Category: Luke

You Who Believe; Remember the Grace of God on You

Luke 9

14 There were about five thousand men in the crowd.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Have the people sit in groups of fifty.” 15 They did this, and all the people sat down. 16 Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food. Then he broke the bread and fish and handed them to his disciples to give to the people.

17 Everyone ate all they wanted. What was left over filled twelve baskets.

1 Kings 22

48 Jehoshaphat had seagoing ships built to sail to Ophir for gold. But they were wrecked at Ezion-Geber and never sailed. 49 Ahaziah son of Ahab offered to let his sailors go with Jehoshaphat’s sailors, but Jehoshaphat refused.

50 Jehoshaphat died and was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Jehoram became king.

51 Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat’s rule in Judah, and he ruled two years from Samaria.

52 Ahaziah disobeyed the Lord, just as his father, his mother, and Jeroboam had done. They all led Israel to sin. 53 Ahaziah worshiped Baal and made the Lord God of Israel very angry, just as his father had done.

Richard: Jehoshaphat obeyed God, while Ahaziah did not. The main battle is not right vs left, but God vs no God.

Help and Deliverance

2. Deliverance from Danger and Death

O you who believe! Remember the grace of God on you, when there came down on you hosts; but We sent against them a hurricane and forces you could not see: but God sees clearly all that you do. Behold! They came on you from above you and from below you, and behold, the eyes became dim and the hearts gaped up to the throats, and you imagined various vain thoughts about God! In that situation were the believers tried; they were shaken as by a tremendous shaking…
    And God turned back the unbelievers, for all their fury; no advantage did they gain; and enough is God for the believers in their fight. And God is full of Strength, Able to enforce His will.29
    Qur’an 33.9-11, 25

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord :
I will sing to the Lord , for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a man of war;
The Lord is his name.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea;
and his picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods cover them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O Lord , glorious in power,
your right hand, O Lord , shatters the enemy.
In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;
you send forth your fury, it consumes them like stubble.
At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up,
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy said, “I will pursue,
I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil,
my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword,
my hand shall destroy them.”
You blew them away with your wind,
the sea covered them;
they sank as lead
in the mighty waters.

Who is like thee, O Lord , among the gods?
Who is like thee, majestic in holiness,
terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Exodus 15.1-11

They threw them [Paul and Silas] into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s fetters were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”
    Acts 16.23-30

Arms pinioned, was I thrown down in a heap.
The elephant violently was goaded in the head.
The elephant ran away trumpeting,
Declaring, “To this prostrate figure am I a sacrifice;
Lord, in you alone lies my strength.”
The Kazi urged the mahout to goad on the elephant,
Threatening, “Mahout! I shall cut you to pieces!
Goad and drive the elephant!”
But the elephant, meditating on God, would not move:
In his heart was lodged the Lord.
The people queried, “What offense has this
holy man committed,
That in bonds he is thrown to be trampled by an elephant?”
The elephant bowed again and again to the heap before it.
The benighted Kazi did not realize this;
Three times he ordered this trial
But his hard heart still was not softened.
Says Kabir, The Lord is my guardian.
In absorption in Him lies His servant’s life.
    Adi Granth, Gaund, Kabir, p. 870 (Sikhism)

World-honored Lord and Perfect One,
I pray thee now declare
Wherefore this holy Bodhisat
Is known as Kuan Shih Yin [Hearer of the Cries of the World]?
To this the Perfect One replied
By uttering this song:
The echoes of her holy deeds
Resound throughout the world.
So vast and deep the vows she made
When, after countless eons
Of serving hosts of Perfect Ones,
She voiced her pure desire
[To liberate afflicted beings].
Now hearken to what came of it—
To hear her name or see her form,
Or fervently recite her name
Delivers beings from every woe.
Were you with murderous intent
Thrust within a fiery furnace,
One thought of Kuan Yin’s saving power
Would turn those flames to water!
Were you adrift upon the sea
With dragon-fish and fiends around you,
One thought of Kuan Yin’s saving power
Would spare you from the hungry waves…
Were you amidst a band of thieves,
Their cruel knives now raised to slay,
One thought of Kuan Yin’s saving power
And pity must restrain their blows.
Suppose the king now wroth with you,
The headsman’s sword upraised to strike,
One thought of Kuan Yin’s saving power
Would dash the sword to pieces.
Were you close pent by prison walls,
Your wrists and ankles bound by chains,
One thought of Kuan Yin’s saving power
Would instantly procure release…
True Kuan Yin! Pure Kuan Yin!
Immeasurably wise Kuan Yin!
Merciful and filled with pity,
Ever longed-for and revered!
O Radiance spotless and effulgent!
O night-dispelling Sun of Wisdom!
O Vanquisher of storm and flame!
Your glory fills the world!
    Lotus Sutra 25 (Buddhism)

We Need to Renovate Everything through the New Word of God

Mark 6

35 That evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This place is like a desert, and it is already late. 36 Let the crowds leave, so they can go to the farms and villages near here and buy something to eat.”

