King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then he sent messages to the high officers, officials, governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. So all these officials came and stood before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then a herald shouted out, “People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king’s command! When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments, bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”
Daniel 3:1-6
Years ago, when our oldest grandson was two years old, we would sit down and watch Veggie Tales together. We loved how the simple stories and interesting vegetable characters taught children the importance of following God.
Phil Visher is the Veggie Tales creator, and his story is worthy of your time. He was passionate about pointing people to God, most especially children, and his tool of choice would be technology. Early in his life he began creating characters which were simple to animate. In his sophomore year of high school, MTV, a 24-hour music station made its debut on television.
As a high schooler, he understood the significant appeal to young people, music and videos on a twenty-four-hour basis. He also saw the profound cultural impact. This would be trouble! This made his commitment to serving God even more resolute. Veggie Tales was created. He developed his creative idea of animating silly vegetable characters to teach kids about biblical values. His Veggie Tale characters became the most beloved kids brand around.
In one episode, there is a catchy song which zip ties your attention to the story. My husband, and his over-the-top comedic nature, used to love to sing “The Bunny Song.” I must admit it is a catchy little tune and it goes like this. “The bunny, the bunny, whoa, I love the bunny. I don’t love my soup or my bread, just the bunny. The bunny, the bunny, yeah, I love the bunny. I gave everything I had for the bunny.” Silly, maybe, but when you hear the tune, it locks you in. Even now, it’s playing in my head!
Believe it or not The Bunny Song, helps drive home a story from the book of Daniel, and is brought to life by Bob the tomato, Larry the cucumber, and Junior Asparagus. They portray Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego. The modern translation is Rack, Shack, and Benny. Nebbie K. Nezzer assumes the role of King Nebuchadnezzar and is obsessed with his chocolate factory, and most especially building a giant chocolate bunny for all to worship. Long story short, anyone who would not worship the bunny would be thrown into the plant’s fiery furnace.
At first glance we may view this as simply a children’s cartoon interpreting a Biblical story, but could it relate to our lives today? I mean, are we going to worship a chocolate bunny? Really? Well, I do love chocolate, and that can be a problem if I lose control. But I don’t see people worshipping a ninety-foot gold statue of the King? Well, people do love their money, and gold represents wealth, and for some people that’s a really big thing, and it could become a problem.
Now, it really does not matter what I think, or what our culture accepts, how does God address these issues in His Word? God gave us the Ten Commandments to help guide us in our lives; His boundary, or parameter. Let’s look at the first two commandments for answers about this issue.
“You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.” Exodus 20:3-5
Interesting. Idol worship can be anything you make more important than God. It doesn’t require a gold statue 90 foot tall, or a bigger than life bunny. If we sober up long enough from the speed of life, clear our heads from distractions, we will see all kinds of things with the potential for worship with no animation needed. For instance, it could be our families or children, jobs or careers, political parties, social media numbers, sexualization, selfies on social media, under-eating, over-eating, flags, diversity, bank balances, or anything that reduces God from His first position in our lives.
Satan is fist bumping the feckless, pitting us against each other with our idolatries. He is using our pride and prejudices, diversity, race, gender (there are only two, not my word, but His Holy Word), or anything which is keeping us from loving God or loving each other! Why are we bowing down before every Tom, Dick, or Harry, allowing them to tell us how we should think, or telling our children they can surgically change what God has made? Sorry, I used the wrong pronoun!
We are not battling against people, but demons who have infiltrated our families, schools, universities, government, churches, retail stores, professional sports teams, and corporations. Don’t you find it odd that professional sports teams are taking sides in sexual preferences? Why not just play ball?
God’s Word tells us in Ephesians 6:10-17 to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power and to be fully covered with God’s armor.
WE MUST NOT BOW BEFORE THE BUNNY!
Take up your sword and do battle! Pray, pray, and then pray some more. Only God can change the hearts of people. Pray for our children to be protected! The next generation is under direct assault, they need your prayer. Speak up and stand strong in your faith!
In Colossians 4:6 we read, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”
In other words, lots of grace and easy with the salt.