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Deuteronomy Chapter 13 "Idolatry." This
Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription/ location "Idolatry" is any belief or thing that you place before God. Idolatry can even apply to your time that you should set aside for God. It could be a house, your car, a stick, and even your church. God is going to explain to us in Deuteronomy 13 how we can be on guard so that we will not be deceived and stray away for our commitment to Him. We will see a great deal of God's jealousy come through in this chapter. Deuteronomy 13:1 "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder," There are two new words that come into the scripture for the first time, the "sign" and the "wonder". Deuteronomy 13:2 "And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, 'Let us go after other gods,' which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;" Stop and think for a moment what is said here. A prophet comes along, and performs some great miracles for you, right in plain sight. You witness them first hand, and by doing these supernatural things, he tries to lure you into worshipping other gods. First of all, common sense should tell you that God is going to send any one that will lead you away from Himself. God may send a prophet telling you to worship Him, but not to worship any other god or form of religion system. In the word "sign" or "wonder" in the Hebrew it is "owth", which is; "a signal, flag, beacon, omen or miracle." False prophets bring false signs of how something is, when in fact it is not according to God's Word. Paul warned us also of this happening in II Thessalonians 2. II Thessalonians 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition," II Thessalonians 2:4 "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God." This is the speaking of the coming of the "son of perdition", who is Satan in the role of the Antichrist. Satan will sit in the temple in Jerusalem and proclaim himself to be God, and the world will believe him. Satan will tell the world that he is God, and by what He does, will convince the world that he is God. II Thessalonians 2:5 "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" Paul is reminding the Thessalonians that he told them that this would happen when he was their with them in person. II Thessalonians 2:6 "And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time." II Thessalonians 2:7 "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." The word "let" and "letteth" in the Greek text is "katecho, to hold fast and to hold down". Paul is telling us that this one that will come and proclaim himself to be God, and sit in the temple in Jerusalem declaring such a thing, is at the present time being held fast. We know from Revelation 12:7-9, that it is Michael that is holding Satan fast in Heaven at this time. Satan will not be released by Michael until the appointed time in which sixth trumpet will announce his release. Revelation 12:7 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels." Remember that this is John writing while in the spirit on the day of the Lord, that last day of this earth age, looking back on the events that have happened to that date. This war is going on now in our generation, and it will end very shortly when Satan comes to earth in his role as the instead of Christ, or Antichrist. Revelation 12:8 "And prevailed not, neither was there place found any more in heaven." When Satan is on earth reigning from Jerusalem, he will not be in heaven as your accuser before God. Revelation 12:9 "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels with him." This is what happens at the sixth trumpet; Satan arrives on earth with many wonders and miracles so much so that the entire world will think he is God. He arrives here with all his angelic forces, who will appear as men, for we are created in their image. So now at their arrival, after Satan as been set free on this earth, and he "no more letteth" or is held in heaven, so lets read how he comes. II Thessalonians 2:8 "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:" The world, including most Christians will believe that Satan is the Christ. They will now see the fault of their ways until after the damage is done, and Jesus Christ returns at the seventh trumpet. II Thessalonians 2:9 "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders," This is the same thing that Moses warned us about in Deuteronomy 13, to be aware of those false prophets that come with their signs and lying wonders. II Thessalonians 2:10 "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." "The love of the truth" are all the truths given to us in the Old and New Testament alike, warning us, and giving us an account of those lies and signs that Satan will bring with him. God is going to put blinders on the eyes of many Christians so that they simply do not know the truth, for their own sake, for if they did and worshipped Satan, there would be no forgiveness. Their sin in the time of the great deception [tribulation] will be done in ignorance. II Thessalonians 2:11 "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:" The cause is that they may enter the Millennium age of Christ's kingdom, and be saved in that period of time. God is the one that shall cause the strong delusion on that soul for the sake of saving their soul at judgment. II Thessalonians 2:12 "That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteouness." We are coming to that time when Satan will be right here on earth. He is coming with all his lying wonders and signs and supernatural powers that will deceive all those that are not expecting his coming. They are not expecting Satan as he will be because they have been trained to believed the traditions of men, and in evil doctrines. For those that want to believe Satan's lies, God will send a strong delusion over their minds so that they will believe Satan and follow him and be of service to the devil. While they are giving their service to Satan, they will think in their mind that he is the Christ, for they have no knowledge of the events that shall take