It is NOT Okay
Category: scripture
Subtle Idolatry Practiced by Christians
Presentations that confuse the distinction between God and His created world
A picture or movie of Christ because of inherent limitations, resides in the world of created things. Whatever aspirations may be intended, it can rise no higher than that which it is. Hence it blurs the distinctness between God and man, confusing the Creator with the creation. The Apostle Paul reveals the cause of this confusion, “Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”[xvii] This digression, the Apostle tells us, continues because, “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man….”[xviii] The problem is this: “to whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?”[xix]. The Scriptural answer is unequivocal: “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”[xx]
Any attempted portrayal of Christ transforms the medium itself into a mediator between God and man. The viewer, restricted within the confines this humanistic plane, imagines that he knows the Lord, at least in some measure. With this inculcated image of Christ throbbing within his mind, the viewer is allowed to wander, silently thinking his own thoughts, constrained by an impression that is not Christ. Thus, the viewer’s mind continues to be conformed to the world by the created image and by his own subjectivity. Although such visual presentations appeal strongly to the sensual impulses, they do not present explicitly to any man the objective truth concerning the Lord.
Our knowledge of Jesus Christ must be formed from the truths in Scripture and not by subjective impressions of artistic interpretation. In the latter, the artist and the viewer coalesce God and His creation into a single entity within the picture, and this is the visible expression of idolatry. This spurious image lays the foundation for a pantheistic concept of God. Marvel not then that, “Soaring pagan numbers have churches worrying and calling for stricter controls on cult TV programs and films that celebrate sorcery like “Harry Potter,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”[xxi] The command given in Scripture is to choose God’s way so as to know and follow Christ in His Word! When obeyed, upon the pages of Scripture, in the words of the Law, in the grace of the Gospel, we know Him in spirit and truth.
We do not see Jesus Christ with the physical eye. This is the whole meaning of faith. The excellence of the object of faith is the unseen Jesus. While sense deals with things that are seen, reason is a higher plane. Faith however ascends further still and assures us of abundance of particulars that sense and reason could never have found. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” [xxii] Faith nourishes itself – “I had fainted unless I had believed to see” [xxiii]- upon the power and promises of the Unseen. We can understand, then, the logic and consistent purpose of why the Lord God forbids images.
Source
“You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:3
When you bow your head to pray, who is it you see? It’s near inescapable but not unforgiveable if you strive to walk in repentance of it.
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A Great Interview About Charismatic Theology and the NAR
Christ’s Birth and Pagan Traditions
Christ’s birth was and is crucial. It’s the incarnation, the one-time only and only unique birth event, which the angels were celebrating. Salvation has come to the world! \o/ Did you know that Jews of Jesus’ day did not celebrate birthdays? Not even bar/bat mitzvahs (those are new innovations)! That is why we do not see any apostle celebrating the birthday of Christ Jesus. But the Jewish-pagans of His day did celebrate birthdays – Herod was of Judaism, but he was also enamored with the Roman culture as evidenced in the celebrating of his birthday. He was a Jew in name only. He was also an Idumean, aka, an Edomite, with that wicked Haman in his ancestry.
Has the Christ Mass celebration been changed from pagan to Christian lawfully? No. We do not see anywhere in scripture where God has said to steer clear of paganism until a certain amount of time has passed. This pre-Christ yule-tide season where the decorated tree-in-house tradition comes from is, in our day, a celebration of pagan Wiccans who adopted the holiday from the sun worshiping Druids. We are to keep from even the appearance of evil yet we look just like the Wiccans when we practice their decorated tree-in-house tradition. Putting Christ’s name on that which God hates is an evil we need to beware of if we love Christ Jesus. God warned the Israelites not to worship Him in the same manner as the heathen do their gods and we do not see a lifting of that command in the New Testament but instead see what the pagans did with their books in Acts 19:19. Its what we must do with our christo-pagan traditions and things. Hard to do? Yes! And yet easy when you love the Lord Jesus Christ and want to please Him in all of your ways.
May God open the eyes of His children and call them out of this iniquitous tradition of men/pagan/papist practice into a pure worship of Him in spirit and in truth, amen!
