It's time to smash our idols

A new newsletter focused on Jesus only

Finally, I made the decision. Everything is changing—the whole focus and format of this newsletter. Maybe it’s for a season, maybe it’s my whole new path in life! But clear as day, I’ve experienced that God is doing something, something I’m a bit nervous about engaging with. Why? Because many people won’t like it. I have a feeling I’m not gonna be thrilled with my exploration all the time either… Yet, it’s truly where I feel the Lord is leading me.

Simply put: I’m being led to smash idols.

And it’s all because I’ve seen Pedro’s predicament play out time and time again.

Pedro’s Predicament

Born in the U.S.A., Pedro had Brazilian parents, granting him Brazilian citizenship in addition to American citizenship. Countries don’t always play nice with each other when it comes to citizenship, but the U.S. and Brazil have a treaty that allows this.

I think dual citizenship was a point of pride for my classmate Pedro. It’s kind of cool to claim two countries at once. No one could doubt he was American—born and raised. But he also had this special heritage and culture. And he could speak Portuguese, a language no one around us really knew!

But on one occasion, Pedro told me about a peculiar conundrum with his dual citizenship.

You see, every male in Brazil is required to serve a year in the military once they turn 18. While the U.S. has Selective Service, where you are forced to sign up in case of a draft, Brazil automatically sends its young men to the military unless they’re mentally or medically exempt.

Pedro was bright—easily one of the smartest kids in my grade. There were a lot of paths he could take in his life. And he just wasn’t keen on joining the military, especially in a country he didn’t grow up in. Yes, he was legally a Brazilian citizen, as he was proud to say, but his whole identity and experience were rooted in being an American one.

So, for good reason, he told me one day he was considering voluntarily giving up his Brazilian citizenship before he turned 18. He loved that aspect of his identity, as I recall, but he also felt it came at too great a cost. It was making demands on him that he wasn’t willing to follow through on.

Dual citizenship tends to become untenable. Life’s complexities force us to make choices between them. For a time, we might balance two allegiances, but eventually one of them will demand something significant. And we’ll have to choose which allegiance will guide us forward.

Sadly, I lost track of Pedro in high school. We weren’t really friends, just people vaguely moving in the same circles. I don’t know his final choice before he turned 18.

Every citizenship and allegiance eventually comes to collect at some point. No matter how voluntary or loose the association, you’ll either be asked for a favor or forced into one.

God’s Kingdom works this way too. Yes—grace is free! But to continue reaping the benefits of grace on earth, we give grace (literally: favor, gifts) back to God. God has a set of guidelines for living, time-tested by the Creator of life. When we receive the power of the Holy Spirit, there are fruits to show if we are tapping into it properly.

Other allegiances also make demands. The government wants our taxes. Political parties want our votes. Stores want us to sign up for branded credit cards. Your spouse wants affection. Your kids beg for that new video game. Your pet wants dinner—and NOW!

At some point, if you are living and breathing, these allegiances will compete. It’s inevitable, especially with how tangled our commitments become. The powers of this world will want something from you, and it likely won’t align with God’s values.

At some point, like Pedro, we’ll be required to do something we might not prefer by our allegiance. We’ll be forced into a Sophie’s choice. Our allegiances on earth will clash with our allegiance in Heaven.

What happens when love of country conflicts with love of our global neighbors?

What happens when prioritizing efficiency runs right over human relationships?

What happens when entertainment choices push us away from engaging with God’s creation?

What happens when our personal expression harms our community?

There’s a fork in the road when allegiances clash. Often, one path leads to God while the other leads to an idol. And we will have to choose.

21st Century Idols

The truth is, our issue with idols didn’t end with the Old Testament. We’re just better at hiding them.

While practicality has its place, many of us—including me—put too much faith in things that oppose what God wants. We say we trust God, but in reality, we have backup plans in wealth, power, or productivity. We think that if we work hard enough, build the right networks, or gain the right influence, we’ll be safe. We may lean into nationalism for security, chase influence for value, and escape into entertainment to avoid discomfort.

But God doesn’t allow dual allegiances—or at least, God doesn’t allow another allegiance to be seen on par with the Kingdom of God. Every idol offers a hollow promise. They ask us to trust them, just as Baal asked the Israelites to believe he’d bring rain. But idols never deliver the life they promise. And in chasing them, we miss the life God offers.

This newsletter is changing because I feel called by God to smash idols—helping Christians tear down anything that competes with our allegiance to the Lord. Idols aren’t just little golden statues from Indiana Jones; they’re anything we turn to for comfort, control, or meaning.

When the Israelites worshiped other gods, they weren’t outright rejecting Yahweh (at least not intentionally). They were hedging their bets, praying to a storm god for rain or a fertility god for children, just in case God’s promises weren’t enough. Plus, let’s be real, the idols demanded less from them. Yahweh wanted a total life transformation—the idols were good with lamb chops whenever you needed something specific. They wanted extra help on the side, at a low affordable cost. And honestly, who can blame them? Survival felt uncertain.

But God harshly condemned these attempts to supplement faith with false security. God is a jealous God—not because God is insecure, but because only God knows what’s truly good for us. You can’t serve two masters. Trying to add to God is like an amateur slapping extra brushstrokes on the Mona Lisa and calling it a masterpiece.

I am reluctantly becoming a modern-day Gideon. As the tale is told in Judges 6, God asked Gideon to smash the idols of his community at night and build an altar to God in their place. It wasn’t a, uh, very popular move. People wanted to kill him!

I, too, am on a quest to tear down the false gods we’ve grown comfortable with and try to teach people to follow Jesus instead. And people won’t like that. A lot of Christians, I suspect, won’t like that. I’m going to be forced to challenge my sacred cows as well!

When you start smashing idols, people get very angry because no one likes their false gods dethroned. Idols make us feel safe. They offer us a comforting routine. They give us the illusion of control in a chaotic world that we are not in charge of. But I’m ready. If folks hate this newsletter, they don’t have to read it! Let their idols contend with me—just like Gideon’s father said about Baal, “Let Baal fight his own battles.”

This is a Jesus-only party, and I’d like you to join me. I need a friend, after all, to talk to by the punch bowl. At this party, we see that God’s vision for life is good, true, and beautiful—but the guest list is strict: no idols allowed. Jesus alone belongs on the throne.

The Four Modern Idols

When we let Jesus run the show, we see how out of our depth we are at managing the universe. We weren’t made for that load. That’s work for the pros—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Our job is simple: trust and follow. But as long as we chase after Control, Achievement, Pleasure, and Autonomy, we’ll miss the joy of trusting the One who knows best.

So, let me introduce the top four idols we’ll be smashing. They tend to cover the bases, and each idol comes in different flavors too. They all capture the main ways we misplace our trust today. We often bow down to Control, Achievement, Pleasure, and Autonomy.

The Idol of Control

We seek control over life’s uncertainties and undesirable parts through wealth, power, or politics, just as the Israelites mixed Yahweh worship with other gods to secure rain or victory or children. But true security comes only from God’s sovereignty.

The Idol of Achievement

We chase productivity, status, and influence for validation, just like Israel’s kings made political and religious alliances to be seen as a “real” nation. But this pursuit drains us, leaving us disconnected from God’s peace.

The Idol of Pleasure

We seek comfort through entertainment or luxury, avoiding any serious sacrifice or overhaul of our whole lifestyle. But pleasure without purpose stunts growth, keeping us from the joy that comes from following God.

The Idol of Autonomy

We unreasonable prize independence, resisting all accountability, just as Israel did “what was right in their own eyes.” But individualism isolates us from the community God calls us to.

The New Newsletter

This is the direction we’ll take moving forward. It’ll still be funny, and there will still be stories—because that’s my style! But smashing idols will be the focus. Each week’s email will target an idol that needs smashing and will suggest a tenet of God’s truth to build in its place.

Control, Achievement, Pleasure, and Autonomy promise solutions to our deepest fears and desires. They tell us we can run the show, find success on our terms, and avoid pain. But these idols leave us restless, anxious, burned out, and isolated—because they’re lousy gods.

This project is about smashing idols so we can stop hedging our bets and give our full allegiance to Jesus. God’s life isn’t about backup plans or shortcuts. It’s about living free—free from what enslaves us and free to trust the One who really knows how to run the universe.

So… go get your hammer. Ready your stance. And on three, we’ll smash those idols.

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Smash ‘em,

Jake Doberenz

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