June 1, 2026, Monday Evening

"Modern Day gods and idols"

How the first two of the Ten Commandments applies as much today as they did in the Old Testament

OPENING: 1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)

SCENE-SETTER: There are some people who mistakenly believe the Bible's Old Testament--and the Ten Commandments that came from it in the book of Exodus--do not apply to "today." To the contrary, not only are the Ten Commandments as applicable today as back then, the first two on gods and idols directly rebuke the love only toward earthly pleasures, praise, power, creations, connectedness, and career. This "love" (and overall message) complements my previous month's message on a vanity-filled life, as described by King Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes.
The relevance of the Ten Commandments from their creation, forevermore, is well-articulated by Cornerstone Church founding pastor John C. Hagee in the prologue of his book, "To Save America: The Ten Commandments," which I have read in its entirety and recommend to readers
- John 1:1, Matthew 24:35 and my message on "Is Jesus God?": The Ten Commandments is confirmed to live (and apply) forever when you connect that: 1) it is written in the Word of God (Bible or Gospel); 2) the Word is God; 3) Jesus is proven to be God (the Son) in the context of the Holy Trinity; and 4) Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
The First Commandment: "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:2-3)
- As pastor Hagee opened in his chapter "No Other Gods," it predicably focused on what many believe solely means today: statues of (non-existant) marble gods and goddesses in pagan temples and hilltop open shrines throughout ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and other places¹
- While these still exist in monument- and bookshelf-size form today, it also extends to intangible (non-visible) forms such as wealth, fame, and glory
  - To wealth: Jesus said, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth ... But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven..." (Matthew 6:19-20)
    - In other words, whatever you store up for yourself, you can't take with you when you die ... but what you do in this life for God, you do take with you for which you will receive an "eternal reward" in Heaven (if you're saved)
    - Review the other dangers about the love of money in my last message
  - To fame and glory: many who "reach the top" and win awards in their profession (e.g., singer, songwriter, actor/actress, scientist, enginneer, philanthropist, Nobel Prize Winner, humanitarian award winner, making the cover of TIME magazine as "person of the year," etc.) in order to seek their own glory and the praise of men are known and remembered for only a short time
    - Luke 18:14 & John 12:43: Jesus said,"For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted ... For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."
    - Matthew 6:5-6: Jesus said praying can be hypocritical when it is done for public show, as that display will be the only (earthly-only) reward that praying person will ever receive
    - Matthew 16:26: Jesus said, "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?..."
    - At the same time, even those who are selfless, wise, and righteously create change for good and liberty may only be known for a short time, as well
      - Ecclesiastes 9:14-15: King Solomon wrote, "There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man."
- Another intangible god is hedonism: the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life, which can be facilitiated through--as mentioned in the scene-setter--materialistically-minded creations, connectedness, and career
  - To material creations: these are tangible "gods" that dominate your life and time, they are what you start and end your day with, you put your faith and trust in them, they're always your #1 priority, and the belief they are required to be successful or popular
    - Examples include cell phones; computers (for business and games); television (movies / TV shows); motorcycles; automobiles; firearms, bulking up in the gym, constantly managing and investing your money to acquire more; etc.
  - To connectedness: these are intangible "gods" needed to achieve relevance, popularity, and acceptance
    - Examples include: cell phone texting; non-stop posting of daily activities and life experiences in social media to gain "likes," friends, and followers; becoming the biggest social media influencer; becoming the most popular dancer at a dance hall or night club; goal to be the most important member of a club or organization; etc.
  - To career: this intangible "god" is what gives your life meaning and is more important than God, family, personal time, and the Sunday "Sabbath day of rest"
