In this meditation, I’d like to draw your attention to idolatry which is rampant among many in contemporary generations. But before I go into detail, I’ll unpack some of what the word ‘idolatry’ actually means and what it essentially deals with. My Merriam Webster dictionary gives the following descriptive definition:
Worship, adoration, admiration, veneration, idolization, adulation, reverence, fanaticism, devotion, obsession, hero worship.
And here are some secondary concepts that also pertain:
Idol: 1. A Representation or symbol of a deity used as an object of worship: broadly: a false god 2a: any likeness of something; b: pretender, imposter; 3: a form or appearance visible but without substance; 4: an object of passionate devotion; 5: a false conception; fallacy.
Idolater: 1. A worshipper of idols 2: a person that admires or loves intensely, and often, blindly.
Idolatry: 1: The worship of a physical object as a god : immoderate attachment or devotion to something.
This brings to mind a text that I believe would be pertinent and very beneficial for our present considerations:
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” (2 Timothy 3;1-5 TLV)
Dear ones… people who hold to ‘a form of godliness’ that has no power is another way of saying that they are pursuing, and clinging to, and promoting the worship of some form of false god. False gods are generated through false perspectives which lead to false teachings. False teachings are generated by people who are rebellious against, or ignorant of, the One True Living God, who reveals Himself through the Bible. For one reason or another, these people reject, distort or totally ignore God and His Living and written Word. Instead of being true worshippers and servants of the Living Word of the True Living God, these people, by default, have no alternative but to practice some form of Humanism, which insists that ‘Man is the Measure of all things.’ So they take it upon themselves to invent alternate truths and realities that do not conform or correspond to the Truth and Reality revealed by the One True God.
The preeminent falsehood throughout all of human history is that angels and humans, whom the Living God creates, can become totally filled with adoration and worship of themselves, instead of remaining focused on their Creator and giving Him the preeminence, attention, reverence and service that He so justly deserves. As a result of this, many angels have fallen from the original glorious beauty, honor, and exalted status that God originally imparted to them. And that fall tore them away from their original friendship and union with God and transformed them into raging discontented self-adoring rogue enemies of the God who created them and the awesome eternal destiny He intended them to enjoy with Him.
And now, from conception, we humans have become joined to those rogue angels in their rebellion against God. So, rather than serving God and operating as His beautiful image and likeness like we were originally made to be, we too are Self-adoring rebels against our Creator. Because of the fall of our original human parents, we inherit that demonic tendency to be selfish, self-centered, rebellious, manipulative, predatory, and destructive of ourselves and of whatever comes into our sphere of influence! Instead of being created testimonies of God’s Goodness, Glory, and Self-less Live-giving Love, our relational ‘hinges’ become reversed. Now, instead of opening up to God and His Creation that is around us, we turn in on ourselves, and obsess over our own predatory interests, appetites, cravings and desires. Instead of being ever-filled with God’s Abundant Love, we devolve into being empty insatiable ‘leeches and ‘needy consumers’. So ponder once more what the following text warns us about. It is describing people that are speeding to an eternity of ETERNAL EMPTINESS! So let’s ponder that text one more time because it describes people who are headed for everlasting Emptiness!
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB. Emphasis added.)
The Self-Revelation that the God gives comes to poor fallen, weak humans who now struggle with bankrupt, Sin-craving human flesh! So now not only must God rescue us from the power of Sin and the Death that follow it, He must also rescue us from what we are in ourselves! What is in us must decrease to zero, so that Christ may fill us and make us to be one with Himself! But the spiritual wounds, disfigurement and false revelations our fall put into us, continue to arouse our rebellious flesh and it blinds our spiritual eyes and keeps us entrapped in spiritual darkness and diabolical lies, deceptions and destructive traps. And so there is no way we can find our own way out of all that. So it is to rescue and save us from that sorry state that God sent His beloved Living Word, His Son.
So He came, and did all that was needed to save us! But in order for us to enjoy Christ and what is in Him, we must truly be saved from ourselves… and from what is so much a part of our original wiring and programming. Sin configures us with false erroneous coordinates. This is why God must truly deliver us from our former Self-life identity, agendas, tendencies and lifestyles. And once we’re emptied of the self we used to be, He can become our new SELF, our new and eternal LIFE! Only then can we transform into brand new creations that are filled with the Holy Spirit of God, whose assignment it is to keep us filled to overflowing with the Eternal PRESENCE and LIFE of God’s beloved Resurrected Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ!
