In West Africa where our family lived for ten years, many missionaries would go to the local market and buy grotesque- looking masks without enquiring whether these were images of local gods. For example carvings of Buddha, the central god in Buddhism, grace the homes of many believers. Most popular seems to be the fat Buddha, which is an image of a pot-bellied smiling or laughing carving lying on their side, on the floor. The Bible says that this ""cute"" carving can cause a door of destruction to be opened in the home of the person owning it. These are often souvenirs that have been brought from gift shops as people travel in different Asian countries. These images are detestable to God.

Imagine how any man would feel if his wife hung up a beautiful framed picture of a young man on the wall next to her side of the bed, and casually told him that the man did not mean anything to her, and that she just thought the man baby safety barrier Manufacturers in the picture looked handsome. I would imagine that the woman's husband would have that picture out if his bedroom in a hurry! In the Book of Revelations, God calls the Church His bride. Bringing the image of another god into our home is like the wife that hangs up a picture of another man on her bedroom wall. The same jealousy that a husband feels when the wife is unfaithful to him, is the same jealousy that God talks about in Exodus 20: 5, "... For I the Lord your God, am a jealous God..." God mentions His jealousy again in Exodus 34:14, "Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." Is a husband justified to be jealous of his wife being attracted to another man? Let us remember the relationship that God has with His children is one of bride and bridegroom. When Israel worshiped other gods, God said through the prophet Jeremiah, "But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel" (Jeremiah 3:20).

The consequence of breaking this law against idolatry was that four generations would ultimately bear punishment, if a great grandparent worshiped another god! God repeated this same warning in Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, and Jeremiah 32:18. In Lamentations 5:7 the mesغير مجاز مي باشدe is clear, short and concise. "Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment." This means that there may be certain unpleasant things going on in our life whose origins are from three or even four generations back. It also means that if a person decides to go and see a medium or a witch doctor, he or she does not go alone, but carries four generations along - Generations who will be suffering calamities that stick to them no matter how they try to escape from them.