Spiritual Acrophobia
The Fear of High Places
Shortened Version
by Dr. Ken Matto
There seems to be a new mindset among some Christians and that is
Spiritual Acrophobia. Acrophobia by definition means a fear of high places. There is a
teaching being propagated by Harold Camping of Family Radio that the organized church is
no longer being used of God to send forth the gospel. This is because he claims that the
churches are all corrupted and invaded by false gospels AKA high places. He links this
with his Latter Rain belief that the church no longer is sending out the true gospel and
God is now using the electronic media to accomplish the task before the return of Christ.
Since December 24, 1906, the electronic media has been used to send forth the gospel
simultaneously with the organized church.
To a certain point he is correct in that many churches are dead and
useless because they simply do not have a grasp on what the true gospel is. Much of the
modern day clergy teach a moral and political gospel but are neglecting the spiritual
aspects of the gospel. This means they are teaching a gospel that does not go beyond the
portals of death. The teachings of heaven and hell are absent in many churches and much
feel good philosophy is being taught as truth.
(Isa 30:9-11 KJV) That this is a rebellious people, lying children,
children that will not hear the law of the LORD: {10} Which say to
the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us
smooth things, prophesy deceits: {11} Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path,
cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Part 1 - The High Places in Scripture
Now when we turn to the Old Testament we will gain a better
understanding of what a high place is. The Temple was the center of the worship of Jehovah
during the times of Ancient Israel and Judah. After the Exodus from Egypt, Israel wasted
no time in constructing a high place because of the extended time Moses was on the
Mountain (Ex. 32:1-8) waiting to receive God’s Law. This was a testing program for
the nation of Israel and they failed horribly by culminating their failure in the
construction of a golden calf which symbolized their quick slide into apostasy.
I am not an over-zealous proponent of the clergy system we have in
the church but more and more I am coming to the conclusion that it is necessary for a
godly man to be in charge of the local church. We saw what Israel did when there was no
leader. The sinful tendencies of man took over right away. Whenever a godly man is in
charge of a church, it prospers spiritually but when a spiritually unqualified man is in
charge, the church plunges into apostasy rapidly.
(Exo 34:12-13 KJV) Take heed to thyself, lest
thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a
snare in the midst of thee: {13} But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images,
and cut down their groves:
After the incident with the golden calf, God is now giving Israel
both instruction and a warning that if the pagan images are not destroyed along with the
places of worship, then Israel will become snared and will forsake the worship of the true
God in the temple and in the biblically prescribed manner. God even warns that Israel is
not to make any kind of covenant with the pagan inhabitants of the land. A covenant would
probably have been something to the effect of allowing them to worship their false gods on
a concurrent basis. This would mean that they would be separated in worship but dwelling
in the same land which would ultimately lead to spiritual disaster for Israel.
(Lev 26:30 KJV) And I will destroy your high places,
and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my
soul shall abhor you.
(Num 33:51-52 KJV) Speak unto the children of Israel,
and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; {52} Then ye
shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their
pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
Here God plainly tells the nation of Israel that He is going to judge
them fiercely. Because of their apostasy God would ultimately destroy both nations and
send them into captivity to serve the pagan nations they chose to follow. Israel may have
kept to the belief that if they kept a place for the pagan gods of the surrounding
nations, they would appease them and would live in peace. The problem is that peace with
the world is war with God This is akin to what many churches are doing today by being
world friendly they feel they will appease the government and the unbelievers but they
will be crushed.
(1 Ki 3:1-3 KJV) And Solomon made affinity with
Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of
David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and
the wall of Jerusalem round about. {2} Only the people sacrificed in high places, because
there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days. {3} And
Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed
and burnt incense in high places.
