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Intentions Do Not Excuse Idolatry | Cage-Stage Calvinist Theology | Reformed Worship Series
📍 Produced in Canada | Canadian Content (CanCon) – Theological Commentary & Production

🔥 Zeal without knowledge is rebellion in disguise. In this hard-hitting episode of our exegetical series through Calvin’s Institutes, we unpack the terrifying truth that sincerity cannot sanctify false worship. From the golden calf to the glitter of modern evangelical entertainment, idolatry always disguises itself as devotion.

Drawing directly from John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1.5.13), and sharpened by John Owen, Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, and Francis Schaeffer, this episode dismantles the lie that good intentions excuse man-made worship. With Scripture as the plumb line and church history as a graveyard of will-worship, we show that worship must be regulated by God’s Word, not man’s imagination.

✝️ Theological Themes Covered:

Calvin’s view of idolatry: “The heart is a perpetual idol-factory”

Owen’s war on will-worship: Why human innovation in worship is spiritual treason

Van Til and Bahnsen: Presuppositional apologetics expose idolatry in all non-Christian religion and secular humanism

Schaeffer’s cultural critique: How the idols of personal peace and affluence dominate the modern church

Reformation insights: Rome’s false worship was condemned not for lack of sincerity, but for departure from God’s command

📖 Key Scriptures:

Exodus 32:4–5 — “Feast to Yahweh”... around a golden calf

1 Samuel 15:22 — “To obey is better than sacrifice”

John 4:23–24 — Worship in Spirit and in Truth

Colossians 2:23 — “Will worship”

Matthew 7:21–23 — “I never knew you”

Romans 1 — The essence of all idolatry

Leviticus 10, 2 Samuel 6, 1 Kings 12 — Examples of God's judgment on self-invented worship

🛠️ Apologetics Application:

Debunking modern sentimentalism in worship

Addressing relativism, neutrality myths, and intellectual autonomy

Calling Christians to tear down idols in mind and method

Bahnsen’s thesis: “Nothing and no one is neutral… they are either for Christ or against Him.”

📜 Historical Analysis:

Ancient Israel’s corrupt sincerity (golden calf, Nadab & Abihu)

Medieval Rome’s descent into idolatry “with good intentions”

The Reformation’s violent divorce from tradition-based worship

Contemporary evangelicalism’s addiction to mood and spectacle

🎯 Who This Episode Is For:

Students of Reformed theology

Defenders of the Regulative Principle of Worship

Pastors and lay leaders confronting syncretism and pragmatism

Presuppositional apologists battling idolatry in modern worldviews

Listeners who aren’t afraid of polemics, purity, and precision Listen Now – Subscribe for Weekly Reformed Content
📢 Share this episode with pastors, elders, and friends concerned with the glory of God in worship.

💬 Drop a comment: What are some modern examples of well-intended idolatry you’ve seen in the church? How do you personally strive to worship “in spirit and truth”?

🔔 Don’t forget to Like, Subscribe, and hit the bell to get notified of our next exposé on Calvin’s Institutes.

📍 Canadian Content Notice (CRTC Compliance):
This podcast is produced in Canada and features original Canadian theological commentary, scriptwriting, production, and content development in compliance with CRTC CanCon policy for digital media.

🎓 Additional Resources:

Calvin’s The Necessity of Reforming the Church

Owen, Of Communion with God

Bahnsen, Always Ready

Van Til, “Keep Yourselves from Idols”

Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster

#Calvinism #JohnCalvin #FalseWorship #WillWorship #Idolatry #SolaScriptura #Reformation #BiblicalWorship #Puritans #VanTil #GregBahnsen #FrancisSchaeffer #PresuppositionalApologetics #ChurchHistory #Theonomy #ChristianPodcast #CanadianTheology #SpiritAndTruth #ModernIdolatry #CageStageCalvinist

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