Why is this important?
Idolatry is one of the most discussed problems in the whole bible. It is the opposite of the worship of God, and it involves a lie, from the father of lies (John 8:44)Romans 1:18–32 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
Paul contrasts the lie of idolatry with the truth of worship. The key statement of all of this is Romans 1:25, which tells us that idolaters “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
The Truth: Two-ism
The truth as Paul describes, can be thought of in simple terms as two-ism. Two-ism is the biblical doctrine that there is a separation and difference between Creator and creation and that creation is subject to the Creator. An easy way to remember this is to think of two circles with one being God the creator and the other containing all of his creation (see chart).
Psalm 8 contains an amazing statement about the biblical view of God and two circles. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” God’s name is IN the earth and His glory is ABOVE it.
God is not within “the circle of life.” “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22). We can also neatly summarise all views coming out of this in terms of cosmology, Hetero-cosmology: A world or cosmos based on distinctions, or differences.The Lie: One-ism
The lie is what we will call one-ism. One-ism is the pagan and idolatrous doctrine that there is no distinction between Creator and creation, and/or a denial that there is a Creator. The popular word for this notion is monism. Practically, one-ism is the eradication of boundaries and differences to bring opposites together as one. The materialistic form of one-ism is atheism. Spiritual one-ism is also often called New Age, New Spirituality, or Integrative Spirituality.
According to spiritual one-ism, the universe is a living organism with a spiritual force present within everything. Thus, everything is interconnected by the life force or the world soul. This life force manifests as spiritual beings (Christians understand these are demons) that manipulate the course of world events. These spirits can be influenced to serve people by using the ancient magical arts. Humans possess divine power unlimited by any deity. Consciousness can be altered through the practice of rite and ritual. Magic is the manipulation of objects, substances, spirit entities, and minds, including humans and demons, by word (ritual, incantations, curses, spells, etc.) and objects (charms, amulets, crystals, herbs, potions, wands, candles, etc.).
As a memory aid, you can think of this as one circle in which everything is contained and interconnected as one (see chart). The cosmology of all this is neatly summarised as Homo-cosmology: A world or cosmos based on sameness (One-ism). At the heart of homo-cosmology is the belief in “the consubstantiality of all things.” (that all is of the same nature and substance). “Being is God’s circle, and in this circle all creatures exist. Everything that is in God is God.” - Meister Eckhart (a 13th century “Christian” mystic)It might be interesting to note that the circle itself serves as the defining symbol of pagan idolatry. This includes the yantra circle used for Hindu worship, the mandala circle of dharma and Dharmacakra used for Buddhist and Taoist worship, the sun cross used by Wiccans (who also gather in a circle), and Native American medicine wheels, dream catchers, and drum circles. A well-known expression of one-ism is found in the popular song from The Lion King that speaks of “the circle of life.”
It is important to understand the basics of one-ism because it runs counter to Christianity, and its conscious proponents actually seek the end of the Christian system. You will see this more and more according to the bible, and it is in every part of society.- No distinction between creator and creation (which, by the way leads to pantheism or panentheism).
- No distinction between God and mankind. A change of stance from humbly outward looking to the creator, to arrogant introspection for self-enlightenment.
- No distinction between good and evil. Everything is relevant because it is culturally valuable, and as there is no moral truth everything is left up to the ethics of the situation. This also means that there is no distinction between angels and demons, because they are all the same sort of being, really.
- No difference between mankind and the animal kingdom. We can see this in animal activism, people treating pets like their children, and the obsession with animal welfare as equal to that of a child.
- No distinction between mankind and creation. Deifying of “mother earth” or Gaia instead of stewardship.
- No distinction between men and women. Gender is whatever you want it to be, and so we have lesbianism, transgender, homosexuality etc. all of which Romans 1 defines clearly as being a result of this system.
- No distinction between religions. Most people have a vague pagan spirituality (even “Christians”) who think all the world’s problems will be solved if we just worship together as one. If you are a Christian and you decide to make distinctions (i.e. God and man, Jesus and Satan, angels and demons heaven and hell etc etc) you are seen as a direct threat to the world of peace and love and oneness.
Since idolatry is such a major issue, we need to make sure that everything which we know is good is not made into an idol. We need to avoid worshipping in religious groups who ignore clear truths found in the bible all the while being involved in contemplative and mystical practices so that they may gain a “spiritual experience”. Everything done, even those things involving social justice or environmental issues needs to be cross centred in its theology, otherwise we end up making those good things into what Jesus calls “our treasure” (Matthew 6:21). That is idolatry.
