- Idolatry: image-worship or divine honor paid to any created object
Earlier this evening I was reading this at Darnell’s blog, Independent Conservative, US Presidential Candidate John Sidney McCain III Prayed At The Wall Idol Too. So Did President George W. Bush, under my favorite tag he uses, Nuts On Parade:
quote..
I guess if you want to be President, you need money and to maximize you have to go pray at the “Wailing Wall”, to get your money to flow right. I mean being an ally to Israel is fine, but praying at an idol is a totally different story all together! Which basically means, any man trying to be President apparently feels he must bow to an idol (a wall) if he wants any shot at winning. more at link
When what do I find in my mailbox afterward, but a letter from Hagee and his CUFI organization, with this request:
Christians United for Israel is providing you the opportunity to place your prayer in the Western Wall without leaving your house.
Your prayer will be printed out, prayed over at the CUFI national office in San Antonio, sent to Jerusalem, and hand-delivered to the Western Wall.
What is wrong with these people. Don’t they realize there is no ‘special power’ to be had or found in a location on earth–that this wall or any wall (or building structure) holds no special power by which prayers are answered, nor is there any one earthly location today, where God can be found. I can understand why these politicians do this, –its for being seen, political in nature. But why O why do Christians do this? Its idol worship folks…plain and simple based on bad theology.
Last winter I posted what I considered a ‘crazy’ story concerning what the owners of WorldNetDaily were offering for sale at their website: The ultimate gift! Temple Mount soil. That too was idolatry.
Are we as Christians to esteem ‘dirt and stones’? No!
From ChristianAnswers Dictionary on Idolatry
The forms of idolatry are:
- Fetishism, or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc.
- Nature worship, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature.
- Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes.
The first and second commandments are directed against idolatry of every form:
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” Exodus 20
IDOL:
Hebrew: Matztzebah, meaning: something stationed, i.e. a column or stone (memorial)
Hebrew: ‘Elil, meaning: “a thing of naught”
Hebrew: Semel, meaning: “likeness;”
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There is more then one type of apostasy around today–some more obvious then others. This is one which has flown under the radar for years. Its terrible theology which can be seen to lead to nothing short of false dangerous doctrinal beliefs, and in this case, idolatry.
"If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness."
Much Ado about nothing. Isn’t that a title to one of Shakespeare’s plays? People pray at the wailing wall for the same reason you might want to kneel in the same space Jesus knelt, or to step where an Apostle stepped… Because it is a connection to something Holy. It is an idea of something Holy and sacred. The Temple was sacred to the Jews, and to pray there, therefore, is to be in connection to something sacred. It has no power in itself, it’s simply an idea… A feeling… Something that some people might find wonderful.
Idol worship is what Catholics do. They pray to Saints and hope that the Saint will somehow help their prayer be answered. This is praying AT a sacred location, just like a Christian might pray at the place where Christ was crucified, or at a theater in some small town. It’s a location, a special place, nothing more. Same thing with the Dirt. The Dirt is from a sacred place in history, a place where the glory of God once dwelt. To visit such places, or to have those places come to you… It is a priceless feeling, and not something that a Christian should be condemned for.
Some esteem some days holier than others. Others eat meat, while others eat only vegetables. Remember that scripture? It applies here also.
Great post PJ! Hagee is so off with this Israel thing… he’s a false teacher and he’s leading many astray!
1st of all Hagee has taken his form of Christian Zionism far beyond the outer limits of anything Paul encountered in his wars with the Judiazers.[These were Christians that demanded circumcision for all Christian believers[men], and a strict adherence to the Law of Moses, for all, included in their faith in Jesus’ blood and cross.]
Hagee is a manic fundraiser for Zionism and the Priesthood, with his eye on the great prize…the rebuilding of the temple. He receives unregenerated rabbis as equal brothers in the Kingdom, and has many preach and speak at his church, and scores on his TV program.
