Richard Hollerman

As many of you know, I tend to be an incessant reader and study all kinds of Christian books. I used to arise about 4:30 in the morning (and with my wife’s urging) I now arise about 4.00 and then walk at the nearby park at 6:45 or so. I suppose that this would be a half mile from here.  There are many ducks (and geese) there and a few people also walk at this place.

From what I read, people around the world built civilizations, erected temples, made houses, and carried on their business. Of course, they had kings, mostly idolatrous, and it seems that people worshipped them. Some of them actually claimed that they were “gods” and served the worship and work of thousands of their subjects. I am now reading this book, page by page, in one of the books before me.

Some of these societies were from South America and some from Central America and also North America. All of this came after the last “ice age” but they were in the Western Hemisphere. These people believed in an afterlife, but many of them though that the king or chief “god” was worthy of worship, thus they were willing to build these elaborate temples, especially since they were devoted to their god and didn’t want to be killed.

That is not all. There have also been people in Europe, in Africa, in the Middle East, and all through Asia. It seems that the world has had millions of people and this has continued year after year, century after century, and even one millennium after another. This lasted from thousands of years before Christ (apparently they did not read the Biblical chronology) on through the periods before and after Jesus.

So whether we are speaking of the Mayans in Mexico, the “Great Serpent Mound” in Ohio, the Olmec in Bolivia, they all are covered in the volume. Then there would the Khmers in Cambodia, the Japanese, the Han people and the Qin people in China, and others, thus we must account for these people. It makes interesting reading, of course, with a great number of Chinese laborers building the massive wall that can be seen by satellite today.

There were also the people from Classical Greece, the Romans, the Etruscans, the Minoan culture in Crete, as well as the Egyptian groups, and the people from Indus Valley in India, as well as the Islamic empire of North Africa and elsewhere—they all came and went. Before that, there was the Persian empire, the Hittites of Turkey, the people of Babylon, the Sumerians of Babylonia, and so many others.

Sadly, almost without exception, all of these were idolaters, worshipping an array of idols. They all worshipped and served false gods and this went on century after century, for many years. We know, of course, that idolatry is wrong and sinful (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5) with much, much in Scripture that warns against idolatry. So whether we are speaking of the Old World or the New World, or speak and read of the many warnings that God gives of this blasphemy, we must reject this and go on to something more acceptable.

We know that people who profess to know God must give an account for their actions and feelings (Titus 1:16). For example, there are perhaps 1.3 billion of Roman Catholics, with the official teaching that idolatry (worshipping Mary, and other Catholic “saints”) is wrong but this is something that this false religion does, with the Vatican’s approval and encouragement. We might also refer to the many-faceted Orthodox with their “icons” and approval of this idolatry. So whether we speak of past idolatry with the world religions, or the idolatry of today, we must reject this and devote ourselves exclusively to the living God.

This is the story of the world, from the earliest civilization to the present time. We find that a rejection of the true and living God and an acceptance of evil, is a way of life that continued in the past and is to be found today. Although we can do nothing about the thousands, millions, and hundreds of millions of people in the past, we can make sure that we are serving the true God today and living for Him.

Let us love and live for Jesus our Savior and Lord and one glad day go to be with Him! We can do nothing about the masses in the past in all parts of the world, but we can do God’s will now and spread the word that Jesus is the only Way to life now and eternal life when Jesus our Lord returns. Although the idolatry and evil was great in the past, we have no excuse for our living for Jesus now, at the present time.

So let the Etruscans, the Chinese, the Incans, and the Egyptians go. We can do nothing about them but we are responsible for what we do know. Let us love, believe in, and serve Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of Lords. Now is the time for we know not when Jesus will return.