Worldview
The Gods of the Western World and Where They Are Leading Us
A few years ago I had the privilege of traveling around the USA speaking in Revive America Seminars as a part of the Impact World Tour.
One of my messages was on the subject of idolatry–something we don’t think much about in the Western World because we associate idols with altars and statues.
One Sunday in Hastings, Nebraska (it happened to be Super Bowl Sunday), I gave a message on idolatry which led to hours of repentance and confession. Many pastors even came forward to admit to their people that they’d gotten swept up in the sin of idolatry.
So what are the gods of the Western World and where are they leading us? How do I know if I’m personally involved in modern forms of idolatry?
Five thousand years of recorded human history reveal mankind’s penchant for worshipping idols or false gods:
- The Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia are the world’s first recorded civilization (at least 2800 B.C.). Each Sumerian city was ruled by local priests who sacrificed to the gods of nature (sun, moon, rivers) and also fertility (Ishtar).
- The Egyptians were famous for their statues to the sun god (Ra) and numerous other deities. In fact, nearly all of God’s judgments upon Egypt during the Exodus were judgments against their idolatrous worship of false gods (Exodus 8-14).
- The Greek and Roman Empires ruled the known world from the ninth century B.C. to the 5th century AD. The Greek historian Herodotus (c.484-425 BC) claimed that the gods of the Greeks had been adopted from Egypt, and many modern scholars agree. Classical scholar C. Kerenyi lists 370 Greek gods that might have gone by 646 names.
- During their zenith, the Romans accepted and expanded the Greek pantheon. This led the Apostle Paul, sharing the Good News of Jesus in Roman-occupied Athens around 60 AD, to remark: “I notice that you are very religious” (Acts 17: 22). He was talking about idol worship.
- The Mayas and Aztecs, as reported by Father Bernardino de Sanhagun in the Florentine Codex, worshipped the forces of nature and supernatural and human counterparts. What stunned the Spaniards upon their arrival in the New World were the immense ritual slaughters that were taking place—human sacrifice—at regular festivals averaging 2,000 victims a day, and on special occasions, exceeding 20,000.
Those are a few glimpses of ancient idol worship. Gods and idols everywhere and even gross human suicide/murders to the idols of the day.
There is still a plethora of ancient idol worship in the modern world, especially in Africa (animism) and Asia. “Folk Hinduism” lives up to its reputation as one of the world’s largest idol-worshipping religions involving possibly 330 million gods. (That’s nearly one for every three people in India.)
John Noss explains how it works in many parts of the sub-continent:
“The ordinary villager, who in his everyday life takes no thought for the morrow of a subsequent existence, is content to worship the village gods to whom he looks for rain, bountiful harvests, and escape from plague…There are, as it were, two religions: a work-a-day religion to meet the requirements of everyday existence and a higher religion…which the ordinary man does not attempt to understand.”
I’ve been to many Hindu and Buddhist temples in that part of the world. Hundreds of millions of people in the 21st century still bow before idols and offer incense and food offerings to the gods.
Idolatry is both ancient and modern.
Here’s an important point to ponder: Human beings are the only part of creation that worships or creates idols. Land animals don’t make idols. Sea creatures don’t worship idols. No other part of animate or inanimate creation give themselves in love and devotion to gods.
Only humans.
It’s as if we were uniquely made to worship someone or something.
The Bible tells us this Someone is not the sun, moon and stars, or any part of the created world. We were designed to worship the True God who made it all. He is our Creator and also our Savior (from sin).
This brings us to the fundamental definition of idolatry: Giving supreme time, attention and affection to anything that takes the place of God.
Human beings were created with a God-shaped vacuum inside. We can either give God his rightful place in our hearts and lives (Matthew 22:37-40) or we can fill that space with other things.
Idols.
In the Western World, under the guise of science and progress, most people do not worship ancient gods and idols. Most of us don’t frequent temples and burn incense nor do we bow to pieces of wood.
But because man will worship, we have our own set of gods or idols.
One New Testament verse is the key to understanding the idols of the Western world– 1 John 2:15-17:
“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God abides forever.”
“Do not love…the things in the world.” In other words, worldly things. That’s the definition of secular–being worldly rather than spiritual minded.
Polytheistic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and animism produce “spiritual” idols or false gods. The religion of atheism or secularism doesn’t tout spiritual things, but because of the God-shaped vaccuum in every human heart, worldly people are driven toward secular idols or gods.
Let’s call it secular idolatry. The West is full of it–and according to 1 John 2:15-17, I believe the secular idols of the West center around three (though there are many more).
