Counterfeit Gods – The Empty Promises of Money Sex and Power and the Only Hope that Matters
Counterfeit Gods The Empty Promises of Money Sex and Power and the Only Hope that Matters
The New York Times bestselling author of The Reason for God and The Prodigal God and a nationally renowned minister, Timothy Keller exposes the error of making good things "ultimate" in his latest book, and shows readers a new path toward a hope that lasts.
Success, true love, and the life you've always wanted. Many of us placed our faith in these things, believing they held the key to happiness, but with a sneaking suspicion they might not deliver. The recent economic meltdown has cast a harsh new light on these pursuits. In a matter of months, fortunes, marriages, careers, and a secure retirement have disappeared for millions of people. No wonder so many of us feel lost, alone, disenchanted, and resentful. But the truth is that we made lesser gods of these good things -gods that can't give us what we really need. There is only one God who can wholly satisfy our cravings- and now is the perfect time to meet him again, or for the first time.
The Bible tells us that the human heart is an "idol- factory," taking good things and making them into idols that drive us. In Counterfeit Gods, Keller applies his trademark approach to show us how a proper understanding of the Bible reveals the unvarnished truth about societal ideals and our own hearts. This powerful message will cement Keller's reputation as a critical thinker and pastor, and comes at a crucial time-for both the faithful and the skeptical.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Grant S.
Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters
An outstanding exploration of the things that we have made into Gods in our culture–for Christians and non-Christians alike. Keller is a very clear thinker and, in my opinion, spot on in his critique, and in the direction he points to as the answer.
5 Stars A mirror of my soul
This book is a mirror in which I saw many facettes of my soul. It is a big help for anyone searching to know himself and to get free of own counterfit Gods. It leads the reader to have only one God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The book showed me the difference between what I think the inner motivation in my life are and how my life really functions, what governs me.
5 Stars From Despair to Thanksgiving
So, we've heard it: idols are everywhere on the rise. Pastors preach about the rise of greed, how Jesus preached against the greed for money. These sermons have become stock Sunday service material, beating the same trite, dead horse. Tim Keller, in his latest book Counterfeit Gods, reinvigorates the message of turning away from idols to serving the one and only true God.
Refreshingly, Keller avoids the usual course of fire and brimstone, by allowing the reader to think through a list counterfeit gods. The idols of society are found in romantic love, financial prosperity, need for success, and desire for political power. The present reality is this: Self-worth and esteem are often sought in relationships. When fortunes were lost in the market crisis of 2008-2009, prominent figures on Wall Street committed suicide-a semblance of the crash in the 1930s. There is an endless need for money. Only 2% of Americans consider themselves wealthy; the rest are upwardly driven as members of the middle class. Keller provides a candid assessment of the kind of thinking that prevails in our culture. The problem is idolatry, which admittedly is an inevitable part of the human condition.
The idols cannot be just expelled; it must be replaced. Keller writes: "The human heart's desire for a particular valuable object may be conquered, but its need to have some such object is unconquerable." Christ's sufficiency replaces the need to worship the idol of success and the idols of the world: "Only when we see that Jesus, our great Suffering Servant, has done for us will we finally understand God's salvation does not require us to do 'some great thing.'" This is the point, which Keller drives home.
I was particularly drawn to his discussion of the idol of power and glory. Niebuhr's case study on Nebuchadnezzar, was very revealing. Keller quotes Niebuhr's final assessment: "man is insecure, and… he seeks to overcome his insecurity by a will-to-power… He pretends he is not limited." Man has a deep fear of being powerless. Nebuchadnezzar completely ignored the all-powerful God, who ruled over him and held him accountable.
More penetrating was the second part of the discussion: that we are in control is only an illusion. I absolutely loved reading about Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers, which showed that success was largely a product of our environment. It gave an example of a group of Jewish New York City lawyers, who were extremely successful. All born in the 1930s, they happened to attend a school with a small student-teacher ratio, which gave them significant advantage in their development. They later attended quality inexpensive colleges, and then received training in law. They then practiced law in highly specialized proxy fights, which were avoided by experienced lawyers then, but experience in these proxy fights worked to their advantage in the seventies and eighties, making these lawyers extremely wealthy. Gladwell's book made the case that our innate ability cannot account for our successes. Keller then ascribes the hand of God to where we are today.
