A Parable of the Idolatrous Church

Just about all of us in the organized church read or at least hear Old Testament passages in which the Lord makes it quite clear he does not like and will not bless and will judge idolatry.  Heck, last I heard, that was part of the Ten Commandments no less.

So why do so many churches think that now in more modern times God will somehow bless idolatry in the churches even though he judged idolatry in Israel?  Maybe they think God has loosened up or become more enlightened.  Apparently, some in the organized church think God is fine with Molech worship now as people in dog collars advocate for abortion on demand for all nine months of pregnancy.  And, of course, there are any number of other ways the organized church puts modern secularist political values above God’s standards as proclaimed in scripture.  The word of secularist man is put above the Word of God.

Do such libchurchers expect God to put up with that or even bless it?  Do such have no fear of God?

But it is not just libchurchers who bring idolatry into the organized church.  Sometimes well-meaning churches make idols out of good things.  Back in 2005, I noted an example - Family First Church. Its very name is idolatrous.  Yes, family is good, a vital part of God’s design.  But only God should be put first in the church.

This is Family First Church on this past New Years Eve.

 And today that remaining shell of a building is down.  The church building had such plumbing and electrical issues that the city condemned it.

Now I do not presume to know how much of this, if any, was God’s judgment and how much just a terrible mishap.  Bad things do happen to good churches. But the Lord has made it very clear that he will judge idolatry.  So why do any churches put anything first other than God?  Bigger picture, why does the church in the West persist in various idolatries even when the deadly results are already evident in declining membership and closed churches?  A higher power than the City condemns idolatry, and “judgment must begin at the house of God.” (I Peter 4:17 KJ)

Now God is merciful.  The congregation of Family First has joined another congregation, and the change seems to be blessing the blended church.  But any church is wrongly presuming on God’s mercy when it brings idolatry in.  And, yes, much of the decline of the church in the West is due to presumptuous idolatry.

Does the organized church literally have to crumble to the ground for us to get that?