The Bible does not speak of the gods of the nations as harmless statues or mere figments of the human imagination. That may seem a provocative statement, but the Bible often speaks of the other “gods” of this world, and one only has to pick through Psalms to verify it (e.g. Psalm 82, 86, 96, etc.). While it is true that God openly mocks the idle images which the people created as gods, it is also true that there is a real power which they possess. The power is not in the wooden carvings or metal figurines, but in the dark demonic powers which lay behind the images. Behind the varied masks of the gods was the “god of this age” – Satan himself (see 1 Cor.10:19-20). And so, God speaks of these “gods” as real powers possessing a real power to lead people astray. This may be surprising to our modern minds, specifically our scientific minds, which so easily dismiss the gods of other nations as totally empty of any existence, let alone power.