Richard: We are in a desert without God’s Word of truth, and specifically the New Truth.

Luke 19

11 The crowd was still listening to Jesus as he was getting close to Jerusalem. Many of them thought that God’s kingdom would soon appear, 12 and Jesus told them this story:

A prince once went to a foreign country to be crowned king and then to return. 13 But before leaving, he called in ten servants and gave each of them some money. He told them, “Use this to earn more money until I get back.”

14 But the people of his country hated him, and they sent messengers to the foreign country to say, “We don’t want this man to be our king.”

15 After the prince had been made king, he returned and called in his servants. He asked them how much they had earned with the money they had been given.

16 The first servant came and said, “Sir, with the money you gave me I have earned ten times as much.”

17 “That’s fine, my good servant!” the king said. “Since you have shown that you can be trusted with a small amount, you will be given ten cities to rule.”

18 The second one came and said, “Sir, with the money you gave me, I have earned five times as much.”

19 The king said, “You will be given five cities.”

20 Another servant came and said, “Sir, here is your money. I kept it safe in a handkerchief. 21 You are a hard man, and I was afraid of you. You take what isn’t yours, and you harvest crops you didn’t plant.”

22 “You worthless servant!” the king told him. “You have condemned yourself by what you have just said. You knew that I am a hard man, taking what isn’t mine and harvesting what I’ve not planted. 23 Why didn’t you put my money in the bank? On my return, I could have had the money together with interest.”

24 Then he said to some other servants standing there, “Take the money away from him and give it to the servant who earned ten times as much.”

25 But they said, “Sir, he already has ten times as much!”

26 The king replied, “Those who have something will be given more. But everything will be taken away from those who don’t have anything. 27 Now bring me the enemies who didn’t want me to be their king. Kill them while I watch!”

Richard: We should be actively about God’s work, not just sitting and waiting for the Second Advent, which has actually already occurred.

The Refining Fire

1. Judgment by Fire

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Each of us has many different kinds of thoughts, all varieties. Do you think we can easily negate them all to uphold the standard of absolute faith, love and obedience? Is it easy or difficult? How difficult! Even if we were to die and be reborn one hundred times, it would still be difficult.
     It doesn’t matter how many times we say the words “absolute faith, love and obedience”; we should enter the furnace and have our impurities burned away until there is only pure gold left. (320:235, April 5, 2000)
 
Jesus came into the world to cast this judgment, as he said, “For judgment I came into this world.” (John 9.39) Jesus also said, “I came to cast fire upon the earth.” (Luke 12.49) “Fire” here represents the means of the judgment for which Jesus came into the world. Nevertheless, there is no record that in his time Jesus judged the world with literal fire. The verses referring to fire must be symbolic. It is written, “Is not my word like fire, says the Lord?” (Jer. 23.29) Therefore, judgment by fire represents judgment by the Word of God. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Eschatology 3.2.2)
 
The words you are familiar with are connected to Satan. Your beliefs and thought processes have not escaped a relationship with Satan. All elements in the satanic world were created from a humanistic perspective, not from God’s perspective. They cannot go beyond Satan’s realm. That is why we need to renovate everything through the new Word of God.
    Once we know God’s Word, can we also live in harmony with the old words and move on with our lives? Absolutely not. We must completely rid ourselves of the old words. We must clean out all our satanic ideas, beliefs and habits. Then, by living according to the Word of God and its absolute standards, we must establish a new tradition. (21:327, January 1, 1969)
 
To acquire true love, you should invest yourself totally. You should be willing to burn your own name, your pictures, even your own clothes.27 (398:328, December 17, 2002)
 
Oh Father! Look upon us with Thy fiery eyes,
and allow not the bitter roots of sin and death to remain deep in our hearts. Look upon us with Thy fiery eyes,
that today we may pull out all the roots of sin and be unified before Thee. (20:10, March 31, 1968)

Father! We pray Thou wilt remove all that is humanistic and private.
Born as descendants of the Fall, we used to wear masks as we saw fit and relied upon our own views.
Purge us of all these elements as we come before Thee. (21:132, November 17, 1968)
 

We Should Discover God and Experience His Tears

The Richard Urban Show:

#85-Don’t Change What God Has Said
#84-President Trump Should Stay in Office
#83-Was the US Capitol Breach Part of a False Flag Operation?

