“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, 

and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. 

Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, 

He has also rejected you from being king.”

-1 Samuel 15:22

What is it about idols that God took extra time to mention them in the ten commandments, Leviticus, the prophets and all throughout the gospel writings?  What is it about idols that God gives so many warnings on their creation, worship and retaining them within your life?

What is it about idols that so many scriptures are written about them?

The writer of psalms 115 declares what the idols of the world are:

“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man’s hands.”

Daniels writes of idols:

But you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified.

Throughout the scriptures one can find warnings of the worship of, making of, having possession of, even having hidden/forgotten, idols.  The warnings come with various consequences, repercussions, and even curses.  Reading throughout the scriptures, one starts to wonder: “but God is GOD and he is surely not “threatened” by a carved or casted statue?  After all, He burns a whole pile of cows and wood in an instant with fire from the sky.  What would be the reason for all the warnings and cautions about them, surely God is not insecure on who He is?

We could start with defining what exactly is an idol.

In the Merriam dictionary, an idol is defined as an object of extreme devotion, an imposter, a likeness of something, an appearance of something but without substance. So even the secular world recognizes the empty value of the idols.  Yet, people had them in early humanity and still have them today. 

So what exactly is an idol?  The craven images and statues of old are easy to identify.  A golden calf made of melted gold being worshiped and sacrificed to, would be easy to identify as an idol in today's modern culture.  When the golden calf event occured in Exodus, making an idol and worshiping it was expected and accepted by the culture of the time. In today’s culture, the golden calf has been replaced with other things.

An idol therefore, just by the definition of the secular world, would be any object of intense devotion and worship.  With such definition, one can see how the prophet Samuel declares insubordination as iniquity and idol worship.  For you see insubordination is refusal of a direct command by someone of higher authority. This, by its very nature, indicates that the one doing the insubordination has declared himself above whomever has issued the command/decree.  In essence, Samuel was stating that Saul had declared himself above God.  Saul had become his own idol of worship and devotion.

For this very thing, lucifer was cast down from heaven, for thinking himself equal to God.  The only reason we know about David is because of Saul’s insubordination.  Let’s replay the scenario.  Saul is desperate in the war he is engaged in.  Saul was known to be able to hear from God directly, he was even identified as being identified among the prophets by the citizens. However, his desperation led him to act on his own rationale and will,  rather than being still and seeking the Lord himself (remember he is stated as being among the prophets), Saul decided to seek another prophet to go seek God for an answer.  Samuel the prophet gave him a clear, direct, and detailed instruction on what to do.  

The instructions given were very clear and direct.  It was basically like baking with pre-measured ingredients in a box.  Samuel tells him, “thus says the Lord:” 

1. Go here

2. Wait

3. Wait till i return and offer the sacrifice

4. You will have victory

What did Saul do?  NOT follow the instructions.  He chose to interpret the instructions in a way that would meet or rather justify his action and desires.  He did follow step one and went to the location given.  Then when circumstances started to look dire and the warriors, his army, his way to achieve the desired outcome, started leaving him, he started to trust on his own understanding.  He placed reliance on his own expertise and knowledge.  He chose to rely on his own strength and understanding of what it would take to accomplish his desired outcome.  Rather than obeying, he resorted to his own IDOLS and worshiped them, that is he decided to trust his idols over the clear instructions of the Lord.  He decided to build his own kingdom over God’s kingdom.

Saul decided to do things in his own strength and understanding, and do it while having the appearance of doing good.  Rather than following the clear instructions of God, Saul decided to trust what appeared as “good” and would get the job “done.” 

What modern preacher would say that holding a prayer meeting and leading a worship service would be considered witchcraft?  Yet that is exactly what occurred.  Saul took the bulls and did the “good” thing.  That is, he held a worship service.  The sacrifice he offered appears as a form of “worship” to God.  But it was just an appearance of, and in reality he was worshiping himself.  He acted not out of worshiping God in spirit and truth, but rather as a performance, held an event, to build his kingdom.   He did it to keep the crowd, the approval of men, and his soldiers from leaving.  He did it, so he could win the battle (get his desired outcome).  Right after he conducts this worship act, Samuel shows up and makes the statement, “obedience is better than sacrifice.”

