Which God Should You Worship?
FIRST, who is the one God that alone should be worshiped? The Bible answers in a very straightforward way. The book of Revelation declares: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11) Yes, Jehovah, the Creator, is the only God who deserves our worship. Why? We will return to that question shortly. But first, let us talk about the other gods worshiped by mankind.
Behind All the False Gods
Although men serve many gods, the truth is that all the worship rendered to all the gods in all the nations—apart from worship rendered to Jehovah, the Creator—serves the purpose of just one god. In what way? Read the words of the apostle Paul to the Christians in Corinth. In that city many deities were worshiped, from licentious Aphrodite to Aesculapius, their god of healing. Paul showed, however, that really there was just one sinister power behind all those gods. He wrote: “The things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God.” (1 Corinthians 10:20) Yes, the pagan Corinthians worshiped demons.
The demons had their origin in rebellion. The first and greatest of them was the angelic creature that seduced Eve into breaking God’s law back in the garden of Eden. (Genesis 3:1-6; John 8:44) In so doing, this creature rebelled against the sovereignty of the Creator. Afterward, he came to be called Satan, meaning “Resister.” Later, other spirit creatures joined him in rebellion. They too became demons, and Satan is identified as “the ruler of the demons.” (Matthew 12:24, 26) In the book of Revelation, these demons are called “angels” of Satan. (Revelation 12:7) So worship of the demons is the same as worship of Satan.
Satan has enormous influence. The apostle John said that “the whole world” is lying in his power, and Paul called him “the god of this system of things.” (1 John 5:19; 2 Corinthians 4:4) Hence, worship of any god apart from Jehovah is really worship of Satan. At the very least, it serves the purposes of Satan because his goal is to seduce the children of Adam and Eve to rebel against Jehovah. Since Satan is “misleading the entire inhabited earth,” clearly he has succeeded in the vast majority of cases. (Revelation 12:9) But not in all. There are still millions who strive to worship Jehovah. Why?
The Fruits of Wrong Worship
For one thing, they know that worship of gods other than Jehovah costs more than they want to pay. Archaeological excavations of ancient Carthage in North Africa uncovered a graveyard of children. In it were the skeletons of young ones who had been sacrificed to the Phoenician god Baal. Child sacrifice was the terrible price those Carthaginians paid for the worship of Baal. Medieval Catholicism also exacted a price when it caused immeasurable suffering in bloodthirsty Crusades and cruel Inquisitions. The worship of the Inca gods of pre-Columbian America involved the ritual killing of thousands.
In more modern times, different forms of worship have been involved in wholesale slaughter in India, and they have contributed to grave political problems in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. Ignorance, superstition, and fear should also be listed as part of the price that man pays for the worship of his many gods.
Why Should You Serve Jehovah God?
On the other hand, worship of Jehovah brings only benefits. For one thing, he is “the One who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it.” (Revelation 10:6) Thus, we should worship him because he is our Creator.
Further, we should worship Jehovah God because his qualities invite us to worship him. The apostle John said that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) The faithful man Job said that “[God] is wise in heart and strong in power.” (Job 9:4) Moses sang of him: “The Rock, perfect is his activity, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:4) Who would hesitate to serve such a God?
In addition, the Bible says: “Godly devotion is beneficial for all things, as it holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8) How true this is! Jehovah wants what is good for mankind. He provided the earth as a beautiful home for his creation, and he made abundant provision so that life could be enjoyable. Despite man’s rebellion, God has continued to sustain life on this earth, supplying all the material needs of mankind as “he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous.”—Matthew 5:45.
But the “promise of the life now” goes further. Serving God is satisfying and fulfilling. It is what we were designed to do. And God helps those who faithfully serve him to make a success of life. Through the Bible, he gives guidance to single persons, married couples, children—people in all walks of life. He gives reliable, practical wisdom to help in all situations so that we can solve the problems of living as imperfect humans in a world under Satan’s influence. If we worship God in a way that pleases him, we can enjoy “the peace of God that excels all thought.”—Philippians 4:7.
Noteworthy, too, is the “promise of the life . . . which is to come.” Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Everlasting life! What deity other than Jehovah can promise such a thing and then fulfill his promise? The final condition of those who receive that grand gift is described in Revelation: “[God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4, 5) Truly, the prospects of the life that is to come should make us want to serve Jehovah!
Which God, then, should we worship? Only Jehovah, the Creator. Of all deities, only to him do the words apply: “Great and wonderful are your works, Jehovah God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of eternity. Who will not really fear you, Jehovah, and glorify your name, because you alone are loyal? For all the nations will come and worship before you, because your righteous decrees have been made manifest.” (Revelation 15:3, 4) How wise are those who respond to the exhortation of the psalmist: “O come in, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker”!—Psalm 95:6.
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Some of the gods Satan has induced mankind to worship
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The prospects of the life that is to come should make us want to serve Jehovah