Tag: idols

Serving Two Masters:

The ancient Samaritans believed they could negotiate with God, showing just enough reverence to escape calamity while holding tightly to their beloved idols. They did not understand that the God of Israel stands alone, not as one among many, but as the true God who rightfully demands and deserves our entire devotion.

Brent Pollard

Idolatry and the Call for Undivided Faith

The passage from 2 Kings 17.33 presents a profound reality: “They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods…” (NKJV). This ancient narrative of the people resettled in Samaria following the Assyrian captivity serves as a profound and disquieting reminder of the dangers posed by a divided heart and the subtle syncretism that can infiltrate our worship.

Following the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the Assyrian Empire in 722 BC, the Assyrians deported most Israelites. They filled Samaria with people from distant lands, including Babylon, Cuthah, and Hamath. These new inhabitants ushered in a diverse tapestry of deities and sacred traditions. When adversity, particularly lion attacks, beset them in their new territory, they ascribed it to their lack of understanding of “the god of the land.” The Assyrians dispatched a priest from Israel to instruct them in the ways of the Lord. Yet, what unfolded was not a genuine transformation of the heart but a calculated amalgamation of beliefs—a superficial acknowledgment of Yahweh that coexisted with their enduring devotion to idols. Their reverence for the Lord stemmed from a dread of punishment rather than from a place of love or genuine repentance. They desired a taste of God’s presence to feel secure, avoiding the profound commitment of total surrender.

The intertwining of genuine worship with pagan customs led to a weakened faith, a spiritual compromise where each nation erected shrines and idols alongside the reverence of Israel’s God. They paid lip service to Yahweh, yet their hearts and deeds clung to their former paths and idols. This blending of beliefs, this endeavor to serve two masters, endured through the ages, forging a spiritual legacy that, even in the time of Jesus, identified the Samaritans as possessing a distorted form of worship.

The peril emphasized in 2 Kings 17.33 transcends the boundaries of ancient history. We, too, encounter the subtle and dangerous allure of a divided heart. Though few in our time may kneel before stone figures, countless individuals unwittingly offer their allegiance to contemporary “deities” that compete for their hearts in a manner that rivals the worship of the Creator. These may reveal themselves as: 

  • The god of material prosperity: pursuing riches and material goods as the highest aspirations rather than viewing them as instruments for serving others.
  • The god of self-determination: elevating personal desires and ambitions above the clear guidance of God’s revealed will.
  • The god of cultural accommodation: compromising the unchanging truth of Scripture to align with society’s ever-changing standards.
  • The god of religious formalism: engaging in external expressions of faith while lacking genuine heart change and obedience to God’s Word.

It is all too easy to offer mere words of devotion to God while allowing other priorities to steer our daily lives and choices, much like the settlers in Samaria did. We may gather for worship and declare our faith, yet still hold tightly to the values of this world in our relationships, ethics, and allocation of time and resources. This “pious worldliness” reflects a contemporary manifestation of revering the Lord while simultaneously bowing to our idols.

With clarity and conviction, the Word of God calls us to pursue an undivided heart and offer our exclusive devotion to Him alone. From the Ten Commandments, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20.3 NASB95), to Jesus’ bold proclamation, “No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6.24 NKJV), the message resonates profoundly. The Lord calls us to surrender our hearts, souls, and strength (Deuteronomy 6.5; Luke 10.27).

Our Lord Jesus directly addressed this matter, declaring to the Samaritan woman that genuine worshipers will worship the Father “in spirit and truth” (John 4.23-24). This truth transcends mere external rituals or compliance driven by fear; it is a deep reverence that transforms our hearts and guides us toward righteous living. The call made by Joshua echoes throughout history: “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24.15 NASB95).

