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"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17.3, NIV)
The Holy Spirit filled John's writings with unambiguous warranties and hope for the believer: "We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, SO THAT WE MAY KNOW HIM who is true. And we are IN HIM who is true -- even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." (1 John 5.20-21, NIV, my emphasis)
This is positive assurance for all who have been called to Him, assurance of fellowship (communion) with and participation in the Father. No matter what name this relationship is given it is the most intimate and precious of all gifts, and far beyond man's ken. Peter called it "joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1.8).
By whatever name we give it, to know Him, to be begotten of Him, and to receive the fullness of His age-abiding life, gives our seeking after His will with all our being the highest priority. The Holy Spirit uses John to present a quite marvelous blend of warnings, challenges, and admonitions, so artfully harmonized with the message of hope that there is a most perfect balance. This makes the last verse of John's letter stand out all the more as being essential to our walk through the days God has lent us -- an admonition absolute in respect to our worship: "KEEP YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS"!!
Our Savior came to reveal the Father so that we may "know Him that is true". We know, also, that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, so receiving Him into our life and being received into "Him that is true" is the unconditional and unequivocal guarantee that we shall be PARTAKERS of His life!!
Now then, if there is anything which draws us away from Him and separates us from the fullness of His life, that "thing" is an idol, and we are admonished to worship the TRUE GOD -- and be cleansed of all idols.
The "Old Testament", though maligned by many "modern" parsonic pulpit pundits, and relegated to the realm of myth by the wisdom(?) of the world, was written for our guidance, a handbook of examples, a record of covenant promises and an everlasting code of commands. Read what God says, NOW, in Exodus 20.1,3-4, (Moffatt's translation) "I am the Eternal, your God ... you shall have no gods but me. You shall not carve any idols for yourselves, the shape (likeness) of anything in heaven above or on the earth below or in the sea; you shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Eternal your God, am a jealous God..." (my parenthesis).
No graven images. No "plaster saints"!! No building of an "idol", (decorating a dead tree, for instance) and then calling a "solemn assembly" a "festival of the LORD", to celebrate! An idol is ANYTHING that captures the wayward heart's attention, and draws it away from the singleness and simplicity of Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Worship is a vital issue. Read the recrimination Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, an indictment that is readily imputed to the world of churchdom in this day: "Ye worship ye know not what". (John 4.22). That the woman to whom He spoke was well aware of the paramount importance of worship is readily apparent for she was the one who broached the subject: "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem" (verse 20, NIV). She had, as do many Christians in this day, a fixation, a "hang-up", that was representative of both Jews and Samaritans -- a PLACE of worship!
Jesus then set the entire creation straight about the matter in John 4.23-24 -- pointing out that it's not WHERE but WHOM -- and He rebuked all Samaria saying that she didn't even know what or whom she worshipped. Phillip's translation is interesting: "Nowadays you are worshipping with your eyes shut." Yes, it was a blind worship, obscured by ritual and form with no inkling of to WHOM the worship should be directed.
What caused this confusion? We find the answer in the "Old" Testament, in the history of God's dealing with His creation. 2 Kings 17.24-34 gives the account. Israel had gone into captivity, and their captor, the King of Assyria, had sent other people to hold and work the land. "When they (the colonists) first lived there, they did not worship the LORD; so He sent lions among them and they killed some of the people". The king was informed that the settlers were in trouble because they "do not know what the god of that country requires". The Assyrian king tried to solve the problem by sending back one of the Israelite priests he'd taken into exile and the priest went "to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the LORD".
So, everything looked good from the natural point of view, because worship would once more be made to the God of Israel, for He was indeed the GOD OF THAT COUNTRY.
"...each national group made its own god in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places...They worshipped the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought".
Now THAT'S confusion!
The people mixed up all the traditions, the gods, and customs of the lands from which they came, along with the worship of YAHWEH, and soon they ended up not knowing WHAT or WHOM was being worshipped. Then after a few generations passed in which more tradition was piled upon "new, improved" rituals, more colorful services, and more magnificent praise and song -- and there is little true worship of the true God; the result is BABYLON!!