These passages teach us that before Solomon built the temple, the
people were worshipping the Lord in the high places. This no doubt was borrowed from the
wilderness wanderings in which the Tabernacle was the center of worship. However, until
the Temple was built there was really no order of worship so the people chose to worship
the Lord in these places. Here they were not worshipping false gods but for lack of a
central place of worship, they made their own individual places of worship. It states that
Solomon loved the Lord yet he himself sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
This is an important revelation when comparing the contemporary teaching on high places in
the churches today. I will make the application a little later in the study.
(1 Ki 14:22-23 KJV) And Judah did evil in the sight
of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed,
above all that their fathers had done. {23} For they also built them high places, and
images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
It was not bad enough that Israel was taken into captivity for their
spiritual harlotry but Judah did not learn the lesson and became an apostate nation by
adopting the customs and false gods of the other nations. This resulted in them going into
captivity with the Babylonians for 70 years. When they were finished with the captivity,
they were no longer a pure nation but became mongrelized. Their pure lineage was
adulterated because of their disobedience. This is easily seen in the book of Ezra.
I wanted to preface this article by bringing to light the harsh
realities of the high places and how they affected an entire nation which was divided, who
were supposed to be serving the same God.
The high places were attributes of the Canaanite religion in which
God commanded the Israelites to destroy them upon their entering the land of Canaan. The
high places were normally associated with profligate sexual and sacrificial behavior.
Along with this there was a sacred pole at many of the sites which had phallic
affiliations which normally had a figure of Ashteroth on the top of it. This was the
worship of the fertility goddess of the Canaanites. This practice went back as far as the
15th century BC as being recorded on the Ugaritic tablets of the Ras Shamra find.
(Isa 57:5 KJV) Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green
tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
This verse condemns the practice of some of the pagans at the high
places in Gezer, where Canaanites dwelled, in which the first-born babies were killed and
their bodies placed in earthen jars. Many of these have been unearthed by archaeologists
who actually found the bones of many babies in jars as well as walls of houses where it
was believed that the bones of babies in the walls would keep away the evil.
Many of the ancient false religions constructed high places for the
worship of false gods. The Babylonians constructed the Ziggurats. The Greeks had an
Acropolis and Mt. Olympus. The Mayans and the Egyptians had their pyramids. They had high
altars in various places in the land in opposition to the idea of one place of sacrifice
in the temple, which was the pattern given by God. Of course, the one place of sacrifice
in the temple represented the one sacrifice of the Lord Jesus in which Christianity is
centralized. The temple in ancient Israel also was a central place of worship.
Part 2 - Are there High Places in the Church today?
Having some knowledge of these high places and the purposes they
served for the pagan nations which surrounded the nation of Israel, it now behooves us to
look at these high places and see if they can really be applied to the church in our time.
Before I summarize I want us to look at many verses taken from the Old Testament, mainly
in Kings and Chronicles, to gain a better understanding as to what these places were and
the nature of them. It is important to do this to see if we can make an application of a
"type" without stretching the verses or using the anathematized method of
eisegesis. There will be much repetitive analysis of each verse because basically they all
say the same thing as there is a single thread which runs through all of them.
Lev 26:30 KJV - Here we see that God is going to condemn the high
places along with the images.
1 Ki 12:26-32 KJV - Here we see the false religion of the worship of
two golden calves.
1 Ki 13:32-33 KJV - Here we see that Jeroboam set up the high places
in Samaria as well as the ones in
Bethel.
1 Ki 14:21-23 KJV - Here we see Judah provoking the Lord with the
construction of high places on the hills and
groves. Remember Isaiah 57:5?
1 Ki 15:14 KJV - Here King Asa, whose heart was right with the Lord,
did not remove the high places
1 Ki 22:42-43 KJV - Here is the son of Asa whose heart was right
toward the Lord, yet he did not remove the
high places.
2 Ki 12:2-3 KJV - Jehoash was under the tutelage of a godly priest
yet he did not remove the high places.
2 Ki 14:1-4 KJV - Amaziah who also did right in the sight of the Lord
did not remove the high places.
