Smash the calf!
"It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.
Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." (1Kings 12:28)
“Let me make it easier for you”, says the leader who wants a people to follow him. “Did God really say we had to worship in a certain way?”, says the one who wants to make a name for himself. “Does God really mean we should not make idols for ourselves – what is an idol anyway if it is meant to lead us to God?”, says the devil who wants to steal God’s people for his own evil purposes. Syncretism: combining or blending two different philosophies, cultures and/or religions into one new one; cultural syncretism is the altering or eradication of a people groups’ previous beliefs, practices and ultimately identity to introduce and establish a new identity and belief system.
Because of his own insecurities and desire for power, Jeroboam, infamously known for “the sins of Jeroboam” is the king after Solomon who would lead the now divided people of God - the ten tribes in Northern Israel. He comes on the scene in 1Kings 11 as a rebel to the throne of Solomon. Solomon drives out the rebel and Jeroboam flees to Egypt. Do you remember Egypt from where the Israelites were freed? Do you remember what they did after they were exiled while Moses was on the mountain with God? Aaron, Moses’s brother, set up a golden calf for the Israelites to worship (Ex. 32). Aaron said almost the same thing Jeroboam says, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" (Exodus 32:4). As God is finishing engraving “you shall have no other gods before me” on stone tablets, the people of Israel are worshipping the golden calf. 400 years in Egypt had formed a new identity and belief system in God’s people. They were syncretists – guilty of syncretism! While Jeroboam is in Egypt, and friends with the king of Egypt (1Kings 11:40), he has been acculturated to their way of life – syncretized! He worshipped the golden calf, or one of the many bull/calf deities of Egypt. When he returns to Israel, the people had already been under an apostate Solomon who allowed the worship of foreign deities, because of the influence of his many wives (1kings 11:4-10). The people are ripe for apostasy and rebellion under a new syncretism. Was it a slow fade or a quick slide that allowed a people to drift so far from their God? Or was it a case of “as goes the leader, so goes the people” (2Chronicles 12:1).
Fast forward to our day. For years now we have been exchanging the truth of God’s word for lies, and we are reaping what we have sown. We have replaced true evangelical fundamentals with watered down beliefs and practices. We have allowed the culture to dictate what we ought to believe, how we ought to interpret God’s word, how to practice our faith, and what god to worship. We believe the lie that we all worship the same god, no matter what faith background we come from. Although Father, Son, Holy Spirit are the One true God, few will stand up to defend faith in Him alone. We have allowed the world to redefine marriage, redefine sexuality, redefine the definition of a person made in the image of God, and redefine God Himself. Perhaps, we have spent too much time in “Egypt”, worshipping the golden calf, or perhaps we believe the lie that it is “not my job to stand for biblical truth” as the culture swallows more and more victims in its syncretic jowls. “Oh! But we don’t want to offend”, says the mute Christian justifying his own silence. The words of the Master ring out loud: “I’ve not come to bring peace but a sword; to make family members enemies” (Matt. 10:32-38). As we watch a whole people group fall prey to the god of this age, is there anyone who will not be swayed by the woke agenda of our culture that seeks to eradicate true faith and replace it with a syncretized state accepted religion that includes and accepts every deviancy under its new religious umbrella labelled “love and tolerance”? Lord have mercy! Will the real followers of Jesus please rise up! We are losing people left, right and center, who are taking the mark of the beast, rejecting the seal God has placed upon their forehead. We are seeing leader after leader bow the knee to the golden calf, exchanging true worship, establishing a false priesthood, setting up feast and services God has not ordained, and deceiving God’s sent prophets with prophets who lie and lure into sin (Read 1Kings 12 & 13). The church will suffer what it will because, "you have disobeyed the word of the LORD and have not kept the command that the LORD your God commanded you, but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water" (1Kings 13:21-22). Are we eating and drinking what God has forbidden, in a place God has not allowed? Are we allowing false prophets to lead us into sin? Are we letting the world tell us how to worship and even worse, who to worship? I know there is a remnant out there who sees what is going on and whom God is stirring into action! God sees you! It is time oh remnant to rise up! Take your place! Lose your fear of man and your need for acceptance. Choose to please God not people! Smash the golden calves of our day and let us lift high the cross and our banner of truth over our cities and land! Let us proclaim Jesus as King, and we as His loyal subjects who will bow to none but He!
RISE UP REMNANT!
"Advancing the Kingdom of God by releasing Spirit-filled followers to serve Jesus in freedom and joy."
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