Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson receives blood transfusions from his teenage son, undergoes regular gene therapy injections, and adheres to a strict diet, all in his $2-million-a-year effort to live forever. His face recently became so gaunt, however, that he injected fat from a donor into it. His body rejected the fat, sparking a severe allergic reaction that took a week to subside.
Think how he’ll feel if:
- An epidemic like bird flu or mpox sickens him;
- Thieves like the masked raiders who struck Windsor Castle attack him;
- “Noise bombing,” like the auditory barrage being waged by North Korea against South Koreans, finds him;
- A nuclear war like the one Vladimir Putin is threatening breaks out;
- Or storms like the winter weather looming over Thanksgiving travel jeopardize his life.
In other words, no matter how much money Bryan Johnson or the rest of us spend, none of us is guaranteed another day on this fallen planet.
In such a world, you’re either being buffeted by the storm, in the eye of the storm with its temporary calm, or facing the next storm. As we have noted this week, one response to our chaotic culture is to double down on partisan confidence, trusting in our political “tribe” and its leaders while rejecting all others.
But as we’ll see today, asking people to do what only God can do is idolatry that threatens our very future.
“How to Subdue Reality to the Wishes of Men”
C. S. Lewis wrote in The Abolition of Man: “For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For [mankind today], the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men” through the use of science and technology.
He wrote these words in 1943. What would he say of us today?
Artificial intelligence and genetic editing are being developed as ways of subduing reality to our wishes on a level unprecedented in human history. But each, in its own way, could end humanity as we know it. As could advances in nuclear weapons: the use of less than 1 percent of such weapons currently in the world could disrupt the global climate and threaten two billion people with starvation. (For more, see Dr. Ryan Denison’s new website article, Russia lowers nuclear weapons threshold after latest attack.)
Idolatry is trusting anyone or anything to be and do what only God can be and do. It is among the gravest of sins and is forbidden by God’s word in the strongest terms (cf. Exodus 20:3–6; Leviticus 19:4; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 1 John 5:21).
Despite such warnings, idolatry in all its forms is a tragic theme of Scripture and human history.
“Idols Skillfully Made of Their Silver”
I was reading through the book of Hosea recently and found America in chapter thirteen. Consider the Lord’s indictment of the people:
Now they sin more and more, and make for themselves metal images, idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen (v. 2).
However, because they trust what they make rather than the God who made them,
They shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window (v. 3).
This is because they have rejected “the Lᴏʀᴅ your God” beside whom “there is no savior” (v. 4). Their prosperity has led them to such idolatry:
When they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me (v. 6).
What is to come of such a rebellious people?
Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the Lᴏʀᴅ, shall come, rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up; his spring shall be parched; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing. Samaria shall bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God (vv. 15–16).
As a result, the prophet pleaded with his people:
Return, O Israel, to the Lᴏʀᴅ your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity” (Hosea 14:1).
He called them to declare,
Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, “Our God,” to the work of our hands (v. 3).
But they refused his plea. Not long after the prophet uttered these words, the nation fell to Assyria in 722 BC and was no more.
“In Returning and Rest You Shall Be Saved”
I am not writing to predict the same for this country I love. But I do know that every word of Scripture was inspired and preserved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21) because it was relevant not just for the biblical era but for all the generations to follow (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11).
Accordingly, what threatened the ancient nation of Israel still threatens nations today. What led to their demise as a culture can lead to the demise of any culture.
By contrast, the repentance that spared Nineveh (Jonah 3:6–10), the king of Babylon (Daniel 4), and the nation of Judah (2 Chronicles 30) is available to all Americans today: “The Lord . . . is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
The place to begin is with our own hearts. Are we trusting in elected leaders and political parties to do what only God can do? Are we trusting in material prosperity for happiness? Are we trusting in our abilities to face our challenges and forge our future?
Here is God’s invitation to us all:
“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
Why do you need this “strength” today?
*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.
Quote for the Day:
“Let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear.” —Abraham Lincoln
Photo Courtesy: ©This Is Engineering/Raeng/Unsplash
Published Date: November 20, 2024
Jim Denison, PhD, is a cultural theologian and the founder and CEO of Denison Ministries. Denison Ministries includes DenisonForum.org, First15.org, ChristianParenting.org, and FoundationsWithJanet.org. Jim speaks biblically into significant cultural issues at Denison Forum. He is the chief author of The Daily Article and has written more than 30 books, including The Coming Tsunami, the Biblical Insight to Tough Questions series, and The Fifth Great Awakening.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
For more from the Denison Forum, please visit www.denisonforum.org.
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