We recently were invited to go to a home and destroy their idol god. They had him in a little house in the corner of the kitchen. I pulled this dead god down, house and all. There were three tin cups in which they burned incense for this god. They also had a cup of wine beneath this paper god. We poured the wine out and gave the woman her cup and took the god and his house into the front room, where I stamped the house to pieces before the heathen company that was gathered together to see what we would do. We tore the god up in their presence, then we preached to them the true God and Jesus Christ our Lord. The woman in this home had already turned to God. Yet after they are saved, a relic of fear often remains to destroy these gods themselves. One more, a worshiper of the moon, has also turned to the Lord, now worshiping the true God.
This incident reported in 1914 is probably not referring to any work of art. I seriously doubt that this "paper god" torn to pieces by my great-grandfather is a reference to my aesthetically pleasing resume printed on the recommended quality paper, dazzling white space separating the perfectly indented paragraphs, indeed such a lovely sight to behold even if my enemies would only trample it to pieces to serve their own political vendetta purposes. Incidentally, neither is this a reference to Uncle Art. No, as some say, the paper "god" was probably just some cheaply produced, ugly thing marketed by some unscrupulous Chinese shaman. We are not saying that the shaman was not making a fortune selling these paper "gods" to the naive and credulously ignorant heathens of China. We are not saying that a massive number of Chinese conversions to Christianity would not seriously jeopardize the livelihood of said Chinese idol crafters and vendors. Still, your sick attachment to these paper "gods" is an infection of the culture, not a sign of health. Can you even imagine what a healthy culture would be like when you have never lived without idols crowding around on every side? And if these idols were aesthetically pleasing and artistically amazing creations, would that make them acceptable to Christians? No, not really, because this is not about art. It is about idols. I could say more about this but then I would just go on forever.
