Commandment No. 2 HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME

Commandment No. 2     Have No Other Gods Before Me

Our study module on Commandment No. 2 tackles the problem of idolatry.  

Webster defines idolatry as (1) the worship of a physical object as a god; and (2) immoderate attachment or devotion to something.

Idolatry divinizes what is not God. It comes largely in four forms: Idolatry of graven images, idolatry of the self, obsession, and sorcery. It makes us want to achieve our goals by relying on the power of a creation, not on the power of the Creator. Commandment No. 2 forbids it.

² I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ³ You shall have no other gods before Me. EXODUS 20

Idolatry of Graven Images

Idolmakers portray God in three-dimensional human forms, even with different faces. That is dishonesty. Some idolmakers portray God in animal forms. That is dishonesty made even worse.

²¹ God is spirit. JOHN 4

³⁹ A [spirit] has no flesh and bones. LUKE 24

Idolmakers act as if they have seen God and they are making a representation of what they have seen. That is dishonesty. The fact that they portray God in different faces is proof enough that they have not seen God.

³¹ No one has seen Him, no one can describe Him. SIRACH 43

Moses saw “the form of God” but not the face of God (Numbers 12:8).

¹⁹ [God said to Moshe] I will cause all My goodness to pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce the name of Adonai. ²⁰ But My face you cannot see, because a human being cannot look at Me and remain alive. ²³ …You will see My back, but My face is not to be seen. EXODUS 33 cjb

⁴⁶ No one has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father. JOHN 6

¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known. JOHN 1 

The question is, if nobody has seen the face of God, to whom belongs the face in the idol? And if the face does not belong to God, why do people look at it while praying?

God’s True Form

Idolatry of graven images projects a distorted notion of God.

¹⁸ Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies?  HABAKKUK 2

Let us have a clear idea of how God really looks like:

§  The vision of Prophet Ezekiel

²⁶ Above the expanse over [the heads of the four living creatures] was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. ²⁷ I saw that from what appeared to be His waist up He looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there [what appeared to be His waist] down He looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him. ²⁸ Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around Him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. EZEKIEL 1

§  The vision at the Exodus

⁹ Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Isra’el went up ¹⁰ and saw the God of Isra’el. Under His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself… ¹⁷ To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. EXODUS 24

²¹ By day the Lord went ahead of the Israelites in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light; so they could travel by day or night. EXODUS 13

§  The vision of Apostle John at Patmos

¹³ ...and among the lampstands was someone like a Son of Man, dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet, and with a golden sash around His chest. ¹⁴ His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶ In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. REVELATION 1

More or less this is the picture: God is a spirit with a form like that of a man. The form has no tangible body. In lieu of a physical body is an intangible body full of fire (Ezekiel 1:27, Exodus 24:19). The fire is not of color yellow or blue but white.

The intangible body emits an aura of light whose radiance contains “all the colors of the rainbow” (Ezekiel 1:28).

Prophet Daniel had a vision of God. He described God’s clothing “as white as snow; the hair of His head was white like wool” (Daniel 7:9). A river of fire pours out, flowing from His presence (Daniel 7:10 nlt).

⁵ God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. 1 JOHN 1

² He wraps Himself in light as with a garment. PSALM 104 

¹¹ The Lord God is a sun. PSALM 84

¹⁷ God [is the] Creator of all light, and He shines forever without change or shadow. JAMES 1 tlb

God has a throne of sapphire (Ezekiel 1:26) which sits on a “pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself” (Exodus 24:9). A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne (Revelation 4:3). God and His throne and the pavement of sapphire all seem to be carried by a fog or cloud. 

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud.” EXODUS 19

The Scripture’s depiction of God is no different to what the apostles saw of Y’shua at the transfiguration. His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as the light (Matthew 17:2)—bright as a flash of lightning (Luke 9:29).

“I am the Light,” said He in John 9:5. Saul of Tarsus saw the light and it made him blind (Acts 9:9). 

