Biblical Concept: Idolatry, Idols

Observations: (From the following Bible verses)

Idolatry is a technique to lower God. Having a god of your own design and limited obligations is to create a religion of convenience. Having a god of your own design frees one from an obligation to the Triune God of the Bible. [Fausset Bible Dictionary: The Lord will come "utterly to abolish the idols," and all "idolaters shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" (Rev. 21:8; Isa. 2:18,19; Zec. 13:2,3). Self idolatry, self will, and self sufficiency must be subdued, if God is to be our God. 1 Sam. 15:23 implies that "conscious disobedience is idolatry, because it makes self will, the human I, into a god" (Keil).] Idolatry is a way to deal with (combat?) the God consciousness in your soul.

Idolatry is a tool for demons to introduce detestable actions into religion (See 2 Kings 23:7, Hosea 4:14. Fausset Bible Dictionary: “This horrid consecrated pollution prevailed in Phoenicia, Syria, Phrygia, Assyria, and Babylonia, and still in Hindu idolatry. Man making lust a sacred duty! This is the force of the phrase, "Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor," as appears in 1 Cor. 6:16,17, "He which ... is joined to an harlot is one body; for two, saith He, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.").

Idolatry is a tool for demons to gain worship. I speculate / expect that demons provide benefits to the followers of idols.

Certain fiscal motivations can be idolatrous - Colossians 3:5 and Ephesians 5:5. Compare Philippians 3:19, “whose god is their appetite . . .” “In the N.T. the term was extended to mean obsession with anything to the degree that it took the place of devotion to God” (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible). Hence the general warning in 1 John 5:21, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

Note the numerous references in Ezekiel—during / reasons for Babylonian captivity.

Recall also Biblical Concept: Lowering God and Biblical Concept: Other Gods and Biblical Concept: God, Jealous.

“The Mesopotamian pantheon was composed of more than 1500 gods . . . “(Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible) Egyptian hieroglyphic reliefs suggest thousands of gods in their pantheon (Zondervan). Compare Acts 17:16, and 17:23-24 – “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols. . . . ²³ "For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴ "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;”

In the appendix, only 17% of the American Church believes in Christ alone for salvation. Only 17% of the American Church is Biblically Christian. The 83% have the wrong God!

Idol

^NAS Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

^NAS Deuteronomy 4:25 "When you become the father of children and children's children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger,

^NAS Deuteronomy 5:8 'You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

^NAS Deuteronomy 27:15 'Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amen.' (Idolatry = self made religion = religion of convenience.)

^NAS 1 Samuel 19:13 And Michal took the household idol and laid it on the bed, and put a quilt of goats' hair at its head, and covered it with clothes.

¹⁶ When the messengers entered, behold, the household idol was on the bed with the quilt of goats' hair at its head.

^NAS 1 Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.

⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.

^NAS 2 Chronicles 33:7 Then he put the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;

¹⁵ He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

^NAS Isaiah 40:19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

²⁰ He who is too impoverished for such an offering Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that will not totter.

^NAS Isaiah 44:10 Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit?

^NAS Isaiah 45:20 "Gather yourselves and come; Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; They have no knowledge, Who carry about their wooden idol, And pray to a god who cannot save.

^NAS Isaiah 48:5 Therefore I declared them to you long ago, Before they took place I proclaimed them to you, Lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.'

^♠♠♠NAS Isaiah 66:3 "But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog's neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine's blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations,

^♠♠♠NAS Jeremiah 10:8 But they are altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion-- their idol is wood!

^NAS Ezekiel 8:3 And He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located.

⁵ Then He said to me, "Son of man, raise your eyes, now, toward the north." So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this idol of jealousy at the entrance.

^NAS Hosea 4:12 My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner's wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God.

^NAS Nahum 1:14 The LORD has issued a command concerning you: "Your name will no longer be perpetuated. I will cut off idol and image From the house of your gods. I will prepare your grave, For you are contemptible."

^♠♠♠NAS Habakkuk 2:18 "What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols.

^NAS Acts 7:41 "And at that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

^♠♠♠NAS 1 Corinthians 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.

⁷ However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

^NAS 1 Corinthians 10:19 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

Idol’s

^NAS 1 Corinthians 8:10 For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

Idolater

^NAS 1 Corinthians 5:11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler-- not even to eat with such a one.

^♠♠♠NAS Ephesians 5:5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Idolaters

^NAS 1 Corinthians 5:10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have to go out of the world.

