You’re about to confront one of the most overlooked threats in the life of any believer: the subtle, creeping Worship of Other Gods that hides behind culture, tradition, and assumption. We explore essential biblical truths about idolatry, providing faith education that empowers you.
If you want to strengthen your discipleship, sharpen your discernment, and reclaim a faith built on truth rather than tradition, this teaching is for you. So join us as we learn the God Honest Truth about what scripture has to say about the worship of other gods.
#TrueWorship #Idolatry #Theology #Syncretism #FalseGods #GodHonestTruth
Transcript
Teaching Introduction
So in today’s day and age, we have things that often involve multiple other things. We have multiple jobs. We have multiple cars. We have multiple houses. Some people do. But when it comes to worship and obedience and doing what someone says, what does scripture have to say about worshiping other gods? Can we worship other gods? Do we reject the one true God and go worship other gods? Can we worship multiple gods alongside with the one true God? Or is the scriptures adamant and vehement about worshiping the one true God exclusively? Well, that’s what we’re going to get into in this particular teaching coming up next on the God honest truth channel.
Video Start
So this drash is going to be or this teaching is going to be all about what the Bible has to say about the worship of other gods and especially how it relates to our subject series that we’re studying right now and that is the subject of Christmas and what the worship of other gods has to do with Christmas. So definitely stay tuned for this particular teaching. But before we get to that, I do want to remind everyone that we have the notes available for you on our website at godhonesttruth.com. There’s going to be a lot more information than what we have here in this particular presentation.
So if you would like more notes, you’d like more scriptures, more information, more links that you can go read for yourself, go check that out on our website at godhonesttruth.com. Click on the post for this particular episode and there you’ll be able to see the on demand video. You’ll be able to see the drash slides you see that’s here on your screen and go through them at your own pace which is convenient for nerds like me who like to study various things at various times. Down below that you’re also going to find the notes that we took for this particular episode and the transcript if that is something that is helpful for you. Go check it out today at godhonesttruth.com.
Another easier way is going to be to go down below in the description and we have placed a convenient link down there for you. And if you click on that link, it’ll take you directly to the article post on our website. Makes it so easy for you and that should be down there in the description. Whether you’re watching on a video platform or listening on an audio podcasting platform should still be down there all the same.
Teaching Start
So, starting out, let’s do a simple quote that just pretty much encapsulates everything that we’re going to be learning about and studying tonight from scripture. This is the very first commandment. Exodus 20:3. You have no other mighty ones against my face. Or as you’re probably more accustomed to the King James version, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Now, we could get into a whole teaching or a whole drash on just that one particular commandment, and we did back in our ten commandment series, but that pretty much encapsulates every single thing we’re going to be learning about today. And it relates to not only this Christmas subject, but every other subject in your life. You’re not to have any other gods besides Yahweh because he is jealous. And there’s, we’ll get to all that in just a minute. Starting to get ahead of myself.
Worship
But what does it mean to have other gods? Well, it really comes down to a word that we often times get confused and that is the word worship. We should only worship Yahweh. But what does that word worship mean? Well, in fact, we have a different concept of what worship is than what the Bible actually uses when it goes through or especially the translations that we have nowadays, especially the King James version or the modern translations, things like that. But basically, the differences boil down to this. I tried to encapsulate it as best I could, but it’s not perfect, but it does a pretty good job. The modern version or modern understanding of what worship is, is that it’s giving something ultimate value, whether that be adoration or devotion or reverence to whatever you see as highest. That could even be your time because we only have a limited number of hours in our life. So time is something we could give to something that we worship as well. it worship. Modern worship includes singing hymns or praying. You go to a big mega church nowadays and they have a praise and worship time. And what is praise and worship? It’s just songs and singing. But anyways, continue on. Worship in modern understanding is also living out what you cherish the most. Whether that is God Almighty, money, fame or a lot of people nowadays even have themselves as the highest thing of adoration in their lives. And worship is in modern terms anyways is about healing or choosing that which inspires you. And that’s something that can change day by day. But is that the biblical concept or understanding of what worship is? the biblical and again this is just me encapsulating things here as best