Tuesday, 30 September 2008

• Tearing Down the False Altars

  

  God hates two things in particular. He hates being redefined. He hates being replaced.  As the Great I AM He has every right to. One of the most important of the commandments is that we were to have no other gods before Him, no replacements.

  Man has been redefining God ever since Eve first heard the words "eat of this fruit and you will be as gods". It was the first questioning of the character of a Perfect God by a pathetic wanna-be. Satan began the terrible slide of all mankind into that rank of proud self-absorbed redefiners like himself.

  Man began replacing God with things that had no eyes to see with, objects that had no ears to hear with, and no power to deliver nor save. Yet man, uncomfortable with the thoughts of a magnificent Almighty Holy God to whom he would be accountable, bowed down to the altars they built in honor of the deaf and dumb, lifeless, worthless idols of their own creation. How someone can take a piece of wood, carve it and then ascribe godlike worth to it, has always amazed me. Yet I know my own ancestors did the same thing. (So did yours).

  I AM that I AM, or the Self Existing (He had no beginning, He was never created) God, Yahweh, which is the same as Jehovah is the covenant name God gave to Moses when He was about to deliver the children of Israel from the bondage of the Egyptians. Whenever you see the letters (in all caps) LORD, it is the same name. LORD means I AM the Self Existing Covenant Keeping Deliverer.  He is our God, Jehovah.

  The LORD then shows the whole world just how He feels about being replaced.  Every one of the plagues was a direct judgement on the false gods, the idols of Egypt including one of their primary false gods, Pharoah himself. Judgement fell powerfully and  hard on them and no one has ever forgotten it. The children of Israel would never forget. Christians are never to forget and each time we celebrate the Communion Cup and Bread we remember that Christ was our Passover Lamb whose blood has taken away our sins and delivered us from the wrath of God's judgement. 

  God prospered this country when we were a God fearing, God honoring country. The reason capitalism worked is that it was functioning under the responsible hands of Christians. Then we began to worship the gift instead of the Giver, we replaced Him with money and ourselves and the alters were built. Godless capitalism is as bad as godless communism and just about as oppressive. The money we now worshipped began to be spent on all sorts of self-aggrandizing evil, including the deaths of the unborn,  all for convenience sake. Greed is an ugly thing.We began to look to money as the way of deliverance, as the answer to  problems. The LORD delivers, not money.

  It occurs to me that what is happening in America right now, and the world for that matter, is the tearing down of some idols and the burning of some false altars. Perhaps God is burning up the paper idols that see not, hear not and are powerless to deliver and save. All of the lies and creepy crawly evil hidden behind these false gods are being exposed to the light and air and it isn't a pretty nor easy thing.

  We have replaced and redefined God and I don't think He is pleased. He just may be judging everyone of our gods like He did in Egypt, one by one.  A lot of people may turn their eyes to God after that.

   Will we realize our place under the blood of Christ,our Lamb and know that it is the great I AM, the Self-Existing, Covenant Keeping Deliverer who takes care of us through it all? Take comfort in that my beloved sisters. He is still on the Throne. He is still our God, forever and ever.

   

  Judges 10:12-15  "....you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hands.   "Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer deliver you.  "Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress." The sons of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned...

  (and then)

  Heb. 15:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."    So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

   

   

   

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