Deuteronomy 12 is a rich chapter. According to verses 2 and 3, the children of Israel were to destroy the worship centers, the idols and images, and the names. Idols are found not only in the centers of pagan worship; they are also found in Catholicism, in Protestantism, and in the independent Christian groups. If we are enlightened by this portion of the Word, spiritually speaking we shall destroy all the places, idols, and names.
Often the pagan centers of worship were located on mountains or hills or under green trees (Deut. 12:2). The mountains and hills signify the exaltation of something other than Christ, and the green trees signify things that are beautiful and attractive. The various worship centers in today's Christianity lift up something other than Christ. In principle, these centers of worship are on a mountain or hill, the high places. However, God's people were to come to Mount Zion, the unique place chosen by God for corporate worship. The worship at the high places was a factor in the dispersion of the children of Israel.
In principle, we must destroy all the places, idols, and names. To do this is to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. But if we insist on our own choice, we are doing what is right in our own eyes. We must fear the Lord and go to the place He has chosen.
Christianity has followed the world by taking the way of division. From the time of Babel, the people of the world have been divisive. The reason for this divisiveness is that people insist on their own choice or preference. For this reason, human society today is altogether divisive. The church should be different. As the unique place chosen by God, the church should have no division. This means that the church should not follow the customs of the nations or the pagan practices of human society. Nevertheless, from the time of the second century, the church has been divided over such things as opinions concerning the Person of Christ. The different schools of Christology, the study of the Person of Christ, became "mountains" and "hills." Thus, the church was divided not mainly by evil things, but mainly by good things, even by opinions about Christ.
As we all know, in the centuries following the Reformation, Christianity has had hundreds of divisions. After World War II, the independent groups began to flourish in the United States. In 1963 I was told that in Southern California alone there were more than a thousand such groups. The history of Christianity proves that the most striking aspect in which it has followed the world is the matter of division. The pagan practice of division, of following our own choice, taste, or preference, is found throughout Christianity. Even to entertain the thought of division is to take the way of the pagan system, the divisive practice of the custom of the nations.
When the children of Israel entered the good land, pagan centers of worship could be found everywhere. In some places there were altars, in other places there were dedicated pillars or wooden symbols, and in still other places there were graven images of heathen gods. The land of Canaan was filled with idols. Therefore, God charged the children of Israel to destroy all these things and to come to the unique place chosen by God. In principle, we must do the same thing today.
Today many Christians look for a so-called church in the same way that people shop for a pair of shoes. They may go from one shoe store to another until they find something to match their preference. Some Christians spend years going from one place of worship to another, continually looking for a place that suits their taste or satisfies their desire. Such Christians are church travelers. Before I came into the church life, I also did a certain amount of this kind of traveling. But when I came into the church in the Lord's recovery, my traveling ended. I knew I had come to the place of God's choice.
Deuteronomy 12:5 says, "But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come." When the children of Israel entered into the good land, they were not to follow the practice of the nations. They were not to choose places according to their own preference; rather, they were to go to the unique place chosen by God. As revealed in other books of the Old Testament, this unique place was Mount Zion in Jerusalem where the temple, the house of God, was built.