Idols in the Bible

Idols in the Bible

What the Bible actually says about Idolatry

The Christian God - (The God of the Bible) is opposed to Idols regardless of their intended use, because He understands them as Competition with Him and His claim to be the one and True God, Lord Creator of the Universe.

(Lev 19:4 KJV) Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.

(Lev 26:1 KJV) Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

(Lev 26:30 KJV) And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

(Deu 29:17 KJV) And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)

(1 Ki 15:12 KJV) And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

(1 Ki 21:26 KJV) And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

(2 Ki 17:12 KJV) For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

(2 Ki 21:11 KJV) Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols:

(2 Ki 21:21 KJV) And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:

(2 Ki 23:24 KJV) Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away [did josiah stop using], that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

(1 Chr 16:26 KJV) For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

(2 Chr 15:8 KJV) And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.

(2 Chr 24:18 KJV) And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

(2 Chr 34:7 KJV) And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

(Psa 96:5 KJV) For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

(Psa 97:7 KJV) Confounded [confused] be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.

(Psa 106:36 KJV) And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.

(Psa 106:38 KJV) And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

(Psa 115:4 KJV) Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

(Psa 135:15 KJV) The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

(Isa 2:8 KJV) Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

(Isa 2:18 KJV) And the idols he shall utterly abolish.

(Isa 2:20 KJV) In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

(Isa 10:10 KJV) As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria:

(Isa 10:11 KJV) Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

(Isa 19:1 KJV) The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

(Isa 19:3 KJV) And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

(Isa 31:7 KJV) For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.

(Isa 45:16 KJV) They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.

(Isa 46:1 KJV) Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.

(Isa 57:5 KJV) Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?

(Jer 50:2 KJV) Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish [proclaim], and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

(Jer 50:38 KJV) A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon [Obsessed with] their idols.

(Ezek 6:4 KJV) And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.

(Ezek 6:5 KJV) And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

(Ezek 6:6 KJV) In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

(Ezek 6:9 KJV) And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

(Ezek 6:13 KJV) Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

(Ezek 8:10 KJV) So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.

(Ezek 14:3 KJV) Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

(Ezek 14:4 KJV) Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

(Ezek 14:5 KJV) That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

(Ezek 14:6 KJV) Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

(Ezek 14:7 KJV) For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

(Ezek 16:36 KJV) Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;

(Ezek 18:12 KJV) Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols [for worship/adoration/veneration], hath committed abomination,

(Ezek 18:15 KJV) That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife,

(Ezek 20:7 KJV) Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

(Ezek 20:8 KJV) But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

(Ezek 20:16 KJV) Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

(Ezek 20:18 KJV) But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

(Ezek 20:24 KJV) Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.

(Ezek 20:31 KJV) For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

(Ezek 22:3 KJV) Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.

(Ezek 22:4 KJV) Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.

(Ezek 23:7 KJV) Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.

(Ezek 23:30 KJV) I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

(Ezek 23:37 KJV) That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.

(Ezek 23:39 KJV) For when they had slain their children to their idols, [child sacrifice to Idols] then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house.

(Ezek 23:49 KJV) And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

(Ezek 30:13 KJV) Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.

(Ezek 33:25 KJV) Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land?

(Ezek 36:18 KJV) Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:

(Ezek 36:25 KJV) Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

(Ezek 37:23 KJV) Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

(Ezek 44:10 KJV) And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.

(Ezek 44:12 KJV) Because they ministered unto them before their idols, [in front of their idols] and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.

(Hosea 4:17 KJV) Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

(Hosea 8:4 KJV) They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

(Hosea 13:2 KJV) And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

(Hosea 14:8 KJV) Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.

(Micah 1:7 KJV) And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

(Hab 2:18 KJV) What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

(Zec 10:2 KJV) For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.

(Zec 13:2 KJV) And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.

(Acts 15:20 KJV) But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

(Acts 15:29 KJV) That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled....

(Acts 21:25 KJV) As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.

(1 Cor 12:2 KJV) Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

(2 Cor 6:16 KJV) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

(1 Th 1:9 KJV) For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;

(1 John 5:21 KJV) Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

(Rev 2:14 KJV) But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols....

Is there any concept of Idols or Idolatry that these Verses have Not Covered ???

