Idolatry in the American Church

“My little children, keep yourselves from idols.” (I John 5:21).

 

Christians in America are overrun with idols. And we are clueless. Partly because the church in America condones it, even promotes it. But more so because the god of this world has made the American dream so attractive, so comfortable, so convenient that we refuse to turn our back on it. We ignore the teachings of Jesus to count the cost of following Him. We like the little phrase, “What would Jesus do?”, but we don’t even scratch the surface in committing to look at His life and follow in His footsteps.

Aaron made a golden calf for the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai (Ex 32). When it was unveiled he told them “this is your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” That golden calf did not represent some idol god form Egypt, it represented God Yahweh. The Israelites did not replace God with an idol, they crafted God into a god of their own liking. Idolatry usually happens in this manner; we manipulate and massage the one true God into an image that we like. Our faith in God is so intermingled and adulterated with the American dream that we don’t even know that we are worshiping a golden calf. The bride of Christ has one foot in the kingdom of God and one foot mired in the culture of this world.  

The American church has not crafted a golden calf, as such, but we have amalgamated our view of God with the idols of security, wealth, convenience, the good life, stylishness, success, and power. And we are not the least bit convicted or repentant, in fact we are proud. This is what I hear from the lips of my sincere Christian friends: “God has blessed America, and we should enjoy those blessings. I think God wants me to enjoy nice things, like my Corvette. Don’t tell me you would rather live in a third world country.”

American Christians do not look to the one true God for their security, they trust in their 401K, and in the greatest economy and military complex the world has ever known. When it comes to wealth, we build bigger houses, we buy RVs, boats, timeshares, and nice cars. Jesus said to the rich young man to sell his possessions and give to the poor. But we conveniently write that off as hyperbole, not really something to take seriously. We worship the god of convenience – fast food, maid service, lawn service, laundry service. Why? Not so that we can spend more time with God, or with important relationships, or humanitarian causes, but so that we can earn more money and not be bothered with the mundane. How about worshiping the good life? Does anyone want to give up fine dining, cruises, overseas vacations, and other forms of revelry and indulgence? It is amazing to consider stylishness as an idol. We Christians are obsessed with working out at the gym to look good (not just to be healthy), wearing stylish clothes, and generally impressing others with our lifestyle. We Christians pursue success and power like every other American. We want to be highly respected, we want others to know our position, and we want our opinion to dominate.

Jesus never owned a house, a boat, a timeshare, a Ferrari, or even a car. He walked and He kneeled for his exercise. He never wore stylish clothes to impress others. He never had a retirement account, or even a savings account. He did not have a refrigerator, a pantry, or McDonalds. He never owned gold, silver, or collectibles – His treasure was truly in heaven. He never owned a gun or a sword. He never complained about Roman rule. And He never indulged in revelry or worldly pleasures for his own satisfaction, that we know of, but he did celebrate with others – their joy, their wedding, their healing, their repentance.

The New Testament makes it clear that Christians should expect to suffer as Jesus did, to count the cost and take up their cross, as Jesus did. The scriptures speak much about the lure of wealth, and repeatedly tells us to divest our possessions and give to the poor, the needy, the downtrodden, the broken-hearted. Jesus asked his followers to forsake family, and even business ventures to follow after Him and to do His calling.

But that all gets ignored when we worship a God crafted more like the American dream than the words of Jesus.

Why is this important? Because we as Christians will find our greatest joy not in the allure of this world, but in a close, intimate, committed relationship with God. He wants us to follow Him, and Him alone, so that our love, joy, peace, and hope are found in Him.

Unfortunately, there will be many who will hear God tell them on that day, “depart from me, I never knew you” (Mt 7:23).  Might that be because they worshiped and trusted a god of their own making, the American dream, not the one true God, and Him alone.

