Tag: Idolatry

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The suburbs of Babylon.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Lord gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians. This is what the Lord says: “Tell the whole world, and keep nothing back. Raise a signal flag to tell everyone that Babylon will fall! Her images and idols will be shattered. Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced. For a nation will attack her from the north and bring such destruction that no one will live there again. Everything will be gone; both people and animals will flee. ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭50‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God finally tells Jeremiah, God’s spokesperson, it was time to start announcing the end of the 70 year captivity in Babylon. Cheers erupt that Babylon will fall! God tells Jeremiah that the destruction will be so great that “no one will live there again.” Which was true, and oddly it is still true. The ancient city and the attempts at resurrecting a modern city by Saddam Hussein, have both fallen. But mysteriously and spiritually disturbing, the spirit of the city lives on until the end of all things. Babylon shows up in Revelation 😱!

Babylon is the city of the antichrist that has existed since the first anti-God city in history (Gen 11:1–9). God used the world leaders of Babylon to discipline Israel (2 Chronicles 36). And, it will continue to exist until Jesus returns and destroys it (Rev 17:1–19:5). So although the city was sacked and rebuilt several times in ancient times, it is common knowledge that the city is an archetype of evil. Evil that is perverted and pervasive through the entire human experience on the planet! Babylon’s great object lesson is its self-will to BE God.

A place where every leader, every resident has one common unquenchable desire – to be and do whatever they want! Babylon is the personification, the epitome of sin itself. The idols of Babylon are all spiritual, dark, demonic forces all providing “alternatives” to God, but also promising things that only God can provide – fake gods of weather, wealth, power, sex, and even eternal life! So whether they are stone or wooden poles or statues, shiny golden facsimiles of ancestors or enlightened humans – they are all lifeless objects that can do nothing, nor fulfill nothing. These are physical idols that humans worship because their own disorder desires are drawn to anything other than the real God, creator of all things.

So as a representative of all that is fake, unforgiving, dead and worthless – idols play a role in substitutionary fakery still today! And will do so until the very end, when Babylon the great, the “mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations,” will find its finality in fire 🔥. You can read about her ending and all who desire to follow after her in Revelation 18.

Ripping off the mask, subterfuge and subtlety of Babylon the “great,” we find the essence of sin and disobedience to God. It is not to difficult for me to look inside my own heart and see glimpses of the cursed city. At times, I see myself and others secretly wishing to live in the suburbs of Babylon. Oh, not the center, nor downtown Babylon, but rather the short drive to the outskirts and edges of the city where fake promises seem to be within reach. Where will I live? The city of self, or the city of God?

Prayer

Dad,
It doesn’t take much to realize that Babylon is far too accessible and alluring even for those who love you and want to be obedient to your will and not our own. It seems that the fancy bright lights, exhilarating sounds and delightful smells of Babylon are seductively powerful. But it is with your grace, mercy and power that is also calling, begging me to come away and be centered on the city of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. I pray that I will resist the suburbia of the fake city and focus on the city designed for me to live abundantly within it. Thank you for your warnings and your Word! Amen.

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Duplicity of praise with disobedience.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart! Wake up, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth. ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭108‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This Psalm, likely written by Solomon, or at least, about him, describes facing a new day, with faith and hope that God would give Israel victory over Edom.

Interestingly enough, God was responsible for “stirring” this once defeated country to attack Israel because Solomon wasn’t obedient to God. A few verses out Kings 11 give the context: “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.” And, “So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.” So God raised up an old enemy of Solomon’s father, David.

God allowed a once defeated country (Edom) to not only be revived, but come back to discipline Solomon for his disobedience, because “The LORD was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the LORD.” Yet, this is Solomon’s prayer even still! Even in disobedience and leading Israel back into idolatry, Solomon wakes up one day with a confidence of hope!

Solomon was old and near the end of his life at this time, and did not live long enough to see God take the 10 tribes of Israel and give them to Jeroboam, a once trusted industrious, mighty man of valor. As we know Jeroboam was not obedient to God either. This was the beginning of the end of the 10 “lost” tribes of Israel.

