This new Cripplegate series looks really appropriate. I will follow this post up with comments as additional parts are released.
So, what is the greatest problem in America today? Why has much of our nation been given over to a depraved mind? Why do people seem so bent on doing what is not proper to themselves and others? The reason is because people have hearts full of idolatry. All of the problems in our nation that preoccupy the attention of the masses are symptoms, not causes – symptoms of a people whose hearts love false gods.
No Other Gods: The Sinister Nature of Idolatry, Part 1
I do love the image! An idol?
As background even before reading the posts my thoughts this week have been on the nature of false worship. This started when the idea of “What is your favorite way to worship?” came up our Sunday School class on Revelation. Really! As if worship all about us?
Exodus 32:1-10 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. 7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
Notice in that passage these aspects: 1) The people and Aaron intended to worship the true God, the one who brought them out of Egypt; 2) they misunderstood who God was by referring to God in the plural as “gods”; 3) they were sincere; 4) they worshiped in false ways. May I say ways man created or dreamed up, often pleasing to our senses?
Exodus 32:14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Exodus 32:15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
Exodus 32:16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
Exodus 32:17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
Exodus 32:18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
Exodus 32:19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
Notice too that Moses already had the two tablets of the law. If we understand the severity of Aaron and the people’s sin we realize even more the importance of the first commandments.
This is how I have the first four highlighted in my Bible.
Btw. As you read the series, remember God’s Grace and mercy. We can’t do this on our own.
Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Btw2: if you want to read another line of thinking 🤔 about proper forms of worship & singing, there was another post this week on the subject.
And it refers to this resource list…
I will be curious 👀 many if these points are covered in the Cripplegate series.
Here is the link to Part II.
Rainbow Trout 
A few highlighted quotes from Part I.
…if we really desire something Christ forbids more than we desire to please Him, then that is idolatry
If our supreme love, trust, and desire is not toward God, then that is idolatry.
Idolatry can take many forms. It might look like worshiping a false god in the form of a statue or indulging in a secret sin.
Some might think this command means we are allowed to have other gods, but we just can’t have any other gods equal to the true and living God. That, however, is not what “before Me” means in this context. The idea of “before Me” in Exodus 20 means “in My presence.”
Worship of the true and living God must take place without images. This is a major problem for Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, which both rely on images in worship, even if they claim they are not worshipping those images.
LikeLike
I was thinking in reference to the links I made to issues around the forms or regular(rules) of worship. I’m wondering if any of those will be brought up by the author. Plus, we have the obvious outright rejection of God, and the many and often large non-Christian religions, as well as the Christ related cults of various forms, and the many aspects of false teaching and heresy within the visible church itself.
if one follows God’s word eventually history will lead much of the world astry.
Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Interesting statistics in this study….
https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CRC-Release-AWVI-4-Aug-6-2024-Fourth-Draft.pdf
“Despite that stellar slate of biblical beliefs owned by evangelicals, it is easy to be deceived by those views. Similarly, it is tempting to dismiss any theological concerns about evangelicals by noting that they are nine times more likely than the typical American to possess the biblical worldview (35% versus 4% respectively). But that comparison masks another crucial spiritual revelation about evangelicals: namely, that two out of every three evangelicals do not possess a worldview and lifestyle that is consistently in harmony with basis biblical teachings.
In fact, the AWVI 2024 research points out that the dominant worldview among Christian evangelicals remains Syncretism.4 Very few evangelicals were defined by a worldview other than the biblical worldview or Syncretism. Nearly two-thirds of evangelicals (64%) qualified as Syncretists.”
Here are Part II quotes.
Idolatry is loving, trusting, or desiring something or someone more than or in place of God. All people, whether they claim to be religious or not, are by nature idolaters because everyone puts someone or something in the place of God.
As the command against idolatry informs us (Exodus 20:2-5), God forbids us to have any other gods before Him. Additionally, since our idols almost always take some kind of physical shape, whether in another human being or in some physical object, God highlights the importance of eliminating all images that represent God from our worship.
The first reason God forbids idolatry is because He is invisible.
What’s fascinating about this passage is that God did reveal Himself to Israel, even if He did not do so through their eyes. The emphasis at Mount Sinai instead fell on something invisible, but still understandable – namely, God’s Word. True revelation of God is not accomplished through visible, created things but through the proclamation of the Word of God.
What about Jesus?
The answer is still no. First, the New Testament is clear that Jesus is most certainly the image of the invisible God, the Word made flesh, and a visible manifestation of the revelation of the Father; but the New Testament places the emphasis of the Incarnation squarely on Jesus as the Word of God, not on Jesus’ physical appearance. We must, therefore, continue to focus on what God revealed about Himself and His plan of salvation in Christ through His Word.
There’s a second reason given, namely that God is jealous.
There is a third reason we must not worship idols, and that is because God is Creator.
God wants us to maintain a clear distinction between Him as the Creator and everything else as creation.
Lastly, God must be God alone with no rivals, because He is Redeemer.
Quotes are from Part II
LikeLike