The Reformed Witness
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of Knowledge: But fools despise Wisdom and Instruction"
Proverbs 1:7

When the church falls prey to sloth and forgetfulness, it slides into idolatry, and the setting up of the “forbidden images of man's philosophies.” Today’s modern church has swallowed both the gnat and the camel. Slowly, but surely, the blind guides of the church’s leadership have made the church impotent, by embracing and implementing vain ideals and philosophies of the world.

Visit most any modern church, and you will be amazed at the amount of worldly structure which makes up the worship. No longer is the church the solemn assembly, coupled with the deep sense of mercy and forgiveness. Instead it has become a den of robbers and an avenue for the flesh to take root downward and spring upward. In many churches today, it is difficult to distinguish whether it is a worship ceremony or a party, inundated by secular- type entertainment and the titillation of the carnal senses. The church has traded her birthright for a pot of Esau’s blood red pottage of worldly wisdom, philosophies and practices. Like Manasseh, the wicked king of Judah, they have seduced the people and caused them to pass their sons and daughters through the fire of God’s anger.

TO BOW DOWN IS TO SERVE

The next warning in Exodus 20:5 states that once worship and reverence is rendered to the “image”, servitude then follows. When an individual reveres any philosophy, ideal, notion or tradition, that bowing down will cause the individual to ultimately serve that form of ideology.

Whenever God’s precepts are forgotten, ignored or rebelled against, generations suffer. Erroneous traditions and vain philosophies will continue with the future generations, if God does not intervene. This is a serious indictment upon the parent who refuses to teach their children in the way of the Lord. It is a further indictment upon the church leaders, the fathers of the established church. They, too, are entirely responsible for the well-being of the flock, the children of the Lord’s inheritance.