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It has been said that a picture paints a thousand words. I have been a believer for many, many years (presently I hold the office of Deacon at a PCA church) and have heard no telling how many sermons on the crucifixion. None of them had the impact that this did.(and that doesn't mean none of them I heard never ahd an impact) Even now, weeks later, the thing that rings in my mind is the soldiers counting the stripes. The sound echoes, and each one was for me, and I deserved all of them and more.
Thanks for sharing this. Indeed, the inherent ability of a picture or a "moving picture" to impress the mind is well known. And I, for one among many of my forbears, am often impressed deeply how it is that the Lord God has ordained that His written Word and it preached was the means by which He calls sinners to repentance as well as the means by which the saints are upbuilt and sanctified rather than through idols, pictures, plays or movies. I believe this is what the Second Commandment forbids and which the Reformers and Puritans often railed against in their writings. Since the Word of God is the ONLY source of true truth; the very revelation of God and His will, and that which the Holy Spirit works in, with and through to accomplish the purposes of God, it is dangerous at best to ignore it, circumvent it, add or take away from it or substitute it with any other means of communication than that which God has ordained.

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I asked: "Can you say that seeing an actor portray Christ in His alleged final hours increased your desire to worship over anything else you have read or heard?"

You replied: In this case, yes.
Again, I am grateful for your candid answer to this question. As I have argued from so many different perspectives; e.g., biblically, doctrinally, historic Creeds and Confessions, and sound reason, that actor which people see on the screen is an idol, a false Christ and an abominable blaspheme in that he is representing not the true Christ of God Who was both God and man; inseparably the incarnate Son of the Most High God. When people are moved to worship after watching this man's alleged portrayal of the biblical Christ, for indeed that is exactly the point of the movie (any such movie), they are moved by an image (idol), a false Christ which due to the very nature of a motion picture is embedded into their mind whether consciously or unconsciously. I dare say that you will perhaps never be able to erase the images you saw and which you admit "moved you to worship".

I find all this to be of no surprise whatsoever. And it only serves to impress upon my own heart once again the subtlety and dangers of the Evil One's methods in drawing people away from the biblical and historical Christ to which I must ever love, serve and worship in "spirit and truth".

In His Grace,

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simul iustus et peccator

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