Idolatry: The Springboard to Calamity

In our last issue of The Lion’s Roar, we examined how that fear, if not dealt with, but allowed to run its course, becomes a veritable springboard to all kinds of oppression in one’s life. We also discussed how to conquer such fear and regain the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus. (Click on Previous Articles)

In this issue we will explore the neglected subject of idolatry. I am of the firm opinion that idolatry in any form can become a springboard to calamity in the life of those who are given to its practice. I also believe that modern men are given to idolatry just as thoroughly as were their primitive forefathers. The objects worshiped are simply different in form and appearance.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines idolatry as “image worship, or divine honor paid to any created object or being. According to Easton, forms of idolatry are:

1. Fetishism, or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, animals, and large or small objects, things like idols, statues, etc.
2. Nature worship, or the worship of the sun, moon, stars, or any heavenly body that seems to possess power over nature.
3. Hero worship, or undue adulation given to a deceased ancestor or a hero (living or dead).

Idolatry was viewed in the Bible as a serious crime. The 1st and 2nd commandments are directed against idolatry in every form! Not only were individuals punished for worshipping false gods and idols, but even ancient cities, guilty of this sin, were looked upon as a cancer in the land. Idolatry was considered to be a form of great rebellion, and the lawbreakers were treated according to the laws of war. (See Jeremiah 2:13, 15-17.)

Idolatry in the Western World

“Humble yourselves,” Peter exhorted, “under the mighty hand of God.” The humble man strives to put away idolatry in every form. The humble person seeks to bow before and worship the Lord alone. Alas, the overwhelming majority of Westerners are failing to humble themselves under God’s mighty hand in that they are given to various, subtle forms of idolatry.

“Get off it!” you might protest. “Nobody actually worships idols today! Idolatry only has to do with Old Testament teaching. I don’t bow down to any hand-carved idols or lift up my hands to worship the sun or moon!”

Maybe you don’t, beloved, but you’d be shocked to know the number of people in this country who do worship trees, the sun and the stars! This type of idol worship is a rapidly growing phenomenon. Wiccans and witches by the thousands meet in secluded, out-of-the-way places to dance and worship in the light of the moon. They worship everything from inanimate objects to goddesses they believe are supreme deities. Some of your very neighbors may be secretly involved in this idolatrous practice. And you would also be shocked to learn the number of people who attend pow-wows and celebrate the deities the American Indians worshiped. I’ve talked to a number of European and African Americans who have attended these events and received “power animals” from Indian Shamans.

More “socially acceptable” forms of the occult have also deceived countless numbers of people, duping them into committing spiritually adultery against the Lord. Fortunetellers, mediums, and deceptive practices like séances, horoscope reading, the ouija board, TM and yoga, are turning peoples’ lives upside down. They have no idea that such idolatrous activities draw the presence of demons, and calamitous occurrences are often the bitter results.

“Oh yes,” you might argue, “but that’s not me! Those people are flakes and idiots! I’ve got my feet planted firmly in the real world.”

More Subtle Forms of Idolatry

If one does a thorough study of the subject of idolatry, he discovers that idol worship has as much to do with the affections of one’s heart as it does with the object worshiped. The object of affection is an idol; the affection given is idolatry. The thing worshiped may or may not be evil in itself, but the affection given to it always grieves and displeases the Lord who says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” The amount of time given to an idol, as well as one’s intensity of devotion, reveals where one’s heart is and, very often, his trust. Indeed, any thing or any one that begins supplanting the Lord Jehovah in a person’s life is becoming an idol. It may be a hobby that consumes large amounts of one’s time, money and energy. It may be a material item that captures too much honor, affection and tender loving care. It might be one’s wife, husband or child. When a family member gets too much time and affection, the idolater has little time left over for others, including the Lord. When this happens, the evil soul tie must be broken, and the relationship restored to what is balanced and acceptable to the Lord. While we are to love, nourish and cherish our families, we are never to place them before our devotion to Jesus in the secret place (Psalm 91:1). And while it is not wrong to have a hobby, a pastime, material possessions, or important people in our lives, no thing or person is to usurp the Lord’s place. It is a matter of priority, and He is to have the preeminence in everything.

Some men worship their investments—they trust them to make them feel rich and secure. Money is their idol. People like this may pore over reports from Wall Street each day, but they rarely pore over the pages of the Bible. They can tell you how many points the DOW or NASDAC has risen or fallen at the end of any given day, but they can’t share a current Word from God to strengthen His people. And one doesn’t have to be rich to be an idolater. I’ve known poor men who loved money as much as a rich man, and their greed also became a springboard to calamity! Proverbs reveals that the sin of being “greedy for gain” sets one up for calamity (vs. 19, 26).

