“KEEP YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS” I John 5:21 A few years back I took a trip to Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, to spend some time with missionaries that we support. It was during Passover Week (Easter); and because the nation as a whole is dominated by the Roman Catholic religion it was in full swing with all of its ceremonial worship. Crosses and crucifixes were abundant; those who practice the paganism and image worship of the Roman Catholic religion with all its superstition have easy access to whatever shrine or idol they choose as a medium. It is very grieving to behold such darkness; and I must say the Roman Catholic religion here in the USA is no different than that in Central and South America. It is a soul-damning religion steeped in idolatry. As I returned and began to think how Protestantism in the USA has gravitated toward many of these practices, I wondered which is worse the heathen idolatry of those in Mexico or the idolatry of the religious heathen here at home. In my own home-town surroundings, when I pass by a “Baptist” church and see a fourteen foot cross with a piece of purple fabric draped across it and five miles up the road I see in another church yard three crosses, I think, how deep has American Protestant religion sunk: this stemming back from the Roman Emperor Constantine and the Roman Catholic Church. If anything symbolizes the Church of the LORD Jesus Christ it is the communion table, not a cross. But it would look rather awkward to mount a replica of a communion table on the top of the steeple I suppose. And you would seem awful peculiar to others if you hung a communion table around your neck. When I see all these religious shrines and behold the ignorance practiced by the churches (many of them Baptist) I’m reminded of Paul’s visit to ancient Athens and Mars Hill in the book of Acts. We read in Acts 17:16 & 22-23, “Now while Paul waited for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred (grieved) in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. …Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ Hill and said, ‘Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious (religious). For as I passed by and beheld your devotions (or god’s that you worship), I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.” Observe in verse 23, “I found an ALTAR.” The so-called altar so commonly referred to in churches today is a superstitious idol. Where did this idea come from, certainly not from Paul and the New Testament Church! The modern “altar call” and use of altars came from pagan and heathen religion, not the religion of Christ. “Little Children” be careful to keep yourselves from idols” (I John 5:21): a reminder to believers to remain focused on our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Older
Top
