Articles
Dangerous Detours
We now live in a world where GPS is the default means of getting from one point to another, especially if Point B is unknown or unfamiliar to us. In the old days [like the 1980s], we used paper maps or books [atlases] and they were updated infrequently enough that errors were caught before publication and I cannot ever recall being misdirected because I used one. The same cannot be said for GPS where, for some providers, users can give information that determines the suggested route — and that information is sometimes very wrong.
You might have heard of the more dangerous instances, where someone drove into a lake or other body of water, or was routed through a desert ‘road’ that was only fit for off-road vehicles and drivers with professional-level experience. On a less dangerous note, I have personally experienced ‘detours’ that were plainly inexplicable and unnecessary, and others that were based on obviously erroneous information, and were a waste of my time and gas.
Detours are sometimes necessary but, sometimes, they are not only unnecessary, but also dangerous — as made clear by those stories of people who were routed into dangerous and impassable areas. In a much more important aspect, detours are always dangerous. I speak of those times when men are misdirected in spiritual matters, or misled into paths that lead them away from God and the truth and into ways men falsely believe will get them to the forgiveness of their sins or even get them to heaven.
If we understand the word detour simply means “to turn aside,” we can then understand the danger of some dangerous spiritual detours. Whenever men “turn aside” from the path God has directed men to go — whether intentionally or because they have been misled — the end result will not be what may have been desired. It is for this reason we must be willing to constantly and purposefully consult the directions God has given us in His revealed word, the Bible, that we are not led astray and put ourselves in eternal danger.
But to illustrate the dangers, let us consider a few examples of those who did take some detours that put them in immediate danger, and often brought some serious consequences from which they would not escape or could not overcome. Let us consider and learn from their example, that we may not suffer similar consequences. Let us also not deceive ourselves into thinking we will not suffer as they did if we do not learn from their poor choices and end up doing what they did. It is a foolish thing to think “that won’t happen to me.”
The Israelites Turn Aside to Idolatry. We are likely familiar with the story of the Israelites’ deliverance from Egyptian bondage by God’s mighty power, and how they were brought to Mount Sinai, where God would deliver to them the law by which they would live for the next 1500 years. It was at Sinai, when Moses was up on the mountain to receive that law, that the people came to Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him” (Exod. 32:1). Aaron caved to their demand, and he “received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf” and declared it to be “your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Exod. 32:2-4).
Of course, God knew this; while Moses was up on the mountain, God said to him, “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it” (Exod. 32:8). Unfortunately, this detour would not be the last, and this ultimately became the reason for their downfall, as a nation.
I know our modern society likes to think themselves ‘too smart’ to fall for the practice of idolatry, but we are not as smart as we would like to believe, for idolatry is just as rampant now as it has ever been. Oh, the ‘gods’ are different, but they are still the reason why so many have been ‘turned aside’ from the truth and incite God’s anger, just as was the case with the Israelites. When man elevates himself, entertainment, money, power, and fame above the true and living God, we have identified ourselves as idolaters, just as much as the Israelites. And let us not forget that God’s word plainly tells us “covetousness,…is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).
The Israelites suffered God’s wrath but, by the intervention of Moses, He did not destroy them as He desired at that moment (Exod. 32:9-14); do we think we will anger God any less by our idolatry today? Let us be reminded of the rhetorical question of the prophet Nahum, who asked, “Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger?” (Nah. 1:6), or that of the psalmist, who asked, “If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psa. 130:3). Indeed!
Some Turn Aside to Idle Talk. (1 Tim. 1:5-7). When Paul began his letter to Timothy, he began by urging him to charge others to teach no other doctrine and to not get caught up in “fables and endless genealogies” which would cause nothing but strife (1 Tim. 1:3, 4). He then writes, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm” (1 Tim. 1:5-7).
Whoever these individuals were, they had “turned aside” from “sincere faith” and were now engaged in useless talk. What an exchange! Who would willfully give up faith — which brings salvation — for something that is plainly useless? It might surprise us to learn that more people than we would like to admit! What is surprising is that so many make such an exchange and continue believing they have something valuable and useful, and that the path they have taken will lead them to heaven just as surely as God’s ways.
In fact, Jesus tells us there will be some who will come before Him in the Judgment Day and tell Him, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” and He will tell them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matt. 7:22, 23). You see, these individuals falsely believed they were still traveling the path of the Lord that led to heaven, not acknowledging that, somewhere along the way, they had “turned aside” and began following someone or something else. Whatever that was, it was not His ways, and it was not the will of the Father (Matt. 7:21); it was useless talk. It was worse than useless;’ it was eternally dangerous!
Sadly, many today get caught up in following trends and “hot topics” and think they are doing society a valuable service when the reality is, they “have turned aside to idle talk” and are doing no good, but rather much damage. Friends and brethren, let us not get wrapped up in societal trends, politics, the latest “hot button:” issue, or whatever else the devil seeks to entice us into, and let us be all about proclaiming the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, and the words that lead men in the ways of righteousness. Nothing else matters.
Next week, we will consider some warnings against potential detours that are dangerous. — Steven Harper
