So about those idols...
You know how we have all these cute little sayings.... like for instance the phrase, if you see a blue bird it means happiness. Well, I guess there is a little truth in that for me. I always get excited and 'happy' when I see a blue bird. Why is that? Maybe I'm expecting happiness...hmmm....and so, this morning, I see a blue bird and sure enough I don't have my handy dandy phone camera to snap a quick pic. I run over to get my handy dandy phone with it's handy dandy camera and it was as expected the elusive blue bird of happiness has always flown away. No picture obtained and then I hear...ERRPPPPPP!!!! COUGH, HACK HACK, ERRRUUUPPPPTTTT AND UP THE OLD HATCH SHE COMES, my cat has thrown up. He did not even produce a fur ball but he did leave a mess. Ummmm, about that blue bird of happiness. Well, in this life you will have trials and tribulations, however, I really don't think the Lord was speaking of fur balls and such. My fleeting moment of happiness quickly vanished and now it's down to the business of cleaning up this mess my cat has made.
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| Slim always helping me out.... |
And how does that relate to idols, you ask? Well I, for one, if I'm writing about something want to do some research and it's kind of hard to do research if you are having to clean up throw up or whatever else life decides to throw your way. So I guess you could say that's how throw up (emesis) and idols got put in to a conversation together. Ah yes, that elusive blue bird of happiness, but they still make my heart jump a little and expectation. Hey Lord, could we work on what I get with my expectation. I am trying to walk in faith here. No throw up today, no throw up today, no throw up today... and sometimes, it feels and I hear the enemy speaking saying, "See, it doesn't work. Give up...give in..." and something rises up in me and yells back "No! I will not give up. I will not give in, because God's Word says ______________ (fill in the blank with what applies to your situation...).
I had been studying healing, healing and more healing, and wondering why it hasn't happened. The Lord has been faithful to show me things I need to work on such as not doing it in my faith but in the grace of the Lord because it is of grace by faith and that not even of yourself but Christ's faith... ding, ding, ding, a lightbulb went off for me because I most assuredly was trying to do it by my faith. I'm so glad that God (Jehovah) makes it really simple and easy, child-like faith. No striving, no works, yet there are works involved and boy, does that ever get convoluted trying to explain to someone how it's not of works, yet you do have works, because faith without works is dead. So as I'm studying out this healing topic I hear God say "Study idols." Okay...I started studying idol/idols. Going through some of the names was fascinating. Who says Bible study can't be interesting and fun? I've had to remind myself that I needed to get other things done because I wanted to spend more and more time studying. God can make learning fun...Yeah, most people, that's what you hear...The Bible is boring. If your Bible study is boring, I'm going to suggest that you might need to look at how and what you are studying. I got in to more by studying symbolism. I wanted to understand better how the terms 'spirit of leviathan' came about, or some others. It has opened up this area of interest which has led me back to my foundation which I'm happy to say was built upon the solid rock of Christ. It's always good to go back and check your foundation though. Repair any cracks. Smooth out the rough edges. Repair what needs to be corrected, etcetera, etcetera.
1 Corinthians 8:4 (KJV):
"As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one."
With the high holy days of pagans coming up, one of the first things I ran in to while studying was the eating of food sacrificed to idols. Make sure you know who you are honoring on those days of the calendar that men like to celebrate the traditions of men that make void the Word of God. No bunny rabbits or easter eggs here. We will, however, joyfully give thanks to God for sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place on the cross and that on the third day, Jesus rose up from the dead and won the victory. And that He ascended to Heaven and sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us, His children, the Ones who believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That He was born of a virgin and that He is the only Son of God and the only one who was able to make the sacrifice. Have I covered all the bases? How did we get so many bases? NEXT...
The next bullet point He gave me was - knowledge. Anything can be an idol. Anything you put before God and as more important than God in your life. This could be sports, a favorite hobby, what you want to do but did call you to do it, we really have to evaluate where God wants us and what He wants us to be doing. Yes, it is that important. Seek Him, obey Him, no matter the cost. Choose God over people, but all you do, do in love. We'll have to leave that definition for another day.
¶Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
It's pretty simple actually, always seems to come back to childlike faith. So next I'm on to some old testament verses reading about Idols and led to 2 Chron 33:7. The words 'a carved image' stood out to me. So using the Blue Letter bible website I research that phrase. This led me to a discussion with the Lord about what images were allowed to be used in the building of the temple. It matters what you bring in to your home. You want to remodel (decorate) your home, you might want to ask God if He's okay with what you are doing...jus' sayin' I asked the Lord and felt impressed that He has a reason certain things are totally not okay. Well, I can hear it now..."It's my home. I can bring in to it whatever I want." All I'm saying is you might want to check with God first. See people don't understand that there are some things that are tied to evil that go back thousands and thousands of years. You bring it home to your house, invite it in, and then wonder why your prayer is not being answered. I can also hear some of my friends saying "I'll just cast it out in the name of Jesus." Well, yes, if God is okay and you've asked Him and He said pray over it, I fully believe that will work, but what if God says, "No, get rid of it." It's all the matter of obedience. Are you willing to be obedient to God no matter what? And some people, some people just do not understand because the church has let the foundation become corrupted by allowing the doctrine of demons in and the foundation has a major crack in it. NEXT...