place in the latter days. They will be taken in the wrong marriage because they chose not to study God's Word and be sealed in their minds. Revelation 13:12 "And he [Satan] exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." The one world political system that now exists will not stand, for it is the first beast mentioned here. The second best is the religious system that rises out of the destruction of the first beast, and it will give honor to and be restored by Satan, who will give power to it. In turn that religious world system will gives back the power it received to Satan, the false christ. Revelation 13:13 "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men [the signs]." Are you starting to see why Moses is warning the people way back in the wilderness that they are to pass God's warning on to the thousand generation. Moses knew that it would be a long time, and that the people would not remain in Palestine, their promise land. This warning in Deuteronomy is to our generation. It is the time Satan will be here on earth and be that false prophet. Satan himself will be doing the great wonders and making the fire come down from heaven. People will see those wonders before their eyes, and they will believe those things because their traditions have told them all sorts of things that are just not true. Through their "rapture theory", they actually believe that they will miss this time, so when it come they think Satan is the true Christ, and before they can help themselves they have been taken by the false christ. Revelation 13:14 "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." This false prophet, or a dreamer of dreams will be given the power to show the signs and wonders that he will be doing, because God will give it to him. It is all part of God's plan for this age, and it is all recorded in His Word. God expects us to seal it in our minds so that we will not be deceived when it happens. These signs and wonders will not just be magic tricks, but supernatural act that will happen here on this earth. Friend, this is not the generation to be playing church, for what you learn and know in your mind is what is going to keep you from being deceived. Our generation will see these things coming to pass. It all happens before the True Christ comes at the seventh trumpet to end this earth age. The deception will happen before our gathering back to Christ, and you had better know what those deceptions are so that you are not deceived. So Moses is telling us that this false prophet is going to tell us to go after this other god that we have not known. The answer is simple, God is not going to send a supernatural entity that would turn His children against Him. You know automatically that this god would be a fake because our God is a jealous God. God has already told us that it is an abomination to worship anyone other than Himself. Deuteronomy 13:3 "Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you. to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." If you see for one moment that any false prophet is trying to steer you away from the Word of God, turn him off and get away from him. God will allow you to hear these dreamers at times, but he expects you to use your common sense, your knowledge of His word to see right through the false prophets for the fakes that they are. This is to test to you and your knowledge of His Word, to see if you have committed all of your self and mind to Him. God uses dreams to lead people, however when those dreams go against His Word, you know that what is revealed is from another spirit and not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God does not cause false dream. If any dream goes against what is written God's Word, it is a lie, and it will not happen that way. There are no new ways, separate from God's Way. We are talking about super-natural miracles, and God will allow this to happen to prove you and see if you have done your studies and homework concerning His Word. Deuteronomy 13:4 "Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him." We are to "cleave unto Him", unto God. There is no other God as far as we are concerned. He gave us the commandments that we are to follow and direct our lives by, and it is only His voice that we are to listen to and serve. He speaks to us through His Word by His Spirit, and we are to observe those things happening around us. We are to know what times we are living in and the events of our time. If the word tells you to go out and burn an animal, naturally we know from the times we are living in that it means that we are to pour our love out before God. For those statutes and ordinances have been fulfilled in Christ. It means that we are to be fair and faithful to Him. Deuteronomy 13:5 "And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, Which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee." This dreamer of lying dreams shall be put to death. For the sake of our reputation and for the sake of updating ourselves into the Word of God, we are to obey all civil laws. The civil law that was in power at Jesus time brought about Jesus death. The religious law could not bring about the crucifixion but went to the civil law, the Roman court, and it ordered the crucifixion of Christ. Today it is up to the religious community to push for the end and destruction of those things that are an abomination to God, but the action must take place first through civil law. Even though the civil courts are in power, God holds us responsible for doing our part. It is up to us to get the civil power's attention to those matters that are important to us. Deuteronomy 13:6 "If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, Saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;" There are two words used here in the Hebrew text for the first time. They are "entice" and "secretly". Their meaning is to "hide by covering". This was aimed at our generation for it is to "cover over the truth". It is the same word used in Ezekiel 13:18, where God said, they "cover secretly my outstreatched hand of salvation, and teach My people to fly to save their souls". It