AR 458-460 (portions) - The Sixth Angel Sounded (part 7) - Idols: Falsities in Worship

AR 458

So as not to worship demons.
(Revelation 9:20)

Someone, then, who invokes faith alone
as the chief tenet of his religion or as his idol -
he, because he does not search out
any evil in himself that he calls a sin,
and therefore does not determine to remove it
by repentance,
remains caught up in it.
And because every evil is composed of lusts,
and is nothing but a bundle of lusts,
it follows that a person who does not
search out any evil in himself
and refrain from it as a sin against God,
which is possible solely through repentance,
after death becomes a demon.

AR 459

And idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood.
(Revelation 9:20)

This symbolically means that thus they engage
in worship founded on nothing but falsities.

Idols in the Word symbolize falsities in worship,
and therefore worshiping them
symbolizes worship founded on falsities.
Worshiping idols of gold, silver,
brass, stone, and wood,
then, symbolizes worship
founded on falsities of every kind,
and when taken in combination,
worship founded on nothing but falsities.
Moreover, the materials, figures,
and garments of the idols among ancient peoples
represented the falsities of religion
on which they founded their worship.
Idols of gold symbolized
falsities regarding matters pertaining to God;
idols of silver,
falsities regarding matters pertaining to the spirit;
idols of brass,
falsities regarding charity;
idols of stone,
falsities regarding faith;
and idols of wood,
falsities regarding good works.

All of these falsities
are held by people who do not repent,
that is, who do not refrain from evils
as being sins against God.

AR 460

Which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
(Revelation 9:20)

This is said because idolaters believe
that their idols see and hear,
for they make them gods.
But still this is not what the statement means.
Rather it means that falsities in worship
do not have in them
any spiritual or truly rational life,
as to see and hear means, symbolically,
to understand and perceive.
To walk, moreover, symbolically means to live.
Thus the three together
symbolize a spiritual and truly rational life.