Tangible Idolatry Part Two

Tangible Idolatry 2/3<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 

The secular west long ago dispensed with idolatry. People who worship a physical idol today would be considered "primitive" in our culture; their practices would not constitute temptation. In our day, idolatry has become conceptual. Greed, which scripture also calls idolatry, has replaced the actual veneration of carved statues or physical objects, so that now we worship materialism in general instead of an object in particular. For modern-day Christians God's commands regarding idolatry are also conceptual-seen as commands to guard ourselves against covetousness and greed. Few Christians are tempted to worship an actual idol and few are persecuted for failing to bow to a physical object. Some may argue that veneration of saints and icons in the Catholic Church is idolatry, but this is still within the church and not widely accepted in greater society.

 
Consider how seriously God deals with idolatry in the New Testament where the sin is condemned in the strongest possible terms and Christians who fell into it risked eternal damnation.  Idolatry was a central issue in first century Christianity. Paul states the following in 1 Cor 10:
6Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play."
This verse and many other New Testament passages underscore the evil of idolatry and the temptation it represented to early Christians. In our world, this has changed; Christians today would have to work hard to be tempted by tangible idols.

However, Scripture warns us that at the end, society will return to idolatry and believing in Greek myths; a return to a worldview prevalent at the time of the first century church and also manifested in the sinful practices of the Canaanites at the time the Israelites took the land. Concurrent with this resurgence, Scripture predicts another upheaval-the spiritual will again become tangible as in Genesis 6 when humans interacted physically with angels. And I believe Revelation describes a future where the gulf between the "supernatural" and our tangible world is bridged and the supernatural becomes commonplace; where the current rules of life cease to hold sway. It seems that the materialistic paradigm of our Western culture will embrace a tangible spirituality and a return to idol worship, real idol worship and not just conceptual greed and materialism.

 
Scriptures state that idolatry is the worship of demons. In the Old Testament Psalm 106 says:
          But they mingled with the nations
          And learned their practices,
36       And served their idols,
          Which became a snare to them.
37       They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons,
38       And shed innocent blood,
          The blood of their sons and their daughters,
          Whom they sacrificed to the idols of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Canaan;
          And the land was polluted with the blood.
A parallel passage in 1 Corinthians 10:19-22 comes to the same conclusion:
19What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?
Paul's admonition to the church has just as much authority now as it did when he wrote it. However, we do not feel the weight of Paul's words because we are not confronted with idol temples in everyday life. I believe this will change.

 
Revelation 13 presents us with the abomination of desolation Jesus and Daniel spoke about. The passage presents the false prophet causing an image to be made of anti-Christ. Let us pause for a moment. Rulers making idols and forcing their citizens to worship their idol is not unusual in history. For example, Jeroboam set up the golden calves in Israel. Nebuchadnezzar set up an idol in Daniel 3. This practice was common even in Rome. But what is unusual in Rev. 13 is that, if the passage is taken literally, this false prophet also gives breath to the image-gives breath so that it actually speaks-a tangible living idol.
11Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth…And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. 15And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
 
This is not typical. When men make images, these images do not speak. Old Testament idols had no breath nor did they speak.
Look at Habakkuk 2:
18       "What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it,
          Or an image, a teacher of falsehood?
          For its maker trusts in his own handiwork
          When he fashions speechless idols.
19       "Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, 'Awake!'
          To a mute stone, 'Arise!'
          And that is your teacher?
          Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
          And there is no breath at all inside it.
20       "But the LORD is in His holy temple.
          Let all the earth be silent before Him."
Or consider Jeremiah 10:5 where it says:
          "Do not learn the way of the nations,
          And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens
          Although the nations are terrified by them;
3         For the customs of the peoples are delusion;
          Because it is wood cut from the forest,
          The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
4         "They decorate it with silver and with gold;
          They fasten it with nails and with hammers
          So that it will not totter.
5         "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
          And they cannot speak;
          They must be carried,
          Because they cannot walk!
          Do not fear them,
          For they can do no harm,
          Nor can they do any good."
 