God's dealing with the foibles of mankind is plainly evident in the "progress" of His called-out. First He draws back the curtain of obscurity and grants a revelation. This bounty draws people to Him, rejoicing in the light, and they happily walk in the way He has revealed. They pour out their hearts in worship and praise, and joyously call a holy convocation to share the Creator's love. Then, others come in and begin to add their own interpretation, insist on their own conditions for receiving the revelation -- mixing in the errors of mankind's death-conscious mind until truth has been most perniciously adulterated: The leaven of the Pharisees messes up the whole loaf.
Soon there arises "another generation", who knows not God or His dealings with mankind. Judges 2.12 describes such an occurrence: "And they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers... They went after other gods of the peoples around them, and bowed down to them and provoked the LORD to anger." And this gross distortion of truth and the worship of base caricatures of the only true God has been going on in the anti-church since the true church's establishment.
There are 19 or more Hebrew words translated "idol" or "image" in our English Bible. Time and space don't allow for discussion of all those words, but there are three of sufficient import to justify careful thought.
The first is "elil" -- and it means a thing of no value, naught, good for nothing. It's the word most commonly translated in the Greek New Testament as "eidolon", and "idol" in English. The Hebrew word is found in the following citations:
"Turn ye not into idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I AM the LORD your God" (Leviticus 19.4).
"Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I AM the LORD your God" (Leviticus 26.1).
"For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: He is to be feared (revered, held in awe) above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols (things of naught): but the LORD made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary" (Psalm 96.4-6, my parenthesis).
The contrast is clear: things of naught and Our Creator, the Creator of all that is! One is lifeless, impotent, good for nothing, -- and the other the all-glorious source of all life, all beauty, and all strength, the ONLY GOD.
The same word is used in Job 13.4 where Job says to his friends: "You, however, smear me with lies; You are worthless physicians, all of you."
Job's friends were no more help to him than lifeless idols. They condemned and criticized him but couldn't do anything to heal him. The Amplified Bibles translates "you...have no remedy to offer".
Mark 5.25-26 tells us that a woman came to Jesus "who had endured much suffering under [the hands of] many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and was no better, but instead grew worse".
It is NOT my purpose to disparage the medical profession, and I thank God for the good physicians He has enabled to help those in need of healing; -- nevertheless there are more than enough negative tales of present day experiences to also prove the point that many times people can spend all they have and not "get better" for it. Such will often complain that for all the doctor knows (or thinks he knows) for all his training and experience, for all his wisdom and expertise, he couldn't heal them of their various complaints.
Of course not!! Physicians are human, not gods; they can't give life any more than a worthless idol can. Those physicians who are an honor to their profession work WITH God and try to help the body heal itself, abetting the natural Creator given forces that seek to heal that body.
But - the subject is WORSHIP - and far too many (even one is too many) people worship their doctor, his skill, his "wisdom", and place their confidence in a man, rather than God who uses man to accomplish His purpose. Undue homage paid to a doctor is just plain IDOL WORSHIP.
The literal translation of the wording of Job 13.4 is "physician-idols" - and such idols are of no value. The thought is easily transferred to any other man or woman, profession or service to whom we give more than proper respect, offering them deference and adulation that is in fact a form of idol worship.
We find men and women idolized in almost every segment of our society, and "religion" seems to produce more idols than most. Ministers are placed on pedestals as if they were deserving of special exaltation just because they have preached a message GOD has given them. This gift of God, this revelation of His will certainly does not make the messenger the "god of the message". Because God works a miracle by the hand of man doesn't make man the SOURCE of the miracle - and the Apostles of our church were always swift to point this out and challenge any such notion.
Acts 14.11-15 tells us that a man who had been lame and had never walked in all his life was healed at the hands of Paul and resulted in Paul's idolization by the witnesses to God's work. They attempted to deify Paul and his companion and said,
"The gods have come down to us in human form"!! Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
"But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting, "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them". (NIV)
Paul wanted nothing of the worship the multitude offered him but only that they worship the LIVING GOD, who, as he pointed out, is our Creator.
Nearly the same thing happened to Peter and John. Acts 3.1-3 tells the story of the lame man begging at the Gate Beautiful of the Temple, and how the LORD used Peter to proclaim the man's healing. The crowd that witnessed the miracle and its results were amazed - disbelieving, perhaps, but in a state of astonishment. When Peter saw their state of awe and wonder he said to them, "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus." (NIV)
Why do you stare at us? Why are we made the center of attention? It isn't OUR power, OUR holiness that performs such marvels -- but GOD!! And it is done to HONOR the SON - not us or any other man!!