So pulling a few more verses on idols and I found myself back to the Hebraic roots, who they were worshipping and why God was so upset with them. It's all in the names...
Jeremiah 50:2
“Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.”
King James Version (KJV)
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Jeremiah-50-2/#:~:text=Jeremiah%2050%3A2,James%20Version%20(KJV)
The sauce is in the names. Merodach, planet Mars.
and then my eyes caught the word strange in Ezra 10:44
Now, since I married an original conspiracy theorist, and have heard of the nephilim - none of which I ever heard about in church, and I'm so thankful for the men and women who have channels on youtube who have studied out and done the hard work of understanding Hebrew, the language. Back to the Word...
I had to ask myself, what was meant by 'strange?' I had always read this and wondered - You know, Jews/Gentiles. Accepted of God/Rejected by God except that's not in God's character. God accepts ALL WHO COME TO HIM and ask for forgiveness. So the term strange could not be just because they were foreigners. No, it had to mean something different because otherwise, that would make God a liar, that He does not love every one if He is playing favorites. Now, it's really not that simple, but it is...God has His chosen people. He will always have them. Why? His Word says so, but He also has us. Why? His Word says so. That's Good enough for me - Why? Because God says so. Say so!
Ah, I hear the eyeballs rolling now...STOP IT! Just stop it and think. Does it make sense that God, who is love, would ask them to give up their wives and children. No, it does not. So you have to ask what fits? The only thing that fits is the story we were never told in Sunday School or Church and pastors still won't talk about it today. Oh, well, wait a minute. There are a few, but they are few and far between and you don't hear about them everyday. So the short answer is 'strange' meant something really strange...not just a foreigner and no, I don't believe in aliens, but I do believe demons exist. So there must be something to that and I hear people shutting down, turning off, shutting off because you just rocked their theology. I'd rather have my theology rocked than to sit in ignorance ignoring it all because I just can't fathom any other understanding of scripture than my own version. If you are like that, I'm sorry to say friend, but you really need to get saved because aliens, UFOs and ancient blood lines - God is not afraid of your questions. He can address all of it and He does it very well in His Word. It really is all in His Word, The Holy Bible. All these people running to other false gods in massive numbers thinking "they got the power," not understanding that God is talking to them about witches, warlocks, and demons and God does have the power. The power! The power to send them to hell and destroy their souls here and in the afterlife. Whose side do you want to be on? Now, is it worth your time to search out a little more... NEXT
All my studying, looking up names, and I find I'm back to a basic foundational truth in Christendom - that reaffirms my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, born of a virgin name Mary, took my sins, shed His blood and died on that Cross, rose from the grave and sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in me. Very simple, child-like faith. When Christ did this, He did not do away with the laws of the God, but He did reaffirm the covenant that God made with Abraham. That being, He adopted us as joint-heirs with Him in Christ. So that now, we are the sons of God, if you believe. Remember, the demons believe and tremble, but they do not obey God. They worship their father, satan, the father of all lies. God simplified it even more from the Ten Commandments down to "Love the Lord, your God, with all you heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus did give us the authority to use His name. He seated us in the heavenly places at His side to be joint -heirs with Him under a new covenant. Jesus is our High Priest. Because of Him, I have victory over the enemy. And very strange things happen with God like, for instance, I had a paper with verses highlighted and written down. I wanted to use it to reference in this blog posting and I kept picking up the paper looking for them and could not find them until now. I'm only on page three of my pages of verses to look at for idol/idols. I have six pages, front and back, of scripture verses that reference idol/idols. So in my conclusion, I'm just going to list the verses I highlighted. I hope something will resonate to God when He says, "My yoke is easy. My burden is light." My next posting will be about Psalms 27, the whole chapter, but specifically when God speaks and the day I had three separate times of God saying to me, "The Lord is my light and my salvation."
Psa 104:15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. (reference to Holy Spirit - New wine) New Wine
Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
Job 37:19 Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.
Psa 92:10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
Psa 132:13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
My apologies for the length of this posting. But I'm not sorry if it helps someone to go pick up their Bible and read what their Bible has to say. God is still speaking, moving and acting in lives today. I believe in the Word of Faith movement of "I believe my Bible more than what I can see, touch, taste, hear or feel" Jesus Is Alive. He is still saving, healing and delivering. Prayer is effective and effectual. The verses I forgot to write down, now, isn't that kind of how the enemy works? You forget to write down the most important reference so you can't direct someone to it. It's a real battle, the fight between good and evil. To all the faithful, I'm thankful! Be blessed! If you don't know Christ, let me issue you an invitation to not wait, run to your local Bible preaching church and join in studying and getting to know Christ, hopefully to turn your life over to Him and become a believer in Christ. No better place to be than in God's presence and that you can do right now, wherever you are, but do find yourself like-minded believers to fellowship with who place priority on God's Word, and follow it over everything else.