It seems that most people tend to display those things that they are most convicted about on the back of their cars. As one who reads everything, bumper stickers spark a great curiosity in me. Many bumper stickers contain humorous and witty sayings. Some of their messages are very good in content and design. Other messages leave one scratching their head wondering why any reasonable person could place such garbage on a car that would have otherwise maintained its re-sale value very nicely.
On the way to Nashville last week, this writer noticed a bumper sticker on a car that read, “Tree Lover, Dirt Worshipper.” The other stickers on the back of the vehicle were not much better in the message being conveyed. This bumper sticker reflects a decidedly pagan view of deity as reflected in the false religions of the Old and New Testament. We have come to think more of the creation than the creator. Romans 1.25 says, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” This view is supported by a nation that has “gone green” to protect the environment at all costs.
A few weeks ago, while I was traveling, another bumper sticker read, “I didn’t attend church so I could go to a Wiccan meeting.” The same car had a sticker that said, “My other car is a broom.” Evidently, the lady driving the car believed that she was a witch. For some who might not know, Wiccan is a “religious practice involving nature worship and witchcraft” (Encarta, pg. 2031). As any good Bible student knows, witchcraft is thoroughly condemned in God’s Word (Exodus 22.18). Hopefully, she was not serious.
One bumper sticker on the back of a car going down the interstate read “COEXIST” with each letter of the word made by a religious or pagan symbol. This was an appeal for the reader to peacefully accept polytheism. Polytheism is the “worshipping of or believing in more than one deity, especially several deities” (Encarta, pg. 1397). If all things that represent a god are in fact God, then there cannot be one true God. Exodus 20.2-5 says,
“I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”
Another consideration regarding the “COEXIST” sticker is the demeanor of the religions listed in the print. One symbol stands for the Islamic religion. One who practices, “radical” Islam is not willing to coexist with any other religious group. All others are infidels who will convert or die./1 For this reason alone, the sticker is an exercise in futility.
Just today a bumper sticker was spied which said, “Karma has a dark side.” Karma is an element from false religions which is defined as “the Hindu and Buddhist philosophy according to which the quality of people’s current and future lives is determined by their behavior in this life” (Encarta, pg. 981). More and more people — including Christians — are talking about karma as if it was a part of the Christian belief system. Paul offers a warning in Colossians 2:8 when he says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
Finally, another bumper sticker shows an image of a fish on feet with the word “DARWIN” written inside of it. This hollow turtle-like image was shown killing the fish symbol with the Greek word for Jesus written inside. Clearly, this person has forsaken the idea of creation for the false doctrine of Darwinism. Unlike what they seem to believe, God created the universe and all that is in it. Genesis 1.1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
In our great nation, there seems to be an exodus from all things biblical and godly. These stickers were seen in middle Tennessee—a portion of the Bible Belt. Instead of revering the God who created our earth, we have started to worship the planet, pagan gods, the occult, vegetation, and animals. Acts 17:16; 22-23 says,
“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry … Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.”
Paganism and the occult seem to be making a comeback in our society. This trend is seen on bumper stickers, in the popular media, and in hometowns all around this great land. Just a few decades ago, one never saw a shop that was run by a palm reader, card reader, or fortune teller, I Samuel 15.23a: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry …” Today there are many such businesses. This indicates a dependence upon a thing or a person other than God. Surely, one is not fooled by a person who claims to know the future. No human being knows such things.
People who embrace multiple views about God and moral issues generally believe that they are “enlightened” amid an ignorant generation of people. By their way of reasoning, Christians are backward, uninformed, and narrow minded. These problems harken back to the theme of Judges. Judges 21.25 says, “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
/1 Jackson, Wayne (2019). “Islam and the Enemy.” Christian Courier.
By Johnny O. Trail