Category: Idols

Bible Verse of The Day – 3-30-21

1 Kings 3:3 (NKJV) 3 And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.

We need to beware of the “excepts” in our own lives.

We may love the Lord and keep a lot of His commandments, but when there is an, except this or except that, we need to pay attention and deal with it immediately. We need to get to the root of it.

We need to work extra hard to keep those “excepts” out of our walk. Because it’s those very things that have a grip on us and many times keeps distance between us and God.

In Solomon’s day these ”high places” or elevated hilltops were off limits to God’s people. The pagans believed the closer they were to heaven, the greater the chance their prayer and sacrifices would reach their gods.

We need to remember Who our God is, and that we can reach Him at any time and from anywhere.

If we are in the valley or on the mountain, if we are in a hard place or in a happy place, our God will hear our cry and the praises from our lips.

Get rid of the “except” part of our walk, those things that bring distance between us and God, and move forward with Him in a more powerful, tight-knit, and fulfilling relationship than ever before. Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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Bible Verse of The Day – 6-15-20

1 John 5:21 (NKJV) 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

I’ve read this verse many, many times. We have even written devotionals with this verse. It’s a very short verse that says a lot.

This past week, however, it took on new depth for me as I heard it while listening to the Bible as I was preparing for my day.

I usually like to read the New King James translation. It is a solid translation that is free of the old poetic “thees, thous, doest and goest” type of words, making it very easy to read and understand.

I do occasionally use other translations while studying, however, for the sake of comparison and for revealing other possible meanings in the scriptures.

This was the case with the verse above.

As I listened, it was reading from the NLT (New Living Translation), since audio wasn’t available for the NKJV translation. And here is what it said:

1 John 5:21 (NLT) 21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

If the NKJV translation didn’t make it clear enough, this translation certainly does!

What I really like about this is that it defines what an idol is in the lives of a believer; anything that might take God’s place in our hearts.

Straight forward, plain and simple, super easy to understand.

Many times, a simple change of words that brings more clarity can increase our understanding, leading to us actually implementing it in our lives.

It can mean the difference between us growing or not growing. This isn’t so much because we didn’t understand the other translation, but more because the alternate translation makes it so clear than we can’t deny it.

Thus, we are more easily convicted.

So, just as John encouraged believers of that time to keep themselves from idols, we also want to encourage you to do the same; keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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Bible Verse of The Day – 5-13-19

Exodus 34:12 (NKJV) 12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst.

Whether we realize it or not, the land in which we live can have a big impact on our lives. Every territory is subject to certain types of spiritual powers, activities and principalities.

This is usually evident in the various crimes committed in a town, city, region or province. It can also be seen in many of the cultural activities, whether religiously affiliated or not.

Some examples might be epidemics of high drug use, such as heroin or other opioids. Or it might be sexual activities such as prostitution or human trafficking. It might be corruption of various types.

If we’re not careful, and our discernment isn’t sharp, we can fall prey to some of these things that can cause us to dishonor God and damage our relationship with Him.

Many times, these things can be so entrenched in our area that we may not even recognize them as being bad. Or we may become desensitized to them, causing us to disregard or minimize the evil they represent.

And in worst-case scenarios, we may even participate in them to some degree because of our dulled senses. This is especially true with things like dishonesty and various types of corruption, since they don’t appear to hurt or harm a person directly.

In the verse above, God warned Moses about this. He told him specifically not to make a covenant with the people in the lands where he was going. Doing so would become a snare for Moses and the Israelites.

This warning needs to be passed along to all of us too, so we remain vigilant and alert, being cautious as to what we let influence us.

Some things can be very subtle, and they will sneak their way into our lives. Others, not so much. They are blatant and very easily seen to everyone except those who are spiritually dull.

Let’s be sharp and discerning, being sure to pay attention to God’s warnings, and giving Him the honor He deserves in every area of our lives.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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Bible Verse of The Day – 4-29-19

Exodus 32:9 (NKJV) 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 

As Moses spent time with God on Mt. Sinai, the people of Israel grew impatient, and they exposed what was in their hearts by creating and worshiping a golden idol. 

They had been led out of slavery in Egypt by God’s miraculous hand. They had witnessed things that should have sealed their faith in God for the rest of their lives. 

But somehow, they quickly forgot all of that and began to bow down and worship a golden calf. 

As God saw their behavior, He called them a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people. No matter what He did for them, they always seemed to rebel and stray from Him in their hearts. 

This is a good lesson for us to learn, as we see how the Israelites behaved, to make sure we don’t do the same. 

Now, we might not actually build a physical idol of gold and bow down before it. But we may put something else before God, which is equal to idol worship. 

What might that be? Our career, our family, our hobbies, musicians, celebrities, money, sex, or any other number of things? We can replace God in many, many ways without even realizing that we’re doing it. Most times it’s not intentional. It just kind of happens. 

