Volume 26, Issue 6 From the Publisher...
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Page 3
Casting Down Imaginations
By Rob Pue October 2025
wicked. Surely it is obvious that this is true. Even little babies, as precious and as “innocent” as they are, do not need to be taught to sin. We are all born with a self-centered, sinful nature. Depraved minds. But you see, even depraved minds still have that in-born desire to worship that we are all created with. And so, apart from Christ, we begin to invent things to worship that will fit conveniently into our lives with- out requiring anything of significance on our part. As if we can fulfill our need to “worship” but still live as we choose, accountable to no one. Deep thinkers with depraved minds will expand on these thoughts to create entire religions and theologies. In other words, we use our imaginations to invent things to worship, instead of God. What is the root word of “imagina- tion?” It is “image.” We create an image to worship, -- one that is to our liking. In modern times, this “image” is usually an unseen thing -- an invisible “god,” theology, idea or concept. But in an- cient times, man built idols and graven IMAGES to bow down to as a substitute for the real thing... Rather than wor- shiping the Creator, they worshiped and served created THINGS. In Exodus, Chapter 20, God gave His eternal laws to mankind, written with His own finger on tablets of stone. The Ten Commandments. And first on the list was: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Why do you think this was the first, and most basic law God gave to us? Because He knows the heart of man, and our need to worship. He also knows how susceptible we are to de- monic deceptions. Continued on Page 7
All of humanity was born to worship. We have an instinctive need to rever- ence our Creator. This is just how God made us. In the beginning, mankind had a close relationship with Him. But in Genesis Chapter 3, we read of how the king of demons, Satan, tempted Eve and caused her to doubt what God said. And the rest, as they say, is his- tory. Adam followed Eve in her quest for forbidden knowledge and power, and together they traded perfect com- munion with God for a life of pain and toil, of blood, sweat and tears... of thorns and thistles, culminating in death and then the judgment. But that need to worship never sub- sided. It’s woven into the very fabric of our souls; that innate need to revere the One who created us -- to worship Him, and to somehow return to Him and re- establish that bond that was broken so long ago. It’s the one and only thing that will ever satisfy our souls; and the one thing that we will never find apart from Him. The problems we encounter in this life begin the minute we depart from our Lord and try to do life on our own. The consequences of this are immediate and devastating. This is what hap- pened to our first parents. This rebel- lion is the “sin nature” that we are now all born with, so that even today there exists within us a great turmoil, a con- stant tug-of-war between our desire to know God and worship Him and our desire to stray away from Him and wor- ship something else. Now, God created us with minds to think and reason. He doesn’t hide from
us, and then expect us to have blind faith in a Creator we can never know anything about. On the contrary, He makes Himself abundantly visible to all who have eyes to see. We are without excuse. The Bible makes it clear that we are able to know God, by the things that He made. In other words, by ob- serving His awesome Creation all around us, we know that God exists. What’s more, He provided us with a book, The Bible, the very words of God Himself, so that we can know Him more; and He did not spare even His own Son for our sakes, so that we may return to Him and restore that perfect relationship, as He welcomes us back and draws us close to Himself with lov- ing arms of compassion. Let’s summarize these points: We are born with the knowledge of God and with a desire and purpose to worship and glorify Him. This knowledge of God and desire to worship Him is reinforced as we observe His Creation all around
us. We also have His written Word to teach us all we will ever need to know. Yet, many of us still prefer to deny Him, to run and try to hide from Him, be- cause His light exposes the darkness of our sinful hearts. Now, what happens when we do this -- when we deliberately choose to deny God? Romans 1, starting at verse 28: “Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wicked- ness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slander- ers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents, they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.” The heart of man, apart from the re- newing and regeneration of Christ is hopelessly lost. The Bible says it is de- ceitful above all things, and desperately
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