doesn't matter if their prophecies are true or not when they are trying to entice you into worshipping another god. If God didn't send them, they are of Satan. Ezekiel 13:18 "And way,' Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of My People, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?" In this verse the "women" are the "false prophets", the "pillows" are their "false doctrines"; while their "stature" are the high places the are teaching from. When they "hunt souls", they are asking people "are you saved?" This is very common in the church world today, while the people they are asking have no idea what they are being asked. This is not aimed only at the false prophets, but to all of those that are ignorant enough to believe in these fairy-tales. God is saying here that we are to rip off those kerchiefs from every high place, or temple and church and see what is under it. Ezekiel 13:19 "And will ye pollute Me among My People for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to by People that hear your lies?" Again, this is what God is instructing us to say to those who are teaching these false doctrines. Are you going to pollute My Word for money [barley] and for taking vows [bread]? Are you polluting the Word of God because of your budget, pension program, or what is the causes that you peddle these lies? "The "souls that should not die", are those dear people that are studying the Word to find the truth, however because of these false prophet's [minister's] lies, they are being led astray. The lies are anything that gives a false sense of security and causes people to close the bible and not seek the truth. Their lies are things such as; "You don't need to study the Old Testament or the book of Revelation...and so on, you are going to fly away and be gone when the tribulation comes." Ezekiel 13:20 "Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; `Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly." Have you ever wondered what God thinks of your fly-away doctrine and false teaching? well here it is. God said "behold", wake up, I am against your false doctrines [pillows], wherewith ye hunt the souls to make them fly. Did you get that? God is against it when you teach such a thing to any of His children, for it places a false hope in their minds that will lead them directly into Satan's camp. It gives them a false sense of security where they will not study and keep their guard up for the spiritual battle that is ahead. Jesus told us in the parable from the mount of Olives, in Matthew 24; "woe to that woman that is taken first." Then He commands us in verse forty two, "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." The first woman that was taken from the field was taken by the false Christ. The woman is the bride of Christ, and when you are part of the bride of Christ, you are to watch for your true husband, who is Jesus Christ. We are to pay attention to the times that we live in, for there is no excuse for anyone to rely on fairy-tales when we can know the signs of our times. Can you see why the so-called rapture doctrine is so dangerous? It gives a false sense of hope, and the followers of such a doctrine will be deceived. It is the prime root of the "mark of the beast". Moses is telling us that he doesn't care how close the family member or friend is that comes to you. They will tries to get you to follow that false prophet, they will be so enticing with their words and actions that it will be hard for you to say no. Those people will not be standing between you and God on judgment day, for you will be answering for yourself why you accepted their lies. This is a dangerous time to be living in and playing church games, and it is your soul that is at stake. Deuteronomy 13:7 "Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;" When the time false prophets come, no matter where you go on this earth everyone will be approached by these false prophets. They may tell you that they worship the same God that we do, but they are under a delusion and chasing in many directions. There is only one way to God, and that is though the Son of God, Jesus Christ who became our sacrifice for our sins. Deuteronomy 13:8 "Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:" Moses is telling us that we are not even to listen to what they have to say, nor reason with them for a moment. When anyone tells you that they have a new form of worship, you are to nail him at that moment for his witchcraft, devil worship or any other form that he or she is trying to peddle to you. Don't conceal one of them no matter who they are, but confront them in their error before they have the chance to peddle it anywhere. Deuteronomy 13:9 "But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people." The first stone will be cast by the "kinsman Redeemer", by God Himself. Don't feel bad about what God does to him or her, and most of all don't pity that individual as God deals with him. When God deals harshly with those that deal with those thing, and the other people witness what has taken place, the others will shy away from those things. Sure, in civil matters we must protect our credibility, but in a spiritual sense, God's sentence must be passed. Separate yourself from them, and don't treat yourself as an enemy from the fallen brother, however correct them as a brother should be corrected, if they are messing around in their evil ways. Deuteronomy 13:10 "And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, Which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." Is there any doubt spiritually as to how we are to treat those that would mess around with heathen religions and traditions, that would lead you to the false Christ by these false prophets. In Moses day when the people messed around with heathen gods and idolatry they were killed. However, today we are not to establish any religious fanatic ideas, but to separate ourselves from those that would peddle their new ways. You must obey the civil laws of the land. Tell them that they are spiritually dead and show them their error. If they do not change and repent of their sins