1. The Idol of Sex (lust of the flesh)
Can anyone honestly deny that sex in all its forms is one of the supreme obsessions of worldly people? It is a multi-billion dollar industry on the Web and nearly half of American men admit to being addicted to pornography. What are the supermarket tabloids luring you towards? What is becoming increasingly mainstream on television and in the movies?
Sex. This secular idol’s primary “temple” is the movie theater with supermodels and movie stars being the temple prostitutes. Of course, it’s not a new form of idolatry. The Greek and Roman bathhouses were full of fornication, homosexuality and adultery during their day and a significant number of Roman citizens were bi-sexual. As pointed out by Bill O’Reilly in his best-selling book Killing Jesus, Julius Caesar was the poster child of sexual indulgence with homosexual escapades and numerous adulteries (e.g. Cleopatra).
Secularists fill their God-void by “lusting after the flesh.” Erotica is a primary god in current Western civilization.
2. The Idol of Entertainment (the lust of the eyes)
The second Western secular idol is the god of entertainment which primarily involves the eyes. We have gone from being a “giving” culture (Judeo-Christian) to a “getting” mentality which focuses on pleasure. 2 Timothy 3:1-14 says that worldly people are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Pleasure comes in many forms, but entertainment is high on the list. People want to “feel good” and being entertained fits the bill in many forms including music, television, movies, and sports.
In fact, probably the most obvious temples to modern gods in the West are sports stadiums and rock concert halls.
I remember when Christians used to be called “fanatics” and sports people were “fans.” (Obviously, the first label is worse than the second.) Today, it’s reversed. Look at the people in most sports stadiums on Sundays and you will see people that really love their gods (fanatics). They wear special costumes, dye their hair, paint their faces, and shout their lungs out.
If only Western churchgoers (fans?) had such passion for the True God.
3. The Idol of Money (the boastful pride of life)
The final idol of the Secular Trinity is the one that makes everything possible–wealth or money. If personal pleasure rather than pleasing God is the emergent god of the West, then money is the ticket to its fulfillment.
Money is the substance which allows us to boast about our lives. We are keeping up with the Joneses! We have made it because we have a good job which makes us look good and provides wealth to purchase the “things” that make us happy.
Money is the new American Dream. Tony Campolo amplifies: “We want more and more of what we need less and less of.” It’s what most Westerners live for–a comfortable lifestyle fueled by wealth that allows them to pursue hedonistic pursuits.
Generations ago American towns and cities were built around churches i.e. the centrality of worship to God. The cathedrals of today are not churches (they’ve been buried by the skyscrapers). They are shopping malls, areas of commerce, and high-rise temples of Wall Street finance.
And you thought that Europe and America had become irreligious? Abandoned all gods?
Nope. People will worship. It’s just that the gods have changed. They’re not made of wood or stone. They’re made of flesh, celluloid and paper and we lust after them with our bodies, eyes, and bank accounts.
Of course, it their proper place, all these things are fine. Sex is wonderful in a godly marriage; We all need some restful entertainment at times; Money can be used to serve God and bless people. But when these things become supreme desires, affections, and time wasters, they turn from being tools into idols.
The Super Bowl is a great example of Western idol worship. You have great athleticism (entertainment), promoted by by scantily-clad cheerleaders (sex), raking in billions of dollars in advertising (money). No wonder it’s the most watched Western TV extravaganza each year.
All three Western idols are involved.
One of the clearest truths of the Bible is that God judges all false gods or idols. He doesn’t want people to hurt themselves by worshipping things that don’t satisfy them or bring Him glory.
And where are the idols of the Western World leading us?
- Consuming sexual lust is multiplying venereal diseases and destroying the family unit.
- The opiate of entertainment is making us fat, passive and uninformed.
- The love of money is leading us to a debt-laden financial collapse of biblical proportions.
What must we do?
The book of 1 John ends with these words (1 John 5:21): “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”
That includes Western ones.
No Character, No Justice
If you live in a cave somewhere, are spending too much time on social media, or reside in another nation besides the United States and haven’t watched television recently, you might not know that marches, riots, and looting are taking place in a St. Louis, Missouri suburb called Ferguson.
Nearly every night for a week.
One of the main slogans of the marchers is “No Justice, No Peace.” I agree with the general maxim that righteousness in society helps to encourage public tranquility, but it goes much deeper than that.
Without character, there can be no peace, justice or freedom.
Here’s why.
First of all for those of you who have not been following the news, here are the facts about a police shooting in Ferguson that launched the rioting:
- On Saturday, August 9, 28-ear old Darren Wilson, a six year veteran of the Ferguson police department, shot and killed eighteen year old Robert Brown during the middle of the day. Wilson is white and Brown was black.
