Knowing God, Know, Really

I could be wrong, but it appears we have three men interested in the same woman.

Desiring companionship is good, and hope is a healthy approach when pursuing an outcome. However, in the song, these hopeful men are relying on a blessing from a water fountain after fulfilling the requirement of throwing in a coin. Apparently, it will show favor to only one of them. Let's not overlook the Valentine reference or the selfish competition.

Gallup reports that 20% of Americans attended church weekly in 2025, while in 1954, 46% of American adults attended church. Yet this song—which attributes wish-granting power to a fountain—reached #1 on the pop charts that year.

Consider, now, the favor given to a song that teaches superstition, favor given by a society more influenced by mainstream Christendom than we see today.

If we have hopes and dreams and desire help from a power beyond our reach, where should we go? Does that source require us to provide some physical token of our devotion—a coin? A rabbit's foot? Blowing out candles in one breath? A motion with our hands on our chest to represent a cross?

Jeremiah provides a remarkably clear example of the human habit of giving reverence to natural or man-made objects:

Jer 10:2  Thus says the LORD: "Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
Jer 10:3  For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
Jer 10:4  They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple.
Jer 10:5  They are upright, like a palm tree, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, For they cannot do evil, Nor can they do any good."

The LORD Himself makes it clear to His people that they must reject the false worship surrounding them—including adapting pagan methods while directing homage to the true God:

Deu 12:29  "When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land,
Deu 12:30  take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.'
Deu 12:31  You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

It's not as if God hasn't given us criteria for granting our desires—as long as those desires align with godliness and His instruction:

1Jn 5:14  Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
1Jn 5:15  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

No fingers crossed. No smoking candles. No sacrificed coins.

Going back to Chapter 3, we can see some of the criteria God requires of us in making our requests:

1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

1Jn 3:22  And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

Again, we should not add to or take away from the expectations God has stated. Are we practicing keeping God’s commandments? Then, we shouldn’t think we are improving on our chances by crossing our fingers or throwing a coin into a fountain.

One of the most foundational things to ask of God is forgiveness, because without it, we are condemned, and this being AFTER the fact that all of our sins were forgiven at baptism. In the model prayer we find one of God’s requirements when we request forgiveness – that we be forgiving.

Mat 6:9  In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Mat 6:10  Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread.
Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

This is just one example of many to show that God has left no stone unturned throughout all of scripture, letting us KNOW what He expects of and from us concerning obedience and pursuing a relationship with God. In other words, God has not left out any instruction that would require we rely on traditions of men to compensate.

In the Church of God community, we can easily explain why we don't keep Christmas—not any aspect of it, no matter how someone might reason that they keep Christmas to worship Christ instead of false gods, or that they only keep it for family togetherness, and so forth. Deuteronomy clearly shows that God not only doesn't want us to worship pagan gods with pagan requirements, He also doesn't want us worshiping the true God with those requirements. Peter warns the brethren about how people will twist—not just Paul's instruction, but all of Scripture—in such a way as to bring destruction:

2Pe 3:14  Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
2Pe 3:15  and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
2Pe 3:16  as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

So even with knowledge of Scripture—which clearly gives people knowledge ABOUT God—the PERVASIVE outcome for most is to twist that knowledge, rendering them unable to even know about God, much less know God!

Do you understand that we don't have to know something is pagan to realize we shouldn't do it? It takes greater awareness of godliness, but you don't need knowledge of human behavior apart from God throughout all of history to still know not to keep a particular holiday or sing some particular melodic song.

What if I lived in the 19^th Century, no one told me about the pagan origins of Christmas, and I didn’t have access to an Encyclopedia Brittanica? Could God, in His word alone, lead me to see I should not keep it? Why, yes, He could! I could read Jeremiah 10, or Deuteronomy 12, as we have done today! I could also read that God created Holy Days for worship. I could see that Christ said to keep the Passover in remembrance of Him, giving us no clue to His day of birth, nor a focus on His resurrection to exceed remembering Him for His sacrifice. Since mistletoe, yule logs, and Santa aren’t in the Scripture, society giving credence, I could be led to understand that God is not in them.

I could even read my Bible and see that God never commanded to me, or even insinuated that I should throw money in a fountain and ask Him to grant my wish or prayer. Referencing for our remembrance, Matthew 6:9, our Father even knows what we need before we even ask.

Regardless of whether we have knowledge of pagan history concerning a behavior, we have another way to determine the value of a traditional practice. For instance, remembering the water fountain, we don't have to know that people bowed to or paid homage to one. We know that God has made it clear that water fountains have no power to grant wishes, as we've already learned from Jeremiah. We can also see this in the words written by Habakkuk:

Hab 2:18  "What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of lies, That the maker of its mold should trust in it, To make mute idols?
Hab 2:19  Woe to him who says to wood, 'Awake!' To silent stone, 'Arise! It shall teach!' Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet in it there is no breath at all.

But someone might say to me, "When I make my wish by throwing the coin in the fountain, I'm giving my prayer to God, Kelly." Well, we can also look to Scripture to determine whether God has ever instructed people to throw coins in a fountain to have their desires granted. Or, did God ever say we had to light candles on a cake and blow them out in one breath to receive our wish? As soon as I decide that I can ask God for His favor through any of these practices, I've actually set myself up to receive God's favor through works that the Holy God never requested of me.

