Cross Way Publications Monthly News
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Poem of the Month
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Satan in Disguise
By: Richard Newton Sherrer
It is something with worldly things,
Even with frustration that it brings;
With allowing it control our lives,
On emotional desire that it drives.
We are feeling the sense of need,
Growing inside of us like a weed;
As it causes us to light a fire,
Be secluded in a burning desire.
The fires will burn out of control,
Taking over your heart and soul;
There is no means on our own,
With trying to confront it alone.
For Satan knows what you seek,
In knowing where you are weak
On ensuring that his disguise,
Will be tempting to your eyes.
Idolatry works on your lust,
While trying to win your trust;
So you will honor and laud,
Instead of with the Triune God.
Tempting Your Eyes
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Scripture of the Month
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Psalm 135:15-18 (NKJV)
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
16 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
17 They have ears, but they do not hear;
Nor is there any breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
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Quote of the Month
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"The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are not worthy of Him."
From A. W. Tozer
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Poet Notables
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1. A warm thank you to Gabriele Embry and Clyde Watanabe for their continued financial support to this ministry. Also, a very special thank you to Donna Hendrix and Debbie Shipman, who are the newest members of Our Macedonian Faithful. We had several annual administrative expenses due this month, and your generosity was such a blessing.
2. Congratulations to Ruth Wallace, who has had her poems made into beautiful videos. They can be accessed on her website at www.alabasterboxes.com.
3. Welcome to our August 2010 members. Please be sure to stop by their Poet Pages to enjoy their poetry:
Todd Abraham
Ward Altman
Jim Couch
Thelma Carol Cunningham
Michael Grijalva
Marcey Hawk
Lynne Haywood
Donna N. Hendrix
Thomas L. Knapp
Hannatu Olufemi Ogunnaike
Holly A. Parrish
Laudia Pastel Price
Sharon Reid Robinson
Iva Jean Sandefur
Debbie Shipman
Gwen W. Stone
Gemma Nadine Tophma
Ruth Watson
Heide Louise Wright
Megokiekho Yalie
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Notes From Cross Way
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1. There has been a lot of spam getting through to the Poetry Comments section of our website. I am trying to delete them as they are posted and my husband has promised to find a fix to stop them from getting through. In the meantime, if you find a spam comment on one of your poems, please let us know so we can remove it.
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This Month's Devotional Thought
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The world is filled with idolatry, it is in every nation, among all people groups and unfortunately it is found even within the church. It is practiced in various ways and appears in diverse forms, from the worship of fetishes that people make - to the worship of the sun, the moon and the stars that God has created. Elevating anything above God is idolatry, so that, in much of the western culture of our day, the sin of idolatry comes in the shape of heroism, humanism, and materialism, where we place others, ourselves, or the things we possess above God.
Idolatry not only takes on the form of concocting gods in place of the true God, but also inventing icons to enhance a diminished view of the true God. Mankind has its idols that they worship as gods, (which is a direct violation of the first commandment: "You shall have no other gods before Me."). But mankind also has its idols they claim to use as access to the true God, (which is a direct violation of the second commandment: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image - any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them ..."). Any image that we bow to as a supposed means to approach the invisible God constitutes a form of idolatry. This was the great sin of Jeroboam, when he made two golden calves for the northern ten tribes of Israel, as the means for them to worship God instead of allowing the people to go to Jerusalem where God Himself was manifested in the cloud of His Shekinah glory in the most holy place of the temple, ( I Kings 12:25-33).
Not only do the first two commandments deal with the sin of idolatry, but so does the tenth: "You shall not covet". We are told by the apostle Paul in Colossians 3:5 that "covetousness is idolatry." Covetousness robs God of those affections which are to belong only to Him, and removes Him from that preeminent place He is to have in our lives. Covetousness is that inordinate pursuit of wealth, and goods that we see others having. It includes the desire to possess whatever someone else has under their roof, including a man's wife or a woman's husband. It is so common among us that we neglect to see how debasing it is, both to us and to God. It becomes insatiable - it becomes that which dominates our thoughts and dictates our actions so that there is very little space for God in our lives.
Money, as an example, is the coveted god of many; but silver and gold is at best an insecure idol that may or may not be around to help when it is needed. The help it provides is, in reality, quite minimal and exclusively temporal. The god of mammon will not secure eternal things nor buy the salvation of our souls. Conversely, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil", (I Timothy 6:10), including idolatry.
Psalm 135:16-17 accurately depicts the lifelessness of an idol and verse 18 accurately depicts the lifelessness of an idolater. It is the height of arrogance and ignorance to give anything the predominate place in our lives that belongs to God, or to think of God as something akin to any man-made religion, or stuff we treasure and desire to have.
When the psalmist wrote of "the idols of the nations" in Psalm 135:15-18, his focus was on deified images formed by men. What the psalmist is conveying in Psalm 135, is what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 46:3-7, where we read that it is God who makes and carries us, but it is man who makes and carries their idols - God hears our prayers and delivers us, but that which is made into an idol can neither hear nor deliver us; and so God asks the rhetorical question in Isaiah 46:5, "To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal and compare Me, that we should be alike?"
There is but one true and living God. He has revealed Himself to us in the Bible, and by His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. He is a jealous God who will not give his glory to another, (Deuteronomy 6:14-15 and Isaiah 42:8). He is a holy God whose wrath will not suffer fools who provoke Him with their idolatry, (Colossians 3:5-6). Yet He is our Creator, who desires to be our Lord and Savior, and as our Savior, He is an ever-present help in times of trouble, (Psalm 46:1). He is the only God whose status as God is real and not imagined.
Philip Hoffman