This Psalm captures an odd sense of extraordinary faith and praise to God, that was beautiful in words but empty in practice. Can we extol and praise the goodness and greatness of God with our words, yet neglect the simplicity of obedience? Can God receive our praise even when we are living a life of disobedience? Apparently the duplicity in the human heart allows for both! Solomon woke up that morning with eloquent words and bright hope for his future, but his days ended in shame and the loss of Israel as a unified nation.

Prayer

​Dad,
It is disheartening to see a full circle view, a complete family cycle of one of the most beloved and wise leaders of your people. This was always a dilemma for me. Solomon, the wisest of wise with the most amazingly humble heart as a young man, but fame, power and wealth still caused him to turn from you and follow fake gods! Of course this directly points to the fact that none of us are perfect and all of us are sin consumed and needing Jesus. But, these are such sad stories, that could bring a sense of hopelessness. My only hope is not how I can be perfect or live some kind of apparent “perfect” life, but that my heart, my soul and strength are set on you and you alone. My life, my trust is in you. You are the priority of my soul! Amen.

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All of them.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I actually get giddy with delight when I read about anyone interpreting and giving cultural and historical context to an Old Testament passage. Jesus did this a lot. And, the Apostle Paul is also an expert on this. These lessons are golden for not just a perspective on multiple, multicultural experiences thousands of years earlier. They are platinum for application today! Paul brings the O.T. stories into a conversation with a mixed bag of Jewish, Greek and Roman readers and whiteboards the moral, spiritual point that is critical to understand even today.

Paul reminds the churches, “remember…” and repeats the phrase, “all of them.” In Greek, καὶ πάντες, “and all” experienced something. Guided by a cloud, walked through the sea on dry ground, baptized into Moses, the cloud and the sea! All ate and drank the same same spiritual food and drink. All of them, exactly the same experiences, circumstances, fears, victories. And likely the same sorrows and joys. ALL OF THEM. Yet… something terrible happened.

Yet, most… Paul uses the word, pleión, the “comparative” numerical majority did not make God happy. Paul says, God did not have a “good opinion” of the majority. And because of that, God scattered (strewn about) them in the desert. ALMOST all of them did not end up making it to the promised land and inheritance God intended.

I would guess that most people think it’s hard to make God happy, especially when it comes to themselves. How can I make God happy? Is it perfection? Is is a strong and consistent moral aptitude or behavior? These are critical questions in the life of a believer. Paul delivers the truth to the churches – quit satisfying yourself, quit choosing shortcuts to get what you want in a way that is deadly, poisonous and not of God! Paul writes, “These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.””

We have the stories, and now we get the application as to why the stories were captured and written down. The stories are for us. They (the Israelites) CRAVED evil, lusted after evil and worshipped Satan masked as fake forms and cheap substitutes of God. They is ME! I have to ask myself, am I “ALL OF THEM.”

When I have seen the miracles of God and experienced His majesty, His glory, His presence and I am still not satisfied? Am I all of them? When I’ve seen supernatural provision and blessings beyond normal and I still crave, still lust for evil and my own way, am I all of them?

How do I make God happy? It is simple, yet profoundly difficult at the same time. It is faith. Even while seeing provision, miracles and God’s presence and still in my moments of humanness and weakness, I must CHOOSE to believe that God will give me my true heart’s desires and fulfill longings that are deep within my soul? I must have faith and choose to crave God MORE than I lust after momentary and fast-fleeting experiences that fulfill my own flesh and disordered desires.

Choose your lover well, for that love determines the fulfillment of a promise or a desolate destination of eternal wanderings!

Prayer

Dad,
You have brought me to this dance, this amazing experience of new life and hope for eternal life. So my intention is to not only dance with you, it is to stay with you and not change dance partners only to end up going home with someone else! Thank you for Your Word. Thank you keeping the most challenging and difficult stories in the Bible to remind me of what is true. Thank you for your spokespersons and gifted writers who have left me with these powerful applications of how to live and how to choose faith. Thank you for your mercy and grace as I determine to please you through faith.

