GOD FORBIDS THE IMAGES OF MEN Other gods can be represented by their images in their shrine or temple, but the true God is the only God who refused to be represented by image made like him; rather the true God gave his name to represent him in his temple. The name of the LORD represents the LORD, not his image: Bow to the name of the LORD, not to the image of the LORD. Ask other gods whether they will like men to make images of them and bow to their images, and those gods will answer yes with all pleasure: But ask the true God whether he will like men to make an image of him and bow to his image, and the true God will forbid you from doing such abomination. Bow to the name of the LORD, not to the image of the LORD: As it is written, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11) 1. Bow at His name, not at his image; 2. Honour His name, not his image; 3. Glorify His name, not his image; 4. Adore His name, not his image. But the Roman Catholics said it is not enough to bow to only his name, they will have to make an image of him hanging on the cross as crucifix and bow to that image. The true Christ will never allow men to make an image of him and bow to that image made of dust or wood or stones, instead it is the Anti-Christ that will love such things with pleasure (Remember, the Anti-Christ too was wounded to death but came alive, just as Jesus was wounded on the cross and is alive); So there will be an image of the Anti-Christ who was wounded in the way he was wounded, though he will live after the deadly wound; this will look like the image of Jesus who was wounded on the cross, and yet still lives after: As it is written, “And he deceives those that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to those that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, who had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” (Revelation 13:14-15). Man cannot make the image of God, rather the image of God will make man: Jesus is the Image of God (Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3). The image of the true God is Spirit, not flesh and blood: The image of the true God is incorruptible, not corruptible things made of stone or sand or dust or wax or fire consumable things. Man making an image of the true God is man turning the glory of incorruptible God into an image of corruptible things like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (Romans 1:22-23) Now a Roman Catholic once tried to defend their use of images using the Bible references where God allowed the images of Cherubims spreading their wings over the mercy sit in the tabernacle or in the temple according to (2 Chronicles 3:10-13)(Exodus 25:17-21)(Ezekiel 41:18-20): The Roman Catholic claimed that since God allowed the use of scultured images of the Cherubims in his temple in the bible, surely there is nothing wrong in them using the crucifix of Jesus Christ and other images in their worship. Now hear my defense against that: what we had under the first tabernacle were shadows not the real image of the heavenly things, so God was not dealing with them in truth, but in temporary laws until reality came (Hebrews 8:5). Moreover, God allowed the images of the cherubims in the old tabernacle, but he himself forbade them from making his own image in that tabernacle: If God would have his image also, there would have being an image sitting on the Mercy sit within that tabernacle. So there was only the sit, but no one sitting on the sit; rather the two cherubims spread their wings over the empty sit, instead of the image of God to sit on that sit (Hebrews 9:5). Instead of God whom I worship to allow man to make an image like him in his tabernacle, he will rather allow them to make images of cherubims or host of heaven; and instead of the true God to allow image of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, he will rather allow the image of a bronzen serpent hanging on a pole (John 3:14). Before, I used to consider a man who has necklace or chain containing the crucifix of Jesus better than the man who has necklace or chain containing the image of a serpent; but now, I consider a man who has the image of a serpent better than the man who has the crucifix or image of Jesus hanging on a cross or any other molten image of God. Let us not be sentimental in judging those things, rather let us be spiritual – God never allowed man to make an image of him, but God allowed men to make an image of serpent which brought healing. So why consider a man with a corrupt image of your God as a brother, but consider that man with the image of serpent or tortoise or bat etc. as a cultist? I am not saying this as a solidarity to use of images in any kind, but rather to express how much God detests man making an image of him than making an image of other creatures: As it is written, “Be very careful yourselves; for you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air, The likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has divided to all nations under the whole heaven.” (Deuteronomy 4:15-19) I once told you this and I repeat again, that the Roman Catholics removed the Second Commandment out of the Ten Commandments which they serve their people in their Catechism: And why they did that was because that was the main commandment that directly condemned their use of images in worship. So they took away the Second Commandment and brought the Third Commandment in the scriptures for the second in their catechism, the Fourth for their third, the Fifth for their fourth, the Sixth for their fifth, the Seventh for their sixth, the Eight for their seventh, the Ninth for their eight, and when they got to the Tenth, they divided the tenth into two parts one for their ninth and the other for their tenth in order to filling in the missing gap. So as a result, their ninth and tenth commandments were actually a single item under the Ten Commandments in the scriptures, and their ninth commandment is a repetition of their sixth commandment when interpreted. 1. The First Commandment in the Ten Commandments says, “I am the LORD your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3) – This they still retained in their Catechism creed, but not in their practices or worship. 2. The Second Commandment in the Ten Commandments says, “You shall not make to you any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy to thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6) – This is the commandment they removed from their Catechism creed, and then split the tenth commandment into two parts to make up the number ten: 3. The Tenth Commandment in the Ten Commandments says, “You shall not covet your neighbours house, you shall not covet your neighbours wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbours.” (Exodus 20:17) – This is the one they split into two, and said, do not covet your neighbour’s wife is the ninth commandment, while do not covet your neighbour’s goods is the tenth commandment. One of the reasons God hates man making image of him is because when a man makes an image of a god, he has made that god by his hand: When man makes an image of a god, that god becomes the works of his hand: All other gods are the works of men’s hands, but the only true God is the one who shall never share his glory with any graven image: As it is written, “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8) Will you make or carry an image that represents God, yet the image has eyes but cannot see, has ears but cannot hear, has legs but cannot walk, has mouth but cannot talk and you admire it so much? Therefore it is written, “Those that make them are like them; so is every one that trusts in them.” (Psalms 115:8) “With the rest of it he makes a god, his graven image; he bows down to it and worships it. He prays to it, saying, ‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’ They do not comprehend or understand, for their eyes are blind and cannot see; their minds do not discern. No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: ‘I burnt half of it in the fire – yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. And shall I make the rest into an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feeds on ashes: a deceived heart has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”” (Isaiah 44:17-20) “And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.” (Jeremiah 1:16).
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 03:04:29 +0000
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