they will die and perish judgment day by the Father. Deuteronomy 13:11 "And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you." When the one that has offended is removed violently, those that see the event taking place and their wicked things cease to happen. When one of your family strays off into other religions, it is time to dress them down in front of the family and loved ones, to give a lesson to the others. In Moses day when a member of the family was stoned publicly by their next of kin, the whole community got the message and stayed away from that shame. This is the same judgment that is given to a murderer, that the next of kin shall cast the first stone to take the life of the murderer. The purpose is the same also, to keep the rest of the community from following in the same path. When it is witnessed these things will cease to happen in the town. That is God's Way, however we are also under civil law. Deuteronomy 13:12 "If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying," If you go into one of the cities in the land that God is going to give you, and you hear the people in that town saying this: Deuteronomy 13:13 "Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which ye have not known;' " These people are telling God's people of some new religion or form of idolatry and the Israelites hear it and want to go with them to practice that religion. Remember that Baal worship was filled with sexual acts and practices, and the people could be enticed into those things very easily if they were not focused on the ways of our heavenly Father. Those religion ways were to make you feel real good, and cause you to let down your guard for they are build on emotions. Deuteronomy 13:14 "Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;" However before you set out to convict anyone of any act, make sure that everything that they are charged with is true and correct. Lets go over the instructions by God as to how you check out the charges that have been brought against anyone. You first check it out with our Father's Word. Is what they are saying true and correct? You can't go around accusing people before the fact is checked out. Align what they are teaching with God's Word and compare precept to precept to see if there is a difference. If what they are teaching is not according to God's Word, it is an abomination to God. The message in the chapter is: " Don't worship other gods". Deuteronomy 13:15 "Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword." Our heavenly Father is very jealous, and He doesn't fool around with people that hate Him. He owns everything because He created everything. When that sinner goes whoring with other religions and beliefs, God wants those blessings that He gave to that sinner destroyed complete. That means that He doesn't even want those things used in their idolatry in your hands. God will bless you in your own way. Deuteronomy 13:16 "And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the Lord thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again." When these Israelites went into a city and saw these heathen playing around with their heathen gods, God wanted that entire city destroyed; wiped off the face of the earth. The reason that an entire town would be drawn away from their town was to participate in grove worship, sexual orgies in the trees, and mess around with the idols of Baal and Ashorath. If any of God's people mixed with these practice they were contaminated and God ordered that they must be destroyed. That is why God ordered through Moses that even their towns they lived in should be destroyed. Remember in the last chapter God instructed that these groves should be destroyed when they came upon them while entering into the promise land. It is from this type of worship that the Easter egg came, and even in the form of the Easter bunny. They are all parts of the fertility rites of the feast of Ishtar, which are from the rites of Baal worship. They are part of man's traditions that have crept into the church through the years. Even the Passover has been changed and renamed after the Baal worship of Ishtar, in which is called "Easter". The ignorance of these ancient fertility rights is right in our church houses today. The good church people look forward to their sunrise services, their up at sunrise and bowing to the rising sun, while the ladies put on their Easter bonnets. Our people have grown use to grove worship, and they have integrated it right into their services. Sure it is done, and that which is done in ignorance is no sin. However we are not that far away from bringing in these heresy in our churches today. Deuteronomy 13:17 "And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of His anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as He hath sworn unto thy fathers;" When you play around with these things, remember that our Lord gets angry when He is given a right to be jealous by our actions. When you are unfaithful to Him, expect to pay a price for you turning your back on Him. The only way that you will have mercy by God is when He turns away His wrath from you, and we do that when we come to Him in repentance. Then God's love will be on you, rather than God's anger. Have you ever wondered why God never blesses you? If you have, ask yourself, what you have done to please our Father? Deuteronomy 13:18 "When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all His commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God." Our Heavenly Father is really very easy to please, all He asks us to do is to try to follow His commandments. When you fail, He is there to forgive you when you ask Him for forgiveness. The price and the way has already been made for you, and all you have to do is to take that step of repentance in Jesus name. You will fall short as long as you are in your flesh body, and God expects you to keep getting up and going forward. Try over and over, learn His Word and follow those instruction as they become real to you. Then God will bless you, because it is His promise to you His child.
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