The idol of today is not made by stone, wood, clay or precious metal. AN IDOL IS ANYTHING THAT USURPS THE PLACE OF GOD IN HIS CREATURES or ANYTHING WE HOLD A SINFUL ATTACHMENT.
For some their idol of preference is FAME, prestige of WORLDLY POSSESSIONS, ESCAPE and its various forms such as drugs, sex, movies, novels, exercise and sports. Even something as good as a relationship or family or a job can become an idol if it takes the place of God in the affections of the heart.
There is a new form of idolatry of secularism & Luke-warmness which looks even more dangerous & is swaying even believers.
We have created our own image of God in our hearts. It is a god who allows one to do what is in his mind tells him to and "understands" that we are so weak and gullible. It is a god who sees-no-evil-hears-no-evil in us. It is a god of once-saved-always-saved. It is a god who surely cannot allow anybody to burn in hell. It is a god who has set very wide boundaries, who allows us to call good evil and evil good.
Isaiah 5:20 - Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
When Yahshua warned us of false Messiahs coming, He not only meant the physical appearance of people calling themselves Messiah but also He meant of the false Messiah that we form in our hearts. That is why He said that if the days are not shortened, even the elect will be swayed by the deception. The god that we have created in our hearts is more dangerous, obscure and lethal than the idol that we can see and touch. The idol of today does not prohibit us from reading the Bible, going for fellowship and prayers, even preaching and singing in the choir. Yet, it does not allow us to comprehend scripture in the way that God intended.
Matthew 6:4- No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
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