“OUT OF CHURCH” CHRISTIANS
This has been copied from the comment line of a J.C. Ryle FB post:
Andrew Strom. [4 April 2003]
I am writing on a rather unusual topic today. On Monday night (31 March) I was invited onto a Christian Radio show in New Zealand to discuss the growing numbers of “Out-of-church” Christians in the West – people who have left the churches for various reasons but still claim a strong Christian faith. It was a very interesting night, and the phones ran hot.
This “Out-of-church” phenomenon has now grown so large that books are being written about it. In fact, several years ago I heard an estimate that there are TENS OF THOUSANDS of such Christians just in our largest city (-Auckland) alone. And I believe it is the same right across the Western nations. I have personally come into contact with literally hundreds of such people. The surprising thing is that they are often the most committed kind of Christians – praying, insightful, deep-thinking. Yet they have grown tired of “playing the game” inside our church system and have opted out. Often their involvement goes back many years. In fact, they had commonly been leaders of various kinds.
But now they have left. Why? The church obviously finds this a very difficult thing to explain or deal with. The usual accusations are often trotted out: “So-and-so has been hurt and has a root of bitterness”. Or they are in “rebellion”. Or they are “not a team player”. Or they are “backsliding”.
But if you talk to these people you will often find that they have been sitting in church for years and years, and they simply cannot stand to sit and watch the same old game being played any more. The LACK OF GOD is what gets to them – even in our most “Spirit-filled” churches. WHERE IS GOD IN ALL OF OUR ACTIVITY? Surely this is not the way it is supposed to be?
New fads and programs come and go, but the mediocrity and LACK OF GOD just seem to go on forever. And so quietly, sometimes without anyone even noticing, they slowly slip out the doors – never to return. Some have even told me that they felt God “calling them out”. Others simply felt they couldn’t stay there anymore. The state of the church weighed upon them more than words could say.
Very often they did the rounds of other churches, hoping against hope that they would find a place that felt “right” in any way. (-Though most of them are not “church-hoppers” by nature). But the places they visited never seemed any more “right” than the place they had left. And after a while it just seemed easier to stay at home with God.
As I said earlier, most of these people have not given up on Christianity at all. It is today’s church system that they have given up on. And we are talking about large numbers here. Thousands are already opting out. And many feel like they are “waiting” for something.
Some of these people have started up home-fellowships. Or they meet with other couples on a casual basis. But many meet with nobody at all, and they consider themselves in a ‘Wilderness’ place – alone with God. (-Very common).
I was asked several weeks ago by a pastor whether I agreed that what is happening could be a ‘move of God’. That is a pretty radical thought. Many leaders would think the opposite. Because anything that leads people out of “their church” can’t be of God, can it?
Hmmmm. All I know is this: The concept of going through a ‘Wilderness’ just before entering the ‘Promised Land’ is totally Scriptural. In fact, it is right through the Bible. Even Jesus went through such a wilderness time.
But it is not possible to stay “alone” forever. Some day, if these people are going to be part of a new move of God’s Spirit, they are going to have to come out of their wilderness and become part of the “BODY” that Jesus brings together – the ‘new wineskin’ that will come with this new move of God. Otherwise they could miss out. That is the great danger.
I’m sure there are many on this List with comments or testimonies relating to this topic. I would love to hear from you. It really is becoming a significant issue in the church.
God bless you, my friends.
________________________________
For weeks after I published the above article, I was inundated with emails. It seemed to be going round and round on the Internet because many responses were from people that were not even part of our own List. Such a huge number of heart-felt stories from people who still loved Jesus but had left the churches (-forever, in many cases). What an eye-opener! It confirmed to me that this issue is so much larger than many of us have realized. I don’t think a lot of Christian leaders have any clue how many believers are simply opting out of “organized religion” today. Andrew Strom
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Pastors, there are many of us “Out-of-Church” Christians who want to belong to a Bible practicing church that has nothing to do with the pagan/papist/traditions of men “holy” days like X Mass and Easter, which is just blasphemously slapping Christ’s holy name on an unholy pagan feast to Tammuz and the Queen of Heaven. Get rid of those unlawful days as practices and see if your numbers improve. Even if they don’t, you can know you are obedient to God’s Word.
Woof!
A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.
—John Calvin
Prove It
The X Mass Blog 