I can in modern language but the biblical concept of worship means bowing low in spirit in action important word action to Yahweh alone no one else no other god but Yahweh honoring him with total submission reverence and obedience it’s not just rituals like sacrifices or songs, even though that can be included, but that’s not the real heart of worship. The biblical interpretation or understanding of worship is also praising Yahweh’s worth, trusting his rule, serving his will, and living for his glory. Now, keep that in mind that serving his will, obedience, and serving his will because this comes up in many, many scriptures. And some of those we’re going to get to here in just a moment. But even Yeshua said in the that those who I don’t want to get this wrong. Those who break the commandments and teach others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. And those who keep the commandments and teach others to do so will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So obeying the word of Yahweh and serving his will. And what do we know his will is? He put it for us in his scriptures in the Bible. All we got to do is read and study it and we’ll know at least a good portion of his will. We know it is to have no other gods before him. We know it’s to honor the seventh day as the Sabbath, the day of rest. It’s the honor your father, etc., etc., etc. We know what to do. We just have to serve him and what he tells us to do. And that is the biblical understanding of worship. However, there is a little caveat because you look in your Bible and we’ll look at the differences here in just a minute with some various scriptures. But as you look in your Bible, you’ll see sometimes the two different words put side by side. And that is worship and serve. But like I said, we’ll look at that in just a minute. However, the word that’s commonly translated as worship in a lot of Bibles is often meant nowaday or in the original language or the original time it was translated. It often meant the act of physically bowing or prostrating oneself and that could be done to either kings or other men, other humans, to Yahweh or anyone. That’s what worship means means in the translations they use. Um, and that comes as a paradigm shift to a lot of people because people think that, oh, the Bible says you should worship Yahweh alone and only him shall you worship. And then we look through the rest of scriptures and we see other people like Esau, I’m sorry, Jacob worshiping Esau. Now, you don’t get that in modern translations as much, but you look in translations like the Wycliffe, and it does say that Jacob worshiped Esau, that uh Bathsheba worshiped Solomon, that etc., etc. And we get flabbergasted thinking, “Oh man, they’re being idolatrous.” But no, what they meant by worship is this simply showing respect, giving honorage, honor, and homage. It’s not the same thing that we think of when we think of worship today. There are two different things here at play. There’s the concept that’s trying to be conveyed and then there is the worship that we I’m sorry, the word that we understand when we read it. And that could be two different things because the concept is pretty much going to remain the same. They’re always trying to convey a and get across a particular concept and teach that but they have to phrase it in certain language and that language is whatever languages of the day. Back in the day of the King James, worship meant something different than it does nowadays. That’s why we get confused when we read outdated translations like the King James when it says things like adding leaven to meats. Well, why would you add leaven to meat? Leaven makes bread rise and it doesn’t make meat rise. Well, meat has changed over time and various examples like that. But same thing with worship. The concept that is trying to get across with worship that the understanding of the concept of worship has changed over time. So you got the concept that’s trying to be conveyed and the word that is being used in the translation. And sometimes they don’t always align like they should. And worship is one of those. Let me show you some proof from scripture instead of just all this talk right now. Let’s go back to the point made earlier that a lot of people say that the Bible teaches us to only worship Yahweh. Okay, real quick. Think about that and think of you can find the verse in scripture where it actually says that. Feel free to even Google it or do a web search or ask an AI. That’ll help you out too. And see if you can find the verse where it says you shall only worship Yahweh. You shall worship only Yahweh. Those two words, worship and only together. See if you can find that. All right. Gave a little bit of chance. We’ll get him moving on. Let me give it to you real quick. This is what probably the verse that most people would point to when asked that question is going to be Luke 4 and verse 8. This is Yeshua speaking and he’s speaking to HaSatan the adversary as he’s being tempted in the wilderness. And here in Luke 4:8, Yeshua says this. And Yeshua answering him said, “Get behind me, Satan, for it has been written, you shall worship Yahweh your Elohim, and him only you shall serve.” Now, if we’re just going off the translation and the words that were used there, what Yeshua is telling Satan is that we are to only serve Yahweh. He’s the only one we’re to serve, but Yahweh is not the only one we’re to worship. That seems absolutely blasphemous when a modern-day Christian hears that and but it’s really not because they’re not