Rev 21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Good morning, Reader! What have your thoughts been on the series thus far? Have you learned something new? My prayer is that it will teach the severity and repercussions of these sins to an unbelieving world. I also pray that if anyone who is a believer would repent if he/she is guilty of any one of these sins! Time is short! We are in the end times and the Rapture could happen any time now. You don’t want to enter the Tribulation period if you are not saved!

Today’s sin that will keep one from going to Heaven may seem strange to some but idolatry is something that happens in the U.S. more than one would think. When I was a new believer, I thought idolatry meant bowing to a statue or god of some sort. But as I grew in the Lord, I discovered it was much more than that. Idolatry revolves around anything that takes the place of God in your life. So let’s break down the word and see what is involved in this sin.

IDOL’ATER, n. [L. idololatra. See Idolatry.] / IDOL-ATRUS / IDOL-ATRY

  1. A worshiper of idols; one who pays divine honors to images, statues, or representations of any thing made by hands; one who worships as a deity that which is not God; a pagan.
  2. Idolatrous: Consisting in or partaking of an excessive attachment or reverence; as an idolatrous veneration for antiquity.
  3. Idolatry: The worship of idols, images, or any thing made by hands, or which is not God. Idolatry is of two kinds; the worship of images, statues, pictures, etc. made by hands; and the worship of the heavenly bodies,the sun, moon and stars, or of demons, angels, men and animals. Excessive attachment or veneration for any thing, or that which borders on adoration.
Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

One thinks that an idolater is from Old Testament times and that the Israelites turned to the enemies’ idols to worship them. But Friend, idolatry has continued through the New Testament and is practiced today, even in so-called “Christian” churches. Growing up, we had pictures and statues of both Jesus and Mary in our homes. When we said the rosary, we kneeled before the picture of Mary and recited the rosary as a family. We never kneeled before the statue of Jesus, come to think of it. The church we attended had many statues, both of Jesus and Mary, as well as others. We were taught that they we were not “worshiping” the statue itself but that it was a visual aid and we were merely venerating her. Visual aid or not, we were praying TO Mary to intercede to God for us.

As the Law commanded, Mary had to take a sacrifice to the temple after she gave birth. (Luke 2:24). If she was sinless, why the need for offering a sacrifice? As well, Mary sang praise to the Lord in Luke 1:47 and called Him God her SAVIOUR! You don’t need Saviour if you are sinless. There is no where in Scripture that says Mary was born without sin. This is a “dogma” that the Catholic church adopted by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Friend, one cannot take a portion of Scripture and create a dogma, even if it’s the pope that adopted it. According to Catholic tradition, praying the rosary helps Catholics to center their hearts on Christ as Mary did. However, stop and think about it, why do you have to go through Mary in order to center your heart on Jesus? When you have to go through someone to get to another, it is called mediation. That person you go through is known as a mediator. Therefore, the Mediator “mediates” between God and man. The Bible says:

1 Tim 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Friend, ONLY Jesus can be the Mediator between God and us! This verse says that there is ONE GOD and ONE mediator, which is Christ Jesus. Not Mary! Catholics have placed Mary on a pedestal of sorts and she has become the object of their adoration and affection. This is idolatry at its best. The only One who deserves adoration is God! Catholics say they don’t adore Mary but they venerate her (meaning they honor her, are in awe of her) and assign her a sacredness in their lives. If she is not adored, why pray to her? Catholics believe that they pray to Mary so she can intercede for them to God. The Catholic hierarchies have made her to be the intercessor. It is the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ that makes intercession, not Mary. Again, it is a dogma that contradicts Scripture:

(Rom 8:26)  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

(Rom 8:27)  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

(Rom 8:34)  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

(Heb 7:25)  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

The lack of biblical research on the part of the “religious” leads them to error. It is God’s Word that we will be judged by, not what the pope says. Jesus said in John 12:48, He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. Jesus Christ is the spoken Word of God and the Bible is the written Word of God. Act 5:29: Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

The whole point of idolatry lies in the condition of the heart. We are to worship God alone – no one else. We are not to elevate anyone to the point of worshiping them or venerating them above Him. Nor should we put anything above God alone! But does it end there? You can say you have never kneeled before a statue but have you put something or someone above God? This alone can be quite convicting. God has never accepted anything that replaces Him or even placed on the same level as Him. If Mary were to be worshiped, then all the verses below make God a liar. He’s a jealous God – why would He say that and then allow someone else to be venerated or have His names? (i.e. Mediator, Intercessor, Holy)

Exod 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Exod 34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

Deut 4:24  For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Deut 5:9  Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,

Deu 6:15  (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.

Jos 24:19  And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.

Nah 1:2  God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

As we can see, God won’t stand for anything to be equal to or above Him. In fact, Jealous is one of His names! Why would you want to place anything in your life that is more important than Him? Do you spend more time on your cellphone than you do in your Bible? Do you spend more time with watching the TV? God calls these things idols and we are guilty of idolatry if we place them before Him. Anything that captures your attention more than you give to the Lord has become an idol in your life; this includes people. If you put your job, your children or your spouse ahead of God, they have become your idol. What keeps you from God? God will sometimes “cut” idols from a believer’s life so be careful who you put ahead of Him. You can lose your job; you can lose a child; you can lose your spouse! But you will never lose the Lord once you are born again. He has you sealed till they day you go to Heaven! (Eph. 4:30) Don’t wait for earthly judgment from God. Be obedient now and receiving His blessings!

We can see that idolatry does in fact exist today in unusual forms: the worship of Satan – the Buddha statue – Shiva, the Destroyer is one Hinduism’s 330 million gods! The Bible speaks of these:

Psa 115:1-8  Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.  (2)  Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?  (3)  But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.  (4)  Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.  (5)  They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:  (6)  They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:  (7)  They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.  (8)  They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

Since idolatry will send someone to the Lake of Fire, one must take notice and study the matter out. True born-again Christians cannot go to Hell but they can be disobedient out of ignorance, and sometimes willfully. The Holy Spirit wants to teach us to grow closer to God through His Word. He wants to be your God and to put Him first!

(Psa 81:10)  I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

(Isa 43:3)  For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

(Isa 48:17)  Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

(Isa 51:15)  But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.

(Hos 13:4)  Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

God will fulfill everything in His Word! (Ecc. 3:14) There will come a time when it will be too late for you to give up your gods to serve the One True God. If you decide you want to put your “religion” over a relationship with God, you will spend eternity burning in Hell and the Lake of Fire. You will remember each opportunity you were given by God to be saved and you laughed it off and ignored it. I want to be sure that anyone who reads the posts on this blog can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are going to Heaven. Have you received Christ as your Saviour? If no, your sins are not covered by His sacrificial offering of Himself. You have not been redeemed by His blood. It is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved if you are not already. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!