“Then followed the worship of idols fashioned after the likeness of men and birds and beasts and creeping things. But this series of degrading acts began in the mind. Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true.” (A.W. Tozer)
We will continue on in our thinking through this statement of Tozer and the idea that wrong ideas of God are themselves idolatry and that idolatrous acts flow from idolatrous thoughts. This statement shows the incredible importance of having true thoughts of God. How vital it is for a person to have the truth of God in the mind and to think thoughts after the idea of God. In Genesis 6:5 we see “that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Not only the thoughts were evil, but the intents of the thoughts were evil. So we can see that even if we have good thoughts, we must have proper intents for those thoughts. The issue of idolatry is really at the level of the deepest part of man.
Psalm 10:4 tells us that “the wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” However, a few verses later (v. 11) “He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.”” The thoughts of this person (as standing for all men) show that the mind constantly reflects on God in one way or another. Before the sin we have Psalm 10 showing us that the person is trying to deny that there is a God. After the sin the person is telling himself false thoughts of God which is idolatry. He is trying to tell himself that God forgets which is a denial of omniscience. He tries to convince himself that God has hidden His face which denies the immutability of God. He tells himself that God will never see it which denies the omnipresence of God. In all of these an idolatrous concept of God is revealed.
Let us reflect on a few verses from Isaiah 55 for a moment: “7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” The unrighteous man must forsake his thoughts in order to return to the LORD. Why is that? One reason is because the thoughts of the LORD are not the thoughts of the unrighteous. Man must learn to think after the truth of the LORD and after His thoughts. No one can return to the LORD who does not forsake his thoughts and begin to think thoughts after the thoughts of the LORD. God can only be known by the thoughts of the mind and heart. If anyone does not repent of thinking wrong thoughts and having wrong concepts of God, then there is no returning to the LORD at all. It is utterly necessary. This is also true of each church. For a church to repent means that each church needs to return to the LORD by forsaking its present thoughts.
Notice the connection between verses 14 and 22 in Jeremiah 4: “14 Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, That you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts Lodge within you? 22 “For My people are foolish, They know Me not.”” In verse 14 Jerusalem was told to wash its heart from evil and asked how long its wicked thoughts would lodge within it. Verse 22 tells us one way that they did this. They did not know God and had no understanding. Again, the fact that the people had wicked thoughts is demonstrated or leads to the fact that they were foolish and did not know God. Over and over again we can see this point illustrated in Scripture that wrong thoughts of God is sin and leads to more sin.
We need a New Testament example from Romans 8 to close with. “5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” We can see this same concept set out in this text as well. Things start with the mind and the thoughts. The mind set on the flesh is hostile to God. This hostility is not toward a concept only, but is toward God Himself. Whenever the mind is not guided by the truth of who God is, that is, the mind being set on the Spirit, it is hostile to God. Is this true of churches as well? Could it be that churches that are so focused on the things of the flesh and getting numbers are actually hostile to God in their mindsets? It really could be.
God Loves... Himself 
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