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Modern Idolatry — the New Teraphim

By Eric Lowther

And God spake all these words, saying, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  ~ Exodus 20:1,3 (KJV)

Now while Paul waited for [Silas and Timothy] at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.  ~ Acts 17:16 (NKJV)

Yes, here I go again, getting on my soapbox, but I’m still hot about this issue, and have found a lot more to add since I wrote a scathing commentary on the two following Scriptures in December 2007.  It was actually way back in October 2005 that this prophecy from Zechariah first caught my attention (my amplification):

For the idols (teraphim) [entertainers] speak delusion;
The diviners (qacam) [producers & promoters] envision lies,

And tell false dreams;
They comfort in vain.

Therefore the people wend their way like sheep;
They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.

~ Zechariah 10:2 (NKJV)

This prophecy of Isaiah can also be easily applied to modern American society:

Their land is also full of silver and gold [money],
And there is no end to their treasures [wealth & property];

Their land is also full of horses,
And there is no end to their chariots [automobiles].

Their land is also full of idols (’eliyl);
They worship the work of their own hands,
That which their own fingers have made.

~ Isaiah 2:7-8 (NKJV)

I know it’s unusual to put a glossary right at the front of an article, but I feel the Hebrew words noted above need definition in regard to what follows:

teraphim:   family idols; household gods

qacam:      divination; pagan parallel for prophesying

’eliyl:         idle idol; good for nothing; by analogy vain ~or~ worthless

Idol (definition):  “Any philosophical concept or material object that becomes a substitute for God.  The essence of idolatry is the setting of something less than God in the place of God; it is the denial of God’s claim to absolute lordship over one’s life.”  ~ Page H. Kelly, from ‘Broadman Bible Commentary’, commentary on the Book of Isaiah

“When people reject God, they need to fill the God-vacuum in their hearts (Romans 2:21-23).  With their darkened imaginations they create idols.  Not all idols are images.  Idols can be hobbies, things, relationships, self — anything that replaces God in one’s life.”  ~ Radiant Life Student Guide

Below is my original commentary from December 2007.  I wrote this as a warning to all Christians who may not be aware they are practicing idolatry.  I certainly admit that I did not realize the extent of my ‘idol worship’ until recently.  To protect ourselves from the enemy, this is something we all, as brothers & sisters in Christ, must be fully cognizant of in the coming end-days.

“Television, radio & the Internet, along with movie and music celebrities have become modern household idols — including psychological addictions to the home entertainment centers and personal computers that relay them.  These actors speak in fictitious metaphors & delusions, conjuring up false dreams; the most blatant example being the popular TV show American Idols.  Their promoters and producers make possible the distribution of falsehoods throughout the world via mass media.  Fueled by billions of dollars in advertisers’ fees and encouraged by our consumerism-based society, they have the blessing of a civilization at large that has lost its sense of Godly moral direction.  These modern teraphim provide empty, vain comfort because the people who watch and listen to them have no spiritual guidance in their lives; their souls are in trouble because they do not know God nor follow Jesus Christ (extended paraphrase of Zechariah 10:2).

“Not only are celebrities idolized, so are physical possessions such as automobiles and upscale homes, along with sheer monetary wealth.  There is no seeming end to worldly treasures, adult toys & profane images, which are all made by people's own hands, not God’s.  Like the ancients worshiping false gods made of wood, metal or stone, people now place their heartfelt trust in these contemporary idols, either ignoring or being ignorant of the one true God Yehovah who created their very beings to begin with.  Their false hopes and dreams, the futile ‘rat race’ of chasing elusive prosperity that so many allow themselves to be caught up in, are not only encouraging ethical decay, but promoting the divine rebellion and moral depravity so rampant in our contemporary society.  It seems that people are more interested in ‘doing their own thing’, or ‘seeing what is right in their own eyes’, rather than trying to discover the true nature of God.

“21st-century American culture is festering from within by its own prosperity.  At the height of their complacent affluence, the eighth-century BC countries of Israel (Samaria) and Judea (Jerusalem) were warned in many oracles by the prophets Amos, Hosea, Micah, & Isaiah of impending judgment because of their depraved & idolatrous lifestyles.  Without mass repentance, forsaking these worthless lifestyle gods, along with failure to obey the LORD God, our great country is doomed to suffer the same fate predicted for those ancient societies.”  ~ based on prophecies of Isaiah 2:7-8, Jeremiah 2:2-5, Micah 1:7, Jonah 2:8-9, Amos 6:1-8, and Deuteronomy 28:15ff

But now American Idols has gone too far.  Still America’s #1 TV show, USA Today newspaper is regularly featuring a front page flag pointing to the latest contestant gossip.  And if that’s not bad enough, a local Town Center Mall recently sponsored a Teen Idols competition.  Note the keyword here is ‘Idols’.  I mean, how obvious can you get?  Of course, this is only my lucid opinion, but I hope other Christian believers recognize the dangers of modern idolatry — i.e. entertainment industries in connenction with mass media — in promoting the false concepts that so unashamedly dominate American culture.  If for some unfathomable reason you don’t believe this, read on.  And if you think the Scriptures from Zechariah & Isaiah quoted above are an apt description of modern American culture, skip to the end of this article for a list of a whole plethora of ancient Biblical prophecies that just as easily pertain to today’s society.

