Hong Kong - A City Full of Idols

On July 1, 1997, a new stone image of Kuan Yin, the goddess of mercy, is to be erected by a Buddhist organization in Hong Kong. The 3.5 meter-high idol is reported to have 1000 hands and to be covered with gold, silver and diamonds.

While many Hong Kong idols are of the physical variety, there are also idols of the heart. Colossians 3:5 identifies greed as idolatry. Material gain is the number one priority of many here. Hong Kong is popular among international entrepreneurs because they see it as a good place to get rich.

Hong Kong reflects a unique combination of ancient and modern idolatry. Newly redesigned notes from one of the three banks in Hong Kong which are authorized to issue money now bear the images of Chinese idols in place of the England's queen. For example, the $100 note bears an image of Ka-Lun, an idol popular with bankers, finance companies and debt collectors. The $20 note gives place to turtle god, which is supposed to bring wealth.

[Back to Please Pray for Hong Kong]

1. May we in Hong Kong repent of all our idolatry and turn to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. Please forgive us. May we come to know Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.
Psalm 115:4-8
Ezekiel 14:6
Habakkuk 2:18-20

2. May Hong Kong be set free from bondage to idolatry to love and worship the living God.
Isaiah 44:9-20
Acts 17:16

3. May Hong Kong people be set free from worship based on the hope of material gain and good fortune and come to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.
Colossians 3:5 [Go back to Article]
Acts 17:29-31
1 John 5:21

4. May the Lord pour out his Spirit on all flesh in Hong Kong.
Acts 2:16-21
Acts 3:19-21
John 4:23-24

Thank you for praying for Hong Kong.

Quick Scripture Reference

Psalm 115:4-8
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

Ezekiel 14:6
Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

Habakkuk 2:18-20
What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

Isaiah 44:9-20
They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Acts 17:16

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

Colossians 3:5
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
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Acts 17:29-31
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and mans device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead

1 John 5:21
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Acts 2:16-21
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Acts 3:19-21
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

John 4:23-24
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

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