okieinexile
Well-Known Member
By Bobby Neal Winters
I have an affinity for the Prophet Elijah. Elijah was a bold foe of idolatry that faced down Jezebel’s bevy of 400 prophets of Baal. They had a prophet’s showdown atop Mt. Carmel and faced-off over altars with the prophets of Baal coming out on the bad end of it. Then Elijah encouraged an angry mob to put them to the sword, and they obliged by slaughtering them, as mobs often do.
Queen Jezebel, who was Elijah’s arch-nemesis, was not happy, to say the least, upon receiving the news that her prophets were all dead. As a good, old-fashioned Baal worshiper from way back, she sent word to Elijah, “May the gods deal with me ever so severely if you aren’t as dead as one of them [her prophets] by this time tomorrow.” Jezebel always got all the best lines.
It was what Elijah did next that makes me identify with him so strongly. Elijah ran as if the Devil himself was on his heals.
Like Elijah, I am a staunch defender of orthodoxy. I don’t mean the Orthodoxy with a capital “O” like the Christian church in the East (though those folks are pretty darned nice and worthy of defense). I mean orthodoxy with a little “o” which is the received faith that has been passed down since the time of the Twelve Apostles. I defend it boldly, at least in my own mind, and then I run like the dickens and cower under the shade of a broom tree whenever Jezebel comes after me in whatever form she might take.
I do believe that my country, and the western world to which it belongs, is in danger from idolatry. When I say this, I do not mean that folks have built altars of stone in their back yards and are offering burnt bits of bull to Baal—though barbecuing can sometimes take on pagan aspects. I mean that our priories are out of whack. Idolatry is worshiping the creature rather than the creator. It is taking something and raising it to a level of importance that is above its proper place.
For example, in the U.S., we have made money into a god. We don’t care for our own poor; we don’t care about the destitute in other countries; all we care about is making money and plenty of it, and to hell with anybody who gets in our way. Capitalism, which has produced a comfortable way of life for many and opportunity for countless more, can become a god if not put in its proper place.
It doesn’t stop there either. Sex is also a god to many. We only have to look around us to see the girls with their southward diving beltlines to know that. Men and women don’t see the sex act as becoming one flesh and sharing a life with someone else, but pursue many shallow dalliances. The relationship of marriage which can show us Christ’s relationship with his church has been sacrificed on the altar of promiscuity. Moments of pleasure are taken in trade for a lifetime of love.
Neither making money nor having sex is inherently evil. Hard work and thrift are virtues. Sex is a gift that God has given us to reproduce ourselves and strengthen the bonds between a man and a woman. Each in its natural order is pure and good, but they are each easy to elevate to too high a level of importance. They can take over our lives, force everything else out, and make us their slaves.
These are only two examples. Virtually anything can be made an idol. The aim of the worship of the One God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Israel, which is revealed to us in the person is Jesus Christ, is higher. However much money you might have, with God there are more riches. Whatever heights of ecstasy you might reach sexually, with God there are more pleasures, more joy.
With my attitudes as out-of-date, old-fashioned, and dare I say, Traditional as they are, there are times when I feel lonely. After Elijah took refuge at Mt. Horeb, the Lord came to talk with him, and Elijah complained that he was the only prophet of the Lord who was left alive. The Lord disabused him of this notion and told him that there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bent a knee to Baal. So as lonely as I sometime feel, I know there are people out there who are just as out-of-date, old-fashioned, and Traditional as I am. Maybe God can coax me out of this nice little cave that I am hiding in on the face of Mt. Horeb to where I can look out and see that I am not alone.
I have an affinity for the Prophet Elijah. Elijah was a bold foe of idolatry that faced down Jezebel’s bevy of 400 prophets of Baal. They had a prophet’s showdown atop Mt. Carmel and faced-off over altars with the prophets of Baal coming out on the bad end of it. Then Elijah encouraged an angry mob to put them to the sword, and they obliged by slaughtering them, as mobs often do.
Queen Jezebel, who was Elijah’s arch-nemesis, was not happy, to say the least, upon receiving the news that her prophets were all dead. As a good, old-fashioned Baal worshiper from way back, she sent word to Elijah, “May the gods deal with me ever so severely if you aren’t as dead as one of them [her prophets] by this time tomorrow.” Jezebel always got all the best lines.
It was what Elijah did next that makes me identify with him so strongly. Elijah ran as if the Devil himself was on his heals.
Like Elijah, I am a staunch defender of orthodoxy. I don’t mean the Orthodoxy with a capital “O” like the Christian church in the East (though those folks are pretty darned nice and worthy of defense). I mean orthodoxy with a little “o” which is the received faith that has been passed down since the time of the Twelve Apostles. I defend it boldly, at least in my own mind, and then I run like the dickens and cower under the shade of a broom tree whenever Jezebel comes after me in whatever form she might take.
I do believe that my country, and the western world to which it belongs, is in danger from idolatry. When I say this, I do not mean that folks have built altars of stone in their back yards and are offering burnt bits of bull to Baal—though barbecuing can sometimes take on pagan aspects. I mean that our priories are out of whack. Idolatry is worshiping the creature rather than the creator. It is taking something and raising it to a level of importance that is above its proper place.
For example, in the U.S., we have made money into a god. We don’t care for our own poor; we don’t care about the destitute in other countries; all we care about is making money and plenty of it, and to hell with anybody who gets in our way. Capitalism, which has produced a comfortable way of life for many and opportunity for countless more, can become a god if not put in its proper place.
It doesn’t stop there either. Sex is also a god to many. We only have to look around us to see the girls with their southward diving beltlines to know that. Men and women don’t see the sex act as becoming one flesh and sharing a life with someone else, but pursue many shallow dalliances. The relationship of marriage which can show us Christ’s relationship with his church has been sacrificed on the altar of promiscuity. Moments of pleasure are taken in trade for a lifetime of love.
Neither making money nor having sex is inherently evil. Hard work and thrift are virtues. Sex is a gift that God has given us to reproduce ourselves and strengthen the bonds between a man and a woman. Each in its natural order is pure and good, but they are each easy to elevate to too high a level of importance. They can take over our lives, force everything else out, and make us their slaves.
These are only two examples. Virtually anything can be made an idol. The aim of the worship of the One God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Israel, which is revealed to us in the person is Jesus Christ, is higher. However much money you might have, with God there are more riches. Whatever heights of ecstasy you might reach sexually, with God there are more pleasures, more joy.
With my attitudes as out-of-date, old-fashioned, and dare I say, Traditional as they are, there are times when I feel lonely. After Elijah took refuge at Mt. Horeb, the Lord came to talk with him, and Elijah complained that he was the only prophet of the Lord who was left alive. The Lord disabused him of this notion and told him that there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bent a knee to Baal. So as lonely as I sometime feel, I know there are people out there who are just as out-of-date, old-fashioned, and Traditional as I am. Maybe God can coax me out of this nice little cave that I am hiding in on the face of Mt. Horeb to where I can look out and see that I am not alone.
