The Folly of Idolatry

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. (Exodus 32:4)

Have you ever realized that idolatry for the most part is willful folly and idiocy if you looked at it from outside?

Have you, like me, challenged an idolater to explain why they believe and behave as they do? Do not some of their explanations border on lunacy? By the way you will get the same if you asked a religious person as most religions worship idols, however much to the contrary they may argue.

Have you ever thought why tribal customs and taboos are very foolish when examined by other tribes, yet most binding on tribe members?

I say this because I was fortunate enough to attend national schools far from home and therefore interacted with most tribes of Kenya. We were therefore able to exchange views as greenhorns eager to make sense of what other tribes did different from us.

A tribe in the Bible is a community of people revolving around similar gods. Everything they do is therefore related to the worship of that god. That is what defines culture, traditions, history, etc.

We think we have progressed when we dissociate our culture with worship. What we are doing is however more foolish than acknowledging it. This is because you will realize that there are more unanswered questions that will make no sense otherwise.

But you realize that the devil is the master of masquerade and camouflage. Ignorance is the best weapon in his arsenal as we see even in the fall of man. He approached Eve instead of Adam who had been issued with the commandment. Remember Simon of Samaria was called the great power of God yet he was a sorcerer (Acts 8)?

One of the strongest bonds to culture is ignorance. Try to understand why your tribe does things in a certain way and the priests will hide under a veil of indescribable mysteries.

The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? (Isaiah 44: 12 – 20)

That is idolatry for you. But it is when you look at it from outside.

Why do I insist on outside? It is because there are other players when one is on the inside. These are the ones that blind one from seeing the folly of what they are doing.

An idol is not just an object. It is something I have hallowed to the devil. I have dedicated it to the prime use of the evil one, whether I think it is to the living God or not.

God does not need images. In fact He forbids images in His worship.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing 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: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20: 4 – 6)

It is the devil who needs images to take captive of the rebellious masses.

Once I elevate an image, I give the devil permission to inhabit it and start performing magic (counterfeit miracles) from it. This transforms what was formerly a useless piece of wood to a temple that is inhabited by spirits which camouflage as God.

An elevated image converts a place to a shrine. It converts a tree to a high place.

What converts them is the dedication that invites demons to indwell them.

Interestingly, it is the same thing that happens when I exalt a gift above its function.

Let us say I am an artist who draws excellent things. My art becomes so elevated that I am treated as super human. Due to the favors I enjoy, I think it is my entitlement. This invites the evil one to my gift, and eventually my person. He therefore starts using my art to further his agenda.

Why do I say this? Have you ever noticed that excellence many times breeds immorality and wickedness? Have you ever noticed that atheists are very gifted persons; that homosexuals are rarely run of the mill characters?

A gift not submitted to its giver (God the creator) opens its possessor to the control of demons. It is sad that we even see ministers fall into that trap all so often at the peak of their popularity. Or haven’t you seen pastors who sleep around with their parishioners without feeling any conviction? Have you not seen others who become alcoholic at their peak?

When I see a gift instead of the giver, I will ultimately worship the gift, whether I am aware that what I do to it is worship or not. And when I worship the gift, it attains the status of a god, a god that must perform ‘miracles’ to continue being treated thus.

That is where the devil comes in.  He infests that idol with his power and manifestation. And if he can confuse my worship with the worship of the true God, he will win the war hands down. He will then push his agenda so powerfully so that he can erase the worship of the Creator God by simply changing His standards. Then he can rule us by our permissions, more like what he did to Eve.

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (Romans 1: 21 – 28)

You see God is Lord of all or not Lord at all. We either worship Him ONLY or we are worshipping another god. He does not share His glory with another or His praise with images, even when the images are gifts from Him.

That is why sin and wickedness are the normal fruits of our taking our eyes off our Creator. It is because our eyes must be focused elsewhere, and there is one who relishes our taking our eyes from God.

This explains why pastors slowly stop preaching against sin and for holiness yet the Bible says that without holiness no one can see God. They have taken their eyes from God and focused on their gift and giftedness. Of course the devil has taken that giftedness and inhabited it with their permission.

Do you think Diotrephes (3 John) started as a tyrant? Or do you think the ministers going to hell in Matthew 7: 21 – 23 started with hell being their goal? Do you think the Matthew 25 crowd set out with the goal of being disqualified?

Who starts looking for money with hell being his desire? What happens then that it becomes easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter heaven?

Most start very nobly with their eyes on God. They look for the good job so that they can be more effective in their ministry or outreach. That is why many give vows. Many look for money not just to be independent or wealthy, but to be able to serve God in greater ways.

But the job, and business, and wealth slowly change to be goals, diverting our attention and eventually worship from God, the One we had started with.

Again let me ask. Have you ever come across a poor homosexual? Have you ever come across an illiterate atheist? Have you ever encountered an ignoramus as a sex maniac?

All these start with a gift, then a focus from God to the gift. Then the devil automatically takes over from there.

That in short, is where idolatry for most starts. A gift growing in prominence until it overshadows the giver. It then attracts the indwelling of the evil one as God will never come close to an idol however elevated it is, even by the whole world.

For example, almost all musicians start their music in church. They perfect their art as they worship God. Then they start receiving acclaim. Of course that acclaim is addictive. It feels very nice to be appreciated and treated very nice for that gift you possess.

Then you start becoming the life of any event you attend. The service won’t proceed before you play a tune. A party won’t start before you sing a song. A prayer won’t be said before you give a melody. And of course there are enough gifts and special seats so that you can serve better.

Then you realize that nobody cares whether you are spiritual or not. No one will notice when you are battling conviction for sin or neglect of spiritual growth. You can be coming from fornication yet the pastor will still tell you to play the instrument and lead in song.

It goes without say that the gift will become more important than the object of my worship, because that is what everybody notices and acknowledges. You will therefore put your all in developing that gift and nothing in improving that worship. The audience becomes more important than God, who you may still think is the object of that worship. His word becomes just a source of lyrics instead of the word of God. You start dressing for the audience instead of God, of course because it is the audience that feeds you.

Have you realized that most ‘worship leaders’ and instrumentalists will leave the church hall after ‘performing’? Very few will waste time listening to boring sermons and other things that do not enhance their gift. Have you also noticed that few pastors waste their time following those boring services and arrive just before they are called to preach? Their gift is everything, the focus of everything they do.

Their gift has become an idol. We are back to where we started. It is the devil who will enhance their gift from that point on. He will, however, take great pains to ensure that you do not even suspect that. Then you will grow in your worship of the gift being boosted by the one who now inhabits that gift.

Ever wondered how someone whose desperate prayer in a crisis was answered yet they forgot at all who God was? Many times they start worshipping the answered prayer and rescue. God then becomes an addendum to that idol. Yet we know that God will never fit as such.

I remember a friend who was a model of Christian commitment. We even used to go for fellowships in his house when I was a child. His family was solid, even enviable to us children. But he was just a farmer, a fairly successful one. He was fully committed to church and fellowships which did not fit in the denominational structure.

Then recently I heard very disturbing reports about him. He got a very good job, a job that apart from a salary had many other ‘extras’. He got into drunkenness and has been fighting it for so long without success. What changed about him? I believe his new breakthrough became a focus. I pray that God will give me an opportunity to hear it from him.

How do we escape that?

Like Joshua 1:8 says we must value God’s word and spend our all in knowing and obeying it. We must copy Ezra as recorded in Ezra 7: 10.

It is difficult to stray if we are committed to God and His word.