“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” (1 Corinthians 10:14-22 ESV)
Now, the picture the Lord is giving me of what this teaches us is of someone (anyone) who professes faith in Jesus Christ, who believes that all their sins are forgiven, and that heaven is what awaits them when they die, but who lives the opposite of God’s plan and purpose for our lives. They know the way of salvation. They know what God requires of them in the way of thought, attitude, belief, and behavior, and yet they live the opposite. For they’re immovable in their stance to choose to deliberately do what is sinful.
Although they profess to know God, they do not obey God, in practice. Although they know the way of righteousness and holiness, they choose the path of unrighteousness and wickedness and degradation. And they willfully choose sexual immorality, lying, cheating, stealing, deception, and the like, in place of what they know God demands of his followers. For they refuse God’s offer of deliverance from slavery (addiction) to sin so that they can continue in their idolatry, adultery, and sexual immorality, in full selfishness.
They refuse to come to the altar of God, i.e. to the place of worship of God where we surrender our lives to him in obedience to his commands as those who love him and who want to serve him with our lives. And this is a refusal of the opportunity God provides for them to die to sin and to obey God, and to follow Jesus with their lives, instead of living in habitual sin, serving the flesh only. For they choose to remain in a state of rebellion and refusal to obey our Lord’s commands, and they continue to move backwards morally.
And so this is a call to all of us to flee from all that is not of God but that is of human flesh and not of the Spirit of God, i.e. from all that is sinful in the eyes of God. And this is a call of God to flee from all idolatry. And idolatry is the worship of anything which is not God to which (or to whom) we give our loyalties, devotion, heart, mind, will, and practices, in place of God. So this includes any kind of deliberate, habitual, and addictive sin which rules over God, his word, his holiness, and his righteousness, and for selfish purposes.
Put Off Sin, Put on Righteousness: [Matthew 5:27-30; Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 3:5-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; 1 Timothy 4:7; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-17; 1 Peter 1:14; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).
Therefore, all deliberate and habitual sin is addiction to sin and it is idolatry. It is the worship of all that is not God, which includes the worship of the flesh and of sinful practices, which is a sacrifice to demons and not to God. And we who believe in Jesus must not be participants with demons. For we cannot take part in the ways of the devil and his demons and in the ways of God, too. They do not mix! So, we cannot be saved from our sins and on our way to heaven if sin is still what we practice, and not obedience to God.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
Flee From Idolatry
An Original Work / January 18, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Walking Wounded 