He may not believe that Jesus is the Messiah, for the JEWS!…He is OK for the gentiles though. I have read quotes of Hagee declaring such things, but have not investigated the sources enough to accuse him of this apostacy. If true, of course, this would immediately classify him as heretic numero uno. It follows his reasoning though, as Dracula has a more honorable status in the eyes of a religious Jew, than Jesus. This is heartbreaking but true.
To be accepted by that hateful crowd, you would have to soft soap your stance on everything remotely associated with Jesus as Messiah, and probably deny Him as the sole path to God. Hagee is identified as the Nehemiah of Christian Judaism, in Israel, with the emphasis on Judaism. He, in my book, has crossed over the line, anyway, even if his denial of Jesus is not true. He dresses like a rabbi, smoozes with all of the leaders in Israel, and supports every effort to establish their faith, as opposed to founding the Kingdom of Heaven; a gate opened through Jesus’s Blood alone.
As far as Idolatry goes; How about when the great pope John Paul died. George W. bush, flew to Rome, to be filmed in his adoration and prayers for the deceased Pontiff. He was given CARDINAL status, and access to the guilded coffin, alone. He somberly rose from his seat, and opened a gated bar, to proceed to the alter , directly in front of the corpse. John Paul, of course, was decked out in exquisite linens, gold crosses, masonic symbols and of course that weird fish hat!….the crown of Dagon himself.
He bowed his knee, and dutifully clasped his hands in the steeple fashion..[just like mommy taught us, as kids..]..and began to intercede for his journey back into the underworld.. The most active , and arch enemy to the meek and lowly Lamb of God in history…the Bishop of Rome.
That’s our President. A christian, no less….yip!
For the record, I love the Jews, and have a heart that they may know Him. I have been there some, in Israel, and ministered there, but the Bible says that there is ONE body, with JEW and GREEK alike. Jews don’t have a special synagogue in Heaven, and wear the YAMMAKAH at the THRONE. Politicians are liars. It is the art of compromise, after all. Hagee and Bush are both politicians.
And the DEVIL took Jesus to a high place, and showed Him all the Kingdoms of the EARTH in a MOMENT in time. “All of these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me!”………
Jesus replied; “It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God only, and Him only shall you serve.”
In the last days, many will call darkness light, and light darkness. This is that. We need to read our Bibles, and pray always that we will be counted worthy to stand before the Son of Man in that day. If we are ashamed of Him, and Him being the one and only path to the Father, while here on the Earth, He will be ashamed of us, on that day, in Heaven.
” BEWARE OF MEN!”
You’re exactly right, PJ. If the wall is efficacious, I suppose there was no need for Jesus to die and for the temple veil to be rent in twain.
This is, indeed, apostasy. I have more sympathy for Oneness folks than for idolaters and, in effect, cross-deniers.
Ricardo, you are wrong. You can’t use Romans 14 as a green light to committing idolatry.
First, there are no inanimate objects which God considers ‘holy’. Not a place, piece of dirt, a wall, a church building, an icon, etc. Our only ‘connection’ to God is Christ himself…through his Holy Spirit which lives within us.
To seek to connect with God in any other manner is idolatry, for it is in fact saying there is more then one way to (reach) God. Those that wrongly believe they can connect to God, or have a prayer answered by standing in front of a wall, which was once connected to a temple (which by the way, was destroyed as a judgment) are foolish… .
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. John 4
But you surely see that this ‘idea’ does not apply to followers of Christ….
I believe you once said you come from a Catholic background? (if im wrong forgive the error) ….if so, perhaps it is the teaching of icons, images, and specific locations, holding spiritual power, or being holy, which is keeping you from seeing this clearly..
aha! Thomas, you should have been around here back last fall when Hagee’s book, In Defense of Israel, hit the bookstores. There was some very ‘lively’ discussions!
http://pjmiller.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/jesus-did-not-come-to-be-the-messiah/
and
http://pjmiller.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/review-of-in-defense-of-israel-by-john-hagee/
That was only two of possibly 5 or 6 threads we had going
I actually read Hagee’s book myself a wrote my own little review..
http://pjmiller.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/finally-read-the-entire-book/
Hagee denies holding to a form of dual covenant theology, but his actions and words say differently.
