Other gods

The first of the ten commandments says “Have no other god before Me.” Why? Why can’t we worship many different gods or religions? God is simply trying to protect us from evil, from our spiritual enemy. There are many different “gods” out there, many different religions and things us humans have chosen to worship. Our spiritual enemy knows that if he can use something, anything, to distract us from God he can have our souls.

At first glance this commandment seems pretty simple to follow, I don’t worship any other gods. I show no allegiance to the Hindu gods, Buddha, or any other god, but then there are the Pagan traditions that my culture still practices today. As I took a closer look at my lifestyle I noticed that I would still read horoscopes in Women’s magazines every now and then. Today I make sure I don’t take part in any magic arts or spiritual practices that worship other gods. I don’t want to open myself up to the demonic side of the universe. Opening yourself up to the spiritual enemy is a little bit like leaving your door unlocked at night. It might be that absolutely nothing happens for many nights in a row, but then one night someone might enter that door and come into your house. I want to make sure that I leave “the door to my soul” closed and locked so that the enemy has no access to me. 

If I choose to give my allegiance to the enemy he can do whatever he wants with my life. He will work hard at killing, stealing and destroying everything that is good in my life and he might even decide to take my life. This is not the kind of spiritual power I want to have whispering in my ear, I want to stay as far away as possible from the enemy. I hold the key to my own soul and I get to choose who I give this key to, God or the enemy. God is my protector in life but I have to choose to stay away from my spiritual enemy if I want to flourish in life. I have free choice; I choose who I give my allegiance to.

My friend was married to a man who was Hindu and after he died her children wanted to celebrate his memory by doing some Hindu spiritual practices. At this point she chose to not take part in the Hindu spiritual practices. She explained to her children that she will gladly celebrate the memory of her late husband in other ways, but she won’t take part in any Hindu practices. It’s often small things in our lives that lead us to show our allegiance to the other side of the universe, the side that stands opposite to God. Our spiritual enemy works in all things to try to draw us away from God, it’s my own responsibility to choose to not let him have his way. I choose God, the God who loves me and who gave his own life upon a cross to save my soul.