Idols of Babylon--Self Righteousness

I was having my devotions this morning and I was pondering Idolatry, namely in the form of Self Righteousness. I was impressed how easy it is to fall into this trap. It snags everyone in one form or another, but is especially dangerous for the Christian Warrior to making him ineffective. I don't know what to tell you other than the fact that my mind took vision of judgement and about how vulnerable we will stand at judgement if we are standing on our own righteousness. Often times we "wist not that the spirit departed" like Samson. We lose vision that our righteousness is of God not ourselves. We play with Grace and trust in ourselves until we are finally overcome. Then the Devil puts out our eyes and we become blind to our needs. We are wretches quite contrary to the modern psycology of today.

Nonetheless I ended looking up my emails this morning and felt to looking up some key words. I came across this web site. I caution carefulness for myself in all the religious sites that are out there. It is somewhat discouraging to read good articles and be greatly disappointed that the website takes an uncomfortable tangent to the left. However this website seemed pretty solid, especially the title, Flee from the Wrath to Come. That was too much because I just commented to somebody that that statement has been going through my head the last while also. I liked what the author had to say on Idolatry and his concern that we recognize that the whore of Babylon and Antichrist is an active spiritual force. It is not a static, "the whore was and is the Roman Catholic; case closed". We deceive ourselves to think that is how it stands in today's world. Anyways the author throws some good food for thought for the Christian traveler to ponder. Some of his out links to other sites get kind of interesting, but I like his articles and site. I like to read About the author and get a feel for what he is trying to represent. This one isn't self promotional. Enough said, the link is at the bottom of the excerpts from his article about modern idolatry. Thanks. JLT.

In seeking to understand why we Christians often stray from truth, and why there is so great a confusion amidst the modern church today, I would conclude that this is often due to the issue of idolatry.

In my humble opinion, for what it’s worth, I don’t think we cover this issue well at all. I think we oversimplify it and hesitate to outline the profound spiritual consequences that come with it. And sadly those consequences are dire, deception and spiritual blindness.

We have this old testament image in our minds of kneeling in front of statues of saints and so on. Sure we can still bow to material idols but I would suggest that the idolatry which is rampant in the church today is hidden within the heart.

You only have to walk into a modern church which are in most cases spartan in this regard, apart perhaps from a cross, a painting or two and some decorative artwork. We uphold our church buildings boastfully proud that they are completely absent of idols, and yet from what I now perceive, the temple is full of idols.

Interestingly if you do a search of any of the four gospels you will not find that word idol or idols used. It seems that Christ is not recorded as using this word therein the gospels. And yet turn back a few pages to the old covenant and you will find that word used many, many times. Therefore we tend not to preach “idolatry” as such, but rather the way Christ addressed the issue, which brought it a little closer to home. That you should love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your soul and strength. We now focus less on the word idolatry which tends to have negative connotations and focus more on the positive confession.

However the ramifications of failing to love the Lord first and foremost are the same ramifications that come with idolatry.

You might wonder how I can make the statement that the temple is full of idols ? Is that not a profoundly bold assumption and how am I to know what is in the hearts of men! Well I can’t see the idolatry, but I sure can see fruit thereof, the spritual blindness and deception, the confusion and apostasy from the simplicity of Christ. There is plenty of evidence out there today to indicate where exactly we are in the overall scheme of God’s word, and He makes it clear that there is a real big apostasy at the end of the age. So don’t take my word for it, take His. What is the root of this apostasy? I submit that it is idolatry and then the accompanying spiritual blindness and deception that comes with it.

The issue of self-righteousness in this Christian era is an issue of the worst kind of idolatry. Self righteousness will remove your need for His righteousness. It is incredibly subtle, but there you go, the devil always is and was subtle. It is a place we tend to drift back to time and time again. Especially those of us who spend much time and study in the word of God, seeking to approve ourselves.

I don’t know who Robert Murray McCheyne is but I found this quote of his insightful ;

Self-righteousness is the largest idol of the human heart – the idol which man loves most and God hates most. Dearly beloved, you will always be going back to this idol. You are always trying to be something in yourself, to gain God’s favour by thinking little of your sin, or by looking to your repentance, tears, prayers ; or by looking to your religious exercises, your frames, etc; or by looking to your graces, the Spirit’s work in your heart. Beware of false Christs. Study sanctification to the utmost, but make not a Christ of it.

Christian, if we want to find our way out of this mess, we must abandon the thought that we are able to do it according to any measure other than the grace of God in Christ. Any idols we hold within the dark recesses of the heart are apt to lead us down paths other than the narrow path, which leads to life. I know that self-righteousness feels good, there is a certain carnal appeal to it, but let us abandon that idol as being completely worthless according to His grace. I’m preaching to myself today people.

As a further thought, the name of the spirit behind Babylon, Belial, means exactly that, “worthless”. In the end all of Babylons efforts will prove empty and worthless.

I do not know the name of the author but you can find the article in its entirety at

http://fleethewrath.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/idols-of-babylon-self-righteousness/