Luke 23

6 When Pilate heard this, he asked, “Is this man from Galilee?” 7 After Pilate learned that Jesus came from the region ruled by Herod,[a] he sent him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at that time.

8 For a long time Herod had wanted to see Jesus and was very happy because he finally had this chance. He had heard many things about Jesus and hoped to see him work a miracle.

9 Herod asked him a lot of questions, but Jesus did not answer. 10 Then the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses stood up and accused him of all kinds of bad things.

11 Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and insulted him. They put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. 12 That same day Herod and Pilate became friends, even though they had been enemies before this.

Richard: This is not unlike what is happening to President Trump. Formerly Democrats and Republicans, like Mitch McConnell were enemies, but now they have teamed up to demonize President Trump. You have to ask; why? You also have to see who is more on God’s side, the demonizers or President Trump.

Ezekiel 16

The Lord said:

35 Jerusalem, you prostitute, listen to me. 36 You chased after lovers, then took off your clothes and had sex. You even worshiped disgusting idols and sacrificed your own children as offerings to them. 37 So I, the Lord God, will gather every one of your lovers, those you liked and those you hated. They will stand around you, and I will rip off your clothes and let all of those lovers stare at your nakedness. 38 I will find you guilty of being an unfaithful wife and a murderer, and in my fierce anger I will sentence you to death! 39 Then I will hand you over to your lovers, who will tear down the places where you had sex. They will take your clothes and jewelry, leaving you naked and empty-handed.

40 Your lovers and an angry mob will stone you to death; they will cut your dead body into pieces 41 and burn down your houses. Other women will watch these terrible things happen to you. I promise to stop you from being a prostitute and paying your lovers for sex.

42 Only then will I calm down and stop being angry and jealous. 43 You made me furious by doing all these disgusting things and by forgetting how I took care of you when you were young. Then you made things worse by acting like a prostitute. You must be punished! I, the Lord God, have spoken.

Richard: Wow! This is the Word of God applying to today. Joe Biden and family chased after Chinese lovers; getting money and favors, and literally got in bed, too. However, God will not tolerate this. “Paying your lovers for sex” means giving favors to the Chinese. Again, these actions will be revealed and punished.