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No longer a walk in the garden.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!” “Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!” As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭18‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God once walked with humans, casually, perfectly, lovingly in the garden. In the cool of the day, God would take a walk, “When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.” Now, years after Eden, years after many, many people, well past Noah and the total destruction of almost all living things, well past the rise and fall of Babel and Egypt, we now come to Moses and the Law.

God had just given Moses the laws, rules for His people to live and love differently from all other peoples, cultures and countries. These laws would keep Israel alive and allow them to interact with a holy, perfect God. God was always holy, always perfect. God is the same today and will never change.

Exodus captures a honest moment expressed by God’s beloved Israel… “we’re afraid of Him!” They said. God showed up like a tornado and the people didn’t feel all snuggly safe. Moses told the people, “God comes like a storm to test you. Your fear of him will keep you from sinning.” It did keep them from sin…for the moment, but it didn’t last. God told the people through Moses, “Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬.

Just twelve chapters later…“When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭32‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬ – really? That was fast.

Fear works while it is directly applied, but fades as we forget the storm, the threat of death. But fear is never enough to sustain a authentic relationship over the long haul. Who wants to take walks in a garden with someone they fear and sense that perfection is held over them at every moment.

Exodus, the Law and the entire Old Testament is very real and very much a part of our story of who we are and who God is. As I wrote, God is and always will be holy, perfect and completely incompatible with sin. The fear of God is still a reality today and will always be a part of our relationship to Him.

Fast forward to the paradox of New Covenant in tension to the Old Covenant. The God who showed up in the deadly storm is the same God who touched the dead body of a little girl and said, “talitha koum” (little maiden), arise. Or the same God who wept and embrimaomai (moved with anger) called out his friend, Lazarus, from death’s pit. We see God the Father, as holy, perfect and feared in the Exodus, but He is the same as the person of Christ, God the Son. Yet, this holy perfection, under the new covenant is love so pure, so piercing, it penetrates beyond fear. A fear that CAN make us want to hide as Adam and Even had done or stand at a distance as the Israelites. OR, this love/fear is to be experienced as an imperfect human completely and totally seen and known for who and what we really are. Yet, we have FAITH that the sacrifice of Christ doesn’t repel us from God’s holiness but contrarily – it supernaturally pulls us, draws us into God’s presence to be embraced by Him.

When shown our sin, we no longer need to run, hide nor flaunt or make excuses. We can now move towards God’s perfect grace not fearing the final judgement of separation. Believers will even be judged in perfect love and not fear (Bema – Judgement Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10, 2 Corinthians 5:10)).

Where is the “fear of God” in this season of grace? Well, it is still here. The fear of God should never be skirted, challenged or arrogantly thrown in the face of God, exclaiming, “His grace is sufficient.” Saying, “I can sin. I can disobey. I can do whatever I want because of Christ’s covering.” How arrogant, how immature! God can certainly strike you dead where you stand regardless of your status of being saved! God can end your life here and sort out the details later? Or, sin’s own consequences can bury you, destroying everything you’ve built and leave you destitute. Don’t tempt God’s grace!

Prayer

Dad,
I know of your love and it’s perfect. I also believe I have a healthy fear of your perfection, your righteousness, your repulsion of sin. I am completely and totally confident in your grace and painfully aware of the consequences of my sin, my choices that are neither hidden from you nor acceptable to you. I am willing to live in this tension. I am willing to run towards you even in my sin, with my failures and work hard to NEVER run from or uselessly try to hide or dodge my poor decisions. I am without excuse, but I am forever grateful for your mercy. Amen.

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Sister wives and impolite dinner conversations.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. She saw that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.” Jeremiah‬ ‭3:6-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God speaks to Jeremiah and it sounds like an episode from Sister Wives. God uses massive marriage, family and sisterhood language to explain just how inappropriate and hurtful are His own people, His chosen people are behaving towards him.

This passage reminds me of a couple of other Bible stories where the writers use very real, very course language to describe Israel’s sin. One is in Ezekiel 23, the other is the book of Hosea. It is interesting and disturbing that God would use and had to use such vivid, x-rated imagery to communicate Israel’s complete rejection of His love and care for them.

