Votaries of a deity of their own making
(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)
There are many idolaters in the world, besides those who worship blocks of wood and stone. There are men who would scorn to be called idolaters, who, nevertheless, are not worshipers of the true God, but votaries of a deity of their own making. They have not made him with wood, or clay, or gold, or silver--but they have fashioned him out of their own conceptions. They believe in a god such as they think God ought to be; and according to the general rule and fashion now-a-days, the god whom men invent for themselves, is a being entirely devoid of justice.
They say that the God of the Bible, who is the real, living and true God--is vindictive, because He punishes all rebellion against His law; because, being at the head of all moral government, He will not allow His law to be trampled on with impunity, and will by no means spare the guilty.
The God who executes vengeance upon sinners, is not the God for men of the modern school. They want an easier deity, a far more lenient governor, a soft God for themselves.
The God of Scripture never was loved by proud and carnally-minded men. They set up an effeminate deity of their own, who is like themselves, who cares nothing about the evil of sin, and will simply overlook sin, and will allow sinners to go unpunished--a god who does their bidding, for he quenches the fire of Hell, or renders it only a transient punishment for a few years. They set up a god who gives them license to think as they like, and treat His Word as a scroll of cloth for them to cut according to their own fashion. The god of modern thought, is not the God of the Bible, neither is he any more the true God than Baal or Ashtareth, Jupiter or Apollo.
The true God is the God who is revealed in the Scriptures, and manifested in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is known only to those to whom He sovereignly reveals Himself--and the rest, by their own carnal wisdom, are blinded, so that they have not seen Him, neither known Him.
"These things you have done and I kept silent.
You thought I was altogether like you!
But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.
Consider this, you who forget God--or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue!"
Psalm 50:21-22
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We have published Don Fortner's uplifting hymn, "Begone Unbelief".