So the king asked his advisers what he should do. {They gave him their advice.} So Jeroboam made two golden calves. King Jeroboam said to the people, “You should not go to Jerusalem to worship. Israel, these are the gods that brought you out of Egypt.” [155]
Jeroboam also built temples at the high places. [158] He also chose priests from among the different family groups of Israel. (He did not choose priests only from the family group of Levi.)
King Jeroboam did not change. He continued doing evil things. He continued to choose people from different family groups to become priests. [173] Those priests served at the high places. [174] Any person who wanted to be a priest was allowed to become a priest.
But you have done many great sins. Your sins are much worse than the sins of any person that ruled before you. You have quit following me. You made idols and other gods. This has made me very angry.
“Now, you people have decided to defeat the Lord’s kingdom—the kingdom that is ruled by David’s sons. You have very many people with you and you have those golden calves—those ‘gods’ that Jeroboam made for you!
You threw out the Lord’s priests, the descendants of Aaron. And you threw out the Levites. Then you chose your own priests, just like every other nation on earth. And now, any person that will bring a young bull and seven rams can become a priest! A priest to serve those ‘No-gods’.
Now the Israelites sin more and more. They make idols {\cf2\super [143]} for themselves. Workers make those fancy statues from silver. And then those people talk to their statues! They offer sacrifices to those statues. They kiss those \{golden\} calves.
They must not offer any more sacrifices to their ‘goat idols’! They have chased after those other gods. In that way, they have acted like prostitutes. [308] These rules will continue forever!
They offered sacrifices to demons
that were not real gods.
Those were new gods
that they did not know.
Those were new gods
that your ancestors did not know.
The Holy Spirit {\cf2\super [16]} clearly says that in the later times some people will stop believing the \{true\} faith (teaching). Those people will obey spirits that tell lies. And those people will follow the teachings of demons. {\cf2\super [17]}
These evil spirits are the spirits of demons. {\cf2\super [122]} They \{have power to\} do miracles. {\cf2\super [123]} These evil spirits go out to the rulers of the whole world. They go out to gather the rulers for battle on the great day of God the All-Powerful.