The Worship of Idols

"We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no god but one, for even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many gods and many lords) yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one lord,

Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live" (1 Cor 8:4-6). This passage tells us clearly that an idol is nothing. We cannot worship an idol instead of worshipping the only true God, the Father of Jesus.

In the Old Testament, we find how three young men refused to worship an idol which king Nebuchadnezzar made and ordered all his people to worship. But Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego refused to bow down and worship the idol. This made king Nebuchadnezzar furious and ordered that they be thrown into the furnace (Daniel 3:13-28). The words that give me encouragement are what the three young men replied to the king: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O King. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up".

God had given Nebuchadnezzar a lot of gold (Daniel 2:37-38); this made the king proud and he wanted people to worship him. He forgot that it was God who made him possess the gold in abundance and it is God who should be worshipped.

In this age we can be confronted by some lords who will want us believers to obey them rather than our Lord Jesus. We want to remember that there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, whom we should serve.

Recently, (on 28th August 2012), the Catholic Church received a statue from Rome. This happened in Chingola Kasompe Air Strip, here in Zambia and the statue represented one of their saints called Jean Bosco. The statue had one of the hands of Jean Bosco inside it. I was shaken when the announcer on Radio Cengelo Catholic Radio Station reported such a thing. The announcer further stated that only young people attended the procession from the Air Strip into the town centre of Chingola where worship of the statue took place, taking any part of a dead body, in Zambian tradition is witchcraft. Dear brothers and sisters, let us be on the alert against false prophets.

Bre Mabalanga (Chingola, left) and Robert Miwele (Kitwe)

Comment:

Brother Robert, this idol (of so called Saint John Bosco) has travelled around the world and arrived in London on the 15th of January and thousands worshiped before this idol and queued up to do so. So we also have thousands of idolaters in London and your warning against idolatry is very much applicable to us all.

Relics of St John Bosco, founder of the Salesian order, arriving in London

The wax effigy containing the relics is unloaded in Lambeth Road outside St George's Cathedral

Young people queue to enter the cathedral to see the relics.

Bro Robert Miwele (Kitwe, Zambia)