For some, this title must seem sacrilege, and it should! But there’s an important story behind it. A close pastor-friend of mine once told me the story of the first person he led to the Lord. He was living in NYC and met a Buddhist from India. He decided to witness to him, taking him through “the Roman Road” to show him his sin and need for Christ.
After expounding the Scriptures, he asked the man if he wanted to accept Jesus into his heart. “Yes” the man said, “I would”. After leading him in the sinner’s prayer, with great excitement my friend proclaimed, “Isn’t this great? Now you have Jesus!”
“Yes”, the man replied, “Now I have Jesus . . . and Buddha too”.
My friend frantically tried to explain that with Jesus, there was no longer need for any other god. But his effort was to no avail. The man was not interested in a personal relationship with Christ. He was merely shopping for life insurance. His intent was to mollify as many gods as possible in the hope that upon death, the One on the throne would be one of those with which he had curried favor.
Idolatry can be Unrecognized
It’s a story I’ve never forgotten as over time, I came to realize that it typifies the most prevalent form of idolatry within the church. Most Christians would never renounce their faith in Christ. They might fall away, backsliding in sin but never renounce Him.
It is far more likely that Christians will serve Christ while also revering other gods in their hearts. Amos complained the Israelites were more interested in making money than serving the lord (Amos 8:5). Zephaniah complained Israel “bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molek” (1:5). Ezekiel complained that the Israelites set up idols in their hearts (Ezekiel 14:3). Even God’s priests were accused of sun worship (Ezekiel 8:3-16). It reveals no one is exempt from falling into this trap.
In a prior post, I commented on how politics had become an idol in the church. An illustrative example is found in the words of Mike Pence: “I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican — in that order,” The message is clear: Evangelical Christians who revere God should also revere conservatism and Republicans. It is intended to appeal to Christians who hold conservative views dear. They should mobilize and promote godly, conservative causes and especially Republicans. By implication, there are no godly liberal causes.
Most evangelical Christians should be unsurprised. Each one of us knows Christians that have never voted for a Democrat and never will. They will religiously vote only for conservatives (i.e. Republicans). This is not only “now I have Jesus and conservative politics too”, but “if I serve Jesus, I must serve conservative politics too”. But this is not the only idol in the Christian church.
Consider patriotism: It is striking how many conservative churches throughout America celebrate our nation’s independence with moving speeches about how our forefathers fought for our country, hallowing the sacrifices these patriots made in assuring us religious and civil liberties. These speeches often appeal to the need for Christians to be prepared to shed blood to protect our liberties.
While claiming our liberties were God-given, we apparently cannot rely upon God to assure them. Assuring those “God-given” liberties requires us to patriotically fight and shed blood to secure them. We are blind to the contradiction we’ve created in our own minds. The God who gave us these liberties cannot protect them?
Our patriotism is also often supplemented with the idea that we must invest in our military so that they will be able to protect us from those seeking to take our freedoms. We put our confidence in armed men instead of God, failing to see that we are in effect saying “now I have Jesus and the U.S. military too”. We revere our military might, putting our confidence in them for our security.
Or consider money: Everyone recognizes the love of money is a form of idolatry. Yet it is striking how many Christians seek it. So many have bought into the bogus theology of prosperity doctrine. If you give (money) to “God” by giving to your favorite evangelist, your favorite evangelist will not give you back more than you gave . . . but “God” will! Because after all, what’s more important to God than you having personal riches? The truth is that often we want money so we can feel our future, and the future of our family is secure. But putting one’s hope or trust in money rather than God is idolatrous.
One could even credibly argue our beliefs regarding the Bible border on idolatry. Consider literal interpretation. It’s not that literal interpretation is wrong. But when all biblical meaning must subordinate to literal interpretation, then literal interpretation can become more important than truth.
Consider the model of Noah’s ark built in Kentucky. Included with all the animals are dinosaurs! Their inclusion is not because the Bible speaks about dinosaurs. Every Christian knows the Bible doesn’t. But literal interpretation often drives interpretations so extreme that the Universe must be created in seven 24 hour days. And well . . . that means we must put dinosaurs on the ark. But we are not including dinosaurs to defend the truth of Scripture. We’re including dinosaurs to defend literalism! No one seems to notice that biblical truth is being subordinated to our method of literal interpretation nor does anyone see the risk in idolatrously putting such beliefs above scriptural teaching.
Many more could be listed. The point is, it’s really easy to revere things in addition to God without realizing they may be idolatrous in His eyes. We should trust Him and Him alone. Putting our trust or faith in man’s institutions will fail.
The Problem is our Beliefs Behind our Idolatry
With so many forms of idolatry, one might ask why we chose the particular ones above. There was a purpose. Consider our patriotism. We want to defend our religious liberties not because the Bible assures us religious liberties – it doesn’t! We promote fighting because it is the way a conservative feels he can best assure religious liberties.
Or consider having a strong military. The Bible is clear that God’s people are not to have a standing army because the people will then put their confidence in their armaments and not in God (Deuteronomy 17:16; cf. Isaiah 31:1). So why do we place so much emphasis on a strong military? It’s not because the Bible commands it! Quite the contrary. We emphasize a strong military because it’s the conservative way to assure we’re protected from invasion.
Or consider money. Every believer knows the dangers of money and its penchant to make one an idolater. The Bible speaks of the early church selling its possessions and distributing the money to the needy (Acts 4:32-35). Yet we save, invest, set up trusts to ensure an inheritance for our children. Why? Because it’s the conservative way to secure our future and the future of our family.
Why do we interpret literally though the Bible nowhere explicitly endorses it (but does endorse figurative interpretation [i.e. John 16:25; Galatians 4:24; Revelation 11:8])? Because literal interpretation is conservative. It assures understanding and prophecy can be verified. At least, that’s what we conservatives believe.
One could even argue that our bedrock opposition of abortion is based in a conservative definition of the beginning of life. We’ve claimed for 50 years that life begins at the moment of conception. And what could be more conservative than to define the beginning of life as the moment of conception? The problem is, the Bible nowhere states that life begins at the moment of conception. It says God knew us before we were created (Jeremiah 1:5; Ephesians 1:4). Truth is, every Christian knows that life begins at the moment of conversion, not the moment of conception.
Behind each of these idols is a deep-seated belief in conservatism. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not dogging on conservatism or conservative Christians. It can be easily shown that liberal Christians are just as guilty. “Once saved, always saved” can be a license for continuing in sin, or God’s judgment won’t fall upon us because He loves us. Or consider the claims of liberal Christians that socialism or communism are the most righteous and godly forms of government! They’re not.
The point is that behind the beliefs that often become idolatrous are deep-seated pre-dispositions or preconceptions that shape – if not distort our beliefs about the Bible! Everyone has a deep desire to feel in control of events and to have the feeling of security in the present and future. It can drive us to do things we believe will secure our families even though these things may run contrary to Scripture. But like this man from India, seeking ways to have certainty or security are simply attempts to buy insurance. In this regard, they are idolatrous.
Like it or not, we’re not in control of anything. But God is. He’s in control of everything . . . and He deeply desires that we put our trust fully in Him to secure our future. In fact, He has promised to safeguard our future, securing a land that He will make a place of peace and rest. Now that’s secure! If we can learn to put our trust in Jesus and Him alone, we will quickly learn that we no longer need all the other “Buddhas” in our lives.