The Spirit of the Golden Calf in the World Today

So Israel had just been delivered from Egyptian slavery by the one true God. And immediately thereafter, they celebrated by worshipping a false God, a golden calf. But why thank a God of Pharaoh for delivering them from Pharaoh? And why a golden calf? Specifically? What is the Egyptian history of the golden calf? We're going to need to take a detailed look at the Egyptian cultural customs and what the Egyptians believed about their gods to see how this affected Israel's spiritual ideas. Going into the wilderness for after I looked into this, I must ask you, could the spirit of the golden calf still be working among us today? Not everything remains ancient, So Israel is experiencing freedom like never before. Suddenly, they have deliverance from Pharaoh's chariots, freedom from slavery, riches of gold, and a promised land before them. This is a deserved moment for Israel of joy. But this is also where the serpent slivers into the camp. See, when we've gone through a traumatic time in our life and now experience deliverance, we're tempted to relax, to let our spiritual guard down, and to fall into sin. Israel thought that they were free from their slave master, Pharaoh, but Pharaoh followed them there spiritually. That snake on Pharaoh's forehead is now about to deceive Israel to continue worshiping the gods of Egypt. Even outside of Egypt. We read in Exodus 32, 4 and Aaron received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. So first off, we have to ask, why a golden calf if you're going to worship an idol? Why do they choose to worship a cow? The Egyptian gods each have different attributes, but there is one among them that was considered a friend, protector and provider for slaves, artisans, and the lower classes. The Egyptian goddess Hathor. Hathor was famous in Egypt and especially well known as the goddess for laborers in mining precious metals at mines such as Serebud Al Kadim. She was believed to guide miners to precious metals to provide for them and to tame the wilderness. Because, see, mines were located in the wilderness outside of proper Egypt, and miners needed protection from snakes, from scorpions, and nomadic tribes that may attack them. Some scholars theorize that Hebrew slaves were also employed at these mines. Regardless, we know that Israel was very familiar with this Egyptian goddess, and they likely also connected emotionally with this goddess due to Hathor's maternal protective attributes being attractive to people like Israel slaves. So when the one true God Yahweh came to actually deliver Israel and actually protect Israel from Pharaoh, these are now, attributes that remind Israel of Hathor. Hathor is the counterfeit of the protector and provider sides of God, which Jesus actually spoke to us of. In Matthew 23:37. He said, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing? So Israel, they've got baggage. They grew up learning about the Egyptian gods and, and now to make sense of their experience and their deliverance, they somehow come to the conclusion that it was one of those Egyptian gods they have some emotional connection with that was behind all of this. But they do have this understanding that Moses has come to declare that it is this one true God, this new God that they are introduced to, that are actually their deliverer. And so what they do is they mix things, they mix Hathor, they mix Yahweh into one big celebration. And it says in Exodus 32:5, when Aaron saw this golden calf, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. So you can almost see how Aaron is backtracking a little bit here. He's helping with furnishing this golden calf and then suddenly it' oh yes, but this is a feast unto Yahweh. Guys, let's remember this is actually the God of who Moses has, you know, encountered. He's the one who actually delivered us. Yes, we're celebrating him through this calf because this is what we know best. But he's the one guys, remember, right? So we see that Israel, they don't have this singular worship of the cow goddess. They don't have singular worship of Yahweh, but they're mixing their pagan Egyptian worship customs with worship unto Yahweh. Because in the ancient world that they were living in polytheism, that is the worship of multiple gods. And mixing the worship between those gods was very common. But God comes to reveal that how we worship him is not according to our preferences or how other so called gods desire worship, but we will worship him how he desires. Now, I know this should make sense even to us today, but somehow it is something that we still neglect. And we'll talk about that in a bit. First, I want you to see the similarity between how the Egyptians worshiped their cow goddess and now how Israel is worshiping this golden calf. The Egyptians in their culture had a feast of music, dancing, drinking and sexual immorality. And now when you go to read how Israel worshipped the golden Calf we see in Exodus 32. 6. And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. So there is eating, there is drinking, which likely refers to drunkenness. And this statement, they rose up to play, likely refers to what we would call a wild party, where there is dancing and music. And we read then when Moses came down from the mountain, he saw that the people were naked. Exodus 32:25. Paul confirms our suspicion as to what was happening there, that there was sexual immorality. 