“So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in Righteousness and Holiness of the Truth (that is Christ in you).“ (Ephesians 4:17-24 NASB. Amplification and emphasis added.)
“Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another.” (Romans 12:1-5 NASB. Emphasis added.)
In past teachings concerning the topics of ‘mind renewal’ and ‘the reprogramming of the mind’ and ‘the rewiring of the brain’ I state what I consider to be a universal principle that applies to everyone, all the time, without exception.
Here it is:
- “Whatever you think about and honor in your heart all day and night long,
- and the way you think about it, is what you will eventually become.”
So… whatever we habitually focus upon and obsess over wholeheartedly will, given enough time, consume us and take over first place in our mind, will, affections, and highest estimations. And that fits the descriptive definitions of the word ‘idolatry’ given above. Before the Lord saves us, we’re wired and programmed to be filled with and obsess over our radically independent sense of Self. But after our spirits are regenerated, we must learn to ‘potty train’ our brains and minds by updating and upgrading our internal wiring and programming to reflect the fact that we no longer live to ourselves, but Christ now lives, rules, and reigns and reveals Himself from within us!
So let’s dig a little deeper into this, in the hope of finding a better, more comprehensive understanding of why God considers the sin of idolatry to be so destructive, and why He comes down upon those who lead people into it with such vehemence in His written Word:
“Thus says the Lord, “Do not learn the way of the nations (pagan Gentiles), and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them; FOR THE CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLES ARE DELUSION; because it is (something that has been created, such as,) wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter.
“Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they (Man’s false homemade gods), and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.”
“There is none like You, O Lord; You are great, and great is Your Name in Might. Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.
“But (unbelievers) they are altogether stupid and foolish in their discipline of delusion—their idol is wood!Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith; violet and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skilled men.
“But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
“It is He who made the earth by His Power, who established the world by His Wisdom; and by His Understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His Voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, and brings out the wind from His storehouses.
“Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his molten images are deceitful, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery; in the time of their punishment they will perish.
“The portion of Jacob is not like these; for the Maker of all is He, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the Lord of Hosts is His Name.” (Jeremiah 10:2-16, Amplification and emphasis added)
So from these considerations we see that what is essentially at stake when it comes to idolatry is a choice between dealing with Reality realistically… with God, our one and only Source for everything, at the center of our focus of attention… as opposed to obsessing over and trying to build one’s life upon delusions that appear to be real sources, but which actually have no substance to them and no power to deliver what they seem to promise.
Therefore, idolatry compels people to turn the true structure of Reality upside down! And that utterly denies, defaces and distorts what Almighty God has created and ordained to be Real, True and Good. And it replaces what is True with something that is utterly empty, vain and false. And so those who obsess over this or that created person, thing, or activity, are displaying what is of top priority in their minds and hearts. And they prove by their actions that they utterly believe in such things as ultimate sources. But such things are completely empty and vain, and those who rely upon them are left with nothing. And, after their created idols disappoint them, nothing remains for them but the spiritual Death and eternal Desolation that follow their deliberate rejection of the One True God!
“The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. THEN THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH LIKE THE SUN IN THE KINGDOM OF THEIR FATHER. The one who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:41-43 NASB, Emphasis added)
Idolatry flips what is real upside down. Thus God is made to occupy the lowest place in the spectrum of Power, Authority and Preeminence. And created things end up being at the very top of the scale of authority, value, and substance! The idolator places God far below His creatures, whom He fashions out of nothingness! Thus they distort and disfigure what is Real, True, and Good so grossly that they descend to the profound depths of utter insanity! That is the deadly toxic madness that comes from partaking in the sin of idolatry!
“For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.
Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, THEY SACRIFICE TO DEMONS AND NOT TO GOD; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?” (1 Corinthians 10: 1-22, Emphasis added)
Beloved Family… I ask you to look around at the society in the midst of which you have been deployed to live, work, and love. Where are the minds and hearts of the people you see. Look at the content and thrust and value systems that are glorified in the great majority of the various TV programs that are offered to the public as daily fare. Ponder the shallow ego-adoring mentalities and inane mindsets of the entertainment shows and their hosts. Look at the pop culture norms according to which most of that content is structured and the empty self-indulgent human appetites they are geared to try to satisfy.
And, as you examine all the vapid shallowness of all that is so highly valued in society and in the daily lives of so many, notice how mesmerized and captivated the majority of the people of earthly societies actually are. How much of Almighty God and His ways are revered in their hearts? Where in all of their cacophony and mindless jumble of ideas and opinions and pontifications can you detect even the slightest trace of the mindset and worldview that permeate God’s written revealed Word? Isn’t it true that man consistently moves Him out of the picture in favor of things that are created, temporary, and utterly bankrupt in themselves? And is that not a world order that is upside-down, topsy-turvy, insane and utterly futile?
“… For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers,
and the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever!”
And this is the Word which was preached to you!” (1 Peter 1:23-25)
Upon what are most of the minds and attention spans of the unbelieving people around you fixated? Look at the people that pass you by on the streets and in the malls. How many of them are obsessing over their hand-held wireless digital devices? How many are engrossed in the Internet, and in the prattle and mostly mindless interactions that take place within the engines of connectivity that we call social media? Is all of that activity and self-absorption in line with what God created and intended to be foremost in the human heart and mind? Does any of that have to do with interacting and communing with the Holy Spirit and the Living Word of God? Or are most people intent on flipping God’s intended order of Creation and Priorities upside down so that Man becomes preeminent and reserves to himself the right to be the one who establishes what is true and real and assigns value to the worldly wares that he personally favors and prefers?
“Therefore, My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude is parched with thirst.
“Therefore, Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure; and Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it. So, the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, The eyes of the proud also will be abased.
“But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in Judgment, and the holy God will show Himself holy in Righteousness. Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy. Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes; who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come to pass, that we may know it!”
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!
“Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the Law of the Lord of hostsand despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel. On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. and the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, but His hand is still stretched out.” (Isaiah 5:13-25)
So, it is because Sin has given power and authority to Satan over this fallen world, and the Sin-corrupted self-adoring people that inhabit it, this is why Scripture calls Satan ‘the god of this world.’
“For this reason, since we have this ministry, just as we received mercy, we do not lose heart. Instead, we renounced the hidden shameful ways—not walking in deception or distorting the Word of God, but commending ourselves before God, to everyone’s conscience by the open proclamation of the Truth. And even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so they might not see the Light of the Good News of the Glory of Messiah, who is the Image of God.
“For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Messiah Yeshua as Lord—and ourselves as your slaves for Yeshua’s sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Messiah.” (2 Corinthians 4:1-6 TLV)
So the Real Issue Underlying this Topic of Idolatry is this:
There is only one true Living God in all of existence. He is Supreme and Sovereign over everything else that exists and has being. Nothing created could ever begin to even come close to equaling or duplicating or surpassing all that Almighty God is, and all that He is able to do to us, in us, through us and for us! And so if it is true that it is impossible for other gods to be equal in stature to the true Living God, then what is it that deceived human beings are actually worshipping when they idolize created things?
Well, the awful truth, Beloved, is this: They are idolizing and worshipping demonic spirits! These people are being deluded and mesmerized and enslaved by the Serpent and his powers of Darkness! And, therefore, they are being duped to serve the interests of the Serpent, who is God’s arch enemy! And they are unwittingly being enlisted to serve Satan’s Anti-Christ rebellion because, in their own minds, they remain oblivious to His Presence and fail even to acknowledge the existence of the Magnitude of God’s awesome Presence!
So the only real, true possible equation would be this: The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the God of the Bible) is the one true Source for whatever is Real, True and Good. He is the ONLY God there could ever be! And so if we hold to this equation, we operate in Truth, Reality and Wisdom. But… if we allow the powers of Darkness to deceive us and lure us into slipping off that granite-solid foundational base… we immediately slide off the base of what is True and Real and Good… and fall headlong into an endless pit of Unreality, Madness, and self-destructive Evil! And this is why spiritual adultery is considered by God to be so wicked and outrageous and forbidden.