Suffering

3. The Path of Tears

Kisa Gotami had an only son, and he died. In her grief she carried the dead child to all her neighbors, asking them for medicine, and the people said, “She has lost her senses. The boy is dead.”
    At length Kisa Gotami met a man who replied to her request, “I cannot give you medicine for your child, but I know a physician who can. Go to Sakyamuni, the Buddha.”
    Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha and cried, “Lord and Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy.”
    The Buddha answered, “I want a handful of mustard seed.” And when the girl in her joy promised to procure it, the Buddha added, “The mustard seed must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent, or friend.”
    Poor Kisa Gotami now went from house to house, and the people pitied her and said, “Here is the mustard seed, take it!” But when she asked, “Did a son or daughter, a father or mother, die in your family?” they answered her, “Alas! the living are few, but the dead are many. Do not remind us of our deepest grief.” And there was no house but some beloved one had died in it.
    Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless, and sat down at the way-side, watching the lights of the city as they flickered up and were extinguished again. At last the darkness of  night reigned everywhere. And she considered the fate of men, that their lives flicker up and are extinguished. And she thought to herself, “How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all; yet in this valley of desolation there is a path that leads him to immortality who has surrendered all selfishness.”
    Putting away the selfishness of her affection for her child, Kisa Gotami had the dead body buried in the forest. Returning to the Buddha, she took refuge in him and found comfort in the Dharma.
    Buddhaghosa, Parable of the Mustard Seed (Buddhism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Adam and Eve and certainly God shed tears over their fall. Adam and Eve wept for themselves. God also shed tears, but for whom? The Father of mankind shed tears for His children, who faced expulsion from the Garden of Eden due to their violation of the heavenly law. God wept not for Himself, but for His children.
    Those tears themselves were tragic. Human history began in tears, and for God also, history began with tears. Human beings live in misery, but so does God. Humans truly deserved to shed tears for their sin, but God does not deserve to shed tears.
    The history of tears that began with the first human ancestors has expanded down through the generations to all mankind throughout the world. Human history is stained with repeated tears, of suffering and struggle and broken-heartedness. People hurt each other and suffer oppression by those above them. No one has been able to put a stop to the tears of history.
    People ordinarily grieve for their own misfortunes. Nevertheless, more than for ourselves, or for our family’s misfortunes, or our nation’s misfortunes, we should grieve for the world’s pain… Everyone has been grieving over his or her own misery, or at best over their family’s sorrows or their nation’s suffering, but what they should focus on is the sorrow of the world. For this, we have to change and reverse the purpose of tears. We still grieve but for a different purpose. We need a reorientation to the other kind of tears—the tears that God sheds when He weeps in sorrow over the situation of humankind. God’s eyes are always filled with tears, but His tears are for others, never for Himself.
    Where can we truly find happiness? First, we should find a way to overcome our own tears; then we should overcome the conditions over which God sheds tears. Then we can find happiness. Why? The history of tears for both God and humans began as a result of the Human Fall; therefore we should return to the time before the Fall when there were no tears…
    It is our destiny to go over these two hills of sorrowful tears—human tears and God’s tears. Those who are traveling the road of truth should climb these two hills of tears. We should shed tears over the misery of humanity and taste many situations of human suffering. While others may live in blissful ignorance, we should grieve over the problems of human life, from fundamental questions down to the prevailing conditions of society. Some young people in particular agonize about such things; those who do not have such experiences cannot live a true life.
    While we overcome our own sorrows, we should also seek ways to alleviate the suffering of the world. Nevertheless, grappling with the suffering and misery of human live is not sufficient to bring a lasting solution. We must go deeper and uproot the fundamental cause of tears. This means reversing the initial tragedy that caused God and human beings to shed tears. Yet no one could comprehend a method for doing this.
    The tears we shed for ourselves or for our nation, on the human level alone, cannot be helpful for reaching the ideal world. They are still within the realm of selfishness, being merely the continuation of the tears that fallen Adam and Eve shed for themselves. 
    What, then, should we do? We should discover another realm of tears, the tears of God’s sorrow. We should deeply experience their taste then surmount them. Otherwise we cannot establish the basis for human happiness. This means learning how to shed tears that transcend our own suffering. First we should discover God and experience His tears; then we should willingly walk the path to alleviate God’s suffering. (94:306-10, October 16, 1977)
 
 

All Are Good at First, But Few Prove Themselves to be So at the Last

The Richard Urban Show:

#85-Don’t Change What God Has Said
#84-President Trump Should Stay in Office
#83-Was the US Capitol Breach Part of a False Flag Operation?
#82-Mike Pence Is Judas Iscariot

Luke 23

32 Two criminals were led out to be put to death with Jesus. 33 When the soldiers came to the place called “The Skull,” they nailed Jesus to a cross. They also nailed the two criminals to crosses, one on each side of Jesus.

Richard: Criminals will meet their reckoning.

Matthew 20

3 About nine that morning, the man saw some other people standing in the market with nothing to do. 4 He said he would pay them what was fair, if they would work in his vineyard. 5 So they went.

Richard: We should be busy working in God’s vineyard. This applies to God’s work generally, and specifically to the ministry of Home Church.

Suffering

2. The Futility of Human Life

Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
    Ecclesiastes 1.2-3
 
Parable of those who reject their Lord: their works are as ashes on which the wind blows furiously on a stormy day. No power have they over aught that they have earned. That is straying far, far from the goal.
    Qur’an 14.18
 
Men think much of their own advancement and of many other worldly things; but there is no improvement in this decaying world, which is as a tempting dish, sweet-coated, yet full of deadly gall within… It is as intangible as a mist; try to lay hold of it, and it proves to be nothing!
    Yoga Vasishtha (Hinduism)
 
Not by a shower of gold coins does contentment arise in sensual pleasures. 
    Dhammapada 186 (Buddhism)
 
Desire never rests by enjoyment of lusts, as fire surely increases the more butter is offered to it.
    Laws of Manu 2.94 (Hinduism)
 
The benighted one is incompetent to assuage sufferings, because he is attached to desires and is lecherous. Oppressed by physical and mental pain, he keeps rotating in a whirlpool of agony. I say so.
    Acarangasutra 2.74 (Jainism)
 
Intoxicated by the wine of illusion, like one intoxicated by wine; rushing about, like one possessed of an evil spirit; bitten by the world, like one bitten by a great serpent; darkened by passion, like the night; illusory, like magic; false, like a dream; pithless, like the inside of a banana-tree; changing its dress in a moment, like an actor; fair in appearance, like a painted wall—thus they call him.
    Maitri Upanishad 4.2 (Hinduism)
 
I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
 
    What is crooked cannot be made straight,
    and what is lacking cannot be numbered.
 
