Golden casket / golden calf

Exodus 20:22-25, Exodus 32-34, after making their covenant, Moses taught the people what God wanted. This included instructions on worshipping God. God was very specific about it. So the Israelites worshipped God His way, which included making an altar with nothing man-made on it- no objects, no idols, nothing even that a man made tool had touched or fashioned. Only stones. Then God called Moses back up to the mountain so He could give him the law in physical form (the tablets containing the Ten Commandments). Moses was gone 40 days and 40 nights.

Being stiff-necked and impatient, the Israelites worried about Moses and they decided he was not coming back. Abandoning the worship of God His way, "when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

"So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play."

They worshipped a golden calf. An idol.

Entertainer Michael Jackson's funeral is today. The musician lay on a stage at the Staples Center, inside a golden casket. Estimates are that 2.5 billion people are watching the funeral. Facebook reports that as of 10:30 a.m., 300,000 users are logged in to the Facebook/CNN platform. There have been more than 500,000 status updates, with 6,000 status updates posted per minute. And the Michael Jackson Facebook page now has 7 million fans, more than any other fan page, including Barack Obama's.

After the Kings spoke, congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee delivered a thunderous speech praising the transcendental power of someone like Michael to improve the nation and the world. Brooke Shields read a passage from "The Little Prince" to illustrate Michael's fragility and sensitivity. Jermaine Jackson took to the mic and broke into song with "Smile," originally written by Charlie Chaplin. Michael's favorite song. Usher then broke into the apt "Gone Too Soon." Then, the Reverend Al Sharpton rose and spoke in his booming voice of Michael as a child, a dreamer, a father, a world-changer. Another song, this time, the singer's voice broke at the end, as he glanced over at Michael's golden casket.

They sang, they danced, later they will eat. They worshipped before a golden idol.

Paul wrote to Timothy that there will be Godlessness in the last days. "Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." 1 Colossians 10:7. If a third of the world is mourning and worshiping an entertainer laying inside a golden casket, what does that say about our misplaced attentions? Our priorities? About how far we have fallen? ... What it says to me is how soon He will come!

Are you ready? Turn your eyes upon Jesus and Hin only. Serve Him and walk in His ways. Forego the golden idols of this world and plan on eternal rewards. The temporary rewards of this world are just that, all too temporary. Just ask the man inside the golden casket.