The consequence of Sauls “worship” was not only his removal from kingship, but his whole family and future legacy removed from royalty.  Basically a whole family lineage of kings was wiped out.  Saul, knowing better, as he had the experience of operating with the spirit of God and knowing the spirit of God on him, chose instead to worship his own self and need.  The repercussions of this one action cost him and his whole legacy and family dearly.

In contrast we see Jesus many years later, stating “I only DO what I SEE the father doing, I only SPEAK what I HEAR the father speaking.”  You see witchcraft is very cunningly and deceptively easy to enter into.  Idol worship creeps in when one decides to do the “good thing”, rather than obey what God has already given instructions to do.  Idols have an appearance of being Good but are devoid of the power there in. In essence in this one statement, Jesus was giving strategy and instruction on how NOT to enter into agreement with witchcraft or idol worship.

Witchcraft is the casting of spells to influence, declare, produce self-wanted results.  Witchcraft in its essence is the declaration of one's own will over the will of GOD.  It seeks agreement to have legal precedence or hooks into people's lives.  One can see its not so subtle ways at the garden of Eden.  Here the serpent is seen twisting what was God’s will into its own interpretation.  And both Eve and Adam came into agreement with it.  The result?  Just like Saul's experience was Death.  Many reading the deception of Adam and Eve find it so hard to believe they fell so hard.  Yet many themselves operate and fall into witchcraft in their everyday life.

Self proclaimed witches and warlocks and their spells are easy to spot.  It is the subtleness of those appearing to be for the “good” that is very hard to detect and defend against.  Many operate in this and don't even know what they are partaking of.

In the story of Saul and Samuel one can see how Saul entered into witchcraft.  He had received a clear directive from God what he was to do.  However, when pressure came, Saul panicked and chose to “reinterpret” the instructions given.  So Saul, took his own understanding and using his own eyes and perception, he chose to interpret the instructions into something that would fit his comfort and need.  The echoes of the garden filled his ears.  “Did God really say … Would you truly die?” rang in his ears.  So Saul fulfilled his own “meaning” of the commands.  Saul thought that by performing a sacrifice before the battle, he would then “fulfill” the directions and he would achieve victory and his kingdom established.   I’m sure he reasoned that the details of the instructions were not important, but rather to fulfill the “meaning” of them was what was actually required by God. And thus he entered in self deception.  He entered into insubordination, and thus entered in idol worship.  That is, he made himself his own god and made himself an idol.  Saul became a lover of himself.

Saul performed the sacrifice and thus lost it all.

In todays’ culture, Saul performing the sacrifice would be the equivalent of having a day-long worship service, with superstar guest speakers, reading of scriptures, people at altar calls, at a huge arena.  But instead of doing all that, the instructions that God said was to gather the people, then have a particular person come and that person would pray at the start of the meeting.  But that one person is not present at the start of the meeting, the start of the live stream and the start of the broadcast time.  Nothing on stage, no music being played, no special effects of video or anything.  And the waiting starts. How many religious leaders, pastors, or event coordinators, would wait 5 minutes, 10, 80, 90 minutes?  Who would wait 3 hours?  Who would rather cave to the pressure and start the “worship” service due to the crowd leaving, or restlessness?  By caving in to his interpretation of the instructions, Saul entered into witchcraft and the death of his reign occurred.

Jesus addressed the issue of witchcraft through a simple method.  By not addressing it.