^NAS 1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

^NAS 1 Corinthians 10:7 And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play."

^NAS Revelation 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

^NAS Revelation 22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

Idolatries

^♠♠♠NAS 1 Peter 4:3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.

Idolatrous

^NAS 2 Kings 23:5 And he did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the host of heaven.

^NAS Hosea 10:5 The inhabitants of Samaria will fear For the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it, And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it, Over its glory, since it has departed from it.

^NAS Zephaniah 1:4 "So I will stretch out My hand against Judah And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, And the names of the idolatrous priests along with the priests.

Idolatry

^♠♠♠NAS 1 Samuel 15:23 "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king." (The relationship between rebellion, insubordination, and idolatry.)

^♠♠♠NAS 1 Corinthians 10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

^♠NAS Galatians 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, (Deeds of the flesh, verse 19.)

^♠♠♠NAS Colossians 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (The relationship between greed and idolatry.) (Greed = pleonekte,w / pleonekteo; pleon = more, many, ekteo = I have. Greed includes the attitude of “I have more” not just “I want more.”)

Idols

^NAS Genesis 31:19 When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father's.

³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel's saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent, but did not find them.

³⁵ And she said to her father, "Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me." So he searched, but did not find the household idols.

^NAS Leviticus 19:4 'Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the LORD your God.

^NAS Leviticus 26:1 'You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.

♠♠♠♠ ³⁰ 'I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols; for My soul shall abhor you. (The relationship between idolatry and Divine volitional abhorrence / loathing.)

^♠NAS Deuteronomy 29:17 "Moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them);

^♠♠♠NAS Deuteronomy 32:21 'They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation, (Idolatry → jealous, provoked, anger in God.)

^NAS Judges 3:19 But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." And he said, "Keep silence." And all who attended him left him.

²⁶ Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.

^NAS Judges 17:5 And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest.

^NAS Judges 18:14 Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their kinsmen, "Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod and household idols and a graven image and a molten image? Now therefore, consider what you should do."

¹⁷ Now the five men who went to spy out the land went up and entered there, and took the graven image and the ephod and household idols and the molten image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

¹⁸ And when these went into Micah's house and took the graven image, the ephod and household idols and the molten image, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

²⁰ And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod and household idols and the graven image, and went among the people.

^NAS 1 Samuel 31:9 And they cut off his head, and stripped off his weapons, and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

^NAS 2 Samuel 5:21 And they abandoned their idols there, so David and his men carried them away.

^NAS 1 Kings 15:12 He also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land, and removed all the idols which his fathers had made.

^♠NAS 1 Kings 16:13 for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.

²⁶ For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins which he made Israel sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel with their idols.

^♠NAS 1 Kings 21:26 And he acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the sons of Israel.

^NAS 2 Kings 17:12 And they served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."

♠♠♠ ⁴¹ So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day. (Perhaps read chapter.)

^♠♠♠NAS 2 Kings 21:11 "Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols;

²¹ For he walked in all the way that his father had walked, and served the idols that his father had served and worshiped them.

^♠NAS 2 Kings 23:24 Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

^NAS 1 Chronicles 10:9 So they stripped him and took his head and his armor and sent messengers around the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to their idols and to the people.

^♠♠♠NAS 1 Chronicles 16:26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.

^NAS 2 Chronicles 15:8 Now when Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD which was in front of the porch of the LORD.

^NAS 2 Chronicles 24:18 And they abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols; so wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guilt.

^♠NAS Psalm 31:6 I hate those who regard vain idols; But I trust in the LORD.

^♠NAS Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.

^♠NAS Psalm 97:7 Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, Who boast themselves of idols; Worship Him, all you gods.

^NAS Psalm 106:36 And served their idols, Which became a snare to them.

♠♠♠ ³⁸ And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood.

^NAS Psalm 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man's hands.

^NAS Psalm 135:15 The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, The work of man's hands.

^NAS Isaiah 2:8 Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made.

¹⁸ But the idols will completely vanish.¹⁹ And men will go into caves of the rocks, And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD, And before the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble. ²⁰ In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats Their idols of silver and their idols of gold, Which they made for themselves to worship,

^NAS Isaiah 10:10 "As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

♠♠♠ ¹¹ Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?"

^NAS Isaiah 19:1 The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud, and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

³ "Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confound their strategy, So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead, And to mediums and spiritists.

^NAS Isaiah 31:7 For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your hands have made as a sin.

^NAS Isaiah 42:17 They shall be turned back and be utterly put to shame, Who trust in idols, Who say to molten images, "You are our gods."

