Idols in the Temple
Ezekiel 8:5-6 (NLT)
"Then the Lord said to me, 'Son of man, look toward
the north.' So I
looked, and there to the north, beside the entrance to the
gate of the
altar, stood the idol that had made the Lord so angry. 'Son
of man,' he said, 'do you see what they are doing? Do you
see the great sins the people of Israel are doing to drive
me from my Temple? But come, and you will see even greater
sins than these!'"
Ezekiel was led in the spirit to see the different idols
that had invaded
the temple. This Scripture describes the first scene but he
was also shown scenes of all kinds of creatures that had
been carved and were being worshipped. He saw women
worshipping their own god and then other men bowing down to
the sun to honor the sun god. There was so much worship of
these idols there was not room to worship the Lord God
Almighty.
In the recent past we have seen services held in fine
churches where people from different religions were there
taking part in the service. Each was allowed to pray openly
to his own god. All gods are not equal. The god of the
Muslims, Allah, is not the one true Jehovah. Muslims would
be offended if they heard someone say this. The god that
Buddhists worship is not the same as Jehovah either. When
you have all these religions and their gods in a church that
was set to worship the one true god and let other gods in
you are running Him out of there. He is a jealous god and
will not be shared with other gods.
Some churches worship their pastors. They think he is so
handsome,
intelligent, eloquent, etc. and he gives them what they want
to hear so they end up worshipping him instead of Jehovah or
his son Jesus Christ. Some churches worship a person or
persons but they are dead. They pray to them thinking that
those dead people will help them. These are also idols These
also run the one true god out of his house.
If you belong to Jesus Christ your body is a temple. Do you
have any idols that you worship that keep Jehovah or Jesus
Christ out of your life? Is there something in your life
that is keeping you from a relationship with Jesus Christ?
Do you make excuses for not praying and reading your bible
because you say you don't have time but waste time watching
television or playing on your computer? These are just two
examples of things that can become gods in our lives. There
are many more things that can take our time and thus become
gods that take the place of God Almighty.
If you or any churches that you attend allow these idols in,
you need to
repent and get rid of the idols like the following church
did:
A church group in Chattanooga, Tennessee, stood around a
muddy pit. The pastor read a passage from the thirty-fifth
chapter of Genesis: "Then Jacob said unto his household, and
to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that
are among you, and be clean, and change your garment."
The group began
tossing various objects into the pit. Among the "strange
gods" was a big alarm clock that went jangling into the
hole: this was a sign that the church was done with
clock-watching during future services.
In went an old television set; also a rock-and-roll record
with the
impressive title "Ooba-Ooba-Ooba," followed by several
famous novels by popular modern authors. Women's shorts and
toreador pants landed on top of the stack, along with
cigarette packs.
The minister of the church assured the newspaper reporters
that these folk weren't snake-handlers or weird cultists;
they were plain Southern Baptists who wished to put away
their idols and strip for the race on the gospel road.
-Selected
by Dean Masters
Unedited redistribution approved.
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