This was NOT polite dinner conversations! Oftentimes, parents today will not let their children read these Bible stories until they are old enough to understand the true consequences of choices and real and long lasting effects of sin.

God says, Israel has been having open love affairs with idols – actual wooden poles and stone figurines. Now, they weren’t having physical sex, but they were certainly giving themselves away in every other way. These idols, although dead, inanimate objects someone had a reputation for being really needy. They needed cash, fresh fruits, veggies and meat. They needed constant attention and in extreme cases demanded a human sacrifice for time to time, normally one of their children.

God told Jeremiah he thought Israel would go off, sow some wild oats and then come home, come back to Himself. Well Israel didn’t return and God served them divorce papers – God was done with that side of the family. But worse, Judah, the “other sister,” copied Israel’s behavior and just gave up the monogamous relationship all together.

It was through this long history of heartbreak that God shows us who we really are when we have full free choice! We all, like dogs in heat, just run off to find pleasure or “freedom” anywhere we can. This is Us! Read the rest of this story and you’ll see just how tiring it was for God to continue to pursue a people who were constantly running away from Him – not towards Him. These cycles of selfish pursuit are stories of God’s own chosen group, not some Philistine, Canaanite or Assyrian folks. Those people were KNOWN violent, brutal, highly immoral people. Yet, they weren’t any worse than Israel and Judah! When there’s no clear difference in the way God’s people live from the non-believers of God, there’s a serious problem, right?

Prayer

Dad,
Wow. We are a piece of work! History certainly does repeat itself. All I can think of is this impolite dinner talk being the real picture of what Paul said to the churches in Rome, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Oftentimes I think of the small sins and offenses and think, “I’m not that bad.” Then I read of the folks who regularly cheated on you and profaned your gifts of mercy, and remember “oh yeah, that’s in my heart as well.” I’m really humbled that I have to be reminded of how bad, how desperately wicked is my wandering soul, unchecked by your Holy Spirit! Forgive me. Forgive us as the Church.

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It’s extremely hard to get our attention.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!” Amos‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Especially when we are living the high-life, going, doing whatever we desire, whatever we fancy.

Famous Amos, another spokesperson for God, has the wonderful opportunity to tell Israel the truth. While Israel is living it up, partying, taking advantage of others and all along offering sacrifices to idols! Giving time, money (crops and foods) and attention to block statues of wood called Baal.

Amos is pointing out the obvious, holding up a community mirror up in their faces. They were basically visiting whores while saying they were in a promised, lifetime relationship with the creator of the universes. Amos says, “Go ahead and offer sacrifices to the idols at Bethel. Keep on disobeying at Gilgal. Offer sacrifices each morning, and bring your tithes every three days. Present your bread made with yeast as an offering of thanksgiving. Then give your extra voluntary offerings so you can brag about it everywhere! This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do,” says the Sovereign Lord.”

Betrayal, rebellion and brash, ballzy, hubris behavior towards God. So, yes, God sends a slew of reminders, strong hints that they were flirting with danger. Much of these were what we would call “natural” disasters or “Mother Nature.” What a laugh. These weren’t natural occurrences, they were supernatural messages to stop living a life destined for death. Even after famines, droughts, insect infestations and outright plagues reminiscent of Egypt, Israel just wanted to “Bill & Ted” their lives saying, “party on!”

How would you stop a high speed train barreling down the track destined to travel off a cliff? That’s right, you’d try your best to purposely DERAIL it, hoping to save lives. Amos is begging Israel to quit living for and giving to fake gods and come back to the real God.

I don’t want God to have to work that hard to get my attention, save my life, or accomplish His good and perfect will in this world. However, out of His mercy, God will do whatever it takes. I’ve seen some really awful things happen in people’s lives and I wonder, why? It’s it “natural” consequences from just living in a broken world. Is it the work of the chief liar and deceiver? Or – OR is it God trying to just get them to turn and make things right with Him? As I’ve said before, David, in the Psalms apparently ALWAYS attributes everything to God’s eventual control. I’d say it’s best to go to the one who has all the answers – God. Start there. Tell God what’s going on and ask him how to proceed. I also need to remember, because of Christ, these are NOT threats of hell, they’re disciplines of love to lead the full life God promised!

