Throwing Off the Shackles

The Last Stage of Idolatry

Idolatry is the act of worshipping or devoting oneself to the creation, not the Creator.  It is the most foolish act humans can do.  Historically it has taken two generic forms.  The first, and most common, is the worship of images or idols, made by man, but said to represent a force or being beyond man.  This is the kind we normally associate with the noun, idolatry.  But there have been ages when an even more depraved, crass idolatry has taken hold.  It is the devotion to the creator of the idol--that is, man himself.  In other words, this rarer version of idolatry more closely represents the heart of the matter.  Whilst all idolatry is an implicit worship of man, the latter, rarer kind makes the devotion to man overt and explicit. It is idolatry in its most consistent, realized form.

The first time this more depraved version of idolatry emerged in human history was at the Tower of Babel.  The huge tower was built in order for mankind to "make a name for ourselves." (Genesis 11:4)  God's judgement fell because the unified devotion to man and his "name" would mean that there would be no restraint nor restriction upon their capability to devise and execute evil.

"Normal" idolatry operates in a world of superstition and fear.
  It believes that the gods must be placated, lest they become angry or envious, turning their destructive vengeful powers upon desultory, half-hearted worshippers.  "Normal" idolatry is riven with fear and guilt. But Babelesque idolatry has no such limitations or boundaries.  The recurring feature is to break down all limitations and boundaries because man, individually and collectively, is the deity.  Babelism is idolatry fully formed and in flower.  The modern West is one of the few times in human history when Babelism has emerged as the dominant, controlling form of idolatry, where "nothing they propose to do will now be impossible for them." (Genesis 11:6) 


No boundaries, no limits are to be tolerated.  Not the boundaries of pregnancy which "limit" the female sex.  We insist as a human right to have abortion on demand.   Not the boundary of marriage which requires submission to being created respectively male or female, and that a man and a woman must leave their parents and cleave to one another in sexual union.  The modern idolater abhors such restrictions upon man.  Rather what man wills and lusts to do must become reality.  Homosexual "marriage", plural "marriage", bestial "marriage".  If we want, we can have, as the sovereign right of the god.  The same reality applies to transgenderism: the belief and insistence that gender is not binary, male or female, but (at last count) over 70 "states"--all of which are to be respected and reified.

Draw a line in the sand, and the modern Babelesque idolater winds himself up into an apoplexy of rage before you can say, "Tower of Babel".  How dare you deny me, or those of us.  Your bonds and your cords we utterly reject (Psalm 2: 3).  We are gods: no-one can deny us anything.  "Nothing they propose to do will now be impossible for them."

Babelism is the maturation of idolatry into epistemological self-consciousness.  It is its final act.  It is replete with rage against any limitation of any kind.  It spits at any person or group which dares to criticize or hold a contrary view--regarding them as blasphemers who must be crushed into silence.  This seems to be the point the West has now reached in its integration into the Void.

What should be our response?  Well, merry faithfulness never goes astray.  Since "He who sits in the heavens laughs at them" (Psalm 2:4), why should we be any different?  In the time, of His choosing He will terrify them in His fury.  If God judged the first Babel by shattering its hive-like unity and scattering mankind over the face of all the earth, what do we think He will do to the West taken in its Babelism?

Western Babelism is a paper tiger.  The more its idolatry becomes self-consistent, the more absurd it becomes.  Its absurdity invites mockery, and mockery invites laughter.  Let not its ferocious anger breaking out against limitations be of concern.  Rather, let it be a ground for sarcastic mockery, as in "Bel bows down. Nebo is stooping.  Their idols are on beasts and livestock."  (Isaiah 46:1)

Amidst it all, this raging cacophony of humanist idolatry,  brands will continue to be plucked from the fire, and brought into a clean and pleasant land.  And then He will terrify those who have taken their stand against Him in His fury.  (Psalm 2:5)