We Live In A World of Idol Worship & Manipulated Lust | The Written Sermon

I just recently came across a post from a Christian social media group that briefly commented on celebrity worship as well as the current LGBTQ's Transgender culture's general connection to lust. Coincidentally enough (or perhaps not so as I rarely do believe in coincidences), I went through an entire impromptu monologue earlier today about this very same topic. I initially decided to keep my thoughts to myself not knowing if or when it would’ve been appropriate to share them to the public until I came across the aforementioned Internet post. I felt immediately inspired to express my thoughts on the subject here, at the very least touching on certain core concepts. 

Anything more extensive with this topic may come later on in a future discussion perhaps, but for now, here are my thoughts. I believe, just going off of what I've witnessed and how it matches with scripture, that there is indeed a wicked agenda involved surrounding the two concepts of celebrity worship and sexual freedom. As a matter of fact, the agenda is so clear that it’s practically glaring when you look at the world right now through the lenses of the entertainment industry and the growing shift in what is considered to be common and acceptable culture. 

Celebrity Worship: The Perfect Distraction & Disease

Talking on the case of celebrity worship first, understand that this whole issue has been a recurring distraction that has existed for centuries separating people from Godly principles. Whether people realize it or not, celebrities have become symbols of great influence shaping entire generations to seek after worldly treasures over Godly things. Now of course, celebrities are just human beings like any one of us and are certainly not to be seen as "above the rest". However, we live in a time and place where several celebrities are people who are operating in power that comes not from the Holy Spirit but from the world and is given a big platform to speak into the minds of the masses. 

Artists and influencers lead the lost and blind astray with sinful suggestion through content such as music, videos, and even clothing designs while they reap the worldly benefits as a result. Pride, vanity, lust, and greed can easily be seen as the main driving points behind their operation whether or not they're fully aware of it. That's right. It is possible for some celebrities to be lost themselves not aware of what they're throwing themselves into. For even the manipulators who operate in ungodliness causing people to stumble are also victims of larger manipulative forces themselves. They will reap their eternal punishment if no repentance is made (which means turning away from their sinful ways and pursuing a God-honoring life as someone who is saved and redeemed). 

If you'd like to learn more about what it means to be redeemed and saved from eternal punishment, check out my previous article about mankind's afterlife dilemma. 

Many celebrities promote ideas that exploit the immature minds of the nation nudging them towards hollow materialism, human objectification, identity crisis, and abusive lifestyles all under the guise of “current trend”. If one were to take a few steps back, the corrupting indoctrination and generationally destructive impact of celebrity worship is as clear as day. You can hear it in the sexually immoral and otherwise offensive lyrics in popular music that both children and adults eagerly repeat today. You can see it in the objectifying stylistic choice fashioned by female celebrities that little girls follow along while believing that they're being "empowered" or "being their true selves". You can catch it in the highly publicized gossip surrounding celebrity relationships that culture seems to deem as "commonplace talk" instead of questionable invasion of privacy. 

Glance over to social media and you can see it in the herd mentality of people following trendy internet culture resulting in prideful and vanity chasing mindsets. People portraying artificial versions of themselves through visual alterations for the sake of attention. Glance at a few debates surrounding fundamental components to life such as identity, nature, love, and hate, and you'll find people aggressively forcing their own fabricated reality into the world instead of seeking and embracing truth. The list is honestly endless at this point which is downright tragic to say the least. And yet...none of this should come as a surprise considering the Bible had already foretold and tackled these types of sensibilities at its core. 

Look to the Old Testament and you'll find examples of people making themselves out to be figures worthy of worship...it didn't end too well for them or the people who followed them. Celebrity worship is simply a modern day term for what the Bible plainly defines as being "Idolatry". The only one worthy of worship is God Almighty. The moment you place anyone else on the level of focus, attention, and adoration (even worst if it's someone of dishonorable and unrighteous sensibilities) you're going in direct violation against God's commandant. Celebrity worship essentially distracts and influences people to seek after who's popular and materialistically appealing no matter the repercussions towards God's design for mankind. 

[Bible Scripture References]

2 Timothy 3-9

3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Lust Imprisonment Through Entertainment

Now, speaking on the other comment from the post surrounding the Transgender movement and Lust, I can say with certainty that Transgender and emasculating pornography has direct close ties to satanic objectives. Sadly, this side of the world's fallen nature has escalated over the pass 10 years. It is indeed a "Lust trap" which means that it's a snare of sin with a grander objective to destroy what God intended for sex and marriage. It is no surprise that the Adult Entertainment Industry is so absurdly profitable and highly popular in the world right now. You have entire genres of pornographic content specifically designed to hypnotize the minds of men towards being attracted by a figure of both female and male features. 

It’s perverse and the cause of confusion and corruption continuing to leading many to fall victim to this type of poisonous content due to ignorance. Some of this content would even display its demonic attributes visually through glaring satanic symbolism such as upside down crosses, demonic costumes and designs, suggestive video titles revolving around body worship, sexual objects, and yet these types of videos and images are still being widely broadcasted and consumed. You have to understand that it's not just "the internet having demonic pornographic content" but people who are subjecting themselves to being servants of lust to manipulate expectations from watchers regarding sexual attraction. This in turn creates problematic perspectives around relationships and human value. 

