Asherah images

It is interesting how God brings up a subject early in the morning when I am just waking up and discusses it with me, and then not long after I read something like “the rest of the story” confirming that God wanted me to contemplate this and learn something new.

This morning He talked to me about images and I asked Him about the first and second commandments. We have always pretty much dismissed the image commandment as irrelevant to us because we don't externally bow to a hand-carved idol. But He reminded me what Craig Hill keeps pointing out in teachings on the Blood Covenant that we need to get this image on the inside of us so we will start thinking and acting in accordance with the provisions of the covenant.

This image on the inside is quite literally our concept of what God is like. Pieces of concepts from all over started assembling quickly to form a clearer understanding of what an image is. Craig points out that our mind is like a camera and will form an internal image, an identity, shaped very much like what the camera is focused on. So when I focus on entertainment and pleasure-seeking for the short-term quick self-satisfaction that I hope to receive, I not only become addicted to selfish quick-fix solutions to my needs but I come to believe that God acts in the same way. I will subtly believe that God just uses me selfishly as a means to satisfy His “needs” and then may discard me as expendable when I can no longer give Him enough pleasure and satisfaction. This belief is at the heart of legalism and may be the engine that drives it.

Later during my worship time I read the story of Manasseh and suddenly saw the connection. Manasseh made idols, especially an Asherah which was an idol primarily representing sexual exploitation, and then moved the Asherah into the middle of the temple of the Lord. The Bible takes great pains to bring out at the point that the temple was where God had promised to perpetuate His “name” forever if they would just follow and obey God. (2 Kings 21:7-9)

The temple is merely a representation primarily of our minds and hearts. This action by Manasseh was an external demonstration of what many of us do on a regular basis. When we use any means to gratify our base cravings for selfish satisfaction we set up idols in the temple of our hearts to bring us pleasure. We reject God as our source and only provider of our needs.

Do we bow down physically to idols? Bowing is simply a description or evidence of a state of mind. Bowing was an act of surrendering oneself to the “picture of god”, abandoning or surrendering oneself to be controlled by an outside force that will then shape one to become like that god.

The transformation is reciprocal. When we choose a source of emotional satisfaction, any source other than the true God of heaven as He reveals Himself in His word and by His Spirit, we actually bow, surrendering ourself to that lesser god to satisfy our cravings in exchange for our submission. But in the process of feeding us short-term pleasure, that “god” also will quickly form a replicating image of itself inside of us which we come to believe is our true identity. “You are gods.” (see Ps. 82:6 and John 10:34) We always become like the God/god we worship. And worship is merely the “focus of the camera lens,” the source we choose from which to satisfy our longings and desires.

When we watch sitcoms or pleasure-invoking videos we surrender our imaginations and emotions to be manipulated by the creators of the movie. When we immerse our minds in pornography we do the same thing. The main difference is that the first is socially acceptable in “Christian” circles and the second is not. Almost all television and videos today have varying degrees of sexual stimulation. The Asherah image is being built bit by bit in the temple of our imagination forming an image of god that is impossible to avoid worshiping. We always worship what we choose to satisfy our cravings and we then form our identity based on that source's message about our heart. This is one reason why we often live in confusion and darkness and fear – because our image of God is so twisted. We were created in the image of God and our minds inherently look to whatever “god” we worship to discover our own identity and purpose and value.