Revelation 1:16 says, “His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” Verse 14 says, His eyes were like blazing fire.” The writer, Apostle John, had an out-of-body experience and saw the Son of God in His heavenly kingdom.

¹⁹ The eyes of the Lord are 10,000 times brighter than the sun. ECCLESIASTICUS 23

¹⁶ [God] lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. 1 TIMOTHY 6

What we are saying here is that the likeness of God as biblically described does not resemble the idols being peddled to man.

Why Graven Images Are Forbidden

Catholicism makes idols in the form of the Blessed Mother and its saints, puts them in pedestals, and encourages its church members to kneel before them, bow down and pray to them. The fact is, God forbids graven images of any make. Commandment No. 2 is emphatic:   

⁴ You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to idols or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. EXODUS 20

Idols made of stone or cement are forbidden.

⁷ Do not make cast idols. EXODUS 34

¹ Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God. LEVITICUS 26

Idols made of wood are forbidden.

²¹ Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, ²² and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates. DEUTERONOMY 16

Idols made of metals are forbidden.

²³ Do not make any gods to be alongside Me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold. EXODUS 20

“I am a jealous God” in Exodus 20:3 does not imply that God gets insecure or envious of gods. God forbids idolatry (actually God hates it, to Him it is an abomination) because He is zealous for our well-being.

§  God forbids idolatry of graven images because it is an exercise in futility.

³ For the customs of the people are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. ⁴ They adorn it with silver and gold. They fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. ⁵ Like scarecrows in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm, nor can they do any good. JEREMIAH 10

⁶ They bow down and worship it. ⁷ They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles. ISAIAH 46 

¹⁹ Woe to him who says to wood “Come to life!” or to lifeless stone “Wake up!” Can it give guidance? …There is no breath in it. HABAKKUK 2

¹⁴ Those who make idols are disillusioned, because the gods they make are false and lifeless. ¹⁵ They are worthless and should be despised; they will be destroyed when the Lord comes to deal with them. JEREMIAH 10 tev

¹⁶ [But God] who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these [gods], for He is the Maker of all things, including Isra’el, the tribe of His inheritance—[Adonai-Tzava’ot] is His name… ¹² God made the earth by His power, founded the world by His wisdom, stretched out the heavens by His understanding. JEREMIAH 10

§  God forbids idolatry of graven images because it is dishonest.

It makes us believe that the creation is more powerful than the Creator. That is not true.

²⁰ Can people make their own God? No, if they did, it would not really be God. JEREMIAH 16 tev

It makes us believe that God is either a man or a woman, or an animal. That is not true.

¹⁵ [Moses said to the Israelites] You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore, watch yourselves very carefully, ¹⁶ so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, ¹⁷ or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. DEUTERONOMY 4

It makes us believe in polytheism, that there is more than one God. That is not true.

It makes us believe that behind the graven images are godly spirits that hear petitions and grant them. That is not true.

¹⁴ They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs. REVELATION 16

Lucifer even goes to the extent of making us believe that the Spirit of God is hearing the petitions and granting them. That is not true. The truth is, we are being manipulated to become devil-dependent.

⁹ The work of Lucifer is displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders ¹⁰ and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹² and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. 2 THESSALONIANS 2

God is permitting the delusion to test us.

³ The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ It is the Lord your God you must follow, and Him you must revere. Keep His commandments and obey Him. Serve Him, and hold fast to Him. DEUTERONOMY 13

Where the idols are, that’s where to find God—this is another false teaching being peddled to us. Don’t buy it. Idols are an abomination to God. It is most unlikely that God will stay in idol-hosting places.

Moreso, don’t believe that God can be worshiped only at idol-hosting chapels and church houses. God is omnipresent. He can be worshiped wherever we are. Chapels and church houses are not really a requirement for worship. Christians build them, beautify and maintain them, but only as a local office and meeting place for the Body of Christ.

