"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

However, since that same beginning, man has sought after every "false god" that there is or has been, instead of seeking after the Lord God, his creator.

We see in Genesis 3:4-6 some very important points: Woman's choice was to gain the knowledge of good and evil, and as the serpent said, "be as gods". (heresy of old, or new age belief?) With knowledge being worldly, essentially she chose the world over God. Looking carefully at (1 Timothy 2:14) we see that the woman was deceived into believing a lie, but the man, who committed the same sin, was apparently not deceived. If he was not deceived, than he must have known his choices when he chose. Since he knew that Eve, his wife was not going to be with him any longer, because she violated Gods rule, it is apparent that man chose his fleshly lust of the woman over God, making his own flesh his god. The practice of flesh and the world being peoples "false gods" is still present. Today our lusts have changed some, we no longer simply lust after members of the opposite sex (or same if you are queer), these days there are many "other gods": possessions; money; jobs; religion; friends; family; etc. It doesn't matter what the lust is for, but when you give in to that lust rather than follow God, then you are guilty of following after "other gods".

The "other god" Possessions can be found in the Bible, in Matthew 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-22; and Luke 18:18-23 the "Rich young ruler". In this scripture we see that the young man was a good person, he abstained from sin since his youth, however, when it came to having to choose Possessions or God, he chose his Possessions over God, thus they (his possessions) became his god. In this world which we live, many people have made that same choice. If you won't sellout to God because you are afraid to lose things, then those things, or Possessions, have become your god. If you won't serve God because you don't want to give up tithes and offerings, or are not willing to help the needy, then Money has become your god. If you won't serve God because your family stands in the way, then Family has become your god. If you wont serve God because you are afraid of losing your friends, then your Friends have become your god, and truely anybody who stands between you and God, cannot be considered a friend.

Probably the worst of all the gods people choose to serve, are the gods of Religions. The reason I say this is because, those people who have rejected God for Possessions, Money, Family or Friends, knew that they were rejecting God, but people who are following false "Religions", have been deceived into believing that they are serving God. It is because of this deception, and my own personal experience, that I have chosen to focus some attention there, and where better to start than the Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church tells their followers that they are Christians, which is a lie because Christians follow the instructions of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ said:

"...ye must be born again..."(John 3:3)

Therefore, in order for the Roman Catholic Church to be Christian, they would teach eternal salvation, not an unknown amount time in purgatory (which there is no scripture to back-up). They would have their followers pray to the resurrected Jesus Christ, not a statue of a man hanging on a cross, Mary, and all of their saints.

"Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold."(Exodus 20:23)

Furthermore we learn in the Bible (Exodus 20:2-3) (Deuteronomy 5:6-7) how God has clearly stated:

"I am the Lord thy God...Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

He is the one and only God, and any "other god" is breaking the commandment of the Lord our God we see this further in the scriptures (Isaiah 43:11) (Hosea 12:4).

The Roman Catholic Church has many false gods, a different one for every need. There is St. Anthony, who they pray to for help finding their lost things, instead of praying to Jesus Christ for their lost souls. Then there is St. Christopher, whose medal they have in their cars, and they pray to for safety on the highway, instead of trusting in God to see them through. Then, among many others, there's Mary, supposedly she has about as much power as God himself. There are many prayers to Mary, such as; "Hail Mary, full of grace...Holy Mary, Mother of God"or "Most holy Lady, Most holy Queen, Mary Mother of God, ever Virgin". The fact is, if they would read their Bibles, they would find that Mary also needed a saviour (Luke 1:47), she is not exalted as "Queen", nor "Mother of God" one time in the Holy scriptures. The scriptures do address her as:

"...Mary the mother of Jesus..." (Acts 1:14)

But this is a reference to the flesh part of Jesus, not the God part. She is also referred to as:

"...Mary the mother of James and Joses" (Matt. 27:56);

"...Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome"(Mark 15:40)

"...Mary the mother of Joses..."(Mark 15:47)

Mary was also the mother of Jesus' brothers (flesh), but they were not God. (This brings also into view the error in the second prayer above, to Mary, "ever virgin". If she had other children, then she is not still a virgin.) Jesus was both God and man. The God part was not born of Mary, the man part was. The God part has always been: (John 1:1,14)To call her the mother of God is to say that she is a higher authority than God himself, as we have read in the commandments:

"Honour thy father and thy mother..." (Exodus 20:12).

Since God gave us this commandment, if Mary was truly the "Mother of God", then God would have to honour her, putting her above Himself, and the first commandment would be void. Therefore, Mary was nothing more than a chosen pure vessel of Gods, to birth Himself into the world in the form of His Son in the flesh. To pray to her, and to bow down in prayer before a statue of her, is to make her as good as, or better than God, making her a goddess, or an "other god", breaking the commandments of the very God that they claim to serve. (Exodus 20:4-5, Deuteronomy 4:16, 5:8-9, Leviticus 26:1, Matthew 4:10, Luke 4:8).

"Graven image":

"Hebrew pesel is variously translated as 'graven image,' 'idol,''or statue.' Three dimensional sacred images of metal, stone, wood, or clay were ubiquitously venerated in antiquity."

"An idol is a figure or image worshiped as the representation of a diety...strictly prohibited in the Bible..."

If you look at the Ten Commandments in the Roman Catholic Catechism, The second commandment is missing, and the tenth commandment is split to form two to replace it. Since it is very difficult to split the tenth commandment in Exodus, the Roman Catholics reference them in Deuteronomy, and lump the second commandment in with the first, and drop it altogether in their Catechism. This tool of deception has been used since the third and fourth centuries, when the use of images, brought over by converts from pagan cults, first began to be practiced.

Mary was not, is not, nor ever will be a god, or hold any position of deity.

The Roman Catholics are not the only ones guilty of worshipping "Other gods", we see the same in other religious sects like Hinduism:

"Those religious practices performed at home are the only ones which are relatively obligatory. Prayer three times a day (at morning, noon and evening) is accompanied by offerings to the gods, to sages and to ancestors."

and Buddhism:

"A scripture chanted in Zen monasteries, the Butsu Myoho, is said to contain the names of some 11,099 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas......A Buddha is supposedly a being who has awakened to his own true self (knowledge, wasn't that the wrong tree in the garden)......Our own karma provides each one of us with the special possibilities and limitations of a distinctive era..."

When we look in the Bible at the prayers of Jesus (Matthew 6:9b, Mark 14:36, Luke 10:21, John 11:41b, John 12:27) we see a definite trend in his prayers: We see that when Jesus prayed, he addressed God as "Father". He made it clear that he was praying to the God of heaven, the Lord God. He never once prayed to Mary, nor did He pray to 11,099 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, nor to saints, nor to His possessions. He never one time in the Bible was recorded as making offerings to the gods, to sages or to ancestors, because He never did. We as Christians need to take note to this significant fact, and strive every day to be like Christ, whose only desire was to follow the will of God, His Father. I am absolutely convinced, by the pattern Jesus Christ set in the Holy Scriptures, that if He were come in the flesh in this day and age, He surely wouldn't pray to anyone other than God the Father. Nothing that he owned, nor anyone that he knew, would keep him from seeking the will of, or serving, God the Father. We as Bible believing Christians should act in the same manner.