 

The Seven Bowl Judgments

The seven bowl judgments of Revelation have historically been considered to be the final outpouring of God’s wrath and judgment. First there are the seven seals of Revelation (ch 6 and 8), then there are the seven trumpet judgments (Rev 9-11), and then wham, bam, God lets go with his heavy artillery, in rapid fire (Rev 16). I was always taught that the seven trumpet judgments and the seven bowl judgments would be meted out on mankind during the Great Tribulation, after all the saints were raptured. That may be what you believe. Furthermore, I was told that the bowl judgments were after the trumpet judgments, at the very end of the Tribulation, leading up to the second coming of Christ.

But that is not the way it is going to happen. The bowl judgments are the same judgments as the trumpet judgments, just repeated from God’s perspective rather than man’s own doing. (That has become a theological debate­-- whether the two sets of judgments are concurrent, or whether they are successive.) Furthermore, the series of seven trumpet-bowl judgments are not during a seven-year Great Tribulation period. Rather they have been unfolding before our very eyes, in current events. Interpreters can speculate all they want what each judgment is foretelling, but when history interprets prophecy, then it becomes very clear.

If you were to lay out, side by side, the seven trumpet judgments and the seven bowl judgments you discover that they are not just similar, but they mirror each other quite obviously. The first judgments in each series are upon the land, the sea, and the rivers and streams. The first judgment is World War I, when vast tracts of land were burned, aircraft were used in warfare for the first time, and chemical warfare was deployed, causing painful, ugly sores. The second judgment is World War II, a war in which over 70 million soldiers were killed. Much of that war was fought on the Pacific front, and as many as one-third of all ships in the war were destroyed. It was also the first deployment of the atomic bomb. The third judgment is Chernobyl, the largest nuclear meltdown in history. The very word Chernobyl means wormwood. Radiation rained down upon eastern Europe killing people and polluting the rivers and streams. The fourth judgment is climate change. The sun and moon are blocked in one vision and in the other vision the sun scorches and sears with intense heat. Yes, go ahead and bellyache and disagree all you want. What I find interesting is that conservative Christians try to deny both prophecy and science when it comes to climate change, while the liberals believe science and are trying to do all they can to turn back the effects and causes of climate change. The fifth judgment is the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein, the dark black cloud from burning 600 oil wells, and the killing of fifty thousand Iraqi soldiers on the “highway of death”, many so burned and maimed they could only wish that they could die.

You probably ask the question, why would God prophesy two sets of judgments that are the same? The reason is rather strategic, actually. The seven trumpets are actually warnings, more so than judgments. And they are events that mankind brings upon himself, serving to warn us of God’s impending judgment. They are like shots across the bow of a ship. The bowl judgments are a repetition of the same events, but from God’s perspective. The events are a sequence of His judgment meted out on mankind for their evil, lawlessness, rebellion, and refusal to repent. Both sets of judgment crescendo into the sixth judgment, the battle of Armageddon, and then the seventh and final judgment, God’s divine outpouring of massive natural calamities, world-wide,

The reason to present the series of events from man’s perspective, and then God’s perspective is to demonstrate that this final descent of mankind into judgment is not just by his own doing, happenstance or fate, but also brought about by God’s design and purpose. Both mankind and God have a part in these judgments. The final judgments are yet another playing out of the balance between man’s free-will and God’s sovereignty.  That is a huge theological conundrum to try to resolve, but I have a very simple way to explain it: “It’s not a me thing, it’s not a He thing, it’s a we thing.”

You may need to reconstruct your end times theology if you are going to believe the truth about these two sets of seven judgments. They are not in a seven-year Great Tribulation period. They are spread out over a period greater than 100 years. And if five of the judgments have already been fulfilled, then it is the sixth judgment that is next on the horizon, the build up to the battle of Armageddon, the event prophesied in the sixth trumpet judgment and the sixth bowl judgment. Then there is the matter of the second coming of Jesus, when he gathers up the saints. That happens in Revelation 16:15, between the sixth and seventh judgment. Or you might recall Paul’s teaching, “at the last trumpet”.

We as Christians will not escape these judgments. They are not for someone else who is stuck on earth during the Tribulation. No, we are in the midst of them. And turmoil, tribulation, violence, and persecution are likely to ramp up as we approach the very end of the age. Are you ready? Are you prepared? Is your faith and trust in Jesus deep enough that you will stand strong until the end?