Images of the Lord?

A friend wrote me the other day about some strange phenomenon going on in various places around the world. She sent me news articles about a rock in Mexico or somewhere with what is supposedly an image of Jesus on it. People are flocking from miles around to go there to see it, light candles and leave bouquets of flowers and worship and she wanted to know what I thought of it. My response is not too much. I don’t think the image was put there by God because it is counter to His nature.

God does not want images made of Him. He is Spirit and far more than wood or stone and we are instructed not to make an image of Him and worship it or any idol. Throughout mankind the tendency has been for humanity to worship various idols. Even when Moses went up on the mountain to receive God’s laws and was gone for just a short period of time the people got tired of waiting for him to come back down and under the leadership of Moses’ own brother Aaron made an image of a golden calf and they danced about it wildly worshipping it and I am sure it turned into an orgy before it was over. These people had seen first hand the miracles of God getting them out of Egypt and then day in and day out thereafter and certainly Aaron the temporary leader in charge knew better, but they followed a fleshly desire to worship an object rather than God. God was deeply offended and if it had not been for the pleading of Moses would have likely destroyed them all as a result. (Prayer works!)

To this day the absolute worst feeling that I ever experienced was in India. Our host took us to a Hindu temple. It was a thing of beauty and quite the tourist attraction. We were asked to remove our shoes and went inside to take a look and the people were going through a line, (which we got in). At the end of the line there were several guys dressed up in robes and shaved heads and they were dancing around to some weird music chanting with incense filling the air. They had an image of a huge bull’s head made of gold hanging on the wall. The bull had numerous leis or necklaces of cut flowers around its neck and was bejeweled. The priests’ were dancing around throwing sprinkles of water and flower petals on it and worshipping it. The people in line were being given little pieces of bread or something to eat by the priests and they were praying to this image.

I felt like I was in Hell itself and I shot out of there like a meteor. I literally ran out of the marble hallway in my stocking feet and did not stop until I was outside. I put my shoes back on as quickly as I could and ran down the stairs and did not stop until I got to our car in the parking lot where I waited on them. I’m sure my host was either deeply offended or he excused my behavior because he thought I was insane. I did not care I had a horrible feeling being in there and the entire scene just felt satanic.

If people want to be around God they need not make a pilgrimage to Mecca or some hard to reach destination in South America where an image has supposedly’ appeared on a rock, statue of Virgin Mary, or window. These same people could go to church or Sunday school or simply sit at their desk and say a prayer and God will be right there. The Bible states that whenever two people are gathered together in my name I am there with you. God has promised to be with us always even to the end of time and throughout eternity. He is Spirit and is everywhere and we can look at the sky, mountains, ocean, rivers, plains, birds, animals, flowers or wherever to see His handiwork. One of the Ten Commandments is not to make or worship any graven image or idols. God is serious about this as we should be serious about it.

You shall not make for yourselves
a carved image – any
likeness of anything that is
in heaven above or that is
in the earth beneath, or that
is in the water under the
earth;
you shall not bow down to
them or serve them.
For I the Lord your God,
am a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children to the
third and fourth generations
of those who hate Me,
but showing mercy to
thousands to those who
love Me and keep my commandments.