understanding how the words have changed over time. It’s actually should be understood in a different way. You shall worship or give what they call homage or obeisance to Yahweh your Elohim and him only you shall worship because worship as we understand it nowadays is more correctly understood as service or obedience or doing what the will of that which we are worshiping and that could be whatever we ourselves we do whatever we want to do and the heck with anybody else. That’s worshiping ourselves in a modern context, but it’s not in the biblical context. And here is some examples you can see here where it first part where it says, “You shall worship Yahweh your Elohim.” In the Legacy Standard Bible, it has pretty much the same thing. You shall worship the Lord your God. In the Douay, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. And the 20th century, this is very, very interesting. And this has got it switched around the way it should be for modern times. And it says, “Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God and worship him only.” See, in that translation, you can actually find the verse that says, “Only Yahweh shall you worship.” Anyways, moving on. In the MLV, it has you will be worshiping the Lord your God. And then in the CLV, it has the Lord your God shall you be worshiping. Very very few translations actually have that exact wording. You shall worship only Yahweh or you shall worship only God. Very very few translations have that and a lot of those translations have the word worship for other people. Now here excuse me here in the Brit Hadasha there’s two different words that is mostly used for translating into the English word worship and that is the Greek word proskuneo and the Greek word latreuo proskuneo is something is encapsulates the concept of giving respect or homage or obeisance to someone else usually someone of a higher rank, a higher social class, or someone who just has earned the honor to be knelt before or to be prostrated before or things like that. And you see this all the time even in uh cultures nowadays and like Asian oriental cultures. They’ll bow before the emperor or a general or a legislator or something like that. They still do it nowadays and that’s what they’re giving there by giving obeisance or honor or proskuneo. The other Greek word commonly translated into the English word worship nowadays is the word latreuo and latreuo means divine service, divine obedience, divine worship. The like the kind of worship we think of nowadays. Unfortunately, in a lot of translations like the King James and others, they don’t translate latreuo as worship like they should nowadays. They translate it as serve. And here is a prime example of both those words in one verse. Here Yeshua says, “You shall latreuo, I’m sorry, you shall proskuneo Yahweh your Elohim and him only. You shall latreuo.” Now, it’s getting really nerdy right now. I understand that, but that’s kind of the guy I am. But yeah, our modern understanding of worship should most correctly be mapped out to the word serve in most English translations nowadays. And understand that if you’re reading the King James or a lot of other translations that are based on the King James, when it says worship, it usually means give honor, give respect, do homage, do obeisance, and things like that. So that’s that is example after example after explanation. Hopefully everyone’s tracking. If you don’t put it in the chat, I’ll try to answer that for anyone who is here in the chat. Let me check the Rumble chat. Make sure to or you can write to us uh at team atgodhonesttruth.com and we will also try to answer your questions through there as well. Try to explain it even better. But yeah, that is how worship and service is in scripture and how worship is nowadays and kind of the difference between it.
But going on and getting more on point for our drash tonight. This comes from Exodus 20 verse 4-5. You do not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above or which is in the earth beneath or which is in the waters under the earth. You do not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I, Yahweh, your Elohim, am a jealous El visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. So here’s another example of where the concept of doing honor and respect is included in the same verse as the concept of giving divine service or worship to here in the first part. It has it translated as you do not bow down to them. That is portraying the concept of giving respect or honor or homage. Certain translations do translate this as worship still like the Legacy Standard Bible and others as well. I didn’t put the other ones up there unfortunately. We’ll get into a lot of examples like this. However, the second part of that sentence nor serve them. This is where it should be translated as worship. You should do not bow down to them nor worship them. And some translations actually have it translated correctly like that at least for modern understanding of the word worship here in the Wycliffe well all the way back in Wycliffe anyways it has it translated correctly in our understanding of worship in modern times neither worship them the MSB translation has it as or worship them Bible in basic English which is not really a translation it’s more of a summary of paraphrase but I put it in just to show that hey a broken clock is right twice a day. But the Bible in basic English has that second part as or give them worship. So even in Hebrew it has the same kind of differences between rendering homage, rendering respect and admiration or obeisance and it also has the concept of divine service. And this is a good section of scripture to show both of those in one passage going on. Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 21. Getting even more to the point of our teaching tonight or our topic tonight. Deuteronomy chapter 16 21. Do not plant for yourself any tree as an Asherah near the altar place of Yahweh your Elohim that you make for yourself. And this can be translated a number of different ways, but basically it’s getting uh the concept through you’ve heard this word Asherah or Asherim or etc etc any kind of variation on that. But most people don’t understand what an Asherah is or Asherim or Ashtaroth or things like that. And if you would like more information, we have the nerdy definitions and lexicon entries and stuff like that in our notes on our website. So go check that out. But an Asherah is, especially back in that time, it’s definitely something wooden the vast majority of the times. It could also be a stone pillar. Think obelisk. But a lot of times it had to deal with stuff that was wooden. And what is something that is wooden? A tree. And even a living tree as well. This is something that actually proves that from scripture. It says, “Do not plant for yourself a tree as in a Asherah.” It says, “Do not plant a tree. You don’t plant something that’s dead and cut down.” Most people don’t. You plant something that is alive and you want it to continue to grow. But as we covered in the episode on dendrolatry, these pagan cultures, these pagan sun god religions, they used trees and groves of trees and leafy shrubs and all kinds of stuff as part of their worship of these pagan gods. And this is something that’s referencing that very concept of dendrolatry says that you do not plant for yourself any tree as an Asherah. According to the King James, thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any tree. Again, a Asherah could be a dead pole that’s made of wood. It could be a tree. It could be a grove of trees. Any kind of thing like that would be considered an Asherah. Starting to be a little more clear as it relates to our subject at hand. Hope so. Yeah. An Asherah can be an actual living tree or it can be a dead tree that’s been cut down. We’ll get into that in just a moment. And it can also be stone, but most of the time it’s usually something wooden, a living tree or a cut tree or a shaped and sculpted wooden thing, but usually made of wood. That’s an Asherah. and various translations right here. You can look there and see how they translated this particular verse in various different ways, but it’s all pretty much meaning the same thing. It’s something that’s pagan and something that we should not be doing.
Going on into First Kings 14 22-23. And Yehuda did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed more than all that their fathers had done. where they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree. So once again it’s talking about the Judeans it’s talking about the southern kingdom at this point but it’s talking about the Judeans doing things that are evil and sinful and what are some of these things that they are doing that is evil and sinful building high places to pagan gods. building pillars for pagan gods using a Asherah or planting a Asherah for these pagan gods and green trees for pagan gods. So even in scripture it doesn’t use the word dendrolatry but the concept is there for dendrolatry within paganism and this is one of many many verses in scripture that deals with the use of trees or shrubs within the act of paganism went on into Jeremiah 10 verses 2-5 and this is probably one of the most famous sections for the subject object of Christmas. So let’s read that real quick. Jeremiah 10 verses 2-5. Thus said Yahweh, “Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them. The laws of these peoples are worthless. For one cuts a tree from the forest, work for the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They beautify it with silver and gold. They strengthen it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple. They are like a rounded post and they do not speak. They have to be carried because they do not walk. Do not be afraid of them for they do no evil nor is it in them to do any good. So what are they talking about here? Well, a lot of people will say, well, it’s talking about creating a carved image, a carved idol. That that’s that’s one interpretation. I’ll give him that. But that’s not the only interpretation. And that’s definitely not exactly and specifically what it’s talking about here. Just use your mind people. Please just read this. It says here, “Do not learn the way of the nations.” Remember that. We’re going to get the nuances of that in just a minute. The way of the nations and do not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them. For the laws of these people are worthless. Now pay attention right here and just picture in your mind someone doing these very things that the Bible is warning us against. So go in your mind and start imagining this as I read it. For one cuts a tree from the forest. Can you for the sake of all that is good and holy, can you think of anything or anyone that would go out and cut a tree from the forest? Wild guess. Does that bring anything to mind? Maybe a couple possibilities. Okay, we’ll see if we can narrow it down. The it continues here. So, keep in mind your picture here and keep imagining. It says one cuts a tree from the forest. work for the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. Then