- Just prior to the shooting, Brown robbed a convenience store (stealing some cigars) while bullying one of its employees. The robbery was caught on tape and released by the local police department.
- Shortly after the robbery, Wilson saw Brown walking in the middle of a street and told him to get to the sidewalk. He did not respond to the policeman and an altercation followed.
- Brown was a big teenager–six foot four inches and nearly three hundred pounds. He was unarmed at the time of shooting.
- Brown was shot six times–all bullets entering the front of his body, indicating he was facing Wilson during the skirmish. Wilson was hurt in the fight and needed medical attention at a local hospital.
- There are conflicting eyewitness reports on the altercation. A friend of Brown’s, who was walking with him when the confrontation took place, says that the policeman was the aggressor, trying to pull Brown into the squad car. After the scuffle, the friend says that they ran away from the car and then Brown put his hands up as if to surrender. According to the friend, Wilson still shot the teenager in cold blood.
- According to Officer Wilson (via a friend), he had heard on the radio of the robbery, assumed it might be Brown, and confronted him. Brown then pushed him into the car, went for his gun and it went off. Brown then ran from the car, but when Wilson told him to freeze, Brown taunted him and began racing back toward him. Fearing for his life, Brown fired six bullets until he went down.
- Brown had traces of marijuana in his system at the time of his death.
Those are the facts about the event. Notice that I have given no commentary because it is way too early to discern what really happened and who is telling the truth. That will be left to an investigation and possible court trial.
Yet many people–and even some news outlets–have already tried the police officer in the court of public opinion and and found him guilty of race-motivated murder.
How do I know that? Here are the facts of that case:
- The predominantly black community of Ferguson has marched every evening holding signs indicating their certain verdict of Wilson’s guilt and Brown’s innocence.
- Stores have been looted and ransacked in response to the clamor for “justice” i.e. guilt for Darren Wilson for murdering Michael Brown.
- Some of America’s race hustlers–like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton–have descended on Ferguson to join the marchers and stir up the crowds. Jackson even tried to raise money for his race baiting empire at a Ferguson rally. (Fortunately, the crowd booed his money-grubbing approach.)
- Both CNN and MSNNBC did stories which shared only one side of the eyewitness accounts–the one that implicated the white officer. On CNN’s wall-to-wall coverage, one commentator stated falsely that “Michael Brown was shot in the back.” No one challenged the accusation.
- President Obama took time off from his Martha’s Vineyard vacation to “ask for calm” in Ferguson. That was an appropriate thing, but he then made other statements that indicated that the killing might be racially motivated and that black young men are unnecessarily targeted in poor communities by white policemen.
- Eric Holder and fifty FBI agents have been sent to Ferguson to “get to the bottom of the case.” This seems a bit much as 20 murders take place in Chicago each week and no feds are dispatched to look into the “injustices” there.
So it appears to any fair-minded person that all of the above are trying to push race as the reason for this unfortunate death well before the facts can be learned.
To which I say, “No Patience, No Justice.”
No person, especially a police officer who puts his life on the line every day to protect our safety, should be assumed guilty for racial crimes until that is proved in a court of law.
Law and justice take time.
At least Fox News avoided the “gun-happy police” frenzy. Last night, the O-Reilly Factor shared the facts about police shootings in the United States for 2012 (the last year we have statistics). Here they are:
- In 2012, there were 12 million crimes that took place in the United State among our 320 million residents.
- 42% of those crimes were committed by whites, 34% by blacks, and 24% by Hispanics.
- Blacks are only 13% of the US population, but commit a high percent of the crimes.
- 34,000 crimes are committed everyday in the United States.
- The number of police shootings during those 34,000 daily crimes: 422.
Yes, you read that number right. Of the 34,000 times daily that American police confronted law breakers, only 1.2 percent of the time did the police use a gun.
That’s hardly being trigger happy.
There are no statistics that tell us whether those 422 shootings were committed by white or black cops. But it doesn’t matter.
Police shootings are rare–period.
So why is there such a rush to judgment in Ferguson, marches every night demanding “justice” (guilt) for white Officer Wilson when no investigation or trial is complete?
Let the investigation or courts discover who the truth. If the facts eventually show that Officer Wilson wrongfully murdered Michael Brown, then he should face stiff consequences for his crime. If the facts say that Michael Brown wrongly threatened and pummeled a police officer, and lost his life because of it, then he should not be viewed as a victim or hero.
