Deuteronomy 13:12

Deuteronomy 13:12 says, If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,  Verse thirteen adds, Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;   Moses then spoke to them about hearing someone in any city that God had given them calling on them to go and worship other gods.  These were people who had seen God's power and goodness, but who were still willing to turn away from their covenant relationship with Him.  As Christians, we have a covenant relationship with God, and nothing should ever tempt us to turn away from Him.  Verse fourteen continues, Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;  Moses said that the first thing they should do was to diligently seek the truth about what had been said.  As followers of Christ we should always seek the truth before we act, especially if it involves others being accused of something that goes against God's word.  Verse fifteen states, Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.  Moses then told them that if they determined it to be truae that they had turned away from God to follow false gods,that they were to kill all the inhabitants of the city and to utterly destroy the city.  Turning away from God to chase false gods brought extreme punishment, but it was in the world to come where the consequences were truly bad.  Those who had turned away from God would be forever separated from Him.  Verse sixteen adds, And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.  Moses said they were to burn all the spoil of the city, and the city should never be built again.  We need to completely destroy everything that would lead us away from God, and never attempt to build anything on it again.  Verse seventeen continues, And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;  Moses then warned them to not attempt to keep anything from this city for themselves so that God would turn away from His fierce anger and have compassion on them and multiply their numbers as He had promised to do.  God's promises to us are always dependent on our obedience to Him, starting with accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  We cannot claim to accept Jesus Christ and still worship anything else.  Being a Christian is never about getting more material wealth.  Verse eighteen concludes, When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.  Moses said that if they wanted to receive the blessings of God that they would have to listen to His voice and keep His commandments.  If we want to receive the blessings of God today, we must first listen to His voice calling us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and if we accept Him as our personal Savior and Lord, we are God's forever.  Still, even though we cannot be saved by obeying God's commandments,  because we will always fail to keep them all, once we are saved by faith, we should do our best to obey all of God's commandments.