Keep Yourselves From Idols

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2016, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

___1 John chapter 5
 1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone that loves him that fathered loves him also who was fathered by him.
 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments don't cause grief.
 4 For whoever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world:  our faith.
 5 Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
 6 He's the one that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood.  And it is the Spirit that testifies, because the Spirit is truth.
 7 For there are three that testify in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
 8 And there are three that testify on earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one.
 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God that he has testified about his Son.
 10 He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself, he that doesn't believe God has made him a liar, because he doesn't believe the record that God gave about his Son.
 11 And this is the record, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
 12 He that has the Son has life, and he that doesn't have the Son of God doesn't have life.
 13 I've written these things to you who believe on the name of the Son of God so that you'll know that you have eternal life, and so that you'll believe on the name of the Son of God.
 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us,
 15 And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we requested from him.
 16 If any man sees his brother sin a sin that's not to death, he shall ask, and he'll give him life for those who don't sin to death.  There is a sin to death, I don't say that he should pray for it.
 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not to death.
 18 We know that whoever is born of God doesn't sin, but he that's begotten by God keeps himself, and that wicked one doesn't touch him.
 19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness.
 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, so that we'll know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God, and eternal life.
 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.  Amen.

Notice vs 21, "Keep yourselves from idols."  

It's the last sentence in First John.

Idolatry can knock you off the straight and narrow.

Idolatry has surely sent some people to hell who had been Christians.  

(Yes, a Christian can lose their salvation, if they mess around with the wrong things.  That saying, "Once saved, always saved," is a lie.

Please see my book, "Can Christians Lose Their Salvation.")

One kind of idolatry is pornography.

God is not against a man having sex with a woman if that woman is his wife.

(But Christians should only marry with other Christians. (2 Cor 6:14)

But pornography sends people to hell, and is one form of idolatry.  

In Texas, I was talking with a younger man.  In the conversation, I said that pornography kills people.

He said, "I don't see how pornography kills people."

I said that when people use pornography, they're letting demons into them.  And those demons aren't there to do you any good, but "to steal, to kill, and to destroy," like Jesus said in John 10:10

Of course, a Christian has the authority from Jesus to cast out demons. (Luke 10:19, and Mark 16:17,18)

But it's best not to let the demons in to begin with.  

Totem Poles are another kind of idolatry from American Indians, if they're worshiping Totem Poles.  

I believe it's wrong just to make a Totem Pole.  

And people have made themselves gods since ancient times, and of course, God is against it.  

Can that Totem Pole do anything for you?  Of course not.  

From Isa chapt 44,--

 9 Those who make a engraved image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit, and they are their own witnesses, they don't see, nor know, so that they'll be ashamed.
 10 Who has formed a god, or cast in the foundry an engraved image that is profitable for nothing?
 11 See, all his fellows shall be ashamed, and the workmen, they are of men, let them all be gathered together, let them stand up, yet they'll be afraid, and they'll be ashamed together.
 12 The smith with the tongs works in the coals, and fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms, yes, he is hungry, and his strength fails, he drinks no water, and is faint.
 13 The carpenter stretches out his rule, he marks it out with a line, he fits it with planes, and he marks it out with the circle, and makes it like the form of a man, according to the beauty of a man, so it will remain in the house.
 14 He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak that he strengthens for himself among the trees of the forest, he plants an ash, and the rain nourishes it.
 15 Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take of it, and warm himself, yes, he kindles it, and bakes bread, yes, he makes a god, and worships it, he makes it a engraved image, and falls down to it.
 16 He burns part of it in the fire, with part of it he eats flesh, he roasts some roast, and is satisfied, yes, he warms himself, and says, "Aha, I'm warm, I have seen the fire,"
 17 And the remainder of it he makes a god, even his engraved image, he falls down to it, and worships it, and prays to it, and says, deliver me, for you're my god.
 18 They have not known nor understood, for he has shut their eyes, so that they can't see, and their hearts, so that they can't understand.
 19 And no one considers in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, "I've burned part of it in the fire, yes, also I've baked bread on the coals of it, I've roasted flesh, and eaten it, and shall I make the remainder of it a dirty thing?  Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?"
 20 He feeds on ashes, a deceived heart has turned him aside, so he can't deliver his soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand?

In this passage from Isaiah, God shows us the foolishness of idolatry.  

There's another kind of idolatry that is a problem for Catholics.  

