The Golden Calves and Modern Day Israelites

by Garry Maddux

March 5, 2023

Scripture Reading:  Exodus 32:1-4

1) And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

2) And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

3) And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.

4) And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 

Why were calves worshiped at Mt Sinai? Why are they worshiped in churches today?

• Golden calves represent a symbol of a god (catholic symbols)
• Golden calves can be seen as a visible god (Pictures of Christ)
• Golden calves are a substitute for God (The anti-Christ today)
• Golden calves are idols (Idols brought into churches)
• Golden calves were hated by God

Does God hate how most Israelites worship today?

“(Ross 2020) An important context is that the people who worshipped before the golden calf had personally and recently witnessed some of the greatest miracles God had ever performed. Yet, despite these awesome numerous miracles they had recently experienced, after forty days of Moses’ absence they doubted both the existence of God and Moses.

After all, they had seen, experienced, and heard, their lack of faith shouts volumes about their spiritual condition.”

Exodus 9:5-8 (KJV) And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow, the LORD shall do this thing in the land. And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.

Most churches teach the way to salvation is to quickly confess that Jesus is Lord and invite him into your heart and you are on the way to heaven. This was how I was raised and taught throughout most of my life. After the confession, they are eager and excited to begin studying the Bible and confess they will follow God's ways.

Just like the Israelites at Mt Sinai, they confess they would follow and obey God. Yet, in modern churches, most have given up on God within 40 days or have gone back to their old ways or decided to find a church of their choice to attend. Whichever way they go, they will go back to serving common idols or start serving new ones.

Yet God has a small remnant of people who believe in his covenants and truly follow God and know their destiny.

Golden calves today shout volumes about the spiritual condition of Israel today.

The worship of anything besides the God of Israel is the worship of idols. These idols provide an entrance into our soul and deceive us into believing they are the way to truth.

Zec 10:2  "For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd."

Do modern churches today even have a true shepherd to lead them back to the true God?

The story of the gold calves (false dreams) begins in Genesis

The lies given to Eve by the deception of the serpent brought the knowledge of good and evil into the world.

(1Ti 2:14)  "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."

Adam and Eve's fall brought into the world wrongful behavior. Believing a lie, they chose what was right and wrong in their own eyes instead of following God’s way. When one worships idols, their soul believes it is good and acceptable just like Eve. Eve's transgression changed from being God's center to allowing Eve and us to be like God to decide what is Good and what is Evil. For example: A person gambles and believes it is good because he can make money, give a large offering to the church, and help others. It is good therefore I can do it. It is not evil.

This example applies to all Israelites who chose to follow the desires and pleasures of the world instead of the way to eternal life.

1 John 2:15-18 (KJV) "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."

From Adam and Eve to Noah, sensual behaviors were rampant.

Paraphrasing the Olive tree blog (n.d.) The Avalanche of Sin in Genesis.  Christians tend to assume false points in theology. They fail to recognize the striking originality of the message of Gen 1-11 and concentrate on points that may well be of less moment. But an examination of the wider context of  Genesis does emphasize the centrality of sin.

Judean churches today portray a different view of Genesis. These churches are mostly led by what is popular in the world to keep and increase their congregation, finances, and programs. They present lies that appeal to the emotions and soulish desires of people. They teach excerpts from Genesis and paint a wrong image of the world during the time before the flood. Worldly Christians see things differently and set their version of stories in the bible. An example is the ark near Williamstown.

Another example of different beliefs is Cain and Abel: Genesis 4:1-2 (KJV) "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground."

While most in Christian Identity believe in two physical seed lines. Modern churches reject this idea and condemn those who believe it. They accuse Christian Identity and others of being a part of false doctrine.

A popular website for modern-day Christians is Gotquestions.com. The following is a paragraph on their belief about the serpent seed line. The site does not even cite the author's name and blasts our beliefs.

“The serpent seed doctrine is a belief based on poor biblical interpretation and superstition. It is a primary doctrinal resource for those who want to use the Scriptures to justify racial prejudice. The serpent seed doctrine is also closely related to other erroneous beliefs such as the Christian Identity Movement and the Kenite doctrine. Like many false beliefs, it has a built-in defense mechanism; that is, anyone who disagrees with it is accused of being a son of the serpent. One of the most unfortunate problems with the serpent seed doctrine is that it so heavily relies on prejudice and warped biblical interpretation that it can be very difficult to discuss rationally (Gotquestions.com, N.D,)”

Galatians 2:4 (KJV) "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:"

1 John 4:1 (KJV) "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

The curse of Canaan:

Genesis 9:20-26 (KJV) "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant."

The Canaanites were wicked people who fought, seduced and deceived the Israelites for centuries. Many Israelites forsake God’s law and intermarried, including Esau. This intermarriage caused many problems with the true Israelites.

Genesis 26:34-35 (KJV) "And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah."

A Pew Research survey provides some interesting facts about interracial marriage:

(Pew, 2017) “A Pew Research Center survey finds that roughly four-in-ten adults (39%) now say that more people of different races marrying each other is good for society – up significantly from 24% in 2010. The share saying this trend is a bad thing for society is down slightly over the same period, from 13% to 9%. And the share saying it doesn’t make much of a difference for society is also down, from 61% to 52%. Most of this change occurred between 2010 and 2013; opinions have remained essentially the same since then.”

The missing understanding of the curse of Canaan and the Bible has led many people today to believe black people came from Canaan and the acceptance of interracial marriage. Because of this in our society and the church, a schema exists between those who believe differently.

