God created all things, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, always was and always will be and God created us because He loves us. He created us to love Him and serve him.
Go to:
Exodus 20, vs: 2-6 in the Old Testament:
The Decalogue
Then God spoke all these words. He recorded the first commandment from vs: 2-6
"I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you lived as slaves. You shall have no other gods to rival me. You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish a parent's fault in the children, the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren among those who hate me; but I act with faithful love towards thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."
The word "jealous" comes up many times in the bible and in most cases it refers to a jealous God and even though the word Idolatry only shows up twelve times you must be made aware the in many areas of the Bible false gods are referred to often with warnings to avoid and stay away from them. Nothing, absolutely nothing, revolts and angers God more than idolatry and the worship of false gods and if we wish to gain favor from God we must obey. His commandments and serve God alone.
As a Roman Catholic I have been asked by many non-Catholic friends about the practice of idol worship, they have referred to the statues, the mosaics, the icons, the paintings and all the beautiful pieces of art that so beautifully depict the heritage and the history of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. I have always answered them by letting them know that I have never ever worshipped nor intend to worship these treasures of the Church. I let them know that they in fact are there as an inspiration to me, a reminder of those saints, martyrs, apostles, prophets, priests and popes that have blazed the trail and delivered the Gospels through our Churches rich history. I reassure them that I realize there is but one God, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, and my Heavenly Father. I have always felt pretty secure in my faith in God. After talking with many of my Catholic friends I believe most of them feel the same way I do, however, I have spoken to some who have expressed that they have seen something alive in some of the pieces of art, they refer to some supernatural event or vision connected with an icon or a statue. In doing more research, I have found that within various ethnic groups and cultures in the Church their faith and belief in statues leans more toward what could be considered idol worship. This also occurs in third world countries where Catholicism has been introduced and many converts continued practicing rituals from their traditional pagan religions. Unfortunately even here in various parts of the United States some Catholic faithful practice a superstitious form of worship with their Catholic Faith. There are some forms of idol worship that we in the United States partake in more than anywhere else in the world. This idol worship has nothing to do with statues or images. We all are guilty of this idol worship regardless whether we are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Black, White, Male or Female that idol worship has to do with our vain appearance, our popularity, and our checkbook. We sometimes find we spend more time worshipping ourselves in our uncontrollable vanity. Our money has become the greatest of our gods.
We rarely have the ability to control it, so often times our money controls us. People are worried more today about their financial portfolios than they are about their relationship with God. In scripture Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is Gods." MA. 22:26. Jesus also told us it would be harder for a wealthy man to enter the gates of heaven, than a camel to go through the eye of a needle." MK. 18:25. I was in a hospital waiting room the other morning while my wife underwent a medical examination, it was about 7 am and the morning show was on. The big news was the bankruptcy of World Com and the continuing decline of the stock market globally. They interviewed 4 people who had lost vast sums of money. One man had a portfolio last year worth $750,000.00; today he moaned it has a value of less than $50,000.00. As he moaned of his losses he explained that he didn't know whom to trust anymore, "I put my faith in Smith Barney, he exclaimed, if you can't trust Smith Barney, just whom can you trust?" My seven year old daughter was sitting next to me and as I looked around the waiting room I saw many gloomy faces watching, ironically they weren't gloomy with worry for their loved ones in the hospital at that moment, they were upset also with the stock market and what was being said. I heard whispers, one man saying to his wife, what are we to do? Anguish was written upon their faces, I looked at Victoria my seven year old daughter and said, "Victoria, he put his faith in the wrong person, I asked Victoria who he should have trusted and to whom he should have put his faith in and she looked up at me and said, "God daddy." Oh the understanding and wisdom God gives little children! Our money, our vanity, our power, our property, our automobiles, all these and many other things have become our gods not only for Catholics but for people of all denominations and beliefs all over the world. We are all guilty of idolatry and it's time we identify and rebuke this very offensive sin before God!
God and money
`No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.
Trust in Providence
`That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and what you are to wear. Surely life is more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, however much you worry, add one single cubit to your span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin;
yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these.
Now if that is how God clothes the wild flowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you who have so little faith? So do not worry; do not say, `What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?' It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.
Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well.
So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." MT. 6:24-34
God has touched my heart; He has asked me to be bold and to make a statement on this very important issue. God warned me that I would make some enemies, I would anger some people, I would upset some in the leadership of the church but he also warned me that He, Yahweh is angered, the God of Israel is jealous that He, the God of Abraham, has come to separate the wheat from the chaff. He has told me to tell you that the day of the Lord has arrived and because of His great love for you His patience has kept Him seated. God has told me to tell you that He is standing at the throne right now, that the day of judgment is at hand, He has told me to tell you to Repent, to come to Him and Him alone, it is Yahweh your God who speaks. Listen and heed this warning of Love, you are my children; I want to bring you home, heed and obey what I have commanded you.
I have had the pleasure of living a life of faith, a life of trust in love with God! I have always yearned and desired to be used by God and to serve Him in whatever way He opens for me.
When I think of the saints, I think of very humble servants of God, servants in love with God, servants that wanted to do nothing but bring God to those in the world that never knew God. I see humble people; I look at recent saints and Blessed people. People like Mother Theresa, Padre Pio and Blessed Father Solonus Casey.
