27/07/09

Worship the Lord thy God alone

Matthew 4:10 - Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.


Satan knew that he could not deceive Jesus therefore he approached Jesus straight forward to worship him, for which Jesus said no.

Satan does not do the same with us, for even the understanding and knowledge of the Word of God will not help us from by him, unless we have the Spirit of God in us to help us discern him.

Take the example of Solomon, who possessed great wisdom and understanding. He wrote amazing insights of the Kingdom of God; he loved God and made great offerings to God.

2 Chronicles 7:5
5 And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

Yet Satan deceived him into worshiping his different forms.

2 Kings 23:13
13 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

Not only Solomon did this sin, he also encouraged his subjects to follow him.

1 Kings 11:31-33
31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
32 (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:)
33 Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.

And it will amaze you that Satan has been and is currently deceiving many Christians to worship him the same way he made Solomon.

If you get into the meanings of the names of the gods you will able to understand.

Ashtoreth - a Hebrew name, the Greek name of this goddess is Istar
It was for this goddess the Romans (heathens) celebrated the feast - Easter. The early Roman Church merged it with the Resurrection of Jesus in order to deprive the heathens of their celebration.

Chemosh - also identified with 'Baal-peor', 'Baal-zebub', 'Mars' and 'Saturn'. Believing in destiny not according to the plan of God, like in Astrology, palmistry, yoga etc... The Church may not directly encourage them but neither does it encourage it's people to believe in the destiny which God has set for His people. Many make them believe in self destiny or absurd ideas not according to the Word.

Milcom -" great king"
Lifting man to great authority like a king, not according to the Word. God has set a certain authority according to the callings, but man has changed it and therefore caused disorder in the function of the Church.

No amount of knowledge or wisdom will help us to discern Satan in these matters; it is only by the Spirit of the Lord we can be helped. So let us call onto His Spirit to help us, and in the silence of our hearts let us listen to Him and obey Him.


[ Prayer Starter ]

Father God, You have made great plans for our prosperity but Satan does not want us to receive it. Therefore he makes us to worship him by deceiving us. Help us to understand the Word and by your Spirit expose him and his traps unto us. Give us the courage to say no to Him as Jesus did...

We ask this in Jesus Name, Amen


[ Reference Scriptures ]

Jeremiah 7:17-19
17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces

Jeremiah 44:15-19
15 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)