Idolatry

2 Kings 23:21   And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.

AS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THIS COVENANT.

The story of Josiah shows how to fight idolatry. 2 Kings chapter 22 and 23.

Idols are made up gods. They are objects, statues (theraphims), sacred pillars (obelisks, menhirs), groves, symbols.

Today they are collections, "hollywood stars", TV, the car, the body, every object or person we are devoted to.

If you own something that you could not immediately sacrifice to God, it is an idol. Idols are everywhere in the western world.

Abraham, on the contrary, was ready to even sacrifice his son to God.

Forbiding idolatry is the object of the second commandment.

Idolatry is a form of rebelliion againt the Creator.

Those prayers and devotions are recovered by satan.

What does not glorify God does glorify satan.

No randomness here.

So Josiah fought idolatry:

2 Kings 23:24   Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

Idolatry is not exclusively open satanism, sorcery as we imagine it, pagan religion.

It can be more subtle, it does infiltrate the life of so called "godly peoples".

Josiah removed idols from the inside of the Temple of Jerusalem: generations of priests did slowly introduce strange gods inside.

People follow the traditions of their ancestors rather than comparing everything with Scriptures.

Interestingly enough, satan did not push them to destroy the Temple of to replace it: he pushed them to defile it with idols. The Temple itself even became an idol, Jesus later promissed it's destruction.

Josiah was made king at age 8, but he did clean the Temple from its abominations.

Moreover, Hilkiah, the priest, did find the Torah, the book of the law of Moses.

Josiah and Hilkiah realized with horror how far away they were from the statutes of God.

Josiah said "Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant".

Which means that they did celebrate Passover, but not God's Passover, rather a strange passover to a strange god.

That's how Catholics celebrate easter, with bunnies and eggs, dedicated to the goddess Ishtar. The babylonian cult of fertility.

God loves precision, he expects exactitude in his service.

He is exact and precise, so does his creation. We love when our foot responds properly when we want to walk. Of what use would be a rebel tongue ?

We love when God answers our prayers instantaneously. So should we obey his commandments.

The first account of deviant service in Scriptures is Cain. He offered fruits (symbol of works) instead of the blood of the flock (symbol of Messiah). God did refuse his offering and take Abel's. Cain became jealous and killed his brother.

The sons of Aaron High Priest, disobeyed God and did as they pleased:

Leviticus 10

1   And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.

2   And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Cain and Aaron's sons began what lead to put strange gods into the Temple of Jerusalem. The sin is the same. God is jealous, he warns us. Idolatry begins here: loving God the way we want to. Cain and Aaron's sons knew or they should have known, they had no excuses.

Paul said again: God is a devouring fire.

Christian churches have strange gods in their temples. From the "queen of heaven" to the multitudes of false jesus, the cult of the deads, wealth, the pastor, the Bible. Satan is skilled at setting traps. He himself can look like an angel of light.

1 John ends by those words:

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."