Are Pat and I going over the top when we condemn garden gnomes, whose true inspiration Pat exposed in this article: Baal - the pagan idol in your garden, http://www.thefreepressonline.co.uk/news/1/880.htm
Readers can rest assured that as lifelong journalists, editors and authors, we believe almost nothing unless backed up by facts, research and, preferably, first-hand experience. So when a long term reader who we respect challenged us on this, we explained why we wouldn’t give a gnome a home. Go smash their heads off!
Here’s how reader Gareth put us on the spot: “You once wrote an article about “Baal- the pagan idol in your garden” and the devilish antics of garden gnomes! Well, I have just received an email from one of the members of an “isolated believers group” down here in sunny Devon who has just read it and is warning everyone she knows about this spiritual danger. “As the apostle Paul would say ‘surely not!’
"Whilst a few people may well go OTT about their garden gnomes I just can’t stretch to believe that Satan is using them to infiltrate our relationship with the Lord. In fact, even whilst writing this I’m chuckling; if we have to worry about this sort of thing then just how strong is our faith? Should I be aware of eating a potato that is shaped like a goat’s head or a cornflake that looks like a pentagon?
“Somewhere in my memory bank I recall that you might have answered this type of question before? The point is Alan that I fully support your ministry and what you and Pat are doing; what I would not want to see is new people being introduced to your website through this article (as it stands) because I fear that it may be their first and only visit! I agree fully with you about Satan’s cleverness but to suggest that garden gnomes are evil may make us look a bit silly. I am happy to be a fool for Christ as Paul tells the Corinthians but can you substantiate this article over and above the fact that Baal (who also looks like a typical Egyptian Pharaoh) looks like a gnome/pixie?”
Pat replied: Alan passed this to me since it was my article. I went to see the Baal idols in the Dor museum near Caesarea, because I wanted to see what Baal looked like. When I saw the stupid little Smurf-like red clay heads of figures which would have been about 6 or 8 inches tall, I was astonished that the Israelites had actually worshipped them as gods. They were so insignificant, so ridiculous. Yet they were actually worshipped. God took this so seriously that Israel was invaded, conquered, many killed horribly, many chained together with hooks through their jaws and taken on forced marches hundreds of miles. They never came back. You may chuckle. God did not. Israel had been warned many times through many prophets, but they loved their Baal idols and Astarte statuettes.
After we saw the little idols, we drove up the coast to Haifa to a garden centre, and as soon as we walked in, there was the table full of garden gnomes, and we just stood there looking at the faces we had just seen in the museum. 'But gnomes are just a bit of fun.' Really? How are they fun? Why would anyone want one?
And yes, I do think they can be a real cause of trouble. The dark supernatural is real. Why would you put something that looks like Baal in your garden? I want to please God, not decorate our property with things that look like demonic Baal idols. If God didn't like them then, has He changed His mind?
'But we're not actually worshipping gnomes' you might say. The Bible tells us that the idols represented demons. We know there are demons out there who cause trouble for people. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but the powers of darkness. They are happy to use any means to infiltrate your life. OK, people are not kneeling down to them, but they buy them, give them garden room, make them a feature, a talking point. Why do any of that? Where has this all come from?
I think Satan just loves to make fools of people. You can almost hear the demons in conversation: 'Those stupid Christians; I'll bet I can get them to put Baal idols in their yards. I'll just make them a bit fatter and cuter.' 'And if any of them sees through this and takes a stand against it, I will make them look like a fool.'
So, there we are. I think the Lord showed us those gnomes right after the Baal idols so that we could put it in the book. He wants us clean. Some things are unclean. I want my life to glorify God, and there is no place in it for statues, which He specifically forbids in Commandment No 2, the one I never heard in 12 years of Catholic schooling.
I know not everyone agrees. We are just watchmen, telling what we see. Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, and yes, he will get a foot in the doorway of our lives any which way he can.
Best wishes from Pat.
And Alan adds....
Greetings from the Western Galilee, where we are spending six weeks with our grandchildren. The sites we see are usually playgrounds and ice-cream shops, although we did see a Canaanite temple of Asherah (a fertility goddess) in Nahariya.
I completely understand your scepticism. However, if you see the pictures I have in my presentation, taken about half an hour apart in Israel, you can see that the gnomes are EXACTLY like Baal, even down to the funny hats.These pictures are in our book exposing paganism and false faiths: Cults and Isms: True or False? which is available from our web shop.
Pat and I are both sceptics about most things we are told, nor do we jump to foolish conclusions. However, there are few coincidences in spiritual matters. For example, I also have a series of pictures of the "Queen of Heaven" from Babylon, ancient India and so on- which also match precisely the entity the Catholics like to think of as Mary- although they also give her the pagan title Queen of Heaven. The mother and child imagery has come down intact from Babylon.
My background in the occult, the New Age Movement and much else also gives me a lot of information that most people are unaware of. For example, I spent years- decades- as a chief reporter/freelance reporter/editor investigating tales of "men in black," UFOS, etc. Not all the stories I was told were fabricated. I have no doubt that much of this is down to demonic activity, for there are no extraterrestrials. The apparitions of "Mary," appearing all round the world right now, are from the same source.
Another thing I found out, during six years as a rock group drummer and beyond, is that many of the illustrations you see on albums/DVDs by satanic groups show real demons. The same features show up again and again, in different cultures. Today they often appear on war games covers/advertisements. One glance can show you that they are satanically inspired. Some groups were into black magic, etc, which I also studied (Pat burned all my books of spells etc when she was saved!)
These are times of great deception and extraordinary demonic activity and we should be on our guard, without becoming obsessed by all this stuff. In fact I often wish I knew a lot less- life would be more relaxing and pleasant in many ways. What we do is a burden, to tell the truth and I don't even like travelling - we would rather stay at home and dig the garden. A gnomeless garden.....
P.S. Our emailer Gareth is a wise man. After our replies to his skepticism he emailed back: 'Rebuke accepted. Proverbs 9:8.' Proverbs 9:8 says:
'Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you,
Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.'
Here is a link to our original article:
http://www.thefreepressonline.co.uk/news/1/880.htm
