Scripture:
2 Kings 21 v 6: "And he made his son to pass through
the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar
spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to
provoke Him to anger."
Exodus 20 v 3: "Thou shalt have no other gods before
Me."
1 John 5 v 21: "Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Amen."
The first scripture above is part of the list of
indictments against the wicked reign of King Manasseh of Israel who worshipped
Baal and brought statues, or graven images, into God's temple.
He provoked the Lord to anger because he made Israel
sinful and openly committed this abomination in the holy place.
He made his son to pass through the fire - this was a
human sacrifice to Baal, the Babylonian god. He practised witchcraft and used
trance-inducing drugs. He employed mediums who used familiar spirits to deceive
people into believing they were making contact with dead relatives.
He had many idols and unfortunately we still have many
who follow his ways in churches and homes up to the present time. The Roman
Catholic Church make powerful use of statues of Mary, Jesus and Joseph and many
saints.
There is no scripture to support the cannonisation to
make people saints after they have died because people claim to have miraculous
healings at their tombs! Saints in the Bible are those who are born again and
separated to God for His purpose. Worship of Catholic saints and Mary is
idolatry.
Manasseh observed times - he followed astrology and built
altars to the stars.
Astrology is a demonic manifestation. Each star sign is a
demon and following your horoscope constitutes idolatry in the Lord's eyes. A
multitude of periodicals publish Horoscopes daily, weekly, monthly, all totally
different so which one do you hang on to? It just leads to confusion.
Why is Almighty God so angry at idolatry? Its because He
knows the outcome of submission to false gods. It led to the horrendous murder
of Lee Rigby, an English soldier on home duty in Woolich, London, on a May
afternoon in 2013.
The British perpetrators were born of Nigerian Christian
immigrants. They rejected Christianity for a militant Islamic sect in worship
to a false god called Allah. A god that hates Christians and Jews, because they
worship the One True God. The idolatry results in shockwaves of publicity,
which just leads to more and worse atrocities like ISIS/ISIL, with more British
men killing innocent people.
Idolatry in all its forms brings oppression and death.
Some make an idol out of a specific drug. Like heroin or cocaine or crystal
meth. Some have alcohol as their idol or god. Others smoke cigarettes. Our
bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we pollute that temple at our own
risk.
Jesus came to this Earth to set us free of all oppression
to give us eternal life in Heaven. He is the only way to get there. No amount
of charitable good works can pay the ransom for your soul which is held hostage
to this world by Satan. It took the death of a sinless Jesus to buy you back.
We are hostages to sin and demons which become our idols.
We trance out to music and dance in idolatrous worship to the druidic drum
beats and rhythms of worldly music, while our souls become further ensnared in
sin through uninhibited sexual and drug behaviour.
The power of the Cross working in your life can free you
of every bondage as the atomic power of the Blood of Jesus washes your sins
away.
An idol is any person or thing that is more important to
us than Jesus Christ. It is going to lead you away from Him into a false sense
of security. There is a war going on between Jesus and Satan for your soul
every minute of every day. It intensifies when you become a child of God which
is why the Holy Spirit came to help us with His powerful gifts.
Don't despise speaking in tongues, healing, deliverance
and prophecy under the anointing of the Holy Spirit because when they are used
correctly they bring much peace, love and joy into our lives.
Prayer: Father God we will have no other gods because You
are above them all. Show us every idol that we cling to and help us overcome
them all. In Jesus' name. Amen.