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While the
Israelites were camped before Mount Sinai it came to pass that they became
idolaters, here is what the Scripture says: “And when the people saw that
Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go
before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land
of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break
off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons,
and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off
the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool,
after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O
Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when
Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and
said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow,
and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat
down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Exodus 32:1-6). As you can
see, the Israelites gave themselves over to idolatry because they made an
idol and offered sacrifices to it. The apostle Paul took this example of
idolatry in order to admonish us and warn us against idolatry, here are his words:
“Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after
evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of
them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to
play” (1 Corinthians 10:6-7). But why are we forbidden to make for ourselves
an idol in order to worship it? Because those who make for themselves idols
and worship them provoke God (who is a Jealous God, who wants men to worship
Him only) to jealousy and move Him to anger. For the Israelites, by making
idols and worshipping them in the wilderness,
provoked God to jealousy and anger, as God said: “They have moved me to
jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with
their vanities” (Deuteronomy 32:21). That’s why God said to Israel: “Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that
is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for
I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me”
(Exodus 20:4-5) and again: “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for
ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in
Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you
a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged
fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the
ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth” (Deuteronomy
4:15-18). As you can see, among the sculptures and the images forbidden by
God there are also those sculptures and images representing men and women,
and this confirms that according to God are idols not only the sculptures and
images that represent animals, but also those which represent a man or a
woman, therefore those statues or images representing Jesus, Paul or Mary are
idols. Yet, as we all know, the Roman Catholics don’t call them idols and
don’t want us to call them idols but ‘holy images,’ because they say that
they don’t worship them rather they venerate them because these images help
them to remember those who are represented by those statues and images in
order to imitate their virtues. And since someone could try to persuade you into
making for yourselves these so called holy statues and images, I want to tell
you these things. First of all, God commanded us not to make for ourselves an
idol in the form of any figure, whether formed like a man or a woman or like
any animal or any bird or any fish or any creeping thing of the earth;
secondly, He commanded us not to serve them, which means that we must not
clean them, nor carry them on our shoulders, nor put flowers or candles
before them, nor offer sacrifices to them, nor honor them in any way, which
are all things that will happen once the statue or the image has been made, for
as we saw before, after the Israelites made the golden calf they worshiped it
and offered sacrifices to it. And let no one of you think that by serving a
statue or an image you would serve God because that is a lie, rather you
would serve the demons which hide themselves behind any idol. For the apostle
Paul said that “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to
demons and not to God” (1 Corinthians 10:20
– NKJV); we can say the same thing about every service or sacrifice offered
to a statue or an image, it is offered to demons and not to God. Therefore,
we must flee any service or sacrifice offered to a so called holy image or
holy statue, lest we provoke God to jealousy. In regard to the sacrifices
offered to idols I want to tell you that we must abstain from things offered
to idols (Acts 15:20,29; 1 Corinthians 10:14-31); no matter if they are
fruits or animals or sweets or something else, we must abstain from them
because those things are polluted by idols, being offered to demons and not
to God. Therefore when the day of the so called patron saint of your town or
country comes, you must abstain from every thing which is made to honor that
dead man or that dead woman. Brothers, if you still have in your house some
statues or images of the Roman Catholic Church, destroy them.
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Also the
worship offered to a minister of the Gospel or to the angels of God is
idolatry, for the apostle Peter rebuked Cornelius, when he fell down at his
feet and worshiped him, saying to him: “Stand up; I myself am also a man”
(Acts 10:26 – NKJV), and the angel who showed John the things to come rebuked
the apostle, when he fell down to worship before the feet of the angel,
saying to him: “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant,
and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this
book. Worship God” (Revelation 22:9 – NKJV). As for the worship of angels,
Paul warns us saying: “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in
false humility and worship of angels” (Colossians 2:18 - NKJV).
Last but not least, also the worship of Satan (Satanism) is idolatry, for
when Satan tempted Jesus to worship him in exchange for power and glory,
Jesus said to him: “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall
worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10 – NKJV).
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