Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.

- Deuteronomy 16:21-22

How is the bowing before an image of Jesus actually denying God's omnipresence (everywhere-presence)?

Imagine a person entering the throne room of a king to speak with him. Instead of facing and speaking to the king, however, he looks at, and speaks to a picture of the king which he pulls out from his pocket. For several minutes he talks to this picture while in the presence of the king himself! The king is insulted; the longer this continues, the more irritated and angry the king becomes!

As a Spirit, God is everywhere present at all times. He is present in church when we worship and in our homes when we pray. Why is God righteously angry if we worship or pray looking to a picture or "likeness" of Him?

God severely judged Israel for worshipping other gods and idols, such as Baal, but He also strongly condemned them for attempting to serve Him, the true God, by means of images. How do the following scriptural examples demonstrate this truth?

Exodus 32:3-6

3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD. 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat dwon to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.