Serving Idols

What does the Bible say about idolatry

Serving idols is not turning away from God and becoming a Buddhist or Hindu. According to the Bible, it is much more subtle. It is that you think you are serving God, but in the meantime you open yourself up to the invisible world of the demons. That sounds unreal and it is, if the Bible didn't make it clear.

The God of the Bible has made it clear that there is only one way to approach Him and that is as He has "prescribed." If you try it in a different way, you end up in the dark world of the demons, even if it doesn't 'feel' that way at all.

The Bible says a lot about worshiping idols. But we'll just focus here on what Moses and Paul said about it.

How people connect with the invisible world

From all times, people have tried to make contact with the invisible world, the world of their gods. The ways in which this has been done have been outwardly different depending on time and culture, and they still are. But one thing all these ways have in common and that is that one "clears one's head", opens oneself to the invisible world. One experiences fantastic and deep feelings of love, harmony and unity. Many discover that there is supposedly a "divine spark" within them. One discovers that one is actually (part of) God himself.

So when any of God's people want to approach God in this way, they gain experiences that come from the world of demons.

Idolatry in Christianity

Among the people of Israel, serving idols was a constant problem. Even in the New Testament, the apostles were already warning against it. But it has also been present throughout church history thereafter. We briefly describe three well-known movements.

• the Gnostic movement, which has always opposed the official church and has always been rejected as heretical by the latter;
• the contemplative movement, or spiritual, monastic tradition of inner stillness;
• the charismatic movement, which has always been present, only in the last 100 years it has experienced a particular advance. Here it revolves around what is called the work "of the Spirit," which manifests itself above all in special manifestations.

It is important to understand that the common denominator in all these movements is the inner "experience of God." The experience of the divine within.

Idolatry in the Present Time

After the foregoing, it will come as no surprise to discover that idolatry is almost ubiquitous in Christendom today and will likely eventually permeate all denominations and movements.

We give examples as they occur today. The examples come from the public domain (internet, books, published interviews, etc.), so we feel free to use this as an illustration to show what time we live in.

Apostasy is mentioned several times in the Bible and that is always in connection with idolatry. The first time in Deuteronomy 13:5 where idolatry is also called "apostasy" from God. The last time in 1 Timothy 4:1, where it is said that “(…) in later times some will fall away from the faith and turn to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons (…)”.

Read more about idolatry on the underlying pages, starting with “What the Bible Calls Idolatry.”