I Am God, and There Is No Other

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).

You would think this should not be a difficult piece of adviceto follow. The voice of God thundered from Sinai in the second command.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form ofanything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. Youshall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am ajealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third andfourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousandgenerations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:4-6).

Within the month, the people of Israel were busily building anidol, a golden calf. It did not last long.

Rachel, Jacob’s wife stole her father’s household gods. All ofthe sons of Jacob had idols.

“So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him,‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves andchange your clothes….’ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and therings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem” (Genesis35:2, 4).

King David’s wife, Michal, had an idol.

“Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering itwith a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head” (1 Samuel 19:13).

Jeroboam built two golden calves, one in Bethel and one in Dan.

In this age of tolerance, we have accepted foreign idols aslegitimate, alternative forms of worship. To speak against the idolatry ofBuddhism, Hinduism, Taoism is considered bigotry, intolerance, and hatred ofother people.

“Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from thenations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to godsthat cannot save. Declare what is to be, present it—let them take counseltogether. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past?Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God anda Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of theearth; for I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:20-22).

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