I'll be honest, I picked up this book thinking that I would pass it on to someone who would needed to hear a good message on false idols. Keller's message, however, cut right into my heart into a state of brokenness. I was particularly struck by the section on power and glory. How foolish was I to think that I can take credit for each subsequent steps in my life? Who am I to think that my abilities have taken me where I am today? And why should I be in despair with the disappointments I face? It then occurred to me that I am exactly where I need to be-in God's hands. I cannot escape from the hand of God leading me every step of the way.
Keller's book brought me to a place where I couldn't help but reflect on God's tender mercies, while my heart overflowed with thanksgiving.
5 Stars Excellent read
Tim Keller wrote a very insightful and common sense book that everyone should read. Idols are everywhere! Read the book, you will understand.
4 Stars The empty promise of a best seller?
After the critical acclaim of "The Reason for God", its follow up "The Prodigal God" and the hugely respected ministry of Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City, I reckon this book is a dead ringer to do well.
Though in saying that I don't know about you but I've observed that even though Keller has a great reputation – some people are deterred from reading his second and third books – simply because they found his first book "Reason for God" rather intimidating and they assumed the second and third book would be similar. Can I say if that is you – then you can take some assurance from the fact that the latter books are a third of the size – a lot smaller in scope and written in bigger font (obviously printed as give away books).
Now don't get me wrong I am not trying to bag out "Reason for God" (no way) – it will be held up as a Christian classic for years to come – I just think it meets a different need than his two latter books. Let me explain.
"Reason for God" is really an apologia for the Christian faith – in it Keller collates stuff from a whole bunch of sources to make an intellectually compelling case for God – it is written for skeptics and the believers who love them – it is fairly comprehensive.
In contrast "The Prodigal God" which is based on the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 is pretty succinct. It encapsulates Keller's standard gospel presentation (also affectionately known as three ways to live) – it targets both the sensual younger brothers as well as the ethical but spiritually dead older brothers amongst us – pointing to the only means available to get right – from the Father by grace through faith in Jesus.
"Counterfeit Gods" focuses on the concept that everyone has an idol – everyone worships something – if it's not God – it's a god of your own making. In recent years thanks to the recent economic crises the popular idols of money, sex and power have been "shored up" – as a consequence many have come unstuck and have lost a sense of meaning in their lives – simply because the rock upon which they build their lives has proved to be more akin to a beach ball.
To give you a feel for "Counterfeit Gods" Here's generally how the book flows;
Contrary to popular opinion – idolatry is not an archaic practice used exclusively by primitive cultures. We may mock ancient cultures for their overt worship of what we think are ridiculously silly gods or idols – but the reality is we are no better.
"We may not actually burn incense to Artemis, but when money and career are raised to cosmic proportions, we perform a kind of child sacrifice, neglecting family and community to achieve a higher place in business and gain more wealth and prestige." (xii)
"In ancient times, the deities were bloodthirsty and hard to appease. They still are". (xiii)
Keller points out how brilliant the human heart is at churning out idols – he terms it an "idol factory".
