Tag Archives: idolatry

The People Groan – America In Crisis

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freedom

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

Proverbs 29:2

A 2020 Barna survey revealed that only 51% of Americans believe in a traditional, biblical view of God as “all powerful, all knowing, perfect and just Creator.” This is down from 73% in 1991.  The same survey showed that 56% of Americans believe in Satan as a “real spiritual being who influences people’s lives.”

In an interview, George Barna stated that during the early stage of the pandemic, surveys showed that most Christians were fearful and looking to government for leadership. For most people, God didn’t enter into the equation when making decisions.

While fewer people believe in God, a 2021 Pew Research study reveals that more people believe in UFO’s than in God.

Does this sound like the righteous are increasing?

When the Wicked Rule

As a conservative, evangelical Christian, I must admit that when I read Proverbs 29:2, my mind focuses first on the wicked ruler as the reason America groans under division, strife, loss of freedom and economic uncertainty. For those paying attention, Leftists have made their agenda clear: they seek to destroy our nation and replace it with their godless dystopian vision.

But if I ignore the first half of Proverbs 29:2, I won’t understand why God has allowed this to happen. If I ignore the first half of this verse, I see the wicked rulers (or their ideology) as the sole problem, and my solution will be to elect different rulers. When I seek only a political solution, my prayers for our nation reflect my human concerns but not the concerns of God.

When the Righteous Don’t Increase

I once heard a preacher say that a nation gets the leaders it deserves. If this be true, and it must be because our just God removes kings and sets up kings (Daniel 2:21), then efforts to turn America around will fail if we don’t meet God’s standard: Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (Proverbs 14:34).

Our human concerns—wanting our children to grow up in a free society and not in a totalitarian nightmare, for example—are legitimate concerns. But God also tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we want the best future for our children, we have to get our priorities straight. Whether we like it or not, it may be too late for America, it may have an incurable wound. The America we love may soon be relegated to the dustbin of history because of its idolatry. My first choice would be that my children grow up to live righteous lives in a free, God-fearing nation. But if not given that option, it is better to have righteous children whom God favors (Daniel 1:9) while captive in Babylon than to have free children who participate in Babylon’s sins and incur God’s judgment (Revelation 18:4).

American Christianity At a Crossroads

I believe our nation is already under judgment and has been for some time. How else could its wickedness have increased so dramatically in such a short time unless God has given us over to our desires (Romans 1). Too many evangelical churches have become indistinguishable from the culture. Too many Christians have placed their lamp under a basket and the current state of our nation proves the American Church exhibits a lukewarm faith that is “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17).

When God judges a nation by abandoning it to its sin, it should become obvious to God’s people that this world, apart from God, is not a good place. Our idols won’t save us. Our government leaders won’t, our money won’t, our military won’t, our Constitution won’t. When Jesus evaluates the churches in Revelation he tells them, “I know your deeds.” Pray that “In God We Trust” be more than a motto in our land.

American Christianity is at a crossroads. God will eventually destroy all of earth’s idols. The Church must reject them now. The world system offers us many idols. As long as we accept them, Babylon will leave us alone to languish in apostasy and mediocrity and idolatry. If we reject the world’s idols, Babylon will persecute us. The good news, attested to throughout history, is that Christianity flourishes under persecution. Through reproof and discipline, Jesus implores us to be zealous and repent and invites us to dine with him and overcome the world (Revelation 3:19-21).

 

Did you like this article? Explore the Christian’s place in the Divine Economy in my book, The Narrow Road: Loving God In a World Devoted to Money, on Amazon.

 

Does America Have An Incurable Wound? – Part 1

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Israel Had An Incurable Wound

In the book of Micah we learn that Samaria (the capital of Israel) had an incurable wound and like untreated gangrene it had spread to Jerusalem (the capital of Judah). What was the wound that was so loathsome to God?  The northern kingdom’s idolatry had reached a level from which judgment would no longer be withheld. As a result, God proclaims to the whole earth that he will make Samaria a heap of rubble.

A Portrait of National Decline

What was it like living in Israel prior to their judgment? The Israelites, for the most part, ignored God’s warnings delivered through the prophets. Though unconcerned about their own wickedness, they were certainly aware of the threat that lurked to the northeast. Towers built with the heads of conquered soldiers and rows of captives impaled on stakes outside of captured cities served as a warning to others who might resist the advancing Assyrians.

Everyday life in Israel wasn’t much different from that in surrounding pagan nations. They worshipped Baal, sold debtors into slavery and practiced divination and sorcery. They even sacrificed their children, burning them in the arms of Molech (2 Kings 17:15c-17).

Though God had disciplined Israel so they would return to him (Amos 4:6-11), he remained a stranger to them, so much so that he declares they will become re-acquainted with their God through judgment (Amos 4:12,13)! It was too late to avoid disaster. Having reached the point of no return, God raised up a nation that would destroy them. Though its kings boasted of their conquest of Israel, it was not Assyria from whom Israel would not escape; it was God (Micah 2:3)(Isaiah 10:5-15).

