Giving, the Being versus the Doing

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; (1Peter 1:15)

There is a very big problem with the way we teach obedience to the persons God has entrusted for our instruction. I want to start this by asking a simple question. What drives your obedience? What is the reason you teach obedience, if at all you teach?

Are we bribing people to obedience? Do we really paint a portrait of God in our teaching or are we content with a congregation that follows whatever whim we have in the guise of obedience?

From a study of the scriptures, it is abundantly clear that God was not interested in establishing a rule book by which everything else is assessed. He does not have a check list through which to gauge where you are going according to the amount of correct ticks you receive.

God created man for fellowship, and fellowship is not evaluated by the amount of ticks one receives. You might do all the right things and fail terribly just as you may fail in almost everything yet be successful.

Why do children from wealthy families opt to live on the streets? Why is unfaithfulness more prevalent in people who have ‘everything’? Why does a married woman sleep with her gym instructor? Why does a man sleep with, even marry his wife’s house girl? It is the same reason.

God created us relationally. We get fulfillment from relationships and not things. No ticks will compensate for neglect in the relational dimension.

Yet that is what we are doing in our preaching. We are teaching people to do and do and do. We even think we are successful when we see masses doing and doing without even knowing why they are doing what they are doing.

We even promise gifts for performance to make our people more compliant.

I feel compelled to share this especially when I look and hear and read all that is being spewed out concerning giving. You will not be very wrong if you thought we are using Eastern and African religions to teach giving in church.

I am not mentioning western because most have mistaken western for Christian though for the most part it is as removed from Biblical Christianity as the rest. You see, only the Bible contains valid instruction for the believer.

I will give a few examples in the Old Testament to demonstrate that God was more interested in making us more like Him instead of making us robots to follow rule upon rule from His rule book.

If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down: For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious. (Exodus 22: 26, 27)

Why do people take security for loans? Is it not meant as an exchange for the money given should they delay or default (which may be the same thing)?

Yet look at God. The pledge is a means for the borrower of saying that he will pay back the loan, however poor he is, however long it will take. To the lender, it was just a token and not security for the loan. You therefore returned the pledge before it became cold so that the poor could sleep comfortably. Of course it may mean the loan may take ages to be repaid, if ever.

According to capitalism, that is idiotic. But whoever deceived you that God was a capitalist?

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. (Deuteronomy 15: 7 – 9)

Remember the seventh year? It was a Sabbath for everything. People rested their farms, released Hebrew slaves and wrote off all loans. That is the context of this passage.

Think about the poor man who brought his pledge every morning only for you to return to him every evening coming for another loan a few days or months to the year of release. What will you think? What will you do?

If the first one was difficult, what about this one?

God wanted His people to think like He does. He wanted their hearts to be like His. He wanted them to possess the grace He exemplifies. Give anyway whether you will be repaid or not.

But it doesn’t stop there.

And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. (Leviticus 25: 35 – 37)

Do not charge any interest on those very difficult loans. You give a loan to a neighbor that you are exchanging the pledge morning and evening, and you will not require any interest!

What is the purpose of a loan? What does a loaner get from the loan if there is no interest expected?

Again we think like that because we think that God is a capitalist. Obeying God releases us from the clutches of worldly systems like capitalism, among others.

You can’t be able to do that if God is not your passion. You can’t be able to do that if God is not your example. You can’t be able to do that if you are not an imitator of God. And you will be unable to do that if you do not know God adequately.

There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. (Proverbs 11: 24 – 26)

This shows the hand of God in what earthlings will call folly, wastefulness on others and selling when hoarding a bit will triple the profits.

Simply said, these are not just rules God issued. They are standards He set for His people.

This is the way I relate with you. Will you relate with your neighbors the same way?

Are those the marketplace dynamics we teach to the people God brings to our churches? Is that the way we teach God’s grace?

I will later look at the tithe and its purpose as totally different from the way it is taught in our churches.

For now I thought to break through a series I was writing about to pass this message that God has pressed on my heart.

It is interesting to note that Jesus lived the way He had taught in the OT.

Can you imagine that He gave a thief (Judas) the treasury, and you can be sure He knew it? Do you realize that even when he left to betray Him he was given the go ahead, ‘what you are doing do quickly’ and He allowed him to go with ALL the offerings? And we know it was not an oversight.

God bless you

Idolatry Repackaged 2

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1John 2: 14 – 17)

How do we stop being beggars and become bosses? That is where we left out in the last post.

