Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
This passage of scripture warns every member of the human family against the making and worshiping of idols and graven images in their various forms, for very adverse results are sure to follow in its train. In days of old, the heathen nations had developed the practice of making material representations of God, whom they then worshiped in place of God, but The Lord declares such practices to be idolatry, and in His law of ten commandments, very stiff penalties are attached to those who deliberately choose to go this route. As the mind is drawn from the infinite perfection and majesty of God, to the finite works of man, the greatness and power of God is belittled in our hearts, and after a while, we inevitably lose our sense of His Holiness and magnificence, because we have been blinded by our own works.
Expensive cathedrals overlaid with gold, and marble that is cut and designed with precision, together with paintings from the world's most famous artists, all point the minds of the unwary worshipers to the works of men, and God and His glory are lost sight of in a maze of artistry and inventions of man. The worship of graven images covers a very wide swath of our everyday experience, and is not restricted to man-made objects or inventions. We should here remember that all graven images, whether real or in phantom form, always begin as a thought or image in a person's mind, and the result is just the end production of what was concocted in the dark realms of the carnal heart.
In our day we have abstract idols of thought, by which un-biblical theories and philosophies have taken root in the secular world, and even in modern Christendom, and because of this, many people are now ignorantly worshiping graven images, as verily as did those of ancient heathen nations. One such idol is the theory of evolution which has taken center stage in our educational system. This "Theory", which supposes that the earth came about as a result of a big bang, and was afterward evolved over millions of years, has now been accepted as the gold standard when speaking of the origin of species, and because of this variant teaching, infidels are being born by the millions, into a world that has excluded the very concept of God from its thinking.
The sad thing about this unfounded theory is that with the omission of God from the human equation, we then become a law unto ourselves, and absolute truth which designates right from wrong is also thrown out in the process. That's why we are now suffering the morbid results of our graven images, in the form of lost gender identity, together with the wanton slaying of human beings across the globe, for where there is no God, no one is to be held accountable to any authority higher than man, and so, whatever man says is just and right becomes the standard of right and wrong, with no input from a higher source.
For instance, when we have made the final determination that marriage is not restricted to one man and one woman, but rather to two consenting adults, we thereby open up the way for future generations to alter the original institution even more, to include animals, multiple sexual partners, and even material objects in sacred matrimony. We need to remember that the adjustments now being made are tailored to the now generation, but there is no guarantee that the next generation will stop at this, for in their minds, they too may also see the current institution of two consenting adults as too restrictive, and they will more than likely expand it to mean whatsoever two or more people, or animals may think is right in their own eyes.
These are just some of the results of ancient and modern idolatry, which is affecting in adverse ways the natural laws God has given to govern our little world. The capricious outbreaks of nature, together with the convulsions of earthquakes and volcanoes, are all directly linked in the Bible to the cancer of idolatry, and if we believe that we have seen the worst of it, the Bible reminds us that we have not seen anything as yet. The future travails of this earth that have been predicted in the scriptures, will bring the entire population of the planet to our knees, and then it will be realized too late, that ancient and modern idolatry was the means whereby the untimely demise of billions of folk took place.
We therefore end with a warning from God Himself, for us to cease and desist from any form of idolatry, for those who persist will be included in the general destruction that will be unleashed. Let's read:
2nd Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.
May God add His blessing to the study and practice of His word. "Good night" and God bless!