“There are habits our culture won’t call ‘sin’ or ‘evil’ because they are pleasurable, lustfully exciting habits that gratify the desires of our flesh [e.g. greed for luxury items; TV, movies & video games; Internet pornography; pirating online music].  Because people want to participate in those activities few are willing to stand up, stand out, and call a spade a spade.  The culture covers up the sin and renames it, justifies it in courtrooms and legislates it from Senate seats … You can be tricked into believing it is fine with God if you participate in culturally acceptable lifestyle habits that violate His Word.  It’s never OK, and the consequences are potentially eternal … When you make what is culturally acceptable the guide for your life, rather than what is acceptable to God, the ‘culturally acceptable’ becomes your god [emphasis mine].  There is only one Almighty God, only one heaven, only one way for you to safely make the transition from this life into eternity … Your ‘lifestyle god’ will deceive you.  Your culture will deceive you.  If you want to be certain you are not being fooled by a culture that has forgotten God and dismissed the reality of eternal life or eternal darkness, then read God’s book, the Bible.”  ~ Rev. Lisa Clay, from her article ‘Your habits, your eternity’ in ‘Today’s Pentecostal Evangel’

Of course, the chief promoter of ‘lifestyle gods’ — Satan, the Adversary — is always trying to deceive us, trying to turn our attention away from the one true God of light & infinite energy.  Although Rev. Clay’s article is basically about ungodly habits, it clearly defines modern idolatry, and coins the term ‘lifestyle god’, which I agree is an apt description, synonymous with ‘modern idol’.

My first perception of this invasive, cancerous problem in our society was when I worked for a nationwide ticket reselling agency four years ago.  It was bad enough that Las Vegas entertainers, New York Broadway plays & ‘Name act’ music concerts sold front row seats for $300+ each & every night.  But when a certain ‘classic rock’ group made a deal with the NFL to perform concerts in its stadiums and sell seats on the field for ≈$450 each … that was the last straw.  (A conservative estimate was that $.8 – 1.3 million worth of tickets were sold for each NFL stadium concert.)  What in the world do these entertainers do with all that money!?!  Instead of being wasted on mere ‘entertainment’ for events lasting three hours or less, these ungodly sums of money could be so much better spent in offerings & donations to the Church & Christian relief organizations.  When my conscience got the better of me, I consulted a fellow believer about my spiritual conflict with this situation.  He response was “you can’t change the system,” to which I replied “I understand that, but neither do I have to be a willing participant!”  In other words, I quit working for the company.

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“The modern-day church is surrounded by a culture that worships man.”  ~ John Bevere

To briefly summarize the account in Acts 14:8-18, this is an excellent illustration of how easily people can be enticed into believing mere humans are gods.  Barnabas & Paul had traveled to Lystra to preach the Gospel (ca. AD 45), and when the locals saw the healing miracles they performed, they called them Zeus & Hermes.  Then the local priest brought oxen for sacrifice to their ‘newfound gods’.  So great was the crowd’s adulation, that “[Barnabas & Paul] could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them” (Acts 14:18).  To the contrary, it’s sadly fascinating that many people today do not believe divine healing actually happens, even when they see it with their own eyes.  But fortunately, if they do believe it, they do not revere as a god the person who prays & lays on hands; no, they would rather worship the ‘gods’ of their choice:  their favorite celebrity idols.  I must admit I was touched with the ‘human idol’ syndrome in my teens & early 20s, when I literally worshipped my favorite rock musicians as gods on earth.

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“The open-minded sexual freedom during the 1970s has created a new type of culturally explicit behavior, that of people worshiping their own bodies as gods.”  ~ Rick Joyner

There is another type of idolatry which has become prevalent:  carnal philosophies & open sexuality of modern society have given godlike status to our own physical bodies.  This trend started during the ‘Roaring ’20s’, then waned and reappeared during the social upheavals of the 1950s & ’60s.  This has taken place not only in American culture, but also European, Australian, spreading to China and throughout the developing world, again with the help of worldwide mass media.  Young women & male homosexuals are especially susceptible to this type of demonic attack, worshiping their own bodies as if they themselves were gods.