How different the attitude of the vainglorious divines of this day!! "God's great man of the hour." "A vessel of might and miracles for this day", et cetera. They revel in and even believe the public relations hog-wash generated by mammon, and preen and strut in the adulation of man.
Why is there wonder at their eventual downfall? Worship is to be directed GOD-WARD - not creature-ward!! Again - idolatry.
It would be well that all men, heed Jesus' warning against attention-getting titles. He said, "...you are not to be called 'Rabbi', for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And don't call anyone on earth 'father', for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher', for you have one Teacher, the Christ. (Matthew 23.8-10, NIV)
The SPIRIT, not the letter, of these titles, is of the utmost importance. We have natural fathers, and it's not sinful to address them as such. Jesus isn't forbidding children to address their physical fathers by that name, but rather condemning the practice of giving place and special adulation to some man (or woman) no matter how prestigious and respectful he (or she) might become in the religious man-ordained hierarchy of churchdom. Verse 8 forbids us to seek titles, and verse 9 forbids us to bestow such titles on others. Verse 10 is a prohibition against anyone usurping the place of Christ, the Messiah, the ONLY Master the called-out of God's church have.
Lest I be misunderstood - "Honor thy father and thy mother - which is the first commandment with promise, - that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth" (Ephesians 6.2-3). But - GOD ALONE is our true source of life, and no man dare take to himself nor bestow on another the honor that belongs to GOD.
An example is left us of the consequences of such heedless rashness in Acts 12.21-23:
"...Herod arrayed himself in his royal robes, took his seat upon [his] throne, and addressed an oration to them. And the assembled people shouted, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!" And at once an angel of the LORD smote him and cut him down, because he did not give God the glory - that is, the pre-eminence and kingly majesty that belong to Him as supreme Ruler, and he was eaten by worms and died." (Amplified Bible)
When our Creator gives us a calling, whether imparting a ministry to a particular field, to fill a position or to function in some special office - we must recognize that it is ALL BY HIS ENABLEMENT. There is nothing new under the sun - not even a thought that originates in man. "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (1 Corinthians 4.7, NIV. The Amplified Bible says in the last clause "but had gained it by your own efforts"). Since all we have, all we are, and all that we will be and have comes from His bountiful hand. To HIM belongs ALL the glory and ALL of the worship.
"He whose teaching originates with himself seeks his own glory" (John 7.18, Amplified Bible). As Phillip's translates, "a man who speaks on his own authority has an eye for his own reputation." And Moffatt: "aims at his own credit". Here is a form of idolatry that is rampant in today's faithless antichurch! Man declares his titles, tells of his wondrous deeds, and causes attention to be drawn to him. "LOOK AT ME." "I have prayed and this man was healed. I had faith to believe. I have THE WORD for today! I, I, I, I did this and that!" Subtly, or not so subtly, man takes credit for God's work and there are plenty of idolaters to oblige him with their commendation.
Peter asks, "Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we made this man to walk?" Thank God that there are lives set apart to God, to live only for Him, to seek to glorify Him in all they say and do. It is NOT our holiness BUT HIS that works in us. "...that no man should boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, `LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD'" (1 Corinthians 1.29-31, NASB).
"Holy and reverend is His name", Psalm 111.9). The Hebrew word translated "reverend" and used only once in our King James Version Bible is "yawray" - and means to be feared, reverenced. This is far beyond the clerical title usurped and used erroneously by various members of the religious profession. As used in the cited Psalm it describes the One God to whom awesome reverence and worship is due. (Most translations other than our beloved KJV translate "awesome" instead of "reverend", quite correctly.)
The more we behold Him the greater will be our desire to be cleansed of all idol worship - even the "idolizing" of anointed messengers He has sent to bless mankind. We would, then, give honor to whom honor is due, a respect that is proper, BUT reserve our reverence for GOD.