it goes on and they say they beautify it with silver and gold. What do people do nowadays that they beautify something with silver and gold? And it goes on they strengthen it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple. this. If that’s not describing the practice of a Christmas tree, I don’t know what is. That pretty much spells it out point for point without actually saying, “Hey, this is a Christmas tree.” I mean, how do you say this is a Christmas tree without actually saying the words specifically, “This is a Christmas tree.” Yeah, it’s talking about these other nations. that are doing this thing about cutting a tree from the forest, beautifying it with silver and gold, decorating it, and then securing it down so it doesn’t topple. What does that sound like to you? But it goes on to give you a little bit of hope. Says, “Do not be afraid of it. Do not be afraid of the Christmas tree because it cannot do evil. Even though it may be evil, it cannot do evil. And it is not in the Christmas tree to do any good either. So, it’s a waste of time. Why even do it? But this first part right here, here’s another point I’d like to get across in this particular teaching. That first part, it says, “Do not learn the way of the nations.” Now, earlier we talked about the difference between the concept that the scriptures is trying to put across and the word that is translated as representing the concept here. When it says, “Do not learn the way of the nations.” The concept that’s trying to be portrayed and put forth is people or people groups other than those in covenant with Yahweh. A group of people or everyone else who is not one of Yahweh’s people. That’s the concept it’s trying to put forth. and is as such is actually translated in different ways depending on who excuse me depending on who is translating it and when it’s being translated for instance we look at the King James version and it says do not learn the way of the heathen heathen in the Douay-Rheims it says learn not according to the ways of the Gentiles Gentiles heard that word for. Yeah, that’s another word that has changed over time. Even here, you can see in the Latin Vulgate, it uses the Latin word for gentile, but still the same concept. The concept is people who are not in covenant with Yahweh, who are not one of Yahweh’s people. And it drives me batty when people say that modern Christians are Gentiles. And they say this in order to justify not doing the things of scripture and continuing in their old ways that they should be getting rid of. They say, “Well, oh, that’s a gentile way, not a Jewish way.” And it’s a continuation of the anti-semitism that started long ago, way back in the second, third, and fourth centuries. But yeah, let it be known that gentile means people other than those who are in covenant with Yahweh. people who are not the people of Yahweh, pagans, heathens, things like that. And it’s translated as such in various translations. Other translations such as the Spanish Jubilee Bible, it has the Spanish word for gentile. In the Finnish Bible or Finnish translation, it has the word for pagan. also in the Lithuanian and Polish Bible or Polish translation and in the French translation, the Giguet or Guet, I don’t even know how to pronounce that, but anyways, you can look that up on the link I provided there. But in the French translation, it has the word for Gentiles. But the concept that’s trying to be portrayed is someone other than those who are in covenant with Yahweh. So in a modern context or a modern way of putting it in a modern context, a a gentile is not someone who is saved. You either saved and born again or you’re a gentile. And which do you want to be? You want to be a saved, born again Christian or messianic, orever how you want to put it. Or on the other hand, you want to be a gentile. We’ll get into some more verses on that in just a moment, especially in the Brit Hadasha because even the Apostle Paul says the exact same thing. We’ll get there in just a moment. But here is the etymological progression of the word gentile. This comes from Etymonline. Again, you can find that link as well as the information in the notes. Go check that out on our website. But it says here that gentile is number one, one who is not a Jew. And that’s pretty much the modern understanding of what gentile is, but that’s not what the Bible uses for the word gentile. And the Etymonline entry also has that as well. It says earlier than 1400, gentile meant one who is not a Christian. In other words, a pagan. It can also mean men of a family, persons belonging to the same family, fellow countrymen, kinsmen, etc., etc. but also it can mean foreigners or barbarians meaning someone who was not Roman. So it’s got different uses but generally it means someone other than those in covenant with Yahweh. And it also goes on in that entry to say the Latin word then was used in the Vulgate to translate Greek ethnikos which translated Hebrew goyim after the Christianization of Rome. Gentilis also could mean pagans or heathens as opposed to Christians. So that’s a little bit of of historical information for you if you’re not a nerd like I am and didn’t pick up on that already. But the way that the word has been used for most of most of history and especially in scripture when it uses the word gentile, it means someone who is not saved. Gentile in the Bible means someone who is not a Christian, not a messianic. So again, biblically speaking, you can either be a born again Christian or Messianic, or you can be a gentile.