In the realm of humanity, this trend is nothing new.  Hellenic Greece was replete with poetry & statues depicting mortal human bodies being as perfect as the gods their polytheistic society revered.  Apparently, it was also prevalent in Jerusalem during the eighth-century BC, as the prophet Isaiah recorded this description:

Moreover, the LORD said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud
And walk with heads held high and seductive eyes,
And go along with mincing steps
And tinkle the bangles on their feet …

In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, finger rings, nose rings, festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils.  ~ Isaiah 3:16,18-23 (NASB)

This Scripture could just as easily describe women in any shopping mall in the U.S.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not proposing that American women should conceal themselves in burqas, shawls & habits, secluded from male society.  But wanton female sexuality has really taken over almost everywhere, even in the most inappropriate places, including some modern churches.

The worst part of it is:  this cunning, godlike self-worship preys on & eats away the soul as well as the spirit.  Remember that ‘carnal’ is from the Latin root carna, which is also the basis for ‘carnivorous’ (cf. Romans 8:5-8; 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 in KJV & NKJV).  Believing their self-esteem and standard of self-worth to be based on physical appearance alone, these young ‘self’-worshipers become obsessed with ‘the person in the mirror’, to the point of allowing acute anxiety (formerly called ‘neurosis’) to rule their emotions, or starving themselves into anorexia.  Young Americans have been inundated with unrealistic perfectionist ideals of the human body, starting with Playboy magazine being sold over the counter in the 1950s, to the ‘sexual revolution’ of the ’60s, to the fitness craze of the late ’70s, to the ‘MTV generation’ & proliferation of video pornography during the ’80s, to just about every type of advertisement today.

Instead of finding identity in their inner personalities and focusing on character development, many work vainly to improve mere appearance & gain social status.  Lacking knowledge of the Gospel of Christ, not realizing they are in spiritual bondage to their own physical bodies, Satan capitalizes big time on this misuse of intellect & self-esteem, ruining a young person’s compassion for others as well as their own self-respect.  Even today’s Christian music scene is not immune to this seduction, some young ‘Christian’ female artists looking like they could be just as at home on the cover of Vogue or Cosmopolitan as on a Christian website.

Speaking of advertising, another recent article in Today’s Pentecostal Evangel, ‘Childhood for sale’ by Christina Quick, speaks of how advertising agencies are targeting children, ready to cash in by exploiting children’s vulnerabilities:

“ ‘Kids are spending about 40 hours a week engaged in media, most of it electronic and commercially based … They are encouraged and taught to believe that shopping is a solution to life’s problems and that they are incomplete without brand[-names]’ … ‘Advertisers have tried to brand younger children, to instill in them an almost obsessive desire for a particular brand-name product’ … Victoria’s Secret plans to focus on the teen market to help boost revenue … ‘Little girls are immersed in the rush toward becoming teenagers before they’re in kindergarten’ … [one mother] worries about the effects of sex-charged advertising on her sixteen- & thirteen-year-old sons … she is also alarmed by the violence prevalent in many ads and products intended for young people; ‘the commercials for video games are often so violent, I can’t imagine the amount of violence teenagers are exposed to when they play the actual games’ … Even as many parents attempt to screen their children’s exposure to traditional media such as television, radio & magazines, advertisers continually find new ways to reach the juvenile market … ‘It used to be that [the only thing] parents had to worry about was television … Now there’s marketing on the Internet, DVDs & video games, cell phones & MP3 players’ … ‘Essentially, children are viewed as commodities in the marketplace, they’re bought & sold as audience share’ … ‘Even if parents could always protect their own children from these images, the culture is influenced by them, indirectly impacting all of us [emphasis mine] … As Christian parents we have to instill in our children and teens the responsibility for guarding their own hearts and teach them methods for this task.’ ”

Pretty frightening stuff.  All this reminds me of why I don’t bother watching TV anymore; but now, the same type of advertising pops up every time I go on the Internet and pull up practically any .com website.  Some of the most explicit offenders are now .com dating services, which allow posting of personal pornographic ads for free.

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So what can we, as the Church, do to stem this evil tide, this ubiquitous smothering blanket of pervasive, idolistic treachery?

1.   Child evangelism:  teach children the Gospel, the truth of God from the earliest age.  Where there is spiritual truth there can be no demonic footholds.  My Pastor’s adult children are shining examples of this kind of upbringing, both being model citizens and entering the ministry in their early 20s.