I want to start with an example of how it can and does happen.

You love worshipping in private, let us say, specifically, in the bathroom. For the Americans, let us simplify by saying as you are taking a bath or shower or something like it.

You thoroughly enjoy singing that you can spend thirty minutes or more there, and not because you are dirty. The shower seems to dig deep in your spirit to produce worship that stops all time once there.

You even get to compose great songs and experiment with all manner of voice combinations and modulations as you sing praise to the King of kings. And you are able to do all that because you are not aware that anyone but God is listening. You are satisfied with your audience of One.

Then some neighbors takes attention of your worship. So much that it deeply affects them.

One day you have some urgency that you leave in a hurry before even bathing.

In the evening, two neighbors confront you with deep concern in their eyes.

‘What happened?’ they ask you.

You ask what they mean as there is nothing that has happened to you or anyone you know.

‘You did not lead us in worship this morning. We always wait for you to do so every morning’.

Of course you are shocked. Not because people were listening but because they were never near your focus; you were singing to God, and Him alone. Even more shocking was the reality that they never even suspected that it was a bathroom pastime. They thought you are a chorister somewhere who practices in the house due to the way you played with all manner of notes.

This introduces a new dynamic. You have to consider an eavesdropper in your shower antics as now you have spectators. You cannot now just sing like you used to. You have to guard your diction and sound projection as you must not disappoint your new fans. And of course you can’t stop singing as you do not want to disappoint your new disciples. What then happens to your worship?

A friend visits your fan and is so impressed with your ‘performance’ that he decides that something must be done. As he listens to some of the songs you composed in your shower antics, he sees a potential and wonders why it is not on the limelight.

He asks you where you recorded the songs and is shocked when you tell him that you have never. He can’t believe it.

Even before asking you, he arranges with a producer friend of his to record your songs. You then have to go fast forward to write them as you only sang them in those shower theatrics.

Before you get out of a daze from all these happenings, you are in a studio recording your first album. The producer, being a big name, is able to make it a great hit that sells very well, making you a tidy sum.

But it also opens doors all over. You are now being invited to sing your shower compositions in churches and weddings and parties all over. You are also being invited for interviews by all the media outlets, from radio to TV and even newspapers. You get to travel so much that you must resign your ‘boring’ job to concentrate on your new passion.

Where is God in all this?

Many pastors will tell you that this is His breakthrough but I want to offer another side to it. Do you realize that this might be the evil one’s strategy to kill your worship relationship with God?

Why am I pouring water on your breakthrough? Has your relationship with God grown through that breakthrough? Do you worship better in the closet since the breakthrough? Do you enjoy prayer more than you did before the breakthrough?

I have once gone through something like that. A door ‘opened’ so wide that all that I needed was to walk through it. Everything was flowing excellently and all indicators were indicating that this was it.

Then at the very end the door was slammed on my face. Of course I went complaining to God. Why open all these doors then close the one at the very end?

He asked me a question I want us to look at. Who opened all those doors?

I looked back at the whole thing. It was my papers, my connections, the promises of people in the right places, etc. All of them were arranged in such a way that I had imagined that God had to be there.

And I have never forgotten that rebuke, over thirty years ago.

Anyway, back to our topic. You have become a star, a sensation, the main event. You end up having no time for yourself, leave alone with God.

But you are ministering. At least that is what everybody is saying. Surprisingly, you are more intent in working on your voice than your heart. It becomes imperative to attend a music and voice school yet there is not enough time to read the Bible. Even when you must attend a prayer meeting, it is your voice that is needed instead of your prayer. You even think it is shameful to sing in a shower room as there are better places to practice your singing. What will people think when they hear their star singing in the shower?

You will then be crowded with events and ministry invitations, so much that you will barely have time to rest. Even the holidays you are invited to will be to minister to those holidaying. You become an authority on every topic under heaven because of that gift. Elders and statesmen remove their hats and bow to you for your excellence. You become an authority on marriage yet you are not married. You sin and nobody notices, or even seems to care as it does not affect the gift.

Do you know what has happened? You have idolized the gift. In fact it is even worse. The gift has become your god.

Is there any difference between the two? You may ask. Of course there is. Your god feeds you, gives you significance, provides for you, and even defines you.

Aside from the gift your life may simply expire.

Did God expose that gift? Probably, or probably not. You see God will expose it for His glory and not simply your breakthrough. That He is the source of that gift is not in question.

