The Conflicting Demands— "Worship Him"
By E. W. Farnsworth
IN worship we reach the highest act possible. To worship what we ought not is a heinous sin. Every act of worship we can perform belongs to God alone. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." To serve or worship anything but God is the highest treason of which man can be guilty. When Satan reached the climax in tempting the Son of God, he took Him up on an exceeding high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and then said, "All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." In His previous temptations, Christ had met His adversary calmly and patiently with the words, "It is written"; but at the suggestion that He could save the world by choosing another path than that which led to Calvary, that He should worship any other being than God, He turned upon Satan with the stern rebuke, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." There is in this experience a lesson for us. Temptations to worship Satan in different forms are not lacking. We have "saint-worship," "hero-worship," "mammon-worship," "the idolatry of fashion," of worldly position, pleasure, fame, and other objects too numerous to mention. It is the same cunning deception repeated in different guise, that we may not be alarmed and realize our danger. With many—very many—self is the object of adoration. To it everything must bow, and nothing must interfere with the homage given to the self-god. At this very time when false worship is so prevalent, a startling, thrilling message is being given, attended with heavenly power, and it rings throughout the length and breadth of the earth, calling upon the millions bowing in homage to the god of this world, "saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:7. But another voice will be heard at the same time, speaking with all the emphasis of the dragon, exercising all the power of the beast before him, and he "causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast [the papacy], whose deadly wound was healed." Rev. 13:12. We here find two proclamations diametrically opposed to each other. There is direct, decisive conflict between them. One calls upon men to worship God. The other will try to compel them to worship an earthly power, and will "cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Rev. 13:15. Obedience is the highest form of worship. Had Christ yielded to the demands of Satan, He would have worshiped him. If we choose to obey any other power than God, we worship it. To enable us to sense the danger, that we may not yield obedience to any other than God Himself, this special warning is sent, exhorting us to fear God only, to worship Him only, for He is the Creator, and the only one worthy our adoration. Every temptation calling us to worship and obey any power but the Creator may be met and conquered by the word, "It is written." By the Scriptures we are to test every claim. They are to be the search-light thrown on every scheme of the enemy who would lure us to destruction. By heeding their warning, by obeying their precepts, we may be able to fear and worship God in truth, and He is seeking such to worship Him.