“Your right hand, Adonai, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Adonai, dashes the enemy to pieces. In the greatness of Your Excellency You overthrow those who resist You. You send forth Your Wrath—it consumes them as stubble. With the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps became firm ground in the heart of the sea.
“The enemy said, “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My lust shall gorge on them! I will draw my sword—my hand will destroy them.”
“You blew with Your Wind; the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. WHO IS LIKE YOU, ADONAI, AMONG THE GODS? WHO IS LIKE YOU, GLORIOUS IN HOLINESS, AWESOME IN PRAISES, DOING WONDERS? (Exodus 15:6-11 TLV, Emphasis added)
“For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob. For they are filled with soothsayers from the east, and they have clapped hands with the children of foreigners. Their land also is full of silver and gold, nor is there any limit to their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, nor is there any limit to their chariots. Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their hands, what their own fingers have made.
“So, humanity bows down as each one lowers himself. Pardon them not! Enter into the Rock and hide in the dust, for fear of Adonai, and the Glory of His majesty. The man of haughty eyes is humbled, the lofty ones brought low, for Adonai alone will be exalted in that day.
“For the day of Adonai-Tzva’ot will be against anyone proud and haughty, against anyone lifted up—he will be humbled, against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan, against all the high mountains, against all the exalted hills, against every high tower, against every fortified wall, against all the Tarshish ships, and against all the luxury boats.
“The pride of man will be humbled, the arrogance of men abased, for Adonai alone will be exalted in that day. The idols will completely pass away. People will go into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the earth, because of the fear of Adonai and the splendor of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth.
“In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made to worship, to the moles and to the bats! They go into the clefts of the rocks and the crevices of the crags, because of fear of Adonai and the splendor of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth. Stop trusting in mankind—whose breath is in his nose— for what is he really worth?” (Isaiah 2:6-22 TLV)
What or Who is the Object of our Focus and Loyalty?
Our Choice Will Determine Our Future
Beloved, we who have been chosen by the Lord to follow Him into the Last Days Fulfillment Era of what is written in His Scriptures MUST be trained and drilled and taught and programmed to remain faithful to our God… to our very last breath… and beyond! For us, there can only be one choice on our personal ‘menu of options’ — Almighty God, and Him alone. It must be only to the Living Creative Word of the One True God that we will bow, and upon which we will depend and trust. His Eternal Living Word made flesh will be our only Supreme Lord, Master, Owner, and Messiah! He possesses all Authority over all of Creation! So, it is only to Him that we must look in all situations… for everything… at all times! The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the One True God, and Him alone will we believe, trust, obey and it is His Living Word that we must follow to have Eternal Life!
If we remain faithfully single-minded in our love, devotion and obedience to Him… THEN God Almighty will cover us with His Infinite Wholehearted, Eternal Lovingkindness (Blood Covenant Loyalty). He will be our ‘Full Armor’ and Infinite Protection and Everlasting Provider. And the powers of Darkness will never be able to devise any trap or weapon that will be able to stop or harm us, or slow us down, or prevent us from overrunning every objective and fulfilling every mission that our Lord and Commander will entrust to our execution.
“I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities that you had not built, and you have settled in them, vineyards and olive groves that you had not planted, that you are eating.
“Now therefore, fear Adonai and worship Him in sincerity and in truth. Get rid of the gods that your fathers had worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and worship Adonai. If it seems bad to you to worship Adonai, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers worshipped that were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will worship Adonai!” (Joshua 24:13-15 TLV, Emphasis added)
And this is why God’s written Word promises to whoever will entrust himself and all that pertains to him into the hands and Covenant care of Almighty God:
“Because he has devoted his love to Me, I will deliver him. I will set him securely on high, because he knows My Name. When he calls on Me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble, rescue him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My Salvation!” (Psalm 91:14-16 TLV, Emphasis added)
And in the days to come, amid the turmoil, clamor, deadly conflict and chaos that will be loosed all across the world in the Last Days… most blessed, fortunate, joyful and triumphant will they be, who are wise enough to fear the Lord and respect, revere and serve Him… and Him alone!