Breaking the Cycle

Articles

Ross Triplett
09/06/20 - Articles

Do you have the strength to break the cycle of idolatry, irreligion, or religious error in your family’s history?

From the Lord’s statement, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock. And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:21-27), it is evident that not every decision man makes, regarding religious belief and practice, is acceptable to the Lord. Faith is more than just hearing, and agreeing with what the Lord says, but doing what the Lord says.

Belief without the appropriate response is of no value, yet it’s still belief, i.e., “Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the glory that is of men more than the glory that is of God” (John 12:42-43).

If you were to hear the words of the Lord this day, and they conflicted with what you had been taught all of your life, and conflicted with what your parents and grandparents had believed all of their lives, what would you do?

There was a king of Judah name Josiah that was presented with that very scenario. Manasseh, his grandfather, was an idolater who caused his children to pass through the fire unto Molech (2 Chronicles 33:6). His father “Amon sacrificed unto all the graven images which Manasseh his father had made and served them” (2 Chronicles 33:22).

Josiah, “in the eighth year of his reign while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images. And they brake down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 34:3-5).

Josiah broke the cycle of idolatry in his family heritage and broke the cycle of public idol worship in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their ruins round about.

Remember the words of the Apostle Paul, as he quoted the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you, And will be to you a Father, And ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:17) ret.