First the king [Jeroboam I] chose to play the whore away from the worship of God, wishing to adore golden calves. And the people followed him willingly—with equal zeal they accomplished equal ungodliness. They do not return to the Lord, for they found what they were looking for, and the spirit of whoredom—which according to the apostle “works in the sons of distrust”—holds their hearts captive. As long as it governs, they will not know the Lord. In fact, they forgot their Creator…. They—whoever advances in ruin—do not have thoughts of penitence. For the spirit of whoredom, by which they played the whore in the church and by which they went away from the true marriage, dwells in their midst. That is why they did not know the Lord.