Calamity seems to be the curse idolatry invokes. Properly defined, calamity means, “to rake together like embers in a fire.” When calamity strikes, its victim feels like his whole life is being raked into one heaping pile of sizzling embers to be ignited. Calamity produces feelings of hopelessness, and all the idols in the world are unable to help those being raked into the burning pile.

I once knew a man who worshiped his investments, and had great pride in his wheeling and dealing savvy. His soul literally panted for riches just as a gut shot deer pants for the water brooks. But one day his markets went sour, and all his investments came crashing down around him. In one forty-eight hour period, the man lost his fortune, his family and his sanity. Calamity devastated the idolater! The Hebrew word translated calamity (eyd) carries the meaning of “oppression, misfortune and ruin.” This man experienced all three expressions of this tragic word.

The Lord said, “Because My people have forgotten Me, [and] burned incense to worthless idols…I will scatter them…in the day of their calamity” (Jeremiah 18:15, 17). Forgetting to serve and love the Lord, keeping Him first place in one’s life and affections, sets one up for a day of calamity. Sooner or later the lover of worthless idols will experience a devastating fall!

So, Where Does America Stand Today?

Arise; go up to the wealthy nation that dwells securely, which has neither gates nor bars, dwelling alone. I will bring their calamity from all its sides.
Jeremiah 49:31-32

If anything destroys America, it will be the calamity incurred by its rampant idolatry. Americans worship everyone and everything from sports stars, movie stars, rock stars, and politicians, to the sports, movies, songs and parties they represent. They pour countless hours and millions of treasure into every kind of event imaginable. Arenas and coliseums become shrines to America’s various gods. When one season winds down, several others take its place. When one star fades out, a dozen more rise to replace him. It’s ridiculous—nothing more than hero-worship! No human being is worth the money or homage we pay these flesh and blood glory hounds.

And then there are the “things” we buy. The glitter of materialism has America by the armpit! The intoxicating influence of the sirens of materialism drags us along by the nose. In order to pay off debt, millions must work ridiculous hours—sometimes three or four jobs—just to pay toward their ever-increasing debt. No significant time is left over for the Lord or His purposes.

What about our love for entertainment? People who could be mighty warriors in God’s kingdom are nothing more than pansy princes and princesses, lounging on cushions of pleasure. Too many hours are spent (I mean sacrificed) before big screen TV sets and glass-faced computer terminals. Millions of boys and men are dominated by their own lust, bowing before the producers and harlots of nighttime television and Internet pornography. And women are no better off. Many are intensely nymph-minded, fantasizing about the narcissistic warlocks and catamites parading before Hollywood’s seductive cameras. Alas, America is a nation of idol worshipers! This is a major reason calamity struck on 9-11, and will continue to strike in various forms until we repent and return to the covenant of our fathers, and regain the protective hand of the Lord!

What will it take, and what is required of God’s hand? Will it be blessing or a curse? Will it be peace or calamity? Although He desires to bless, prosper and heal, we have committed abominations that cannot be ignored. We say we are religious, but our hearts are far from Him. We say we are a spiritual people, but of what spirit? Harlotry, wine and new wine have enslaved our hearts, so God must free them to turn back to Him. This will happen through more calamity and hardship. Because His forbearance has offered America the fires of revival and we have refused, He will again permit the fires of calamity to burn across our homeland that we may truly wake from our slumber and be shaken from our idolatry. Americans do not consider that the Lord remembers their national wickedness. They do not consider that He can remove His hand of protection just as easily as He can set it in place. And now there must be calamity! Until He sees a response similar to that of Ezra and Nehemiah, and the whole house of Israel in that day, He will permit an intense shaking to befall us. He has dealt faithfully with us, but we have dealt wickedly with Him.

Dear reader, I realize that this is not an encouraging prediction, but somehow you know within yourself that America is at an important threshold. We can cross over into blessing, or we can cross over into cursing. This forecast of calamity can be averted if this nation will say “Yes” to the Lord again.

There will soon be another terrorist strike on our homeland. In fact, I sense that there will be several of them before America truly returns to righteousness. According to some high-level defense experts, America’s new “Achilles heel” is the electromagnetic pulse waves (EMPs) that could completely paralyze our economy, commerce and transportation should a rouge nation’s ballistic missile carry and detonate a nuclear warhead in outer space just above our continent. The three resulting shockwaves that would pulse down into our atmosphere would wreak havoc on electrical systems across the continent. That would be disastrous! Be praying fervently concerning this real and growing threat. The events of 9/11 shook us a little bit; what’s coming will shake us a lot! Get ready for the shake up for the wake up!

Pray! Pray! Pray! Sow the precious seed of tears for our nation. She must repent. She must smash her idols and return to the living God! I believe God yet has a merciful plan for America. Let’s not abandon ship yet. So rise, Church, and pray as though everything depends on our fervent intercession and spiritual warfare. And pray remembering this inspiring promise:

The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. Jeremiah 18:7-8