American Idols

I'm taking three classes this semester that seem to be overlapping a bit in course content: Old Testament, Spiritual Warfare, and Contemporary Mission Methods. On the surface, those three courses don't look like they have much in common, but each week, we seem to go over similar themes that really get pounded in to my head. Is someone trying to teach me something?

This week in Old Testament we've been talking about idols. We've also been talking about idols in the other two classes as well, but specifically in OT, we were talking about how Israel falls away from God because of the idols in the land. Almost all of the problems that occur to Israel after they leave Egypt are due to idolatry: Achan's sin, the golden calf, I could go on and on, but Israel gets caught in this trap, and though they escape for a short time from the idolatry of their parents, they seem to jump right back in again.

In the New Testament, Paul warns of idolatry and not to get involved with it. It seems like such an obvious thing, but I don't think it's as obvious as we give it credit for. I always used to wonder how the Israelites could fall back into the same traps of idolatry, but for us today, it takes on different forms. In 21st century Christianity, we think we can recognize idolatry. We know that the power of a Buddha statue or cows are void of power compared to the awesome Creator of the Universe.

Yet, idolatry still exists today; only it exists in forms that we do not so easily recognize. So what are these idols of America? In my spiritual warfare book, Murphy calls them demons of "materialism, intellectualism, self-worship, the pursuit of power, position, pleasure, possessions. In the religious realm we have everything they had except for the the physical temple of artemis. Taking its place, however, are the many material temples plus the mystical temple of the New Age movement."

It's true that we have so many things that we use to try to take the place of the power of God in our lives. There are so many churches that are set up as a "feel good" church. There are so many ministries that guide you into the thinking that if you have money, God is blessing you. If you don't have money, you can make money and God will bless you. There are so many more examples, and I could go on, but I was just wondering if anyone else had any insight into this. We know that these forms of idolatry exist, but how do we deal with them? My only answer is the same way the Israelites dealt with their idols. They crushed them, and put God first. Any insights?