    - It is the drive or obsession to climb the employment ladder all the way to the very top, and be employed long enough to earn a lifetime pension as a vital and trusted component to a financially secure retirement (i.e., putting your trust in employment and money)
  - Philippians 3:19 sums up these carnal pleasures: "Their future is eternal loss, for their god is their appetite: they are proud of what they should be ashamed of; and all they think about is this life here on earth."
    - HOWEVER, if God is "in" these things and they are owned, used, and accomplished for His glory and commandments, then this is not hedonism (again, review my last message to understand the distinction between a vanity [hedonistic]- and value-lived life)
- Humanism is one of the oldest beliefs that man can be like God, which results in misery, heartache and death
  - Ezekiel 28:12-17: The father of this idolatry was God's angel Lucifer, described as "the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty...blameless ... till wickedness was found in [him]."
    - Isaiah 14:12-15: Lucifer said to himself that he wanted to be "like the Most High" which contributed to violence, corrupted wisdom, and ultimately sin, which got him cast down "to the pit of hell" in the lowest depths of the earth
  - Genesis 3: This led to Lucifer (now Satan, as a serpent) convincing Eve in the Garden of Eden that she and Adam will "become like Him (God)..." if they eat the apple from the forbidden tree in the center of the garden
    - This resulted in God declaring: 1) Eve (and women) "will bear children in intense pain and suffering"; 2) man will struggle to live life; 3) banishment of the the both of them from the Garden of Eden forever; and 4) the introduction of sin into the world that flows through all our bloodlines, requiring we eventually die (return to the ground from where we came)
- Pantheism "holds that everything in the universe is 'god' and that 'god' is in everything" where pantheists will worship nature and "mother earth," resulting in "poverty and misery in places like India for millennia."¹
  - God warned not to worship "the sun or moon, or any of the host of heaven [such as the angels]" (Deuteronomy 17:3) yet kings and people have (2 Kings 23:5 & Ezekiel 8:16)
  - Job 31:26-28 & Romans 1:25: In short, panthiests chose to worship creation instead of the creator, and that is a sin
- Socialism--the pre-cursor to communism--seeks to set the state (aka, country or government) as god over the people
  - "The end goal of socialism is to ... bring about a new world order, led by the globalist elite ... to impose a one-world government, a one-world currency, and eventually a one-world religion."¹
  - Socialism began in Genesis 11:1-9 where the world, of one language and a common speech, had a person named Nimrod who wanted to build one city with a tower (ultimately called the Tower of Babel) "that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves..." which God put a stop to when he scattered the people across the world and confused their languages (where possibly this was the origin of today's foreign languages)
    - Adolf Hitler tried the Tower of Babel again by telling the German people "he was going to bring about a Third Reich and establish Heaven on earth. However, he dragged the world into another world war, resulting the deaths of 70 million people..."¹
  - On October 20th, 2024, pastor Hagee presented a sermon on the "The 45 Communist Goals" as read into the United States Congressional Record by A.S. Herlong, Jr, a Democrat opposed to communism, in the Florida House of Representatives on January 10th, 1963
    - Notice #8 and #9, below, as it relates to what Josephus said of Nimrod in paragraph 2 of "Josephus: The Complete Works" from the "Christian Classics Ethereal Library" website: "He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power."
  - After World War I, 42 nations came together to establish the "League of Nations" in an attempt at establishing a "world order"
    - Its successor, the United Nations (U.N.), continued that goal where its first director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Brock Chisholm from 1948-1953, said, "To acheive world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men, their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism, and religious dogmas."
    - The U.N. has no place for God because it places man at the pinnacle of human achievement¹
The Second Commandment: "You shall not make yourselves any idols: no images of animals, birds, or fish. You must never bow or worship it in any way; for I, the Lord your God, am very possessive. I will not share your affection with any other god!" (Exodus 20:4-5)
- There's a crucial distinction between idols/"graven images" and artwork, sculptures and carvings: the former is normally in the context of being worshipped, adored, and prayed to (which is why there's what verse 5 says) while the latter is not