So why do some black leaders in America rush to Missouri to create the impression that whites hate blacks, white policeman target black young men, and that we still live in segregated and discriminatory America when the facts say otherwise?
I’m sure there are a number of reasons, but most of them are not good including winning elections, padding their wallets, and preying on peoples’ fears.
None of this would be happening if we had the heart and character of a courageous black man named Martin Luther King who would certainly be denouncing the looting and rioting if he were alive today. Dr. King said that we must judge people not by “the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
So, according to MLK, here’s what should be happening in Ferguson and in the United States:
1. The marches should be peaceful. That takes character in the lives of concerned citizens.
2. There should be no looting of private property. That’s anarchy and taking advantage of the sobering events. When you see people benefiting from a tragedy for their own selfish gain, you know you are looking at devilish behavior–not godly character. Character respects the rights of others.
3. The entire nation should be patient as the wheels of justice turn and the case is settled judicially. Patience is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit and one of the essential aspects of personal character (Romans 5:3-5).
Here’s a good summary of principles to reflect on:
If there’s no patience, there can be no justice–because time is required for facts to be learned.
If there is no character in our actions, then there can be no peace–just the abuse of others.
If we refuse to live by the godly character that Dr. King espoused, then there can be no freedom in neighborhoods, cities and towns.
And a final truth: a greater degree of character, peace, and patience is produced in a nation when people have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus who can rescue us from our selfish appetites. Even when there is patience and character, sometimes justice is not fully served on earth.
But it will be in eternity through the Prince of Peace.
The Secular Take-over of America
Last week I submitted a 300-page manuscript for my doctoral thesis. Its working title for future book publication is The River, and it details the five worldviews about God, why four of them are false, and how they all came from a common source.
One of the five philosophies that is battling for global supremacy is secularism. I analyzed atheism/secularism/humanism in depth for the thesis–and my studies were very enlightening. First of all, I didn’t realize there were Asian and Western versions of atheism. More on that at a later date.
The western form of secularism is in mortal combat with the Judeo-Christian worldview in the United States. This battle has been escalating for about fifty years.
However, the principalities of evil behind the lie of secularism went for the “jugular” last week when President Obama became the first president in history to endorse homosexual marriage.
This was a desperate attempt to complete the secular takeover of America. Here’s why.
First, a little history of secularism.
Man-centered atheism/secularism comprises one of the five worldviews that go back to ancient times. Yet, there has been a substantial surge in global atheism in the past four decades. What is atheism? An “atheist” says there is sufficient evidence to show that God does not exist. An “agnostic” says there is insufficient evidence to know whether God exists or not. A “practical atheist” is a person who lives as if God does exist.
I use the word “secularist,” (worldly; supreme attention to the things of this life), as synonymous with “atheist.” The term secularism was first coined by in 1846 by George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906). If you combine the numbers for both “atheists” and the “non-religious,” the total number of secularists is about 20% of the world’s population.
Atheism developed as a fourth false tributary of the river of God’s original truth. Human beings were becoming more civilized (less dependent on God’s protection), educated (philosophical about life), industrial (more prosperous), technological (more creative), and scientific (understanding how the world works).
This growth in human development brought a mystical humanism to the East and rational secularism to the West. Both exalted man. Some replaced God with the State.
Atheism or secularism is one of the newer “religions” in the history of man–though there have been people in all ages who denied the reality of God. In the past three hundred years, we have seen the following Western forms:
- The violent French Revolution which came out of the European Enlightenment.
- Nazism under Adolph Hitler and Fascism under Mussolini.
- The various communist expressions including the Bolshevik Revolution in Russian and Mao Zedong in China.
- The social democracies of Europe (a further expression of the Enlightenment).
For much of this period, America resisted secular impulses due to its rich Christian heritage, three powerful spiritual awakenings, and active church involvement in the social issues of the day (such as the issue of slavery in the 19th century).
However, in the 20th century, the Church’s presence began to shrink from the public square and by the 1960s, due to secular indoctrination in the schools, universities and society at large, the Baby boom generation cast off the biblical worldview via the sexual revolution and its many anti-authority expressions.
Atheism/secular was gaining strength and flexing its muscles.
The acceptance of Darwinian evolution as the only theory of origins allowed to be taught in the schools gave secularists a hands up on the new generation who accepted the immoral standards of their parents and took them even further.
As Christian morals crumbled, so did the American family.
Now in the beginning of the 21st century, the map of America has changed. Many say we are now a 50-50 nation. What they mean is that half of the country still believes in America’s traditional Judeo-Christian roots and the other half leans more toward the secular view of life. They argue this is the source of political and social gridlock that we now regularly experience.
