Passion Killers I

American Idols


Gen 1:25-28 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." NKJV

God created man in His own image and likeness, then gave him dominion over all the earth and every other living thing He had created. Before sin entered, idolatry was not an issue. It would have been total ignorance and forfeiture of authority to bow down and worship the things they had been given dominion over. But, because of the depravity of sin, man has even worshiped the very dust he was formed from. God found it necessary to give man the commandments engraved in stone as a warning against forgetting God and the purpose for which He created man.

Ex 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. NKJV

Man was created with worship as part of his DNA. Because of sin, man lost sight of God, resulting in his need for a visible god. Man worships the visible creation in place of the one who created it. Rom 1:20-25 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. NKJV


Instead of giving glory and honor to the invisible God who made all visible things, man, under the guise of wisdom, foolishly bowed to worship the things he was given dominion over. Our worship ascribes worth to the thing or person that we worship. We declare the object of our worship to be of much greater worth and power than we are. If we worship an idol, we are giving it power over us and esteeming it to be greater in value than we are.

If we consider the value of the sacrifice Christ paid for our salvation, we have to conclude there is no created thing more valuable than human life and our relationship with our creator. It would be a real slap in God’s face to give ourselves in submission to idols, esteeming them of greater value than what He paid for us. God is the only one that is greater and deserves our worship. Even though we are to honor and respect other created beings, be it man or angel, we are never to worship them or value them more than the one who created us all.

We become like the one we trust in. Ps 135:15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. 16 They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; 17 They have ears, but they do not hear; Nor is there any breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them. NKJV

America’s idols are not likely graven images of silver, gold, wood, or stone but are more likely images printed on the pages of magazines or projected on a screen. Considering the amount of time Americans spend in front of a computer, or television, just to be entertained, we have to admit it fits the definition of idolatry. Of course, anything can become an idol: an automobile, a home, a person or anything we believe we could not live without. If our life is dependant upon anything more than God, we have made it an idol.

Idolatry kills passion for God. He is our source of passion fuel. Our passion flame is to be fueled by the oil of the Holy Spirit. Like a lamp that burns bright, we must have oil in our lamps to be ready for the coming of the bridegroom. The world offers us all sorts of passion fuels but we were not designed to burn with worldly passion.

A few years ago I was given a picture showing a believer like a fireplace, with a glass door over the opening. When we have the fire of God in us, the glass stays perfectly clear and the inner parts of the fireplace remain bright and clean, as new. The glass represents our vision and the inner parts represent our inner most being. As long as the flame continued to feed on the fuel of the Holy Spirit, we were made even more pure and had greater vision and understanding of truth. Then I saw a fire being fueled by the things of this world, the things the flesh lusts for. The fire began to smoke and soot began to build up on all parts of the fireplace. The believer’s vision was reduced to zero and their inner parts were defiled with the soot and ash from the burning garbage.

Like a fireplace we, as believers, are built to burn. Our lives are designed to run on holy passion fuel. If we do not get it from the right source, it spells disaster. The world’s passion fuel is supplied through covetousness which is equal to idolatry.
Col 3:5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. NKJV

God says to cut off the fuel hose of the world and connect up to His Spirit.

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; NKJV

Idolatry has a snowball effect. It robs us of vision and revelation, causing us to think we need more of the same, which only leads to greater blindness. Spiritual blindness causes God’s people to cast off restraints and enter deeper into sin and idolatry. It becomes a vicious cycle that only the intervention of God can break. God’s word equips us with an idol detection system, establishing Godly restraints to protect us from the enemy’s snare.

Psalms 106:35 But they mingled with the Gentile and learned their works;
36 They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons,
38 And shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters NKJV

Doesn’t this sound familiar? Is America into idolatry or what? We desperately need the intervention of God.

They, in verse 35, refers to God’s people learning the ways of the unbeliever and entering into the same idolatry, becoming ensnared by it. It even led them into the unthinkable: sacrificing their own children to demonic idols.

All this is preventable; we need to be ablaze with a passionate love for God. We are the light of the world, but if our light be hidden because of idolatry how will the world ever see?

Matt 6:22 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?
NKJV

The lust of the eyes leads to covetousness, which is idolatry. The covetous eye is made dark and the lamp is put out.

2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. NKJV

The devil himself has transformed into an angel of light, but he is of the kingdom of darkness and has no true light. If a believer is into idolatry, yet claims to have the light, the source of his light is from the kingdom of darkness and is doubly dark.