"God was saying that the human heart takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them". (xiv)
Keller explains that an idol is anything more important to you than God – anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God. If you lost it your life would feel hardly worth living. An idol has a controlling position in your heart such that you can spend most of your energies on it without even a second though. When you look at an idol this way you realise idols permeate our society – they are everywhere. Effectively an idol is a functional god – Keller pulls out a Rebecca Pippert quote to illustrate;
"Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives." (xxxiii)
In the first chapter Keller explains the inevitability of idolatry is disaster;
"If we look to some created thing to give us the meaning, hope and happiness that only God himself can give, it will eventually fail to deliver and break our hearts." (P 3)
Keller comments how the rejection of idolatry is a deep vein that runs through the narrative of the Bible;
"The Bible is therefore filled with story after story depicting the innumerable forms and devastating effects of idol worship." (P 5)
By way of example Keller picks the striking narrative of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac:
"Isaac was a wonderful gift to Abraham, but he was not safe to have and hold until Abraham was willing to put God first. As long as Abraham never had to choose between his son and obedience to God, he could not see that his love was becoming idolatrous. In a similar way we may not realise how idolatrous our career has become to us, until we are faced with a situation in which telling the truth or acting with integrity would mean a serious blow to our professional advancement." (P 14)
Wonderfully, as Keller exposits, this narrative is not simply the experience of one man. This man was Abraham who is looked upon as the father of world religion (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). In some ways this is a model of how things are to be and at the same time a fore shadow of a greater truth. Uncomfortable as it may be just like Abraham everyone of us has to make that walk up the hill, and sacrifice those idols that are separating us from God – yet as we see in the account of Abraham – only when such idols are sacrificed are we actually able to get right with God – the upshot here was that once this happened with Abraham God graciously provided the necessary sacrifice to put things right between the former idolater and God. And of course this is clearly foreshadowing Jesus the Christ – and the necessary repentance and belief that is the open palm required from us to receive the undeserved gift that he is to us from God. Which brings Keller to the punch line;
"As many have learned and later taught, you don't realise Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have." (P19)
That is so true – isn't that a great way of putting it!
So once the general concept of idolatry is laid out Keller moves on to apply the blow torch to three particularly popular modern outputs from the idolatry factory of recent years.
He starts with romantic love/sex – I won't give too much away – here are a few choice quotes:
"Romantic love is an object of enormous power for the human heart and imagination, and therefore can excessively dominate our lives. Even people who completely avoid romantic love out of bitterness or fear are actually being controlled by its power." (P 31)
Keller brings out the example of Jacob and Rachel and Leah as an illustration of this idol;
"Both the stereotypically male and female idolatries regarding romantic love are dead ends. It is often said that "men use love to get sex, women use sex to get love." As in all stereotypes there is some truth to this, but this story shows that both of these counterfeit gods disappoint. Because Jacob sought to get his life validated from having a physically beautiful wife, he gave his heart to a woman toward whose immaturity and shortcomings he was blind. Leah's counterfeit god was not sex. She obviously had access to her husband's body, but not to his love and commitment. She wanted him to be "attached" to her, to have his soul cleave to her. But he did not. Her life became bound in shallows and miseries." (P 41)
Then he moves on to money – here are some gems from that chapter:
"Money is one of the most common counterfeit gods there is. When it takes hold of your heart it blinds you to what is happening, it controls you through your anxieties and lusts, and it brings you to put it ahead of all other things." (P58)
Then he contributes a chapter to the seduction of success:
"More than other idols, personal success and achievement lead to a sense that we ourselves are god, that our security and value rest in our own wisdom, strength and performance. To be the very best at what you do, to be at the tope of the heap, means no one is like you. You are supreme." (P75)
And then Keller rounds it out with a chapter on power – how so often as history has illustrated – we can look to those in some role of power as idols – as "Messiahs". Here are some juicy bits;
"Dutch-Canadian philosopher Al Woters taught that in the biblical view of things, the main problem in life is sin, and the only solution is God and his grace. The alternative to this view is to identify something besides sin as the main problem with the world and something besides God as the main remedy. That demonizes something that is not completely bad, and makes an idol out of something that cannot be the ultimate good." (P100)
"Human Beings have very little real power over their lives. Ninety-five percent of what sets the course of their lives is completely outside their control. This includes the century and place they are born in, who their parents and family are, their childhood environment, physical stature, genetically hardwired talents, and most of the circumstances that they find themselves in. In short, all we are and have is given to us by God. We are not infinite Creators, but finite dependent creatures." (P110)
Quite appropriately at this point he moves on to encourage us to apply a blow torch to our own lives – as he entitles the chapter – The Hidden Idols in our own lives.
