Moloch

What is "Moloch" (Acts 7:43)?
Also known as Molech, Milcom or Malcom, Moloch was a large bronze idol with the torso of a man and the head of an ox. The interior of Moloch was hollow and lit with fire, and babies were sacrificed to Moloch either by being placed on its outstretched hot hands or by being tossed directly into its fiery interior.

Why did mothers and fathers sacrifice their babies to Moloch?
They believed the Satanic deception that such abomination would benefit their future, including financially and by allowing them to have more babies later.

What do too many pregnant women do today when they feel financially unprepared for motherhood or wish to have babies later?
 

What is "Remphan" (Acts 7:43)?
It was a celestial body, supposedly the planet Saturn, that the Egyptians used to worship.

Where in the "book of the Prophets" are they "written" (Acts 7:42)?
In the book of the prophet Amos. "Sikkuth" and "Chiun" are the Hebrew names, respectively, for "Moloch" and "Remphan," which are Greek names (Stephen, the speaker, was a Hellenist): "Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? You also carried Sikkuth your king and Chiun, your idols, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,' says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts" (Amos 5:25-27). Not having heeded God's command to drive out all pagans from the Promised Land, the Hebrews were constantly ensnarled by pagan idolatry, even to the extent of worshipping distant stars and planets from their days of captivity in Egypt. This would eventually lead again to captivity, from which they would again turn to God and cry out in repentance for His deliverance.

Why does Acts 7:43 and Amos 5:27 respectively say, "beyond Babylon" and "beyond Damascus"?
When the Jews were conquered and exiled to the far corners of the Babylonian Empire, they passed on their way Damascus, the current capital of Syria, and even Babylon, located in what is Iraq today, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Baghdad.