Lucifer is making us look for God outside of ourselves, not within us. Don’t do that. Our spirits are our synagogues. God hopes to dwell in it, to be reunited with us. He is waiting for us to sweep it and elevate it into a “temple” worthy of the King of kings. He is waiting for us to welcome Him into it—for us to be in constant communion and fellowship with Him. This is the kind of worship God seeks.

²¹ Y’shua declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this [Samaritan] mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²³ …a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. JOHN 4

§  God forbids idolatry of graven images because it hampers our blessings. It prevents us from enjoying His love.

¹⁵ Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol—a thing detestable [repulsive, loathsome] to the Lord, the work of the craftsman’s hand—and sets it up secretly [to worship it]. DEUTERONOMY 27

Why is the Philippines going through a lot of suffering and pain? Because the nation is cursed! God blesses everybody but the cursed is blessed less and made to suffer more.

Why is the nation cursed? God has spoken against idolatry and yet graven images continue to adorn the altars, walls and gardens of our homes, workplaces, schools, churches, stores, hospitals and government offices. We light candles to graven images, kneel and bow before them, and make supplications to them. We offer flowers and garlands to them, embrace them, wipe them with their handkerchiefs, and shed tears before them.

We are pursuing an ungodly tradition blindly, without question. Lucifer loves it!

²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. ROMANS 1

An estimated 1.3 million devotees joined in the Jan. 9, 2008-procession of the wooden statue of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila. Did it please God? We don’t think so. Two people died and 46 were wounded during the procession. The following year, in another procession, the life-size icon of the Virgin Mary tumbled and fell on a young girl in Tondo, Manila. The girl died. Her mother was seen on TV asking why the tragic accident should happen to them. In the 2010-Quiapo procession two male devotees died and 400 people were injured.

God is not pleased with idolatry of graven images. The sooner we get the message, the better for the nation.     

¹⁰ If you keep My commands, you shall abide in My love. JOHN 15

Sorcery

Sorcery is the fourth form of idolatry. It teaches us to achieve our goals by relying on demonic power.

Fortune-telling, divination, love potions (charmers), amulets, Twilight, Harry Potter, Halloween, lucky charms, feng shui, sun and moon worship—these things look harmless yet they are some of Lucifer’s tools in attracting people to sorcery.

Love potions promise instant love relationships, that whoever gets a taste of it will be strongly attracted and submissive to its giver. Amulets promise lightning-speed agility, invisibility, and invincibility to bullets and knives. Fortune-telling (horoscopes, card-reading, palmistry, ouija board, astrology) promises instant answers to questions—even of events yet to come. Feng shui and lucky charms promise instant good luck. The promise may not come true at all but damage is done to the user: his mind is made receptive to sorcery.

Harry Potter opens our eyes to the occult world. It romanticizes witchcraft, voodoo and black magic; gives them an aura of gentle fun. It makes us crave to have extrasensory powers; to learn about witchcraft and give it a try.

Condition the mind and you get to control the person—this is Lucifer’s strategy. This explains why God instructs us to stir away from his mind-conditioning tools.   

²⁶ You must not use… fortune-telling or witchcraft. LEVITICUS 19 tlb

¹⁰ Let no one be found among you who… practices sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, ¹¹ or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or [a necromancer] who consults the dead. ¹² Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. DEUTERONOMY 18

⁹ Do not listen to your [false] prophets or to those who claim they can predict the future, either by dreams or by calling up the spirits of the dead or by magic. JEREMIAH 27 tev

⁵ Dreams, divinations, and omens are all nonsense. You see in them only what you want to see. ⁶ Unless the Most High has sent you the dream, pay no attention to it. ⁷ Dreams have misled many people; they put their faith in them only to be disappointed. SIRACH 34

³¹ Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. LEVITICUS 19

⁶ I will set My face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people. LEVITICUS 20

¹ You are children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, ² for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. DEUTERONOMY 14 

²⁸ Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo on yourselves. I am the Lord. LEVITICUS 19

¹⁹ And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be tempted into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. DEUTERONOMY 4

¹ The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 1 TIMOTHY 4

² Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe [curse] to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. LUKE 17