The product of that exposure could indicate the source of the exposure.

The speed of the exposure and the very wide open doors even before you envision or plan for it, let alone pray about it could be an indicator that God may have been out of the equation. The fact that your worship diminished and maybe died altogether may indicate that Christ was not the one behind the exposure. But it also indicates something else; you were careless or negligent in your spirituality. That is why you were taken advantage of.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (Ephesians 3:20)

We will hide our idolatry under this verse. But do you realize that the excess here comes from our prayers and not outside them? Do you realize that that excess you think is your breakthrough may be an abortion of God’s purpose for you? Do you realize that what you are calling a breakthrough may have removed you from the narrow path to the highway to hell?

Solomon is an example. God gave him wisdom and wealth and influence. Probably without knowing, he sought to increase it and probably became too cozy to offend his fans. He then started making alliances that are alright businesswise but that needed to be contracted in ways that God had forbidden. He forgot God for the biz and lost both.

He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. (Isaiah 44: 14 – 17)

The gift becomes your god when it starts defining you. It becomes your god when it results in your becoming less spiritual. It is your god when it makes you depend less on God. And it is your god when you can reason and explain around the Bible verses that do not agree with you.

Another thing that happens is that as you get more into the idolatry, God speaks less and less and logic and sense seem to prevail. Godly company becomes abhorrent, especially those who are not wowed by your gift and will confront your neglect of spirituality.

Of course you will elevate your class. Move to a classy neighborhood, drive a classy car, buy classy furniture, eat in classy restaurants … Many times this is a way to shunt those with a capacity to confront your backslidden state. Yet it will be invisible to you as your ‘ministry’ boundaries are enlarging by the day.

Let me give some indicators that the gift has become your god.

Your closeness to God is affected. God’s will on a day to day basis starts being vague on almost all areas. It becomes easier to explain away your conduct and negligent of the spiritual using songs and singers instead of scripture. You find yourself using verses to explain the fact that you are unable to hear from God. To say the truth you are scared to hear from God as deep within there is a dread that you are way off His standard.

The Bible also starts losing its taste. You will find yourself reading the Bible to reduce guilt as opposed of doing it for the enjoyment and joy of hearing from God as you read His word. Singing itself becomes an end as opposed to being a pathway to a richer experience with God and worship.

And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her. (Ecclesiastes 7:26)

The second indicator is in relationships. Can God lead you to do something He hates? Why then would He lead you to a relationship so abusive that it will end in divorce even as you serve Him?

And it does not mean having your heart in the right place makes you super wise or discerning. God is the one who will shield you from such folly, however foolish you may be. If God’s people will be honest, they will tell you that the reason they have overcome and overran some things is not because they are the best. They will confess that God protected them from their folly. And I am an example.

I can confess that there are relationships I bled from when God without my slightest permission wrenched them from my hands leaving me heartbroken. Yet looking at them now I realize that had they continued they could have emasculated my ministry and response to God’s leadership. And I am talking of godly girls. They have no capacity even now to handle the path God has ordained for me.  I remember once God telling me that the girl I was in a relationship with was not the one but I loved her so much. In fact we tried to break up a number of times without success. But I really wanted to do God’s will.

Then God stepped in. He parted us in a way only He understood. I have never seen her since.

It is not wisdom that shields us from folly. It is God who protects us in the midst of our folly because we are submitted to His Lordship. He will protect us from our raging hormones because we seek to lift His standard. Joseph did not overcome because his body was made of steel. His blood was as hot, if not hotter than any young man his age. But he had a standard that he lived by, God’s.

Let me give a scriptural example. In 1 Samuel 27, David flees from Israel as a political refugee. He is then able to package himself thus, showing his host that he had no chance of being ever accepted by his people. His host, who was one of the five principals that made the Philistines was so convinced that he decided to keep him in charge of his body guard.

But David’s political gamble backfires when the Philistines go to war against Israel. Achish must have David in his army as he battles the Israelites. What will David now do? What would you have done had you been in David’s shoes?

That is where God steps in to rescue His servant from a difficult fix. And that is what He does to anyone sold out to Him.

When we find ourselves being left to our devices and God does not come to our protection, it is very possible that we are not worshipping Him but the gift He gave us.

The other is business. How does an unbeliever produce a spiritual song? How can God guide a worshipper to a studio being run by an unbeliever? How does He provide instrumentalists who have no capacity to worship as you do? Can their accessorizing offer any spiritual addition to the worship you are offering?

