by Dorcas Kulwa | 16 January 2020 08:46 pm01
THEY WORSHIPPED THE LORD AND SERVED THEIR OWN GODS
Shalom. Welcome, let us study the Bible together…
The children of Israel, after turning away from God for a long time, began to serve foreign gods. God removed them from their land and sent them into distant nations. Israel was taken to Babylon, and later Judah was taken to Assyria, leaving the land desolate.
When the king of Assyria saw the land was empty, he decided to bring people from neighboring and distant nations to live in the land of Israel, so that it would not remain uninhabited. However, these people lived there without knowing that it was a holy land, which should not be defiled. God sent wild animals like lions among them until they learned how to live according to the customs of that land.
Let us read:
2 Kings 17:23-33 (paraphrased)
23 “So the Lord removed Israel from His presence, just as He had warned through all His servants the prophets. Israel was taken from their own land to Assyria, where they are to this day.24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kutha, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria instead of the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its cities.
25 At first, they did not fear the Lord, so He sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
26 Then the king of Assyria commanded, ‘Bring one of the priests you took from there; let him live there and teach the people the customs of the God of the land.’
27 So one of the priests went and lived in Bethel, teaching them how they should fear the Lord.
28 However, these people still worshiped their own gods, placing them in the high places of the towns where the Samaritans lived, each according to their own nation.
29 The people of Babylon made Succoth-Benoth their god, the people of Kutha worshiped Nergal, the people of Hamath worshiped Ashima,
30 the Avvites worshiped Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children as sacrifices to Adrammelech and Anammelech, their gods.32 They feared the Lord, but they also appointed others as priests in the high places to offer sacrifices to their own gods.
33 They worshiped the Lord, yet served their own gods, just as the nations they had been brought from did.”
Notice verse 33: “They worshiped the Lord, yet served their own gods.”
This sentence shows that they did two things simultaneously—they honored God while continuing to serve other gods.
Why did they worship the Lord?
It was to avoid being killed by the lions.
Why did they continue serving their own gods?
Because they loved them and could not abandon their cultural and ancestral practices.
Thus, to survive in the land, to avoid being killed, they mixed practices: half devotion to God, half to idols; half giving tithes, half indulging in pleasures; half doing good, half doing evil; half serving the true God of Israel, half serving the gods of their ancestral nations. This brought long-term curse rather than blessing.
This pattern continues even today—inconsistency, lukewarmness. Half-hearted devotion: someone may appear as a Christian, faithfully attending church, paying tithes, serving God publicly, yet in their home or village they secretly honor ancestral spirits. They perform small sacrifices, keep traditions, or honor family gods, while outwardly appearing righteous. In their heart, they may fear and respect these gods more than the true God, continuing rituals from their ancestors.
Our Lord Jesus Christ warned against this lukewarmness:
Revelation 3:15-17
15 “I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
Also:
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 …We are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’
17 Therefore, come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.
18 I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.”
Key points:
A Christian performing traditional rituals, sacrificing to the dead, or honoring ancestral gods is committing sin.
Seeking solutions from spirits, ancestral practices, or ritual sacrifices is detestable to God.
Christians may live among family who practice these things, but must not spiritually conform to them.
Practical guidance:
When you come to faith, make your stance clear to family and relatives. They should know you are a Christian.
At first, this may bring tension, opposition, or isolation. But in time, they will recognize your faithful stand.
Do not fear curses or witchcraft—God’s power protects you. You do not need to fight these in ritual or magic; simple refusal with faith is enough.
Remove unchristian objects and practices from your home.
Do not combine ancestral rituals with Christianity.
Remember, nowhere in Scripture is God associated with idols or saints; no Marian statue is to be worshiped.
Attempting to serve God and idols at the same time is spiritually adulterous. It is detestable and double-damaging.
May the Lord bless you
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