God foretold another part of the processing of His people, a judgment of unusual nature but one we've seen fulfilled. He said to Zechariah:
"Take unto thee yet the instruments (staff and rod) of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still; but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. Woe to the IDOL shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." (Zechariah 11.15-17)
IDOL SHEPHERDS - men of naught, men with no ministry for the shut-ins nor vision for the young! No time to reach out spiritually to proclaim the good news that Christ is risen! Rather the worthless shepherd uses the world's allurements - music and entertainment that appeals to the flesh, "I'm OK, you're OK, just jump on the bandwagon of pleasure and we'll call it worship". Idol, vain, shepherds with no healing in their spirit, no message to those standing still in their wretched life, no encouragement for the members of the flock being disciplined and processed by God! These worthless shepherds are interested only in self-aggrandizement, in "the prosperity message", consorting with the wealthy and powerful as "they eat the flesh of the fat", while building kingdoms to enhance their "ministry". IDOLATRY. And it's IDOL WORSHIP arising from all those who follow them, give them their "programs", and supporting their self-indulgence with praise and fawning deference.
BUT - God has decreed a "sword" - and all the IDOL shepherds shall be dealt with severely. Their "arm shall be clean dried up" (NIV says "completely withered") id est, all their works shall fail. Their "right eye shall be utterly darkened" - their "visions", their "programs" and "projects" shall fade and pass away.
It is GOD'S KINGDOM, not man's, that is to be established in the earth, an He won't share "worship" with IDOL SHEPHERDS. He says, "How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another". (Isaiah 48.11, NIV).
The second word we may consider generally translated "idol" is "awtsaub" and means an idol or image; and it is a noun taken from the verb "awtsab;, meaning to carve, fabricate or fashion; hence (in a bad sense), to displease, grieve, hurt, vex, et cetera. The word is used to describe something causing grief and trouble.
The heathen not only carved out the actual idol, they also mentally fabricated beliefs filled with negativism, constantly worried about offerings to their "god", and concerned lest their god become angry and bring them to grief. Thus, the idol itself symbolized A CAUSE OF GRIEF. People are yet enslaved to their idols, even when they witness they are causes for grief. You think not? Attend a "witness and experience" meeting in one of the local "churches" and let the Spirit discern the baleful atmosphere and grim "joyousness".
It's recorded that Israel, God's elect, disobeyed Him and "mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshipped their idols which became a snare to them." (Psalm 106.35-36, NIV). His chosen people became enmeshed in idolatry, and even though they acknowledged idols as grievous vanities, they continued to pay homage to them.
It might be difficult to find in our society an actual idol, one carved or cast in the form of a creature, that represents a cause of grief to us, but its really amazing how many people have NEGATIVE DOCTRINES which cause them considerable misery. Doctrines of damnation, doctrines of fear, doctrines concerning devils, torment, judgment - all fabricated (carved, cast) out of the carnal mind, but obeyed and believed just as if all were the WORD of the LIVING GOD!
Peter wrote of this phenomenon nearly two thousand years ago - so it's really nothing new. 2 Peter 2.1, "...there will also be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies." (KJV says "damnable heresies"). Transliterated from the Greek (usually an unstable practice) the words mean "heresies of destruction" - quite appropriate in this case.
The messages, "subtly introduced" are rife in the assemblies of our God, and have been since the days of the first called-out. These messages damn the majority of God's creation to "eternal torment" in a fiery hades, without love, without compassion, without mercy, and WITHOUT PURPOSE. This offal has been spewed, spouted and shouted so long by false shepherds (and gladly accepted by the timid flock) that if the GOOD NEWS OF REDEMPTION is proclaimed, these idolaters who bow down to their cause of grief, will call CHRIST'S GOSPEL a heresy. REDEMPTION IS NOT HERESY! HERESY finalizes God's plan and purpose in damnation of 99% of His creation. No wonder there is grief and fear - when we know of sects or cults who even call our Father "Yahweh the Destroyer" Idolatry!! HERESY!!
One of Ezekiel's visions brought him to a wall which God told him to dig into. The prophet obeyed and came to a door. God told him to go through the door and see the wicked and detestable things done behind it. "So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel" (Ezekiel 8.10, NIV). Ezekiel was shocked when he saw what the elders of Israel were doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol (or images). These men were the leaders of God's elect, and they beheld within the "chambers of their imagery" imaginations of utter depravity.
Surely the inner chambers of our imagination and fancy need to be cleansed and purified. Only God knows what distorted images are engraved and cast in our inner being, in our concepts, in our imagination. And these distortions pervert and mar the truth which is in Christ Jesus.
