Posted on 07/01/2021 9:47:58 AM PDT by inpajamas
Regardless if it is acknowledged or not, everyone is a servant to someone or something in one way or another. Every single person has a driving force in their life. Whether that force is God, strange gods, or a godless belief or an agenda, there is something at the foundation in the heart of every human being that moves that person to action.
The innate catalyst of action can even take the form of a selfish nature, in which case, a person becomes a slave to their own natural impulses of body and spirit. When such is the case, one may imagine themselves to be free; they are not, for they serve and worship themselves. In other words, everyone has a “high place” where they offer sacrifices, even if the sacrifices are made to themselves.
In ancient times, gods were made of wood and stone or sometimes where the skills were present, out of gold or precious metals. Even so, the material images were believed to be more than their form or the substances they were fashioned from; for it was imagined that they were inhabited by spiritual powers or beings.
False gods are spiritual regardless if they have a physical representation or not. False gods exist more in the mind than anywhere else. They are imaginations that are embraced and set above all else. These imaginations, whatever they are, when fully embraced and placed at the center of one’s life becomes a “high place” of service.
Having an awareness of our own limitations, lack of knowledge, and temporal state, human beings have an innate desire and a need to attach themselves to something much greater in power than themselves. In ages past gods were fashioned to fulfill this need. As the gods failed to provide all that was hoped for from them they were exposed as fabrications, and as lying vanities they faded away.
Notwithstanding, the void remained in the soul as a vacuum that must needs be filled.
Relatively few physical idols remain today resembling those of the past, but there are more idols now than in anytime in history.
Indeed! The images worshiped today are innumerable. No need to spend days, months, or years cutting wood, carving stone, or hammering metal. With the click of an iPhone an image can be created instantly. It may then be sent to a social media platform to create an image in the minds of all who see it. Thus, an idol is born, imaginations spring forth surrounding the image creating a context that is often as false as the beliefs embraced by ancient idolaters.
Modern culture is immersed in innumerable images. Many worshipers spend hours everyday and every moment they can possibly squeeze in, either looking at the lives of others, or promoting themselves to contacts, followers, or any and everyone else in the online world that might come across their post.
Losing faith in all other gods, mankind has now become many gods. The new god of the modern age is ‘Narcissism’. Each individual is left to create an image in their own mind of that which is, and of who they are. As it is written in Psalms: “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”
The religion of “Narcissism” is polytheistic. There are now many gods which worshipers are compelled to follow. However, as with any god or gods, there are commandments which much be obeyed and sacrifices that must be offered to avoid the wrath of the gods. The gods are not o be questioned, and should they ever be, the offender is in danger of the judgment and punishment of the, “fact checkers”: subject to be discredited, banned, censored, exiled, or even, socially speaking, “put to death”
And who are these Gods?— They be many: science, so called, mass media, so called, entertainment, so called, academia, celebrates, social platforms, corporations, government entities, and even modern culture itself. Nonconformity is not allowed, questioning is a sin of the foolish, disputation is blasphemy.
Humanity is constantly in offense of the law of the new gods, there is no pleasing them. Therefore, the gods demand continual sacrifices of obedience to their agendas; and in some cases, you can never be forgiven but must still worship. The commandments are impossible to keep because they are ever changing; a hero today may become accursed tomorrow and the legendary figures of yesterday, erased from society by far lessor men.
How did we ever get here? To paraphrase GK Chesterton: When men choose not to believe in God, they do not believe in nothing, they become capable of believing in anything.
The Founders of what is called “The Great American Experiment” certainly held diverse beliefs, however, the consensus was that there was a Creator, the Invisible God who gave mankind inalienable rights, and whose law was greater than all and applied to all. Neither was it subject to change. This gave more stability to the nation than the former or the latter.
Indeed, even the false gods of the ancients made of stone had more stability than today’s evolving god of “Narcissism”; for the narcissist in his mind is God. The foundry of the mind is fast, ever morphing with the changing circumstances to discard an old image and recast a new one to maintain the worship. Thus, for example, global warming becomes climate change, except for seasons or periods of time when there is an intense heat wave. The pandemic?—the molten image being bowed down to and worshiped is yet liquid and the evolving mold still in formation by those who are casting the image.
The high places of worship of the past are virtually gone along with the groves. Still, little has changed. Imaginations still rule the world.
All idolatry is in the form of imaginations, ancient or present. The Apostle Paul was well aware of spiritual idolatry in the form of imaginations, beforetimes, and in times that would come. He spoke of it in his letters:
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10: 4-5)
And in another place:
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
The battle all of humanity faces is for the ‘high places’ in the soul and the mind, the world today is losing both.
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