Moses was the last person to speak to God the Spirit face to face. Since Moses, spiritual experiences for humankind happened internally and in visions and dreams; people no longer tangibly touched spirits with their hands and fingers. Idols were symbols of something that was hidden in the spirit world, something beyond touch. Now, with the coming of the false prophet in Revelation, the rules will change concerning how the spiritual world interacts with the tangible world – there will be an invasion. Idols we can touch will have breath and speak! Moreover, the object of this idol-what this idol represents-will exist on the earth and live alongside the idol; he's the ruler anti-Christ. In place of Jesus who gave us the very words of the Father Who is spirit, we will have in this tangible idol the spirit of anti-Christ giving us the very words of the devil. Humankind will enter a new era, one where the boundaries between the spiritual and the physical have been not only blurred, they have fallen. 
 
In the events described in Revelation, idol worship again becomes tangible-it is no longer simply conceptual-and it is imposed on everybody. The false prophet "provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name."  I think that a "tithe" or a tax will be imposed on all commerce, dedicating commerce to the image of the Beast as an act of worship. I believe scriptures are describing a "tithe" imposed upon all nations and all commerce by the false prophet on behalf of this image. And regarding the mark, I do not believe this means the mark itself is some kind of money, credit card or bank account. Simply participating in commerce, buying and selling, is idolatry if commerce is dedicated to the idol and a portion of the revenue generated funds the idols temple.  Perhaps there is something tangible implanted in humans to aid commerce, but I doubt that this is the mark of the beast.  Simply having money in a bank account or on a debit card is not sinful.  Once commerce is dedicated to the Beast and funds the worship of his idol, then spending money will be the act of worship.  All those who participate ARE worshipping the Beast's talking image; participating in idolatry of a supernatural speaking idol. 
 
This scenario of "national worship" is neither unique nor unusual in world history.  Such practice was common in the ancient world. And in the past few hundred years the civil governments of England, France, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Spain have all imposed "tithes" on their citizenry to fund their religious establishment. So it is not only plausible but probable that anti-Christ would impose such a tax on the citizens and governments under its control and who pay it tribute. The only difference here is that this world religion worships a tangible living idol.
 
At the end, commerce is dedicated to the Beast and financially supports the worship of his image. The idolatrous system in return "blesses" and prospers commerce so that "the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality." My claim is this: that to participate in the anti-Christ's system and fund the image one must become an idolater and worship the idol. In the past, those opposed to funding the state religion would flee to another country to escape. History is full of Christians who willing who paid a heavy price and fled this type of system.  In this setting, when the whole world is under the control of the Beast, there will be nowhere left to flee. Instead, Christians will be faced with a stark choice to become an idolater or to starve; temporal life or eternal life?  I think that this is the situation described in Revelation.  With the advent of the breathing idol who speaks, tangible idolatry is imposed upon the entire world as a national religion; Christians alone will not participate and they will die for their witness. Those who choose to participate in commerce will also have chosen to become idolaters and bear the eternal consequences; greed and covetousness are tangibly linked to idol worship.
 
Eph 4
5For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
 
Rev 21:18
8"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
 
Through the image of the Beast the secular materialist worldview is destroyed and the spiritual and physical universe is enjoined. The entire world embraces and worships this new order as tangible idolatry becomes the world religion – funded by its commerce.  In contrast, the gospel proclaiming escape from the wrath of God through the blood of Jesus Christ shed for sins and the certainty of eternal life demonstrated by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; the gospel which proclaims that the wrath of God will be poured out upon all sinners; this gospel where people prefer temporal death to eternal damnation will oppose anti-Christ's new system. Christians will not participate and they will either die or be killed for their witness. We can take comfort from the book of Hebrews that documents a similar time when it states, "For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one." Let us find comfort in an eternal salvation beyond the afflictions and persecutions of this world.
 
 

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