I’ll Take A Bite Of That

posted in: Church, Culture | 14,012

There is a reason we follow recipes, to make something that is good and palatable, and also mostly because certain ingredients do not mix. One may change the type of cheese, or use almond milk instead of cow milk in a recipe. Because some ingredients may be different, they do not ruin the final product. It just gives it a different flavor. However, you may not replace the flower in pancakes with baking soda, because you would not end up with pancakes.

In the same way we must ensure we do not mix in outside worship of idols with the true worship of God. “Well”, one might add, “I only worship God”. Yes, by everything you understand you would believe that, but here lies my point. The worship of idols can sneak into the worship of God without it being obvious to us. Idols don’t always look like little brass statues that you can place on the mantle, though some of them might stick on the car window.

An idol that stands out is easily defeated, but one that slowly works its way in becomes natural and part of a culture. The mixing of idol worship and the worship of God may not seem distasteful to us, but is grossly unpalatable to God. This is where we come to the story of Balaam and Balak. In the book of numbers we find Balak, who was king over Moab, in fear of the Jews. He sends after Balaam knowing that “he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed”(Numbers 22:6). However, God warns Balaam to only speak what he is told. This does not go over well with Balak since Balaam ends up blessing Israel three times. Chapter 24 ends with Balaam telling what was to happen in the days to come and then vs. 25 of chapter 24 says “Then Balaam arose and departed and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way”.

The next chapter begins with the Israelites playing the harlot with the daughters of Moab, feasting on food sacrificed to idols and bowing to them as well. So the question is what happened? Here was a mighty nation moving along and following God’s plan and all of sudden they are joined to Baal of Peor. We find the rest of the story of Balak and Balaam in Revelation 2:12-17.

Balaam could not curse the people; however at some point he taught Balak how to trip them up. The verse says to place a “stumbling block” in front of them. Balak placed food sacrificed to idols in front of them to eat and enticed them to commit acts of immorality. This false worship and immorality led to Numbers chapter 25 in which the Lord became angry with Israel.

So why did Israel not reject the food and worship of Baal? Simply put, the food looked good and the women were pretty. “And if all I have to do is bow, then I get hot food and hot ladies… I mean this is their culture and I want to be seen as relevant, besides I still observe the Sabbath”. These things don’t seem so wrong, at least after the 3rd and 4th time. The word for “stumbling block” could also mean “snare”. Those that hunt and fish know you don’t catch prey if the bait doesn’t look enticing and the snare or stumbling block is visible. One trips over the “block” because their eyes are focused somewhere else; they don’t see it for what it is.

So what does this mean for us? We are smart people and we have access to more information than a bunch of folks running around in the desert. But knowledge is not as valuable as wisdom. Knowledge knows what it is we do, and where we go, and where we spend our time and money. Wisdom tells us why we do it. Godly wisdom is the key in understanding which items in our lives are idols and which are true worship and which ones need to be prayed about further.

So now we come to the Church in America, which is more accurately the American Church. So what is it, you might ask, that I am getting at? That the idols have crept into the church, which means there are those of us that worship things other than or along with God. The problem is the idols are different for each of us. (James 1:14) We can worship our sexuality, our “cause” be it pro or anti this and that, or even our politics. A person running for office often becomes our savior if we are not careful. “He/she will fix everything, if we can just get them elected.” We can even begin to praise our government, singing its praises in a worship service. We sacrifice our Saturdays to give honor to our favorite sports teams, and spend our weekday nights at ball parks in service to sports.

Now is it wrong to be pro or anti this and that? Is it wrong to want good leaders? Is it wrong to watch sports and let your kids play them? Depends on what you are searching for. You see the problem is not with the meat. All things are made clean and we know that there are no other gods. However, our desire to have those “meats” drives us to compromise and worship the idols that are associated with them. There is nothing wrong with a child playing baseball; it is when the game becomes the desire of our heart, or when we praise our nation as though it is our savior. It is when we miss where the meat comes from that we are led astray. We believe that the idol provides the meat we desire, whether it be peace, justice, happiness, or protection. These things are to be sought from God. Dead idols can do nothing for us.

