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.
The Battle Over Free Speech
I thought longingly about free speech last week when I found myself in a remote area of California but couldn’t get a signal to send out a blog.
No Internet meant the inability to speak freely.
The Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris two weeks ago ignited a global discussion about free speech. Millions marching in the streets with pens raised in protest gave the impression that free speech will triumph over the murderous ways of the jihadists.
But what is free speech? Is it okay to bash the prophet and other religious leaders? Should it be legal to yell “FIRE” in a crowded movie theater? What about four letter profanities on the evening news?
There are three ways to look at freedom of speech, and only one of them produces true liberty.
A good resolution for most of us to make this year would be to learn to think more in terms of worldview.
I had never heard of this word until Francis Schaeffer introduced it to me via his writings in the mid seventies. Dr. Schaeffer taught that all human beings have certain presuppositions about life–things we assume or believe to be true, that is, a grid through which we view reality.
That’s our worldview. Every human being has one (whether we realize it or not).
My latest book which will be out in 2015 is a thorough discussion of the battling worldviews we face in the 21st century. The thesis is that there are only five concepts about reality–in other words, five views of God and their ramifications. And though there are five, I believe only three will battle for supremacy in the coming years.
Understanding these competing worldviews and their differences is crucial. Worldview affects everything you do, how you live and where you end up in eternity.
And worldviews have much to say about free speech. In fact, the three primary worldviews of the 21st century espouse very different views of freedom.
Let’s look at them one by one.
The Islamic View of Free Speech
Islam is unique to the three worldviews because it is both a comprehensive religious system containing concepts of God and how we get right with him, and a political structure that governs society.
As a religious ideology, Islam does not permit unkind words about its Deity or the Prophet Mohammed (this sin is called blasphemy). Politically, it forces submissive of all people and subjugation of women under the harsh dictates of sharia law.
Free speech in Islamic societies boils down to this: Submit, shut up, or die. You are not free to speak your own mind on many subjects and if you cross the line, the heavy hand of the law will come down upon your behavior and lop off your head or bring you forty lashes.
Freedom in Islam is forced submission of all words and behavior to the tenets of the Koran. You’re only free when you submit.
And the Koran is a book written during the Dark Ages, thirteen centuries ago, whose tenets were formed during a primitive and lawless time. Its teachings of sharia law have not been progressively updated or refined. Pre-medieval morality and austere views of human freedom still remain in place like moral dinosaurs.
Thus we understand why the Islamic terrorists in Paris savagely killed many people and did it in the name of Allah and Islam. Their worldview or religion tolerates little freedom of expression.
Over fifty nations on earth subscribe to the primitive and brutal nature of Islamic freedom.
The Secular View of Free Speech
The second worldview we saw in response to the Paris massacre was that of atheism or secularism. President Hollande of France who is a socialist, and most that marched with him, declared to the world that free speech is a glorious right and there are no exceptions to its rule.
The Charlie Hebdo people who lost their lives at the hands of the jihadists represent this side of the debate. I don’t know of their personal faith or worldview, but their cartoons and commentary mocking all things religious or political appears to state loudly that they believe in absolute freedom of expression.
The secular view of free speech is that anything goes.
In secularism, because there is no God, men become self-deities and this elevated status gives them the freedom to do whatever they desire. They can say what they want, do anything sexually that they want, and generally live hedonistic or narcissistic lives as long as they “do no harm.”
Of course, they are the ones that define “harm,” and the secularists have twisted that freedom to include aborting inside the womb at least one billion babies in the past century. Secular tyrants such at Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong killed hundreds of millions more outside the womb.
Secularism’s view of freedom is constantly evolving to include persecuting people of religious faith such as a Christian florist refusing to do flowers for a homosexual wedding. Admittedly, run-of-the-mill secularists don’t butcher people like Muslim terrorists do, but they like to restrict the freedoms of religious people.
But in sex and other areas there are no restrictions because there is no God (they think) to whom we are accountable.
Secular freedom declares that anything goes. Remember the waving pens in Paris.
The Biblical View of Free Speech
The two worldviews we’ve already mentioned, the Islamic and secular worldviews, are essentially opposites on the spectrum. On the one side, Islam believes in domination and control. Don’t mock the prophet or we will cut off your head. On the other extreme, the secularist worldview believes in unrestrained license. Do or say whatever you want.
The biblical worldview takes the wise middle ground–the balance between truth and grace. The Bible teaches us that freedom or liberty comes from doing what’s right through the power of God’s Spirit in the individual (Romans 8). Liberty is the fruit of righteousness. And when nations conform to God’s wise principles of behavior and justice, liberty is experienced in society as a whole.
But that liberty, or in this case, free speech, is not without limits.
Last week a Catholic leader appearing on a major news program said rightly that Bible-based free speech has many limits or allowances. They include:
- Protecting people’s lives–We are not “free” to yell FIRE in a crowded movie theater.
