Wanna know one of the biggest mistakes Christians make when it comes to understanding idolatry?
They think it means complete and total rejection of God…
But Biblically speaking, that’s not the case…
This misunderstanding even carries over to how Christians interpret the Hebrew Bible (what they call the “Old” Testament).
They’ve got this mental picture in their minds of the Israelites completely rejecting YAWHEH…
And then in His place adopting worship of the gods of the Canaanites.
But that’s not what happened.
Israel never converted from worship of the Lord to other gods.
It was the mixing of other gods with their worship of the Lord that was abominable.
The ancient Israelites assumed as long the Lord remained in their lives in some form…
And He was spoken of in their rituals and prayers…
Then they’d be in good standing.
Again, that wasn’t the case.
As I said before, the Israelites in the story of Samuel who were accused of idolatry had NOT renounced the God of Israel.
They had simply allowed the pagan ways of their neighbors to invade their faith and beliefs until they became traditions.
Now doesn’t that sound familiar as all hell?!
The descent into idolatry isn’t something that happens overnight.
It takes place over time and in a sneaky manner.
Just like the proverbial “frog in the kettle”…
When you realize it, it’s too late.
In fact the scenario I just painted is a perfect description of the church and Christianity as it exists today.
To that point, I know for a fact my post titled“Christianity Did Not Destroy Paganism; It Adopted It” rattled some cages big time.
In fact, that post was banned from the biggest Messianic Group on Reddit…
I looooooooooove it when they ban my stuff…
Because it shows I’m on the right track.
My biggest point with that post is the modern gentile church’s understanding of idolatry is identical to ancient Israel’s understanding.
When paganism first crept into the original Messianic faith, it was tiny and unnoticed…
But once the believing Jews were kicked out…
And Rome took over…
Holy hell did things transform…
And NOT in a good way.
A paganized Christianity became the new norm…
And adoption of ideas like the trinity and holidays like Christmas and Easter took over.
They even replaced Saturday with Sunday as the new Sabbath.
And when they were called on the rug for their abominations, they had a whole slew of creative excuses for their behavior.
They thought that just by attaching God’s name to a pagan custom, it made it holy and acceptable…
Kind of like praying over a meal of roasted pork makes it kosher or something.
Other ridiculous excuses the church has made for their paganism is…
“It’s merely fun”
“We don’t actually worship these idols”.
“Participating in paganism helps us strike up a conversation with non-believers”.
That last one I find exceptionally ridiculous.
We’re supposed to be a light in the world…
So how can we be a light by attempting to mix in darkness with it?
It doesn’t work.
Ya feel me homies?
Another thing I have discovered that people don’t understand about idolatry is that it doesn’t have to involve other gods.
Anything that comes between a person and their worship of God is idolatry.
Someone who goes to church while secretly listenting to the ball game is an idolater.
Someone who works on a day when they should be doing something with their family is an idolater.
Someone who knows they are doing something worng in God’s eyes, but would rather do what they want to is a … sinner (I bet you thought I was going to say idolater, right?), but sin is what separates us from God, and as such, is also a form of idolatry- Yeshua said no one can have two masters, so if you do what your iniquity (desire to sin) tells you do to, then that is your master, and your sinfulness is idolatry because your sin comes between you and God.
So, you see- idolatry and sin are two sides of the same coin.