Episode Fifteen: Idols

Hello everyone! This week's episode is about idols, and how they can take over our lives. We hope you enjoy!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Purpose Podcast. I'm your host, Gabe. And I'm your co-host, Josh. And today is April 10th, 2026. And you will be seeing this on April 13th. And today's episode is about idols. Dun dun dun.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

That um idol in your life. The American Idol. That's the first thing I think of when I hear the word idol is American Idol.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

But I I haven't really watched American Idol since Willie Spence was on there. And before that, it was back when Randy Jackson was on there.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

So I mean that was the best when Randy and Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj was on there. I think I've probably seen every season of American Idol. It's it's our show in my family.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

And Willie Spence went to my old high school, so that was pretty cool to see him get set get runner up.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Uh-huh. Hometown hero.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

But the first topic today is gonna be about Artemis. Artemis was a pagan god and a pagan goddess, my bad. Known for like hunting wild animals, fertility, childbirth. And we see her appear in Acts 19 when the city of Ephesus? Is that my I might say that wrong? Like like I said the past couple episodes. Pronouncing words ain't my strong suit. But this the city worships her. And it says, Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesi Ephesians is a temple keeper of the great Artemis, and at a sacred stone that fell from the sky. And before I continue, talking about Artemis, one thing that I saw when I saw the scripture was that it fell from the sky. And I started thinking, why does that sound familiar? And it it brought me back to the story about when Satan and the fallen angels were thrown out of heaven by God when they turned their back on him. And so I I thought I was like, okay, so maybe Artemis was just a fallen angel. And they was just they was worshiping a false god. I I I was just like, wow, it kind of makes sense. And Demetrius was a silversmith that created silver shrines of Artemis. So when Paul came to town preaching against idols, you can probably imagine they was probably intimidated by him. And they they thought Paul would come and destroy the local business of creating these shrines. And they held rites and they were shouting, greatest Artemis of the Ephesians. And Paul points out at a silversmith that God made with hands are not God's. So the shrines they were making were human-made and it was not the presence of God. And they can make they can make any statue, shrine, whatever they want, but it can never live up to the kingdom of God. And here's why Artemis matters so much in the Bible. It's because she's a prime example on how idolatry influences money, religion, pride, city life, etc. And also, our gospel was challenging their economic and social systems and not just their beliefs in their false worship. The Ephesians were celebrating this false goddess. They was having big celebrations, festivals, worship. So she had a big identity in the city. And this is why they was they was reacting so harshly when they felt her temple and her honor was being threatened. Paul was preaching about a living god, while the locals were worshiping a pagan false goddess. And before I'm I'm done with this topic, I want to give two fun facts. This first one it kinda it came to me on TikTok. This is how the whole Artemis thing that I want to talk about came up. But it was talking about the recent rocket that went up, and that rocket was called Artemis. I thought that was kind of cool. I was I was thinking about the like similar things there. And so, you know, I went I didn't have the Bible on me, so I went to the Bible app, you know the Bible at my the Bible app is KJV. So or whatever whatever I had said that was KJV. And I went and looked up the verse, and when I did, it didn't say Artemis like it did in the video, it said Diana. So I was confused. So I was okay. When I got home, I'm gonna I'm gonna study. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna, I I pulled up my I got home, I got my ESV Bible, I got my KJV, you know, I I flipped it up, I flipped the page and I was like, and I got there, and sure enough on a KJV it said Diana, and then on my ESV, it said Artemis. It's like what the heck? And so I looked it up, and actually in Latin, Artemis is actually Diana. So when you if you study the KJV, you're gonna see Diana rather than Artemis. You learn something every day, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Even I I didn't even know that, and um, when you told me you was gonna do talk about Artemis, I read it just so I I kind of could get a little info about it. And I I use the Bible app on my phone more than I do the regular Bible. I probably shouldn't do that, but it to me it's easier looking trying to find a Bible.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Yeah, you can just type something up and you find it pretty easy.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

