“This principle is seen in the infamous ‘Golden Calf Incident’ recorded in Exodus 35. False worship, like most sinful practices, begins small and grows by degrees. Lust grows into adultery, hatred grows into murder, covetousness grows into theft, and self-love grows into idolatry.

Few men have the boldness of Nebuchadnezzar to set up an image of [themselves] and command people to bow down to it, yet all fallen men share his desire to be ‘like God.’ Thus, the suggestions of Satan, and the natural inclinations of men, usually begin not with outright idol worship, but with the blending of human invention with the worship of the true God…Men can always find justifications for doing what they want to do. Yet whatever the justification may be, God’s response is still the same: ‘They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them.’” (Comin, 24-25).