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A Jealous God God the Father and God the Son, who are both part of the Godhead are jealous Gods who expect, and actually demand that their worshippers and followers put them first in their lives. This is an essential task of all genuine Christians. God will not play second fiddle to anything or anyone. God the Father and God the Son will not accept anyone who has something or someone else first in their lives - God will not share our affections with idols. Jesus Christ won't share our affections with idols. Luke 14:25-27 from the Living Bible " Great crowds were following Him. He turned and addressed them as follows: Anyone who wants to be my follower must love me far more than he does his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers or sisters - yes more than his own life - otherwise he cannot be my disciple. And no one can be my disciple who does not carry his own cross and follow me. " Matthew 10 :37-39 " He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. " Exodus 20: 1-6 " And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. " Exodus 34:14 " For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: "
God Never Changes Jesus Christ is part of the Godhead, and He Himself is God. There are two members of the Godhead - the one is The Word, who came to the earth and was born as the human being Jesus Christ, so He could die for our sins, and make it possible for us to receive salvation. God the Father is greater than God the Son, but no man has ever seen God the Father, or heard His voice, except naturally Jesus Christ, who was God in the flesh. Christ came to reveal God the Father to mankind. God the Father was not the God of the Old Testament. John 1 :1- 4 " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. " John 1: 10-12 " He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: " John 1: 14 " And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. " John 1: 18 " No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. "
John 5:37 " And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. "
The God who appeared to various prophets like Abraham, Jacob, Moses and Ezekiel - was none other than The Word - the one who emptied Himself of His glory, humbled Himself, and came to this earth in the form of a man - Jesus Christ. It was the Word, who spoke the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel from Mt. Sinai. It was the Word who gave the law to Israel through Moses, and who entered into a Covenant with the children of Israel. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 " Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. " Hebrews 1: 8-12 " But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. " Hebrews 13: 8 " Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. " Malachi 3:6 " For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. "
All Religions Do Not Lead To God There is only one way to salvation - Jesus Christ. All religions do not lead to God. John 14:6 " Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. "
God Will Not Accept You Unless You Put Him First God is a jealous God. God has self-respect. God is the Creator. We are the work of His hands. God will not go with us - just the way we are. We must go with Him. God will not follow us - we must follow Him. And if we have something, or someone else first in our lives before God the Father and before God the Son - then we are guilty of idolatry, and must repent of that sin before God will accept us. God will not play second fiddle to anything or anyone. God must run the show, and must be the number one act in the show - otherwise God will simply not be part of it. This is one of the central characteristics of God, and it is extremely vital we understand this. Matthew 22:35-40 " Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. " Luke 10:25-28 " And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. "
Joshua 24: 14-25 " Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. "
You make God - the true Living God - your God when you obey Him. He becomes your God and reveals Himself to you, when you put away your idols - when you put away whatever is first in your heart besides God - then God shows Himself to you. John 14:22 " Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. " Almost all of the world is estranged and alienated from God because of idolatry. It is both national and personal idolatry that cuts people off from God and from Jesus Christ. Why ? Because of the nature of God - the fact that God will not play second fiddle to anything of anyone, and the fact that God demands and expects anyone who wants to be His servant to put Him first in their lives and to love Him with all our hearts, souls, strength and mind. Jesus demands we love Him more than anyone and anything else - even more than our own lives. When we love Jesus, and put Him first we are also loving and putting God the Father first in our lives at the same time - since both God the Father and God the Son are part of the Godhead.
How To Put God First It is really very simple. It is done through faith. You believe and trust in God the Father, and in His begotten son Jesus Christ - who Himself is God and part of the Godhead. You believe and trust in the God who revealed Himself to Israel, and who was born as the human being Jesus Christ. God inspired the writing of the Bible, which is the revealed word of God to mankind. You pray and ask God the Father to reveal your false gods to you, and then once you are aware of what your personal idolatry is - then you repent of this, and instead build and orientate your life around the true God instead. You believe and trust in God the Son Jesus Christ to wash away your sins through His sacrifice for you on the cross. He is your mediator between you and God the Father. He is your High Priest. We all need a frame of reference and system of orientation. We all need to build our lives around something, or someone. The two members of the Godhead created mankind to have a relationship with them. God (who reveled Himself only to the children of Israel) created mankind with a need to build their lives around Him. If people for whatever reason fail to put God first - then the need for a system of orientation and a frame of reference is still there - so what people do is simple substitute something or someone else first instead of the true living God. They simply build their lives around something, or someone else. This can be almost anything, or anyone. Most people are simply in rebellion against God, and will not have God setting the standards, and will not have God telling them how to live their individual and collective lives. They are in rebellion against God. They will not accept God's standards that He reveals to us in the Bible - which is His inspired word. Therefore most people are simple estranged and alienated from God because of their unrepentant, rebellious attitude, and because of their personal and collective idolatry. You can read about the various false Gods of the nations. This is the collective idolatry of societies all around the world. Nations or distinct societies - if they do not have the true God - (who revealed Himself to the children of Israel) as their God then their collective need for a societal frame of reference still exists. So if they do not build their