Trace any personal sin, regardless of its design, back to its origin and one will always find the same source–IDOLATRY.  The word “idolatry” comes from the root word: “idol.”  An idol is a physical or mental image of an actual entity.  Within the unchurched world that image (idol) is man himself–man deciding what man wants to do and doing it without regard for God’s will.  Within the church world that image (idol) is also man himself.  Sinners worship and serve themselves as if they are God Himself.  So-called “Sinners Saved By Grace” have that same mind-set.

The one who entices man to embrace his man-is-god “truth” is Satan.  Adam and Eve were his first converts.  Given the choice, they chose Satan’s “truth” over God’s Truth, and the rest is history.  Satan is required to obey God.  In Matthew 4:10 Jesus affirms this truth: “You (Satan) shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.”  Notice that the Biblical God is Satan’s God Whom he (Satan) is required to worship and serve (obey).  When a man emulates Satan by disobeying God he places himself in the same spiritual category as Satan; they become spiritual brethren in their zeal to worship and serve themselves.  In the eyes of God there is no difference between sinning man and the devil, for BOTH ARE HIS ENEMIES (Rom. 5:10/ Phil. 3:18,19/ Jam. 4:4).  As this and many other series prove, God and Satan have nothing to do with each other.  Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 for proof of this truth.

Sinners Saved By Grace refute this Biblical Truth.  Contrary to the “truth” espoused by SSBG, one cannot serve both and be a child of God.  This is brought out clearly in 1 John 3:9,10: “Whosoever is born of God (converted–not born again) does not sin for God’s seed (Word) of God remains in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God.  In this the children of God and the children of the devil are recognized: whosoever does not live righteously is not of God” (and is therefore of Satan).  A clarification is in order: the word “CANNOT” is a conjunction of two words.  “Can” is the Greek word dynamai, meaning can, able to, power (from which we get the word “dynamite”).  “Not” is the Greek word ou, meaning no, not, under no circumstances, in no way, absolutely not.  THE TRUE SAINT CAN SIN BUT REFUSES TO DO SO.  Relative to one’s choice of gods, one is either all in or all out.  As Jesus said, man cannot serve (obey) two masters, for in reality, man loves one and hates the other.  The end-time Laodicean (Catholic/Protestant) Church accuses Him of lying about this clear, Biblically mandated rule.  They proclaim to the world that they can enjoy the pleasures of both fleshly sin and spiritual holiness because Jesus lived the perfect life in their stead.  Therefore, they are not required to abstain from sin.  Besides, thanks to Adam, they can’t.  Jesus said that He would spew such people out of His mouth as vomit (Rev. 3:14-20).  Such people are in Satan’s continuous “sin-repent cycle” in which, after enjoying the thrill of sin, they only need to repent.  Now free of guilt, they can return to what they like to do–sin.  And why not, Christ’s death enables them to get away with it.  Adam made sin natural for mankind.  Repentance is a small price to pay for being allowed to do what comes “naturally.”  The sin-repent cycle makes a churchite like the sow that returns to her wallowing pit and the dog that returns to its vomit (2 Pet. 2:22).  Such people are “ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth” (2 tim. 3:7).  The one who has enticed 99.9% of the world’s people to serve their self-idol is Satan.  This Truth was proclaimed by Jesus Himself.  Let us turn to Matthew 16 where we will learn what He has to say about self-centered idolatry–what it is and from whom it comes.

Here we find that the Apostle Simon (Barjona–son of Jona) has just rebuked Jesus whom he (Simon) had recently proclaimed to be, ‘… the Christ, the Son of the living God (vs 16).  In verse 17 Jesus called Simon “blessed” because God the Father had spoken an eternal Truth through him.  In verse 18 we find Jesus calling him “Peter” (Gr: “petro”–a small pebble) for the first time and announcing that, “… upon THIS ROCK (Gr: “Petra”–a huge boulder, mountain–Jesus Himself) I will build My church.”  Jesus did not build His church upon Simon Peter–the pebble (petro), but rather upon Himself–the mountain (Petra).  Read Was the Apostle Peter the First Pope?  Key word–Pope.  In verse 21 Jesus told the disciples that He would soon die at the hands of the Jewish leaders.  In verse 22 the pebble rebukes the mountain.  Obviously, the God of the universe was not speaking through Peter as He had earlier (vss 15-17).  Rather, Peter was speaking what he heard from the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4).