Let’s not be a stiff-necked people. Let’s learn from the things that God’s word teaches us about the Israelites. And let’s throw away our idols and keep God in His rightful place, on the throne of our hearts. 

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie 

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808 

401-315-0902

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Bible Verse of The Day – 3-7-16

Leviticus 19:4 (NKJV) 4 ‘Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the Lord your God.

Idols. What are they?

Many things can be idols. People. Hobbies. Cars. Boats. Music. Etc.

And, believe it or not, we can idolize our church and the things that take place there.

Idols don’t have to be something that we physically bow down to. They can also be something that we rely on to lead us into God’s presence, in place of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus died, the veil in the temple, which separated us from God, was torn. This meant that we would now have direct access to the Father. Priests and sacrifices were now no longer needed.

Unfortunately, we humans have a tendency to create habits and dependencies. And before we know it, we are going backwards. Instead of letting God’s spirit lead us to Him, we start relying on routines.

One of those routines is our weekly church service. Church is good. The local church is where many, many believers gather to worship God each week. And this is good!

The danger comes in when we begin to rely on certain things about that weekly gathering to worship God. Maybe it’s the music. Maybe it’s the lights or the sound system. Maybe it’s the stage performance.

God wants us to come to Him and worship Him, humbly, without having to rely on outside factors or influences to make it happen. Yes, music is good. Yes, corporate worship is good. We just need to be careful that we don’t become dependent on these things to lead us into God’s presence.

And, we need to be extra careful that we don’t let any of these things take the place of God’s presence.

John 4:24 (NKJV) 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

So let’s worship God. Let’s worship Him with all our hearts. And let’s be careful not to let anything get between us and Him.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day

(1 John 5:21 NKJV)  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Checking ourselves periodically to make sure we are not putting anything or anyone on a pedestal is a good thing to do.

One of the hardest things Christians have to be careful of, when God uses a man or woman to do His work, is that we don’t look at the person more than we look at God Himself.

We always need to keep our eyes on God. It’s one thing to show respect and be thankful for the man or woman of God that has spoken into our lives, but we need to be careful to remain balanced in our thoughts, remembering they are mere humans and are not perfect people. We all make mistakes; we all sin, and fall down.

I got saved as a young child. I loved my Pastor and looked up to him. He was always there for me and my family. I looked at him as the greatest man ever; he had all the answers and could help me solve my problems. He was my safety net and I cherished him.

As I grew up, God was moving me on from his church for various reasons. When I explained this to my pastor, he didn’t like it and tried to keep me there. I explained my situation to him, hoping he would understand and be happy for me. But instead, it was the opposite. He got very upset with me and told me he would never come to visit me again.

I was a young adult at this time in my life and it hurt me terribly. I thought from the things he had taught me through the years that we would be able to continue our friendship, no matter where we served God. But apparently it wasn’t going to be that way.

As I stood at my door, with tears running down my cheeks, and watched this man walk away, I learned a big lesson that day and God was there to pick up the pieces and mend my broken heart. It was my own fault and I never blamed the pastor for any of my pain.

This is what happens when we put anyone or anything other than God on a pedestal. When we look more highly at someone than we should, we will be disappointed and sometimes our heart ends up hurt or broken.

There is only One that we can idolize and worship. The pedestal was made for ONLY One. One that is worthy! That is our Lord God and Savoir, the perfect ONE! Amen.  

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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Bible Verse of The Day – 4-16-14

1 John 5:21 (NKJV) Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

What a simple directive and piece of wisdom to live by.

There are so many things that pull on us each day. There are temptations, lusts, pressures from other people, and the list can go on and on.

So many things can become idols. Most times when we think of idols, we think of tangible things. But other types of things can become idols too. So let’s talk about one of the worst ones.

PRIDE.

Yes, pride can be an idol. Pride can destroy us if we’re not careful. It can cause us to do things that we know we shouldn’t do, just to impress people or to keep up appearances among those that know us.

Pride can hurt people very badly. It can hurt us, that’s true for sure, but it can cause great harm to those we come into contact with on a regular basis too. Here’s a true story to demonstrate this. I’ll try to keep it short.

Someone we know was at someone else’s house, giving them a haircut. The haircut was finished and the person getting the haircut was talking with the other person. In the middle of a sentence, she stopped talking and froze in place. She didn’t move, not even a little. She didn’t respond to anything at all, but just sat there completely still and unresponsive.

The person who had cut her hair tried to get her to respond, but it was useless. So she called the woman’s daughter, but got no answer. She then called 911 and told them to send an ambulance immediately.

After calling the ambulance, she called the lady’s husband and told him he needed to get home right away. Shortly thereafter, the woman came out of the seizure she was having and picked up where she left off, like nothing had happened. In fact, she pretended nothing had happened at all.

