Angelic Conflict part 195: Human history (idolatry) – Mat 12:22-33; Luk 16:13; 1Co 6:12; Isa 40:12-22; Deu 4:15-20; Hos 4:10-19; Isa 44:6-22.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 195: Human history (idolatry) - MAT 12:22-33; LUK 16:13; 1CO 6:12; ISA 40:12-22; DEU 4:15-20; HOS 4:10-19; ISA 44:6-22.

 

 

 

 

With the sin of satan and the sin of man, a flood of chaos rolled out over the world, and that flood covered every phase of life: spiritual, physical, political, economic, social, cultural and all else that could be imagined. It is satan's task to stem the flood and bring it into bounds, to organize the race and bring calm and order to its life. It is God's announced purpose to let the flood of chaos roll on, and to save some individuals out of the wreck of humanity and its civilization, and then to return in Christ to restore order by the force of His power and majesty. In this age the conflict is seen on the level of our own experiences in this life as an Israelite in the PL would have seen their own, but what is different is that the opposing parties are the forces of evil and the body of Christ, i.e. the world and the Church.

 

Idol worship centers around the things or events in life that people believe are important, desired, or needed.

 

When the true God enters the life through faith, doctrine eventually replaces his idols, and some of these, which he has gripped very tightly, will only see their replacement with time.

 

Idolatry reveals man's desire for a visual representation of God.

 

The word of God by no means indicates that we should shut off our reasoning powers, in fact, quite the contrary since a mind at peace will reason far more effectively, but it does mean that when human reason is in opposition to divine revelation then the reasoning is wrong.

 

Man who chooses reason over revelation chooses to walk by sight and not by faith. Yet this does not mean that we do not use reason.

 

God has made us in His image and that includes an intellect which should be used properly for revelation and not against it.

 

Mankind, in laziness and ignorance, tends to oversimplify what he perceives and then makes erroneous conclusions about the world around him, being fed in his fleshly mind from the world system that does not want man to reason.

 

PSA 14:1

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."

 

Denying the deity of Christ is another example of over simplifying something that is hard to understand. Dr. so and so gets on the history channel and says the message of the Bible is lost in translation, that the prophecies of the OT were written after the fact, that Isaiah never said "virgin" birth and many take it as "gospel" cause, after all, it's Dr. so and so. Who's going to check their facts? For an unbeliever to really see the truth he would have to believe in Christ and then learn the details and the believer to remove his doubt he would have to learn the details, for the devil is in the details, but it suffices for them to accept the erroneous conclusions since it fits their desires.

 

And often, when desires are high and opposed to God and His glory, lies are accepted without reason. This makes easy dupes for religion.

 

This is what leads to religion, which is the other side of the coin of satan's realm; the one side being idolatry and the other being religion.

 

MAT 12:22 Then there was brought to Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb, and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.

 

MAT 12:23 And all the multitudes were amazed, and began to say, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?"

 

MAT 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul [master of the dwelling - an obscure name for satan] the ruler of the demons."

 

They cannot deny the reality of the miracle and they hate that the crowd has reasoned to themselves that this man is more than the son of David and so they conclude that it is by satan's power that He casts out demons. Yet Christ will point out the complete illogical character of this argument.

 

MAT 12:25 And knowing their thoughts He said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand.

 

MAT 12:26 "And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?

 

MAT 12:27 "And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges.

 

MAT 12:28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God [Luke's account - the finger of God], then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

 

MAT 12:29 "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 

 

MAT 12:30 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

 

MAT 12:31 "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.

 

MAT 12:32 "And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come. 

 

MAT 12:33 "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

 

This, in fact, is God's reasoning with mankind over the foolishness of worshipping idols. If you worship a created thing, even on the level with the Creator, then you are a fool and are denying God His due honor.

 

Idolatry also reveals man's desire to combine beliefs from different sources.

 

Often Israel wanted to worship Jehovah alongside the gods of their neighbors. In doing this they did not have to stand against their neighbors or resist their calls to sensuality, so they thought they could have both worlds; one foot in the plan of God and the other in the cosmos.

 

LUK 16:13

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [anything of earthly value that claims to provide security]."

 

If security is based on a bank account, a house, a job, or any earthly thing, then that thing becomes an idol. If fulfillment of desire is based on any earthly thing, then that thing becomes an idol. If number one priority of importance is based on any earthly thing, then that becomes an idol.

 

There is nothing sinful or evil in the things of the world as long as the believer understands the truth behind them.

 

1CO 6:12

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

 

A master is someone or something you look to for fulfillment. Knowing the truth behind all things puts them in their proper place and therefore they do not become your masters and therefore will not become your idols.

 

Religious Christians who want to clean up the devils world have an erroneous belief that eradicating the things that people use for sin will somehow stop the sinning. This is exactly what John Calvin attempted in Geneva in the 16th century and it only brought more evil. They erroneously believe that putting Christians in government will fix Washington. The government isn't the problem. It's the populace who believe the lies and who desire an entitlement society so that they can pursue their idols with security. But there is not security in tyranny and eventually their idols are forced upon them so that the tyrant or tyrants can maintain power and wealth.

 

To desire to worship God and idols simultaneously or in the same way in essence places God on the level of creation as if He is only as important as the cosmos or any material thing in His creation.

 

To put God on level with the physical is to greatly dishonor Him and with that fail to experience the wonderful changes that are enacted in a man who worships Him from a humble heart.