1 Corinthians 10:8. We must not indulge in sexual immorality, as some of them did. And 23,000 fell in a single day. As you can see, these customs that Israel had at their celebration precisely line up with how the Egyptians celebrated Hathor. I want you to see the counterfeit garden experience that is being created by Satan. See, before the fall of man, when Adam and Eve were in the garden, that garden was a lush place full of plants and animal life. And in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were naked, for there was no sin and there was no shame. In that place. They were in God's presence and they lived a life of worshiping Him. But now, Israel, they are in a counterfeit garden in contrast to the Garden of Eden. Here we have Israel in a dry desert wilderness where there is just about nothing that can grow. They are outside of God's presence, and they are now worshiping not him, but the serpent. They are naked and they are in sexual sins. Do you see how it is like the Garden of Eden flipped on its head? I want you to remember that God's journey with Israel in this moment with delivering them from Pharaoh is all about returning humanity to the Garden of Eden. This is one step in God's plan of salvation that he would ultimately bring to the whole world. And so now we're seeing that Satan is trying to spiritually mock God's Garden of Eden by deceiving the people that God has just delivered to with this counterfeit presence of a false God, Hathor, and a counterfeit spiritual experience. And it is at this moment that we can truly understand just how horrible Israel's sin was. And that's why the consequence matches we see in Exodus 32:20. And Moses took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder and stored it upon the water and made the children of Israel drink of it. Israel wanted to be spiritually filled up by this golden calf. They had made. And in their pagan celebrations, they were drunk on sin. And so God gave them what they wanted. God commanded them to now drink this gold of the golden calf. For this is a picture of how God will allow us to taste the evil that we ask for, if only for us to discover just how much it cannot satisfy us and how it is actually harmful to us. And look at this contrast that God later creates in Jesus. See, Yeshua later comes to his disciples and all of his people and calls us to eat his body and drink his blood to demonstrate how being spiritually filled by him actually satisfies us and actually gives us life. John 6:53. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Jesus is demonstrating to us that there is no comparison between the counterfeit that Satan offers us and the real thing. Another reason why Moses burns up this golden calf is because this actually signals something very specific to Israel, considering their Egyptian cultural background that they were exposed to. The Egyptian culture was obsessed with preservation. That's why they took mummification so seriously. If a body was preserved, it could enter eternal life, but if a body was burned up, it cannot enter the afterlife. That is why the Egyptians imposed the ultimate punishment upon someone as burning their body. And the ultimate honor was to mummify the body, as we see in the Egyptian tombs discovered even today. So to Israel, the burning up of this idol is the highest form of punishment for this pagan goddess. And now you may say to me, well, pd, thankfully we're not like those ancient Israelites. We don't do idols or golden calves anymore. And we certainly don't mix pagan idol worship with our faith. Or do we? I want you to notice where the golden calf came from. Yes, the idea came from Egypt, but the gold came from the eaters of Israel, Exodus 32:2. So Aaron said to them, take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me. So we see that the families of Israel are donating the gold to make this calf. But where do slaves get golden earrings in Israel's case, from the Egyptians. As we read in Exodus 3:21, God gave Israel favour in the sight of the Egyptians. And when they went, they did not go empty handed. But each woman shall ask of her neighbour and any woman who lives in her house for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and your daughters, so you shall plunder the Egyptians. So from the plunders of Egypt, Israel built a God of Egypt. The gold that was supposed to be this blessing from God, to get them started on a new life of freedom, became their idol. See, when God blesses us, it's for us to enjoy that blessing, but not for us to worship the blessing. There are many idols in this world around us today. For Israel, it was their riches that became their idol. The gold that they received as a blessing from God was also a test from God. What would they do with it? Would they donate it to the building of the temple of God in their midst, which was its destined purpose later to build God's altar? No. Instead, Israel used the blessing of gold for a counterfeit purpose to build a golden calf, a pagan altar. They bought something with their gold that they ended up a slave to see. When our possessions become our obsessions, they immediately become our golden calf. But there are also other idols in this world. People can be an idol when we prioritize the desires of someone else while compromising our own moral convictions or spiritual life to satisfy this other person. That person is our golden calf. Our spouse can even become our idol. If our emotional stability depends entirely upon our spouse's approval or presence, then they are our golden calf to whom we bow the knee. Our job can even become our idol when our identity is tied to our job. If everything we are and everything we do and everything we think about or just about everything is about work, then work is an idol. So if you were to lose your job today, would your life come crashing down with it? Would your identity suffer for it? Or would you still be free knowing who is your actual provider, not your employer, but your Lord in heaven? Talent can also be an idol for us. See, God blesses us with talents, with skills. You are you. You are unique and you have unique gifts. And those talents and gifts can be sown into corrupted and evil industries in this world that harm people. There are paths to choose and how you will use the gifts that have been entrusted to you to bring blessing to others or to put others in bondage. Ministry itself can even become an idol. When our busyness for God and for the work of God replaces our intimacy with God, then we are more about the ministry work than about the one who we are supposed