“And Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son and Sarai his daughter in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan and they came unto Haran and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years and Terah died in Haran” Gen11:31-32 “
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father’s house unto a land that I will show thee.’’ Gen12:1
”By Faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went.” Heb11:8
When God called Abraham, it was very clear what His purpose was. He was going to make him a great nation and from him a multitude of nations.
For this to become a reality, Abraham was required to show total commitment and obedience to God’s instruction. He was required to leave his father’s house and all that pertained to it, he was required to have a fresh beginning with God by moving into a new land he would be shown.
We are told in the book of Joshua that Abram served other gods beyond the Euphrates( Jos24:2). “ Your fathers worshipped other gods beyond the river.” The instruction to him therefore was “Get thee out of thy country”, this was to separate him from every other object and indeed everything that would share the place meant for God in his life. If there was anything that could delay or even tarnish God’s purpose and plan in his life, it was idolatry. Jehovah will not share His glory with the gods of wood and stone . Nothing will be left unturned, it has to be dealt with out- rightly and hence his drastic separation from everything that represented his past.
Abraham had to learn the hard way, he left quite alright, but took his kindred and his father’s house with him. They moved to Haran but the place was still under Chaldea and ruled by the same gods.
What happened? The journey was temporarily arrested, the vision was kept in hold. God said “ We cannot move any further until all the idols are out”. When Abram’s father died the vision was restored as the journey continued.
We also see a similar re-occurrence of this pattern with Israel in the wilderness. God delivered and called them out of Egypt to make them a people unto Himself, they left Egypt but Egypt did not leave them. Egypt remained in their hearts and they kept looking back and lusting after things of Egypt. Oh the lives and years wasted in the wilderness could have been avoided had they heeded the word “ Get out of thy country—-from thy kindred, from thy father’s house into the land that I will show thee”
The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, His word and principles are unchanging, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The motive behind every move and work of God in the lives of men is always to get them “reconciled” to Himself. “And having made peace through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself;—–And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled” Col1:20-21.
And to have us become partakers of this blessing, His demands remain the same, “Out of your thy country—-from thy kindred, from thy father’s house into a land I will show thee” In the new testament, the same demand had to be met before they can be received as God’s children. “ Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty” 2Cor6:17-18.
When the word Idolatry is mentioned today, what comes to mind is some form of idols which the heathen worship, but idolatry is far bigger than that. Anything or everything that challenges the place of God in our lives is an idol.
We are surrounded by them and they are everywhere, in your hearts and mine, but the question is, are we willing to be separated from them unto God? That’s the condition for God’s purpose to be worked into our lives. Every other method or route into God’s blessing other than the complete separation from the “Unclean” is nothing but a lie.
One particular form of idol worship in the church today that is so deceptive and unnoticed is the quiet but calculated moves to shift the believers eyes off Jesus onto men. Consider this statement made by Paul in 1Cor1:12 “ Now this I say that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ.
It should be noted that all Idolatry is the worship of self. It’s an extension of ourselves, our worth, projects, achievements and everything in the old man that causes us to esteem ourselves more highly than we ought to. Jesus said in Jn5:44 that “ How can ye believe which receive honour of one another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only” and in verse 41 of same chapter He said “I receive not honour from men”.
This is completely unlike what we have in our churches with the elaborate men-honouring introductions given to preachers that makes you wonder why people who professes to actually love the Lord continue to sit in such places.
An idol is anything that is given the credit for the abilities only God possesses, and may God forgive us for the many glory to pastor testimonies we have these days.
Today the church has created Giants, spiritual superstars and the famous after the pattern of Gen6:4. “ There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old men of renown.”
Christians today lift up, exalts and magnify man and to whom also we ascribe undue power and position. They make a god of these leaders by glorifying their names, creating movements after them and causing God’s children to go after the gods they have made.
You remember the story in Gen11:4 “ And they said, go to let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth” We have history repeating itself again, after all “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done and there is no new thing under the sun—So is there anything whereof it may be said see, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us. Ecc1:9 Should we then be surprised by the things we see happening today? No. If there were giants in the earth before, it shall be again. “As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the end”. Today we have men driven by the same spirit as their counterparts of old, continuing the projects which their forefathers started, the building of cities and ministries to reach God. Their motive still remains to make a name for themselves and you can be certain what happened then is what is going to happen again.