nation, society or culture around the true God and His laws, statutes, judgments and ways (which are explained to us in the Bible - both the Old and New Testaments) then they simply have something else which is first - this can be almost anything. This is collective idolatry. It can be a false religion, or a false church, or it can be a system of belief like communism, socialism or capitalism. Quite a few nations are very diverse like Canada and Brazil - so in these cases there is a mixture of false gods - like in Canada where the collective idolatry is spread out among a couple of greater false gods namely money and socialism. Other nations are more singular in their collective orientation and they have one very clear false god or Idol, like with Saudi Arabia and their false god of Islam, or like Italy and their false god of the Roman Catholic Church. There are sub-cultures within many nations like in the USA and Canada for example. These are not part of the mainstream society or culture. Therefore most of these sub-cultures do not worship, or build their collective lives around the same idols as the mainstream society. Some examples of sub-cultures in the Canada are the Hutterites (who have their own religion as their false god). In the United States we perhaps could say the Jehovah Witnesses make up a sort of sub-culture - their false religion itself being their primary focus or idol. There are many more examples. An interesting question - is there a single society or nation, or sub-culture that has the true living God as their collective orientation ? If the true church or parts of the true church are a distinct group (the chances of this may be slim, since the church is a spiritual organization made up of those who have the Holy Spirit living in them) then they have to have the true God as the frame of reference for their distinct sub-culture. If they don't then they are just part of the greater idolatry all around us, and therefore have fallen away from God. If you are searching for such a distinct sub-culture that has the true God as the frame of reference for their distinct society - well you have to look for certain things which will clearly identify this group as the real followers of God. They will not have rejected God's true weekly Sabbath (from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) and God's annual Sabbaths - these are the same Sabbaths Christ kept. They will be following a good number of biblical customs - the ones not done away by Christ's sacrifice. They will be following or trying hard to follow God's ways as explained in the Bible - both Old and New Testaments, but they will not be perfect. They will be basically honest, hard working, law abiding, and will try to follow Gods ways. They will accept God's standards as explained to them in the Bible, and they will not be in rebellion against their Creator. They will be different from the world - since the world is estranged and alienated from God through idolatry. Personal idolatry is different from collective idolatry. Personal idolatry can be almost anything. People can put their families first in their lives, of their jobs, or their money, or their hobbies. themselves, or their church or their religion. We are supposed to put God and Jesus Christ first in our lives and not our church or religion - if we just follow our church and religion and put them first then we have a false god. Your church and religion must fit in with what the Bible teaches in regards to its doctrines and teachings - then it is fine to follow them. If they don't then you can very, very easily have a false church or a false religion, like with Mystery Babylon or with one of the anti-Christ religions like Islam for example. The true religion and the true church will agree with the doctrines and teachings of the Bible (there might be some minor differences like with some of the more gray biblical teachings and laws). If you cave in to political pressure and follow your church and religion rather than following the clear biblical teachings and laws - then you most likely do not have God and Christ first. The true religion and the true church must get their teachings and doctrines from the Bible. The true church is built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone - this is your Bible both Old and New Testaments. No church or religion, or so-called prophet has any authority to add anything to the Bible, and then claim these teachings have equal weight with the Bible, or even overrule the Bible - the Bible is complete the way it is. The most accurate English translations of the Bible are the King James Authorized version or the New King James version. Other translations like the Living Bible are useful, but there are glaring doctrinal errors in the Living Bible for example - that have entered in because they have not done the translated faithfully, but have added many of their doctrinal errors while translating. The original Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek, but few of us understand Hebrew or Greek, so must rely upon translations. Make sure you base your understanding upon an accurate translation. Your personal idolatry is whatever occupies first place in your mind and heart aside from your Creator, who has revealed Himself to Israel and through His written word the Bible. I will just give you a list of the more common personal false gods of individuals here in Alberta, Canada where I happen to live:
When we put God first in our lives - then we have the proper and correct orientation in our lives, and then we can have the right and correct attitude and approach towards all other persons and things. God is not a mean God who doesn't want us to have things, and who doesn't want us to enjoy life. It is just that God wants us to have the proper focus, and put Him first in our lives - and then this orientation will enable us to have the correct and healthy approach to everything else. Matthew 7:33 " But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. " The correct orientation entails trying hard to obey God. You obey God by working to keep His commandments revealed to us in His written word the Bible. You can read some of my material, which will help you have this correct focus, and which will help you avoid so many of the false teachings, and false doctrines out there.
Telephone (403) 274-5253 E-mail Mailing Address: Ray Wegner P.O. Box 475 Stn. Main Calgary, Alberta T2P-2J1 Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms and Fundamental Freedoms (from the Canadian Constitution) " The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: (a) freedom of conscience and religion; (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; (c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and (d) freedom of association. " Readers are encouraged to point out biblical errors in all of my material and writings on spiritual matters. If you can find scriptural errors in my teachings - teachings that cannot be backed up by hard, concrete biblical doctrine - then I will gladly accept the constructive criticism and make the changes needed. So please go ahead and point out my mistakes, but your criticism must not be based on mere opinion, but must be able to be proved from the Bible. This web site built, designed, and owned by Ray Wegner.
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