Allow me to explain.  When asked how to pray, Jesus replied with what we now commonly call “the Lord’s prayer”.  Jesus  says “our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.  YOUR kingdom come, YOUR will be done.”  Catch it?  Jesus also replied to a question with the following: “I only say what I hear the father saying, I only do what I see the father doing.”  Jesus in his deepest moment of pressure when praying at the garden of gethsemane, says “ANY other way, let this cup pass from me, NEVERTHELESS, not my will but YOUR will be done”

Did you catch it?  You see, Jesus showed us how not to enter into witchcraft.  That is to DIE of our will.  Die of our desires, and ask God for HIS will to supersede our wants, our asks, our “prayer”.  The key is to hold fast and recognize the authority and perspective of THE King.  It is a trust issue that regardless of our understanding of the issue, we recognize that His perspective, and will is always better than anything we might want or desire.  The trust that the father’s love would always lead us to the best and fullness of our heart desires is what is revealed with the surrender to HIS will.

That is why idols are so dangerous.  By having them, we are saying we DON'T recognize the authority, kingship and goodness of God for our hearts.  Idols break multiple protocols of the Kingdom.  It is because of these blatant infractions and their consequences, that God warns so many times about them.  In essence idols stop and prevent the Kingdom from acting and standing up on our behalf.  The willful placement of idols above/in front of the Kingdom blocks and even prevents the participating from having access to the benefits of the kingdom.  It is no wonder then that God warns so many times about them.  He is a good God. He wants the best for us.  He wants blessings to be over flowing in the Kingdom's citizens' lives.  His desire is to have nothing hindering, blocking, damming up the flow of His overabundance flowing through his people.

It is because of this love, that God puts up so many warnings to His children, not to have idols.  God is love. Many love to make this statement to excuse their compromised lifestyles, their acceptance of evil and unrighteousness.  But they fail to realize that perfect love demands perfect justice.

For this is the way of The Kingdom.  The Kingdom does not tolerate transgressions to its protocols.  Especially the transgression of people claiming to be in the Kingdom but bringing in their compromise and claims that there are kings above THE KING.

Such insubordination and rebellion can not and is not tolerated.  To put things into perspective, a child is not punished for mistakes done while learning.  No good parent would punish a child that falls when beginning to walk.  However, there does come a point where people are expected to know better and grow up.  This point comes at different times to different people.  However, even the world recognizes when one “should act their age.”

To fully participate and partake of the kingdom benefits, rights and blessings, the Kingdom has protocols to follow.  The consequences and repercussions of failing to follow the protocols increase and as one matures in Christ, and experiences more of The King.  The consequences of blatantly and willfully ignoring The Kingdoms protocols increase in severity the more one knows.  That’s one of the reasons that it is written that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  This is also why it is written that every idle word would be judged.

Kingdom citizenship comes with authority from the Kingdom.  It has been declared that if two or more agree it SHALL be done on earth as it is in heaven.  That’s why true witches attend, join, and even become preachers within local christian congregations.  It is so real that Jesus in the book of revelation speaks of it.  “I have this thing against you, that you TOLERATE that woman Jezebel.”  She is known to bring idols, and witchcraft among the people.  So true witchcraft seeks to have a Kingdom citizen agree or declare something outside the will of God.  Then it seeks to seduce another citizen to come into agreement with that statement and thus give legal standing for demonic forces to act upon those words.

Moses never dealt with his hot temper impulses, the result was he struck the rock.  After spending time in the mountain for days with God, burning bushes, pillars of fire, presence of God in the tent of meeting, he still chooses to disobey in a moment of hot headedness and act on his own understanding.  The result?  He didn’t get to enter the promised land.  

Joash's pride resulted in him only striking the ground 3 times.  The result?  Elisha rebuked him and said why did you stop?!  If he hadn't, he would have utterly defeated his enemy but because he stopped, he only defeated his enemy 3 times.  And this gave the enemy time to recoup, strengthen and oppress Israel for a long time afterwards.

Saul’s reliance on his control, his understanding, his desire to look good in front of others, his timelines, cause him to raise himself up above God.  He thus acted against the clear expressive will and instruction of God and performed the “good thing” of offering “worship” to God.  Samuel shows up and declares the results, obedience is better than sacrifice.  The cost?  Saul lost it all, not only for himself but for his whole family and legacy.  All because Saul chose to have IDOLS before God.  He chose to put his reputation, his kingship, his calling, his understanding, his own “ministry”, his own desires in front of God’s direct instructions.