Prayer

Dad,
I don’t know a lot, but I do know what betrayal feels like. I know what it’s like to love someone, invest in a relationship and have it derail, sometimes even going bitter and sour. It is so painful to vulnerably give and have it spurned or used against you. Even in that tiny little example, I can see how wrong we are to run after “other” gods, fake gods made out of wood or electrons. Who won’t give back anything but pain. Who won’t, who can’t save us nor make life good for us! No fake gods for me thank you!

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Me and my sophisticated idols

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.” Psalms‬ ‭115:3-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​It is interesting to read about idols after listening to Matt Terry speak out of 1 Thessalonians 1 this past Sunday, February 6, 2022. He talked about the “other” side of God’s character that doesn’t get enough airtime – his wrath, fury, justice and holiness. He’s right. I’ve only thought and spoken about God’s love, mercy and peace. God will however judge all and everything. He has too. If God doesn’t judge right from wrong he would owe so many civilizations an apology for destroying them just for the complete and total giving of themselves to idols.

The Psalmist makes the logical argument. Idols are merely things made by humans. We’ve got this ridiculous idea that idols ONLY mean statues, buddhas, carvings or tiny stone figurines that hang from your car mirror or sit on your fireplace mantle. No wonder our “modernized” minds laugh at that and think we’re so advanced.

Who would sacrifice, give money, food, time or children to some weird dime-store tchotchke? Yeah, plenty of cultures still do this, but now they are considered religiously enlightened? Geez.

Well, that’s the big lie! Our idols are much more sophisticated, even digital. And there are thousands of them that demand our time, treasure and talent. They are now hidden in books, movies and games. They’ve gone digital and live on the internet. They are accessible every hour of every day and can be visited (worshipped) in public or in private and no one would even think twice about questioning it. Our idols are everywhere, ubiquitous, obvious and more deadly than ever. And we pretend they don’t exist at all. Idols have gone the way of fairytales and little red devils sitting on shoulders. Yet, they’re more expensive and time consuming as ever! It’s so much easier when we don’t think they exist, we pay, we play with fire and pass it off as entertainment, innocent little time passers or worse – mental health and wellness antidotes.

The Psalmist facts are still true, we just can’t believe we’ve been duped!

Our idols do have mouths (speakers or earbuds) and eyes (cams, infra-red and lidar). I’m not sure about digital noses, hands and feet or mouths, but our idols have far more human characteristics than some stuffy old stone or wood carvings.

Our idols can be blockchained, streamed, and have creepy conversations with us because of advances in artificial intelligence that more than mimics our own minds! Let’s be honest God has MORE reasons to hate our idolatry today than he did the ancients of old because theirs were so obvious. God is the same yesterday, today and forever and it’s not like He will quit being jealous of our god-affairs or giving ourselves away to someone other than Himself. God’s love for me isn’t possessive like our human love. He isn’t controlling either. Your will, my will, is ours to do with as we wish.

But, and this is the core truth, God knows that EVERYTHING we substitutionally worship is FAKE, harmful, destructive and a LIE. So in the tragically delightful story of freedom to do what we want, we have the destructive story of choosing an alternative to God himself! How insidious is that?

I would love to say to myself, go ahead Glenn chase after things that make you look cool, feel better, give you a self-confidence boost – but I must face reality when those things (idols) don’t truly fulfill, truly know or care about me.

They CANNOT respond as God, because they are anti-god. Even if one of my idols is a person or the ideal of a person, they still can’t be God. There is only ONE true God and that God HATES for us to have constant affairs with modern-marvels or idols.

I don’t know maybe I’m all whacked about this. I just know that anytime I set or have my affections on something or someone that is not God, I better ask the Holy Spirit about it and check the idol list again. Let me know if this is just me being weird or there is something to all this.

PRAYER:

Dad,
You have given me EVERYTHING! And I know you have always wanted the best for me. Help me destroy my idols and keep them from coming back.