This lie, of course, comes from Satan. Remember that the spiritual struggle is about who should be worshiped (Matthew 4 and John 4). People, following Satan’s lie, take their love away from God. They give their worship to His enemy, the devil. Consider what happened at Sinai. God Himself spoke His Ten Commandments to the whole nation. The second commandment was this:
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God… (Exodus 20:4).
However, the people grew tired of waiting at Mount Sinai. A God who could not be seen, and who took as much time as He wanted, did not please them. So they made a statue in the shape of a calf. They called it the ‘god’ who brought them out of Egypt. Aaron made an altar for offering gifts to it. He then announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the LORD (YHWH)” (Exodus 32:5).
They thought this worship would be for the true God, YHWH. But they wanted Him in a form that they could see and feel. (Such a god would also let them worship and live as they pleased.) They would worship the LORD through this image.