty, and desolation. He was the god of war in Canaanite culture. In a recurring theme we have seen already, Moloch was known by a variety of names, such as Melkart, Baal-Melech, and Milcom, depending on which culture he was being worshiped in. Similarly to Baal, he was seen as the sun with its power to scorch and burn. But he was also seen as the winter cold, just as fatal to vegetation as the summer heat was. Plagues, famines, drought, and war were all laid at the cruel feet of Moloch. From a biblical perspective, what he is best known and remembered for is child sacrifice. We might say that worship of Moloch was the even more repulsive and perverted form of Baal worship. All of these various gods and goddesses incorporated human sacrifice to a greater or lesser degree. But it was Moloch who truly embodied this disgusting practice. Scripture refers to it as making one's children “pass through the fire”. An example of this is found in 2 Kings 16:3 where it records the evil committed by King Ahaz of Judah. In this particular passage it specifies Ahaz's son in the singular. There is a reason for this. The worship of Moloch did not target all children indiscriminately. Rather, only the firstborn sons of each household were the ones marked for either sacrificial offering to the god or commission in his service as a priest. If the former was the fate of a young Canaanite boy then his last few minutes of life on earth became an unholy descent into anguish and suffering such as can hardly be fathomed.
The unfortunate children would be taken by their parents to an evening worship service. The air would be filled with an awful din of drums and flutes designed to drown out the screams of the dying. A massive metal statue of Moloch himself, in the form of a sort of Minotaur with outstretched arms to receive his victims, took center stage of the evening's festivities. The statue was hollow with an opening between the arms for either a sacrificial bowl heated white-hot by an external fire beneath, or an open flame burning within the body of the statue itself. Prior to the “altar call” children were quieted in the arms of their parents, because if the youngster caused undue commotion from wailing it would have been unlucky. When it was their turn the child would be laid in the arms of the statue to roll off into the deadly lap below. As they burned their parents would stand by singing hymns and praying, the mothers in particular being very careful to show no remorse, since that would have decreased the expected blessing they would receive from the god. The fiercer their pangs of sorrow over the loss of a son, the greater their eventual good fortune would be.
John Cunningham Geikie, a 19th century Scottish minister and historian, describes it this way:
The hideous image of Moloch, god of the Ammonites, once more rose in the Valley of Hinnom, and Manasseh himself led the way in consecrating his own children, not to Jehovah, but to the grisly idol, ‘making him pass through the fire to the god’ as if the flames burning away the impure earthly body let the freed soul pass through them cleansed from all taint of earth to unite with the Godhead. Human sacrifices became common at the ‘high places of Tophet’ in the Valley of Hinnom.
“The stately central mound on which the idol towered aloft rising ‘deep and large’ (Is. 30:33) in the midst…Night seems to have been the special time for these awful immolations. The yells of the children bound to the altars or rolling into the fire from the brazen arms of the idol, the shouts and hymns of the frantic crowds and the wild tumult of drums and shrill instruments by which the cries of the victims were sought to be drowned rose in awful discordance over the city, forming with the whole scene visible from the walls by the glow of the furnace and flames such an ideal of transcendent horror that the name of the valley became and still continues in the form of Gehenna, the usual word for hell.”
If this all seems too surreal and obscene to be based in reality, then it is only because we are so sheltered and insulated against these basest forms of human depravity. Habakkuk and others of the faithful remnant of Israel, however, had no such insulation. Imagine the roller coaster of joy followed by horror upon seeing first the massive spiritual overhaul enacted by Josiah and then the immediate and rapid movement right back into idolatrous perversions of God’s commands. Visualize yourself as a follower of the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim. You live in the city of Jerusalem. And on special nights each year, your stomach is twisted and turned by the awful baying of horns, the insistent beating of drums, the wild and frenzied chants of worshipers, the glow of night-time fires burning in the valley below the city, and the death shrieks of the smallest of victims almost but not quite completely drowned out by the cacophony raging around them. Perhaps on another day you visit the Temple of the Lord, only to be repulsed by a graphic and obscene carved image of Asherah placed there in willful defiance and complete violation of the word of God. Or maybe your travel through the city streets is interrupted by the mad revelry of Baal worshipers, slicing themselves open with knives and swords, and careening insanely through the heart of what should have been a city consecrated to Yahweh. Can you imagine it? Can you place yourself there and in your mind’s eye see what Habakkuk saw? Can you feel what he must have felt? And is your horror centered on the human aspect of suffering and cruelty that was bound up in these religions? Or are you repulsed because of the direct and contradictory manner in which the very nature and character of God Himself is impugned, defiled, and disgraced by the senseless religious insanity of your countrymen?