To steer clear of the missteps of the Samaritans, we must diligently nurture a faith that is genuine, obedient, and wholly devoted:

  1. Honest Self-Examination: We must continually ask ourselves, “What other ‘gods’ vie for our devotion?” Are there unseen idols—whether our careers, comforts, relationships or even our own opinions—that overshadow God’s supremacy?
  2. Immerse yourself in Scripture: Engaging deeply and consistently with the Word of God illuminates His expectations and safeguards against the encroachment of worldly influences into our faith.
  3. Consistent Obedience: Genuine worship is revealed not merely in our Sunday gatherings but in our daily expressions of faithfulness and submission to the will of our Heavenly Father. James instructs us to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1.22 NKJV).
  4. Reject Man-Made Substitutes: We must anchor our faith in the truth of God’s revealed Word rather than relying on human traditions or our perceptions of what is right.

The ancient Samaritans believed they could negotiate with God, showing just enough reverence to escape calamity while holding tightly to their beloved idols. They did not understand that the God of Israel stands alone, not as one among many, but as the true God who rightfully demands and deserves our entire devotion. Let us embrace this significant truth, reflecting on our lives and committing each day to serve the Lord with sincerity and authenticity. He alone deserves our complete and unwavering devotion.

The Jezebel Church Of Christ

Thyatira was a church family where love wasn’t an issue, faith wasn’t a problem, and service wasn’t an area of concern. However, they had a big problem and Jesus needed them to address it.

Dale Pollard

Revelation 2:18-29

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: This is what the Son of God, the One who has eyes like a flame of fire and His feet are like burnished bronze, says: ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your last deeds are greater than at first.

But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and deceives My slaves so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent, and she does not wish to repent of her sexual immorality.

Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.” 

Thyatira was a church family where love wasn’t an issue, faith wasn’t a problem, and service wasn’t an area of concern. However, they had a big problem and Jesus needed them to address it. For a congregation with so many outstanding attributes and praised by the Son of God, what kept them from meeting the qualifications of His lamp stand (Rev. 1.12-23)?

Their problem was that they tolerated sin. 

Consider Jezebel, who of her it’s said, 

“Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence” (Rev. 2.22-23).

Who would put up with that level of wickedness? The followers of Jezebel and the members of the church at Thyatira. God wanted them to see sin the same way He does. When sexual immorality is seen as a sickness, it’s no longer seductive. When the consequences of sin make you sick, it’s not as enticing. 

Isaiah: The Holy One Who Rules The World (XL)

God Vs. Gods (44:1-28)

Neal Pollard

God calls to His chosen people, reminding them that He formed them and set them apart for Himself (1). Everything He promises in this chapter is built upon the foundation of that truth. They were perpetually guilty of aiming infinitely too low in what to place their trust in. As we read, we can relate to that. We doublecheck our investments, log a great many minutes in our workout routines and dietary plans, expend a lot of passion and energy into political matters, and engage our hearts in other earthly things while ignoring and neglecting the God who made us and set us apart by Christ. Because He has given His Son, we have even less reason to misplace our trust today. Walk though this powerful chapter and make the comparison the prophet leads Israel to make.

Recognize You Belong To God (1-5). Just as He chose them (1), He speaks of all He has provided for them as their God. He mentions water (3), His Spirit (3), and fruitfulness (4). Consequently, His discerning people would say, “I am the Lord’s” and revel in being claimed by Him (5). This came with blessings for them and their descendants. 

Trust In The True God (6-23). God sets Himself apart by who He is–Lord, King, Redeemer, and Lord of hosts (speaking of military might)(6). He proves Himself trustworthy by His unique nature, calling on them to compare Him to the gods of the nations around Him. Gary Smith provides a great chart which shows the contrasts stated and implied in the text here: 