I see humble servants that never had a selfish bone in their bodies, they gave all that they had and expected nothing in return. Sometimes I wonder what they are thinking right now as they sit in heaven with God. I wonder just what they are thinking as they look down onto this world and see so many giving homage and adoration to them, focusing only on them not giving much thought to God the creator. These saints, these martyrs, these prophets, priests and popes must be looking at us, praying for us that we would put our focus on God, the God they served. I know without any doubt that they must be saying to us, "Please, I am nothing, it is God that you must pay homage too, it is God you must serve!" I think that these great people feel very embarrassed, as they were such humble people!
The greatest of the living Saints today is Pope John Paul II. I am writing this while he is in Toronto, Canada, for Youth day. This holy man is so intent on bringing God to people young and old that he continues to journey even while suffering with the final stages of Parkinson disease. Look at him when he shares Jesus, he can barely stand, he is drooped over, his speech is slurred. The message he delivers today is even more powerful than in his healthier years of the past. Before millions he drools, he wipes his face with his pure white sleeve as he shares the Gospel. Pope John Paul II is the perfect example of humility and love; he is a perfect example of a servant. He desires no attention for himself; he only desires attention to the God who sent him. If his desires were for himself he would have stopped his pilgrimages when his very sick body showed signs of weakness. Pope John Paul II is truly the Vicar of Christ; he lives Christ and is Christ to his flock here on earth. I cannot speak for Pope John Paul II but knowing what Virtue is, I would say that nothing is important to this man except the God he serves and it is that God that he wants us to serve!
St. Paul writes:
No compromise with idolatry
For that reason, my dear friends, have nothing to do with the worship of false gods. I am talking to you as sensible people; weigh up for yourselves what I have to say. The blessing-cup, which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ; and the loaf of bread, which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
And as there is one loaf, so we, although there are many of us, are one single body, for we all share in the one loaf. Now compare the natural people of Israel: is it not true that those who eat the sacrifices share the altar?
What does this mean? That the dedication of food to false gods amounts to anything? Or that false gods themselves amount to anything?
No, it does not; simply that when pagans sacrifice, what is sacrificed by them is sacrificed to demons who are not God. I do not want you to share with demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons as well; you cannot have a share at the Lord's table and the demons' table as well.
Do we really want to arouse the Lord's jealousy; are we stronger than he is?" 1 Cor. 10: 14-15
Let's go to the Catholic Bible, the APOCRYPHA and the
Book of Wisdom of Solomon, Chapter 14, vs.22-31
The consequences of idolatry
It is not enough, however, for them to have such misconceptions about God; For, living in the fierce warfare of ignorance, they call these terrible evils peace.
With their child-murdering rites, their occult mysteries, or their frenzied orgies with outlandish customs, they no longer retain any purity in their lives or their marriages, one treacherously murdering another or wronging him by adultery.
Everywhere a welter of blood and murder, theft and fraud, corruption, treachery, riot, perjury, disturbance of decent people, forgetfulness of favours, pollution of souls, sins against nature,
disorder in marriage, adultery and debauchery.
For the worship of idols with no name
is the beginning, cause, and end of every evil.
For these people either carry their merrymaking to the point of frenzy, or they prophesy what is not true, or they live wicked lives, or they perjure themselves without hesitation; since they put their trust in lifeless idols they do not reckon their false oaths can harm them.
But they will be justly punished for this double crime: for degrading the concept of God by adhering to idols; and for wickedly perjuring themselves in contempt for what is holy.
For it is not the power of the things by which they swear but the punishment reserved for sinners that always follows the offences of wicked people."
There is nothing I need say to attempt to convince you, for I am nothing but one of you. It is God who has instructed each one of us in His holy word. It is God that you should be listening to. It is God your Father who has instructed you in these ways of faith, love and truth. Isn't it time that we focus on and honor our God with all that He deserves?
The Pharisees ask for a sign from heaven
The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to put him to the test they asked if he would show them a sign from heaven.
He replied, "In the evening you say, `It will be fine; there's a red sky,' and in the morning, `Stormy weather today; the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to read the face of the sky, but you cannot read the signs of the times.
MT. 16: 1-3
Finally from:
Revelation 22: 6-20 the Epilogue
And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true, and the Lord, the God of prophetic spirits, sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon." "Behold, I am coming soon." Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book. (Referring to the Bible).
It is I John, who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them I fell down at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, "Don't! I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brothers the prophets and of those who keep the message of this book. Worship God."
Then he said to me, "Do not seal up the prophetic words of this book, for the appointed time is near. Let the Wicked still act wickedly, and the filthy still act filthy. The righteous must still do right, and the holy still be holy."
Behold, I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
Blessed are they who wash their robes so as to have the right to the tree of life and enter the city through its gates.
Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the unchaste, the murderers, the idol-worshipers, and all who love and practice deceit.
"I, Jesus sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star."
The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." Let the hearer say "Come." Let the one who thirst come forward, and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving-water.
I warn everyone who hears the prophetic words in this book (the Bible): If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away the words in this prophetic book, God will take away his share of the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book.
The one who gives this testimony says, "Yes, I am coming soon."
Amen! Come Lord Jesus
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.