This brings us back to us, the church. When we are enticed by the things of the world, we must be careful that they do not become the object of our affection. Because when they do, we will mix them in our true worship. The idols will compete with our worship of God and if not thrown down we will bow our knee to them and give Sunday lip service to the one true God.

14012 Responses

  1. Jacqualine Boyns

    Hi, my friend! I’ve been eagerly anticipating our long-awaited meetup today.

    Your website shines with creativity and professionalism! The user-centered design approach clearly reflects the skill of its developer. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my feedback!

    You can always check my website for new content — Copper wire bar scrap procurement

    Adieu, and may your heart be light as a feather

  2. Antonioemose

    Я поддерживаю «Бест Вей» и буду поддерживать, несмотря на весь этот кошмар, который творят в Приморском суде и ГСУ. Эти “люди” в погонах, которые грабят ветеранов, подделывают протоколы и выбивают показания – позор всей правоохранительной системе. Вы посмотрите, что они творят! 83-летний ветеран, инвалид второй группы – его три дня держат в КПЗ, не дают пить, воруют деньги. Это что, борьба с преступностью? Нет, это просто ОПГ под прикрытием погона. Зоя Семёнова, Евгений Иорданиди, Дмитрий Выдрин – все эти люди оказались заложниками коррупции. А кооператив «Бест Вей» – это тот редкий случай, когда люди объединились ради помощи друг другу, ради справедливости. Мы обязаны бороться за них!

  3. ค่าจัดดอกไม้งานศพ

    Lady Gaga is getting back to basics.

    Following her panned performance in the flop movie Joker: Folie à Deux, the New York City native, 38, is releasing a single titled
    Disease, set to be released Friday.

    Diesase, the first of songs from her forthcoming seventh album,
    was teased Tuesday on the Grammy-winning artist’s Instagram
    account, as she captioned the image: ‘DISEASE 10.25.’

    In a teaser clip from the viewpoint of an approaching vehicle, the actress-singer, whose
    real name is Stefani Germanotta, sported a black mane as she ran from it.

    Gaga’s label Universal Music on Monday put out pre-saves for the forthcoming single, with
    links to Spotify and Apple Music, Variety reported.

    Lady Gaga, 38, is going back to basics in her pop career
    following her panned performance in the flop movie Joker: Folie à Deux.
    Pictured at the film’s LA premiere last month 

    The New York City native is releasing a single titled Disease on Friday 

    Gaga also made public a Spotify playlist in which
    her letters in her songs spelled out the phrase ‘Gaga Disease,’
    according to the outlet.

    Lady Gaga on Monday posted an adjacent image of what appeared
    to be her figure splayed across the front of a car with the phrase ‘Disease’ painted on the street, and a series of dates, times and
    cities. 

    Read More

    Joker: Folie À Deux is branded ‘bleak’ and the ‘most disappointing follow-up’ by critics

    The singer, whose hits include Bad Romance, Born This Way, Just Dance and Poker Face, is
    headed back to her pop persona following the September release of her album Harlequin, which
    was inspired by Joker: Folie à Deux.

    Among the tracks on the album included two new songs, and standards
    such as That’s Entertainment, That’s Life and Get Happy.

    Like the film, it was not an initial commercial success, marking her lowest ever entry for a full-length record on the Billboard 200 charts at number 20.

    Lady Gaga in the movie played the role of Harley Quinn
    opposite Joaquin Phoenix, who earned the Best Actor Oscar for
    his performance in the franchise’s 2019 film Joker.

    According to the outlet, Joker: Folie à Deux ‘could potentially lose $150 to $200 million’ despite studio
    insiders saying it would break even.

    The Warner Bros. film has made $192.2 million worldwide,
    with $56.6 million in domestic box office
    revenue, according to Box Office Mojo.

