NO OTHER GODS

You shall have no other gods before me.

—EXODUS 20:3

Two religious convocations, one ancient and one modern, set the scene for our consideration of this first commandment.

In 1993 a parliament of the world's religions convened in Chicago. Seven hundred attendees sought common ground by minimizing their differences. They were in search of a multi-faith unifying consciousness. The mutual tapestry of understanding, respect, and cooperation, which marked the initial discussions, quickly unraveled as they began to tackle the substantial areas of disagreement. That event was separated from the ancient gathering by a few thousand miles and a few thousand years.

On Mount Carmel God's prophet Elijah went before the people and confronted them with their failure to give to God the loyalty He demanded and deserved. There was to be no attempt at blending the worship of Baal with the worship of Jehovah.

"How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."

—1 KINGS 18:21

Met with total silence, Elijah proposed "the battle of the prophets." There were 450 prophets of Baal and on the opposing side, Elijah. If the numbers were any indication, it would appear that the odds were heavily in favor of Baal. The people were about to discover that one plus the living God is a majority.

The terms of engagement were clear. The 450 would cut a bull in pieces and put it on the wood. Then they would call on the name of their god, imploring him to set fire to it. Elijah would then do the same, calling on the name of the Lord. Victory would be clearly established: The god who answers by fire—He is God.

What followed was a scene that almost defies description. The prophets of Baal spent the entire morning wailing and howling to no avail. Elijah's taunts hit them where it hurt. Maybe their "god" was "deep in thought," in which case it was pretty obvious that he wasn't thinking about them. Maybe was "busy"—responding to a call of nature—therefore, subject to human limitation. If he is "traveling" and can't be present to help them, he is obviously not omnipresent. Perhaps he has grown weary and has fallen asleep, and so they'll need to shout louder and awaken him. What a picture of ecstatic frenzy as they pierce themselves and produce red blood but are totally unable to ignite red flames to burn the bull. "There was no response, no one answered, no on paid attention" (1 Kings 18:29).

In direct contrast and with ordered calm, Elijah repaired the altar and had the offering doused three times with water. God answered his prayer, and the people fell prostrate, proclaiming, "The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!" (v. 39).

At issue was the question, Is there a God who hears prayer? The answer came with dramatic impact. Only one. Yahweh. He is the real God. In contrast, the gods of the nations are "nothing." The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah seem to be constantly calling God's people away from the worthless foreign idols to the exclusive worship of the true and living God.

Their words do not fit the twenty-first century category of political correctness! Listen to Jeremiah: "For the customs of the peoples are worthless; ... Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good" (Jeremiah 10:3, 5). In contrast, Yahweh declares, "There is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me" (Isaiah 45:21).

God's demand for His people's total devotion is firmly based upon who He is and what He has done. He is both Creator and Redeemer. But why, the reader may be asking, have we launched immediately into this hotbed of debate? Should we not be facing up to our proneness to worship at the shrines of materialism, egotism, and intellectualism? Should we not begin by toppling some of these "gods" from the perches they occupy in our wayward hearts? True, each of us must face up to the peculiar personal temptation to idolatry, but it would be possible to do so and at the same time fail to be present where the battle rages. The Christian must resist the spirit of the world in the form it takes in his own generation. Is the epicenter of the storm really that obvious? I believe so.

In the 1960s, science, education, finance, arts, and the media voted God out of office. No one wanted to hear from the "God-squad," and the prevailing mind-set was more than casual indifference towards God; it was willful disregard. The seeds planted in the 1960s blossomed in the 1970s and 1980s. But the quest for free love and unlimited self-expression issued not in beautiful foliage but in ugly weeds. Lawlessness, violence, and greed began to spoil and spread, as freedom, instead of being defined as the right to do what is right, became codified as the "unrestricted right to do whatever one pleases." As we careened toward the end of the millennium, Western culture was beset by a range of discontents and confusion. While the stock market took many to unimaginable heights of financial success, the culture was showing signs of futility, foolishness, and deep darkness. Drugs—made freely available to children at school. Perverted lifestyles—given the stamp of approval by the entertainment industry and of normality by segments of the church. Rap music—taking language to a new level of degradation, and young people working out their own damnation in the murder of their teachers and fellow students.

And so it appeared that Judge Bork was right when he said that we were "Slouching Towards Gomorah."

Meanwhile, as the natural, scientific quest for utopia fizzled and materialism was yielding only greater hunger and lonelier heights, spirituality was waiting in the wings for a chance at the leading role. So there was hope, after all, we were told. We have come to the end of the age of disbelief, and as the new millennium beckons, perhaps the dawning of the age of Aquarius, about which the 1960s dreamed, was about to become reality. At least it was reckoned we were entering a new age of faith. In casual conversation, it was not difficult to get general agreement that as a society there would have to be more emphasis on responsibilities and less on our rights if we were going to pull out of what might be realistically seen as a moral and spiritual death spiral.

The frenzied greed, which had fueled the dot.com explosion, turned to wholesale panic as billions in value were flushed from the financial markets in less time than it had taken to accumulate. And then came the sad and horrific day at the dawn of this new millennium, 9/11/01, bringing many to their knees.

The "God...