Some have an "inner picture" of God that can only be called a gross caricature of our Father, a grotesque and ludicrous product of man's unregenerate mind. God's wrath is twisted and mangled into man's carnal perception until it is distorted beyond recognition in both its expression and purpose. His love is pictured as weak an futile; His will is portrayed as subservient to man's will; and He's portrayed as co-existent with a big, bad, ol' devil who is just as powerful as He is!!! PREPOSTEROUS!!!
It's hardly a wonder that people holding such doctrinal images find their idols a cause of grief - and they surely can't live in comfort in their "inner chamber" with such a God. To be closeted with a God so drawn would be a nightmare, and result in insanity.
The temple of God must be cleansed of all such false conceptions of our Savior-God!
The third word to investigate is "gillulim", a plural noun meaning trunks, logs, blocks which are rolled; hence, in derision: idols. (Some find this word derived from the Hebrew for "dung", i.e. detestable and contemptible.)
The word appears 47 times in the sacred scriptures - 39 of those being in Ezekiel's writings.
Trunks of trees, logs of carved wood, blocks of graven stone! Idols! Vanity! LIFELESS - without any worth whatsoever in worship. But - people will "fall down", even today, and give homage to such lifeless works. It's witnessed often that Israel's leaders (Ahab, for instance) followed after these idols (see 1 Kings 21.25-26), and even the Levites, chosen by God for special service in His tent of meeting "...are gone away from me...after their idols; they shall bear their iniquity", (Ezekiel 44.10). That's indeed tragic! The very people who were designated by God to teach Israel the true worship of the Creator, called to minister to Him, began to worship idols of lifelessness, and in so doing caused the people to go astray!!
Listen to the call of God: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and FOLLOW ME", (Matthew 16.24). For too long we've "followed" and held in awe idols lacking life and purpose. Cleansing of all such foolishness is necessary so that we may worship Him - "in spirit and truth".
I say again - ANYTHING that captures the attention of the heart, whether person, position, possession, ambition, et alia, and turns one away from Christ, is an IDOL. Christ alone must ever be the center and circumference of the true Christian life.
Revelations which are God-given are an essential part of the Christian life, and precious to those whom the Father has chosen to receive them as He leads the disciple through his processing. BUT - those revelations can become idols, if the revelation is made an end in itself, to ride as one might ride a hobby horse, worshipped, as it were, as the central issue of life. Devotion to a church organization, a religious club, or even a particular doctrine can, and often does, become idol worship. Free Masonry and snake handling leap to mind.
Humanism and materialism are obvious idols, and the current educational/"politically-correct" doctrines concerned with "raising the self-esteem" are insidiously turning into a most virulent form of idolatry: THEY PLACE MAN AT THE CENTER OF ALL BEING.
Man is prone to worship himself, and devote a great deal of time and effort to carve out just the right self-image - and this very "self-image" is self-condemning idolatry. The words themselves betray the purpose - and that is to draw the attention away from Christ and focus it on man.
Consider, and bear with me for a while on this subject: The "self-image" is extremely demanding and those who strive to glorify it continually scheme to present that image in just the right manner, so others will render homage to it. Diets to make the body trim and fit; body-building exercises to produce just the right amount of flesh in just the right place; "tanning salons" to give the perfect skin color - and all because of an illusion in the mind that the image-builder desires to present to others in order to win their favor, their approval and their HOMAGE! Perhaps you think I exaggerate. Watch your television set for a few hours on any given day - but especially on week-ends! It's a revelation of the unhinged carnal mind steeped in absurdity.
Man has become "self"-conscious past the point of sanity - and will receive the penalty in himself.
True faith is generated by God and in God, not self-generated and in self. And faith isn't faith in one's faith, or in some laws and principles; such only engender pride and feed the accursed ego. The emphasis is NOT in WHAT man believes, but in WHOM he believes, and in the cleansing away of all idols he is freed from the bondage of self to give all his being to God, and to worship Him only!
Matthew 17.1-8 records that "Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain" - not just to see Moses (the law) nor Elijah (the prophets), but to SEE HIM; "...He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light." It was easy for the disciples to focus on Moses and Elijah - so easy that the Father had to jolt them back to their senses and speak directly to them: "This is my Son, whom I love; with HIM I am well pleased. Listen to Him!" - Then at last - "when they looked up, THEY SAW NO ONE EXCEPT JESUS".