The ambulance showed up and the lady who had had the seizure told the medics that she was fine and it was a mistake… that they should never have been called. The husband also vouched for her and told them that they should never have been called.

At some point not long after the ambulance left, the woman who had suffered the seizure made a comment about worrying about what the neighbors might think. And the person who had called the ambulance was made to feel like they should never have done so, hurting her feelings pretty badly. She was, after all, only doing what she thought was the right thing to do.

Pride kept these people from treating the other person respectfully. Pride caused them to say things that caused her to feel belittled. This idol, pride, caused them to be more worried about what the neighbors might think than about the person who had tried to help.

So, little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 10-17-13

Exodus 20:3 (NKJV) “You shall have no other gods before Me.

No other gods… idols. Things that we put before God or hold up to the same level as God with worship or reverence.

This is a topic that we like to touch on every once in a while, just to give us all a reminder as to where our worship and affections should be directed.

There are so very many things that can pull on us and try to grab our attention and affections, even to the point of trying to take the place of God!

Now most of these things will never appear to be like God. Instead, they are things that we get caught up in that end up climbing our list of priorities higher and higher until they have consumed us.

This can apply to things we do, things we buy or even people we love or idolize. And it can even apply to people related to our faith or our walk with God. How about pastors, worship leaders, famous Christian musicians or actors/actresses? Do we hold any of them up higher than we should?

And let’s not forget about biblical figures. People in the Bible were flesh and bone, just like you and I, but there are people and even entire denominations who hold some of these people up to the point of reverencing them or even praying to them.

We need to remember that they were frail humans just like us. They made mistakes, just like us. They committed sins and crimes, just like us. They were men and women used by God, but they were just human beings, just like us!

God alone deserves our worship and praise and it is to Him alone that we should be praying and giving reverence! If we are being taught anything contrary to this, we need to compare it to God’s word and see how it lines up.

I know this might come across as a scolding or something written in anger, but it is truly not. Written words can sometimes be hard to decipher when it comes to the actual tone intended by the writer.

But know that these words are written in love and as a gentle nudge for all of us to check where we stand and who our worship is being directed to.

Be strong and bold in your faith!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 7-8-13

(1 John 5:21 NKJV)  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Idol – representation or symbol of an object of worship or a likeness of something.

There are a lot of things in this world we can worship or really like without even realizing that we are doing it. This verse says to keep yourselves from them.

Why? Because it is easy to fall prey to them and end up worshiping them. God wants us for Himself (Deuteronomy 4:24 NKJV)  “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

We can not worship Him and also worship other things/people as well…it doesn’t work that way.

We have to make sure there is nothing in our hearts that we put before God; nothing that we worship.

Worship – extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem.

How can we tell we are worshipping something or someone? By how much time we devote to it or them.  A lot of times we will give it our everything, all of our time, thought, energy and our money.

Every so often it is good that we check ourselves to make sure we are not putting anything before God.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

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Bible Verse of The Day – 5-7-12

(Lev 19:4 NKJV)  ‘Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God.

Back in the day when this commandment was written, idols were common. Statues were created and worshipped as being gods.

Nowadays, we don’t think so much about “graven images” or statues being worshipped, even though they do still exist and are worshipped in many areas of the world.

We deal with many different idols these days that can seem much more subtle, but are still just as dangerous as any other kind of idol. Let’s take a look at some of them and see which one(s) we are falling prey to.

TV – How many hours of TV do we watch each week? This might be a good time to take account here.

Computer/Internet/Games – This is a monster time consumer for some people! Virtual reality is fun, but it does nothing for eternity and our souls if we’re not using it for God’s glory.

Food – Ooh… here’s one that many of us can really use some help with. Are we putting food before other things, or even before God? Are we eating way too much? Or are we obsessed with dieting? How about hoarding food? Do we have cupboards and pantries full of food, just in case we might need it?

Hobbies – do we have hobbies that become idols? Do they consume our time and our thoughts, and even our finances? Do they come between us and our relationships with people or between us and God? There are so many of these: Golf, baseball, soccer, football, basketball, fishing, hiking, sewing, knitting, gardening, and many more. These are all great things to do, but are we letting them bet between us and God?

Addictions – alcohol, tobacco, drugs, food, porn, sex, and many more. These are all very powerful and some of them can be life-altering or life-threatening. Most of these are driven by demonic forces that can control our lives if we don’t seek deliverance and help from God.

Any one of us can be under the negative influence of any of these idols, but God offers us hope! He has given us His son, Jesus Christ, who overcame all of these things by His death and resurrection.

Ask God to help you and deliver you from these idols and addictions. He is faithful to do what we ask.

Start your week off on the right foot and take a huge step toward putting these idols behind you.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-377-5400

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