One of the Ten Commandments is,--

"You shall have no other gods before me." (Exo 20:3)

But when Boko Haram kidnapped those hundreds of girls, the Pope said he'd pray to Mary about it.  

To pray to Mary is to treat her like God.  It is idolatry to treat someone as though they're God if they're not God.  And Mary is not God.  

Please see my book, "Is Mary the Mother of God?"

Do you think that because the Pope does something, that makes it O.K.?  I believe there will be Popes in hell.  

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil 2:12)

And the Catholics have a prayer called the Rosary.  

The Rosary is a prayer addressed to Mary.

Why are you praying to Mary?

In the Rosary, it says she is full of grace.  Who says so?

Those words, "full of grace," are in the Bible, in John 1:14, but it's not talking about Mary, it's talking about Jesus.

Why would you attribute to Mary an honor that was meant for Jesus?

But I believe that many Catholics are not aware that they're committing the sin of idolatry.

A good prayer to pray then is the one David prayed, "Cleanse me from secret faults." (Psa 19:12)

(And then, don't pray to Mary anymore.)

The Pope is also wrong for publicly advocating the abolishment of the death penalty, including when he addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

In Numbers 35:33, God says that murderers MUST be executed.  Is the Pope smarter than God? 

Chapter 2

___Psalm 91
 1 He that dwells in the secret place of the most high shall live under the shadow of the Almighty.
 2 I will say about the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, I'll trust in him."
 3 Surely he'll deliver you from the trap of the bird catcher, and from the noisome pestilence.
 4 He'll cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you'll trust, his truth shall be your shield and buckler.
 5 You won't be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flies by day,
 6 Nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday.
 7 A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it won't come near you.
 8 Only with your eyes shall you see the reward of the wicked.
 9 Because you've made the Lord your habitation, who is my refuge, the most high,
 10 No evil shall happen you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.
 11 For he'll give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
 12 They'll support you in their hands, so you don't dash your foot against a stone.
 13 You'll tread on the lion and snake, you'll trample the young lion and the dragon under feet.
 14 Because he has set his love on me, therefore I'll give him deliverance, I'll set him on high, because he has known my name.
 15 He'll call on me, and I'll answer him, I'll be with him in trouble, I'll give him deliverance, and honor him.
 16 I'll satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.

___Psalm 92
 1 It's a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to your name, O most high,
 2 To show forth your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night,
 3 On an instrument of ten strings, and on the psaltery, on the harp with a solemn sound.
 4 For you, Lord, have made me glad through your work, I'll triumph in the works of your hands.
 5 O Lord, how great are your works!  And your thoughts are very deep.
 6 A brutish man doesn't know, nor does a fool understand this.
 7 When the wicked spring like the grass, and when all the sinners flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever,
 8 But you, Lord, are most high forever.
 9 For see, your enemies, O Lord, for see, your enemies shall perish, all the sinners shall be scattered.
 10 But you'll exalt my horn like the horn of a rhinocerous, I'll be anointed with fresh oil.
 11 My eye also shall see my desire on my enemies, and my ears shall hear my desire about the wicked that rise up against me.
 12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, they shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
 13 Those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
 14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing,
 15 To show that the Lord is upright, he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.


___James chapter 1
 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.
 2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,
 3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.
 4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.
 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
 7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.
 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
 9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,
 10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.
 11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
 12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,
 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
 15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.
 16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.
 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.
 18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
 19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
 20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.
 21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,
 24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
 25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
 26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.
 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2
 1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
 2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,
 3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"
 4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?
 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
 6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?
 7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?
 8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,
 9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.
 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
 11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.
 12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.
 13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.
 14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?
 15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,
 16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?
 17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.
 18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."
 19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.
 20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
 21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?
 22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?
 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."
 24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
 25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
 26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3
 1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.
 2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
 3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.
 4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.
 5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!
 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.
 7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,
 8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
 9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.
 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.
 11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?
 12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.
 13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.
 14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.
 15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
 18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4
 1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?
 2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.
 3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.
 4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.
 5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"
 6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.
 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.
 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.
 11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.
 12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?
 13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"
 14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
 15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."
 16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.
 17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5
 1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.
 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.
 3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.
 4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
 5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.
 6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.
 7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.
 8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.
 9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.
 10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
 11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
 12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.
 13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.
 14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.
 16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.
 17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.
 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
 19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,
 20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.