2 Ki 15:32-35 KJV - Jotham also did right in the sight of the Lord,
yet the high places were not removed.
2 Ki 16:2-4 KJV - Here we see Ahaz also sacrificing his son to the
false gods and offering sacrifice in the high
places.
2 Ki 17:6-11 KJV - Here we see a massive program of constructing the
high places for the false gods.
2 Ki 18:1-4 KJV - Now if we are going to say that Ancient Israel and
Judah typified the church in the manner of high places, what do you do with the section of
Hezekiah when he completely cleansed the land and temple. As the Scriptures teach he
removed the high places with all their paganism. So if you are going to hold to the
pattern, then sometime during the "Latter Rain" the church is going to be
purified completely, to wit, before the Lord’s return. There will be a church on
earth with no false teachings.
2 Ki 21:1-3 KJV - Here is Manasseh who was the son of Hezekiah. When
he became king, he rebuilt all the
paganism his father destroyed and went after false gods.
2 Ki 23:5, 8, 13, 19-20 KJV - Here is King Josiah who initiated
another total cleansing from the worship of the false gods. We see here that he even
slew the false priests which would be akin to removing the false teachers from the
churches if we follow the type. This section on Josiah would be another period in the
"Latter Rain" that would look to a purified church on earth.
2 Chr 11:5 & 15 KJV - Here we see another high place being built
for the purpose of worshipping false gods.
2 Chr 21:11-14 KJV - Here is King Jehoram who is being chided by God
for his evil ways and as a result the
Lord sent the enemies after him
2 Chr 28:24-25 KJV - Here is Ahaz raping the temple of the treasures
and making them into instruments to
worship the false gods.
Psa 78:58 KJV - Here we see a general description of Israel provoking
God with the high places.
Jer 3:21 KJV - This verse describes the worship of false gods which
replace the worship of the true God.
Jer 7:31 KJV - Here is another high place for the worship of the
false gods by means of human sacrifice. Jesus
used this place as an example of Hell.
Jer 19:4-6 KJV - Here God specifically states that the people have
forsaken Him and have sacrificed unto other
gods.
Jer 32:34-35 KJV - Here God is stating that the abominations of the
heathen were set up in the temple which defiled it but God also states that the high
places were also built as separate entities. Here we are seeing two distinct locations.
Ezek 6:3-8 KJV - Here God is pronouncing a destruction of all the
high places and the altars and the idols which Judah was using for their pagan worship.
Ezek 16:15-17 KJV - Here God is stating that Judah was doing the same
thing as the idolatrous nations by dressing up their idols and their high places. Remember
that the religion of the heathens also included prostitution. Here God is condemning them
for spiritual prostitution.
Ezek 16:39-40 KJV - The word "eminent place" is the Hebrew
word "gav" which simply means a back, brow, or a rounded elevation. The word
basically describes anything with a curve or something which is rounded. This would have
been the place where the pagan altar would have stood.
Hosea 10:8 KJV - Aven means iniquity or sorrow. God here is saying
that the high places will be destroyed but do you notice that he is saying that thorns and
thistles would come up on the altar. Notice that thorns and thistles are growing in the
out of doors.
1 Ki 3:1-3 KJV - I wanted to give a
comment on this passage. It is also taught in the High Place study that those doctrines
which are not 100% biblical are flippantly called high places. The types of doctrines I am
speaking of are: Pre-Trib, 1000 year reign, pre-Trib rapture, etc. It is also taught that
those who hold to these types of doctrines are not saved. Well, if we are going to
parallel the high places of Israel with the end time church, then this, like the Hezekiah
and Josiah portions of Scripture must be factored in. Here was Solomon who loved the Lord
yet he partook in the high places. We know Solomon was saved based on the following verse:
(Neh 13:26 KJV) Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?
yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God
made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.