    In a teaser clip from the viewpoint of an approaching vehicle, the actress-singer, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, sported a black
    mane as she ran from it 

    Lady Gaga on Monday posted an adjacent image of what appeared
    to be her figure splayed across the front of a car with the phrase ‘Disease’ painted on the street, and a series of
    dates, times and cities 

    The singer is headed back to her pop persona following the September release of her album
    Harlequin, which was inspired by Joker: Folie à Deux 

    Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix opposite
    the pop staple, underwhelmed with critics and in box office revenues 

    Some fans have said that despite the film’s initial failure financially and with critics, it will be looked upon favorably years from now.

    Lady Gaga has had some commercial success in recent
    months with her pairing with Bruno Mars on Die With a Smile, which
    was released in August, landing in the third spot on Billboard’s Hot 100.

    In 2020, she put out the studio album Chromatica, which initially landed in the top spot upon its debut and included the hit single Rain on Me, a
    collaboration with Ariana Grande.

    InstagramLady GagaSpotify

    Feel free to surf to my web site :: ค่าจัดดอกไม้งานศพ

  4. nonton bokep hot

    Whats up this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if
    blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
    I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted
    to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!

  5. Aiden Botsford

    I do not even know how I ended up here but I thought this post was great I do not know who you are but certainly youre going to a famous blogger if you are not already Cheers

  6. nonton bokep hot

    I’ll right away clutch your rss as I can not in finding your e-mail
    subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you’ve any?
    Kindly permit me realize in order that I may subscribe.
    Thanks.

  7. Telegram下载

    HelloWord翻译Hello World聊天翻译助手专注于为出海企业提供高质量的即时聊天翻译服务,专业聊天翻译技术,极速稳定收发,全球畅游,使用邮箱免费注册登录体验,专业翻译技术团队开发,超数百家企业信赖,支持whatsapp Line Tinder Twitter Instagram Telegram Zalo Facebook Badoo Bumble Quora Linkedin googleVoice Crisp Hangouts TextNow VK等软件的实时聊天翻译,无限网页多开。支持facebook群发,whastsapp群发,googleVoice群发

  8. extra tipi

    I simply could not go away your web site prior to suggesting that I really loved
    the usual information an individual supply for your guests?
    Is going to be again frequently to check out new posts.

    Here is my blog; extra tipi

  9. Emmy Ratke

    Thank you I have just been searching for information approximately this topic for a while and yours is the best I have found out so far However what in regards to the bottom line Are you certain concerning the supply

  10. neueporn

    I was suggestted thhis blog bby mmy cousin. I aam nnot suure wuether thios poet is
    written bby hhim aas nobody elpse know such detailed about
    my trouble. You’re wonderful! Thanks!

  11. bokep indo

    Hey there, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues.

    When I look at your blog site in Ie, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
    I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, terrific blog!

  12. JosephHam

    Mobile applications have become an integral part of our daily lives, offering a wide range of tools to simplify tasks, entertain, and enhance productivity. As technology continues to evolve, more apps are being designed to cater to different needs, from gaming to communication and beyond. These applications offer convenience, and with the right features, they can become indispensable on our smartphones babu88 download http://3.248.198.109/doku.php?id=_Is_Tonkeeper_Safe?_A_Detailed_Look_at_Its_Security_Protocols

  13. JosephHam

    Mobile applications have become an integral part of our daily lives, offering a wide range of tools to simplify tasks, entertain, and enhance productivity. As technology continues to evolve, more apps are being designed to cater to different needs, from gaming to communication and beyond. These applications offer convenience, and with the right features, they can become indispensable on our smartphones babu88 download https://www.sportnabiblioteka.bg/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=user&id=119765

  14. MatthewBiz

    Olymp Casino — популярная платформа, предоставляющая пользователям Казахстана широкий выбор казино игр и ставок на спорт https://ideannualconference.com/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *