[A “Christian” who “makes” graven images will naturally justify himself that he doesn’t worship them, just as the next man who worships them justifies himself that he doesn’t make them. The man who brings them into his house (Deuteronomy 4:26) justifies himself that he doesn’t worship them or make them; but God condemns the actions of all three of them! Ignorant (or evil) men like to give the term “graven image” their own non-biblical definition by pretending that because they “don’t worship” the graven image, it isn’t a graven image! The fact is, that if the image is “worshiped” then the image becomes by definition an “idol” which is a somewhat separate issue although the idol has in common that God hates it also! The problem for “Christians” who like graven images around the house, is that God hates graven images whether you “worship” them or not. ]
Isaiah 30:22 “Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.”
Deuteronomy 7:26 “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.”
[That is, you will see it how God sees it, and you will hate it as a detestable thing.]
Exodus 20:4-6 “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven. . . .” (“graven” is here used as an adjective.) [Webster’s definition: “engraved; carved; sculptured.”]
[A “graven image” is a three dimensional “likeness.”] Most men are willingly ignorant (or pretend to be) concerning what “graven” means, but the bible defines the word:]
(1) Exodus 28:9 “And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel. . . .”
(“grave” is here used as a verb) [Webster’s definition: “to shape by carving; to carve out; sculpture.”]
(2) 32:1-8 “And he received them [the golden earrings] . . . and fashioned it with a graving tool . . .”
(3) Acts 17:29 “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.”
Exodus 20:22-23 “Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.”
[These “graven images” are “idols”!]
23:23-24 “Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them . . . thou shalt utterly . . . break down their images.”
34:12-17 “But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves . . . molten gods.”
Leviticus 19:4 “Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God.”
26:1 idols, graven image, standing image, image of stone
vs. 28-30 “And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.”
Nahum 1:14 “. . . out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.”
Deuteronomy 4:14-28 “. . . ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb . . . graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast . . . the likeness of any winged fowl . . . The likeness of any thing that creepeth . . . the likeness of any fish . . . the likeness of anything . . . gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone.”
7:1-5 “. . . break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.”
v. 25 “. . . it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.”
(again) v. 26 “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.”
12:1-4 “. . . ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods. . . .”
(Americans go whoring after “Indian culture,”“kachina dolls,” etc., to bring them right into the house.)
27:15 “Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image. . . .”
29:17-20 “. . . ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold. . . .”
The Lord’s Instructions
Acts 15:13-20 “. . . we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols. . . .”
1st Corinthians 10:1-7 “. . . we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters. . . .”
See: Exodus 32:1-8 for insight on: “. . . and rose up to play.”
Acts 7:37-43 “calf . . . idol . . . works of their own hands . . . figures which ye made”
6:9-11 “. . . idolaters . . . shall [not] inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed. . . .”
2nd Corinthians 4:1-4 Jesus Christ, HIMSELF, is the only acceptable “image of God.”
Colossians 1:13-15 “. . . his dear Son . . . is the image of the invisible God. . . .” (Hey, let’s carve our own!)
Hebrews 1:1-3 “. . . his Son . . . the express image of his person. . . .”
(Psalm 73:20 “. . . O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.”)
Daniel 2:44-45 “. . . the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands. . . .” (This image was not carved by man!)
(Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him. . . .”)
[If you want to associate with “images” hang around with Christians!]
2nd Corinthians 6:14-18 “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” (A Question!)
1st Thessalonians 1 “For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. . . .”
QUESTION: Can’t you serve both the true God and idols?
ANSWER: Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters. . . . Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Graven Images As The Historical Foundation Of Catholicism
Judges 17 [“Catholicism” takes shape where a woman is the spiritual head of the house (17:2) (see: 1st Timothy 2:11-12) who directed a “founder” (17:4) (see: Jeremiah 10:14) “to make a graven image and a molten image” (see: Deuteronomy 27:15) so that an apostate Levite (17:9) “priest” who is called “father” (17:10) (see: Matthew 23:9) could “find a place” (17:8-9) having rejected the “place” that God gave him (see: Exodus 23:20) and could have a “house of gods” (17:5) (see: Deuteronomy 7:25-26) having rejected “the house of God” at Jerusalem (see: Judges 18:31) since “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (17:6) (see: Deuteronomy 12:8)]
There Is No New Thing Under The Sun – Ecclesiastes 1:9
1st Kings 14:7-9 “. . . Jeroboam . . . made . . . molten images, to provoke me to anger. . . .”
vs. 22-23 “. . . high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.”
2nd Kings 10:18-27 “Jehu . . . brake down the image of baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day. (He made it into a big toilet!)
17:7-20 “And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree. . . .”
vs. 29-41 “So they feared the Lord [SARCASM] . . . They feared the Lord and served their own gods. . . .”
19:17-18 “. . . the kings . . . have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands. . . .”
(The same as Isaiah 37:18-19)
21:1-12 “Manasseh . . . worshipped all the host of heaven, and . . . set a graven image of the grove. . . .”
vs. 19-22 “And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served. . . .”
Chapters 22 & 23 Josiah throws out the trash! (A breath of fresh air!)
2nd Chronicles 15:1-8 “And when Asa heard these words . . . he . . . put away the abominable idols. . . .”
24:18-21 (so they killed Zechariah)
(See: Isaiah 30:19-22 “. . . thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.”)
28:1-4 “Ahaz . . . made also molten images for Baalim.”
33:1-7 “And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God. . . .”
vs. 21-23 Amon did evil: served and sacrificed
34:1-7 “carved” and “graven”
Psalm 78:55-58 high places, graven images
97:7,10 “Confounded be all they that serve graven images. . . .”
Isaiah 2:8-9 “Their land also is full of idols . . . their own fingers have made.”
vs. 17-22 “In that day a man shall cast his idols . . . to the moles and to the bats. . . .”
40:18-23 “. . . what likeness will ye compare unto him?”
41:7 tools of the trade
vs. 21-24 “. . . an abomination is he that chooseth you.”
v. 29 “Behold, they are all vanity; their work are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.”
42:8 “I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
[That leaves out “STATUES OF MARY” for any reason!] (Do you need to hear it again?)
See: 48:4-11 “. . . lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them. . . . I will not give my glory unto another.”
42:17 “. . . they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.”
44:9-20 “They that make a graven image are all of them vanity. . . . And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?”
45:16 “. . . they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.”
vs. 20-22 “. . . set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.”
46:1-2 “. . . their idols were upon the beasts . . . your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.”
vs. 5-7 “To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.”
48:4-5 “I have even from the beginning declared it to thee . . . lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.”
57:3-5 “But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against whom do ye sport yourselves? . . . enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree. . . ?”
65:2-3 “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick. . . .”
66:3 “He that . . . burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.”
Jeremiah 1:16 “And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.”
2:11 “Hath a nation changed their gods?”
v. 20-29 [the dromedary]
3:2 “Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.”
vs. 6-9 “. . . committed adultery with stones and with stocks.” (Just exactly like they do all over the world today!)
v. 13 “Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord.”
7:30 “For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.”
8:19 “Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?”
10:6-15 “. . . the stock is a doctrine of vanities . . . every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors. . . .”
See: 51:17-18 (This reads just the same)
18:15 “Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up. . . .”
50:35-38 “. . . Babylon . . . the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.”
51:5-7 (Prophecy against this “Babylon”) (See: Revelation 17 & 18)
See vs. 47-49 “Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon. . . .”
vs. 17-18 “. . . every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood. . . .”
Ezekiel 6 (high places, altars, images, idols, Babylon) [These people are very religious!]
8:1-6 “. . . the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy . . .” was in the temple of God.
See again: Exodus 20:5 “. . . for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. . . .”
14:4-5 “ I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.”
16:15-17 “Thou . . . madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them. . . .”
20:16 “. . . they despised my judgments, and . . . polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.”
vs. 18-24 “. . . they despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.”
vs. 28-32 “. . . ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.”
vs. 38-39 “. . . pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.”
22:1-4 “Thou . . . hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made. . . .”
23:36-39 “. . . with their idols have they committed adultery. . . .”
Psalm 106:34-41 “And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.”
115:1-8 “They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.”
Hosea 4:12-14 “My people ask counsel at their stocks, and . . . the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err. . . .”
v. 17 “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.”
8:4-6 “. . . of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.”
10:1-2 “Israel . . . hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.”
v. 8 “. . . the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars. . . .”
11:2 “. . . they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.” (They were Catholic!)
13:1-3 “. . . they . . . have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding. . . .”
Micah 1:7 “And all the graven images . . . and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate. . . .”
5:12-14 “Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee. . . .”
Amos 5:26 “But ye have borne the tabernacle of . . . your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.”
(See: Acts 7:43 “Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan. . . .”)
Habakkuk 2:18-19 “What profiteth the graven image . . . the molten image . . . a teacher of lies . . . dumb idols. . . ? wood . . . dumb stone. . . .” [How rude! But they’re only called “dumb” in the OLD testament, right?]
1st Corinthians 12:1-2 “Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.”
What The Lord Calls The Things:
abomination Deuteronomy 7:25-26; 27:15; 32:16; 2nd Kings 23:24; Isaiah 44:19
abominations Deuteronomy 29:17; 2nd Chronicles 34:33
carved image 2nd Chronicles 33:7; Judges 18:18
carved images 2nd Chronicles 33:22; 34:3,4
confusion Isaiah 41:29
cursed thing Deuteronomy 7:26; 13:17
doctrine of vanities Jeremiah 10:8
dumb idols Habakkuk 2:18; 1st Corinthians 12:2
dumb stone Habakkuk 2:19
falsehood Jeremiah 10:14
figures Acts 7:43
gods Genesis 31:30; Exodus 23:24; 32:1; Deuteronomy 4:28; 28:36,64; 2nd Kings 19:18; Jeremiah 2:28
gods of brass Daniel 5:4,23
gods of silver Exodus 20:23; Daniel 5:4,23
gods of gold Exodus 20:23; Daniel 5:4,23
gods of iron Daniel 5:4,23
gods of stone Daniel 5:4,23
gods of wood Daniel 5:4,23
gold Acts 17:29
graven image Exodus 20:4; 2nd Chronicles 34:7; Habakkuk 2:18; Judges 17:4; Jeremiah 10:14
graven images Isaiah 42:17; Deuteronomy 12:3; Micah 5:13
idol Leviticus 19:4; 2nd Chronicles 33:7; 2nd Chronicles 34:7
idols Deuteronomy 29:17; 2nd Kings 21:21; Ezekiel 6:4,5,6,9,13
image Psalm 73:20
image of jealousy Ezekiel 8:3,5
image of stone Leviticus 26:1
images Genesis 31:19; Exodus 23:24; 34:13; Leviticus 26:30; Deuteronomy 7:5;
2nd Kings 10:26; 2nd Chronicles 34:4; Ezekiel 6:4,6
images of men Ezekiel 16:17
images of their abominations Ezekiel 7:20
likeness Exodus 20:4; Isaiah 40:18
likeness of any beast Deuteronomy 4:17
likeness of any fish v. 18
likeness of any thing v. 23, 25
likeness of any thing that creepeth v. 18
likeness of any thing that is in heaven 5:8
likeness of any winged fowl 4:17
likeness of male or female v. 16
manner of similitude Deuteronomy 4:15
molten gods Exodus 34:17; Leviticus 19:4
molten image Deuteronomy 27:15; Judges 17:4; 18:18; Habakkuk 2:18; Jeremiah 10:14
molten images 2nd Chronicles 28:2; 1st Kings 14:9; 2nd Chronicles 34:3,4; Isaiah 42:17; Isaiah 41:29
other gods 1st Kings 14:9
queen of heaven Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17,18,19 (“Our Lady” in a bath tub)
silver Acts 17:29
silver and gold Deuteronomy 29:17
similitude of any figure Deuteronomy 4:16
standing image Leviticus 26:1
standing images Micah 5:13
stock Jeremiah 2:27; Jeremiah 10:8
stock of a tree Isaiah 44:19
stone Jeremiah 2:27; Acts 17:29
teacher of lies Habakkuk 2:18
vanity Jeremiah 51:18
wind Isaiah 41:29
wood Habakkuk 2:19
wood and stone Deuteronomy 4:28; 28:36,64; 29:17; 2nd Kings 19:18; Isaiah 37:19; Ezekiel 20:32
work of errors Jeremiah 51:18
work of men’s hands Deuteronomy 4:28; 2nd Kings 19:18
work of the hands of the craftsman 27:15
work of thine hands Micah 5:13
[Evil and deceived men like to call them “aids to worship,” “icons,” “figurines,” and “santos” but they are still evil.]
We are not to . . . bow down to it Exodus 20:5
burn incense to it 2nd Kings 17:11
choose it Isaiah 41:24
fear it Deuteronomy 7:18
have it in the house Deuteronomy 7:26
have it around Deuteronomy 7:26
justify it Proverbs 17:15
make it Exodus 20:4
sacrifice to it Exodus 34:15
serve it Matthew 4:10
tolerate it Deuteronomy 7:25-26
trust it Isaiah 42:17
worship it Matthew 4:10
Catholics always tell non-Catholics that they DON’T worship the idol: they only “focus their prayers through it,” “revere” it, “admire” it, “esteem” it, “adore” it, “bless” it, “regard” it, “do devotions to” it, “do homage to” it, “pay homage to” it, “do obeisance to” it, “genuflect before” it, “glorify” it, “honor” it, “lie prostrate before” it, “sing praises to” it, or “venerate” it. (But they NEVER “worship” it!) [Liar!]
Satan’s Plan (and the rejection of Satan’s plan by those that belong to the Lord Jesus)
Daniel 3:1-18 Worship of “an image of gold” was refused on pain of death by the Lord’s chosen people.
Revelation 13:15 “. . . as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”
(Catholics have been trained all their lives to be comfortable with image worship.)
The Lord’s Plan
1st John 5:1-3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
vs. 20-21 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”