to be ministering to our worship to Him. In our intimate prayer time and Personal communion with the word of God is more important than the things we do for him in the name of Jesus. Last but not least, something I can think about right now is that knowledge can become our idol. Knowledge can lead to pride rather than what it's supposed to lead us to. Humility. See, knowledge, when I get knowledge, it should show me how little I actually know, how much I was in ignorance before and how much further I still have to go to be more like my Savior, right? Knowledge should be humbling. But when I take knowledge and it does the opposite, it creates pride in me. I hold it over others to show my superiority over them instead of submitting that knowledge humbly to someone else in humility. If I use it for superiority, then knowledge is my idol. I am its servant. I think that it's something that helps me grow and look higher over the person next to me. But actually all it does is it has shown everyone how in bondage I truly am to needing to get more my identity in my own knowledge instead of getting my identity in the Lord God in Heaven, who says, you were a sinner, but I have now redeemed you and I have saved you by my works. I have given you knowledge, I have given you freedom. And without me you would be destitute, right? That's the truth. That's the reality that creates humility in us to know the truth. But Satan wants you in la di da land, brothers and sisters. He wants you to live in a place where you think it's all about you, you, you, you, you, you. And how much you know is what has saved you. How much you know is what has brought you to this place of spiritual revelation and maturity? No, it's what the Lord has revealed to you. Why would we look to riches to satisfy us or a spouse to to satisfy us or our job to satisfy us when we can eat and drink of Jesus himself and be completely fulfilled and satisfied. See, the reason for Israel was because it was way more comfortable to worship a golden calf. Hathor was who they grew up with. It was the ways of the Egyptians. And while Israel were in the wilderness, they took God who had actually delivered them and they tried to put him into a box, a golden calf shaped box, specifically because they couldn't control him. Yahweh seemed out of control on the mountain with Moses taking way too long. He's kind of scary and we can't see what he's doing up there. And so they thought that they can bring him down from the mountain into this familiar calf exodus 32, 5 says and Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. In our situations, we may not see God in the ways we expect and he may be taking longer than we expect. And in those moments come the temptation for a golden calf where we manipulate ourselves to hear from God only what we want to hear, or see from God only what we want to see. While the golden calf seems like an ancient form of Egyptian worship, it's not much different from the worship the world is participating even today on a massive scale. Worship unto the gods that we make in our own image, like the Jesus that the world has made that is cool with my sin and who doesn't require me to change or call me to be holy. We want a Jesus that we can control, mold and most importantly, use to our own advantage. This is what the first century Pharisees who were the enemies of Christ and did. They were worshipping a golden calf when they rejected Christ, yet had these feasts to God mixed with their man made traditions for their own worldly gains over the people. Their golden calf didn't make them uncomfortable. They formed it, they gave it words and projected upon it their own desires. They do what they want to do and say, well, my God made me do it when Yahweh has not spoken. So every time something is done in the name of Jesus, when Jesus has not spoken, a golden calf has spoken. I mean, it has to come from somewhere. Either a false God or the one true God, a lifeless God made in our image, or the one true God who has made us in his and called us to be molded into his image. Another area where people create golden calves are in politics today. Some worship a golden calf when even as Christians, their politicians inform their moral choices and ideologies, or more than the Bible, all in the name of Jesus. Because we live in a society that is so glued to our TVs or social media, this creates a great opportunity for politicians who come, just like Aaron did, to present themselves as godly and priests unto the Lord, melting the country's gold for counterfeits of God's will, all in the name of Jesus. But here's the thing. If the Jesus you worship is the Jesus presented in a political campaign rather than the Jesus presented in the Bible, you have a golden calf and it's someone else who's trying to take advantage of you. And one last example of golden calves that we see even among believers leads to the quenching of the Holy Spirit. See, at the root of this entire conversation, we've been having. Israel was afraid of the Holy Spirit of God, who was out of their control and out of their comfort zone. Today, even some believers are afraid of the Holy Spirit. And we see this when we limit the Holy Spirit's power in our families or our fellowships to keep him under control, palatable or safe. See, we can't have casting out demons among us, because what if that looks weird to someone? We can't have someone praying for healing for someone, because what if that person doesn't get healed? How will that look? We can't have someone prophesy a word because people may think that we're like those false prophets that they've heard about before. But the question is, is there a problem in doing these things orderly or is there a problem in quenching them? But brothers and sisters, if the Holy Spirit of God doesn't move in our fellowships, another spirit will. The Spirit of the Golden Calf, that spirit that tells us that, you know, you should feel comfortable. You should feel like you're in control at all times when it comes to the