Pay close attention to all my instructions. You must not call on the name of any other gods. Do not even speak their names. (Exodus 23:13)There seems to be a lot of interest in the mythic character cthulhu lately. Cartoons, hats in his representation, even Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series – all in his image. Cthulhu was a mythic god created by HP Lovecraft in his books. There even seem to be people claiming worship in his name.
A girl walked into my office one time dressed for church wearing a t shirt with a picture of Ganesha, the Hindu elephant headed god. I commented that it was a bad idea to wear a shirt with a false god in to worship the real God. The boy with her (my son - a kid great at pointing out my failings) pointed to a statue on my shelf that was of Zeus, the Greek god of thunder. He asked, how is it any different than that?
No answer. But it bothered me. Finally I put the bust in a box. Later I unpacked it and it had broken so that there was only a head left, without the appellation “Zeus” underneath. So I displayed it as a Greek statue held up on a stand.
But there was a good point there that I really hadn’t thought of. The statue of Zeus was in my study at the church. I studied my lessons and made my sermons in sight of a false god.
In Exodus 23, God told Moses that one of the rules for his people was to not call on the name of any other gods or to even speak their names.
In other words, total separation from the idolatrous world.
It is hard to get away from today the world is in love with images of false gods trying its level best to reduce the Lord of Hosts to just another deity. It is one of satan’s best efforts. And it seems to be working.
As far as I know, I do not have any more statues or artwork of false gods, nor will I.
Sometimes drastic measures are called for. In the culture of that time, false gods abounded. There were as many little gods as there were for the American Indians in the past few centuries. Teraphim (household idols) were abundant and people worshipped a god for just about every part of life. They would even carry around small representations of the idols with them for good luck. You can see them today in museums.
But God said, in his Ten Commandments, that there would be no graven images of him, nor would there be any other gods before him. In other words, he was it. And he would be carried in your heart, not your pocket.
Of course, Christians do their best to carry images. Crosses, angel pins, Bible verses, icons – none of which are necessarily bad in an of themselves, but when they become the totem instead of God being the God, they become wrong.
In fact, even your Bible can become a false god if you value it above your relationship with the Lord.
Not being fanatical here, but sometimes you have to be careful. God is the Lord.
Deuteronomy 6:4 Shema Yisraeil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. Hear, Israel. The Lord your God, the Lord is one.
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