“But Jesus said, Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matt.19:14).
With these words, Jesus was declaring that the children were saved. Well, if God the Father doesn’t count the trespasses of all the world, this means that thieves, harlots and murderers are included. “…God was in Christ reconciling the word to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor.5:19). If the Father doesn’t count the sins of the grown ups against them, much less will He count the sins of the children against them, who are not accountable.
“This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim.2:3,4). Well, if God wants sinful men to be saved, then innocent children are certainly saved. And if Jesus did not come into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him (John 3:17), it is obvious that children were already saved, for Christ died for them and claims them to Himself, saying: “…do not hinder them from coming to Me” (Matt.19:14).
To Jesus, causing children to stumble was a mortal sin. “…but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt.:18:6). The reason Jesus loves children so much is because the Father loves them also. The Father is love, and He cannot but to love. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and every one who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for GOD IS LOVE” (1 John 4:7-8).
It looks as if Jehovah, in the Old Testament, didn’t love children as Jesus and the Father did.
1. Children of eight days of life who had not been circumcised were put to death, by Jehova’s command. The child’s life was worth less than the rite of circumcision (Gen. 17:12-14). And the apostle Paul states that there’s no virtue in circumcision (Gal. 6:15). May a worthless thing have more value, then, to Jehovah, than a person’s life?
2. Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses, and by the command of Jehovah were swallowed up alive with their women, their children, and their little ones (Num. 16:1-2, 27-33). Did Jehovah condemn those to whom belongs the kingdom of God, that is, the children? Jehovah was ambarrassing those children from entering the kingdom of God. This is going too far! These children were all Israelites, chosen people and heirs of God.
3. The proof that Jeovah didn’t love the children is in that he ordered his people to completely destroy them during the conquest of Canaan. By the command of Jehovah, the children of the Amorites were slaughtered (Deut. 2:24-34). The Amorites had been Abraham’s allies 400 years before (Gen .14:13-24). Soon after that, they overtook the king of Bashan and killed all the children together with the adults (Deut. 3:1-6).
4. When Joshua besieged Jerico and destroyed it, Jehovah gave him two orders: all the gold and silver would be taken to the treasury of Jehovah, but the children should be all killed. To Jehovah, life doesn’t have any value, on the contrary, gold and silver have great value. This is absurd! Jesus told people to disentangle themselves from the gold and silver and to keep the children from harm (Josh. 6:18-21, Matt .6:1-20 and Matt. 19:14). To affirm that Jehovah is Jesus is to give occasion for the scoffers to refute the Bible and demoralize the Gospel. Jehovah could, least of all, be the Father of Jesus.
5. The order to kill the chilren was always issued by Jehovah. King Saul received order to kill. The text shows it: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant’ ” (1 Sam. 15:2,3). Why did Jehovah ordered that they be killed? By vengeance and by hatred, nothing more. Amalek and his people fought against Israel, which was caming up from Egypt, and Jehovah swore vengeance forever. “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war againt Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex. 17:16). After 450 years he tells Saul to destroy the little children. What has the 6th or 7th generation to do with the sins of their ancestors? Jehovah holds an eternal grudge with these innocents.
6. The children of Babylon were the target of Jehovah because of the sins of their fathers. “Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers” (Is. 14:21). “Their little ones will also be dashed to pieces before their eyes” (Is. 13:16). Jehovah was thirsty for the blood of little children, while, to Jesus, the kingdom of God belonged to them..
7. Jehovah killed and destroyed the descendents and the children of Jeroboham, king of Israel (1 Kings 14:10-12). Jehovah destroyed and killed the children and the descendants of king Baasha (1 Kings 16:3-4). Jehovah furiously destroyed the descendants of king Ahab (1Kings 21:21-24). Jehovah used to kill the newborn of his closest servants, as was the case with David, when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. The victim was an innocent child (2 Sam. 12:15).
Lying is what exposes to suspicion the God Jehovah the most, for it is written in the law that THE PARENTS WILL NOT DIE IN THE PLACE OF THEIR CHILDREN, NEITHER WILL THE CHILDREN DIE IN THE PLACE OF THEIR PARENTS, BUT EACH WILL DIE FOR THEIR OWN SINS.
The apostle John said: “If any one comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds” (2 John 10,11). Whoever bows in worship before Jehovah will also be guilty of the blood of billions of little children, which was shed by the will of Jehovah, the God of the dead.
It is high time that Christians brake away from the darkness of hatred, and come close to the light of love and therefore meet the Father; for knowing the Father is possible only to the ones who leave Jehovah.
By Pastor Olavo S.Pereira