No person can be beloved of God and be unsaved. So here we have
Solomon who walked in the laws of his father David yet partook of the sacrifices of the
high places, yet he was saved. This verse teaches us that a person can hold a wrong
doctrine and still be saved. Just because a person does not know the doctrines of election
and predestination, does not make them unsaved. There are many in free will churches today
who have a strong desire to share the gospel with the world and are doing just that. The
efficacy of the gospel being taught is measured by its ability to bring people to Christ.
I personally was saved under the ministry of two free will preachers in 1980, Jack Van
Impe and Billy Graham. Was it them that saved me or was it God? Of course, it was the
Lord. Even if a person thinks they "accepted the Lord" the bible clearly teaches
that a person responds to the gospel because they have been qualified by God to do so.
Summary of the High Places
We have looked at many verses which speak of the high places. I did
not go into deep analysis of each verse because I wanted to establish the thread which ran
through these verses. While I did not list every verse, I have looked at every verse and
they all speak of the high places as:
1. Being a separate place of worship
2. Places specifically built for the worship of false gods.
3. Using a separate set of pagan priests
4. Places for pagan rituals
5. Places for human sacrifice
6. Places which did not even mention the worship of the true God
except a few
times in the pre-temple era such as after the fall of Shiloh but
these places
were built when there was no order of worship and no central place to
worship God until the Solomonic temple was built.
Therefore, based on the biblical evidence, the present manner in
which the high places are being taught is erroneous and deceptive. To compare a place of
intentional worship to a false god to someone or to a church holding a false teaching is
like comparing apples and oranges. The High Places in Scripture are in no way connected to
the temple. Since the High Places are separate entities, they cannot be compared to the
church either as I have never heard of or experienced a Christian church which is
dedicated specifically to the worship of and/or to sacrificing to a false god. The
heathenous High Places were not originally built for the worship of God and then over time
there was a slide into false religion. They were heathenous from their inception until
their destruction because that was the purpose they were built for.
- Let me give a quick analogy about comparing separate
entities:
- I live in New Jersey where I am about 152 KM (95 miles) North of
Atlantic City. There are many gambling casinos there. Now I would say a casino
is a high place because it is dedicated solely to the things of this world plus they serve
the god of this world and it is totally detached from the church. To look at a
casino and then summarize, that based on what that casino is doing, the First Presbyterian
Church of Happyville is dead. This is akin to looking at the high places, which were
dedicated to paganism and then saying all the churches are dead. Water and Oil
do not homogenize neither does that method of Bible study.
- The Dangers of the High Place Study
- When people start believing a study simply based upon who has
originated it without checking them out in Scripture, there will always be consequences.
One of the most dangerous consequences of this study will be to undermine the spiritual
foundation of the Christian. Christians will now be going to church, not to see what they
can glean from the ministries offered but to see how many high places there are. When they
start counting the high places, the next move is to leave the church. So they leave and go
to another church and lo and behold, there are high places there too. So they visit
another church and wow, more high places.
-
- So now the Christian leaves the church and sits home because
according to the high place study, every church is now fallen away and has high places. So
the Christian who has swallowed this deception begins to stagnate in their Christian walk
and they become weaker and very accusatory toward every church. They have no fellowship
nor accountability. Eventually their love will wax cold and become very lonely and
acrimonious because the only fellowship they will have will be the world on the job.
-
- But the man on the radio says we can all fellowship around the radio.
In other words, we can sit spellbound and listen to his opinion on the bible while he does
not even know what he is doing to the body of Christ and how he is really causing many
Christians to stumble. The problem is that they are still alone and in violation of the
mandate to gather together on the Lord’s day. Computer churches, telephone churches
or radio do not offer the Christian anything of a permanent status.
-
- There is no doubt in my mind that many of the churches are in
apostasy but that is not an intentional worship of false gods nor is it human sacrifice.
The present High Place study should be scrapped because it is nothing more than one
man’s tirade against the church with a mishandling of God’s word. My fear is
that many Christians will never go back to church because they will be suffering from
spiritual acrophobia.
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