If we explain away actions as acceptable—as NOT disobedience—like celebrating the new year by the Roman calendar, for instance, we create levels of obedience based on criteria external to God's instruction. These criteria are born from human tradition, manipulation of God's instruction on obedience, and reasoning that doesn't align with Scripture.

To clarify, God DID PROVIDE in scripture a calendar for us to mark an annual cycle, months, and important events, and this pattern is not what is followed in the Roman calendar.

Peter WARNS about practicing things contrary to scriptural instruction as well as the provides the remedy in 2 Peter:

2Pe 3:17  You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;
2Pe 3:18  but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

How do we navigate all these things we're exposed to in the modern era—so far separated from ancient paganism that they seem inert, harmless, or even good?

Haven't we been clearly educated about why we don't keep pagan holidays with Christ's name stamped on them? Yet, do we truly reject all pagan-based holidays? For instance, do we give deference to a holiday centered around celebrating the new year, just because Christ's name ISN’T stamped on it? Does that make the celebration innocuous to concepts of obedience and proper devotion to God? Believe it or not, “NO!”

If we can understand the reasons not to observe pagan-origin holidays offered by the world, what about other mindsets based in ancient idolatry? I'm not here to criticize remembering a loved one on his or her birthday, but I realize in my life, NOW, that I am sending a MESSAGE when others remember me on my birthday and I blow out the candles, making a wish. I realize, NOW, that the songs I listen to and sing—or even hum—send a message to God about what I consider worth my time and how I value, or don't value, what He teaches me.

Why did I bring up the song "Three Coins in the Fountain"? Of course, it makes my point. But also, just so you know, when I was a teenager in the Church of God, I took voice lessons from a member of the Church of God, and this was the song I was learning. I don't remember why those lessons ended.

I'd love to say that I realized I didn't want to sing a song about a Valentine. I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking about the fountain as a false god, though it was! Or did we simply run out of money to pay for the lessons? Or, most likely, was I dissatisfied with my own vocal progress? What was the man in the church thinking, selecting this song? What was my dad thinking, allowing this song?

I look back now and clearly see my thoughtless irreverence for the Living God—that my singing that song expressed something NOT innocuous, but disrespectful of the relationship God has always offered to me. Not that I was being intentional, but because I was being thoughtless about something I had not weighed in the balance.

I'm not trying to draw conclusions on minutiae concerning putting candles on a cake and blowing them out. I'm not smart enough to do that. I’m not approaching a concept for acceptable styles of music, or who is the performer of it.

But, I am now smart enough to know that God does not require me to blow out candles anywhere on anything in one breath—and God help those with emphysema or facing the prospect of extinguishing 80 candles, if He DID require that! I know now that I cannot be showing proper respect to God if I sing a melodious, heartstring-pulling, and longing song that places my hopes in a fountain's decision after meeting the requirement to throw in a coin.

We are born into a corrupt view of worship and misdirected hope because we are born into the world, and we are supposed to be here. But Jesus' prayer to our Father was that we still be protected from evil:

Jhn 17:15  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. (NKJV)

Jhn 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. (KJV)

Tradition in society can absolutely be innocuous, kind, or familial in healthy ways. But anything that we say, do, or even sing—caught up in its creativity or pleasurable feelings—that twists the meaning of God's instruction and His intention for relating to us IS TOTALLY toxic, whether it's a vastly popular holiday that purports to honor Christ or a simple coin tossed into a fountain.

Paul sternly warns Christians to be out of alignment with society:

2Co 6:14  Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
2Co 6:15  And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
2Co 6:16  And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE."
2Co 6:17  Therefore "COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU."
2Co 6:18  "I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY."

I grew up in a true Church of God—yes, a God-centered church, striving for obedience no matter what society says. But even though I had that great advantage in learning about God and even knowing God, I realize, as I approach 60 years of age, just how much less I knew about God and, going further, knewGod than I can appreciate today.

Here is our final Scripture for today in learning to walk with God, actually given a nod in my opening statement:

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
2Co 10:4  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
2Co 10:5  casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
2Co 10:6  and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

My friends, we must strive to root out what I am calling, thoughtlessness, because thoughtlessness can add disobedience to our lives just as much as intentional decisions to rebel. This thoughtlessness hinders what we know about God, and when we don’t properly KNOW ABOUT God, the path to KNOWING God is hindered.

Even without access to historical evidence, if we have all of God’s word as a resource, we can STILL KNOW what we should and should not value by comparing what God teaches and promises to human tradition or post-apostolic tradition in Christendom. Today’s message featured a song about a fountain claimed to grant wishes and included other examples contrary to the promises of God and contrary to God’s expectations. Knowledge of pagan history is not necessary to realize the fountain’s purported ability is not valid.

By the gift of God's Holy Spirit in us, God will help us strive to understand, to receive clearly what we should know ABOUT God from the Scripture, so that we can then walk with God, KNOWING God, yielded to Him, destroying disobedience, causing both willful and thoughtless disobedience to be nothing more than a bad memory, our obedience to God being fulfilled in joy and thanksgiving.