The purpose of the mountain climb was to have the disciples vision focused on Jesus Christ, very God. There is nothing apart from Him worthy of the least worship, for HE IS KING. He's far above any of our personal-kingdom-idolatry, above our religious prejudices, and our fleshly exaltations. It is HIS WILL that He fill our vision and He and He only receive our worship. And HIS WILL SHALL BE DONE.
This is what the LORD says:
"Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good. No one is like you, O LORD; You are great, and your name is mighty in power." (Jeremiah 10.2-6, NIV)
Mankind is quick to chisel out something to worship. Even when they cast off the world's idols, they yet produce for themselves religious forms and practices - neither of which have any power to save. Such idols are dead; they can't speak life - and they must be moved by man's natural powers in order to move at all. Why fear them? They can't do good and they can't bother the true believer - indeed such idols are NOTHING unless SOMETHING IS GIVEN THEM BY MAN'S UGLY IMAGINATION AND WORTHLESS WISDOM.
Read what the Spirit says through Paul:
"...We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords") yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live' and there is but one LORD, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. But not everyone knows this..." (1 Corinthians 8.4-7, NIV).
The LORD will have ALL CREATION bowed in worship before Him, and we who are being delivered long to see this.
"Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, 'In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength'". (Isaiah 45.20,22-23, NIV).
What a tremendous redemption!! What a marvelous restoration of a creation once turned away from the Creator!! In Romans 1.21 the Spirit says about men: "...although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." The Amplified Bible expounds further: - "...instead they became futile and godless in their thinking - with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning and stupid speculations...".
Yes, for a time God has given men up to their own way, let them "do their thing" and prove to themselves that without Him ALL is vanity! He has allowed full expression to that which can proceed from the natural mind --- expressions of absolute foolishness, revealing how empty, how void of the barest vestige of wisdom, the carnal mind can be as regards true knowledge and reality of GOD. So men have fashioned gods for themselves, and very like themselves in their bestiality - the ultimate in idolatry - SELF WORSHIP.
God spoke to Israel through Moses: "You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman." (Deuteronomy 4.15-16, NIV). The list continues: - beasts, birds, fish, sun, moon, stars. The meaning is unmistakable. THEY SAW NO IMAGE, NO PATTERN to use in producing an idol, a palpable god for the senses to worship as the heathen worshipped! God is Spirit and true worship must be IN SPIRIT - ; worship of any kind directed to other than God is false worship and comes to nothing.
Forewarned, mankind disobeyed - and changed the glory of God into likenesses of animals and spirit beings other than their glorious Creator. The record is crammed with evidence of corruption - the burning of incense in the high places men chose for worship, the asherah poles, spiritual adultery "under every green tree", and sacrifice to the gods of the nations.
Today as then these depraved practices debase the practitioners. "For as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is" (Proverbs 23.7). Santa Claus, an elf with a weight problem, little pink rabbits delivering eggs, chicks dyed blue to "celebrate Christ"; the burning of incense and wearing of ritual robes - all are remnants of a more bestial idolatry - and no matter how cute, ugly, vile, or colorful - ANYTHING THAT DRAWS ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE ORDAINED CENTER OF WORSHIP IS IDOLATRY.
We desire to have the same form as our LORD, to be conformed to His image, to be a common participant in His nature and an expression of His love and perfection. The requirement is plain - we need to SEE HIM AS HE IS, WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH, and become ONE WITH HIM. It's marvelous to know that as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15.49).
"In Spirit and in truth", "in Spirit and reality", "in Spiritual reality -- there are many ways to say it - but the fact remains that the distinctive characteristic of spiritual worship is that we BECOME AN EXPRESSION, A FORTH-SHINING, OF THE GOD WHOM WE WORSHIP so that HE, and HE only, is glorified.
It's no wonder He says, "I will destroy your witchcraft and you will no longer cast spells. I will destroy your carved images and your sacred stones from among you; You will no longer bow down to the work of your hands." (Micah 5.12-13, NIV)
Tremendous cleansing is needed and is taking place now; mighty judgments must be, and are being, experienced, so that the last vestige of idol worship may be removed from God's temple.
KEEP YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS!
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