things of God. We don't want to have anyone be uncomfortable. Let's stay comfortable with what we know, with our tradition, with our cultural context that we grew up in, and even sprinkle in some pagan ways. The problem is, is that there's rarely a demonstration of the Holy Spirit of God without someone getting uncomfortable. I mean, it's what happened in Acts 2, when they spoke in tongues and some said, these men must be drunk. Those people were uncomfortable. For the flesh of man will always feel uncomfortable around the works of the Holy Spirit. So we should ask ourselves, are we willing to compromise the Holy Spirit moving among us to please men, to please our flesh? Or are we supposed to be pleasing God in our worship above all else? But maybe you feel uncomfortable because you actually have reason to. Maybe you come out of a background where there was spiritual abuse regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I recognize that that has happened right in some circles. And if that is you, I'm sorry. At the same time, we also have to recognize that the enemy desires to have us hurt so that we can be robbed of the authentic. He comes with counterfeits like the Golden Calf to Israel so that they would be robbed of the authentic presence of God. And so today I want to submit to you that the enemy has come in many different ways with counterfeits. And it's always to rob us of the authentic presence of God. And so we must be careful that we don't allow our experience of past abuse or trauma, even if that was done in the name of the Holy Spirit to stop us from allowing the authentic Holy Spirit to move in our midst. Study yourselves, approved. Look at what orderly conduct is and seek that. Now you may say to me, well, pd, that's just not how we do do it in our denomination. You know, I'm a Baptist. We don't speak in tongues. I'm a Lutheran. We don't deal with the prophecy stuff. But I want to humbly ask you, since when was worshiping God about us? Or how men prefer to worship him? Or how men have taught we ought to worship him at the end of the day? Israel's sin was that they listened to to what Aaron thought was proper worship unto the Lord instead of waiting for the word from the mountain from God himself. You don't have to trust me or any man. You can hear from God himself how he desires to be worshiped. You can read in the Scriptures for yourself that he includes the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit in worship, that it was part of the early church in Acts 2 and throughout the book of Acts and today, men have come and said, well, we don't do it that way anymore. Yes, but that's what men have said. Never is that said in Scripture. And now you can see how even our denomination or our movement can become our golden calf when it becomes our place of spiritual comfort at the cost of biblical worship. It's easy to be in an echo chamber. It's easy to go to a service or an assembly and just do what everyone else is doing. But sometimes it's necessary to get a little uncomfortable when God is calling us truly, according to the scriptures and according to orderly worship, to step out of our comfort zones. You know, it's easier to just sit in the assembly and go home thereafter after a good word or a good, you know, portion of scripture was read. But what if the Spirit of God whispers to you to pray for that lady who's sick or that man who has got back issues? What if he places something on your heart to speak and you really feel an urgency to speak a prophetic word forth? There are protocols for these things. There is honoring of leadership in these cases and approaching leadership, but it also means stepping out. It means you doing something that may not have ever happened in your fellowship before. If the Spirit of God is moving, it takes the people of God to respond. And sometimes I believe the Spirit of God has moved upon the hearts of men, but they just haven't responded to him because they're too comfortable with the status quo. And that is our golden calf. Each church, movement, denomination, they will have different traditions. And that's okay. When those traditions are good and not contradicting scripture, that's good. But when traditions do contradict scripture, let us burn them just as Moses burned the golden calf. And so I want to conclude with a word from Paul. In 1 Corinthians 10:11, Paul writes regarding the golden calf incident in the New Testament. And he says, now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Father, I pray for everyone listening that you would allow us to be a vessel of the Holy Spirit to step out in the fire of God that is authentic in the truth of your word, that brings order and in the love to bring a sacrifice towards you. Lord, that is holy and righteous, unstained from the world, that sacrifice being our life. Lord, let us be radical where we go live and breathe you. Let us be a people who in truth and in order, step forward and bring life to others through the spirit that you've put on us. Help us to not make an idol of our spouses, our friends, our jobs, our money, our knowledge. Lord, let you be the one true God in our life and the only one whom we serve. Father, I worship you. I pray that you would expose any golden calf in our life that we may have talked about today or even something right now. Lord, that you would bring it to mind to anyone listening something right now that's personally their golden calf. Lord, help us to give it up. Help us to burn it. Help us to destroy every trace of it so that we may taste and see that you are good. You are enough to satisfy us and we don't need counterfeits. Praise you in the name of Yeshua. Amen. I would like to give credit to my wife Christina for certain portions of this teaching and also a special thank you to our partners for making this teaching and every teaching this month possible. If you want to become a partner, you can find out more at rise on fire.com Many blessings to you and we'll see you guys in the next one. Shalom, Sam.