"... You must acknowledge no God but me, for there is no other savior" (Hosea 13:4, NLT).
There are pseudo-gods, because there is a genuine God, who is the real thing, and all other so-called gods are counterfeits, poor excuses for, and a parody of the Real McCoy. Evil is not the opposite of good, and couldn't exist apart from good. It's the perversion and parasite of good and the lack or depravity of it. It is a leech on the goodness of God and thrives by imitation and dependence since Satan is no original, but a copycat or spoiler. People tend to think that the more gods they have the safer or more secure they are. This was the case with Israel with Elijah when he asked them which one they will serve, as they halted between the two--Baal or God. Baal was the god of fertility (family, fields, and flock) and they felt it couldn't hurt to have him on their side.
If we have the Almighty God of All-Sufficient One (El Shaddai) on our side, we need no other gods and have all we need. God is sufficient to meet all our needs and fulfill our hearts, making us complete in Christ. That's precisely what the Jehovah texts mean and the great I AM implies--God is everything to us and all we could ever need or want to be fulfilled. If we possess Him, we have all we need!
The trouble with false gods is that they don't satisfy and leave a desire for more and other gods. As Augustine said, "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you." Pascal described our heart and soul as having a vacuum only God can fill! You can never get enough fame to be satisfied, nor enough money to feel totally happy and content neither can power fulfill, since power corrupts and only makes you crave for more. Lust is the unhealthy desire for something, and there can be a righteous acquisition of fame, power, or wealth that has God's blessing, but this only happens when one puts God first: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (cf. Matt. 6:33, KJV). God does promise to meet all our needs per Phil. 4:19, but not necessarily our felt needs or wants, and we must trust that God has our benefit in mind as our Benefactor. It is unfortunate that some seek the benefits apart from the Benefactor though.
There are several false gods that can overwhelm a Christian and lead him astray: money or mammon (note that Proverbs says that he who loves money is never satisfied with money and Job objects self-righteously that he has never made gold his security); success or achievements (God doesn't want your achievements--He wants your obedience and most importantly He wants you!); science and technology (this is neutral in itself, but we can get over fascinated and obsessed with it--modern achievements tend to lesson our faith in the power of God); sexual lust or libido gone awry; heroes or people in general (think of how celebrities, politicians, and athletes inspire us and people emulate and idolize them); family or children; (we are to "hate" our mother, father, etc., i.e., compared to Christ, and we never should put our hopes and security in these relationships--too many live vicariously through them and don't find personal fulfillment); glory (we may have our fifteen minutes of fame, and get a fatal taste of it only to seek it lustfully); our time as leisure and pleasure that we think belongs to us, but our times are in His hand (cf. Psalm 31:15). Remember, God can endure no rival and is a jealous God that demands absolute loyalty and undivided hearts that are fully committed to Him and seek His will and glory (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9).
We must do some soul searching and take a spiritual inventory to determine where our ultimate loyalty lies (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5). We can only be satisfied with the blessings God gives us when we put Him first and use the blessings for His glory. Our decision to take up our cross and follow Him is a daily exercise and must be renewed constantly, as the devil will not cease to throw roadblocks in our way. The question of our ultimate loyalty and allegiance, and which God or god we serve is bound up in whom or what we love--"for where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also."
Sad to say, some are more loyal to their politics than their religion! One must be willing to die for and lay down one's life for the Lord's sake and that is total commitment. Some believers are committed to a school of thought or doctrine more than to the Lord and seek to be divisive, contentious, argumentative, and judgmental. We must ultimately throw down the gauntlet and not waver in unbelief: "How long will you halt between two opinions?" (Cf. 1 Kings 18:21).
The modern secular notion is that we are still evolving and are becoming gods and will eventually achieve immortality and utopia on earth. This is the opposition to the faith and the flip side of believing in God--as Satan told Eve that she "would be as the gods, knowing good and evil." Note that the greatest commandment is to love God (cf. Matt. 22:37) with all our being and in the Decalogue, the first one is to "have no other gods before" Him--God deserves first place and priority in our lives and we must suppress all ungodly goals, desires, and ambitions. Only when we worship one God and have total devotion to Him is our heart undivided and totally complete.
Not to be remiss to mention that worshiping the one God in a false or inadequate way (not in the Spirit or in the truth) is also worshiping a false God and is by definition idolatry: e.g., when we make God one-dimensional or put Him in a box, like saying, "I like to think of God as the Great Spirit, or the man upstairs, as kind Father Time, or the Mean Judge, etc." We must take all the attributes of God into consideration in our apprehension of God for who He is.
Some people have "thoughts of God that are too human" (as Martin Luther told Erasmus), and don't realize that it's not how big our faith is, but how big our God. It's not the faith, but the object of the faith! Christians ought to be able to say, "My God is bigger than yours!" They may deny there is a supernatural God, but they will inevitably worship someone or something--we're wired that way. (I refer to J. B. Phillips book, Your God Is Too Small.) Soli Deo Gloria!
