In What is Caesar's and What is God's, a message was relayed that calling somebody worthless is very dangerous. "Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so they will not lose heart." (Colossians 3:21) The difficulty of being a parent is loving your child so much and desiring to mold them into self-sufficient individuals who will be able to be strong and courageous when the world attempts to tear them down. With this molding comes discipline. It is not always easy to remind them that they are loved and if they don't see that, they run the risk of feeling worthless. "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14)
Public school is not designed to bring children to a close relationship with Christ and God. It's biggest concern is building knowledge and character. In church, children learn about God from Sunday school or Shabbat school, but their love and passion for Him come from the greatest influence they know: their parents. If they are taught well, they will learn to pick themselves up from the inevitable falls. A sky-diver does not jump out of a plane unless the backpack has been supplied properly, especially with a backup parachute.
In today's society, typically both parents work to support the family. If not, one might be at home fighting an ailment. In many cases, parents have fallen into single parenthood. In some families, at least one parent, if not both, checks out completely. If Mom and Dad are hardly present, and the school only teaches knowledge, a child's path to "success" in life is greatly darkened. An unpopular child, at school, is humiliated and their soul is defeated, constantly. If the parents are busy when the child returns home, he or she will eventually feel alone.
Loneliness, just the feeling of it, is where Satan feeds. Tree of Knowledge brought some insight into how he is a musician. He uses music to trap the youth of the nation. This isn't to say that all new music is bad; God desires sincerity. The concern is hopeless, fruitless, lyrics, sometimes conjoined with screaming or angry tones. Pop music is almost always about some "love relationship". When the Beatles came to America, a few girls were hired to welcome their entry. The camera angle made it seem as though the Fab Four was welcomed by a huge crowd yet nobody really knew them in America. And, what came next? The drug age. During the Vietnam War, so many youth were "tripping out" with a campaign of "peace". Most people know that Lucy in the Sky of Diamonds is about LSD. The whole "Revolution" album was highly filled with experimental psychedelic tones.
"Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I AM the Lord your God." (Leviticus 26:1)
Presented, in this verse, are three types of idols and the way we worship them.
1) Graven
2) Reared
3) Stone
The portion of an idol pertaining to this scenario, is one that is reared. The purpose of American Idol was allowing all of those tuned in to rear up "idols" of their own choosing. The judges gave their criticisms and America couldn't wait to hear Simon's next remark. The ratings skyrocketed and "America" voted. Rearing is the process of disciplining, shaping, and preparing somebody or something. When the music industry puts out chosen pawns in front of an audience, the audience has a choice to either follow them, now on Twitter, or forget about them. So many people allow these "stars" to influence them. In Tree of Knowledge, it was understood that stars represent angels.
So, if God's angels are His eyes, and Satan's angels are on this land, which angels are being represented on the stage? In Dominion, we explored the difference between the spirit of the beast and the spirit of man. Back when I was in high school, the battle of the boy bands was a money maker for the Industry. I admit that I bought the Backstreet Boys' "Millenium" album and I never forgot the irony that right after the track, "Don't Want You Back," was the depressing song, "Don't Wanna Lose You Now." God, who does not waiver, could not have influenced this.
Once the "heartthrobs" have reeled in the pre-teens who are not old enough to buy Explicit material, later comes the rock music and the rap music. The implication of a "graven" image also has two applications. The general acceptance of this term is translated only to carved images. "Look on everyone that is proud, and bring him low, tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret." (Job 40:12, 13) "Moreover when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men that fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward." (Matthew 6:16) Though, graven refers to carved out of wood or rock, it is also the past tense of the word grave. Ultimately, the grave resembles dust but, also, death.
Many people argue that there is nothing wrong with this music. Each time a seemingly good song comes from artists who have sung of sex, money, and drugs, all of a sudden it is assumed that they "cleaned up their act". "What communion hath light with dark?" (2 Corinthians 6:14) When those rockers and rappers actually sing about life, that's when the apologetic audience says, "they totally understand what I am going through." This process turns these "stars" into idols. The relationship of "image" has gone from appearance to heart. God didn't want His people to make idols out of things in heaven or earth. What people had a tendency to do was make images of themselves. Satan influences this because he thinks he is God. He influenced the kings of Babylon to desire to be worshipped.
By causing an artist to relate to our own circumstances, we then run the risk of saying, "he/she knows me." Those artists do not know their fans the way God does. These "stars" do not even know the number of their own hairs. A good examination would prove that these big-time bands and solo artists do not write their own music by themselves. They have to fit in with what is "entertainment" as defined by the "Arts" and the Industry.