By What Standard Will Our Nation Be Judged?

We live in evil times.

Many American Christians fear that we, as a nation, may be nearing a time of God’s judgment. Human nature, being the way it is, leads us to point fingers at each other and blame our impending judgment on others whose sins are more heinous than ours. Of course, it is not wrong to confront sin and evil wherever it lies, but we do well when we heed Jesus’ rebuke to first take the log out of our own eye.

The Old Testament prophets chronicle what led to God’s judgment of Israel and surrounding nations. When trying to discern how the lessons from these scriptures might apply to our nation, we must be careful not to make comparisons or draw parallels to Israel that do not exist. For example, the United States does not have a national covenant relationship with God, as did Israel. Therefore, we must be careful not to cling to promises God made specifically to Israel as if he made them to the United States.

Nevertheless, we can see for which sins God judged Israel and know that He has not changed. It is still true that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

America’s Problem with Idolatry
The Idol of Money

Money has long been identified as an idol in American life. Christians are aware of the danger, knowing that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil and that we cannot serve both God and money. But how does that actually play out in our lives? It is easy to let cultural influences drown such knowledge in a pool of worry about our future. It is easy to let misguided concepts of stewardship lead us to the conclusion that we serve God best by focusing on multiplication of our resources so we can give from our excess. How many of us make an idol out of work, filling our emptiness with inner praise for our abilities, abilities that God reminds us come from him? In short, how many ways do we forget God, his faithfulness, his kindness, and his providence and settle for a substitute?

The Idol of Entertainment

Consider our infatuation with entertainment. One of my favorite authors, A.W. Tozer, made astute observations about this form of idolatry in The Great God Entertainment. He said the essence of sin is the abuse of a harmless thing. Entertainment can be relaxing and refreshing. But, it can also be a waste of time and distract us from considering our life before God.

Our entertainment competes with God for our time and money. Many of us grab our cell phones first thing in the morning to check our email or favorite social media. Thanking God for the new day can wait. After a hard day of work, if we don’t go out for dinner or a movie, we may escape from the realities of our life by spending whatever free time we have watching television. Instead of serving God with our money, we redouble our work efforts so we can afford our next dose of entertainment.

The Idol of Self

Our economy is based on discontent. In our society, there is almost no concept of having “enough”. This is true for many Christians, too. God’s Word is a lamp unto our feet until we can’t get what we want. Then, unsatisfied with our “daily bread”, we succumb to society’s call to buy a bigger house, the newest model car or the latest fashion. The problem, at least according to our culture, is that God isn’t a good provider. Ever ready to rescue us from our stingy God, creditors entice us to borrow so we can obtain what we want on our own timetable. Some of us never think of waiting on God and trusting him to provide as long as we have the option of going into debt to get what we covet.

This kind of idolatry, often accompanied by an ungrateful and fiercely independent spirit, focuses on gaining the whole world with little concern for losing one’s soul. The covetous and greedy man may say he doesn’t agree with the philosophy that he is captain of his own soul, but his actions say otherwise.

Many in America, having discarded any notion of a God to whom they are accountable, imagine themselves to be a god, making their own rules and doing as they please. Postmodern thought that truth is relative is really just a warmed over restatement of Judges 17:6 – “in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” NASB

When we do right in our own eyes, we do evil in the eyes of the Lord and serve a false god (Judges 2:11). Our clever, enlightened worldview calls evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20,21). Drug usage is common; pornography and sexual sin provoke no shame unless children are exploited. At least we protect our children, right?

How different is sacrificing children to idols in Israel’s day to gain economic favor with the gods and choosing abortion because we want to maintain our selfish, indulgent lifestyle and cannot be bothered with the expense or inconvenience of a child? Is burning a baby any worse than dismembering one and crushing its head so it can be removed from the womb? Those who protect the practice of abortion draw the same ire from God as those who perform them (Leviticus 20:4,5).

The Idol of Power

Thinking our own power can deliver us (Judges 7:2) and imagining that our wealth is an impenetrably high wall (Proverbs 18:11), our nation trusts in its military might and economic strength, seemingly unaware that it is useless against God when he brings judgment.

The Severity of America’s Wound?

Only God decides when a nation’s wound is incurable (Genesis 15:16). Our next president, our military might or our level of prosperity won’t determine our fate as a nation. We must not place our hope in them. Our task, as Christians, is to trust God and seek healing of our wound, however severe, with the balm of repentance before it’s too late (Jeremiah 8:6,22).

This portrait of America’s decline, already grim, is not yet finished. Does America Have an Incurable Wound, Part 2 further explores Micah’s description of Israel’s incurable wound and the possible judgment our own nation faces.