Deuteronomy 5
7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.
8 ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 9 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
In the OT, God made it clear to Israel about making idols and worshiping them. An idol and idol worship was clearly distinguishable... but what does that look like In today's society?
An idol can be anything that you spend the majority of your time pursuing or indulging in rather than God. An example of idols in our lives can be found in sports, relationships, money, work, our home, socializing, television, the internet, cell phones and so much more...Our society is so motivated towards gratifying the desires of the soul that idols have become a natural part of today's modern lifestyle. One way that we can keep ourselves from idol worship is to spend time in the word of God...making it a daily habit...
When Jesus went off alone to pray to the Father, he prayed [John 17]
15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
So...would we be fooled into worshiping the "image" of the beast when that period of time comes?
Revelation 13:15
He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
I hope not but you can be sure that this beast image will not be something like a statue like the OT believers had...
IMO it would be something that we would easily accept and the way in which it is introduced into our society, would be welcoming because this "image" would benefit the worlds self desires and gratify us personally.
1 John 5
[sup]19[/sup] We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
[sup]20[/sup] And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
[sup]21[/sup] Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
PS: Here's an exercise you may want to try out for today...
Note down, everything you have thought about or have spent time in today that did not involve God. At the end of the day...evaluate what you have noted...you can guarantee...that the thing you've spent your day thinking about and/or participating in...is an idol in your life. The following day...if it is possible, replace those things with reading or meditating on the word of God... :lol:
Shalom!
7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.
8 ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 9 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
In the OT, God made it clear to Israel about making idols and worshiping them. An idol and idol worship was clearly distinguishable... but what does that look like In today's society?
An idol can be anything that you spend the majority of your time pursuing or indulging in rather than God. An example of idols in our lives can be found in sports, relationships, money, work, our home, socializing, television, the internet, cell phones and so much more...Our society is so motivated towards gratifying the desires of the soul that idols have become a natural part of today's modern lifestyle. One way that we can keep ourselves from idol worship is to spend time in the word of God...making it a daily habit...
When Jesus went off alone to pray to the Father, he prayed [John 17]
15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
So...would we be fooled into worshiping the "image" of the beast when that period of time comes?
Revelation 13:15
He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
I hope not but you can be sure that this beast image will not be something like a statue like the OT believers had...
IMO it would be something that we would easily accept and the way in which it is introduced into our society, would be welcoming because this "image" would benefit the worlds self desires and gratify us personally.
1 John 5
[sup]19[/sup] We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
[sup]20[/sup] And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
[sup]21[/sup] Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
PS: Here's an exercise you may want to try out for today...
Note down, everything you have thought about or have spent time in today that did not involve God. At the end of the day...evaluate what you have noted...you can guarantee...that the thing you've spent your day thinking about and/or participating in...is an idol in your life. The following day...if it is possible, replace those things with reading or meditating on the word of God... :lol:
Shalom!