"Counterfeit gods"
For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! (Daniel 5:23 NLT)
In this passage, Daniel is telling a pagan king what the writing on the wall means for him & his kingdom. Part of the indictment on king Belshazzar was that he worshipped gods made of precious medals that could not see or hear. He substituted "the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny" for gods made with human hands.
We often think this Old Testament practice is primitive & beyond us. We would never worship or serve a god made with human hands. And yet, we have counterfeit gods (as Tim Keller calls them) permeating our lives everywhere.
We have many gods that cannot see or hear. We have gods that we value above God that cannot even compare. Think about it. When did our money ever die for us? When did our stuff ever take our place on a cross? And yet we routinely substitute the God of the universe for lesser gods, who are not even gods at all.
This video illustrates how we have done this & how we must repent. What are your counterfeit gods?
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=SkZg1ZflpJs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSkZg1ZflpJs%26safesearch%3D1&gl=US&safesearch=1
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