Devising Devices
Job 5:12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
[Perhaps we should begin every Bible study asking:
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?" Most of the church in the 1st might could profit from a little spiritual introspection]
Exodus 20:1-6
1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Are the ten commandments to be observed? Obeyed?
One (expanded) definition of an idol is "anything that replaces God: an object; a THING that when loved, valued, honored, venerated, worshiped and adored displaces God as the supreme and only One (in Three) worthy of worship, our Creator (of all the THINGS men so blithely worship).
The Native Americans who inhabited the island we now call Manhattan in NYCity sold that island to the Dutch colonizers for $28 dollars of beads. "Surprising" you think? Eve and Adam sold the earth for one piece of fruit.
NO DOUBT the devil, the first salesman, propagandist and LIAR understands the usefulness of THINGS to get and hold the attention of men. Propaganda ARTS and CRAFTS have been an ever present tool in his evil kit for the distraction and destruction of human souls. They were seen in the last century as a key to the slaughter of millions including the six million Jews of Europe. The Nazi Third Reich was fueled as much by propaganda as by gold and gasoline.
Since the 1940's we have moved from an industrial distraction to a technical distraction, then to that of the information age and now onto perhaps the last distraction: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. Has any of this produced an increase in spiritual knowledge? Yes it has, but I dare say the increase is about a 98 percent increase in the spirits of satan himself!
Are images idols? Are they propaganda? Do they deceive as satan did deceive? Are photographs, motion pictures used for good or for evil? What is the motive of those who produce them? What do they produce in our hearts as we look on them? I personally find my heart stirred by them in ways that are offensive to better angels... and to God... and to my redeemed spirit. The habits of the (my) flesh are too easily awakened.
2Corinthians 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
Ecclesiastes 7:29
King James Version
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
New American Standard Bible
Behold, I have found only this, that God made people upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
NASB 1995
“Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”
"To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity." Isaiah 40:18-23
Job 5:12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
The devices of men have evolved from bad to worse.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h4284/kjv/wlc/0-1/
If you want some conviction about photographic IMAGES, study the mechanical and chemical processes in the first cameras, particularly the need for silver, gold and mercury to produce photographs. Are we any better off than they were who cast brass and silver and gold?
Here is a smattering of quotes on the subject:
In 1816 Joseph Nicephore Niepce took the first image. Nicephore's photograph was not lasting. It was shot on silver chloride-coated paper with a camera he built himself.
Daguerreotypes were made by silver-plating a sheet of copper, then treating it with an iodine compound to produce a coating of light-sensitive silver iodide. After exposure the plate was subjected to mercury vapor, which condensed onto the latent image, most thickly where the light had been brightest.
Did old cameras have silver in them? All those components had circuit boards that contained small quantities of gold and silver. So the bottom line is that some old film cameras contain gold and silver that can be recycled by a qualified precious metals refinery.
Around 2000, all of the major manufacturers stopped making optical color silver halide print paper of both type-C and type-R and began making only color silver halide print paper designed for digital laser printers. At this point, all color prints became digital by definition.
I guess the question should be asked, of what spiritual value are modern images, whether paint, or sculpture, photographic or 3-D printed "sculptures?"
Certainly modern medical imaging has prolonged some number of human lives. But are the paintings, or sculptures, photographs or 3-D printed "sculptures" of any spiritual value? The answer for this writer is only so far as they are used to communicate the TRUTH. Jesus is TRUTH; He is THE truth. We marvel at the creation and some of us credit and thank God for it. But it is a creation scheduled to be consumed by fire and replaced. Even lives saved by X-rays and cat scans will need Jesus. The most noble purpose of medicine might be, ought to be to preserve the lost soul with prayer he or she become born again!
2Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Isaiah 55:1-3
1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
Deuteronomy 29:17 And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)
Isaiah 31:7
7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
Thoughts???
Isa 40:18-31
18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. 21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: 23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. 24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. 25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. 27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? 28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