    I said to myself, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
 
    For in much wisdom is much vexation,
    and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
 
    I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.”… Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind… 
    So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity.
    Ecclesiastes 1.12-2.23
 
How vast is God,
The ruler of men below!
How arrayed in terrors is God,
With many things irregular in his ordinations.
Heaven gave birth to the multitudes of the
people,
But the nature it confers is not to be depended
upon.
All are good at first,
But few prove themselves to be so at the last.
    Book of Songs, Ode 255 (Confucianism)
 
When men get together to pit their strength in games of skill, they start off in a light and friendly mood, but usually end up in a dark and angry one, and if they go on too long they start resorting to various underhanded tricks. When men meet at some ceremony to drink, they start off in an orderly manner, but usually end up in disorder, and if they go on too long they start indulging in various irregular amusements. It is the same with all things. What starts out being sincere usually ends up being deceitful. What was simple in the beginning acquires monstrous proportions in the end.
    Chuang Tzu 4 (Taoism)
 
 
 

Jesus Prayed So Sincerely That His Sweat Fell to the Ground Like Drops of Blood

The Richard Urban Show
#81-Who Will Give the Faithful Report?

Petition Congress Rally-January 6th, 2021, Washington DC

Sample letters to Congressman about opposing election fraud on January 6th, 2021.

Luke 22

43 Then an angel from heaven came to help him. 44 Jesus was in great pain and prayed so sincerely that his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood.[g]

45 Jesus got up from praying and went over to his disciples. They were asleep and worn out from being so sad. 46 He said to them, “Why are you asleep? Wake up and pray that you won’t be tested.”

Obadiah 1

19 The people of Israel
who live in the Southern Desert
    will take the land of Edom.
Those who live in the hills
will capture Philistia,
    Ephraim, and Samaria.
And the tribe of Benjamin
    will conquer Gilead.

Idolatry and Materialism

Literally the worship of images, idolatry in the broader sense means allegiance to false values that substitute for God. in the Qur’an idols are regarded as evil spirits and Satan; those who worship them are therefore enemies to God. the bible views idols as human artifacts, not as representations of deity. hence idol worship is regarded as a form of materialism, and, conversely, any false reliance on human power or wealth is a form of idolatry. a more spiritual conception of idolatry is to identify it with egoism and human craving, since attachment to these false realities separates us from our true nature. the biblical story of the golden calf describes the worship of the idol as accompanied by orgiastic rites. in the twentieth century, the idols of nationalism, racism, and especially materialism have captivated millions, with horrible results. Father Moon explicitly calls materialism modern-day idolatry and regards it as one of Gods’ biggest “headaches.” his passages on this topic are a contemporary counterpoint to the classic texts.

Lo, Abraham said to his father Azar, “Do you take idols for gods? For I see you and your people are in manifest error.”
    Qur’an 6.74

Shun the abomination of idols, and shun the word that is false—being true in faith to Allah, and never assigning partners to Him: if anyone assigns partners to God, he is as if he had fallen from heaven and been snatched up by birds, or the wind had swooped down and thrown him to a distant land.
    Qur’an 22.30-31

Our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them are like them;so are all who trust in them.
    Psalm 115.3-8

For many… live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
    Philippians 3.18-19

“There shall be in you no strange god and you shall not worship a foreign god” [Psalm 81.10]. What is the “foreign god” within a man’s body? It is the evil impulse.
    Talmud, Shabbat 105b (Judaism)

Have you seen him who makes his desire his god, and God sends him astray purposely, and seals up his hearing and his heart, and sets on his sight a covering? Who, then, will lead him after God [has condemned him]? Will you not then heed?
    Qur’an 45.23

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Up, make us gods, who shall go before us; 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.” And Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the lord.” And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
    Exodus 32.1-6