Now I come back to the beginning and turn to Isaiah, who says: They are of no use (Isaiah 44[:10]).
Books are of use to readers. It follows that images are not books for the laity, contrary to what Gregory and his entire company say.
Listen to what Ezekiel says, you Gregorists and papists! If any man turns away from me and sets his heart upon idols and comes to a prophet and consults me through him, then I will in my own person answer him and will make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from the midst of my people (Ezekiel 14[:7–8]). See here, you praiser of idols, what Ezekiel says about images and do not forget on your life that when you take an idol or image to your heart (as many do, as was said in connection with the image of St Christopher) God will destroy you and damn you and will answer you himself. Thus God answers us in his own words: You shall not look to prophets. But let the man who in these times inquires of doctors, masters, and bachelors of art about such things and does not believe unwaveringly in the voice of the Lord hear what follows in Ezekiel 14 [:9-10]: If a prophet errs, I, the Lord, have made him err and will destroy him from the midst of my people. See how God destroys both the prophet who errs and makes others err, and [also] the man who consults such a prophet. Act accordingly.
If a man knows the prohibition and will of God, he should follow it strictly and listen neither to angels, nor to saints, nor to prophets who want to lure him away from the divine commandment, although they may appear to mean well. The story in 1 Kings 13 teaches this in clear words.
God sent one of his servants to King Jeroboam and ordered him not to eat or drink [in the house of the king]. That prophet or man of God, Semeas, understood God’s prohibition, but he allowed himself to be led astray by another prophet, who said: I am a prophet also, as you are, and an angel of God inspired me, saying, Take him back with you in your house that he may eat and drink. Semeas did that and was disobedient to the Word of God. Therefore God had him torn apart by a lion (1 Kings 13[:1ff., especially verse 24]).
Note that when we have the Word of the Lord and want to be disobedient to the will of God and allow ourselves to be persuaded and deceived by others, we must die. Even if the persuasive but deceitful man takes the form of a prophet, or an angel, or a teacher, or a Christian who performs a good Christian work for you and wants to give you food and drink, if his good deed prevents you from being obedient to the divine words and commandments, you shall not follow him; not even if he were a stout, brawny, fat monk or doctor [of theology]. But if you follow someone because of his position, appearance, beautiful words, and protestations of friendship, and thus fail to observe God’s prohibition, you must certainly die (like Semeas) by the lion who walks about in the world seeking whom he may devour [1 Peter 5:8].
Therefore God slew the sons of Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, because they offered before God an alien fire which he had not commanded (Levi 10[:1ff.]).
Note that when one [of them] ignited a fire which was identical in character and heat to the fire of the Lord, nevertheless, because it was alien, God punished those who offered such a fire.
Accordingly, I say that even though pictures may have the appearance of a good thing, we should nevertheless not tolerate them in churches and among the faithful. For as Balaam had to confess: There is no picture in Jacob and no idol in Israel. This is clearly expressed in Numbers 23[:21] and Exodus 20[:4]. For this reason no Christian or believer should take up images, because he clearly hears [the Lord’s commandment]: You shall have no images. The believer shall live according to the Word and disregard appearance, whatever shape or name it might have.
If someone comes and says that images teach and instruct the laity just as books do the learned, then answer him: God has forbidden me to use images and therefore I do not want to learn anything from them.
If someone else comes and says [that] images remind and recall to us the sufferings of the Lord and often bring it about that someone offers an Our Father and turns his mind to God who would otherwise neither pray nor be mindful of God, then you, my Christian, respond: God has forbidden images. Again, Christ said that God is a spirit. All who truly worship God, worship him in the spirit (John 4[:24]). All who worship God in images, worship in untruth. Only in appearance and with outward show do they think on God. But their hearts are foreign to God, and [they] make themselves their own idol in their hearts and are full of lies. As Isaiah in chapter 44[:20] says: Your foolish and silly heart worships them and does not say, I have a lie in my right hand.
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