So I’ve seen terrible leaders who shred others, use position for their own gain, who privately destroy the lives of ministry colleagues, whose insecurities lead them to say and do things that they would – and do – preach and write against. And it’s easy to hide that idolatry with all that worship going on around it.

When it came to idolatry in the Old Testament, the people of God were pretty crass. We read in horror of the vision in Ezekiel 8 in which the syncretism of Israel resulted in the figures of Canaanite gods being placed inside God’s holy house.

As you read the chapter you soon realise that no matter the vantage point in the temple, idolatry is going on. Even from the temple itself the people direct themselves away from worship of God towards the sun – a created thing. They have literally turned their backs on God.

Now it took a vision in the Spirit for Ezekiel to see this. Why? Because idolatry is easy to hide in the temple. The simplest way to foster idolatry is to smuggle it into the place of worship.  The slyest manner in which to promote worldliness is to parasitically attach it to the worship of the one true God.

That’s why when I walk past a liberal church down the street from where I live, that is known for rolling over on the Sexular Age  it has this statement on its welcome board:

God creates diversity: Humans force binaries.

Clearly hasn’t read Genesis 1-2. Or more likely if they have, they have dismissed it.  A clear demonstration that the authority of Scripture – or the rejection of it – is what leads to heterodox ethics.

But let’s not bag out the liberals. I’m once again reading through Paul Tripp’s excellent book Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church, and I was struck by these words in his chapter on Character:

“A [ministry] leader whose heart has been captured by other things doesn’t forsake ministry to pursue other things; he uses ministry position, power, authority and trust to get those things.”

Boom!

In other words, the easiest place to hide an idol, just as in Ezekiel’s day, is in the temple. The place of worship can become a place of false worship, and people may be none the wiser. It may take a spiritual insight of the level of Ezekiel’s to uncover it.

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