Pagan trends in today’s Christian
worship
In the contest between true worship and Baalism, the Bible book of
Kings narrates as follows in First Kings chapter 18 verses 26 to 30.
26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal [Melqart, the weather god imported by
apostate Israel from Tyre] from morning till
noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted.
But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar
they had made.
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!”
he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or
traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”
28 So they
shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their
custom, until their blood flowed.
29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying [tongue-speaking] until
the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered,
no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to
me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been
torn down.
Does the above narrative not
look like what happens today in most Nigerian churches – especially, the
so-called Pentecostal? In the wilderness,
en route to the Promised Land, the people defiled themselves with the Baal
called Baal-Peor.(Num 25:1-11, Ps 106:28-29)
In Elijah’s day, it was Baal-Melqart in Samaria. And today, at least up to May 2015 when it’s
derelict temple was destroyed by the history-hating savages known as ISIL (or
ISIS since they invaded Syria),
it was Baal-Shamin in Palmyra,
Syria!
Though orgiastic worship,
ecstatic shouting when praying and bodily laceration were the hallmarks of
Baalism in the ancient times, there is a remnant which runs as a common thread
down to this day.(Isa. 57:5, 8) That
common thread is the noisome shout accompanying the frenzied dancing in the
“Pentecostal” churches. I call them
contractor-churches, though. And in Nigeria’s P* churches, it is an everyday affair
– in utter disobedience to the law against noise pollution in a place like Lagos. Pray not to have a P* church near your abode!
Yes, pray! The damages caused to the
human soul by this cacophonous Pentecostal hazard are too many to enumerate
here.
Shouting has become the
template of heathen worship because they worship deaf gods – not the “hearer of
prayer” whose name is Jehovah. (Ps 65:2, Ps 83:18). But the “only true God” is not so far away to
warrant the shouting-prayer which disturbs the neighbourhood night and
day. The sins of these hypocrites have
shut them off and shot them light-years away from “the only true God” who hears
the silent, tacit and thoughtful prayers of the meek ones.
Their sins have clearly
separated them from the Most High and that’s why they will always shout very
loud prayers and halleluyah refrains from morning till evening but God will
never answer. They fast and
repetitiously pray one theme of prayer everyday but God will not answer. They are not different from the 850 Baal and
Ashtoreth/Asherah prophet-servants of King Ahab and his consort Jezebel. They are the children of Belial and are very
far from the true God in their ways – that’s why they will continue to shout
and cry in vain. God is not deaf! (Isa
59:1-3, Mtt 6:7, 8)
The remedy is for them to
remove the idolatry of shouting but not learning the Word. Yes, retracing their steps to the true
apostolic worship is what will ensure their deliverance, salvation and
comfort. There is meaning and great gain
in the injunction, “… seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mtt
6:33)
It is apposite here to take
an excerpt from Anna Deihl’s “God is not Deaf” posted on June 10, 2015 on the
PURSUIT OF GOD website. Please read:
“If we sincerely care
about God, at some point we need to stop praying the way we want and start
caring more about what He wants. If He has any preferences about communication
styles, we should be very interested in knowing them. It turns out that God
doesn’t like repetitious praying. When discussing the subject of prayer, Jesus
said:
‘“And
when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for
they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like
them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”’ (Matt. 6:7-8)
“If God has
specifically said He doesn’t like something, then why would we want to keep
doing it? Repetitious praying has become a huge fad in the Church today. From
rosaries to group intercession sessions, we’ve become addicted to repetitious
praying. And yet God says He doesn’t like this. If God doesn’t like something,
we need to care about His feelings and we need to make a serious effort to stop
doing it.”
And as for the unconscionable
drumming during the P* church services, these rancorous Christians will do well
to find out and know henceforth that the drum is not listed among the sacred
musical instruments for the worship of God the Most High. Yet these so-called
Pentecostals (and these include the CAC, the Apostolic Church,
the white-garment churches, and the ones along the Lagos-Ibadan highway) go to the
extent of hiring non-Christians and hemp-smokers to do the loud drumming! Is it then surprising that there is now the
cannabis church
of Indiana where the use
of this aphrodisiac keeps congregants “high” for the current trend of
cacophonous Baal worship? Read through the Bible books of Kings and Chronicles
and see this incontrovertible truth about the non-provision for the drum in
Jehovah’s worship.
CF Monye