2 Corinthians 6: 14 is used for marriage, though at this point of breakthrough it is explained away. Yet do you know that it probably talks more about business than marriage? Do you realize that a lot of worship is killed in those studios?

I am a writer and know that the spiritual state of a designer can alter the book is ways the spiritual can easily see. I have seen it enough times as I write and publish upcoming authors. Again there are writers who come to me for assistance in their writing who will literally run away when we start interacting as they sense the spirit I am moving in. And that is the primary reason I do not charge for my services (editing, layout, publishing) as it will interfere with God’s standard in me. I once did a book of an author who had some issues and the battles I fought were intense though I knew about his issues after the book was done.

God will protect you from such folly even in your folly if you are submitted to Him. But it is impossible for an unspiritual man to produce a spiritual song, however good they are in their profession. And this is where most musicians fall as they must submit under the spirit the producer operates under. Jesus talked about springs and the kind of water they produce. Or do you think music is exempt from that reality?

Next time we will talk about the sin element and how it is a pointer of the god we are worshipping.

Idolatry Repackaged

If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. (Haggai 2: 12 – 14)

I want us to continue on our last post. I want us to look at idolatry and how we can join it without being aware.

I want us to look at things we do that make us fellow workers with the evil one even when we think we are serving God. And we will use the verses as the reference point.

Like I asked last time, have you ever come across poor homosexuals, or hopeless (in the worldly sense) atheists? Have you seen poor people proudly worshipping the devil?

Have you ever heard people praying for the devil to feed them when they were hungry or protect them when they felt unsafe?

The natural cry for a person in need is to God who is in charge of the universe. It is clear that only God has a complete package to solve all our problems.

That is the reason even false religions and cults will hide the identity of the gods they worship as the creator to their masses. They will reveal their identities when the members grow in rank and worship. And that is why you hear Muslims saying they worship the God we worship as that is how they are presented their religion. It is that ignorance that blinds them to the fact that it is impractical that they will hate and kill Christians if they worship the same god with them

But as one grows in the faith, they are presented with the truth that they serve another god, a god who is ‘allergic’ to the Christian faith and worship since it exposes their hypocrisy and evil worship.

On the same vein it is the same with many things we identify with Christianity. Like marriage, capitalism, church government and many other cultures we ignorantly identify with our faith when reality shows us that they are as removed from the scriptures as some of those things we detest.

I know I have stirred the hornet’s nest with that statement. But I will just challenge you to examine that ‘christian’ culture you are defensive about in the light of the scriptures, not just a verse here and another there.

But let us get back to our topic.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61: 1 – 3)

Like we have seen, nobody will cry to the devil to sort him out in their down times. No one will pray to the devil for healing.

That is the reason Christ was anointed to preach glad tidings to the poor. They are the ones who need those tidings. The rich are comfortable in their tidings to need anything better. Their lives are complete, at least in their eyes. Remember Jesus telling the wealthy man in hell that the rich are so full of their lives that they will not be influenced by someone coming from the dead? In their complacency, even the miracle of resurrection is no big deal!

How do we transition from beggars to the complacent? That is the message I feel God has for us today.

Let me start with a question. What would you do if you got more money than you needed? What would you do if you got three good job offers at the same time? What would you do if you received an all-expense paid holiday to a resort of your dreams? What would you do if you were invited in two or three different churches of different financial capabilities and generosity quotients to minister at the same time? What would you do if several producers approach you offering to record your spiritual songs?

Would you go for a season of prayer and fasting to get God’s take on those developments/ breakthroughs? Would you raise a prayer team to bring God into the decisions you will need to make? Would you seek the counsel of people you respect for being able to clearly hear from God?

Is that what we do?

That is where the lordship equation changes. This is where we realize (and will want to show) what we are made of. That is the point at which we will want to demonstrate our wisdom. This is when we want to show that we are in control. And this is where Eve found herself in Eden.

We have no problem seeking God’s face when facing challenges. But we have a problem doing the same when He abounds to us. What we don’t realize is that taking the independence route is taking the route to another lordship, the lordship of the prince of the world.

And he comes in very subtly, first using very reasonable suggestions. You do not need to pray. Surely God also blessed you with reason and sense. God won’t mind you have fun. Why should you pray for food when it is on the table?

Slowly by slowly you will learn to avoid seeking God’s face or direction.

