AR 461
And they did not repent
of their murders or their enchantments
or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
(Revelation 9:21)
. . . Faith alone induces stupidity, backsliding,
and intransigence in the hearts of people
found in Protestant Reformed churches
because goodness of life does not constitute religion
where faith alone prevails;
and if goodness of life does not constitute religion,
then the second table of the Ten Commandments,
a table calling for repentance,
is as though an empty one,
in which no writing appears.
It is apparent that
the second table of the Ten Commandments
is a table calling for repentance,
since it does not say that good works should be done,
but that evil works must not be done,
namely, that you shall not kill,
you shall not commit adultery,
you shall not steal,
you shall not bear false witness,
you shall not covet things that are your neighbor's.
If these are not matters of religion,
then the case is as stated:
"And they did not repent of their murders
or their enchantments
or their sexual immorality or their thefts."
AR 462
To bear false witness means,
in the natural sense,
to act as a false witness, to lie and defame;
and in the spiritual sense it means
to convince and persuade that falsity is true
and that evil is good.
It is apparent from this
that to practice enchantment means, symbolically,
to persuade someone of falsity
and thus to destroy the truth.
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