  - Example of today's idols and graven images:
    Catholics bowing to, venerating, or praying to statues of the Virgin Mary, an apostle or a saint
    Hindus who light lamps, candles, and incense in front of images/statues of Viṣṇu, Śiva, Durgā, Gaṇeśa, etc., as part of worship
  - Examples of artwork/sculpture/carvings that are simply observed, without affection:
    God commanding Moses to have Israel flashion golden cherubim for the ark of the convenant (Exodus 25:18)
    The high priest Aaron wearing little carved pomegranates on his fringes of his robes (Exodus 28:33-35)
    Figurines of motorcycles, favorite animals, and cartoon characters
- This Commandment uses the term "idol" interchangably with the First Commandment and, as such, this Commandment also includes intangible idols that worshippers give their allegiance to, as outlined in pastor Hagee's book¹, p.38-46:
  - Idols of the Flesh: an example being immoral sexual relationships
    ACTION: King David, knowing Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite, sent for her, impregnanted her, then conspired to successfully murder her husband to conceal his sin (2 Samuel 11)
    CONSEQUENCE: David's child with Bathsheba died; his son, Absalom, publicly slept with his father David's concubines on the rooftop to humilitate David; and Absalom rebelled against his father and fought his armies in combat where 20,000 soldiers were killed (2 Samuel 18)
  - Idols of Wealth: money was discussed earlier but the uniqueness of this idol is that when you steal money, you're stealing from God, as everything in the world was made by Him and is His
    ACTION: Joshua 6-7: Israel won an incredible victory at the taking of Jericho and the Lord imposed a ban on certain spoils in the city; however, Achan took and hid some of the banned loot for himself: Babylonion robe, $200 in silver and a $500 bar of gold
    CONSEQUENCE: When found out by Joshua, the men of Israel took him, his sons and daughters, his farming animals and his possessions, stoned them all to death, burned their bodies and heaped stones upon their grave
  - Idols of Power: an example being a king who accepted the worship of his people (Acts 20-23)
    ACTION: King Herod, a powerful king arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne, gave a speech, and accepted the praise the people giving him a great ovation, shouting, "It is the voice of a god and not of a man!"
    CONSEQUENCE: "Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died."
    God is a jealous God and will not share His glory with any man, ever
    The end of the Lord's prayer--spoken by Jesus--says it best: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." (Matthew 6:13, NKJV)
  - Idols of Religion: the image of the Cross has been hijacked to have uses and meaning unrelated to Jesus, His crucifixion, and the Good News¹:
    Modern rock stars wear crosses around their neck as artistic symbols
    The Ku Klux Klan burned crosses on hillsides as forms of intimidation
    During the crusades of the Middle Ages, crusaders, flying the banner of the cross, destroyed Jewish communities
    Adolf Hitler's swastika was a broken, or bent, cross, that sent terror across Jewish communities in Europe
    
    Ironically, there is only one "image" we may worship--Jesus, being "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." (Colossians 1:15, NKJV)
    Just the display of the cross on yourself, your vehicle, home, or anywhere else means absolutely nothing unless Jesus Christ is in your heart
    God is an invisible spirit so, as such, is worshipped without anything visible in front of you (John 4:24, NKJV)
CLOSER
Jesus having said the words of the Bible will never pass away means the Ten Commandments are applicable and authoritative even beyond the end of this world and age -- they do not have an end, like many believe
Many of the same "gods" and idols originated in ancient B.C. times are still worshipped today -- there's just more of them, now, both tangible/visible and intangible/invisible
When connected to my previous message from King Solomon on a vanity- vs. value-lived life, we conclude that false gods and idols people submit and dedicate themselves to is the vanity-filled, apart-from-God, wasted life, that--in the end--there will be consequences and punishment for
The allure of following a false gods/idols life will lead many to the broad path to hell (destruction) with only few who successfully deny their own earthly pleasures and desires to follow Jesus and His narrow roadmap to Heaven (Matthew 7:13-14)
- 2 Timothy 3:1-5, NKJV: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"
¹ Hagee, John C., To Save America: The Ten Commandments", Goose Creek Publishing, 2024