With pornography entering the minds of consumers, there are many perversions of God's perfect plan for relationships and gender roles. For example, a woman becomes an object primarily meant for gratification, gender becomes entirely irrelevant for sexual experience in a relationship since a woman can now provide the same sexual satisfaction as a man thanks to items or surgical procedure (and vice versa). The significance and value of marriage where sex is seen as acceptable in the eyes of God becomes a joke as people seek primarily pornographically inspired pleasure over fruitful union driven relationships. Confusion spreads over people's desires due to the abundantly lustful variety of categories being presented to them. 

I won't even attempt to disclose the other more disgusting genres of adult entertainment that's released out there. 

Laws and principles of the nation are shifted around as ungodly things become more popular and infiltrates the culture. What was once considered as unacceptable for children to come across becomes argued for in the questionable name of "freedom" and "identity discovery". Children ponder about fundamental ideas such as their gender and identity as the shifting culture introduces a "spectrum" of directions to take. We can see that whatever God establishes as something being good and concrete, the Devil introduces confusion to lead many astray into their own desires. Outside of the famous story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (the first monumental act of manipulation on Earth), we see the Devil working the same gig today with mankind. 

What is that gig exactly? Getting mankind to question what is true, what is right, and what is clearly established for our good by looking towards personal gratification instead. 

[Bible Scripture References]

John 8:44

44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

1 Corinthians 14:33

33 for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.

2 Corinthians 4:4 

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

1 John 3:8

 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

2 Corinthians 2:11

So that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

1 Peter 5:8

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Proverbs 6:16-25

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 7

[An Entire Section Detailing A God-Honoring Marriage Mentality]

Hebrews 13:4

4 Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

1 Corinthians 10:8 

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

Matthew 5:28

28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 

1 Corinthians 7:2

2 But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.

Proverbs 6:32

32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;

    he who does it destroys himself.

Leviticus 18:22

22 You shall not sleep with a male as one sleeps with a female; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13

If there is a man who sleeps with a male as those who sleep with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they must be put to death. They have brought their own deaths upon themselves.

1 Timothy 1:8-10

8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and worldly, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, homosexuals, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;

Looking At The Bigger Picture

One of the saddest things about this present age is just how lost the world has become where Evil doesn’t even have to be as subtle anymore in certain areas. Not to sound like a stereotypical old man spouting about the good old days (there are technically no "good old days" except for the time before sin entered the picture), but back in the day, certain things that were unquestionably wicked was a tiny bit more nuanced in the mainstream. Now, it’s unapologetically in plain sight and more widely accepted as common culture. You have crowds of people spending most of their lives pursuing the ungodly lifestyles of famous celebrities followed by a successful industry exploiting people's desires. 

News of celebrity relationships and other gossip becomes more sought after than beneficial insight of Biblical revelation while selfishly indoctrinated fabrications of reality takes the place of truth. Understand that this is just a portion of the larger battle that we face in the world today. As believers in the Faith, we must do what we were commanded to do and continue spreading the word of Truth like a beacon of light to help guide the people who are walking in darkness. Speaking as someone who has fought tooth and nail through addiction and has navigated through regrettably dark places in the past, believe me when I say that this world has a way of devouring people at every corner. 

And as I look around me and witness the masses rushing towards Evil with open and cheerful arms celebrating the Devil's agenda with parades and rebellious outcries, it's as if I'm looking at a vibrantly colored apocalypse in its earlier phases. It's only a matter of time until this whole operation gets shut down for good once God fulfills what He set out to do to the evils of this world. Just take a quick gander at the book of Revelation to see what's to come for the so called freedom fighting rebels of our modern culture. In the meantime, we do what we can and expose the lies of the enemy for what they are in hopes that the people unknowingly living in bondage will eventually be free. 

Questions At The End of the Day

We are witnessing people happily secure themselves an eternal seat under God's fiery wrath. The question is: will you join them in ignorance as they dance their way towards a punishment that never ends or will you sound the trumpet now for the lost to come to the Lord? Jesus came to save us from our sins (which are punishable by God's law to eternal death). Jesus took our sinful record and paid the price on the cross for us so that we may be saved from God’s righteous judgement. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, we have hope for eternal life with Him, instead of perishing for our crimes as the sinners that we are.

Those who choose to believe and accept that they are indeed sinners by the standards of God’s perfect law and in need of salvation by the blood of Christ (the death of Jesus on the cross) receives his free and eternal gift of life. How so? Confess that you are a sinner, repent of your sins (meaning make the genuine stance and effort to turn away from your old sinful life), believe that only Jesus (who is God that came down in the form of man) saves you from the eternal punishment that you deserve by taking the punishment for you with His death on the cross and resurrection. By placing your faith on this good news that comes from God, you are justified as being in right standing with Him and will then receive the Holy Spirit into you as a seal of assurance. 

There is no special prayer needed, no special words, no special ritual that involves some massive cathedral or an epic mountain top view…it's just you genuinely pouring out to the one who created and saved you by believing that He is indeed who He says He is and believing in what He promises according to His word. If you're reading this right now, I urgently suggest that you start reading the Bible as soon as possible. Learn about God's standards for humanity and the Gospels surrounding Jesus. Your salvation dictates where you're going when you die, and if you'd like to read a more detailed version of what was summarized here about receiving salvation, check out a separate article on this very blog about that. 

Share the Bible with others who are walking in darkness and in need of God's everlasting light. And may God bless you today with all that you can ever need going forward to honor and serve Him in Jesus name. 

[Bible Scripture References]

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

1 John 3:4

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Acts 3:19

19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

Luke 13:3

3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

John 14:26

26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Romans 15:13

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."