From the royal-deputy analogy another notion emerged: exalted intermediaries were thought able to influence divine decisions as if they possessed their own compelling authority. Devotional reliance was then placed upon them.
Acts of bowing, ritual offerings and vows were directed in problematic ways; images and stones could function as representations of such beings and eventually become objects of worship themselves.
The central error is not every form of ordinary respect. It is treating a created being as entitled to worship or as the autonomous holder of divine prerogatives. Belief about authority and the direction of worship must therefore be considered together.