Pagan Practices Prohibited
But this continues, it’s not just trees, but all kinds of various pagan practices that get prohibited and condemned and says, “Do not do this.” Let’s look at Deuteronomy 12 verses 1-4. These are the laws and right rulings which you guard to do in the land which Yahweh Elohim of your fathers is giving you to possess. All the days that you live on the soil completely destroy all the places where the nations which you are dispossessing serve their mighty ones or gods on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall break down their altar places and smash their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. and you shall cut down the carved images of their mighty ones and shall destroy their name out of that place. Do not do so to Yahweh your Elohim. So again, this goes back to the concept biblical concept of what we should do to Yahweh alone and that is serve him and do his laws and his right rulings and be obedient to him in the way he tells us to live our lives. Number two, another point in this particular passage, notice there it says to burn their Asherim with fire. Burn their Asherah with fire. You don’t burn stone, you don’t burn metal, you burn wood. So again, going back to that whole point that a Asherim was made of wood, a wooden carved pole, a cut wooden tree or a living wooden tree or a grove of trees even as we covered earlier. That is a Asherim. But it also says, “You shall not do these things that is described to Yahweh himself.” These are pagan practices that you are not to do to Yahweh. Clear enough?
Going on looking in Deuteronomy 12 verses 29-31. When Yahweh your Elohim does cut off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, guard yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire about their mighty ones, saying, “How did these nations serve their mighty ones, and let me do so, too?” Do not do so to Yahweh your Elohim. For every abomination which Yahweh hates, they have done to their mighty ones. For they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their mighty ones. So this is really good as well. It says that when you meet these other pagans or I’m sorry, when you meet these pagans and you move them out of the promised land, and this is something that goes across all of the earth, not just the promised land, but when you go and you dispossess them or you’re living in that land, do not do after the ways they do to their pagan gods. Do not do that to Yahweh. He hates that. And these pagans, they do all sorts of horrible and nasty things that Yahweh hates. And he goes on to give one example. They burn their children in the fire to their gods. And that’s the sort of thing that Yahweh doesn’t want. Now, why were they burning their children in the fire to their god, their Molech or Baal or whoever it was? Well, because they were told to by whatever priest or oracle or whatever it was that was part of their particular cult, they were told to do so and they were being obedient to that god and or at least what they thought was that god and their particular rules. And that’s the things they did because they worshiped those gods. And Yahweh says, “Do not do that to me. Do not do that the way the pagans did to their pagan gods. It seems simple enough, but people reject and ignore the Tanakh, what’s commonly referred to as the Old Testament. They don’t know this because they don’t read it and they don’t give it any attention. But yeah, says do not worship God. Do not worship Yahweh in pagan ways. Just don’t do it. That is the biblical stance on worship of other gods.
Going on Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 9 when you come into the land which Yahweh your Elohim is giving you do not learn to do according to the abominations of these nations now once again that word nations is portraying the concept of someone who is not one of Yahweh’s people who is part of the nations someone who is a heathen someone who is a pagan someone who is a gentile whatever word you want to It means someone who is not in covenant with Yahweh. It says, “Do not learn to do according to the horrible, utterly disgusting ways, the abominations of those nations. Do not do them. Do not learn to do them.”
