March 24, 2026 - Know Truth More Than False Beliefs
- brooks16055
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Deuteronomy 12:3 NIV
[3] Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.
I had to go back and make sure I had the right reading for today since this was the same as the reading from a few days ago. Things that are repeated are important.
Deuteronomy 12:4-7 NIV
[4] You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. [5] But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go;
I believe that worship is something that can be done anytime and anywhere but there needs to be special place for regular worship. Joining together and coming to a specific place to worship will help us to avoid worshiping in the way of non-believers. I have often heard people use terminology used by other false religions to express their beliefs in God and their worship of Him. That is a slippery slope. The less time we spend in corporate, organized worship in the house of God the more we can allow or worship to be dragged into the ways of the world. God warns the Israelites not to get sucked into the practices of those in the land they will come into contact with. That applies to us as well. We live in a world that surrounds us with more unbelievers than believers. Those who have a faith in some god but not the One True God. We need to guard ourselves from being influenced by the world we live in. God knows that and would tell us that corporate, organized worship in a church is an important part of doing that.
Deuteronomy 12:30-31 NIV
[30] and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” [31] You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
We should also not look for ways to change or worship to make it more palatable to people of other beliefs. We can learn and understand the false religions but we need to assure that we are mature in our faith and it should be for the purpose of recognizing the false practices in order to avoid it. If you are a new believer or are not mature in your faith, learning about other religions can also start you down that slippery slope. You should be focusing on learning and understanding Jesus, the word of God, worshiping Him and spending time with other believers. Avoid the practices of other belief systems. Their practices that are displeasing to God are more likely to distract our sinful nature and draw us into practices and beliefs that are detestable to God.
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 NIV
[1] If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, [2] and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” [3] you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.
A prophet needs to be tested for truth. Even if a prophet has consistently been right and proven as reliable and they say something that goes against God's laws and regulations we should not believe it. Or obedience to God's word is a measure of our love for Him. If there are things that we are struggling with following in God's word, things that we don't fully believe in God's word, then we need to examine our hearts. If we love Him with all our heart then we will trust Him and believe all of His word, including where and how we worship. Our focus should be more on what Jesus has taught us. We need to be in the word of God and seek training from those who teach according to the word of God. The best way to be sure that we recognize when false beliefs and practices are presented to us is to know the truth of God's word better than anything else.
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