"Why did our culture largely abandon God as its Hope? I believe it was because our religious communities have been and continue to be filled with these false gods. Making an idol out of doctrinal accuracy, ministry success, or moral rectitude leads to constant internal conflict, arrogance and self righteousness, and oppression of those whose views differ. These toxic effects of religious idolatry have led to widespread disaffection with religion in general and Christianity in particular. Thinking we have tried God, we have turned to other Hopes, with devastating consequences." (P 132)
"All Christians say and believe that Christ is their Saviour, not their career or their wealth. What Christ thinks of us is what matters, not human approval. That is what we say. But while Jesus is our Saviour in principle, other things still maintain functional title to our hearts. Jonah shows us that it is one thing to believe the gospel with our minds, and another to work it deep into our hearts so it affects everything we think, feel, and do. He is still being largely controlled by idolatry." (P 145)
He rounds out the short book by pointing to the only way to bring an end to the counterfeit gods in our own lives – he does this by looking at what the scriptures are telling us of ourselves through Jacob and the blessing he demanded as he wrestled with God;
"That blessing… is what Jacob received, and it is the only remedy against idolatry. Only that blessing makes idols unnecessary. As with Jacob, we usually discover this only after a life of "looking for blessing in all the wrong places." It often takes an experience of crippling weakness for us to finally discover it. That is why so many of the most God blessed people limp as they dance for joy." (P 164)
I really liked it at the end of the book that there was an epilogue on finding and replacing your idols. It was really encouraging as it showed in my humble opinion that this was not just pie in the sky stuff – it was eminently practical.
Here are some quotes from that section;
"Contemporary observers have often noted that modern Christians are just as materialistic as everyone else in our culture. Could this be because our preaching of the gospel does not, like Saint Paul's, include the exposure of our culture's counterfeit gods?" (P 167)
"The question is: what can we do about them? How can we become increasingly clear sighted rather than remaining in their power? How can we be freed from our idols so that we can make sound decisions and wise choices that are best for us and those around us? How can we discern our idols?" (P 167)
"Rejoicing in Christ is also crucial because idols are almost always good things. If we have made idols out of work and family, we do not want to stop loving our work and our family. Rather we want to love Christ so much more that we are not enslaved by our attachments." (P172)
Okay so that's pretty much it. All in all – a pretty decent book. I do hope with all the quotes and such you may now have a decent feel for the book yourself.
I have to confess at this point that I had really – really high expectations when this book arrived in the mail. I find Keller's sermons hugely edifying and helpful – and I love his ministry – But I must say I was a little disappointed – because even though the book was fairly short and sweet – and written in big font – I found myself thinking that with the diction and the sheer volume of references to "big noters" in the intellectual world it could possibly be accused of putting itself on the top shelf – and out of reach of many to whom it ought to be targeted.
His logic is brilliant but without detracting from that my longing it that Keller will write a book targeted more at the masses than to the intellectuals.
Although on second thoughts – perhaps that's not very fair – because it is probably written primarily with your average New Yorker in mind – in which case it is probably better pitched than I give it credit for.
Although on third thoughts – I do sometimes think the same of the writings of C.S. Lewis as well (…yes I know dangerous territory here…don't bag out the great man) – and I know he is a huge influence on Keller – (that comes through in his writing style in this book) – but typically the only guys I ever hear rave about Lewis are guys who have been Christian's a long time…(which incidentally probably explains why "The Prodigal God" was such a hit).
On fourth thoughts – blast it – just buy the book for yourself and make up your own mind.
Related posts:
- Hard as Nails A Mission to Awaken Youth to the Power of Gods Love
- The Secret Power of Speaking Gods Word – Joyce Meyer
- Counterfeit Christianity – How Ancient Paganism Mixed with Christianity
- The Power of Jesus Deters Gunman
- The Art of Power
- Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart
- Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire – What Happens When Gods Spirit Invades the Hearts of His People
- Ceremonial Magic and The Power of Evocation – A System of Personal Power
- A Path with Heart – A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
- How to Hear Gods Voice
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Hello there – just a short note to say kudos for this article. Very great.