When Idols Fall

Posted on June 13, 2018 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters

“And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it.” — 1 Samuel 5:4 (NKJV)

I am not too sure why our society has this thing where it has to elevate celebrities to a god-like status only to turn on them when they put their foot in their mouths. Back in the 60’s, John Lennon, of The Beatles, ruffled the feathers of every Christian in America by stating, “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first – rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but His disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.” Lennon would go on to reluctantly apologize by saying, “if I had said television was more popular then Jesus, I might have got away with it.” Oh, the irony of this statement now.

Now to be fair to Lennon…his baseline of the day was a failing church in Britain where hundreds of folks were being told not to take the “old man in the sky” too seriously and embrace a universal love versus the thousands upon thousands of screaming fans (girls actually) who only wanted to hear “She Loves You” (yeah, yeah, yeah) for the umpteenth time that day. I mean, what’s an idol to do, right? My guess, looking back on it, is that he is calling it right down the middle. He could see people turning away from the things of God and settling for their enjoyment of viewing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show instead. Once again, what’s an idol to do, right? …more popular than Jesus? Not good!!

I got hammered by some of peers on my stance with football this past season. I love to watch the game and have been a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles for quite some time but I’m also a veteran and when players started to use the game as a platform for their own agendas, America lost her patriotic mind. I never heard the word “idolatry” used so much and as patriotism and football clashed real hard, the worst of each side came out just as hard. Even though each side of the argument had its point, the “you’re either with us, or against us” position both sides took basically left Jesus at the concession stand. I say that because there were those on both sides who claim the Name that is supposed to be above all names but what He taught didn’t seem to make it’s way on the gridiron too much.

Now I’m gonna paraphrase something here and see if you can remember it. “I AM the LORD thy GOD! Thou shalt have no other gods but ME!” (Exodus 20:2-6). Sometimes we don’t really read into these words far enough. We seem to mistaken the idea of idolatry as something where we are bowing down to little wooden figures that represent some particular god (see Isaiah 44:15-20) but it’s far deeper than that. On the horizontal it’s easy to see those wooden figures. Its stuff that stems from the Fall in the Garden. The lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life has become quite glitzy. However, on the vertical, our hearts have forgotten how to bow to The Creator and when those idols of our heart stand in the presence of a mighty God they fall, like Dagon, and brake into pieces and without the peace of The Son we can be left pretty wrecked and hurt.

We’re at point in history where our moral compass is being guided by those who are of celebrity status and, unfortunately, we kinda put them there. They really aren’t saying things like Jesus would say and that is dangerous, because we’re repeating them and, in some cases, making them doctrine. NOT GOOD!! They’re not good because when those celebrities go on to do something or say something that contradicts their advertised position, society goes on this feeding frenzy that looks like a group of starved piranhas to a piece of meat.

In the grand scheme of it, all idols will fall – especially in those times when they try to stand in the presence of our mighty God. In days gone by, a people called the Philistines took what was holy and placed in the midst of what was unholy and had a hard time putting it back where it came from. And the people that let that happen, well let’s just say that you oughta read the 7^th chapter of 1 Samuel and see what happens when people finally get right with “I AM.” Amen?

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris, a graduate of The Colony of Mercy (11-2003) is married (Kathy) with two grown children (Kevin and Karen) and has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008.

The Daily Bible Reading: 1 Kings 8 | 2 Chronicles 5|You can download our 2018 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here

Daily Quote: “Man’s mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition: so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain.” — John Calvin

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

Lord, I hope for Your salvation, And I do Your commandments.
Psalm 119:166