You see, the real issue at stake here was not the deviant acts of unbridled sexual passions. It was not the gross and dangerous self-mutilations. It was not even the horrific atrocities being perpetrated against children. Rather, the problem with all of these pagan religions was that they were directly opposed to central aspects of who God is. The form of this opposition was in four distinct flavors: the perversion of God’s impartial grace and mercy, the perversion of the unity seen in the Godhead, the perversion of God’s right to the first fruits, and the perversion of God’s breath as seen in the sanctity of human life.
First we will examine the perversion of God’s impartial grace and mercy. Scripture unmistakably teaches that God does as he pleases, He grants favor on those whom He chooses, and the right to ultimate judgment is His alone. Psalm 115:3 verifies that “our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” In Romans 9:15 Paul quotes Exodus 33:19 when he writes For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ Solomon in all his wisdom displays God as a righteous judge when, in Ecclesiastes 12:14 he writes For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. But conflicting with this view of God’s “whim”, if you will, as the source of all that comes to us, the Canaanite religions taught that human zeal was capable of producing blessing. It was believed that the harder and more fully one devoted oneself to the worship of his or her goddess, the greater would be the return on one’s investment. Slash yourself deeper and more often. Immerse yourself more profoundly in the lusts of your flesh. And if you really want a reward to top all rewards then surrender your firstborn to forcible immolation. This man-centered view is contrary to biblical revelation on two fronts. It promotes the un-biblical notion that man can produce his own merit. Further, it sets up as the source of any such merit that is granted, a being other than God. When we consider that God’s providential deliverance of blessing to mankind is a part of His divine nature, specifically His generosity, love, and faithfulness then it can be seen that it is God’s character and reputation which was under attack here.
The second perversion displayed by these pagan religions is witnessed in the deviant and/or unbridled manner in which they engaged in sexual immorality. These were not just random occasional flings. It was a systematic, prolonged, and intentional gorging of human appetite for sexual stimulation and release. And it was in direct contradiction to God's prescribed parameters for human sexuality; namely monogamous relationships bound by a marriage covenant. This pattern was established by the Lord from the beginning. Genesis 2:23-24, while not displaying God's intention in the form of a command, describes explicitly the expectation that God had for the fulfillment of the human sexual desires He instilled in us: The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. God's design was that men and women would not just be joined physically in the act of sex. In addition to this very real material component there is in mind here an immaterial joining of the minds and the emotions. Paul elaborates on this in Ephesians 5 where he instructs wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to sacrificially love their wives. Those couples who follow these instructions achieve a mental and emotional bonding that precedes physical sex and elevates it when it does happen to a level which is not otherwise possible. This is what Adam meant when he exulted of Eve that she was now “bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh”. Why is this so important? Is it merely a biblical recipe for happy marriages and stable homes? It is that, but it is so much more. The union, both physical and emotional, of male and female in a covenant marriage relationship serves to paint a picture of the very union of God Himself in His three persons of the Godhead! There is perfect love, harmony, and intimacy between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is modeled in scripture most clearly by the twin passages of John 17:1 where Jesus says “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You” and John 16:14 where He reveals that “He (referring to the Holy Spirit) will glorify Me.” In this perfectly balanced unity of love we see that the the Father glorifies the Son, the Son glorifies the Father, and the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son. The love expressed between husband and wife, following this divine pattern, and imperfect though it may be, is essentially a stamp of God's very nature upon the institution of the family. With this in mind consider the heinous ramifications when that prescribed plan for human sexuality is distorted and perverted. It is not merely an affront to human sensibilities. It is much more than just cruelty to those caught up in it against their will. It is a perversion of the character of God.
