Charismatic Idolatry
Human subjective emotion - perfect means for deception
“…You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…” Exodus 20
So far in the war against Iran, over a thousand civilians have been killed and at least 5000 injured.
This post is not intended as a discussion over whether I agree with this war or not. If you read my post on “Just War Theory”, you will I think quite easily deduct what my position on this is.
https://reformedapologist.substack.com/p/justice-without-mercy-is-evil
The reason for this post — and yes I apologise for bombarding your inbox so quickly after the last post, I promise this is an exception, but the reason for it is important.
During the Trump inauguration celebrations last year a Charismatic Prophetic Painter — yes there is such a thing now — painted a picture of Donald Trump under the “so-called” inspiration and guiding of the Holy Spirit & to the background singing of a song by Kari Jobe from Bethel music..
Here it is:
I used to think “idol worship” is something the Roman Catholics do when they worship Mary, or Eastern Orthodox when the worship their Icons in their churches. At least the Roman Catholic worship of Mary — and I am not endorsing this either — is of a real person in the Bible, whom the author of the gospel of Luke, does indeed call “blessed”. Further, the Eastern Orthodox icons, are actual depictions of Bible stories.
But this… is presenting a sinful human politician — one who does not proclaim to be a Christian, and who by his own admission is not one — as a “kind of saviour”. What is even more disturbing is the proclamation of this being “guided by the Holy Spirit”.
This is what happens when doctrine no longer matters, or said differently when subjective human emotions are elevated far beyond the text of scripture and the very scripture — which is the only source of objective truth the Christian has to lean on — is interpreted through the lens of human emotion.
Here is an excerpt of the lady who did this painting:
If you remove all the “christianeese” terms from this excerpt, there is little difference to the way Jimmy Page claims to have had some form of extra worldly leading while writing the words for the famous Led Zeppelin song “stairway to heaven”, in the former house of Alistair Crowley. Whatever you make of that song, set that aside for a moment and consider what risks there are to the church from people who claim subjective leading as evidence of divine inspiration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boleskine_House
How is this any different from all the cults and how their leaders make extra ordinary claims? Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not judging this lady personally. I took the time to read her story on her own website, how she was abused as a Child and how her journey eventually led her to become a Christian & a painter. Both of those are perfectly valid.
It’s the combination of bad or non-existent Christian doctrine with the promotion of subjective human emotion that creates this recipe for disaster.
She says she can feel heaven when she worships, she can feel heaven come down. I am not trying to be mean, but objectively, how can she know what heaven “feels like” when she has not been there, and when the Bible does not give us sufficient data to know — most likely because the Christian life does not consist in “feelings and emotions”, but rather in the every day, mundane and ordinary things of being obedient faithful.
Every Indian Guru will tell you what heaven feels like and will assert that you can feel and experience what heaven feels like when you agree to one or more sessions with him — providing naturally that you are willing to depart with a sufficient number of dollars in the process.
Please don’t be deceived. Christian doctrine is of paramount importance, it is the difference between worshiping the One True God of the Bible and a god of your own making, crafted by the emotional experiences and highs of subjectiveness.
Worst of all here, is the devastating political implication of this form of idol worship. The idol being worshiped has embarked on a dangerous war that quite literally could pave the way for WW3, and actions like the one depicted in this video gave this man some form of divine sanction. How sad might this lady be when that realisation sets in?
Thought this article was worth reading though your critiques of it as a piece of writing may be good. For me the point that is most important is the subjective nature of experiencing the presence of God/the Holy Spirit/Heaven. Many people claim to experience this in corporate worship or while playing worship music privately or during whatever activity. And yes, I feel it too. But I would like to have objective knowledge regarding whether that's just a warm and reassuring feeling due to the music or genuinely the Presence of God. I suppose that if it were the latter I'd spend more time listening to worship music, which has it's moments for sure but generally I prefer other genres. I've seen people address this question skeptically or believingly and I think there's no definitive answer, becomes a matter of opinion.
It does seem somewhat ridiculous to put on worship music and paint a picture of Trump. I understand the Cyrus theory and suppose it's possible God is using Trump, though I am pretty skeptical there. And yes, Trump has done some very good things but some very bad as well. I'd have preferred a normal Republican. Though I'm not as negative about the Iran war as OP. Would be great for the people of Iran if their despotic regime were replaced by something better, provided that the human toll can be kept to a minimum. Though this effort could easily turn out very badly.
So many thoughts. You sent it, my phone pinged, now I'm trying to read it. If I get another hastily put together article like this though I'm blocking you. I like to know what people want to say, but no one should have to work this hard to figure it out honestly.
KEY QUESTION: So, where is the idolatry? Where are people worshipping the painting of Trump?
Or is the claim not idolatry but that because the woman painter claims she is guided by God's hands that she is equating her paintings with special revelation as divine inspiration? That's not a claim of idolatry then. And it's just note true.
She is clearly describing the subjective state of the worshipper, not the objective, canonical status of the resulting artwork. Seems like you are overlaying your problems with Charismatic theology onto her, basically, eisegeting the situation.
Can the woman not believe that God’s uses non-believers like Cyrus or Nebuchadnezzar to execute His will? And as an artist she may feel compelled by the Spirit to document or highlight a contemporary figure she believes is currently being used by God, without elevating that figure to a salvific status?
I'm not fan of what Macarthur called Charismatic Chaos either, but this isn't it unless we are missing some big reveal. Like, did someone dip it in gold and it's in a church where people dance around it slashing their wrists? That would have warranted a late night show up in my inbox post 100%.
Evangelicals in general and Charismatics in particular use the terminology, "God led me," "God told me," "God impressed upon my heart," etc. Yes the language can be problematic, no doubt. And yes people abuse the language for selfish ends or to manipulate people (I've had wives tell me God told them to get a divorce, or to be happy aka have an affair, or a single guy stalking a girl told me that God told him she would be his wife). Those are all fair game but you don't go after any of that. Your focus is "idolatry" of which there is none. And "inspiration" of which there is no semantic equivalent to theological inspiration of Scripture except what you read into it.
And...why is the article so confusing and hard to read? You have naked links instead of titles that are linked, lack of headers, subheaders, clarity. Opens talking about Iran war then says the article is not about Iran then ends talking about Iran. I think it's about Iran! I think you are frustrated that there is a group of People who commission Trump and see him as God's hammer of judgment and condone even applaud what he does and that irks you. Ok, well, write about that then.
Seems like you brain dumped some ideas, accidentally hit send, did not revise, and sent out a careless post that I am now reading when I'd rather be asleep. :) That's not your fault, I have compulsions lol.
You know you can just post this to AI and say, "As an expert essay writer make sure I have a clear intro, body, conclusion, supporting points, it follows a coherent flow, and makes sense." Then post. IMO.