Here’s what’s really happened. For America’s first two hundred years, probably 80% of the population were either committed Christians or accepted the biblical worldview as best for society. Another 7-10% were atheists (either in philosophy or practice) and the rest were “other.” But both of these groups accepted the majority worldview and the blessings that it brought to the nation.
Today, however, 80% of Americans still profess to believe in God, but philosophical atheism has grown to about 15% of the population, and other religions have been added to the mix. Instead of the secularists appreciating the blessings of Christian culture, there has been a deliberate attempt by a powerful minority to devolve the United States into a secular majority nation–following the path of Europe.
The growing secular minority is bigger, bolder, more organized, and being led by demonic forces who passionately desire to completely destroy the biblical foundations of America’s Christian liberty.
On a human level, the secularists want to forcefully take over America.
Ignace Lepp, author of Atheism in our Time, tells us how things have changed:
“Contemporary atheism, at least in the developed countries of Christian civilization is distinguished from the atheism of other times and other civilizations above all by its extension. It is no longer a phenomenon of a few individuals protesting the taboos of society, nor the privilege of a minority who consider themselves especially ‘enlightened’ in the manner of the eighteenth century rationalists.”
“It is the common lot of at least a considerable portion, if not of the majority, of our contemporaries and is well on its way to becoming the common norm of society. The intellectuals were the first to break with traditional faith; the bourgeois followed them; then came the masses, and, finally the peasants.”
Secularism has become so brazen that in 2012, for the first time in American history, there are even rallies to promote disbelief.
On Saturday, March 24, 2012, some 20,000 atheists demonstrated in Washington, D.C. for a “Reason Rally” protesting religion. British scientist and leading proponent of atheism, Richard Dawkins, was the headliner. He didn’t appear until five hours into the event, but when he strode to the podium, the crowd cheered wildly.
He announced: “We’re never antagonistic toward religious believers; we’re antagonistic toward religious belief. There is no good, honest reason to believe in a god or gods of any kind, or indeed in anything supernatural. The only reason to believe something is that you have evidence for it.”
The crowd whistled and cheered for his familiar lines such as: “I don’t despise religious people. I despise what they stand for.” And, “Evolution is not just true, it’s beautiful.” Then Dawkins called on the crowd not only to challenge religious people but to “ridicule and show contempt” for their doctrines and sacraments, including the Eucharist.
Outrage was the parlance of the day. Television host Adam Savage told the masses: “There really is someone who loves and protects me and watches over my actions — It’s me!”
Friedrich Nietzsche is probably the greatest philosophical proponent of secularism. Here is the goal that he expressed many years ago:
“We have killed God. The most sacred and powerful force the world has hitherto possessed now bleeds beneath our knife…The grandeur of this act is too great for us. Is it not necessary that, as a result of this act, we become gods ourselves?”
Now you know the meaning of the rise of the “secular state” under Barack Obama and a few presidents that preceded him. Man is now god and the state is his fulcrum of power.
Obamacare was a major secular “grab” to control the American economy. If it remains law, it will destroy America’s ability to prosper and be a blessing to the nations of the world.
Homosexual marriage is the latest “grab” in the secular takeover of America. If inaugurated on a federal scale, it will completely destroy the religious and social foundations that Americans have enjoyed for centuries.
The spiritual powers that have deceived our current leaders showed their true colors this week by motivating Barack Obama to become the first president in history to support homosexual marriage. Yes, he did it because he’s a secularist at heart and it helps with fund-raising. But overall, it was a desperation move because he could badly lose the coming election–as well as the Supreme Court ruling on healthcare this summer.
Both of these defeats would greatly retard, if not stop the secular march to control America. So the spiritual enemy of America got mad and threw all the dice on the table. You can hear the demonic echo: Let’s stop our quiet deception and go for the jugular. We can destroy America only through belittling its faith, squashing its economy, and dismantling the family. Let’s go for it!
There is no sainthood in this decision. It’s purpose is to destroy. And I really don’t ultimately blame the president–but the spiritual forces of wickedness behind him.
Make no mistake. There’s only one group that desires to “take-over” America–and it’s not right-wing Christians. It is a powerful minority of secular radicals–inspired by spiritual darkness–who want to force a man-centered version of civilization down the throats of the Judeo-Christian majority that is barely hanging on for dear life.
Will they succeed in this generation? God only knows. We are called to humble ourselves, pray, vote for wise and godly leaders, and to resist evil.
And hope that a fourth great awakening may yet halt the tide of the secular takeover of America.