O you who love the Lord, hate evil! – Psalm 97:10 ~ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. – Proverbs 14:12
http://www.angelfire.com/la2/prophet1/adultery101.html (bad gateway)*
FTA: Adultery is also defined in a scriptural sense as “idolatry, or apostasy from the true God. Jer. 3.” Idolatry is defined as “1. The worship of idols, images, or any thing made by hands, or which is not God. 2. Excessive attachment or veneration for any thing, or that which borders on adoration.” (An American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, see Adultery and Idolatry). Adoration is “a feeling of profound love and admiration.” Idolatry can be a profound love or admiration for anything or anyone – an image, a statue, a living or deceased saint, a preacher, a prophet, a pope, etc. Ask a Roman Catholic to identify the Holy Father, and he will likely point to the Pope. Ask a twenty-first century Protestant to identify the Holy Father, and there is a good chance that he will point to the Pope. In contrast to modern-day Protestantism, Bible believing Protestants for the past five-hundred years not only identified God alone as the Holy Father, but they also exposed the papacy as antichrist. In less than on-hundred years Protestantism has come full-circle, from exposing and forsaking the false doctrines and beliefs of Roman Catholicism, to accepting and in some cases even promoting Catholic dogma. The title Holy Father is used only one time in all of scripture (John 17:11), and it refers not to any man, but to God the Father. The application of this title to anyone but God is a blasphemous antichrist usurpation (“so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” II Thess. 2:4; “and I saw a woman… full of names of blasphemy” Rev. 17:3). In the early nineteenth century Noah Webster rightly stated that “All worship of images and saints, is an abomination to God; it is idolatry, which is strictly forbidden in the Bible;” (History of the United States, 1832, p. 299). Adoration of the Roman Catholic “Eucharist,” or so called “Host”, is nothing short of idolatry (See False Gospel of Sacramental Works). In 1765 American patriot and Christian minister, Jonathan Mayhew, published a sermon entitled Popish Idolatry in which he addressed, among other idolatrous practices, the popish doctrine of transubstantiation. Mayhew stated,
“The Romanists do not pretend to deny, but that all the five senses bear testimony against it, as much as they possibly could if it were false, or if the bread and wine remained after the juggling, hocus-pocus trick, which they term consecration…. For the truth of the Christian revelation itself depends on the truth of certain facts, by which there was an appeal made to the senses of men; particularly the miracles and resurrection of our Saviour…. Thus does the church of Rome, by this doctrine, subvert the very foundations of Christianity…. transubstantiation is the grossest imposition and insult, that ever the priesthood itself put upon the superstitious credulity of mankind. This doctrine then, being plainly false, the church of Rome is certainly guilty of idolatry, in worshipping the eucharist as true God.” (Popish Idolatry, Jonathan Mayhew, 1765, pp. 11,12) (“God is love.” 1 John 4:8; “God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29)
*Posting this because it is a good assessment of today’s idolatry and Protestant/Roman Catholic dynamic.
What follows is an interesting comment from my husband’s site related to the video Romanism, Relics and the Worship of Body Parts and Other Things. These comments were written by a new believer. Her name is Karina D. and I previously posted her testimony here.
“I’m feeling so blessed you wrote this. I was Roman Catholic for 47 years until God opened my eyes last January 2018 and the eyes of my family within the next few weeks. I’ve written my testimony on your platform before.
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We’ve been going to a Bible based non-denomination church since March 2018. The set up of the church is like a theatre, with seats arranged in an ascending slope from the stage to the back entrance, and the stage in front is where the singers and musicians lead the praise and worship and the pastor preaches. There is no pulpit for…
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This teaching series is well worth the listen. Part 2 makes me all the more glad that our Beloved delivered me from the demonic practice of worshiping Him in the same manner as the heathen do their gods, i.e., the Christ Mass and the Easter. Part 3 had me praising our Beloved for delivering me from the spiritual warfare of C. Peter Wagner and such like who rebuke demons after mapping to find out who they are. We surely are wrestling against the powers and the principalities of the air! But we must do it according to God’s holy Word. This series was an eye-opener for me and a great encouragement in my walk with our Beloved Savior and King.
Israel’s fall into idolatry did not begin with open rebellion, but with compromise.
They did not fully separate from the nations as God commanded, and that small tolerance became the doorway to greater corruption. “They did not destroy the peoples… but mingled with the nations and learned their practices” (Psalm 106:34-35).
What began as coexistence became imitation. And imitation became idolatry. “They served their idols, which became a snare to them” (Psalm 106:36).
This is the pattern. When God’s people fail to remain distinct, they do not influence the world, they are influenced by it. “Do not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2).
So the issue is not just avoiding idolatry, but guarding against the compromises that lead to it.
Because idolatry rarely starts with rejection. It starts with resemblance.
~ Jeremiah Knight (X; Facebook)
“So they feared the LORD, but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.” 2 Kings 17:33
“So these nations feared the Lord and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.”- 2Kings 17:41
SO DO THEY UNTO THIS DAY,” said the writer of the Book of Kings, who has long since passed away unto his fathers. Were he alive now he might say concerning the spiritual descendants of these Samaritans, “So do they unto this day.” This base union of fearing God and serving other gods is by no means obsolete. Alas, it is too common everywhere, and to be met with where you might least expect it. From generation to generation there have been Mongrel Religionists, who have tried to please both God and the devil, and have been on both sides, or on either side, as their interest led them. Some of these wretched blenders are always hovering around every congregation, and my hope is that I may convince the consciences of some here present that they themselves are guilty, and that of them it might be said, as of these Assyrian immigrants, “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods.”
…The greatest curse, perhaps, that ever visited the world came upon it in this way. Certain vain-glorious preachers desired to convert the world at a stroke, and to make converts without the work of the Spirit. They saw the people worshipping their gods, and they thought that if they could call these by the names of saints and martyrs the people would not mind the change, and so they would be converted. The idea was to Christianize heathenism. They virtually said to idolaters, “Now, good people, you may keep on with your worship, and yet you can be Christians at the same time. This image of the Queen of heaven at your door need not be moved. Light the lamp still; only call the image ‘our Lady,’ and ‘the Blessed Virgin.’ Here is another image; don’t pull it down, but change its name from Jupiter to Peter.” Thus with a mere change of names they perpetuated idolatry: they set up their altars in the groves, and upon every high hill, and the people were converted without knowing it-converted to a baser heathenism than their own. They wanted priests, and, lo, there they were, robed like those who served at the altars of Jove. The people saw the same altars and sniffed the same incense, kept the same holy days and observed the same carnivals as aforetime, and called everything by Christian names. Hence came what is now called the Roman Catholic religion, which is simply fearing God and serving other gods. Every village has its own peculiar saint, and often its own particular black or white image of the Virgin, with miracles and wonders to sanctify the shrine. This evil wrought so universally that Christianity seemed in danger of extinction from the prevalence of idolatry, and it would have utterly expired had it not been of God, and had he not therefore once more put forth his hand and raised up reformers, who cried out, “There is but one God, and one Mediator between God and man.” Brave voices called the church back to her allegiance and to the parity of her faith. As for any of you who are trying to link good and evil, truth and falsehood together, beware of the monstrous birth which will come of such an alliance: it will bring on you a curse from the Most High.
Finish reading the sermon here: https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1622.cfm
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