Going on to Brit Hadasha, and this is where it gets really interesting, especially for you modern people within mainstream churchianity. This is the part of the Bible that you read the most. Most of your commentaries and sermons are taken from the aka New Testament. Well, here we go. This the same concept continued on because it’s all one thing. So, Ephesians 4:17. So, this I say and witness in the master that you should no longer walk as the nations walk in the futility of their mind. Once again, what is it trying to convey here? or the concept that’s trying to convey when it says no longer walk as the nations walk. Well, depends on which translation you’re reading here as depends on what word they use. But the concept is someone who is not saved and born again, someone who is not in covenant with Yahweh. In the scriptures 2009 that we just read, it uses the word nations. In the English Standard Version, it uses the word Gentiles. It also does the same thing in the King James version, the Legacy Standard Version, etc., etc. Lots of translations use the word gentile, but in the tree of life version and a few other ones, it uses the word pagan, but it all means the same thing. Mean someone who is not saved, someone who is not born again, someone who is still doing non-biblical, non-Christian things, someone Yeah. Again, someone who is not a Christian. And that’s the concept it’s trying to get across. That’s what gentile actually means. Here’s a few other translations for Ephesians 4:17. Again, the Moffat translation uses the word pagans. The Vulgate, the Latin translation, uses the word for Gentile. So does the 20th century translation. And in let’s go back and look at that uh King James translation real quick. It says here, this is verbatim what the King James says in Ephesians 4:17. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walked not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. Well, that’s interesting. It says other Gentiles. Kind of referring to you as a Gentile, but it’s referring to other Gentiles and not you Gentile. But what’s the problem with that? The problem with that is accurate translations meaning non King James don’t have that word other there. And if you look here, I have included an interlinear Greek uh I don’t know if you call it translation, but an interlinear Bible of four Ephesians 4:17. And here it’s got word for word in exact order that the Greek is in. And it says, “No longer are you to walk as also the Gentiles are walking.” There’s no word other there. is not saying that you’re a Gentile and then there’s these other Gentiles. That’s not what the original says. No, it says you are you, you are Christian, you are saved and born again. Then it is there’s these other people who are not saved. They’re called Gentiles and we’re not supposed to do as the Gentiles do. So yeah, you were no longer a Gentile once you become saved and born again. That’s something that you’re supposed to leave behind, not do again because you’re now worshiping and serving and obeying Yahweh and his word, not the way you were doing things.
Going on in first Peter chapter 4 verses 1-4. Therefore, since Messiah suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind. Because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so that he no longer lives the rest of his time in the flesh for the lust of men, but according to the desire of Elohim. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the desire of the nations, having walked in indecencies, lust, drunkenness, orgies, wild parties, and abominable idolatries in which they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same flood of loose behavior, blasphemy. Now, I know this is probably beating a dead horse at this point, but let’s look at this one more time. It says, “We have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the desire of the nations.” Again, the concept is doing the desire of those who are not saved, doing the desire of the Gentiles, doing the desire of the pagans, doing the desire of the heathen. So, what is these unsaved people, these Gentiles, what is it talking about they’re doing? They’re doing indecencies. They’re doing lust. They’re doing drunkenness. They’re doing orgies. They’re doing wild parties. They’re doing abominable idolatries, etc., etc., etc. These are the things that the unsaved, these are the things that the pagans, these are the things that the Gentiles do. This is not stuff that the saved, the born again, the people of Yahweh do. It’s contrasting between the Gentiles and the people of Yahweh. So, if you’re watching this right now, I really, really hope this has come across and that you understand what’s going on here is that if you want to be a biblically based and biblically minded kind of Christian or Messianic or whichever term you want to use, it’s fine. They’re both the same thing in my opinion. But if you want to be biblically based, you have to start understanding that you are not a gentile. If you were born and saved again, you are no longer a Gentile. You are now a child of Yahweh and you are to go by his will, his instructions, the way he says to do things. So this excuse that modern people within churchianity have is that oh well the Jews do the first twothirds of the Bible but us Gentiles we do whatever we want basically but they say it’s the New Testament and then only the parts they like. But no, again, and I know this is being a dead horse, but it’s I believe it’s important, especially for those within modern churchianity, either you are a Gentile or you are saved and born again, but you are not a saved Gentile. That’s an oxymoron. At least according to the way the Bible uses those terms. So, you can’t use that excuse anymore for justifying these pagan practices and these idolatrous things that have been brought in over almost 2,000 years into Christianity. Yeah, I’ll uh I’ll leave it there.
