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by Charlie Wolcott

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.” -Exodus 20:4-5

As with last week’s post, I really don’t have to go very far to showcase how idolatry violates the above commandment. But not many may understand the nuances or what it entails. Idolatry is the practice of serving, seeking, worshiping, etc. anything instead of God. When you take that which should only be attributed to God and give it to something or someone else, that is idolatry. An idol is the physical object or mental image that you serve instead of God. As last week, I’ll examine what Israel did and then compare what our society is doing today.

The first idol with a description in Scripture is the Golden Calf of Exodus 32. There were idols around prior to that (such as Rachel’s idols when she married Jacob) but they were just described as images. The golden calf is significant for two reasons. It was done twice: by Aaron at Mt Sinai and then again by Jeroboam after the kingdom split due to Solomon’s idolatry. While I won’t get into what each of these idols mean here, in both cases, these golden calves were proclaimed to represent Jehovah. At the inaugural ceremony in both cases, these golden calves were proclaimed as: “These are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.” They literally replaced the immaterial God with a physical image in the shape of a bull. How insulting to the true God! He purposed not to give Israel any physical image of Himself for this very reason (Deuteronomy 4:15-17).

Dagan is another one who was half-man, half-fish. Sounds like Evolution precursors to me. Baal had an image, humanoid but much like a normal man. Asherah was shaped like male genitalia (no joke). Molech and all the others had their own images. But it wasn’t just the gods who had images made. Many kings had statues of themselves made. The most infamous one was the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3. All the people were commanded to bow before the image, but three men would not: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Don’t think this just applies to the pagan. Moses forged the bronze serpent so all those bitten by the fiery serpents would look upon it in faith and they’d be saved. This was an image Jesus used to showcase to Nicodemus how He’d die and save mankind. But Israel turned it into an idol and began to worship it. Hezekiah saw what was happening and he destroyed it. Why? Because the image of salvation became something entirely different. If something, even if it’s a good thing, begins to supplant God, destroy it.

Idols have not gone away. They’ve just changed forms. The largest single religious denomination, Roman Catholicism, is filled with idols. I’ve been to homes in Juarez, Mexico with statues or pictures of Lady Guadalupe, the patron saint of the area, with shrines containing candles and plates for offerings in front of it. It’s no different with Mary or any of the other saints. The people pray to Mary and the Saints, asking for help, when there is only one mediator between God and man, the man, Jesus Christ. Mormons pray to Jesus and Joseph Smith. These are idols; statue, picture, or person, it makes no difference.

The Protestants aren’t getting off the hook either. How many of us have our little trinkets that speak of our faith? What about our movies and shows? I’m not talking about having a depiction of Jesus on film, but rather how He is portrayed. Most depictions of Jesus are this white, fluffy shampoo model, who looks like He’s never done a day’s work in His life. He’s depicted as this ethereal, “out there” being who is love and fluff. This would be considered idolatry, not because of trying to show Jesus as a man, but portraying “another Jesus” that is not as the Bible describes. This is one of the reasons I have liked “The Chosen.” It’s the best description of Jesus I’ve seen on film yet. He was a real man, lived as a man, got hungry, was sleepy, had conversations, and was gentle with the broken yet firm with the self-righteous. But even then, no film will ever get it fully accurate. Unfortunately, too many people in churches today get their ideas of God and Jesus not from Scripture but from the songs they sing and the movies they see. Again, I like “The Chosen,” but I know better than to let that dictate my knowledge of God over Scripture. I still test it against what Scripture says and I dismiss what is off.

Our nation still practices idolatry today. One of the idols of America is the bull. Yes, I mean that. The Golden Calf that Israel made, symbolizing prosperity and fertility and strength, is right here in America. Only it’s not gold, it’s bronze. And it is situated right on Wall Street: the stock market. The stock workers have a ritual where they tap the bull on their way into work as “good luck.” Guess what? That’s idolatry. Nothing’s changed. I may make a bold claim here, but there is another potential idol in New York City as well: the Statue of Liberty. I love what that statue represents, but I do fear that some people have turned it into an idol, seeking what America has to offer instead of seeking God, who has blessed this country (though that seems to be about to end). Yes, even a country can be an idol.

There were only four kings among the split kingdoms who were given full kudos from God: Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. These were the only four kings who tore down the high places. They were the only ones who destroyed idols, demolished the places of worship of pagan gods, and called for the people to worship where God said to worship and how God said to worship. If there is to be repentance to be found in this country, it will have to include destroying, breaking, and completely removing the idols in our lives. Do we recognize them?

Next week, I’ll look at the 3rd commandment: taking the Lord’s name in vain.

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