Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing. Deuteronomy 7:26 Laban was a dishonest conniving task master in Jacob’s life. After Jacob manipulated and stole his brother’s birth right and his blessing,Jacob’smothertoldhimtogobacktoherbrother’shouseuntilhisbrother,Esau,hadachancetocooloff.WhenJacobarrived at Laban’s, he met his daughter Rachel. Jacob fell in love with Laban’s daughter Rachel the first time he saw her and made an agreement with Laban to work seven years to win Rachel’s hand in marriage.
The bible tells us that it only seemed like a few days that Jacob worked to marry the woman he loved. When the wedding night finally came, Laban manipulated Jacob and placed Leah in the wedding tent instead of his beloved Rachel. The next morning, Jacob wasangryandconfrontedLaban,whohadanexcuseforhisdishonesty. LabansaidJacobhadtoworkanothersevenyearstomarry Rachel. Jacob quickly agreed to work another seven years to win Rachel’s hand in marriage. After the fourteenth year of working for Laban, Jacob had earned his two wives. Despite the evil way Laban treated Jacob, God’s hand of blessing was on Jacob. Laban saw the blessing of God on Jacob and he wanted him to keep working for him. Laban and Jacob agreed that all the streaked. spotted and speckled livestock would belong to Jacob.
Once again, God blessed Jacob and his heard of streaked, spotted, and speckled lambs and goats grew. People who do not have the hand of God on them will always get jealous of God’s blessing and favor on your life. Ten different times Laban changed Jacob’s wages trying to steal God’s blessing from him. God was watching and intervened in Jacob’s life when He spoke to Jacob inadreamandremindedhimthatHewastheGodofBethelthehouseofbread(provision)andinstructedJacobtogobacktohisfather’s house. Jacob called his two wives out into the field and told them about the dream. Both women knew their father had been dishonest in his dealings with them and that he had even stolen their inheritance.
They agreed with Jacob to leave Laban’s service and go back to Canaan, the promised land. While Laban was away taking careofhisflockinadistantpasture,Jacob,Rachel,Leah,theirtwohandmaidsandallthechildrenheadedbacktoJacob’sfamilyhome. After they were gone three days, Laban came home to find them missing and pursued them for seven days to get his daughters and their children back. The night before Laban caught up with Jacob, God appeared to Laban in a dream and told him to be careful what he said to Jacob.
The next morning, Laban confronted Jacob and accused him of stealing his daughters and children away and taking his family idols. Jacob told Laban he left like he did because Laban had been dishonest with his dealings over and over with Jacob and he did not trust Laban to let him leave with his wives and children. Jacob did not like being accused of stealing Laban’s gods and he said whoever had them should be killed. Laban searched through every tent and did not find his gods. When he searched Rachel’s tent, shesatonhercamelbagsandaskedherfathertoexcuseherfromgettingupbecauseshewaspregnant. Rachelhadstolenherfather’s idols, and no one knew she had them. Laban asked Jacob to make a covenant with him, that neither would pass that place and harm the other. After they made the covenant, Laban went back home, and Jacob proceeded to take his family back to his father’s house. Rachel died in childbirth on the journey because she took the accursed things that displeased God and did not belong to her.
The story of the modern church is much like Jacob’s story. There is a great prophecy over the United States of America, that we would take the gospel of Jesus around the world, be a land of the free and be prosperous. Instead of waiting on God to meet our needs and to fulfill His word, our nation began to “make things” happen even when they were unethical and unbiblical. We ran to conniving, dishonest government leaders to answer our needs and trying to fulfill the destiny God has for America.
TheAmericanGovernmenthasbeenattemptingtopushGodoutofournationsincethe1950’sandhasbeensuccessful.Inthe 1960’s they passed legislation to remove prayer from our schools. It has been a well thought out plan of the devil to slowly remove God and insert radical godless laws and practices instead. Many of the laws and legislation in our land today are in direct rebellion to the Judeo-Christian beliefs our country was founded on.
Isaiah 5:20 summarizes our current laws, those who write them, and those who vote them in: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.” Like Jacob, the church has tried to appease and compromise with thegovernmentthatnolongerfearsGod. Thechurchhasacceptedallthecrazylegislationtryingtokeepthepeace. Everyoneknows you cannot negotiate with terrorist, it is never productive, just costing the negotiating party more and more.
God is calling the Church back to our rightful place and inheritance. Even though we are not going to a new physical place, we are embarking on an awakening and a repentance to bring God back to our nation and our government. While all of us are ready to take the journey back to Bethel, the House of God, we must be diligent not to take the gods with us that ensnared us in the first place. Rachel agreed with Jacob and was ready to go back to Jacob’s father’s land, but she wanted to take her father’s false gods with her. It is our responsibility to make sure we do not have any of their gods in our homes or in our possessions. What gods have you given space to that need to be destroyed?
Deuteronomy 7'23-26' But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed. And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under heaven; no one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.” God is about to deal with the evil leaders and restore our nation back to us.
