Their Golden Calves and Idols

Several thousand years ago, after the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam came to the throne.  Confronted by the various tribes of Israel, instead of taking the advice of the Israelite elders to treat the tribes with respect, Rehoboam took the advice of his young advisors and abused the tribes.

The tribes of Israel except Benjamin abandoned Judah and set up the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  Abandoning the line of David, the northern tribes chose Jeroboam the son of Nebat as their first king.  Jeroboam knew the Northern Kingdom would have a problem.  The word of God demanded worship in Jerusalem, controlled by Rehoboam.  If the people pilgrimaged to Jerusalem for worship, they may think Jeroboam illegitimate.  

As a result, Jeroboam prohibited travel to Jerusalem for worship and set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan.  Essentially, he claimed the golden calf made by Aaron at Sinai was the real god and the Moses stuff was a scam.  “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt,” he told the people. 1 Kings 12:28.

The people of the Northern Kingdom descended into idol worship based on Jeroboam’s claims and their own lack of faith and knowledge of their faith.  In 720 BC, the Northern Kingdom collapsed after the Assyrians wiped them out.  

It is remarkable how a people could abandon the truth so quickly for concocted nonsense premised on a kernel of truth.  Yes, Aaron had made the golden calf at Sinai.  But pay no attention to anything else.

Fast forward to 2020.  The President of the United States offered up a lie based on several kernels of truth.  His campaign crowds were larger than Joe Biden.  He got more votes than Barack Obama.  But given Biden’s small crowd sizes and lack of personal appeal, it had to be a lie that Biden got the most votes of any President in history.

Like a golden calf, his supporters bowed to the lie and abandoned the truth.  That lie festered.  Like the serpent in the garden, the President’s advisors, talking heads, and others in the cult of personality claimed they were “just asking questions.”  There were always answers to the questions, but it was far easier to believe the lie.  The truth had to be explained and the lie could just be believed by faith.

The lies and conspiracy grew such that in Georgia, Republicans handed the United States Senate to the Democrats.  They chose to sit out the election.  Republican turnout in the runoff fell orders of magnitude greater than the Democrats.  One day later, the President’s supporters stormed the United States Capitol.  Four people died.  Those storming the Capitol believed they were heroes stopping an anti-democratic theft of an election.  In reality, they were enemies of the republic engaged in a seditious act of overturning the will of the American people.  They believed the lie and worshipped their own golden calf, or orange one, some of them straight into the grave.

The United States Congress should immediately impeach and remove the President of the United States for encouraging sedition.  He told his supporters in Washington to march to the Capitol.  He did this.  Shamefully, his idol worshipping fans now claim it was Democrats masquerading as Republicans to make the GOP look bad.  Never mind long time and well known Trump supporters live streamed themselves storming the Capitol.

The President’s supporters will now wander in the wilderness of politics with Joe Biden as their President.  Like the Northern Kingdom, God is smashing their idols now.