In a blog titled What was the Curse of Canaan? says, “Canaan, as well as his descendants, followed in the sinful way of their father. The punishment was placed upon the descendants of Canaan-the Canaanites. These are the people who were driven out of the Promised Land by the children of Israel. Consequently, they would be in servitude to the descendants of Shem and Japheth. (Stewart, 2020).”

Stewart 2020 continues, “Truly one of the most unfortunate instances of the misinterpretation of Scripture comes from this passage of the curse of Canaan. The curse was limited to certain members of the descendants of Ham, not to all of them. It was not a curse against an entire ethnic group. The specific people who were cursed were the descendants of Ham through Canaan. Of the four sons of Ham, only one could have possibly had black skin. Although there are North African nations that are included among the sons of Ham, at least two of them, Put (Libya), and Mizraim (Egypt) are not black nations. A third, Cush, probably refers to northern Sudan, not modern Ethiopia. The fourth son of Ham, Canaan, is certainly not black.”

The Tower of Babel

Shortly after the flood, Israelite people spread across the land eventually building a tower to reach heaven. Israel people were seeking mystical gods.

Genesis 11:4-6 (KJV) "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined doing."

Do Idols affect us today?

Today many Israelites don’t even go to church, but worship other gods.

(Rishmawy, 2020) stating John Calvin famously said, “The heart is a veritable factory of idols.” Idols are our specialty. We churn them out at a furious rate, an extravagant assortment of false gods, deities, and spirits that we’ve cooked up over the centuries. Zeus, Odin, and Mardu are some real classics. Our capacity to lie to ourselves about divinity is impressive and extends as wide as creation itself. More impressive, though, is our pantheon of false images of the living and true God. Our hearts still fall into that same satanic groove, quickly moving from confessing “I believe in God” to talking about “the God I believe in,”

While most pastors point to comfort, security, money, and approval as potential idols, fewer say success (49%) and social influence (46%) are idols in their congregations. Nearly 2 in 5 say political power (39%) is an idol their congregants face, and nearly 1 in 3 say sex or romantic love (32%). Another 14% of pastors say none of these are idols with influence in their churches, and 2% say they’re not sure. (Pastor Views, 2021)

From the results of the survey, “Some different modern-day idols stood out to pastors of different ethnicities. White pastors are more likely than African American pastors to identify political power (41% v. 29%) and approval (53% v. 40%) as idols in their churches. And African American pastors are more likely than white pastors to say none of these are idols in their churches (25% v. 13%) (Pastor Views, 2021).”

So-called black pastors don’t believe idols affect them!

From the tower of Babel, the Bible turns to Abram a righteous person who lives with his father who was a major idolatry worshiper. Abram chose to believe in the true God and present his belief to others. Thus, through warnings, Abram fled, and thus the Abrahamic covenant and the forming of the 12 tribes.

(Ross 2020) says, “As with any text of this nature, it is critical to interpret it in the larger context and to understand some of the translation difficulties. The story in Exodus 32 must be understood in the context of God calling Abraham to leave his country and settle in Canaan. Canaan is where the three continents come together. The location of Canaan at the juncture of the world’s great trading routes guaranteed that the nations of the world would be exposed to Abraham’s descendants and the moral standards.”

At the same time, the land in which Abram was sent was full of all different types of Idolatry including the descendants of Canaan.

Genesis 12:1-5 (KJV) "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; into the land of Canaan they came."

Next, we have Jacob and Esau: the selling of the birthright and Esau marrying into forbidden cultures.

From previous lessons taught by Pastor Don, the hatred for the descendants of Esau (Edomites) continues today in our society and modern churches. (Additional information on Jacob and Esau can be found on the church website, fgcp.org)

So-called Christians today sell out their birthright and accept the belief that interracial marriages are good, with most not accepting or believing in the chosen race from Isaac's seed. Like Esau, the modern church is missing the major blessing from the God of Abraham, Isaacs, and Jacob and has developed a hatred of the true white Israelites.

1Jn 5:21  "Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

From a previous lesson on Idolatry, Idols are images either physical (man-made items meant to be worshiped) or images in our minds which become an ungodly or emotional attachment. God forbids the worship of idols or other gods as stated in the Ten Commandments.

It’s an abomination to God to serve idols.

Deuteronomy 7:25-26 (KJV) "The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing."

We are encouraged to repent, thereby setting us free to serve the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.

Ezekiel 14:6 (KJV) "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations."

With repentance, we can break ungodly attachments with man-made idols and we can destroy them from our lives.

Hosea 13:4 (KJV)  "Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no savior beside me."

Here are some examples of modern idols golden calves which may be affecting you: Comfort items, Control or security; Money; Success; social media; Political power; Sex (porn); ports; Video Games; Food; mine was bowling.

Bowling was a comfort for me, and I bowl three nights a week plus most weekends. One idol leads to other sins or idols. One day, I repented, broke off this idol of bowling, and canceled all of my bowling leagues. God set me free.

Closing

Examples were given on how modern-day Christians have turned from the true God.

How modern-day Christians have their golden calves.

It is important to repent of any golden calves attached to your life.

Turn to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and destroy the work of the enemy in your life!

Works Cited

Livingston & Brown, (2017), Public views on intermarriage, Pew Research Center

Olive Tree blog (n.d.), The Avalanche of Sin in Genesis

Pastor Views, (2022), Pastors Identify Modern-day Idols, Comfort Tops List, Lifeway Research

Rishmawy, (2020), New life rising You’re Probably Worshiping a False God, CristianToday.org

Ross, (2020), Why Did God Kill the Hebrews Who Worshipped the Golden Calf?, Reasons.org

Stewart (n.d.), What Was the Curse of Canaan? Blue Letter Bible.edu