IDOLATRY

Idolatry brings a curse on the Land

The Bible clearly says us not to worship idols. (Exodus 20:4-6). Idolatry is defined as extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone. So now we are clear that an idol is not just an image or a figure. Lets looks at some of the idols we have in our life.

1. Foreign gods:- The word of God clearly says, not to worship foreign gods (Deu 11:16-17) but, as we read throughout the Bible we see the Israelites turning to foreign gods and be punished, even our nation is a country filled with idolatry and therefore we are under the curse of the Almighty God that is why God say “if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin  and heal the land.
   
2. Parents:– Our parents are the most valuable gift given to us by God, but they are never to take place we have for God in our hearts. (Matt 10:37). The bible has commanded us to love the Lord with all our Heart, mind, and soul (Deut 6:5). We are to honour our parents to have long life and blessing, because of the antichrist teaching in our nation, we have made our parents gods.
   
3. Treasures:- The bible have asked us to treasure  things in heaven and not on earth, but our wealth, bank accounts, jewelry has taken the place of God in our lives. (Matt 6:21; James 5:13; 5:3: 1Tim 6:10: Luke 18: 18-23:
   
4. Position:-  This is another key that takes our love and honour from God, it brings such pride into our lives where we think we are superior to others and look down at everyone around us. This is the reason Jesus said to His disciples to be careful of the Sadducees and Pharisees. We read in  1 Sam 13:1-15 that Saul did an unlawful sacrifice, persecuted David (1sam 18:8-12; 19:1-24) and were ready to kill his own son Jonathan (1 Sam 20: 30-34) because of his position. This curse brought death to his whole family.
   
5. Ancestry:–  another idol we face as a nation is “Ancestry”. We love to talk about it and we also admire and treat people (especially where politics is concerned) because of ancestry. If read the books of 1&2 Samuel, 1& 2 Kings we see sons and grandsons were treated because of their fathers or grandfathers. In our nation this is one form of idol where we worship and admire people not because of what they do or have done, but because of the family line, we even cast our vote for them. And it brings a curse in our land.
   
6. Nationalism and Caste:- “nationalism “is defined  as “feeling principles or efforts devoted to one’s nation, or  marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries” while “caste” is defined as  “the system of divining society into such classes we as human beings always think our nationality  or cast is higher than the ones around us. The bible is full of examples of nations trying to rise against nations and try to annihilate the other. The book of Joshua and judges talks about the “ites” who came to destroy the Israelite’s. Babylonians thought they are a great nation because of
   
   the monarchy the built, when we read from Isaiah to Daniel we see their pride and arrogance,  against the living God and His people. Even in Sri-Lanka we had a thirty year war because nationalities became people’s idol and it brought great devastation on the nation, which had been passed to the next generations as a curse.
   
7. Religion:-  religion has become the most dangerous idol in the modern world, where people are ready kill anyone to protect their religions.  We hear and see the damage done to the society  because of religion, but no religion teaches man to destroy man. But because of the religious   mind set and thinking we are superior they try to annihilate all other religions not tolerating  them.

If you have been an idol worshiper in any one of these areas, repent and ask God to forgive you and your ancestors and descendants for the sin of idolatry. The bible promises us if we are ready to admit our faults God is ready to forgive us and make us righteous people as He is (1 John 1:5-9).

Therese Fernando