False Idols vs. Temptations

Money (or worldly gain), power (or worldly honor), and sex (or worldly pleasure) are not idols they are temptations.

A false idol is something like left-wing politics (Marxism, communism, socialism), i.e. worship of the state; or environmentalism, i.e. worship of mother earth; or multiculturalism, i.e. worship of the ‘noble savage.’

These things don’t just replace God, they are sacrificed to (including human sacrifice) and they make the worshiper's conscience feel easy. These false idols forgive their worshipers.

It’s difficult for modern day Christians to see real false idols because most modern day Christians are completely in the power of the false idols they can’t see.

Again, money, sex, power: these are staple *temptations* in the devil’s kingdom, they are not false idols.

Unbelievers have a consciousness of guilt – of sin – that they need to have expiated. They refuse to approach God or the only Mediator between God and man, so they set up a false god.

Molech and Baal were not temptations.

Worship of the state is not a temptation. It is a god that is sacrificed to and that gives expiation to a sense of guilt and sin.

The Hollywood ‘liberal’ who makes a ton of money then gets involved in left-wing politics and issues is looking for expiation and is seeking a god to perform that for him/her.

They will sacrifice their freedom to these false gods. Their individuality. Regarding multiculturalism they will sacrifice their culture and civilization and the very safety of their neighborhoods (the ‘noble savage’ can do no wrong, in fact the more the ingratitude, the more the violence, the more the hatred directed by the noble savage to the false idol worshipers' culture the more the false idol worshipers will feel expiated for their 'sacrifice').

People will sacrifice humans to the state. Genocide. In some cases when abortion is a dogma in a person’s mind it becomes human sacrifice.

Money, power, and sex don't expiate the innate sense of guilt and sin in a person. They are not false idols, they are temptations.

Interesting a modern Reformed author [Tim Keller - Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters] would write a whole book on idols and get it so wrong. This is because Reformed Christians have forgotten about subjects like false idols (spiritual warfare would be another).

Read John Owen’s Biblical Theology to learn about false idols and the worship of false idols.