What is an idol? An idol is anything that takes the true God away from our hearts. It is a person or thing from which we expect to gain benefits, or even without this person or thing, we cannot be happy or live well. Idols can be people, things, or our work, money, fame, status, etc. They occupy our hearts and control our thoughts. People give idols a sacred status and expect them to help them, but in fact, idols themselves can hardly protect themselves, so how can they help people?

What is idolatry?

• Worship a natural object as a god (such as the sun, moon, stars, stones, trees, animals, etc.).

• Excessive attachment, devotion, or service to something, anything that replaces God in our hearts, is idolatry.

The spirit of idolatry is a real dark power in the spiritual world. It deceives and lures people away from the true God, worships evil spirits, worships things in this world and fictitious false gods, and will ultimately lead people to destruction. The spirit of idolatry is also passed down from generation to generation in a family.

Idolatry can be roughly divided into three categories:

1. Belief in evil spirits and practices such as sorcery, witchcraft, divination, omens, charms, passing through fire, passing through the underworld, chanting incantations, drawing talismans, offering sacrifices to ghosts, communicating with spirits, qigong, and spiritual cultivation (Exodus 7:11; Deuteronomy 18:9-12; 1 Samuel 28:7; Ezekiel 21:21; Acts 8:9, 13:6, 16:16, 19:13; 1 Corinthians 10:20).
2. Greed for the world, such as worshipping money, objects, people, power and fame, and all kinds of evil desires, worldly concepts, etc. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5).
3. Worship of nothingness, such as fabricated myths and false folk tales, including Baal and Ashtoreth (Judges 2:11, 13), Asherah (2 Kings 21:7), Dagon (1 Samuel 5:2), and the so-called great goddess Artemis (Acts 19:27), which were worshipped by foreign races as recorded in the Bible.

Causes of idolatry:

1. Sin separates people from God

For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11)

Man is born into sin, and sin separates him from God. Man is unable to know the true God, and instead obeys his own flesh. God’s Spirit is holy and is unwilling to dwell in the hearts of sinners, so sinners do not have the presence of God’s Spirit and cannot know God.

2. Man rejects the true God’s call

From ancient times to the present, God has clearly told people through the Ten Commandments in the Bible that they must not worship idols. God also often uses His prophets and servants to remind the world that idolaters are the most foolish. However, most people reject the call of the true God and still worship idols, and their end is bound to be tragic.

3. People do not know how to distinguish between true and false gods

There are real and fake medicines, and there are real and fake gods. If people do not know how to distinguish between real and fake gods, they will become addicted to idols, harming others and themselves.

4. Not Knowing the True God

The true God is the source of life. The true God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. The true God is unique.

God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

Source: Pastoral Ministry Department of End-Time Ministry (Please notify us promptly if any copyright infringement is involved.)