- Protecting the innocence of children–media outlets are not “free” to use four letter words or erotic sexual scenes in certain time frames or settings where they can hurt or influence children.
- Freedom to discuss or mock any idea or religion (concepts are fair game).
- Even a freedom to blaspheme God (use his Name in vain) because He is big enough to take care of His own reputation.
In ancient or primitive times, blasphemy was not permitted in Jewish culture because at the time God was concretely teaching His people basic concepts of right and wrong in the midst of dark and profuse idolatry. This was done through commandments that were necessary for the Old Testament era.
But we live in the period of the New Testament where old forms of learning have been replaced by the abstract motives of love and grace. There is greater freedom now because of increased understanding.
Thus the development of biblical virtue is the true religion of progress. The Old Covenant of law has been replaced with the truth, grace, and supernatural power of the New Covenant. Both Islam and secularism are not progressive in the true sense of the word.
Biblical faith is. The biblical worldview of free speech is this:
Liberty with loving self-restraint.
So don’t get carried away with either of the excesses of Muslim or secular concepts of free speech. One is ruthlessly controlling and the other is wildly unrestrained.
Build your life and nation on the time-tested revelation of freedom of speech that tolerates all opinions, lets God be the Judge, but wisely restrains itself because it loves Him and people.
Liberty is a beautifully balanced thing.
How the Sexual Revolution Changed the World
There are numerous events or movements that have changed the course of history. In the last two hundred years, the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, abolition of slavery, the Civil Rights movement, World Wars I & II and the Information Revolution come to mind.
Another one that I lived through was the Sexual Revolution of the 1950s to 70s. I know it’s not on the usual radar screens of earth-shattering events, but I believe it should be.
What really happened during the 20th century Sexual Revolution? What are its lasting effects? How has the Baby-boom-led sexual revolt changed the world as we know it?
Some of the answers may surprise you.
When we think of life changing events or movements we don’t normally think of sex. It’s a pretty basic yet wonderful aspect of human experience, and in my opinion, one of the greatest gifts from God for expressing human love.
That’s why most songs center around sensual love either from a desire or lament standpoint.
Many years ago, I noticed in the Old Testament that though all sins are equal in their motive (selfish and lawless), they are not equal in their ramifications or consequences. In fact, the clear teaching of the Bible and human history is that deviating from God’s wise boundaries of a man and woman experiencing sexual love in marriage is extremely hurtful and destructive.
That’s why the Old Testament elevates sexual sins above some others. Just peruse chapters such as Leviticus 18 or 20 and you will get the picture. Sexual sin is bad. It hurts and defiles people. That’s why God told the nation of Israel to hate it, avoid it, and legislate against it.
God does not want human beings to suffer the dreadful consequences of perverting his beautiful gift of sex.
Enter the 1950s. The world had just experienced two dreadful wars in which a total of 76 million people died (16M in World War I and 60M in World War II). That was about 4% of world population at the time. Millions more were wounded, displaced, some nations reduced to rubble, with psychological damage unfathomable.
Out of that devastation, a time of calm prevailed in the Western nations where GIs came back from the war, got married, had kids and begun to live more “normal” lives. At the time, a strong Judeo-Christian world view coupled with an evangelical awakening led by Billy Graham and others gave credence to biblical norms in sexual activity.
Most men and women married. Fornication and adultery were generally frowned upon. Homosexuality, incest, and pedophilia were seen as taboo. The Baby Boom generation–now the second largest generation in American history–were about to arrive.
I was one of them, born into a normal, religious home in 1953. Those were the days of “Leave It to Beaver,” “Ozzie and Harriet,” and “Father Knows Best.” That would all change in the late fifties through seventies when I graduated from high school.
The change seemed to start in Hollywood and the music scene. Famous actors and musicians began to sleep around. Stars like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and others encouraged the young generation to rebel against the old, traditional (and biblical ways). The rebellion appeared to be against God, various authority figures, and sexual norms.
I remember the mini-skirts rising, the pot and sex parties, Woodstock, Playboy, and on and on it went. A new world was being created where sex was simply my desire for you, baby, to “Light My Fire.” Today, almost anything goes sexually without hardly the blink of an eye.
That movement of “sexual freedom” has changed the world–and not for the good. Here are some of its incredible global consequences.
Atheist Growth
Sexual anarchy seems to go hand-in-hand with those who do not believe in God or a Higher Power to whom we are accountable. Of course there are some exceptions to that rule, but can anyone honestly argue that those who break the biblical boundaries of sex are partly running from God?
The statistics make it clear. Over the past fifty years, atheism has doubled in America from 7 to 14 percent of the population and many people now claim “No religion.” This has given birth to a relentless attack upon biblical faith by the media, government, Hollywood, and militant atheist groups who are trying to secularize every aspect of American culture.
Last week an Army chaplain was reprimanded for giving Christian literature to GIs during a “Suicide Prevention Week.” The American military–once a bastion of biblical faith and defense of liberty–is quickly becoming our biggest social experimentation grounds.