What was said?What contrast was implied?
1. Men “form” idols (44:9)God “forms” the world and his people
2. Idols do not help; give no profit (44:9)God strengthens and helps his people
3. Their witness does not see, know (44:9)God’s witnesses see and know
4. Idol makers tremble in fear (44:11)God’s people need not fear
5. Idol makers will be ashamed (44:11)God’s people will not be ashamed
6. Idol makers get tired and weary (44:12) God’s strengthens so people are not weary
7. Idol makers measure on  wood (44:13)God measures out the heavens with his hand
8. Idols are images of humanity (44:13)God made man in his image
9. Idols are wood and metal (44:14)God made the wood and the metals
10. People worship what they make (44:15) The Maker/Creator should be worshipped
11. People seek divine deliverance (44:17)Only God can bring real deliverance
12. Idols blind people’s eyes (44:18)God opens people’s eyes
13. Idols give no understanding (44:19)God gives wisdom and understanding
14. Idolatry is a deceptive lie (44:20)God reveals the truth
15. Idols lead people astray (44:20)God calls people to turn from lies

(NAC, 239).

Isaiah presents the case, showing how utterly ludicrous it is to trust in a god that one has to make, who is useless, who is mindless, who is powerless, and who after he has crafted it worships it. He writes, “he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it” (15).

Instead, by discerning who God is, the people appreciate how fully He has forgiven them (22). Their right-thinking response is to praise Him for being a God without rival (23).

Understand That We Are Restored By God (24-28). He is our Creator and Sustainer (24). He has the ability to do what He promises and determines. This God is the One who promises to rebuild, to even do so by the hands of a foreign power who is hundreds of years from being born (28). A God without limits of power and who sees the future as if it is the past is the God who promises to restore His people. 

Deuteronomy: The Second Giving Of The Law (XIII)

Of Prophets And Gods (13:1-18)

Neal Pollard

We are surrounded by a world whose view of the world is decidedly different than what the Bible teaches. We know that well, but still find ourselves swayed and influenced by their thinking. Whether it is because we want to fit in or because it seems to be “working” for them or maybe because it appeals to us to some degree, we can become susceptible to their habits, customs, beliefs, and views. 

God knows human nature and has seen it play out since the Garden of Eden. As Israel gears up for the conquest of Canaan, God wants them forewarned about this timeless trouble. So, Moses explains it in terms of the familiar and divinely-ordained (“a prophet or dreamer of dreams,” 1) and the mysterious and divinely-condemned (“other gods,” 2). He presents a few scenarios that his brethren needed to seriously take to heart.

First, scenarios where a false prophet correctly foretold events, then urged idolatry (1-5). This was uniquely challenging. Israel might be persuaded to follow a false prophet whom God allows to accurately predict some future event (1-2). God said He would allow this because “the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (3). God’s will had already been revealed and they knew the truth (4). They were not to be susceptible to contrary messages, to violate the first two commandments. Instead, they were to see this as seduction and evil (5). The false prophet was to be put to death, to eliminate his sinful influence (5). In rejecting the false prophet, they would be following, fearing, obeying, listening to, serving and clinging to the Lord their God (4). False faiths could not trump the will of God. 

Second, scenarios where an idolater was a family member (6-11). This would be challenging for a different reason, not because they correctly foretold the future but because they were close relatives. Moses is unambiguous; we’re talking “your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul” (6). It just doesn’t get more intimate than that, whichever of the scenarios played out. These with whom they shared such a bond might “secretly entice” them to abandon God for a false god (6-7). How should they respond? Not only were they not to yield to them or listen to them, they were not to pity or spare or conceal them (8). More than that, they were to kill them (9)! Not just kill them, but be the first to cast a stone at them (10). In so doing, it would deter the nation from being seduced by gods, of seducing their family, or allowing a loved one to seduce them into idolatry (11). In Jesus’ earthly ministry, Israel should not have been surprised by a statement like this: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Mat. 10:37). Or, as Luke records it, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (14:26). Moses will commend the Levites for observing this principle, allowing them to be priests of God (Deut. 33:8-9; Ex. 32:27-29). It is what it takes for us to be His priests today. 