The irony is that, while rebuking Jesus, Peter “knew” he was hearing from the true God just as he had in verse 16.  This heresy runs rampant throughout professing Christendom.  Literally, men listen to Satan’s lies as they follow oxen while plowing in third and fourth world countries listening to transistor radios hanging from their horns.  For proof of Satan’s saturation of the air with his gospel, tune in to any “Christian” radio or t.v. station or attend any “church” in any town or city anywhere in the world.  Sadly, people are being “heart washed” (my term) by false prophets preaching the church’s perverted gospel.

Then there are those who take the “social gospel” throughout the world in the name of Jesus.  Unfortunately, they preach the Jesus of the church and not the Jesus of the Holy Bible.  Paul warned people not to follow preachers who present “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4) and “another gospel” (1:6-9).  As Paul said, these prophets are cursed by God.  This being so, those who believe and follow them are also cursed.  Because they are led by Satan’s prophets, they are fed only what those “truths” that seem to confirm their group’s theology.  The other 99% of their message is counterfeit truth.  Each group/denomination/faith, etc. has its own Jesus and its own truth, none of which reflect the Word of God.

In verse 23 Jesus tells us exactly how Satan turns well-meaning, God-seeking people into Satan-serving, self-absorbed idolaters without them realizing what is happening.  Looking at Peter, Jesus said: “Get behind me, Satan, for you are offensive to Me”  Then He explains how Satan offends Him and turns men into idolaters:”… FOR YOU DO NOT SEEK THE THINGS OF GOD, RATHER YOU SEEK THE THINGS OF MEN.”  Note it: SATAN WANTS MAN TO HAVE WHAT MAN WANTS–SELF-RULE WHICH PRODUCES SELF-SERVICE.  Satan lures man into self-rule and self-service by giving man what he wants.  If you want to turn a child into a self-centered, self-worshiping monster, simply give him whatever he wants.  The outcome (idolatry) is guaranteed.  Telling man what he wants to hear instead of what God wants him to heear will, in every instance, produce a self-worshiping, self-serving idolator whose object of worship is HIMSELF.  For this reason we are told from on high that if we fail to take the rod of correction to our child we reveal that we hate him (Prov. 13:24; 22:15; 23:13).  God loves us, which is why He corrects (curses) us when we sin, both personally and nationally.  Through His various “voices” he “speaks” His displeasure in the form of wars, physical and mental disorders and diseases, pandemics, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, invasion, famine, droughts, floods, so-called “bad luck,” so-called “accidents,” financial depressions, etc.  Following a so-called “natural disaster,” people thank God for saving their lives, as well they should.  However, they should also thank Him for sending the disaster.  This is His “voice” of warning, telling them to turn from their wicked ways and embrace Him.  For this reason He tells us to “Be thankful in all things” (Eph. 5:20).  Thanking God for coming to our rescue during a problem should follow our thanks to Him for sending the problem.  He loves us enough to use the “rod of correction” (the problem–His “voice”) on us in the hope that we will understand why He sent the problem, will repent and “SIN NO MORE.”  Recall that Jesus told the man at the Bethesda pool whom He had healed and forgiven, “Sin no more, LEST A WORSE THING COME UPON YOU.”  By connecting the Scriptural “fine print” dots, we learn that God had sent the disease upon the man because of his sins.  After healing and forgiving him, Jesus warned him that, should he sin again, “… a worse thing will come upon you.”  He cannot make the sin-curse correlation any more clear.

But Satan has successfully hidden this Truth from salvation seekers beginning in the Garden of Eden.  Through his false prophets (Catholic and Protestant pastors, Sunday school teachers, evangelists, missionaries, etc.) he has kept those within his church system in Scriptural darkness to this day.  My job is to speak and write God’s Truth to those with eyes to see and ears to hear that Truth.  I pray that readers will believe His Word, come out of Satan’s church system and embrace God by obeying His Truth/Word (Jn. 17:17).  L.J.