Use of Idols is willful opposition to God

Idolatry

(1 Sam 15:23 KJV) For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

(Acts 17:16 KJV) Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given [Entirelly Committed] to idolatry.

(1 Cor 10:14 KJV) Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

(Gal 5:20 KJV) Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

The Ten Commandments and Idolatry

Using Idols or Graven Images, or practicing Idolatry is forbidden in the Ten Commandments

Here is what God said in Exodus 20: 

25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.

20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 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:

5 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;

6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Notice Verse 4 above: Making a "graven image"  - even Making a graven image, is forbidden. And a "Graven image" means either a Statue/Sculpture OR a painting/picture

Bowing to a statue or an image is forbidden by God !

Notice what the Old Testament Bible says. It does not say: don't make images of OTHER gods,; The criteria of what kind of "graven image" NOT to make is very specific: 

any likeness of any thing that is 

1)  in heaven above, or [such as God, or Jesus or any Christian in Heaven]

2)  that is in the earth beneath, or 

3) that is in the water under the earth:

If Catholics maintain that those they call "Saints" are in heaven, and the Bible says NOT to make any graven Image (either statue, icon, engraving, sculpture, representation, etc) of anything which is in Heaven, then making a Statue or using a statue [or an Icon] of any person who is in heaven, would ITSELF be a SIN, a breaking of the ten commandments, and a direct violation of what God tells us NOT to do. 

Just for good measure, just to be sure that we do not misunderstand, there are about one thousand pages of the Old Testament that is filled with dozens and dozens of examples of history of the Jews using IDOLS and God both rebuking them for this, and removing Kings from their thrones for the USE of Idols and the practice of Idolatry. 

The Ten Commandments and Idolatry - 

Here is the other passage in the Old Testament where the Ten Commandments are listed. Notice the same forbidding of the use of Idols, Any idols. 

Deuteronomy 5

7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

8 Thou shalt not make 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 waters beneath the earth:

9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto 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,

10 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

If the Eastern Orthodox maintain that those they call "Saints" are in heaven, and the Bible says NOT to make any graven Image (either statue, icon, engraving, sculpture, representation, etc) of anything which is in Heaven, then making a Statue or using a statue [or an Icon] of any person who is in heaven, would ITSELF be a SIN, a breaking of the ten commandments, and a direct violation of what God tells us NOT to do. 

God instructs us to NOT either Make Idols or Use Idols because He wants us to concentrate on Him and on what He has shared with us in the Bible. Yes, we have the freedom to disregard it and NOT do what God says, but that does not count either as service to God or Faithfulness to God. Claiming that we know God means that we must do what HE tells us that He wants, and that we must NOT do what He tells us not to do. 

While no one is perfect (except for Jesus Christ), Once we know and understand what NOT to do, God expects us to STOP and Try to Stop the practices which He states He has a problem with, such as Idolatry. It is easy for us to want to suggest that God should be happy with our efforts. That is another way of saying that we know better than God - what Kind of worship God AUGHT to want.  Placing ourselves in the place of God, is also Idolatry, and that would be worshiping ourselves instead of God. 

What is the Solution to using Idols ?

Here is what the Bible says:

I John 1: 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, [to God in the name of Jesus Christ] he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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Stay Away from Idols. Give them Up ! Depart from them ! 

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The Real Question is: what are you going to do with the information that was presented above ?

Is the Information True ? Yes

Is the Information Accurate ? Yes.

Do I - before God - have some responsibility to accept and act on the information in this passage from the New Testament ? Should I be making an effort to understand the End Times ?

Do I understand that there are Spiritual Forces that want to prevent me from having GREATER spiritual understanding about God, but that God himself is always in MORE of a hurry than I am, for Me to get to know HIM ?

Do I realize what my personal state of preparation will be, within me, when Islam becomes the Dominant Religion in the United States, as it is already in Europe, and how I will personally be required to defend my Faith, by argument and persuasion, using knowledge of the Bible and of History and of Christianity, and that God will rightly hold me accountable ?

In view of these facts, should I try to set aside more time for the study of the Word of God, and more time for the study of History and the true history of the Christian Church, and to learn about how other Christians in the past, actually learned to have and to gain GREAT and genuine spiritual strength ?

If no one reaches out to help prepare me for the coming challenges, whose job is it STILL for me to be prepared to answer these challenges and questions ?

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