Idolatry Then and Now

Though in a different form, idolatry exists in the Christian world today as verily as it existed among ancient Israel in the days of Elijah. The God of many professedly wise men, of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists—the God of polished fashionable circles, of many colleges and universities, even of some theological institutions—is little better than Baal, the sun-god of Phoenicia.

No error accepted by the Christian world strikes more boldly against the authority of Heaven, … none is more pernicious in its results, than the modern doctrine, so rapidly gaining ground, that God’s law is no longer binding upon men.

The Bible is within the reach of all, but there are few who really accept it as the guide of life. Infidelity prevails to an alarming extent, not in the world merely, but in the church. Many have come to deny doctrines which are the very pillars of the Christian faith. The great facts of creation as presented by the inspired writers, the fall of man, the atonement, and the perpetuity of the law of God, are practically rejected, either wholly or in part, by a large share of the professedly Christian world. Thousands who pride themselves upon their wisdom and independence regard it as an evidence of weakness to place implicit confidence in the Bible; they think it a proof of superior talent and learning to cavil at the Scriptures and to spiritualize and explain away their most important truths. Many ministers are teaching their people, and many professors and teachers are instructing their students, that the law of God has been changed or abrogated; and those who regard its requirements as still valid, to be literally obeyed, are thought to be deserving only of ridicule or contempt.

The last great conflict between truth and error is but the final struggle of the long-standing controversy concerning the law of God. Upon this battle we are now entering.
Conflict and Courage p. 210
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Prayer Requests
—–We need prayers for God’s leading. L
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Dear Friends,
When I was in my late teens, my mother became acquainted with a German lady at her work. As they talked day after day, they began to become friends. She shared with my mother some pastries that she had made. They were delicious! My mother wanted the recipe so this lady invited us to her house one evening so that we could learn how to make them.

While there, we noticed many photos here and there about the room. They were all of the same boy taken over a period of years. The last picture of him was when he was about eleven. Since these photos were obviously old, we knew that something must have happened. The lady, with pain in her eyes, explained that this was her only child. He had been killed many years before.

Her only son, along with several others, decided to play in a nearby gravel pit. Those high piles of gravel were so tempting to climb on. They were having a happy time pushing and shoving each other as only boys can, when suddenly, the rocks beneath them began to slide. Their shouts of laughter became screams of terror as they began to sink down into the mountain of loose stones.

Their cries of fear were heard and an alarm was sounded. Men from all over the area left whatever they were doing and rushed to rescue the boys. One of those men, was my father. As soon as he heard the gravel pit’s alarm sound, he closed his gas station, jumped into his car, and sped to the scene of the accident. By the time he and the others arrived, there was no sign of the boys. The mountains of gravel looked as if they had never been touched.

The one who had heard the boy’s cries was digging frantically. The other men joined him. It was dangerous work. The shifting stones threatened to bury them as well. Hour after hour they searched. The sun set. Still there was no sign of the boys. The night passed: the men kept digging. Sometime during the following day, the bodies were discovered. The men had done what they could, but it was too late.

When this still grieving mother realized that my dad had been one of the rescuers, she hugged us and began to cry. Over and over she thanked us for his efforts to save her boy. She was so grateful to those men who had tried their best.

She explained that she had always worried about that gravel pit so near to her home. Many times she cautioned her son not to go near those mounds so tempting to active boys. Always he promised that he would never step his foot on one of them. But one day while playing with friends, he couldn’t resist their taunts of “chicken.” He didn’t want to be called a “sissy.” He must have decided that this one time would not hurt. That one time of disobedience cost him his life.

Often we are like that lady’s son. We don’t want to be different. We don’t have the courage do what is right even though we are ridiculed for it. We think that “just once” won’t hurt. That one moment of weakness can change the direction of the life. That one disobedience can pave the way for other sins. We become sucked down into a mountain of woe. “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” Ps 38:4 Our spiritual life is suffocated. Our condition becomes as Isaiah describes, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Isa 64:6,1:5,6

How much we need Someone to save us! Praise God! Our Dear Saviour saw our grave danger. He did not turn away from us. No! He stopped what He was doing and came to this sinful old world to rescue us from the mountain of difficulty that we brought upon ourself. He, Whom all Heaven adored, could not be happy while we were perishing in sin and woe. He, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,” “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Heb 1:3,Phil 2:7,8 “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.” Isa 53:5 “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” John 1:10-12 What wonderful love! We cannot comprehend it!

Let us accept His great love for us and receive His free gift of salvation. Let us allow Him to fill us with His Spirit that we may reflect His love to others. Let us stand firmly for the right no matter what others may do or say, that we may bring glory to the One Who loves us so.

Rose