WemustgetpastthisbeingaRepublicanversesDemocratbattle,therearegoodpeoplewholoveGodandourcountryonboth sides and there are evil people who hate God and our country on both sides. This is a battle for good and evil. Take time and ask the Lord what idols or false gods you have taken into your home and get rid of them and destroy them before they cause you to miss out on God’s best. Taking the false gods that did not belong to her, cost Rachel her life.
False gods come in many different forms, and they are a counterfeit to God. Rachel took a carved image to worship as god.
Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourselves a carved image- in any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth or that is; in the water, under the earth, you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”
Every religion other than Christianity worships carved and golden images. It may be Buddha or black stones, but they all bow down and worship false gods instead of giving the one true God their worship and praise. Sadly, idol worship has crept into some Christian churches and people bow or pray to statues of Mary or some of the saints.
God is a jealous God, and He will not share our worship with statues or images. The woke culture has tried to make people think they are narrow minded if they serve and worship God alone. We should not allow any carved statue or religious artwork of other gods in our homes. Crystals have been introduced by the new age movement as having the ability to heal. Crystals are the counterfeit of the true healing that comes from Jesus.
Isaiah 53:5 “By His stripes we are healed.” The new age movement has also introduced burning sage to bring about healing when in fact, sage is used in witchcraft to summon and conjure up evil spirits. Dream catchers are trendy, but they are used by the native American cultures to “catch” evil spirits and for protection. God alone is our protector: Psalms 4:8 “I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord make me dwell in safety.”
The devil wants us to seek him for direction with the use of Ouija boards, tarot cards and horoscopes instead of allowing the Holy Spirittoleadandguideus. Itaughtthecollegegroupatourchurchforaseasonandtwooftheyoungmenwhocamewereroommates at college. One of them had a Ouija board and they watched demonic activity like hats flying around the room. Every time they threw the board away, it would show back up on the shelf in the dorm the next day.
I have a friend whose daughter goes to school in one of our surrounding small schools. Her daughter came home from school a few years ago and said the girls were playing with a Ouija board at school. Check with your kids and make sure they are not playing with one at a friend’s house or on an online gaming platform. Tarot cards are also considered to be trendy and young people think it is cute to carry around a Tarot card or try to read peoples fortunes with a deck. There are parents who have found their children have a Tarot card that a friend gave them.
Do you read your horoscope in magazines or online? God is a jealous God, and He knows what is best for you and wants to guide you. Do not allow the devil to influence you with any of these forms of witchcraft. That brings us to the books we have in our homes and the books we allow our children to read. I have never understood how Christian parents would condone their children reading the Harry Potter series. Witches have been interviewed on TV stating that the curses and spells in the Harry Potter books are true spells and witchcraft the witches who serve the devil use.
I grew up without a TV and was an avid reader. During my Jr. High years, I got interested in Greek and Roman mythology. Mythology is all about false gods. A way to judge what literature or written materials we should allow in our homes and minds is to ask, “who or what does the book give glory to?”
Books with sexual content and pornography should not have any place in our lives. They place the normal affection and desire for our spouses with written words and images. Be aware of the toys your children are playing with, some of them are evil. A witch doctor in a remote village saw a Pokémon toy and told the Americans through an interpreter, “I know that demon, he bites and scratches.” For those of us who do not know much about Pokémon, he bites and scratches.
The LOL dolls when dipped in cold water, reveal adult lingerie on the dolls. Be mindful of the toys your children have that seem harmless. Another thing we need to evaluate are the movies we allow our children to watch. Witchcraft has no place in a Godly home.
Deuteronomy 18:10 “There shall not be found anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer.” If God’s word tells us not to allow people who practice such things to be among us, why are we allowing it into our homes with the movies our children are watching? What jewelry do you wear? No, I am not saying that all jewelry is bad, Abraham sent gold jewelry as a dowery for Isaac’s wife.
Evil jewelry is jewelry that is made in an evil image like the all-seeing eye, a masonic ring or any rother religious art you may have purchased. It is designed for protection, but instead it invites evil into your life. Even the jewelry of the saints is wrong. People mistakenlybelievetheyneedtopraytoaSaint,someonewhoisdeadandhasnopowerinsteadofprayingtotheonetrueGod. When you pray to a Saint, then that Saint is between you and God. God wants a personal relationship with you. “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.”
A false god is anything that we put our trust and devotion in that is not God and it becomes an accursed thing. If the Holy Spirit has convicted you of anyone of the items we have discussed today, I pray 2 Timothy 2:26 “that you may come to your senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” Not only are we to take responsibility for ourselves, we have an obligation to our children who still live at home It is not easy to be the “parent” who has to say no, but your children’s soul is worth fighting for. If your children have moved out from your home, take time to share these truths with them. What else do you do when you realize you have things, false gods, that do not please God?
First destroy all accursed things, even if it is jewelry remember Deuteronomy teaches to not even cove the silver or gold that is in the false gods. Examine what season you were in and why you allowed the accursed things into your life. Then turn to God to fulfill the need you were trying to meet when you acquired those things.
Proverbs3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.” We must be like Joshua and determine “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Johsua 24:15. CathyNesmith