What idols do is put the worshiper in rebellion to the Kingdom of God.  They can come in the form of many things, friendships, family, trusted counselors, studying “the holy book”, going to a “worship service”, keeping a ministry work going after God said to stop.  All these “good” things are put in front of God therefore become an idol.  It can even be when Holy Spirit is calling people to stay home and cry out to God from the secret place, but instead one goes to church because one is scheduled to preach.

These are just examples of how someone can put things above God.  God declared to have no graven images, that is something from your own work and strength.  He said this because He understood that to carve something, you need to have an understanding of it and carve it from your perception, your perspective.  In essence the carver and the idol worshipers would be worshiping their own understanding, in other words, worshipers of themselves.

It is a very dangerous and slippery road to have idols.  For soon one idol is not enough.  And each consequent idol feeds the need for more and more idols to help yourself guide yourself through life.  The scripture warns of this in the end times, people will become lovers of themselves.  This whole self identity movement is merely the end result of people idolizing themselves and making themselves their own god with their own truths.  It is even echo with sayings such as: “you do you,” “seek out your truth,” “go after your heart.”  This self deception can't be satisfied and therefore needs and demands validation from others to worship them.  It demands others to call and declare them what they have identified themselves as.  This is both a mockery to The Creator and lifting themselves higher than GOD.  God identified Himself to Moses as “I AM THAT I AM”.  Now in mockery to this, men want to identify themselves with all kinds of letters and demand others worship them with their own self declarations and identity.  And those letters include self imposed titles as prophet, apostles, pastors, evangelist, etc.  Demanding people recognize them as their own identity.

When you have an idol in front of GOD, you transgress against the direct command of GOD.  This transgression has consequences one of those is causing the Kingdom assets and benefits to become increasingly restricted or even prevented from being accessed.  

This sin is the very thing God was and is warning many times throughout the scriptures.  James gives the warning and the results of self worship,  “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

The manifestation of this death can come in various forms.  One form could be not entering the promised land, death of oneself partaking of the blessing.  Or the death might be in the form of not being able to participate in your heart's desire, like Davids forfeiture of the blessing to build the temple.  It might even come as the complete destruction of your legacy and family’s royalty and priesthood, as Saul experienced.  Some consequences are delay, like the 40 years Israel encountered in the desert.  Other consequences could be never receiving the fullness and blessings God already had set up for you to receive.  Moses found out, as he could only SEE the promised land but not enter into it.  Or David, could only fund the temple but not build it.

A cycle of self-sabotage is what has and is preventing many into entering the fullness of their calling, anointing, and Kingdom authority The Father has for them.  Many don't even realize they are operating under such a spirit.  The results of idols are very evident to see in a person’s life.  A pattern of self sabotage is revealed.  It appears as almost getting what one has prayed for, asking God to fulfill, a deep heart yearning, or tears of intercession, almost getting it but something at the last minute goes wrong. Just when things look like they will manifest and the individual will enter into the blessing, that idol never dealt with, rises up NOT to be torn down.  That idol knows that to partake of God’s blessings, room needs to be made.  To have added room it would mean that the idol would need to be exposed, ripped down and dealt with.  That idol will most definitely do anything it can to make and fight to keep its “earned” place.  

Whether it’s witchcraft or idols, the way to deal is the same.  

Repentance.  

Seek to remove all idols and stop doing/declaring your own will.  Get rid of the idols, the stuff, the items that remind you or have strings to your former self.  Burn the old agreements, contracts, photos, pillows, bedding, etc that you have placed and come into agreement as being above God.  Ask God to reveal to you a new perspective about yourself laying on the altar, and a living sacrifice.  Ask His fire to come down and burn to ashes anything that is not of Him.  Then take those ashes and buy from Him Gold refined by fire, a white garment and bread to anoint your eyes with oil, just as described in the revelation of Jesus to John.