These "other gods" include all of today's
man-made visions and fictional counterfeits of our holy, mighty, loving and
saving God -- our Lord and King. He has revealed Himself to His own people
through the combined work of His Word and
Spirit, working together in our hearts.
Scriptures
relevant to our times:
"You shall have no
other gods before Me."
Exodus 20:3
"....these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and
put
before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let
Myself be inquired of at all by them?"
Ezekiel 14:3
"... their gods shall be
a snare to you." Judges 2:3
"...when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful
houses and dwell in them... [then] your heart is lifted up and you
forget the Lord your God. ... you say in your heart, ‘My power and
the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
"...if you by any means
forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods...
you shall surely perish.
As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall
perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord
your God."
Deuteronomy
8:10-20
"'Be very
desolate,' says the Lord. 'For My people have committed two
evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
and hewn themselves cisterns -- broken cisterns that can hold no
water.'" Jeremiah
2:12-13
"The coming of the
lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all
power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous
deception among those who perish, because they did not receive
the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this
reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should
believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not
believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
"
... if you turn
away and forsake My statutes and My commandments
which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and
worship them,
then I will uproot them from My land which I
have given them; and this house which I have
sanctified for My
name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and
a
byword among all peoples."
2 Chronicles
7:19-20
"...you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. Yet you have
forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more.
Go
and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time
of distress." Judges 10:12-14
"If your
brother... secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve
other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your
fathers, of the gods of the people which are all around you,
near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to
the other end of the earth, you shall not consent to him
or listen to him."
Deuteronomy
13:6-8
"Herein is our love made perfect, that
we may have boldness
in the Day of Judgment: because as He is, so are we in this
world. "
1
John 4:17
"They have no
knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image,
And pray to a god that cannot save.
Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel
together.
Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior;
There is none besides Me.
Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other."
Isaiah 45:20-22
"I have declared the former
things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly
I did them, and they came to pass....
Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them....’"
Isaiah 48:3-5
Scriptures
that may seem more relevant to the idols of ancient times but
provide guidelines for today:
"'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I will not
be inquired of by you. What you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, ‘We will be
like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.’"
Ezekiel 20:31-32
"They provoked Him to jealousy with
foreign gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger."
Deuteronomy 32:16
"For anyone... who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and
puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes
to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by
Myself. I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb,
and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that
I am the Lord."
Ezekiel 14:7-8
"What
am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is
anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they
sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have
fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup
of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of
demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?"
1 Corinthians 10:19-22
"Each of you, throw away the abominations which are
before his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am
the Lord your God.’ But they rebelled against Me and would not obey Me. They did
not all cast away the abominations which were before their eyes."
Ezekiel 20:7-8
"I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the
wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments,
which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’ Moreover I also gave
them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that
I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Yet the house of Israel rebelled
against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised
My judgments.... Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in
the wilderness... I also raised My hand in an oath to them in the wilderness, that
I would not bring them into the land which I had given them... because they despised My
judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for
their heart went after their idols."
Ezekiel 20:10-16
"...there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with
which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight
because of all the evils that you have committed. Then you shall know
that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake....’"
Ezekiel 20:43-44
"...I was crushed by their adulterous heart
which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after
their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed
in all their abominations. And they shall know that I am the Lord; I have not
said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them." Ezekiel 6:9-10
"...Daniel was brought
in before the king. The king spoke, and said to Daniel, 'Are you
that Daniel
who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my
father the king brought from Judah?
I have heard of you,
that
the
Spirit of God is in you, and that light and
understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.
Now
o
the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before
me, that they should read this writing and make known to me its
interpretation, but they could not give the interpretation of
the thing.
And I have heard of you, that you can give
interpretations and
explain enigmas.
Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its
interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a
chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in
the kingdom.
"Then Daniel answered, and said before the king,
'Let your
gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I
will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the
interpretation.
O king,
the Most High God gave
Nebuchadnezzar your
father a kingdom and majesty, glory and
honor.
And because of the majesty that He gave him,
all
peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him.
... But when his heart was lifted up, and his
spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly
throne, and they took his glory from him.
Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the
beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys... till he
knew that the Most High God rules in the
kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses.
"But you his son, Belshazzar, have
not humbled your
heart, although you knew all this.
And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have
brought the vessels of
His house before you, and you and
your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from
them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze
and iron, wood and stone,
which do not see or hear or know;
and the God who holds your breath in His hand
a
and owns all
your ways, you have not glorified.
Then the
fingers of
the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written.
"And this is the inscription that was written:
'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.'
"This is the interpretation of each word.
Mene:
God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; Tekel:
You have
been weighed in the balances, and found wanting;
Peres:
Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and
Persians."
Daniel 5:13-28
"But the rest of mankind,
who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works
of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of
gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear
nor walk. And they did not repent...."
Revelation 9:20-21
"'...choose
for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your
fathers served... or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.'
So the people
answered and said: 'Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to
serve other gods....'"
Joshua 24:15-16