Mindful Mulling
Anyways, here’s some things to think about and just it’s this going to be very simple, very easy because we’ve already covered most of this. But when it talks about the when we talk about the worship of other gods, what does that mean to worship another god or to include the worship of another god? Well, basically it’s like we covered before, especially with the cult or the pagan worship of the god Molech or the false god Molech rather, is that how do we know which god we’re worshiping? And when people look at us, how do they know which god that we are worshiping? Well, there’s different things that tell us or tell other people which god it is that we worship. And that’s by what we do and also what we don’t do. And this really hits home and it’s really apparent once you start thinking about it. The basic and really lowhanging fruit from the Bible is the sacrifice of children. If you know somebody who’s going around and they’re cutting the throat of their 3-week old newborn and putting them on a fire and burning them alive, you know they’re not Christian because there is zero justification from scripture for doing such an act. So that right there tells you they are not a Christian or a messianic. That would be the worship of the false god Molech. Now in modern application this is it’s going to be absolutely obvious when you start thinking about this. If you see someone a co-worker some a neighbor someone who is celebrating Ramadan and they tell you hey we’re having a Ramadan party or it’s the month of Ramadan etc etc. You know they’re not a Christian. You know they are not born again. They’re not saved because that would make them a Muslim. They’re worshiping a false god, a fairy tale called Allah. But by what we do, by who we obey, who we follow, who we got ourselves on, that’s how we know and how other people know who it is that we are worshiping. Now if we look at the Bible and we study and learn from the Bible and the Bible says do not use trees or do not use a Asherim or Asherah poles or plant a Asherah or decorate a cut tree and people are doing that. Does that mean they are Bible believing Yahweh following Christians or does that mean they are bringing in at the very least other stuff into the worship and trying to mix and mingle? Answer for yourselves. I mean think about it now. There’s even a clear separation and understanding between those of us within the general overview of the people of Yahweh. You got the mainstream churchianity and they do things like Sunday Sabbath which is not in the Bible. They do things like Christmas and Easter, which is not in the Bible. They do things like reject Passover, reject Shavuot, reject Sukkot, which is not in the Bible, said just the opposite actually. So if you were look at all the things they do and then you look at things that those of us who have like a messianic mindset and we keep the seventh day Sabbath, which is in the Bible, we keep Passover and Sukkot, which is in the Bible. We we keep all these things. There’s a clear distinction between these two groups. So, which one do you think is more closely and more accurately following Yahweh in scripture? Decide for yourselves. I’m not here to tell you that, but it should be rather obvious at this point. But yeah, the point is that you can tell who it is that you worship or you can tell who it is that other people worship by what they do and also what they do not do. So just keep that in mind as we go forward. Yeah.
Summary
So in summary, the concept of worship in scripture differs from our modern concept of worship and we went over that at the very beginning and somewhere around gosh 12 13400 something like that kind of started switching around but the biblical concept of worship is different than what we think of nowadays. And you remember you got the concept that’s trying to be portrayed and put forth and then you got the word that represents the concept and that word can change depending on who is translating and when they are translating it. We are not to have any other gods in place of or in addition to Yahweh. Yahweh wants our worship, our obedience exclusively, not mixed in with anyone else. Not in place of or second place to anyone else. No, Yahweh wants us to serve and worship him alone and only and no one else. And don’t bring anything else into it. Don’t bring dendrolatry into it or anything else. In scripture, the words nation, heathen, pagans, or gentiles refers to people not in covenant with Yahweh. We are to no longer do as the pagans or Gentiles do once we come into salvation. Once again, Gentile is what you were and then you become saved and now you are no longer a gentile. Now you are a child of God. We are not to worship Yahweh in the way that the pagans or Gentiles worship their gods such as Asherim poles etc etc. And that is just the God honest truth.
So thank you for joining us for this teaching on the worship of other gods. And we tailored it and tried to keep it directly pertaining to the subject we’re studying in the series which is the subject of Christmas and also a popular excuse that goes along with this subject. So hopefully you got something out of that. Hopefully you learned something. If you did, go down below, let us know the one thing that sticks out in your mind about this particular teaching. Then after you do that, go up and hit that subscribe button and ring the bell so that you’re notified every time that we go live or upload a new on demand video. Make sure you hit that like button if you liked it, or hit that down vote button if you didn’t like it, but let us know in the comments what it is that you didn’t like so that we can improve future videos. And finally, before you leave, also make sure to hit that share button and share this video around with someone that you know who would also enjoy the same kind of content.
And one more time before we leave and let you go, go down below in the description and click on the link that will take you to the article post on our website at God Honest Truth. And that article post will have the on demand video. It’ll have the drash slides that you can go through at your own pace. It’ll also have the notes that we took for this particular episode, which contains a lot more information than what was presented here. And it’ll also have the transcript if that is something that is useful for you as well. Thank you for joining us for another production from God Honest Truth Ministries. We really do appreciate your time and hope that we have been of service to you. If you have any feedback then please reach out to us by writing to team@godhonesttruth.com and make sure to visit our website for more information on our social media links, audio bibles, teaching resources and so much more.