And I need to state that the reason the devil succeeds here is the fear we have of submitting to God’s Lordship, because we know what that lordship might imply.

I know He can order me to give all that money away, and I really feel I must go for that holiday now that I can afford it. Or He could order me to take the lowliest paying job when I have planned for that prestigious one. He could even tell me to go to minister to that miserly church when I have budgeted for the honorarium I will receive from the rich church.

Have you ever realized that God will very rarely order someone to leave employment because of the pressure and opposition, even persecution? He issues the order when things literally couldn’t be better. That is when my submission to His lordship can be seen. And that is where most people fall.

David didn’t sin when he was battling all those enemies. He fell into sin when he was relaxing in his palace after sending his army to fight his battles.

Noah didn’t get drunk when he was building the ark. He did it after harvesting and probably thought to have some fun.

The long and short of what I am saying is that we have no issues asking and receiving from God. But we really have a problem allowing Him to manage what He has given us. And this because we are not very sure we will like what He will order us to do with those gifts. We think we are better equipped to manage them, especially because we are scared of what He may order us to do.

I will close here for now as I intend to develop this later. But I want to leave you with these questions.

Have you ever raised a prayer team after receiving your salary? Have you fasted and prayed after receiving that loan? Have you humbled yourself in prayer after signing that contract? Have you ever even though of doing so?

The Folly of Idolatry

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. (Exodus 32:4)

Have you ever realized that idolatry for the most part is willful folly and idiocy if you looked at it from outside?

Have you, like me, challenged an idolater to explain why they believe and behave as they do? Do not some of their explanations border on lunacy? By the way you will get the same if you asked a religious person as most religions worship idols, however much to the contrary they may argue.

Have you ever thought why tribal customs and taboos are very foolish when examined by other tribes, yet most binding on tribe members?

I say this because I was fortunate enough to attend national schools far from home and therefore interacted with most tribes of Kenya. We were therefore able to exchange views as greenhorns eager to make sense of what other tribes did different from us.

A tribe in the Bible is a community of people revolving around similar gods. Everything they do is therefore related to the worship of that god. That is what defines culture, traditions, history, etc.

We think we have progressed when we dissociate our culture with worship. What we are doing is however more foolish than acknowledging it. This is because you will realize that there are more unanswered questions that will make no sense otherwise.

But you realize that the devil is the master of masquerade and camouflage. Ignorance is the best weapon in his arsenal as we see even in the fall of man. He approached Eve instead of Adam who had been issued with the commandment. Remember Simon of Samaria was called the great power of God yet he was a sorcerer (Acts 8)?

One of the strongest bonds to culture is ignorance. Try to understand why your tribe does things in a certain way and the priests will hide under a veil of indescribable mysteries.

The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? (Isaiah 44: 12 – 20)

That is idolatry for you. But it is when you look at it from outside.

Why do I insist on outside? It is because there are other players when one is on the inside. These are the ones that blind one from seeing the folly of what they are doing.

An idol is not just an object. It is something I have hallowed to the devil. I have dedicated it to the prime use of the evil one, whether I think it is to the living God or not.

God does not need images. In fact He forbids images in His worship.

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; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20: 4 – 6)

It is the devil who needs images to take captive of the rebellious masses.

Once I elevate an image, I give the devil permission to inhabit it and start performing magic (counterfeit miracles) from it. This transforms what was formerly a useless piece of wood to a temple that is inhabited by spirits which camouflage as God.

An elevated image converts a place to a shrine. It converts a tree to a high place.

What converts them is the dedication that invites demons to indwell them.

Interestingly, it is the same thing that happens when I exalt a gift above its function.

Let us say I am an artist who draws excellent things. My art becomes so elevated that I am treated as super human. Due to the favors I enjoy, I think it is my entitlement. This invites the evil one to my gift, and eventually my person. He therefore starts using my art to further his agenda.

Why do I say this? Have you ever noticed that excellence many times breeds immorality and wickedness? Have you ever noticed that atheists are very gifted persons; that homosexuals are rarely run of the mill characters?

A gift not submitted to its giver (God the creator) opens its possessor to the control of demons. It is sad that we even see ministers fall into that trap all so often at the peak of their popularity. Or haven’t you seen pastors who sleep around with their parishioners without feeling any conviction? Have you not seen others who become alcoholic at their peak?

When I see a gift instead of the giver, I will ultimately worship the gift, whether I am aware that what I do to it is worship or not. And when I worship the gift, it attains the status of a god, a god that must perform ‘miracles’ to continue being treated thus.