There are pseudo-gods, because there is a genuine God, who is the real thing, and all other so-called gods are counterfeits, poor excuses for, and a parody of the Real McCoy. Evil is not the opposite of good, and couldn't exist apart from good. It's the perversion and parasite of good and the lack or depravity of it. It is a leech on the goodness of God and thrives by imitation and dependence since Satan is no original, but a copycat or spoiler. People tend to think that the more gods they have the safer or more secure they are. This was the case with Israel with Elijah when he asked them which one they will serve, as they halted between the two--Baal or God. Baal was the god of fertility (family, fields, and flock) and they felt it couldn't hurt to have him on their side.
If we have the Almighty God of All-Sufficient One (El Shaddai) on our side, we need no other gods and have all we need. God is sufficient to meet all our needs and fulfill our hearts, making us complete in Christ. That's precisely what the Jehovah texts mean and the great I AM implies--God is everything to us and all we could ever need or want to be fulfilled. If we possess Him, we have all we need!
The trouble with false gods is that they don't satisfy and leave a desire for more and other gods. As Augustine said, "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you." Pascal described our heart and soul as having a vacuum only God can fill! You can never get enough fame to be satisfied, nor enough money to feel totally happy and content neither can power fulfill, since power corrupts and only makes you crave for more. Lust is the unhealthy desire for something, and there can be a righteous acquisition of fame, power, or wealth that has God's blessing, but this only happens when one puts God first: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (cf. Matt. 6:33, KJV). God does promise to meet all our needs per Phil. 4:19, but not necessarily our felt needs or wants, and we must trust that God has our benefit in mind as our Benefactor. It is unfortunate that some seek the benefits apart from the Benefactor though.
There are several false gods that can overwhelm a Christian and lead him astray: money or mammon (note that Proverbs says that he who loves money is never satisfied with money and Job objects self-righteously that he has never made gold his security); success or achievements (God doesn't want your achievements--He wants your obedience and most importantly He wants you!); science and technology (this is neutral in itself, but we can get over fascinated and obsessed with it--modern achievements tend to lesson our faith in the power of God); sexual lust or libido gone awry; heroes or people in general (think of how celebrities, politicians, and athletes inspire us and people emulate and idolize them); family or children; (we are to "hate" our mother, father, etc., i.e., compared to Christ, and we never should put our hopes and security in these relationships--too many live vicariously through them and don't find personal fulfillment); glory (we may have our fifteen minutes of fame, and get a fatal taste of it only to seek it lustfully); our time as leisure and pleasure that we think belongs to us, but our times are in His hand (cf. Psalm 31:15). Remember, God can endure no rival and is a jealous God that demands absolute loyalty and undivided hearts that are fully committed to Him and seek His will and glory (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9).
We must do some soul searching and take a spiritual inventory to determine where our ultimate loyalty lies (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5). We can only be satisfied with the blessings God gives us when we put Him first and use the blessings for His glory. Our decision to take up our cross and follow Him is a daily exercise and must be renewed constantly, as the devil will not cease to throw roadblocks in our way. The question of our ultimate loyalty and allegiance, and which God or god we serve is bound up in whom or what we love--"for where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also."
Sad to say, some are more loyal to their politics than their religion! One must be willing to die for and lay down one's life for the Lord's sake and that is total commitment. Some believers are committed to a school of thought or doctrine more than to the Lord and seek to be divisive, contentious, argumentative, and judgmental. We must ultimately throw down the gauntlet and not waver in unbelief: "How long will you halt between two opinions?" (Cf. 1 Kings 18:21).
The modern secular notion is that we are still evolving and are becoming gods and will eventually achieve immortality and utopia on earth. This is the opposition to the faith and the flip side of believing in God--as Satan told Eve that she "would be as the gods, knowing good and evil." Note that the greatest commandment is to love God (cf. Matt. 22:37) with all our being and in the Decalogue, the first one is to "have no other gods before" Him--God deserves first place and priority in our lives and we must suppress all ungodly goals, desires, and ambitions. Only when we worship one God and have total devotion to Him is our heart undivided and totally complete.
Not to be remiss to mention that worshiping the one God in a false or inadequate way (not in the Spirit or in the truth) is also worshiping a false God and is by definition idolatry: e.g., when we make God one-dimensional or put Him in a box, like saying, "I like to think of God as the Great Spirit, or the man upstairs, as kind Father Time, or the Mean Judge, etc." We must take all the attributes of God into consideration in our apprehension of God for who He is.
Some people have "thoughts of God that are too human" (as Martin Luther told Erasmus), and don't realize that it's not how big our faith is, but how big our God. It's not the faith, but the object of the faith! Christians ought to be able to say, "My God is bigger than yours!" They may deny there is a supernatural God, but they will inevitably worship someone or something--we're wired that way. (I refer to J. B. Phillips book, Your God Is Too Small.) Soli Deo Gloria!