Third, scenarios where an idolater was a neighbor (12-18). The last scenario would not pull on their heartstrings as much as it would be social pressure, dealing with a fellow Israelite who was stirring up desires to serve other gods. God’s response to that, in preserving the spiritual purity of Israel, is radical! If after investigation a city is found to have apostatized, they were to destroy it and its livestock (15). Additionally, this would not net the punishers in any financial way. All “booty” was to be burned. God says, “Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand…” (17a). This was a gracious, merciful gesture on God’s part. He was acting in order to bless them and guide them in doing what was right (17-18).

Three areas where we are tempted to ignore God or replace Him as authority are religious influences, family influences, and community influences. That is not new to our day; it has long been that way. While our response is not to be physical or military, we still must act when these influences attempt to pull us away from God. Paul reflects back on this general time period, even quoting Exodus 25, when he writes, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them; 

And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me, Says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:14-18). This is still our responsibility! We must hear God’s voice above the din of competing messages, being faithful to Him no matter who is saying something different or how much we care about them. God’s message then and now is, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Mat. 6:33a). 

Conclusion (1 John, Part 15)

Wednessday’s Column: Third’s Words

Gary Pollard

We’re writing this to you so you’ll know you have life forever. This is for those of you who believe the name of God’s son. We can be confident when we talk to God — if we make a request that aligns with his will, he listens to us. We know he listens whenever we ask, and that he’ll give us what we ask for. 

If one of you sees a Christian family member sin (not the kind that causes death), ask God to give them life, and he will. This only applies to the kind of sin that doesn’t cause death. There is a kind of sin that leads to death, and I’m not saying you should pray for someone who commits that kind of sin. Every morally wrong act is sin, but there are sins that don’t lead all the way to death. 

We know that no one in God’s family continues to sin. God’s son personally protects us, and evil can’t affect him at all. We know that we belong to God, but evil controls the whole world. We know that when God’s son came to earth, he gave us the ability to understand the true one. We live in truth through his son, Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and he is life forever. Children, keep each other away from idols. 

Altars And Allies

Monday’s Column: Neal At The Cross

Neal Pollard

Israel had made political and religious decisions, all of which showed they had left God for the world. Hosea addresses these in Hosea 8. Their national and spiritual interests were to make treaties “among the nations” (10) and make “idols for their own destruction” (4). God did not recognize Israel’s kings and princes (4). 

As irrational as Gomer’s decision to leave the love and provision of Hosea for lovers who used and abused her, Israel’s apostasy was self-defeating. On the surface and at the moment, it may have seemed alluring and promised satisfaction. But they were setting themselves up for hurt and failure. Look at how the inspired prophet evaluates their decisions:

  • They were carrion for the vulture (1).
  • They were incapable of innocence (5).
  • They sowed the wind, and they were going to reap the whirlwind (7).
  • They were swallowed up (8).
  • They were a useless vessel (8).
  • They were a wild donkey wandering alone (9).
  • They were going to writhe in oppression (10).
  • They had erected multiplied altars for sinning (11).
  • They regarded God’s laws as a strange thing (12).
  • They were going to return to a state of bondage (13).
  • They were going to be devoured by fire (14).

It must have pained Hosea to write those words. No doubt, it pained God to have to say them. But, Israel persisted in her unfaithfulness. What was it like for God to look down, day after day, only to see that His chosen people paid no attention to Him. He never entered their thoughts. They pursued a path He knew would only lead them to hurt and destruction. They sought protection from fallible, wicked people. They offered praise to vain, lifeless idols. All the while, their Creator and caregiver was there wanting to be their shield and salvation! 

The application may be obvious. We have the same choices today. We can put our trust in our country and we can make something (work, relationships, pleasure, etc.) the object of our affection in place of God. We may, like Israel, still come to worship (13), but spend our lives with something else laying upon the altar of our heart. That was the condition addressed by Hosea. That was what God illustrates through spiritual adultery. God is belaboring the point, but it’s an eternally important one. He wants us to get it because He loves us so much! 

Ancient altar discovered at Manoah (via Biblewalks.com)