Idols, deities, idolater

Adoration of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-35). Illustration from a biblical card published in 1901 by the Providence Lithograph Company.

Everything that is loved more than God becomes an idol for man: for example: money, Woman, honors... But it can also be deities of pagan peoples.

In "The Gospel as it was revealed to me"

• "You shall not make idols before Me": However, what man cannot do for the True God, he does for lying gods. One builds an altar to Woman, a second to gold, another to power, another to science, another to military triumphs. One worships the powerful man, his equal in the natural order, who surpasses him only in strength or luck. Another adores himself and says: "There is no one equal to me." These are the gods of those who belong to the people of God."
• "He who has a love stronger than the one he gives to God, whatever that love may be, is an idolater."
• The worship of idols, Mammon.
• The earth is a forest of idols, for every Heart is an altar and it is difficult to find God there.
• Man has everything except deity. He wants that. He wants the supernatural to astonish, to be acclaimed, feared, known, celebrated... And to have something of what only God can give freely, he clings to Satan, who is God's ape, and gives alleged supernatural gifts.