Keeping the fun of the world

As I have been going to visit various churches, I have noticed a common theme. The people that inhabit these church buildings seem to be very similar in the way that they behave. They all seem to think that getting to God's kingdom is all about them listening to what the pastor and other leaders say, while mostly ignoring what it says in the Bible. If the Bible says something that makes them worried that their lives might be less fun, they will go to the pastor and it seems that he will always smoothe out what it says in the Bible, so that the person will be reassured about the worldly thing that they want to keep on enjoying. I was trying to work out why this was such a consistant theme and it seems to be because the modern church has worked out how to sneak idolatery in by the back door. There are even some churches that have blatantly bought it in through the front door as well. The back door method that they have used is even moderately clever when you think about it, because it requires them to study the Bible and then find the holes, that they think are there, in God's word. The big mistake they are making, though, is that they seem to think that God will let them get away with it.

The art of idol hiding

We can see that God knows what is going on by reading Ezekiel 14:1-11 which says "Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself: And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD." and we see here that God could plainly see the idols that the people had in their hearts, as if they thought that they could hide them from Him. You might wonder what some of these modern idols could be, well working them out is just a matter of seeing what gets in the way of people serving their God. Because God knew that His people would be destroyed out of the land of Israel, He had planned from the beginning that a time would come where we would only be able to read about Him from a certain book, which is the Bible. Since the Devil is the current ruler of this kingdom on the earth, he will obviously make it so that people will get as little chance as possible to study this book, then he will set up false teachers to distract the people with their silken tongues. This is one of the reasons why televisions are so cheap, so that it will be easy for people to buy them and will then watch all of the programs that the Devils people have produced. You might wonder why people like watching television so much, well it seems to be because it shows off the glory of mankinds achievements and the programs also tend to encourage people regarding the things that they can achieve as well. It is almost like the ultimate idol that is telling people what they have always wanted to hear. The Bible, though, will just plainly tell people what God thinks of them and I think that is one of the reasons why they prefer to just keep it closed and then keep on watching the idol box that makes them feel special.

Modern idolatry exposed

I also know that the watching of television is a very touchy subject for modern Christians, if you try to raise it in one of their teaching sessions, then you had better get ready to cut through their very stiff defences. When I tried to raise the subject in one class, I could see that the presider was eager to get off the subject, as if he knew that there could be a risk of lost revenues, if things got out of hand. When I raised the subject in another class, this presider allowed things to go on for a bit longer, but I think it was because he knew that he had the great neutraliser waiting at the end. After the discussion his conclusion was that watching television is ok if it is done moderately, but he forgot to tell them that even moderately can get you killed because the Devil is the one who ultimately has control of all of the programs that are shown, so I don't know where he gets the idea that a moderate exposure to the things of the Devil is ok. It is almost as if he is saying that a moderate exposure to a strong poison or a virulent disease is ok, because it does not kill you straight away, even though a painfull death might await you at the end. I have also raised the subject with other people and they all seem to come to the defence of television, which leads me to the the conclusion that it is currently the biggest idol of them all. One of the most obvious reasons that it is an idol is because it is not interactive, just like the wood and stone idols of old, because it is designed as a form of mass one-way communication. The idol worshippers of old used to have a priest that would tell the people what the idol wants them to do, while the television idol has a speaker in it to do that job. If you tried to get people to stop watching television, you might be surprised at the backlash that you might get, we can read about what happened to some of Pauls companions, when they slowed down the trade of the idol manufacturers in Acts 19:21-29 which says "After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season. And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre." and you could imagine a similar thing happening if the Christian church started to tell their members to stop watching their television idols and to then start reading their Bibles which are full of God's complaints about them. We can also see here that Demetrius was making some good money out of the deceived people, so we can compare this with now where there are so many hair and nail shops, along with fashion retailers and entertainment outlets that are similarly making money from selling deception to the gullible men and women of this world, just like how the serpent sold death, wrapped up as a nice present, to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Imagine if you told the women of the world that they had to give up being the new idols of this world and throw away their full length mirrors, then you could imagine that the uproar would be a lot worse than in Demetrius' day. Look how the current economy would be destroyed if people stopped buying all items that are related to deception, basically anything that you do not need to buy to survive in this world or to serve the one true God, then you could imagine the persecution that the sellers of the deceiving items would perpetrate on the ones who are leading this move.

God's kingdom vs the idols

The other big idol that people have are their personal posessions, which consists of things like their cars, clothes, items that they think make their house look nice and even things that they might use as a part of their daily work. We can read about some specific idols that are mentioned in Luke 14:16-24 which says "Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." and here you can see plainly mentioned some of the idols in the peoples hearts that Ezekiel 14 was talking about. So yes a piece of land or some oxen or even a wife can be an idol in someones heart that keeps them away from the only way of finding out about their God. It should be obvious to anyone that modern idols are mostly now installed in peoples hearts and exposing them is not as difficult as you might think. All you have to do is organise an activity relating to something that God has asked us to do and then wait patiently for hardly anyone to be interested. If you then go around and interrogate the people who have come up with excuses, you will then have all of their idols nicely exposed from their heart. There is also a stealth method that you can use which is to just visit them at their house and quietly watch as everyone goes about satifying their internal idol, oblivious to the fact that you are examining them. Idols of the heart are the main source of a modern Christians stubbornness and you will usually find that their brains have somehow been progammed to defend these idols even if it might cost them their soul. I even remember that I was talking to a teenager at a church about the fact that he likes playing football, while Jesus says that we should "lose this life" in order to gain God's kingdom. It was amazing the lengths he would go to in order to defend such a small thing, he even tried to bring in the fact that I was wearing clothes, which barely had anything to do with what we were talking about, but I was amazed at the way his brain was desperately trying to defend this activity that he enjoyed, while there was no mention of whether he enjoyed studying about his God or not.

Idolatry aliases

Now you might think that I am going too far by saying that idolatry can also be something that is not just worshipping a graven image, but Paul also did a similar thing as we can see in Colossians 3:1-8 which says "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth." and we see here that Paul says that covetousness is the same as idolatry and you will find that the main purpose of the adverts on television is to make you covet something that is unnecessary. We can also read I Samuel 15:20-23 which says "And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king." and it seems as if Samuel is saying a similar thing to what is mentioned above because these television watching Christians do seem to be very stubborn, especially when you try to use God's words against their favourite activities.

You need to find your idols

You might wonder why I am so much into trying to identify idolatry in the church, well this is because I remember the difference that happened in my life when I finally worked out the idols that I had to get rid of. At first things were going slowly and I was wondering why I didn't seem to have any insight into how to move things on. Once I started to remove the idols, things suddenly improved and I was suddenly getting more work, had received an interesting business idea I also seemed to be able to write articles that were more hard hitting. This is why I am now eager to convince other people to remove their idols, so that they too can be strongly influenced by the things of God and will then want to share these things with other people. I can tell you for sure that removing your idols will lead to a big difference in your walk with God and if you want some advice on what to remove, then get in touch and we can help.