Deuteronomy 7:20 – 26 “Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you have perished. Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.
The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you. But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.
You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God. And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.
God is still assuring the Israelites of all the different ways in which He will help drive out and annihilate the inhabitants of the Promised Land, if only the Israelites will believe in Him and follow instructions. Look at this promise: God is promising that when the Israelites attack any city and somebody escapes, He will send hornets to attack them wherever they are hiding. Now notice that the Israelites have to do their part first. God is NOT promising to send hornets while the Israelites merely sit in their tents. Why? Because God is trying to train the Israelites to be faithful and to realize that nothing comes for free. Even when God sent manna and quails and water in the wilderness, the Israelites still had to go collect all those things and carry them back into the camp.
The next thing to notice is the time frame: God is not going to drive out all the opposing nations instantly; otherwise, wild animals would take over the territory. “He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.” This actually did happen. These tribes were wiped out so completely that for years scholars refused to believe that they had ever existed. Only when archaeology advanced was the existence of some of these tribes proved.
The next command is much tougher: The Israelites are to completely destroy all the images of the pagan gods and must not safe any of the gold or silver covering them. Why is this order so critically important? Anything dedicated to a pagan god is actually dedicated to a demon and the demons attach themselves to these things. In West Africa we would call such idols fetishes, and the only safe thing to do with a fetish is to burn it and destroy anything covering it. If an Israelite brings anything pertaining to a fetish into their home, they are giving entrance to the demons to which that idol was dedicated. “ And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.” Playing with the demonic in any form brings destruction!
APPLICATION: Many years ago, a missionary friend helped break up a terrible cult in Northern Ghana. In the course of this action, our friend was beaten so severely that she suffered with back pains for the rest of her life. But our friend made a terrible mistake. The symbol of this cult was a horn, and our friend took one of the cult object horns back with her to America. Although our friend claimed she was using it to demonstrate that Satan was defeated, several pastors warned her that she needed to destroy this object because it was not safe to keep it. Our friend refused to listen; meanwhile, her missionary career was cut short, and on her return to America, she suffered many severe health problems. Bringing “detestable things” into your house for any reason will bring nothing but trouble.
When we moved from Ghana to America in 1990, our things were combined with those of another missionary family. Among our belongings we found a carving of a drummer with an unusual hairstyle common only to fetish priests at that time. We could not remember having received this carving. We began by placing the carving in our sitting room, but rapidly moved it because we felt as if the statue was watching us. Finally, my husband took it out, beat it to pieces, and burned it. A few years later, we had to do the same thing with another set of carvings given to us by friends. But it’s not just African objects that can be imbued with the demonic.
We were horrified when we learned that a friend in a small town in Illinois had been mauled by her son’s dog in an unprovoked attack. At the time, her son was living with her and his room was a tribute to a satanic life style. Our friend was a Christian and called on Jesus when the dog began its attack; she still received more than 100 stitches for her wounds. Thankfully, both her son and the dog moved out soon after that.
When I was training in public health at Tulane University, we visited one professor whose wife dealt in ancient art from South America. The artifacts this lady sold had been recovered from graves or ceremonial sites, and she displayed some of the most striking examples in cabinets in their home. The spiritual atmosphere in that house was so heavy as to be indescribable. No, bringing such things into your home is not a safe practice at all!
In the 1970’s George Otis Senior wrote a book detailing how God broke him of the habit of acquiring souvenirs with dubious spiritual significance and touring sites involved in the demonic. Otis headed the Learjet Corporation and traveled throughout the world. As a world traveler, Otis had acquired all kinds of carvings, paintings, etc.. At one point, Otis was visiting a Shinto Shrine during a festival when God spoke to his heart and asked, “George, what are you doing here?” Suddenly, Otis realized that the priests at that festival were possessed and that he had no business there.
Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” If God wants us to guard our hearts carefully, what about the hearts of those around us, our family and friends? If we bring the demonic into our homes for any reason, we have no control over the effect it might have on anyone living with us or visiting us, let alone on our neighborhood or even on our town.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to eliminate anything from our homes and our lives that is not of You. Help us to concentrate on Your Word and Your perfect Will for our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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