That is where the devil comes in.  He infests that idol with his power and manifestation. And if he can confuse my worship with the worship of the true God, he will win the war hands down. He will then push his agenda so powerfully so that he can erase the worship of the Creator God by simply changing His standards. Then he can rule us by our permissions, more like what he did to Eve.

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (Romans 1: 21 – 28)

You see God is Lord of all or not Lord at all. We either worship Him ONLY or we are worshipping another god. He does not share His glory with another or His praise with images, even when the images are gifts from Him.

That is why sin and wickedness are the normal fruits of our taking our eyes off our Creator. It is because our eyes must be focused elsewhere, and there is one who relishes our taking our eyes from God.

This explains why pastors slowly stop preaching against sin and for holiness yet the Bible says that without holiness no one can see God. They have taken their eyes from God and focused on their gift and giftedness. Of course the devil has taken that giftedness and inhabited it with their permission.

Do you think Diotrephes (3 John) started as a tyrant? Or do you think the ministers going to hell in Matthew 7: 21 – 23 started with hell being their goal? Do you think the Matthew 25 crowd set out with the goal of being disqualified?

Who starts looking for money with hell being his desire? What happens then that it becomes easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter heaven?

Most start very nobly with their eyes on God. They look for the good job so that they can be more effective in their ministry or outreach. That is why many give vows. Many look for money not just to be independent or wealthy, but to be able to serve God in greater ways.

But the job, and business, and wealth slowly change to be goals, diverting our attention and eventually worship from God, the One we had started with.

Again let me ask. Have you ever come across a poor homosexual? Have you ever come across an illiterate atheist? Have you ever encountered an ignoramus as a sex maniac?

All these start with a gift, then a focus from God to the gift. Then the devil automatically takes over from there.

That in short, is where idolatry for most starts. A gift growing in prominence until it overshadows the giver. It then attracts the indwelling of the evil one as God will never come close to an idol however elevated it is, even by the whole world.

For example, almost all musicians start their music in church. They perfect their art as they worship God. Then they start receiving acclaim. Of course that acclaim is addictive. It feels very nice to be appreciated and treated very nice for that gift you possess.

Then you start becoming the life of any event you attend. The service won’t proceed before you play a tune. A party won’t start before you sing a song. A prayer won’t be said before you give a melody. And of course there are enough gifts and special seats so that you can serve better.

Then you realize that nobody cares whether you are spiritual or not. No one will notice when you are battling conviction for sin or neglect of spiritual growth. You can be coming from fornication yet the pastor will still tell you to play the instrument and lead in song.

It goes without say that the gift will become more important than the object of my worship, because that is what everybody notices and acknowledges. You will therefore put your all in developing that gift and nothing in improving that worship. The audience becomes more important than God, who you may still think is the object of that worship. His word becomes just a source of lyrics instead of the word of God. You start dressing for the audience instead of God, of course because it is the audience that feeds you.

Have you realized that most ‘worship leaders’ and instrumentalists will leave the church hall after ‘performing’? Very few will waste time listening to boring sermons and other things that do not enhance their gift. Have you also noticed that few pastors waste their time following those boring services and arrive just before they are called to preach? Their gift is everything, the focus of everything they do.

Their gift has become an idol. We are back to where we started. It is the devil who will enhance their gift from that point on. He will, however, take great pains to ensure that you do not even suspect that. Then you will grow in your worship of the gift being boosted by the one who now inhabits that gift.

Ever wondered how someone whose desperate prayer in a crisis was answered yet they forgot at all who God was? Many times they start worshipping the answered prayer and rescue. God then becomes an addendum to that idol. Yet we know that God will never fit as such.

I remember a friend who was a model of Christian commitment. We even used to go for fellowships in his house when I was a child. His family was solid, even enviable to us children. But he was just a farmer, a fairly successful one. He was fully committed to church and fellowships which did not fit in the denominational structure.

Then recently I heard very disturbing reports about him. He got a very good job, a job that apart from a salary had many other ‘extras’. He got into drunkenness and has been fighting it for so long without success. What changed about him? I believe his new breakthrough became a focus. I pray that God will give me an opportunity to hear it from him.

How do we escape that?

Like Joshua 1:8 says we must value God’s word and spend our all in knowing and obeying it. We must copy Ezra as recorded in Ezra 7: 10.

It is difficult to stray if we are committed to God and His word.