Articles
The Church of Jeroboam
When the nation of Israel divided, and Rehoboam reigned in Judah and Jeroboam in Israel, Jeroboam feared losing his position of power when the people went to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, so he decided to do some things that would keep the people away from God's house, and make his position more secure (cf. 1 Kings 12:25-33). What he did was change everything about the worship of God, and changed the nation from that day forward. It was a path from which they never returned as they slowly headed towards captivity to the Assyrians.
The actions of Jeroboam are an unfortunate foreshadowing of what some would do to the Lord's church many centuries later, when some had changed the church into a political entity, rather than keeping to its spiritual roots. Changes were made in its worship, its leadership, its focus, and even its doctrine. Some, having changed the structure of the church to allow one man to run the congregation, were not content with the power they now wielded, and sought to consolidate several congregations under their power, then a region, then a nation, and then all churches.
Of course, the faithful objected at every turn, but those in power…well, were powerful, and detractors were silenced as many others were convinced that they should just accept the leadership's dictates because they came from a long line of divinely-chosen leaders, and questioning them was the same as questioning God. All literature that exposed their errors was banned, collected and burned, and anyone any who still opposed them were banished, silenced, and even killed.
It would not be until several centuries later that this now-changed church and its leadership would be seriously challenged again, but the ones who defended it then still make the same arguments: We are the power and you must submit to us. Erroneous practices are now defended as ‘Tradition’ [with a capital ‘T’], which is now equal to Scripture, according to them. As with Israel, those who followed them and their ways have been taken captive because God withdrew Himself from them the moment they declared themselves the authority, rather than Christ, and set up idols [icons] and began praying to ones other than God. The parallels between that apostate church and apostate Israel are not coincidental.
And while we may look back on this slow slide into apostasy and shake our heads at their willingness to follow error, let us not be like Judah in failing to learn the lessons from the erring. Let us see what was done then that got the apostate church to turn its back on the Lord and His ways, and that has taken them so far down the road of error. Let us look — and take heed. Let us look back to Jeroboam to see what he did, and then let us see what we can do [and may have already done] that will lead us to the same errors.
Change The Object of Worship. (1 Kings 12:28) When Jeroboam sought to hold onto power, he “made two calves of gold” and told the people, “Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” Of course, those inanimate objects [that did not exist when they came out of Egypt] did not bring them out of Egypt, but Jeroboam knew that, and the people willingly listened, though they probably all knew, too. No one could honestly believe that.
Today, religious men may be guilty of setting up gods to distract from the true and living God, though the gods take a different shape. Sometimes, it is entertaining music, ‘feel-good’ preaching that soothes the conscience but never condemns sin, or just a place where we can keep thinking our ancestors were saved, though they did not follow the teachings of God. Paul warned against those who were “the enemies of the cross of Christ” and “whose god is their belly” (Phil. 3:18, 19), and those who “do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites” and who “by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive” (Rom. 16:18, ESV). While we might be amazed at the Israelites who fell for Jeroboam's lies about the idols being the God that brought them out of Egypt, I am afraid many more are being deceived by, or even gladly welcome into their churches, false ‘gods’ that likewise distract the masses from the true.
Convince the People The Old Ways Are ‘Too Much.’ (1 Kings 12:28) The amazing thing about Jeroboam's claim that going to Jerusalem was “too much” for the people was that one of the idols was set up in Bethel — a location merely 12 miles away. Was that 12-mile distance really too much? No; the claim was false, but it was accepted just as readily as his claim that those inanimate objects were the gods who brought them out of Egypt.
Today, we have hundreds of years' worth of history of religious leaders telling us the "Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith...because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible even in matters of the highest importance..." (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 73), or, "besides individually possessing God’s Word, we need a theocratic organization. Yes, besides having God’s spirit of illumination, a Christian needs Jehovah’s theocratic organization in order to understand the Bible." (Watchtower, 6/15/1951, p. 375.) With such teaching coming from the leadership of these religious organizations, is it any wonder many people are convinced the Bible cannot be understood, and that it is ‘too hard’ for them?
While some things may indeed be “hard to understand” (2 Pet. 3:16), it is the words written in Scripture that will judge us in the end (cf. John 12:47, 48), so they are not too hard.
[Partially] Imitate the Original. (1 Kings 12:32, 33) Jeroboam also ordained a feast on the 15th day of the eighth month, and made offerings on the altar he had built. God's law specified three feasts in the seventh month, with sacrifices offered up (Num. 29), so Jeroboam was imitating the true and acceptable. But it was not true, and it was not acceptable, no matter how closely he made the false appear to be true.
Today, men have made religious service a mere imitation of the true, whether by external dictates or by personal preference. Some honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him (cf. Matt. 15:8, 9); some have added instruments to the musical worship; and some read from the Scriptures but follow the creeds of men to justify slight changes in doctrine and practice.
The issue, though, is not what others are doing; the question is, What am I doing? Does God approve? —— Steven Harper
