Modern Idolatry
An idol is a physical representation of a spiritual reality present in the inner man. It is an outward manifestation of an unseen heart posture. Understanding the concept of idolatry is a key for discerning spirits, winning our spiritual battles, and speaking Life into people.
Throughout the Old Testament, we can see that idol worship was forbidden for Yahweh’s people. The idols of the surrounding cultures were often crafted images of these peoples’ gods and deities. What empowered this worship was the value placed on the god or deities supposed power. These idols were the personified embodiment of what the people valued most in their collective heart. Demonic or not, these gods were given personal names and worshiped as real spiritual beings. The point is that the spiritual focus of the people was not on the living God, but on the thoughts and desires of their own heart. These ungodly heart postures found physical manifestation and expression in idols.
Natural principles conveyed by the Old Testament foreshadow the spiritual realities of the New. The Old Testament contains our entire spiritual inheritance, veiled in symbols, allusions, and metaphors (Hebrews 10:1; Matthew 5:17). The physical idols of the Old Testament can be understood as postures of the heart that stand in opposition to the reality of God’s Word. The people who worship these idols are the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms that gravitate toward false beliefs (Ephesians 6:12). False beliefs unaligned to the reality of who we are in Christ draw the influence of darkness in our lives. When I believe lies, I inherently participate in and agree with darkness.
Natural Israel is a prophetic type for spiritual Israel, the Body of Christ. Israel is often at odds with surrounding antagonistic people who worship other gods and idols. Oftentimes, it is their own unbelief in God’s promises and provision that bring about this “judgement” and “wrath” of God. Yahweh often tells the prophets that He Himself is the one who will bring judgment through other people groups.
Under the New Covenant, Jesus reveals that He has not come to judge the world, but to save it (John 3:17). Jesus is the perfect representation of who God actually is. The revelation of Jesus thus shifts how we are to interpret and understand God’s character in the Old Testament. Jesus reveals that we bring about our own darkness through our unbelief in who He reveals God to be, and who we are in Him. Jesus is the light of the world, and as He is, so are we (1 John 4:17). When I believe (trust) that I am like Him, in every way, I will experience life as He does.
In Colossians, Paul admonishes avoidance of certain behaviors that should not characterize the new humanity, the Body of Christ. Paul calls these behaviors “idolatry.”
Colossians 3:5-6 (NIV) “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil, desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.”
Paul is making the point that these behaviors are indicative of darkened inner worship. My heart’s worship is what I am focused on in the inner man. What I focus on - be it ideas, people, or objects - is what I will become like. Paul is saying that such behavior is evidence of hearts not yielded completely to the satisfaction, power, and peace found in Jesus. Lies believed that do not align with the reality of our new nature in Christ empower this behavior (Romans 1:25). Spiritual idols are believed lies.
Worship of the heart will always find expression in physical reality. We can discern heart postures through attentiveness to the thoughts, actions, and behaviors of others. When I understand that antagonistic spiritual forces in the heavenly realms gravitate toward idols of the heart, I can identify the spirits that empower false beliefs such as shame, anger, lust, worthlessness, depression, etc. When I replace a lie of the enemy with God’s truth, light immediately flows in from heaven. When light comes, darkness can’t stay. The key is getting other people (and ourselves), to believe what God’s Word says we are. Darkness will remain until we become convinced that the Cross has already declared us perfect Sons of God. God’s entire purpose in spiritual growth is to get us to think (and thus, act), as His Son Jesus does.
What is the “wrath” that Paul writes of in the above verse? God does not Himself bring punishment on anyone, it is our own beliefs and ways of thinking that reap natural consequences. We have the ability to reap the fruit of the Spirit or destruction. We empower spiritual darkness by believing lies. Under the New Covenant, “God’s wrath” becomes a Hebraic figure of speech describing the natural consequence for willful disobedience (Colossians 3:6).
How does spiritual idolatry relate to spiritual warfare? We are never at the whim of spiritual forces beyond our control. The enemy can not touch us, as we are hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3). We often equate heavy thoughts and alarming feelings with calculated, cunning attacks from satan, referencing popular “warfare” verses like Ephesians 6:16 and 1 Peter 5:8. When we do this, we offer the enemy power he never had in the first place. Paul and Peter are both essentially warning, “Don’t be influenced to turn back to the thinking patterns of your pre-Christ existence” (Colossians 2:20; Galatians 4:3). Jesus has disarmed every power of the enemy (Colossians 2:15-16; Revelation 1:18). If we believed it, we would experience it.
The Lord’s goal is to get me to think and act as His Son does. I never fight any battle on my own, He is the one who fights every battle I will ever have (Exodus 14:14). At times, I will experience in my thoughts and feelings the Lord fighting tirelessly on my behalf to destroy and break down believed lies, identity paradigms, and falsities in my inner man. My inner man is in the spiritual realm, seated in heavenly places with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). The mind is the connector to this realm. Torment of conscious is a by-product of the Lord reclaiming my mind from the persuasions of the enemy. These “battles” may feel excruciating, because false identity patterns that have defined your very existence are being put to death, once and for all.
If you are experiencing a battle in your mind, rejoice! You are being delivered from the lies you believe about yourself, the unseen idols of your heart. Total freedom is coming - keep your eyes on the King. Our inheritance is complete freedom - mind, body, and spirit. On the Cross, Jesus said, “It is finished.”
The inner man lies beyond my conscious awareness, but we can understand more by becoming aware of thoughts and feelings, capturing them and framing them through the Holy Spirit. Our thoughts clue us in to what is happening in the unseen. Most of our “battles” are actually the Lord helping us to unlearn the lies religion and the secular sphere have foisted on us. We are sons and daughters of God, united with Christ in God. There is no other truth.
Spiritual idolatry, the worship of lies in the inner man, manifests mostly in my actions and behavior. Alcoholism, homosexuality, bursts of rage, and sexual addiction are all examples of manifest idolatry. Freedom from such things can not be changed simply by adjusting or moderating behavior. The things are, in and of themselves, only expressions of spiritual idol worship in the unseen. When I understand this reality, I can respond with understanding, truth, and compassion. Understanding myself and others from God’s perspective is what brings manifest power and healing (Proverbs 3:7-8).
In Roman's, Paul summarizes these concepts with the following:
Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The renewing of the mind brings my behavior in line with the Word of God. This is true spiritual worship. Freedom from idolatry and darkness comes when I partner with Jesus to walk into a deeper understanding of what God’s Word says about me.