Biblical prophecies always repeats itself. Careful study of biblical prophecies shows a pattern that always comes with multiple fulfillment, with each fulfilment leading to and teaching something about it’s ultimate fulfilment; so that when you read the bible, you are not just reading past histories, but future history of the church as well. Please see Jacob Prasch excellent work on the future history of the church at www.moriel.org/articles/sermons/future_history_of_the_church.htm
What do we have today? God’s people following men in idolatry, preferring their words and ministries to personal study of the bible. Just as the world looks to it’s inventions, it’s religion, sports, music, military might and worship them, the church too has set before her these spiritual giants who she now pays homage to. I have personally witnessed a meeting where brethren were asked to come and touch the preachers feet in order to receive anointing, and in other places men bow down to kiss the leader’s ring, these and many other forms of abominations are common practices today. Love offerings of all shapes, gifts and all kinds of sacrifices are made to these modern idols of woods and stones in God’s temple.
These spiritual superstars have become our champions, they are feared and adored, we allow them to control our lives, our emotions and our relationships. People love them, look up to them, take so much pride in them, even when it’s obvious they are living in error. The situation is so bad and no different from what Ezekiel saw in His vision.
“Then He said unto me son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes ——He said furthermore unto me son of man, seest thou what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Isreal committeth here, that I should go far off from the sanctuary? But turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.—And He said unto me, go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hands; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said He unto me , son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark?——Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north and behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz——they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger and lo they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare neither will I pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.” Ezk 8:5-18.
Do you see a parallel of these things in our churches today? The weeping for Tammuz in verse 14 is another form of Idolatry that has eaten dip into the modern church. Though the bible did not elaborate much on what “weeping for Tammuz” actually meant, but ancient history describes Tammuz as a shepherd who was killed by a wild bear. It was said that his wife later found him and mourned for him for a long time. Tammuz came back to life according to ancient believes. The wife was said to have gone underworld through mourning, to deliver her husband from the hold of death. Tammuz and his wife later became idolised and worshipped, and this mourning which brought back the dead became celebrated by the Babylonian women.
Every year, the Babylonian women therefore worshipped Tammuz by weeping and in doing so, they hope to bring back to life all their dashed hopes and dreams and to also bring to pass all the longings and lust in their hearts.
God said to Ezekiel this was an abomination committed in His house. Israel’s worship of this false god of neighbouring nations was bad enough, but to now import this idolatrous activities into the house of God was another thing altogether.
The whole scope of our spiritual lives these days revolves around weeping for Tammuz. Every meeting becomes an opportunity to receive from God, even the traditional sessions for intercession where prayers are said for the unsaved world have been turned into means for personal deliverance and breakthrough sessions. All kinds of programmes are out there today meant to help you have your needs met, weddings and even naming ceremonies are not left out as opportunities to receive from God. Church attendance is no longer for the true worship of God, but to have desires met, and if after a while the solution is not found, they leave for the next church in search for the latest man of anointing that can bring the lust in the hearts to pass. Recently, my eyes caught an advert on the net that promises a 24hour solution package, and I’m sure brethren will fall for that lie because that is what they have been taught will make their lives relevant in this world, to be rich, famous and powerful
The Lord says in Matt6:33 “For your heavenly Father knows what you have need of all these things” He knows what our needs are and promised through His divine power to give unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. No amount of weeping for Tammuz is going to corner God or pressure Him to satisfying the cravings of a man swimming in idolatry.
God is a jealous God. He created us for Himself and will not share His glory with anything else. He is jealous of anything that comes between us and Himself. Jesus answering the Pharisees said in Matt 22:37 “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”
A loving and faithful Father requires us to love Him, trust Him, depend on Him and obey Him. Nothing is to come in between us. In the wilderness, God spoke to Moses “ I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shall have no other gods before me. Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or 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: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. Ex 20:1-5
The Lord will judge all forms of idolatry found in His house. He said to Ezekiel “ I will also deal in fury and my eye shall not spare.” In Genesis the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men were building, what happened then is going to happen again before our very eyes. These towers and empires created by men in the name of ministry will be brought down to nothing by the Lord and He will judge His people of every form of idolatry.
The Spirit’s call is for every child of God to come out of the apostate gatherings and churches of this last days. “ And I heard another voice from heaven, saying come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev18:4
Filed under: Articles on Christain issues, Church Matters
