Asherah Poles?

I just recently encountered the following post which has stimulated some more thinking in my own mind. If you follow the link you will find Christians discussing and debating this issue with one another. I am not interested in starting a discussion forum over this topic here! Honestly, i have alot of other issues that i need to devote more time to, ones that i think are more important at this point in my life. Our Sr. Pastor is a retired military chaplain whose father was a 1 star general (WW 2 vet). He has tried to combine the two elements listed below into the July 4th Sunday service. By that i mean he believes it is appropriate to sing Patriotic songs but not at the exclusion of having a normal Sunday morning (God-centered sermon) mixed in with some God-centered songs.

In my opinion, the error of the post below is that it really only presents two types of worship services. 1. That is almost exclusively patriotic. 2. One that ignores the holiday and focuses in on our citizenship in heaven, etc. I believe they overlook the possibility of a third. 3. An integrated service that seeks to remain God-centered while still acknowledging the day. Now i understand pastors and Christians will disagree on all three of these options. Some will agree on option 3; but have totally different worship services (as to what they feel is acceptable during that service or not).

If you want to join the conversation click on the link i included below and please comment there. Have a great week and in everything Think Biblically!


Will You Be Setting Up Asherah Poles on The 4th?
Take from http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.710

"'If you are in a church where the flag falls out of the ceiling on the Fourth of July, and an honor guard comes down the isle with flags for each branch of the service. And if you are singing God bless America on ANY Sunday on real estate owned by God. If this is the stuff you tolerate on the Lord's Day, it's not far off from Asherah poles" (idols in the Old Testament).'
That was Michael Horton of the White Horse Inn who said that, on a recent program entitled Christless Christianity which dealt with the many ways modern churches get away from centering on Christ as their primary message. The crew went on to discuss how those America-oriented things are appropriate at a parade but not in church. Far from being anti-patriotic, it's simply a call to keep a proper focus within the church.
I ran a Fourth of July post last year telling of one of the horror stories of the Seeker Driven church that I used to attend. It was the annual patriotic service at this time of the year. The service included a flag-draped Harley wheeling up the center aisle of the building, while soldiers sang patriotic songs up on the stage. I'll never forget that motorcycle with the big flag wheeling around the place, and little (if any) mention of God throughout the service other than the "thank God for our great nation" kind of thing. One of the comments on last year's post said:
"A baptist church down the street has 3 crosses on the front wall of their church. Guess what was covering those crosses last week? You guessed it a giant American flag draped from the roof! I think in a way it shows in general that some people (not specifically this church) elevate our country to be equal or greater than God."
Another comment quoted an excerpt from an article entitled "One Cheer for Civil Religion" found in the Sept./Oct. 2005 issue of Modern Reformation magazine, which said:
"According to historian (and Christian) Wilfred McClay, civil religion is "that strain of American piety that bestows many of the elements of religious sentiment and faith upon the political and social institutions of the United States." More problematically, civil religion is the misidentification of the nation of the United States with the covenant people of God. It is the casual assumption that America enjoys a special role in redemptive history. It is the confusion of the office of the political leader with the office of the spiritual leader. It is the frequent presumption of divine blessings without submission to divine judgment. It is the sublimation of Christian distinctives to a generic amalgam that conflates many faiths into a common national identity. It is as old as America itself. And it is not biblical Christianity."
So what do you think of the comparison between Asherah Poles and what's going to be happening in churches this Sunday? The church that I attend will simply continue on our normal preaching schedule, and nobody will be able to tell that it's a holiday of some sort, by either our selection of songs or by the sermon preached. What goes on at your church this time of the year?
Before you comment however, remember that we are not knocking "patriotism", but are calling into question the role it should play in our worship services.