^NAS Isaiah 45:16 They will be put to shame and even humiliated, all of them; The manufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.

^NAS Isaiah 57:13 "When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry all of them up, And a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in Me shall inherit the land, And shall possess My holy mountain."

^NAS Jeremiah 8:19 Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: "Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not within her?" "Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?"

^♠♠♠NAS Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.

^NAS Jeremiah 14:22 Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not Thou, O LORD our God? Therefore we hope in Thee, For Thou art the one who hast done all these things.

^NAS Jeremiah 16:18 "And I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations."

^NAS Jeremiah 50:2 "Declare and proclaim among the nations. Proclaim it and lift up a standard. Do not conceal it but say, 'Babylon has been captured, Bel has been put to shame, Marduk has been shattered; Her images have been put to shame, her idols have been shattered.'

³⁸ "A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up! For it is a land of idols, And they are mad over fearsome idols.

^NAS Jeremiah 51:17 All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.

⁴⁷ Therefore behold, days are coming When I shall punish the idols of Babylon; And her whole land will be put to shame, And all her slain will fall in her midst.

⁵² "Therefore behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I shall punish her idols, And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.

^♠♠♠NAS Ezekiel 5:11 'So as I live,' declares the Lord God, 'surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye shall have no pity and I will not spare.

^NAS Ezekiel 6:4 "So your altars will become desolate, and your incense altars will be smashed; and I shall make your slain fall in front of your idols.

⁵ "I shall also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I shall scatter your bones around your altars.

⁶ "In all your dwellings, cities will become waste and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your idols may be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.

♠♠♠ ⁹ "Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes, which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations.

¹³ "Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their slain are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak-- the places where they offered soothing aroma to all their idols.

^NAS Ezekiel 8:10 So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around.

^♠♠♠NAS Ezekiel 14:3 "Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all?

⁴ "Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols,

⁵ in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols."'

⁶ "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.

⁷ "For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the LORD will be brought to answer him in My own person.

^♠♠♠NAS Ezekiel 16:20 "Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me, and you sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter?

^{♠ 21} "You slaughtered My children, and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire.

♠ ³⁶ Thus says the Lord God, "Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to idols,

^NAS Ezekiel 18:6 and does not eat at the mountain shrines or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbor's wife, or approach a woman during her menstrual period--

¹² oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore a pledge, but lifts up his eyes to the idols, and commits abomination,

¹⁵ "He does not eat at the mountain shrines or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbor's wife,

^NAS Ezekiel 20:7 "And I said to them, 'Cast away, each of you, the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.'

♠ ⁸ "But they rebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me; they did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My sabbaths, for their heart continually went after their idols.

¹⁸ "And I said to their children in the wilderness, 'Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, or keep their ordinances, or defile yourselves with their idols.

²⁴ because they had not observed My ordinances, but had rejected My statutes, and had profaned My sabbaths, and their eyes were on the idols of their fathers.

♠ ³¹ "And when you offer your gifts, when you cause your sons to pass through the fire, you are defiling yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live," declares the Lord God, "I will not be inquired of by you.

♠ ³⁹ "As for you, O house of Israel," thus says the Lord God, "Go, serve everyone his idols; but later, you will surely listen to Me, and My holy name you will profane no longer with your gifts and with your idols.

^NAS Ezekiel 21:21 "For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver.

^NAS Ezekiel 22:3 "And you shall say, 'Thus says the Lord God, "A city shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come, and that makes idols, contrary to her interest, for defilement!

⁴ "You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the lands.

^NAS Ezekiel 23:7 "And she bestowed her harlotries on them, all of whom were the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself.

³⁰ 'These things will be done to you because you have played the harlot with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols.

♠ ³⁷ "For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols and even caused their sons, whom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to them as food.

³⁹ "For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and lo, thus they did within My house.

⁴⁹ 'And your lewdness will be requited upon you, and you will bear the penalty of worshiping your idols; thus you will know that I am the Lord God.'"

^NAS Ezekiel 30:13 'Thus says the Lord God, "I will also destroy the idols And make the images cease from Memphis. And there will no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt; And I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

^NAS Ezekiel 33:25 "Therefore, say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God, "You eat meat with the blood in it, lift up your eyes to your idols as you shed blood. Should you then possess the land?

^NAS Ezekiel 36:18 "Therefore, I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols.

²⁵ "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

^NAS Ezekiel 37:23 "And they will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

^NAS Ezekiel 44:10 "But the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their iniquity.