It all has its roots in the Sexual Revolution.
Disease Explosion
One of the medical fruits of the Sexual Revolution has been the growth of new diseases due to illicit sexual activity. At last report, the Revolution has spawned 26 brand new venereal diseases.
An estimated 1.5 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2013, and an estimated 39 million people with AIDS have died worldwide since the epidemic started. Sub-Saharan Africa bears the biggest burden of HIV/AIDS, with almost 70% of the global total of new HIV infections for 2013.
Let that sink in. 76 million people died unnecessarily because of Hitler, Stalin and Mao. But half that many (39 million) have died unnecessarily in our lifetime simply due to one STD we call AIDS.
History is littered with tribes, nations and civilizations that either declined or died due to sexual perversion. The Incas, Aztecs and Roman world come to mind. The modern Sexual Revolution is taking us down the same path, albeit being retarded by advances in modern medicine.
History’s Biggest Holocaust
One of the most tragic fruits of the Sexual Revolution was the revival on the ancient sin of abortion–killing an innocent baby in the womb simply because it is unwanted. As people slept around and sex started to multiply beyond marriage, something had to be done with the unwanted fruit of unrestrained passion.
Enter the tragic and legislative stupidity of Roe v. Wade in 1973. It came about for one primary reason: to get rid of the evidence of sexual chaos and evil. Abortion wasn’t new, it was just pagan–an ungodly practice revived in the modern world–to keep the Revolution roaring without “problems.”
The Guttmacher Institute estimates that between 1 and 2 billion human beings have been aborted in 20th and 21st centuries. That makes the Sexual Revolution abortion machine the greatest holocaust of all time.
Take a moment and weep over that statistic. At least a billion innocent children sucked apart or cut to pieces on the altar of selfish indulgence. Makes Hitler look like a piker.
Destroying Marriage and Family
Can anyone deny that “sexual liberation” is one of the main causes of the destruction of marriage and family in the past fifty years?
In former times of biblical mores, men and women either got married and kept sex in marriage because it was the right thing to do, or, if they weren’t believers, the man wanted sex and the woman wanted children. Both of those motives produced wholesome family units, with a mom, a dad, and kids.
I saw an article today that appeared a week ago in the Washington Post that shows how the Sexual Revolution has destroyed the America family. It’s called “The Unbelievable Rise of Single Motherhood in America Over the Past Fifty Years” and is based on studies by Princeton’s Sara McLanahan and Harvard’s Christopher Jencks.
It explains, for example, that more than 70 percent of all black children today are born to an unmarried mom, a three-fold increase in that rate since the 1960s. You can read the article here.
Hey, what happened in the 1960s? Oh yeah, there was the Sexual Revolution where men started sleeping around with whoever would have them, then split the scene. What was once sinful is now the new awful norm–kids without parents and diseases galore.
Ask the children if that kind of sex is “liberating” to them. In most cases, it sentences young ones to a life of poverty and lack of good role models.
Rising Narcissism and Anarchy
An awful lot of rioting is happening around America these days due to racial tension and exploitation. I know this can’t be directly attributed to the Sexual Revolution, but let’s be reminded of this: The essence of the Revolution was rebellion against authority–God, parents, police and others. At the root of the original movement was a spirit of anarchy and chaos which said, “I will do what I want with my body or to others.”
A couple generations later, that same spirit is once again manifest in American streets and neighborhoods.
Mushrooming Financial Debt
What does sexual promiscuity have to do with trillions of dollars of debt?” More than we realize.
I learned this consequence of the Sexual Revolution by looking at various charts. For example, if you read the Washington Post article you’ll notice a number of graphs that the authors use to demonstrate the rise of single motherhood and dissolution of the family. They show the uptick beginning in the fifties through seventies then exploding upward to the present time.
It’s exactly the same graph as the uptick in illicit sexual activity i.e. the Revolution. America’s debt bomb mirrors our sexual confusion. So what’s the connection?
People who cheat in marriage or relationships will do the same thing with money. When you’re living for pleasure or the next conquest, it’s all about the “now” without thought of the future. In the financial realm, the same spirit is in operation–living for today and not saving for the future.
In other words, the same character that rebels against God-ordained sex will do the same thing with finances. Lack of self control in one inevitably produces lack of self control in the other. The graphs are the same.
For hundreds of years, most Americans believed in God’s ideal for marriage and family. During that era, they also generally practiced his principles of financial stewardship. Debt was taboo and limited. So was illicit sex.
When the Sexual Revolution erupted fifty years ago, it produced the debt mentality that now enslaves us in trillions of dollars of borrowed money–both personal and corporate. Sexual atheists beget financial atheists. Unfortunately, they now occupy the power structures of our once wiser nation–with a day of reckoning coming.
That’s how the Sexual Revolution changed the world.
We need a new Jesus Revolution to reverse it.