IDOLATRY

Proverbs 6:5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

     Satan is herding multitudes of GOD'S precious children to share his fate of total destruction, as the prophecy states: “I [the LORD] will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee [Satan], it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth…and never shalt thou be any more.” Eze.28:18,19.

     One of the ten ways Satan accomplishes his objective to lead men to share his fate of an everlasting grave is to exploit man’s sinful temperament to worship what does not deserve our worship. There is a clear boundary between our gratefulness and the exaggeration of idolatry. And the Bible believing Christian desires to understand the boundary, as it is written: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Ps.119:11.

     A profound verse-by-verse commentary on the Second Commandment:

“’Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.’ The second commandment forbids the worship of the true God by images or similitudes. Many heathen nations claimed that their images were mere figures or symbols by which the Deity was worshiped, but God has declared such worship to be sin. The attempt to represent the Eternal One by material objects would lower man's conception of God. The mind, turned away from the infinite perfection of Jehovah, would be attracted to the creature rather than to the Creator. And as his conceptions of God were lowered, so would man become degraded.

‘I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.’ The close and sacred relation of God to His people is represented under the figure of marriage. Idolatry being spiritual adultery, the displeasure of God against it is fitly called jealousy.
‘Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me.’ It is inevitable that children should suffer from the consequences of parental wrongdoing, but they are not punished for the parents' guilt, except as they participate in their sins. It is usually the case, however, that children walk in the steps of their parents. By inheritance and example the sons become partakers of the father's sin. Wrong tendencies, perverted appetites, and debased morals, as well as physical disease and degeneracy, are transmitted as a legacy from father to son, to the third and fourth generation. This fearful truth should have a solemn power to restrain men from following a course of sin. {PP 306.3}

‘Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.’ In prohibiting the worship of false gods, the second commandment by implication enjoins the worship of the true God. And to those who are faithful in His service, mercy is promised, not merely to the third and fourth generation as is the wrath threatened against those who hate Him, but to thousands of generations.”—E.G. White, Patriarchs And Prophets, pages 305-306.

     In spite of Scripture’s explanation of the sins that lower the dignity given to man, who was created in the image of GOD, man’s idolatry is as prevalent today as at any time in history. Only in our generation it has expanded to include modern conveniences. Many are spellbound with the endless fiction in movies and television. While others only worship the latest technology. And still others their own ideas and opinions about politics and religion that stand belligerent against GOD’S Word.

     And then there are the unproven theories of academic science being heralded as infallible fact: placing on a pedestal an assumption that has no basis in fact but only in pride in one’s intellectual invention. All the things in today’s generation that are given to provide awe-inspiring wonder and happiness are typically exalted above what should rightfully be residing on the throne of everyone’s heart: a cry for deliverance from our base nature that is insatiably greedy, cunning, and deceiving: against others and even our own selves. To be delivered from a modern civilization whose obvious course of destiny is self-destruction requires a power outside of our own ability to control our destiny.

     I personally stand guilty of sharing this character flaw with my fellow man. I have stood guilty of open idolatry. Being raised as a musician since age four, music was so intertwined with my life that it stood above every other aspect of my purpose for living. The sounds of music were my first thoughts in the morning and my last thoughts before sleep. It was a deep-rooted idol that needed to be disposed of.

     Enter: the LORD Jesus Christ

     In the summer of 1990, GOD separated me from my normal lifestyle for about two months. During this time my mind had a sufficient clarity to hear a profound and urging voice. It was at this time I heard the call of GOD: “Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail.” Isa.34:16. An urging tug on my heart began, inspiring me to read the Bible. I was being drawn to follow a path that I didn’t know where it would lead, but the voice in my heart saying, “read the Bible,” had such a quality of gentle decency that I had to follow that voice to see where it would lead. It was permeated with such tenderness and love. I didn’t own a Bible but among my small library of books I did have an old book of my grandmother’s called, The Story of the Bible, by Charles E. Foster. It was given to her, in 1903 by her mother. This book is a compilation of all the famous passages of Scripture. So I read the great stories of Moses and the prophets, and then of Jesus Christ. My heart welled up with exuberant joy thinking, “There is a GOD who loves me. I have a King who lives to serve; and His name is Jesus Christ!”

     In the opening weeks of my awakening, GOD made me despise all the things that I had previously given praise and attention. All music including the sweetest melodies that used to give me shivers now sounded like a screeching fingernail on a blackboard to my ears. The television, the movies, all the things that once drew my affections became distasteful. I could not bear the raging conflict made evident by seeing for the first time in my life the cruel indifference of the world in which I lived to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was too painful. I had to separate myself from everything for a time—to get my bearings.

     There was only one thing musical to my soul during these opening weeks of my newfound companionship with Jesus Christ: “It is written.” Nothing more melodic, harmonious or poetic to the human heart has ever been created than the Word of GOD. That men choose to be at war with the Word of GOD is the most illogical stance in light of the fact that every ideal of the human heart is addressed and is assured of its perfect fulfillment through the written assurances of His Word. And those who have proven GOD in their lives fully know that what He has said will come to pass.

     Some closing verses on the subject:

“When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain.” “Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain…Be not afraid of them [the idols of men]; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good…Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.” “They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.” “Therefore said I,” “The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour ; thou savest me from violence.” Isa.57:13; Jer.10:2,3,5,14,15; 38:20; II Sam.22:3.