“Follow the Leader” is just a game, but to actually follow just any leader is lame! The best example of following a leader is following Moses from the land of sin.
Moses was ordained by God to be the leader for the Hebrews to follow away from Egypt and sin. God intended for the Hebrews to follow Himself, but rather they merely followed Moses. Few learned to trust God and most only trusted Moses, the leader, for deliverance.
Moses trusted God. Soon, after escaping “Hell” (Egypt) and
the “Devil” (Pharaoh), Moses went to the mountain to speak to God. While in
Sinai, God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own Finger. While, he was on the
mountain, the Hebrews followed the crowd and to retain his position, Moses’s
brother Aaron followed the crowd:
1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. (Exod 32:1-4)
God was with Moses on the mountain, but the Hebrews were not with God on the plain. All the while that God was writing the Law, the Hebrews were below breaking them as God wrote them.
God understood herd mentality. All the while God was teaching Moses how to shepherd the herd, the herd was straying. In the passages above, “the people gathered together to Aaron” and commanded him to follow them. With no argument, Aaron followed the crowd.
Before all this, there was a promise:
7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. 8 Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” (Exod 19:7-8)
The Hebrews pledged themselves to God, and God responded: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exod 20:1), then He gave ways that they could follow Him; thusly, the Ten Commandments were a way for the Hebrews to fulfill their promise.
How long did that last? Not long because they lost their faith when Moses was delayed. Certainly, they thought that Moses had perished on the mountain, and now each person would do what was right in their own eyes. Then, they did so, and Aaron followed the herd, thinking that the herd was following him.
The people would never follow Aaron because they did not trust such a fickle person. Aaron was persuaded to defect from God because he was intimidated by the crowd. The easy thing for Aaron to do, was do their will and abandon God.
God knew that would come about! He had prepared a regulation
for that specific occasion:
You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. (Exod 23:2)
The crowd did not follow Aaron; he followed the crowd. While Moses was on the mountain with God who meted out justice, Aaron testified in the dispute below and thus perverted justice.
The people commanded Aaron to make for them gods. Hebrews had but one God, Yahweh. The Egyptians had a pantheon of gods, and the Hebrews wanted to retain the images that the Egyptians made, so what did Aaron do? He did as the Egyptians so, and he made for them a god to satisfy their independence from Yahweh.
The question is Did they accept the calf as the leader of their herd, or did they dance around the golden calf for the love of money? Probably, each was their own leader whose eyes focused on the shiny object. They each were doing whatever they wanted to do. The golden calf was just a pretense. Aaron had made them more than one god; he had made them all gods just as they had requested!
Perhaps God wrote Exodus 23:2 specifically for Aaron, and perhaps God had in mind all the “priests” of this age who follow the crowd and pervert justice! That accusation is aimed at the liberal churches who have no problem following the crowd. The preachers in many of those “churches” relent to the most adamant to keep their positions.
What would have happened to Aaron if he had gone against the demands of the many? He would have lost his position and influence. He caved easily to retain the priesthood. He designed the new god, thinking that the crowd would follow their new god.
That god did not move. Hence, each followed their own notion of what a God should be, and of course, they each became their own god, just as the Serpent had warned Adam and Eve (Gen 3:5).
To this day, so many are great “technicians.” Jesus was the “Teknik” (Greek where carpenter is translated). The crowd made themselves the image of their false god. They created the god that they would choose to follow!
Christians to this day decry the pomposity of that. How could they do that to the real God who had just delivered them from sin? All the while, those same Christians become the tekniks that design their own gods, and like the chief priest Aaron, their ministers follow their example to please them!
What is the “golden calf” in the modern church? Money. Those who have the money are generally the leaders, even if they stay in the shadows. After all, does not the church need money to grow? No; they need only God, the Word, and the Truth.
The Church also needs a crowd to be a “church” does it not? No, again. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” Jesus said (Mat 18:20). The Church consists of two or three who follow Jesus, not where the crowd gathers for them to be entertained and placated, as Aaron did with the Hebrew crowd.
They demanded that Aaron make them gods. Aaron took them literally. He told them how to make a God and they all pitched in. Each provided their own precious gold to make a god in their images. Hence, they received the gods that they sought, and they were themselves!
Honestly, do you like the church being like you? If you are a Christian, you are nothing more than a sinner saved by grace. However, when an obvious sinner seeks solace in your church, you seem offended! If the church was like us, it would be nothing more than a “golden calf”!
I wrote “your church” because plural “you” designed your church. You put your “gold” into it to make it for you!
Do you think not? If the church does not do as you say, then most hit back by withholding their tithes and offerings. Your “god” speaks. It is the money that talks, and that was how the golden calf of Aaron spoke. It was silent speech, but the golden calf said much!
More than money, though, each congregant wants to write the commands. While God was writing His commands on the Holy Mountain, the crowd was on the plain developing their own creed. Each could do whatever they wanted to do, and with that, the Satanist “church” was inaugurated. Satanist?
The law of the Satanist Church is easy. Whereas, the Law of God is condensed to one word, Love, the church of Satan is condensed to one: “Do what thy wilt; is the whole law” (Anton LeVey).
Now look at what goes on in your church. Is it just a crowd with each doing their own wills? Do people leave your church because they are offended by truth.
Where was the faith of the Hebrews? They promised Moses, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” Compare that to what LeVey says — Do whatever you will to do.
Some shack up with each other outside Holy Matrimony, then go to church to commune with God. Others have so much faith in the government that God is reduced to the last alternative. If the government can’t do it, the scientists can’t do it, nor can the doctors can do it; then perhaps God is the last recourse rather than the first.
A good question that Aaron should have asked is: In whom does your faith lie? Their faith had not been that “Yahweh delivered,” which by the way, means “Jesus” but that Moses delivered.
When Moses was no longer there to deliver, their faith waned. Their faith was not on the golden calf; it was just a distraction. Their faith was in their numbers and in themselves. They pranced around the golden calf but were essentially celebrating their ability to do as they pleased without the influence of Moses and his God!
This commentary is for me to examine me, and for you to examine you? Just in whom do you have faith? I perceive that the crowd has faith in the President and his “High Priest,” Dr. Fauci. I perceive that the crowd has faith in themselves to chose wrongly given two choices.
The nation right now has built a “golden calf” that the ghost of Karl Marx will take care of them. The social justice dogma of the liberal church is not that God will take care of you, but we will!
What happened when Moses was delayed. The Hebrews were liberated from their leader and his God. “Liberation theology” was developed at that moment, and the mainstream churches are now liberated from God.
What happened to the Hebrew “church” in the days of Moses? They gradually died off and never made it to the Promise Land. What will happen to the liberated church of this age? It will never make it to the promised realm of Paradise.
People doing as they want to do is not the Way to Paradise. Doing what God wills for them to do is the Way! Are you missing the mark? Are you doing it your way?
(picture credit; Alamy; "Children playing follow the leader")
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