Yes, politicians. This is what i’ve been attempting to point out here at the blog concerning Hagee’s type of Christian Zionism and his CUFI org. for the last year; that it is 100% political in nature, not Christian.
Hagee’s with-holding of the gospel from lost Jews, and his accepting of Judaism has led many believers astray–but worse yet, lost Jews he has been and are in fellowship with, will result in lost chances for many of them to hear the ‘good news’…
Brother Ricardo: When my husband and I visited Israel, it was with great interest and the sense of Biblical historicity that we visited the various locations and buildings that are supposedly “the very sites” of this and that.
One of those places was the Wall in question. It was whitened with papers stuffed between the cracks of each stone; the plaza in front was crowded with seekers prostrating, chanting, crying out, bowing back and forth. Women in our company were required to cover our arms to even approach the plaza, since it too is considered “holy”. After being there once and witnessing this idolatrous spectacle, there is no question of my wanting to ever visit it again. It is no different than going to the mosque on the Temple Mount and being required to remove one’s shoes as a sign of respect for the “holy place”–we would not and therefore were obligated to wait at a distance while the group we were with toured the site. The GOD of Heaven and Earth does not dwell in walls, rocks, or rooms.
Brother Thomas: Are you a pastor? May I attend your church?
Thank you Rose, for the firsthand account…that was interesting.
I think what most Christians who don’t see Hagee’s request as wrong and promoting idolatry, fail to understand, is that those who worship and pray at this wall, are lost religious Jews. As someone wisely pointed out to me last year, they are living in an apostate condition themselves, denying their own Messiah.
As one who visited there im sure you know that first-hand, but i don’t think a lot of Christians understand it…
Instead they, in what they wrongly perceive as a ‘love’ for Israel, seek to ‘be one’ with a people by participating in their rituals. Its so wrong..and those like Hagee promote it.
aha! Rose, i’ve had the same thought..
“Ricardo, you are wrong. You can’t use Romans 14 as a green light to committing idolatry. ”
Well, with the image that other person painted of people rocking “back and forth” in front of the wall, my thoughts changed on the matter. However, if that person had not shared that story, I would still say your position is Much Ado About Nothing! And really, it still stands. Just because a President or a Politician pays respects to another country’s sacred place does not make them an idolater. It just makes them politically correct, or respectful to those people. Big deal! Shall we stone him to death for it?
BTW, I am not a Catholic, and personally I have debated with many so called “Priests” and such. Icons, FYI, I think are more popular with the Eastern Orthodox church. While the Catholics tend to dig the statues and scented candles. I have no background in Catholicism, except maybe that my entire family is Catholic. I never went to a Catholic Church or anything of that manner, I never went for any kind of blessing or service. It is all just so much ado about nothing to me.
BTW, it wasn’t that long ago that Obama was praying in front of the Wailing Wall. You weren’t complaining about idolatry then, you were complaining that someone took his paper prayer out of the wall. What’s the big deal when it was a prayer made in deep and terrible sin? A prayer shoved into the crevice of an evil false God. Doesn’t your logic flow thusly?
Ricardo–i could give two-hoots what a politician does. You should know that by now after reading my comments on politics…
My concern is a minister of the Gospel, as Hagee claims to be, who encourages Christians to send prayer requests in so they can be ‘taken to the western wall’ in Jerusalem. That is promoting and encouraging idolatry.
Much Ado About Nothing? I strongly disagree!
I don’t know why i thought you had mentioned your family was Catholic in some old thread Ricardo–ahaha…i must have confused you with someone else.
Very interesting.
[...] CHRISTIAN ZIONISM, HAGEE, CUFI, AND IDOLS [...]
I believe the LORD stands afew steps from where the ‘wall’ is,calling,whispering to the hearts of many who arrive at the place to turn to HIM,but many merely turn their backs on HIM and speak to the wall.
Does the wall ever speak back anyway?
So us who cannot afford to travel to Israel,are our prayers doomed to be not heard?