Beware, pillar can be a snare

By Ps PETER AGLUM
THE Government of James Marape announced on National Repentance Day in 2020 that the National Government will erect a National Unity Pillar in front of the National Parliament House.
The project will be given as a 45th Independent gift on Sept 16, 2020. The National Unity Pillar will cost K5 million. It will be a 200m tall pillar which will be an iconic symbol that embodies the many tribes of our Christian country.
The decision was believed to be from the National Executive Council and signed and approved by the PNG Council of Churches. That was made known during the PNG Council of Churches meeting in June 2021 at the Department of Community Development, Youth and Religion.
The announcement to put up the National Unity Pillar caused mixed reactions among believers. Some even went to social media and criticised the Government for wasting money on a pole which has no direct benefit to the citizens of this country. A pastor went on to explain that the National Unity Pillar was a symbol of unity in a country with diverse cultures.
In a country like Papua New Guinea where almost every citizen believes in the God of the Bible and is so radical about the Christian faith, it is good to test and cross-check with the Bible whether such a monument or pole is approved by the Bible.
Before we check the Bible to see whether the Bible that we believe and live by approves of such a pole or monument. Let’s ask these questions;
How will the National Unity Pillar benefit the people of Papua New Guinea? Is it necessary to spend K5 million to put up a pillar during such a time when the country is hit hard with financial problems? Is there anywhere in the Bible where such a pole has been put up?
Does the Bible approve it? Will it have any negative or positive spiritual impacts in the lives of the citizens? I believe that those who are behind the project must have carefully considered the above questions and weighed things out before pushing it through for approval and funding.
As a pastor I wanted to speak out because it is grieving my spirit and it goes against my Christian faith. There are many countries in the world have who put up such monuments. They have their own reasons. Some of the famous monuments around the world are:
Statue of Liberty in America
Eiffel Tower in Paris (France)
Obelisk in Vatican
The Monument of Washington (in America) which was an obelisk.
When I study these monuments in some of these countries in the world they are not related to any Christian beliefs nor have no connections to the Bible. They are historical objects put up in memory of founding fathers, historical events and great achievements in those countries.
As I studied through some of these pillars, one that caught my attention was the obelisk. Many countries of the world erect an obelisk as a monument or pillar. The PNG National Unity Pillar looks similar to ab obelisk.
Obelisk structure was dated back to 4th dynasty (c.2613-2494) for religious dedications, usually to the Sun god, and commemorations of the lives of rulers. The earliest surviving obelisk dates from the reign of Sesostris I (1918–1875 BC) and stands at Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo, where once stood a temple to Re. One of a pair of obelisks erected at Karnak by Thutmose I (c. 1525–12 BC) is 80 feet (24 metres) high, square at the base, with sides of 6 feet (1.8 metres), and 143 tons in weight.
The PNG National Unity Pillar, as you can see from the picture, is no different from the other obelisks. The source of these obelisks can be traced back to ancient idol worship.
The obelisks are placed in front of the temple or in front of the parliament house believing that the gods will influence the worship in the temple or decision-making in the parliament.
Note that the PNG National Unity Pillar is proposed to be erected in front of the National Parliament House. Let us assume that whoever brought up the idea must have borrowed it from ancient Egypt to influence the decision-making in the Parliament House.
I tried to search through the Bible and find out if there are any such structures approved by the God of the Bible and I found none. Every time the children of God erect something up, it kindles the anger of God and God punished His people severely throughout the Bible. God plainly instructed the children of Israel to pull down such structures in the land and destroy them with fire. Deut 7:5 “But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
He warned them again and again through his servants the prophets not to erect sacred pillars on their land. Below are just two examples;
Lev 26:1 ‘You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.
Deut 16:22 “You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.
I have read in the Bible about pillars of altars put up by the Patriarchs but that was for sacrifice purposes. There was one instance in the Bible where Zerubbabel (Gideon) put up an ephod (priestly garment) made of pure gold and set it up in the open place at Ophrah but that was used by the Israelites as idolatry and superstition (Judges 8:27). So in reality, the proposed National Unity Pillar has no connection from the Bible or does it have anything to do with Christian faith.
I will completely agree if the National Executive Council (NEC) liaises with the National Events Council or another body to discuss and put up the National Unity Pillar leaving God and Christianity out of the picture.
I totally disagree when the NEC proposes and gives the proposal to the National Council of Churches to sign and approve.
This country was already Christian when our fathers wrote the constitution and enshrined Christian principles in the preamble of our constitution. Again a covenant was signed by the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare on the Aug 26, 2007 declaring the God of Israel to be the God of PNG and later in 2012 gazetted and recognised Aug 26 as a National Day Prayer and Repentance. Then it went to America and brought a 404-year-old Bible in 2015 then again the Parliament repealed Section 45 of the Constitution and has passed a bill that PNG will be recognised as a Christian country. Frankly speaking, PNG is over Christianised.
The God of the Bible that we worship is not worshipped through sight but faith (2 Co 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight). Everywhere in PNG, people believe and worship without representation of any forms, images, pillars or whatsoever. That’s the kind of worship God wants and let us leave it as that. John 4:23: “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
I would like to plainly put to the NEC not to mix religion with politics thinking that you will win favour from God. The Bible disapproves that. Roman 8:7 says: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
And for those pastors and church leaders who went ahead and signed the project, you are misleading the nation.
If the National Unity Pillar goes up, I fear that those who signed and approved will have a case against the God of the Bible.
I wish all Papua New Guineans a belated happy 47th Independence anniversary.