The third perversion of the Canaanite religions was in distorting God's rights to the first fruits of His creations. Although this principle had perhaps its fullest human expression in Hebrew culture under the Mosaic Law we can again return to the beginning chapters of Genesis to see its roots. Genesis 4:3-5 reveals the heart of the matter: So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. The issue was not what Cain and Abel gave to the Lord. Rather, it was the heart attitude they gave it with. Abel gave the choicest and best portions of his sheep to God, sacrificing the enjoyment they might have brought him in order to bring greater glory to God. Cain, by implication due to the contrast with which scripture describes his offering, chose to bring something other than his best. We might say that Cain gave the Lord “whatever he had lying around.” God took this principle and applied it to the nation of Israel in Exodus 13:2 when He commanded Moses, saying “Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me.” In ancient Mesopotamian culture the concept of the firstborn was very important. It was the firstborn son to whom a double portion of the inheritance of the father was given. This offspring was seen as the primary continuation of the family line. God used this cultural understanding to make it clear that He and He alone was to be of paramount importance in a Hebrew family. Just as Abel pleased God by giving Him the best portion of his flock, Israelite families were to please Him not by sacrificing physically, but by consecrating spiritually the firstborn, or the first fruits, of their loins and wombs.
It was exactly this paradigm that the Canaanite religions sought to intentionally circumvent. Although in this essay we have mostly looked at the practice of child sacrifice to Moloch, make no mistake, every pagan Canaanite religion involved some level of human sacrifice. In the context of the biblical record, however, it is Moloch that rises to the forefront because of the explicit descriptions of Manasseh and other evil Israelite fathers committing this unconscionable atrocity, not simply against a randomly selected child of theirs, but specifically and purposely against the firstborn son. This was what the cult of Moloch demanded because at its core it was fully satanic in nature. Satan knows very well exactly what God wants and why He wants it. Therefore, Satan will orchestrate human evil practices as best he can so as to definitively and comprehensively distort God's desires . So we see that the evil of this act rises far beyond the horrific forced killing of small children and babies. In a very real sense, the smoke of their torment and death rose up as a stench to the nostrils of almighty God and served as an example of human ambition attempting to take preeminence away from Him. This glory is due the Lord because His worth demands it and His nature jealously guards it. Thus we see once again the deliberate circumventing of God's character in the outworking of these religious activities.
The final perversion on display here is a complete and utter disregard for the sanctity of human life. Once again turning to Genesis we read the following in chapter 2 verse 7: Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. God did not just make man out of the material elements of nature, flip a switch, and turn him on. Instead he, figuratively speaking, breathed a portion of His breath into man in order to give him life. It was the breath of God that produced life. And this life was and is Imago Dei, or “image of God” as seen in Genesis 1:27. An image is designed to represent truly and accurately that for which it is patterned after. We don't paint a portrait of a person intentionally to look like someone else. We don't craft a sculpture that has no correlation with what we are trying to model. Nor did God create man “in His image” to do anything other than to, literally, look like or show God. The sanctity of human life does not mean that the life of a man is inherently anything special in and of itself. It only has significance in as much as it displays, or images, God. Therefore, when that human life is destroyed, by any means, an image, or a portrait, or a sculpture of God is what is being destroyed. And since God is absolutely good and perfectly holy then that loss of human life, no matter how depraved and far fallen from God's original design, represents the loss of a representation of the only true and good and perfect and holy being in all of existence and reality. If that doesn't cause you to sit up and take notice then you are de-sensitized to the ways of the Lord. At the very least it should cause us to once again realize the depths of evil to which these pagan Canaanite religions fell. And it should cause us to understand why God desired to so jealously guard His people from these nations, even to the point of ordering their complete destruction, and the requisite loss of image bearers of Himself that it entailed, when Canaan was originally conquered.
