Who is this man on the picture? I know not this imposter, for my Redeemer lives within me and I follow Him.
Isaiah 46:5-7
5 “Who will you compare Me or make Me equal to? Who will you measure Me with, so that we should be like each other? 6 Those who pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales— they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god. Then they kneel and bow down to it. 7 They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands; it does not budge from its place. They cry out to it but it doesn’t answer; it saves no one from his trouble.
In verse 5, it is clear that the Lord is against anyone making an idol that represents Him and an image that you believe have the same qualities of the true Living God. If you have done this and are praying to that image, know that you have made your own god.
Imagine your friend has a picture of you in his house. One day you decide to visit him to spend some time together and catch up. While you enter your friend’s house, you see that he has your picture on the wall. He starts to talk to the picture while you look on in bewilderment. Your friend continues to talk to your picture and completely disregards you while you wait for him to finish, so he can come over and talk directly to you. But, as he finishes talking to your picture, he goes to his room and sleeps.
My friends, that is a depiction of what happens when you pray to an idol in your house or a picture of Jesus hanging on your wall.
In the end, you did not pray to Jesus, you prayed to a demon.
1 Corinthians 10:14-21
14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I am speaking as to wise people. Judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we give thanks for, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for all of us share that one bread. 18 Look at the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in what is offered on the altar? 19 What am I saying then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to participate with demons!21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
The wide gate and the broad road says, “we all lead to the same mountain of God.” While it is true that they all do meet at the same mountain, however, it is not the mountain of God but of Satan the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). Below is a picture of the broad and wide road that leads to hell.
The girl with the cross is a liberal Christian. A true believer in Jesus Christ will never compromise The truth
14 The five men who had gone to scout out the land of Laish told their brothers, “Did you know that there are an ephod, household gods, and a carved image overlaid with silver in these houses? Now think about what you should do.”
18 When they entered Micah’s house and took the carved image overlaid with silver, the ephod, and the household idols, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 They told him, “Be quiet. Keep your mouth shut. Come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or for you to be a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?” 20 So the priest was pleased and took his ephod, household idols, and carved image, and went with the people.
22 After they were some distance from Micah’s house, the men who were in the houses near it mobilized and caught up with the Danites. 23 They called to the Danites, who turned to face them, and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you mobilized the men?” 24 He said, “You took the gods I had made and the priest, and went away. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What’s the matter with you?’” 25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” 26 The Danites went on their way, and Micah turned to go back home, because he saw that they were stronger than he was.
The scouts from the tribe of Dan knew that in Micah’s house was a Levite, household idols, and an ephod. They went into Micah’s house and stole all of his idols and took with them the priest who was happy to be a priest to a whole tribe instead of just one family. What happened to Micah was actually a blessing from the Lord for allowing his house to be robbed.
Before I say why it was a blessing for Micah being robbed, let’s take a look at Matthew 12:43-45 which says, “When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it roams through waterless places looking for rest but doesn’t find any. 44 Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ And returning, it finds the house vacant, swept, and put in order. 45 Then off it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that man’s last condition is worse than the first. That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.”
The demon was thinking to himself, “I can’t find an open door to possess a soul because of few people in this arid place”. He continues, “I know what I will do, I’ll just go back to the one I was cast out from and make sure that doesn’t happen again”. (Matthew 12:43-45)
If you noticed, Jesus described the person’s body as a dwelling place or house. The reason the person’s body is described as a house is because demons can live inside of a person and make their home there. Jesus was describing an exorcism on a person where it seems that the demon wasn’t allowed to go to populated areas which are normally by the coast. The demon didn’t find rest because he couldn’t find a host in a deserted area, no people. For some reason, the demon was allowed to revisit his prior host. He finds the house (person) vacant (doesn’t have the Lord in his life), swept and in order, meaning that his life was normal once again. What does the demon do? He goes out and finds seven other demons who are even more evil than itself and goes and possess the individual once again but with severe consequences. His life becomes a living hell. The reason he gets more evil spirits than itself is because they would be harder to exercise from the host.
Revelation 9:20
The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands to stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which are not able to see, hear, or walk.
What does this story from Jesus have to do with Micah? That’s a good question, I’m glad you asked. Micah’s house was filled with idols which demons are attached to so that when a person brings an idol into their home they are also bringing in a demon. Demons use the idols as a Trojan horse, to invade your life. We see this in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, that behind idols are demons. By God allowing Micah’s house to be broken into and his idols stolen is like being exorcised. The demonic influence in Micah’s life was gone and given to the Danites. If Micah didn’t repent and started to worship the true living God Yahweh then his life would have ended up worse than the first.
When something bad happens to you remember that God has your best interest in mind. To you is the worse thing but to God is the best thing and that’s because God is trying to purge something out of your life that’s causing you to fall away from Him.
Spiritual Minefield 