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Lightning Breaks Idol – Men Repair
The New York Post reports (link) that lightning broke a finger off the idol purporting to be of Jesus Christ, in Rio de Janeiro. The idol cannot protect itself from lightning (this is not the first time it’s been struck). Moreover, God – who sends the lightning – has actually broken the idol. Yet, instead…
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Irony of Idolatry in Francis of Rome’s Remarks and the Split Tenth Commandment
Francis of Rome recently was reported as saying (VIS, 9 June 2013): “We shouldn’t see the Ten Commandments as restriction upon our freedom; no, not that way. We should see them as signs for our freedom. … They teach us how to avoid the slavery to which the many idols that we ourselves build reduce…
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2 Kingdoms in 2 Chronicles
Some of the advocates of the so-called Escondido view of the two kingdoms (as distinct from the traditional view held by Calvin and Turretin and set forth in the Westminster Confession, 39 Articles, and Belgic Confession) seem to have the idea that “two kingdoms” (i.e. a distinction between civil and religious) is a novel idea…
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Thomas Becon on the Second Commandment
The Catechism of Thomas Becon (Section on the Second Commandment) (Anglican, 1511 – 1567) Father. Rehearse the second commandment. Son. “Thou shalt make thee no graven or carved image, nor likeness at all of any thing that is in heaven above, or in earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not…
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Thomas Adam on Idols and Idolatry
The following is an excerpt from a sermon by Thomas Adam: Idols.—Idol, in Greek, signifies a resemblance or representation, and differs not from image in Latin; both at first taken in a good sense, but the corruption of times hath bred a corruption of words, and idol is now only taken for the image of…
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Fenner on the Second Commandment
From Christs Alarm To Drowsy Saints: Or, Christs Epistle to his Churches, by William Fenner (1600-1640): Q. 66. What art thou commanded in the second Commandment? A. Not to serve God with will-worship, though it seem never so wise and humble, and mortifying (Colossians 2:23). To abhor all gross thoughts of God (Acts 17:29) as…
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Idolatry Defined
“IDOL, ‘i-dol [1 Kings xv. 13], IDOLATRY. [Acts xvii. 16.] Whatever receives the worship which is due only to God is an idol. In a figurative sense the word denotes anything which draws the affections from God [Col. iii. 5]; and, in a restricted sense, it denotes the visible image or figure to which religious…
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Response to Fred Butler – John MacArthur and the Second Commandment
My friend Fred Butler has recently responded to my other friend Matthew Lankford’s video, which was titled: “The Idolatry of John MacArthur.” Fred writes: I was recently alerted to a video by a fellow named Matthew Lankford. You only need to concern yourself with the first 7 or 8 minutes: What’s interesting is that the…
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Roots of the Samaritan Religion
A further evidence for the fact that Jeroboamic worship of the golden calves was an attempt to worship the Lord by images can be seen from the unusual post-exilic religion in the region of Israel, from which the Samaritan religion appears to have been derived. The account of that religion’s origin can be seen in…