¹² "Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn against them," declares the Lord God, "that they shall bear the punishment for their iniquity.

^NAS Hosea 3:4 For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols.

^NAS Hosea 4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols; Let him alone.

^NAS Hosea 8:4 They have set up kings, but not by Me; They have appointed princes, but I did not know it. With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves, That they might be cut off.

^NAS Hosea 11:2 The more they called them, The more they went from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to idols.

^NAS Hosea 13:2 And now they sin more and more, And make for themselves molten images, Idols skillfully made from their silver, All of them the work of craftsmen. They say of them, "Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!"

^NAS Hosea 14:8 O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like a luxuriant cypress; From Me comes your fruit.

^NAS Jonah 2:8 "Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness,

^NAS Micah 1:7 All of her idols will be smashed, All of her earnings will be burned with fire, And all of her images I will make desolate, For she collected them from a harlot's earnings, And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.

^♠♠♠NAS Habakkuk 2:18 "What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols.

^♠♠♠NAS Zechariah 13:2 "And it will come about in that day," declares the LORD of hosts, "that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land. 3 "And it will come about that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, 'You shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the LORD'; and his father and mother who gave birth to him will pierce him through when he prophesies.

^NAS Acts 15:20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.

²⁹ that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell."

^NAS Acts 17:16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols.

^NAS Acts 21:25 "But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication."

^NAS Romans 2:22 You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

^NAS 1 Corinthians 8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.

♠♠♠ ⁴ Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.

¹⁰ For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

^♠♠♠NAS 1 Corinthians 10:19 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? (See 10:20-22. Demons empower idol worship.)

²⁸ But if anyone should say to you, "This is meat sacrificed to idols," do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience' sake;

^{♠♠♠♠NAS} 1 Corinthians 12:2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the dumb idols, however you were led. (The demon behind the idol is glad to lead people.)

^NAS 2 Corinthians 6:16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

^NAS 1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God,

^♠♠♠NAS 1 John 5:21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. (See Colossians 3:5)

^NAS Revelation 2:14 'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality.

²⁰ 'But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

^♠♠♠NAS Revelation 9:20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; (The relationship between Demons and idols.)

Appendix Items:

^NAS 2 Kings 23:7 He also broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the LORD, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.

^NAS Hosea 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot Or your brides when they commit adultery, For the men themselves go apart with harlots And offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; So the people without understanding are ruined.

(The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life)

How Does One Obtain Eternal Life?

American adults express a variety of views on how people can achieve eternal life. When asked to describe in their own words what determines whether a person will attain eternal life, nearly three-in-ten (29%) say that a person's actions are most important. A similar number (30%) says that belief is the key factor in achieving everlasting life. One-in-ten refer to a combination of belief and actions as necessary for eternal life, and almost as many (8%) cite some other factor as most important. In addition, more than one-in-ten (14%) indicate they are unsure of what leads to eternal life, and another 7% volunteer they do not believe in eternal life.

White evangelical Protestants stand out as the group most likely to name belief as the most important factor in obtaining eternal life, with 64% expressing this view. Nearly half of evangelicals (45%) are explicit in stating that belief in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation, while another 19% are somewhat more generic in their responses, citing belief in God or, more simply, "belief" or "faith" as most important. An additional 10% of evangelicals say that a combination of belief and actions are crucial for salvation, meaning that, in total, nearly three-quarters of this group (74%) identify an element of belief as necessary for salvation.

While white evangelicals look mainly to faith as the key to salvation, white Catholics tend to look to actions. Nearly half of this group (47%) says that one's actions are the key to determining eternal fate, with nearly one-third (29%) saying that being a good, moral person is the key to everlasting life. An additional 14% of white Catholics identify a combination of works and faith as necessary for salvation, meaning that fully six-in-ten Catholics (61%) explicitly cite actions or works as integral to attaining eternal life.

White mainline Protestants and black Protestants are somewhat more evenly divided in their views of what is necessary for eternal life. One-third of mainline Protestants (33%) name actions as most important and one-quarter (25%) say belief is most important, while 10% say obtaining eternal life depends on a combination of belief and actions. And nearly one-in-five (18%) in this group say that they are unsure about what leads to eternal life. Among black Protestants, more than four-in-ten (43%) say faith is most important for achieving eternal life, while nearly three-in-ten (27%) identify actions as most important.

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5.5 million Mormons in USA (Mormon source)

74 million Catholics in USA (Wikipedia)

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