|
When we think of "idolatry" we think of bowing before an image.
We think people who bow before a statue are so primitive.
I have to admit, I just don't understand the worship of images. Did people in Bible times actually worship a statue that they themselves crafted? Seems hard to believe.
Consider the Exodus.
God sends ten supernatural plagues that rock the Egyptian civilization to its foundations. The hard-hearted Pharaoh, purportedly divine leader of the Empire, relents and lets Israel go, but then pursues them with his armies. God parts the Red Sea so that Israelites can escape the Egyptian imperial army, which God then drowns in the Red Sea. (The surrounding nations hear about this, and even they are terrified [Joshua 2:8-11].) God gives a miraculous provision of "manna" to help the Israelites stay alive in the desert on their way to the Promised Land. "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night" (Exodus 13:21).
God has made Israel His "Chosen People," and is giving them every advantage over all other nations, with miraculous deliverances and miracles to aid their faith, laws to make them prosper, and longsuffering patience when they sin.
But as Moses goes up to Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God, Israel fashions a cow made out of gold,
Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4)
A cow.
Seriously?
How could Israel be so faithless? So irrational? So "primitive?" So superstitious?
The whole Old Testament seems to be about Israel committing idolatry. Eventually God is fed up with Israel, and the entire nation is destroyed or taken captive. God promises to give them "a new heart" and put them back in the promised land, and rebuild the temple (Jeremiah 31:33), which happens under Zerubbabel, and by the time of Christ, Israel does not seem to be worshipping images any more.
Idolatry is still a problem, however, perhaps because what's important is not the statue, but what the statue represents.
The statue represents our desires, and the means we choose to obtain our desires
- Colossians 3:5
- Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
- Galatians 5:19-21
- 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- 1 Corinthians 10:14
- Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Common definitions of idolatry focus on the image, or statue, and miss what the statue, or image, or created object symbolizes. (The "created object" can be created by man, or by God [Romans 1:25].)
- Idolatry
- i-dol'-a-tri (teraphim, "household idols," "idolatry"; eidololatreia): There is ever in the human mind a craving for visible forms to express religious conceptions, and this tendency does not disappear with the acceptance, or even with the constant recognition, of pure spiritual truths (see IMAGES). Idolatry originally meant the worship of idols, or the worship of false gods by means of idols, but came to mean among the Old Testament Hebrews any worship of false gods, whether by images or otherwise, and finally the worship of Yahweh through visible symbols (Ho 8:5-6;10:5); and ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will (1Co 10:14; Ga 5:20; Col 3:5; 1Pe 4:3).
Idolatry - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
What is "the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone?" Answer: Obedience to His Commandments. This will turn out to be crucial.
Here's another definition of "idolatry."
- IDOL'ATRY, n. L. idololatria. Gr. idol, and to worship or serve.
- 1. The worship of idols, images, or any thing made by hands, or which is not God.
- Idolatry is of two kinds; the worship of images, statues, pictures, &c. made by hands; and the worship of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars, or of demons, angels, men and animals.
- 2. Excessive attachment or veneration for any thing, or that which borders on adoration.
- Definition from Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
Did people in Bible times actually worship the moon, or other planetary objects? What were they thinking?
They were probably making associations that we no longer make: that there was a relationship between stars and angels, and between angels and governments.
There is a connection in the Bible between stars and angelic beings. [explore this] [more: "Baalism"]
There is also a connection in the Bible between angelic beings and "governments."
We cover these relationships on our Romans13 website:
Romans 13 speaks of "the powers that be." Every time that Greek word (exousiai, plural, "powers") is used in the New Testament, it means demonic forces. [read the verses for yourself]
We'll look at all this in more detail.
But here's our point:
In fact, this was the most dangerous idol in Biblical times. "Moloch," for example, means "king." "Moloch worship" is "government worship." Even a "fertility goddess" represents a "national interest" of an empire, which needs slaves for its armies and factories.
If you can't understand how Israel could worship a Golden Calf, you probably can't imagine how someone with a SmartPhone could "worship" the government. But as we saw above, the essence of "idolatry" is giving "the honor or devotion which belongs to God alone" -- which is obedience to His Commandments -- to any part of the creation, whether things made by God or made by man.
God never commanded anyone to form "the government." And today, billions of people obey the government with reverence, honor and devotion which is appropriate for God alone. Specifically, they will disobey God's Commandment if ordered to by their real god, "the government."
The crucial issue of idolatry is law and obedience. Whose law will you obey?
Most people on earth, including most people who call themselves "Christians," will obey "the State" rather than God whenever there is a conflict. That's idolatry.
That might sound like a trivial rhetorical trick, or a play on words, but it's actually a matter of millions of lives murdered, billions of lives enslaved, and trillions of dollars of private property destroyed by people obeying government laws and ignoring God's Laws during the last century.
And it could be much worse in the next century, unless we understand the most dangerous idolatry.
The three branches of the U.S. Government are seen in
Mainstream secular political scientists have spoken of a "fourth branch" of government in the U.S.: the so-called "Administrative State." It is this "fourth branch" of government that clams to bring what the Bible describes as "salvation." Isaiah -- and the rest of the Bible -- says that God is the only Government and Salvation we need.
If we will obey the Commandments of God, we will not need a visible, physical, man-made "government" at all. God will be our Governor and Savior.
If we don't obey the Commandments of God, we will have a messianic government. If we reject God, "the government" is the curse (1 Samuel 8).
I believe the Bible is an Anarchist Manifesto. That's a shocking claim, but very easy to prove. (Just hard to accept.) You see it in the contrast between God's Law and man's law:
You see it in the entire history of Israel throughout the Bible
More space is given to idolatry in the Bible than to where you go when you die. Our evangelism should be more about smashing the idol of the State rather than sitting around waiting for "the Rapture."
When we hear the phrase "anarchist manifesto," we think of a call to destroy civilization.
The word "civilization" comes from the Latin word for "city." St. Augustine described the Bible as the conflict between "the City of God" and "the city of man."
To really persuade you of this, I need you to read the Bible from cover to cover and ask questions you've probably never asked before.
Then I need to you read government from cover to cover -- that is, to examine how "the government" has become the most dangerous idolatry in our lives today.
In your life.
Israel was commanded to destroy the idolatrous images.
But Israel was also commanded to turn their hearts to the True Governor.
You are the victim of 13 years of government-school brainwashing and indoctrination. This website will take you 13 hours to read. That's pretty good, when you think about it. 13 hours of de-programming to reverse 13 years of cult brainwashing.