2.   As children grow, help them to monitor their own activities, to use their own minds & consciousness to discern right from wrong, good from evil, truth from lies, God’s Word from Satan’s deception.  Instill in them a sense of responsibility, self-respect & self-esteem.

3.   For teenagers and adults who have recently come to Christ, besides leading them to the truth of the Gospel, teach them to recognize how idolatry is rampant in American society.

“Let your conscience be your guide” is a good place to start teaching our young to recognize the value of integrity.  But as believers in Christ, it is not the highest level of guidance we have, for our consciousnesses are molded & colored by our culture.  Even within the same city, from neighborhood to neighborhood, there are vast differences in cultural beliefs that determine moral consciousness & attitude.  To bring adults out of idolic worship, to prevent children from being drawn into it, people’s individual consciousnesses must be brought into proper alignment with God’s Word.  Continually changing cultural values train subjective perceptions, but God’s Word, order, glory & judgment are universal constants.

Another big consternation of mine is how many modern churches have allowed thwmselves to be influenced by technological trends.  One point of possible confusion for teens & adults alike who are new in Christ, is the way most churches nowadays utilize the same media tools as the commercial/secular world.  From ‘Contemporary Christian’ songs written in the rock genre, to television, VCRs & DVDs, to CD & MP3 players, to Internet connectivity & digital projectors, virtually all the latest technology is being used in the Church.  On the outside, these wonderful machines are completely neutral & inert when turned off, it’s only when electricity is applied, turned on & in use that dangers arise from media content.  Since much of the recent ‘Contemporary Christian’ music is a direct imitation of demonic rock & rap music with Christian lyrics merely impressed upon it, there can be great difficulty in making the distinction, especially for those who don’t bother listening to the lyrics.  This is where the Church’s moral & spiritual education must come into play, to teach proper discernment to those who are still young in Christ.

The problem is, so many people today so greatly enjoy being entertained by electronic media, to the degree that some adults refuse to read anymore (or cannot read).  This generation is so accustomed (one could say ‘programmed’ or addicted) to the electronic onslaught, they truly cannot conceive of life without TV, radio, music players & computers.  If everyone could experience a ‘good ole fashioned’, electric free, acoustic a capella worship service, accompanied by a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, it might make a dramatic change in their outlook on life.

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But in spite of all this doom & gloom, Isaiah gave us hope for a brighter future:

In that day [people] will regard their Maker,
and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel;

they will not have regard for the altars,
the work of their hands,

and they will not look to what their own fingers have made,
either the Asherim or the altars of incense.

~ Isaiah 17:7-8 (RSV)

What we can do in the meantime (metaphorically):

“But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images [Asherim], and burn their carved images with fire … You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.”  ~ Deuteronomy 7:5,25 (NKJV)

As believers in Christ, we are all Temples of the Holy Spirit.  For the final word on avoiding idolatry, to keep your Temple spiritually clean, I think the Apostle’s Decree from the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 (ca. AD 48) says it best:

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:  that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.  If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.  ~ Acts 15:28-29 (NKJV)

And when you worship God, please do not be what someone dubbed a ‘Hindu Christian’:  take God out of His box for two hours Sunday morning, dust Him off a bit, pray & revere Him, then put Him back in His box until next Sunday.  This is how many Hindus treat their multitudinous gods, and is tantamount to idolatry.  For the One Who created the entire universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, don’t you think He deserves better treatment?  True believers should be open to praising & worshiping God every moment of their waking lives.  Then, not only will He enter your heart, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, He will begin to influence your dreams.

Blessings in Christ Who guides us,

~ Eric ~

Special thanks to authors Dr. Neil Anderson, John Bevere, Rick Joyner Patrick Morley, Dudley Hall, Michael Courtney, and the writers & editors of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel for their invaluable inspiration that helped me write this difficule article.

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For further study, in the New King James Version there are 158 references to the word ‘idol’ and its variants; 231 in the New International Version; 310 in the New Living Translation (researched on BibleGateway.com).  The list below is just a sampling of Scriptures that speak against idolatry, which can be easily applied to modern American society.  There are many, many more.

Amos 6:1-8

Psalm 97:

Psalm 115:4-8

Judges 17:4-6

1 Chronicles 16:26; Psalm 96:5

Jonah 2:8-9

Isaiah 2:17-18

Isaiah 44:9-1

Jeremiah 2:2-5, 8, 10

Isaiah 46:5-7

Nahum 1:14

Ezekiel 36:25

Micah 1:7

Micah 4:5

2 Kings 23:24

Galatians 4:8

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

Colossians 2:8

Colossians 3:5

1 Corinthians 10:14

1 John 5:21