by A. W. Tozer
As I said in the previous chapter, at the root of all superstition is an inaccurate and unworthy conception of the character of God.
Character determines expectation. We manage to predict with reasonable exactness the actions of our friends in any given situation because we know what kind of persons they are. It is so with our ideas of God. Our notions of how God will act follow very closely our estimate of His character. God once complained through the psalmist, "You thought I was altogether like you" (Psalm 50:21). Superstition springs out of confusing God's character with man's, a kind of reversal of the original act of God in making man in His own image. Fallen men believe that God is very much like themselves and expect Him to act accordingly.
To be more explicit, men believe God to be whimsical, and consequently expect Him to be impulsive and unpredictable in His dealings with mankind. Out of this notion comes a score of superstitious fancies that have gotten themselves accepted through the years. Various fears originate here. Fear of black cats, omens, signs and magic numbers results from the ignoble idea that God is a kind of playful Puck who delights in practical jokes and Halloween tricks. The only defense against this is to know some word or sign that will protect the victim from the celestial prankster, hence the thousand and one marriage customs, funeral usages, and practices touching birth, death, travel, food, clothing, sleep, planting, harvesting, illness and almost every other phase of our life on earth.
But someone may say, it is not God people fear, but demons-the devil himself and evil spirits generally. The answer is that the whole business is still superstition, for it makes God a party to all this supernatural carryings-on, and even if He is on our side He is unable to help us without certain magic passes on our part, such as knocking on wood, throwing salt over our shoulder or making the sign of the cross. God is therefore subject in some measure to these evil powers and helpless against them unless we play along with the cruel game by staying off the thirteenth floor of hotels, looking at the new moon over our right shoulder, wearing a charm that has been blessed by a priest or reciting a religious phrase that is supposed to have some special power to terrify the devil. This is all unworthy of God and altogether beneath the dignity of the Majesty in the heavens.
Some persons also think of God as being vindictive, churlish and quick to take vengeance on anyone who is careless about words or gestures or customs, no matter how innocent he may be or how unintentional his error. Of course this is simply a case of judging God by ourselves and thinking that He is altogether such a one as we are. How utterly grateful we should be that when we sinned and fell away from grace in the beginning, God did not act like us. Our eternal hope lies in the fact that at that tragic hour God acted like Himself. His conduct sprang out of His own holy nature and led Him to send His only begotten Son to die for the very ones who had been guilty of such an awful affront to His Person. For this the redeemed shall sing forever, "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain" (Revelation 5:12).
The cure for superstition is an increased appreciation of the being of God: not names only, but character and being. The idea that the devil is afraid of a word or a gesture is pure superstition. He is not afraid of any name, not even the name Jesus. There are thousands of little boys in Latin America who bear that name, and surely Satan does not stand in fear of them. No, it is not a combination of letters that strikes terror to the heart of Satan. It is the glorious Person who bears the name Jesus whom he fears. To the name Jesus God has added the titles "Lord and Christ," and this means that all power has been given unto Him in heaven and in earth. Back of the name is the sovereign Person of God's Son, our Savior. From this Person Satan flees, but it is a waste of time and effort to try to impress him with mere words and phrases.
In the degree that we know God Himself, we shall be free from superstitious fears; and in the degree that we are affected by signs, gestures, phrases and "religious objects" (as they are naively called), we are in the bonds and snares of superstition.
I have noticed lately among so-called evangelicals a renewed interest in the religious gadgets that our Protestant fathers once threw away to make room for the Holy Spirit. It is becoming more common now to see in our churches (and in some Alliance churches, I regret to say) huge pictures of Christ, crosses on the altar, candles and other symbolic objects. This is the sure way back to formalism and death. In proportion as the Presence of Christ is felt in a congregation these things will be unnecessary, even offensive. And as the Presence lifts and withdraws, these symbols are brought in as poor substitutes.
The human heart must have something to love and fear. If it misses the true God it will make a god of its own. A crowd of persons who pray to a false god is not a church in any sense of the word, even if the word "Christian" or "church" appears on the front of the building.
( The Size of the Soul, Chapter 37 )
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