Topical Index of Scriptures

Idols and "other gods"

 

These "other gods" include all of today's man-made visions and fictional counterfeits of our holy, mighty, loving and saving God -- our Lord and King. He has revealed Himself to His own people through the combined work of His Word and Spirit, working together in our hearts.


Scriptures relevant to our times:

 

"You shall have no other gods before Me." Exodus 20:3

 

"....these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?" Ezekiel 14:3

 

"... their gods shall be a snare to you."  Judges 2:3

 

"...when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them... [then] your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God. ... you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
      "...if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods... you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God."
Deuteronomy 8:10-20

 

"'Be very desolate,' says the Lord. 'For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns -- broken cisterns that can hold no water.'" Jeremiah 2:12-13

 

"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
 

" ... if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples." 2 Chronicles 7:19-20

 

"...you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress."  Judges 10:12-14

 

"If your brother... secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth,  you shall not consent to him or listen to him." Deuteronomy 13:6-8

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. "
1 John 4:17

 

"They have no knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image,
And pray to a god that cannot save.
Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together.
Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time?  Have not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior;
There is none besides Me.
Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other."
Isaiah 45:20-22
 

"I have declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass....
Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them
....’"
Isaiah 48:3-5
 

Scriptures that may seem more relevant to the idols of ancient times but provide guidelines for today:

 

"'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I will not be inquired of by you. What you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, ‘We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.’" Ezekiel 20:31-32

 

"They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger." 
Deuteronomy 32:16

 

"For anyone... who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by Myself. I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the Lord." Ezekiel 14:7-8

 

"What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?"  1 Corinthians 10:19-22

 

"Each of you, throw away the abominations which are before his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ But they rebelled against Me and would not obey Me. They did not all cast away the abominations which were before their eyes." Ezekiel 20:7-8

 

"I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’ Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments.... Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness... I also raised My hand in an oath to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them... because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols." Ezekiel 20:10-16

 

"...there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake....’" Ezekiel 20:43-44


"...I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. And they shall know that I am the Lord; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them." 
Ezekiel 6:9-10

 

"...Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke, and said to Daniel, 'Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. Now o the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not give the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations and explain enigmas. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
      "Then Daniel answered, and said before the king, 'Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O king,  the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. And because of the majesty that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. ... But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys...  till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses.
     "But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand a and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written.
      "And this is the inscription that was written: 'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.'
      "This is the interpretation of each word. Mene: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; Tekel: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; Peres: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."
Daniel 5:13-28

 

"But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent...." Revelation 9:20-21


"'...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served... or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' So the people answered and said: 'Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods....'"  Joshua 24:15-16


See also Deut 18:9-12, Deut 28:15, Jeremiah 1:16; 2:11-13, 19, 23-25, 27-28, 34-35, 37 and Philippians 3:18-20

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