In an actual Bible, it it takes me like 10 minutes trying to find a book. But um, it caught me off guard too, because I typed up Artemis and it pulled up the verses, but when I clicked on the verses to read, it was talking about Diana. And I was like, who's Diana? How did she get in here? But um Anto is definitely something that anything that takes God's place in our heart, and um you can put all your trust in it, just like they did with Artemis, and um we can even see some modern day Artemis in today's world, and I was thinking one, maybe money, because the Bible talks about how you can't serve God and you can't serve money. Um and even if you listen to Josiah Queen, one of his songs says that you can't love the money and also love the Lord, and people put trust in their money, but in their money, because it gives them a sense of identity and a sense of happiness. But if you put your faith and trust in the Lord, you'll have your own identity and you'll find eternal happiness.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

You're exactly right, and then they had one more fun fact, and the temple that they worshipped her in is actually one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

I thought that was a I thought that was a fun little fact there, too. And so, Josh, what example do you find in the Bible for idols?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Um, I was thinking of the golden calf, and I've always heard stories growing up about the golden calf. So when I chose this as an example, I had to do my own research about the golden calf and read it read about it. But um, it talks about the golden calf in Exodus chapter 32, chapter 32, and it um just tells us that the people were getting impatient when Moses was up at the mountain. So they decided to collect all of the golden rings from the wives and from the children, and um they turned these rings into a golden calf, which ended up turning turning into their god, and um, they worshiped this golden calf, and they even some people even made sacrifices to the golden calf, and they did this because they wanted something that they could touch, they wanted something they could see, and they wanted something that they could understand. And the golden calf was made for control, comfort, and speed. And um, you know, Moses was at the mountain, and you know, he was spending his time with God trying to get the Ten Commandments, and uh, they wasn't having it, they they wanted it quickly, they was getting impatient. So, because of this, they made the golden calf, which turned into their idol, they worshipped it, they called it their savior, and um no, we can kind of even see the golden calf uh idol tree. I don't know if I said that right. In today's world, um, you know, look at social media validation. Um, we're quick to post something when we feel low, and when we post something, we get the likes, and we feel we start to feel better. And instead of taking time taking the time to read God's word and see that we are seen and we are loved, we don't feel seen, so we make something that makes us feel automatically seen. We get impatient, so we want that automatic love, and just like the people, you know, they was getting impatient, they couldn't see Moses was up at the mountain seeing God and talking to God, but they couldn't see him and they couldn't talk to him, and they was growing impatient, and so that they may they found something that they could idle, and just like us in today's world, you know, we have social media, we have Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. We idled that thing more than what we should, and even I'm guilty of this. I I probably I know I spend more time on TikTok than I do my Bible, but we're taking something that we take more time of, and we turn that into our worship. You know, we worship, they worship the golden calf, we worship social media, and um moral of the story is take time, um, don't be impatient, have patience, trust in God's timing, um, because it takes time for God's plan to work out, and you know, if you're impatient, then you are gonna have idols that you start looking into, and um, just like the people did, they looked into the golden calf when they was impatient.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

I I like what you said about um rather than I thought it was interesting what you said, where they they wanted something physical to worship at. Like they wanted the golden calf. They wanted something physical they can worship to. And it shows that they didn't really have the faith that they should. Because you gotta think when you're Christians, you know, we worship to God, we worship Jesus Christ, right? Right. And we don't see them. They're they're in heaven, they're in a different realm. So we don't we don't see them, it's about having the faith that they're there.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

And a lot of people lack it. You know, and I mean sometimes who says me or you don't, you know, it's just but at the end of the day, we know that they're there and that they'll work on our lives. And see, and these people they wasn't having the faith in God that they should. So they started worshiping a golden calf. You know, faith is about believing in something that that may not ever come to you in front of you. So I thought that was in I thought that was interesting what you said there. And when you said that, I automatically thought about faith. And you know, and some good things can turn into God things. And in 1 John 5.21, it states, little children, keep yourselves from idols. An idol is anything that takes the place of God in your life. And the thing is, we are all guilty of it. You know, life gets in our way, we let it take over our lives, and before we know it, we aren't doing what we're called to do, and that is to worship our God. And two examples that I can think of is that we see a lot of uh idols in ministry and our relationships. And you might be thinking, Gabe, how can ministries be idols? You know, they're a place where you go to worship Jesus is a place where you worship God. And the answer is very clear, and that's when the church's identity is all because of certain people in the church. When you go to church, we're there to learn and grow in our faith in Jesus. But sometimes we see people go to church and only do it for image. And not only that, we also see people who try to worship pastors. And we see this a lot in like megachurches and local churches. But the best preachers are the ones who make sure they don't make themselves bigger than the church. And the second is relationships. And this is the one that me and my girlfriend, we both worked on more than we used to, really. And you know it can be hard with relationships just because sometimes you put them first in your life. And he makes way for everything else. And we can both be building a relationship, but we also can be building our relationship with him also, and not just ourselves. If we build our relationship with him in the center, that means that you know, again, I think last week I used a a Miyagi reference. And I'm gonna do it again. If God's do root, if their roots are strong, the tree will survive. So if God's in the center, he's our root, me and my girlfriend we're the tree. If the roots are strong, the tree will survive. So if we don't if if we make sure a relationship is not an idol, we keep God in the center, we're gonna have a long, successful relationship. What are some things that you sell as idols, Josh?

