Human history records how men would often set up a block of wood or stone to be his maker. "Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things" (Rom. 1:22-23). He then prostrated his body before the creature of his hands calling it god, while it had neither eyes to see, or hands to feel, nor ears to hear.
Where are those gods before whom the people of Nineveh once fell? You would have to ask the moles and the snakes, because those gods are now buried beneath mounds of dirt and clay. Alternatively, you could go to the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago and see their remains there, and smile as you think that men should have ever bowed before such gods such as these. God has spoken concerning the gods of Nineveh saying, "Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will dig your grave, for you are vile" (Nahum 1:14).
Where are the gods of Persia? The fires of their altars are quenched, and the memory of them has nearly passed away from the earth.
Where are the gods of Greece those gods who were once hymned in the most sublime odes? Who talks of them now? Only those in the halls of academia, as they study long forgotten relics of the past. Where is Zeus, the god of the sky, weather, thunder, and lightning? Where is Nike, the winged goddess of victory? Where is Athena the warrior-goddess who was the embodiment of wisdom and the protectress of Athens? Who now stands before Jupiter or bows before Saturn?
Where are the gods of Rome? Does Janus, the god who supposedly hovered over households, now command any temple? Can you now find the priests of Jove today? Where is Bacchus, the god of grapes and wine? Are there any now who bow before these gods? No! They have lost their thrones. (to be continued).
John B. Daniels, Associate Minister
