Someone in this thread mocked my history-knowledge deficit, so I had to share some feedback from my history professor. She graded my first test (consisting of six essay questions with a four-page minimum, not including the space taken up by the questions). I got a 93% and she used the phrase “excellent analysisâ€!!! Yeehawww!!! ThankYou, Lord!!!
Sagesound, I read up on Vishnu/Krishna (I wouldn’t have, but I was geeking out with an encyclopedia and came across a picture in ‘India’ – which is right next door to ‘Indians’, which I was reading because I’m taking U.S. history – of some dude dancing with multiple arms), which gave me some insight on the weird dance I did back in October ’05 (for more insight, see Ezekiel 8, but when you think “temple†do not think “building†think “personâ€). I totally forgot to remember when he came on the scene, though. Vishnu is apparently the creator, but not in a monotheistic sense. Krishna (Lord of the Dance), an avatar of Vishnu, is the destroyer (it may seem contradictory that the creator is also the destroyer, but consider how forest fires help forest growth – and I don’t mean that as a point in Vishnu/Krishna’s favor). The ideas I found in my research are similar to the fertility religions discussed in the OT (see original post in this thread). I was looking up Viracocha (read below) when I came across a reference to Vishnu that I had forgotten, in Don Richardson’s “Eternity in their Hearts†– Hindus apparently anticipate the tenth incarnation of Vishnu – Jesus is not that, and neither is He the fifth manifestation of Buddha as Phra-Ariya-Metrai, “the lord of mercy†anticipated by some Buddhists. However, Jesus is the incarnated (once and for all time) Word of God, and He came to actively demonstrate God’s mercy.
When I was a kid I thought the idolatry in the OT would surely never happen again, that people certainly must have learned their lesson by now (the “now†of my childhood). Then, when I was a teen and a young adult, I made an allowance for atheism (I was losing faith), but still thought surely no one would go after the delusional idolatry of the OT. I became an atheist for a while (about five years), and then God yanked me back and showed me just how wrong I was (again, see Ezekiel 
– He broke me free, and He can break you free.
I want to share something I learned from “Eternity in their Hearts†by Don Richardson. Are you familiar with Akhenatun (1379-1361 B.C.), the Egyptian pharaoh who tried to replace the “grossly confused idolatry of ancient Egypt with sun worship†(Richardson)? According to Richardson, Akhenatun is credited by modern scholars as a rare genius, as a reformer.
Have you heard of Pachacuti, the Incan king (1428-1471 A.D.) who rebuilt the temple to the sun (Inti)? Did you know he later attempted to replace Inti with the Creator of all things (in a monotheistic sense) – called by the Inca “Viracochaâ€? Richardson writes, “Like Epimenides, Pachacuti was one of those spiritual explorers who, in the words of Paul (see Acts 17:27), sought, reached out for and found a God far greater than any popular ‘god’ of his own culture. Unlike Epimenides, however, Pachacuti did not leave the God of his discovery in the category of the ‘unknown.’†He held a council of the priests of Inti and presented his three doubts: “1) Inti cannot be universal if, while giving light to some, he withholds it from others, 2) He cannot be perfect if He can never remain at ease, resting, 3) Nor can he be all-powerful when the smallest cloud may cover him.†He reminded the council of the attributes of Viracocha, the omnipotent God forgotten from “old traditions lying dormant within his own culture,†(see Acts 14:16-17). “All that remained of earlier Incan allegiance to Viracocha was a shrine called Quishuarcancha, located in the upper Vilcanota Valley. Pachacuti recalled also that his own father, Hatun Tupac, once claimed to receive counsel in a dream from Viracocha. Viracocha reminded Hatun Tupac in that dream that He was truly the Creator of all things. Hatun Tupac promptly renamed himself (dare we say presumptuously?) Viracocha! // The concept of Viracocha, therefore, was probably of great antiquity. Worship of Inti and other gods, in this view, were only recent departures from a purer original belief system. Metraux implies as much when he observes that Viracocha-like figures are prominent in Indian cultures ‘from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego,’ whereas sun worship appears in relatively few cultures.†Anyway, the reformation was short-lived, as Pizarro came along and messed everything up. All quotes are taken from the section titled “The Incas†found on pages 30-37 in Don Richardson’s “Eternity in their Heartsâ€.