SPEAKER_01 18:01

I like those, especially the ministry, you know. Um are you worshiping the pastor or are you worshiping God? You worship them the worship leader or are you are you worshiping God?

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Or also you're it are using the image of going to church as your idol. Yeah, to make you look you know a lot of people they like to dress up and take a picture and post on social media, and that's the only reason why they like going to church is dress up.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Yeah. Um I was thinking about you know, your career, um, your work life, your um gym life. Um 1 Corinthians 10 19 says, What am I saying then that an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything. So an idol can be anything. You know, in the Bible, it was a golden calf, it was Armitus or Diana, Armitis. Uh am I saying that right? Armitus? Artemis. Artemis. There we go. But um, it can be anything, it can be your phone, it can be your car, um, it can be your work.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

It can be anything that puts anything that puts the place to go.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Yeah. And you know, a lot of people don't think about their career, but um, you know, some people get into a job where at a specific time they leave, other people get into a job where they're there constantly 24-7, 365, and um they're not making any room for anything else besides work. You know, they they work all day long, they come home and they're still doing work, and um, you know, sometimes that work, I know it's your job, I know that you have to pay the bill somehow, but sometimes that career can take over, that job can take over, and um, it takes over um your relationships, it takes over your relationship with God, and you're not instead of taking time to talk to God or to read God's word, you're doing nothing but work. You're at work, you're working from home, you're um on business calls, and um, so it's real important that you do sometimes you have to put the work to the side and you know focus on God. You don't want to turn your job into your idol. And um same thing with gym, you know, it's nice to work out, it's good to work out for your health, it's good to work out for the way your body looks, but um you don't want to turn it into something, you don't want to turn your gym life into something that you worship.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Um people do that.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Yeah, some people they focus on nothing but gym, nothing but protein shakes, nothing but um weights. And um so it's real important that yeah, it's important to take care of your body, but don't turn it into something you worship. Don't turn the gym into your place of worship. Um and also if you do turn the gym into your idol, you're you can also turn yourself into an idol, or turn the people that's in the gym into an idol. You know, you might be at the gym and you know, you're worshiping this guy because he looks good, and you want you want to look just like him, or you're worshiping this woman because she looks good and you want to look like Her and then you look good, and then you're being boastful, and you're wanting people to worship you because you can bench press this much, or um, you can run this much without running out of breath. And um, so it's real important, yeah. Take care of your body, work out as much as you can for your health, but don't let the gym consume your life. Don't let the gym don't be at the gym more than you are at church. And um don't let the people inside the gym or even yourself control control you because I would much rather look up to God than look up to the guy with abs or the girl with curves. But that's all I got for that.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

I think it's important if we know if we ask God to remove these from our lives, because if we ask him, you know, whenever it's his plan that he will remove it.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

And we just gotta stay faithful in him. And it says in Isaiah 2 18 and the idols he he shall utterly abolish. I gotta just ask him. Pray to him, ask him sincerely ask him to remove him. He loves us enough that he would. That's gonna be all for today's podcast, guys. Um if you're on Apple Podcasts, make sure to go follow us on Apple Podcasts. Go subscribe and like on YouTube. If you're on YouTube, make sure to go follow us on Apple Podcasts. Remember, keep seeking your purpose.