Imagination Commanded Series

Back in the 60's eight wrestlers took their own lives because

world champion 37 year old Gohlam-Rexa committed

suicide. Three of them left notes saying they could not stand

the death of their idol. Almost every time a well-known

person takes their own life some of their worshipers do the

same. Idolatry is alive and well in our world today. We are

deceived if we think idolatry is not a modern problem. It is

one of the most common sins of our day.

So often we connect sin with sex, as if sex was the major

area of human sin, but in the Ten Commandments that is

number 7 on the list while idolatry is number 2. From God's

perspective idolatry is a greater danger than immorality

because idolatry is the cause for immorality. Men would not

be so immoral if they did not idolize sex.

When man takes a real but relative value, and makes it

absolute, he perverts it. That is why idolatry is mans

greatest problem, for by it he ruins, destroys, and perverts

all of the good things of life. By absolutizing the relative, or

by putting the good in place of the best, man distorts reality

and lives a life out of balance with the laws of God. True

faith is faith in the truly ultimate--it is faith in God.

Idolatrous faith is a putting of ones trust in some finite

reality which has been raised to the level of the ultimate.

If sex, science, the state, society, or superstars are made

the ultimate values in our lives, they become idols. The

result will be we will take these valid values and turn them

into monsters of evil, for nothing can be God but God

without leading men into one kind of hell or another.

There has been some progress in the history of idolatry.

Modern man is not quite so conspicuous about it. He no

longer bows before idols of wood and stone. He has become

far cleverer in disguising his worship. The poet reveals one

area of this higher level idolatry.

The heathen in his blindness

Bows down to wood and stone.

The Christian in his wisdom

Bows down to gold alone.

Man has become more sophisticated in his folly. His

idolatry is on a level that sometimes is almost noble. The old

gods have been destroyed and their temples burned.

Centuries ago, Edwin, the ruler of Northumbria in Britain,

accepted Christ and called for an uprising against the useless

gods in the temple. The high priest galloped towards the

temple in the sight of all the people, and he hurled a lance

into the interior where the idols were. When this sacrilege

remained unpunished, the people at the command of this

daring challenger of the gods proceeded to overthrow and

burn the temple. These days of the glorious overthrow of

visible idols are over, but the battle against idolatry

continues in full force.

Erich Fromm, a social scientist, in his book, The Sane

Society, writes, "Is it not time to cease to argue about God,

and instead to unite in the unmasking of contemporary

forms of idolatry? Today it is not Baal and Astarte but the

deification of the state and of power in authoritarian

countries and the deification of the machine and of success

in our own culture."

William Jennings Bryan pointed out long ago that some

forms of idolatry are on such a high level that they produce

good, and that is why we are blind to their dangers. The

man whose god is gold is often very industrious, zealous, and

clever, and we praise him for these qualities which lead him

to his success in his idolatry. The man who worships fame

and does his best to attain it may do much good for the state

and community. Therefore, we respect his form of idolatry.

We are impressed with any form of idolatry that succeeds,

and so we tend to idolize success. As we study this

command, therefore, we must recognize it is Gods Word for

us today and not just a record of His Word to others of the

past.

Like the First Commandment, this one has a negative and

a positive side to it. And, again, the Old Testament

emphasis is on the negative, whereas, Jesus emphasized the

positive. The negative must come first, however, for as we

said on the First Commandment, all other gods must be

eliminated before concentrated devotion can be given to the

one true God. So also, sensual idolatrous worship must be

eliminated before man can worship God truly in spirit and

in truth. Let's consider the negative first which-

I. PROHIBITS IDOLATROUS OR SENSUAL WORSHIP.

Idolatry is basically the worship of the visible and,

therefore, God prohibits any image of any likeness of