With that disgusting and horrific framework in view we should have a clearer picture of just what was in Habakkuk's mind as he conversed with his maker in the book that bears his name. But beyond a good grasp of the historical, social, political, and economic context of the book of Habakkuk, a rather startling question rises alarmingly to the surface. That is, “Wait a minute. With these descriptions of ancient pagan Canaanite religions are we discussing 7th century B.C. Israel or 21st century America?” Consider the following. It was reported in 2012 that since 1973 and the case of Roe v. Wade 54.5 million babies have been killed in America alone. That's 54.5 with six zeros after it for anyone who is counting. 54.5 million times has the image of God in an unborn baby been destroyed by a deliberate act of the will of an adult. A study last year reported the following disturbing facts about Internet pornography: every second, there is an average 28,258 Internet users watching porn, over 35% of Internet downloads contain pornographic material, and every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is produced. And America's love affair with violence is nothing short of chilling. We gleefully consume films or television shows with violence through the roof, with nary a thought to the images of God that are being tarnished or eradicated. A recent major network TV spy show had its debut and the most noteworthy thing about it was that it included a scene of a Russian double agent being burned to death inside an industrial furnace. Our President gave his state of the union speech a few months ago and public radio commentators praised him for his aggressive, almost arrogant demeanor. They saw it as a sign of strength. From UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships) to teenagers cutting themselves in a desperate plea for attention, our country is pregnant with the unholy progeny of violence and aggression.
Although traditionally the secular culture of the United States is not considered in terms of being in any way religious, the similarities between our modern culture and the religions of ancient Canaan are unmistakable unless one chooses to bury ones head firmly in the sand. We might call it the religion of humanism. It is in reality the same issue that has affected mankind since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. The reason is that man's sinful nature has not changed one bit. Regardless of technological innovations or a veneer of civilization which covers and insulates against the “in your face” atrocities of ancient times, he is still at his heart the same old man trying to earn his merit as an outworking of his selfish pride, gorging his sexual appetites with utter abandon, stealing the first fruits of his work from their rightful owner, and playing fast and loose with human life. The religion that he follows, whether he calls it religion or not, revolves on a man centered view of creation that, as Paul puts it in Romans chapter 1, “exchanges the truth of God for a lie, and worships and serves the creature rather than the Creator”. Shall we throw up our hands in surrender and hide behind the stained glass windows of our churches? If we spend any time at all perusing the word of God we cannot help but walk away with a resounding answer of NO!
Instead of taking a “glass half
empty” view of the unchanging depravity of human nature, we should instead be
reassured of the supreme relevancy of the Bible to continue to be able to speak
directly and authoritatively to the human condition. If there is any hint of doubt in our minds as
to the power of a seemingly insignificant little book like Habakkuk, crammed
into a dusty and seldom visited corner of the Old Testament, to powerfully open
a window for us into the mind of Almighty God, then we should dispel such
notions now, before we have even begun.
We humans are transient and fickle creatures. But the word of God endures. Zechariah 1:3-6 paints a magnificent picture
of this truth: 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the
Lord of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the
former prophets proclaimed, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Return now
from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.”'
But they did not listen or give heed to Me,” declares the Lord. “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But did not My words and My statutes, which I
commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers?” Regardless of whether people are evil, like
the fathers spoken of here, or good like the prophets, men do not endure. They wither and fade like grass. But the word of the Lord endures forever.
(1 Peter 1:25) This doesn't simply mean
that the Bible is still around after hundreds of generations of people have
gone to the grave. It means that it
endures with power and relevancy that specifically deals with the events and
situations of our lives even to this day.
So as we come to the end of this lengthy introduction to the book of
Habakkuk and prepare to dive into it let us elevate it in our minds to what it
truly is; the only source of the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own
glory and excellence and through His divine power has granted to us everything
pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).
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