And now, the idol should not be stone. It was mentioned, previously, that stones represent people. There are living stones and then there are stones that have no life in them. God builds His kingdom with Living Stones. To reiterate, we should not make physical idols of people, even the disciples, Mary, Jesus, or any saint. When we do this to Christian characters, we construct them into what we think they look like, not as they truly are. Da Vinci was not present at the Last Supper. The disciples and Jesus didn't pose for a painting, so that Da Vinci Code saga, Jesus marries Mary, junk is only based off of "gnostic" fabrication.
The music industry exposed its god when it created the name, "Hard rock." "And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharoah." (Exodus 9:12) Even at Mount Sinai, the Israelites had an issue being Egyptian minded. So, God made a promise: "I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26) So what exactly is a heart of flesh? "And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly." (Numbers 20:11) This is the message God presented as a sign that the Holy Spirit could live inside us.
Once people have fallen for living idols, every truth that might have been known becomes saturated. When we create idols in our spiritual image, we try to follow them and put on their physical image. After years of unfruitful messages and graphic images in music videos, even subtle images in a commercial ad, or magazine shelf, a man's mind can be poisoned. Then, the wife might think that she should put on those images to attract her husband. She could turn to vanity and he could turn to lust and the problem can only be solved by God's love. Nowadays, some women allow themselves to be seduced by Hollywood's men. And, some men, in turn, try to keep up-to-par with GQ.
The mythological Medusa seduces everybody to look into her eyes. Once they have done so, they are turned to stone. Any person who realizes that they have been seduced is then brought through a time of feeling worthless. They know they have sinned. These feelings cause the victims to punish themselves for a great amount of time. Even though God tells us that He forgives us, the hardest thing in the world is to forgive ourselves. We have to forgive ourselves, though, because each time we abuse ourselves and consider ourselves worth less than a rock, we are exactly where Satan desires. As much as we tear ourselves apart, our bodies and minds cannot function to do the physical work God desires of us.
This spiritual pain is suppressed by drugs, cutting, more entertainment, medication, and many other pressures of the world, to simply alleviate the wounds. When we do this, we disfigure our faces, we bring upon a sort of affliction that becomes extremely hard to overcome. Mark 5 tells of a man who lived in tombs who could not be tamed because he was tormented by an unclean spirit. "When he saw Jesus afar off, he worshipped him and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. For Jesus said to him, come out of the man thou unclean spirit. And He asked, what is your name? And the spirit answered saying, Legion, for we are many." (Mark 5:6-9) This same kind of spirit can be developed when we turn to torment. And, where did Jesus send those many demons? Into pigs: filthy beasts that roam the earth and wallow in their own garbage.
It's one thing to be sorrowful because of guilt and shame but it's another thing to be sorrowful because we know the world is corrupt. Take courage and rise above. Once you have spent much of your life trying to fix all your mistakes and everybody else's, this burden begins to wear and tear. Jesus took the stripes but He didn't afflict himself. He allowed the world to have its way with Him to prove to all who have ears and eyes that Truth is something the world cannot understand. Though they beat Him and tore His body, His resurrection gave hope to all. We are to be living stones that have a hope even when it cannot be found in this world. "God is not the God of the dead but of the living." (Matthew 22:32)
Idols come in all shapes and sizes: musicians, actors, MVPs, politicians, Presidents, and even Church Leaders. Sometimes these leaders have good intentions but if we sell ourselves out for them, we can fall into a trap of leaning on them for truth rather than doing what God calls us to do: "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:6) This understanding takes faith. The reason we are called to test the spirits is because many well-intentioned individuals actually, "Teach as doctrines, the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:9)
Let the Word of God be the parachute and there will be no need for a back-up. There are times that we go back to what we know but we cannot face giants alone. The awesome part of David and Goliath is that one stone hit Goliath right between the eyes. Much mysticism talks about a "third-eye". All "illumined" from various institutions, from some religions and schools, are part of a Giant network of the "All-Seeing-Eye." God sent a message to these institutions and their followers, not only with David, but also, when he showed Nebuchadnezzar that a Living Stone would crush the great statue of Babylon and her descendents. After this great event, the rock turns into a Mighty Mountain. "For the Lord hath poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath He covered." (Isaiah 29:10)
When David cut off Goliath's head, it was proof that God would remove those institutions. He will overcome the head. No fruit can be found in death; though decay be useful only as soil for life that does produce fruit. Jesus overcame the grave. Just as God cast corrupt angels out of Heaven so shall we cast out idols and make room for The Living Word. Idols have no business to do in the house that The Father created: our hearts. O Death, where is your sting?
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