WHO STARTED YOUR CHURCH?
Exploring the historical and contemporary context of the Catholic Church and the multitude of Protestant Christian Churches, amounting to approximately 45,000 establishments. It challenges and clarifies many of the common misconceptions or misleading information that Protestants may have been taught regarding the Catholic Church.
Much of what Protestants think they ‘know’ about the Catholic Church is what has been told to them, taught to them, explained to them, by other Protestants, who learned it from yet other Protestants… some of which has been handed down for the last 500 years. Some of it by people with a grudge… most of what they have been taught to ‘believe’ is entirely wrong, or misleading.
How can anyone claim to be a “Bible-believing, ‘Sola Scriptura’ Christian” if they ignore or don’t believe ALL the actual Words of Jesus Christ and the writings of the Apostles that are in The Bible?
The Catholic Church -A.D. 33. Founded by God the Son in the person of Jesus Christ. Our Lord named the Apostle Simon as “Peter” the future leader of His Church, when He said to him, in Matthew 16:18-19 Verily, verily I say unto you Thou art Peter (Rock), and upon this rock, I will build MY Church. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
The ‘power of the keys’ designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. The power to ‘bind and loose’ connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church.
Excerpt from A Companion to the Summa by Walter Farrell, O.P.:
“From the first moment of his sin, man lost that complete domination of spirit over matter; from then on, he had need, desperate need of sacraments. In every age since then, there have been sacraments. Before the establishment of the Old Testament, there were such sacraments of the natural law as a kind of baptism through the prayers and faith of the parents for the child, sacrifice, tithes, and certainly a kind of penance. Before the coming of Christ, the Old Law operated by anticipation of Christ’s redemption through such sacraments as circumcision, the Paschal Lamb, the loaves of proposition… the consecration of priests, and so on. With the coming of Christ, our own sacraments were instituted by Him.”
Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the apostles and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom.
The purpose of this authority is to give the Church the ability to teach without error about the essentials of salvation.
The scope of this authority concerns the official teachings of the Church on matters of faith, morals, and worship (liturgy & sacraments). We believe that, because of Christ’s continued presence and guarantee, his Church cannot lead people astray with its official teachings.
At the Council of Jerusalem, Peter, empowered by the keys of binding and loosing (Matthew 16:19), declared that the Church would no longer be bound by the Mosaic Law (Acts 15:7-11). This declaration was inspired by his vision from God (Acts 10:9-16) and the realization that salvation comes through grace, not the Law of Moses (Acts 15:11). By exercising the authority granted to him by Christ, Peter effectively "loosed" the Church from the burdens of the Mosaic Law, including the day of the Sabbath observance. If the other leaders of the Church had not recognized Peter's authority, he would have risked being stoned to death for blasphemy (Acts 15:2, Galatians 2:5). Instead, his declaration was accepted, and the Church was forever changed. Peter's use of the keys of binding and loosing marked a significant turning point in Christian history, establishing the Church's independence from Jewish tradition and solidifying its foundation on grace and faith in Christ.
Always remember you cannot interpret Scripture using modern thought and the mores of today. You must study and learn the ways and culture of the Hebrews and Galileans of Jesus’ time; you cannot separate the culture from the Gospels. If you take the culture out of the Gospels, you virtually gut out the entire meaning of it.
BORN AGAIN THROUGH BAPTISM
by Ken Litchfield https://www.facebook.com/Ken.Litchfield
Catholic Christians and most Protestant Christians teach that we are born again through Baptism. However, some Protestant denominations teach that we are “born again” by Accepting Jesus as Our Personal Lord and Savior. Some Protestants interpret Jesus’ command for us to be born of water and Spirit to mean that first we are born of the amniotic fluid water and again, when the Holy Spirit inspires us, we are born of the Spirit. This is a new interpretation developed in the late 1800s at the earliest.
This is why in Matthew chapter 28 Jesus’s final command before His ascension was for His Apostles to go out and teach everything He taught and to Baptize them in The Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus does not command His Apostles to have new believers accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior.
In A.D. 150 Justin Martyr wrote in his First Apology that we are regenerated (born again) through Baptism. In A.D. 180. Irenaeus also wrote that we are regenerated through Baptism. Both of these early Christian writers learned about Christianity from Polycarp who learned from the Apostle John. This creates a chain of evidence from the Apostle John who wrote about Jesus saying we need to be born of water and spirit to the original Catholic understanding of being Born Again through Baptism.
People have free will. People can choose to follow the new interpretation of John 3:5 that was developed by someone in the 1800s. Or people can follow the original interpretation of John 3:5 as taught by the men who learned from the Apostle John. Choose wisely.
The 12 Apostles: What Happened to Them & How Each Died - Explaining the Faith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8sPfCkK2R4
ALTAR CALLS
Many Evangelical and Reformed-leaning churches in recent years have stopped doing Altar Calls, for a variety of reasons. Critics of altar calls have pointed out that they have no strong biblical basis, and that they were part of the “New Measures” introduced by Charles Finney in the later stages of the Second Great Awakening, in 1825.
Evangelism without an Altar Call
https://www.9marks.org/article/journalevangelism-without-altar-call/
FORGIVENESS OF SIN:
Where do you find in the New Testament of the Holy Bible that you are to ask God or Jesus to forgive your sins?
Mark 2-5:7 Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” 6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
(Shall you believe the complaints of ignorant scribes who doubted Jesus as being our God and Savior?)
Or shall you believe the WORDS of Jesus Himself?
Quoting the Risen Jesus in John 20:19-23, Jesus gave the power to Forgive Sin or to Retain Sin to His Apostles, which has been handed down to Ordained Priests:
John 20:19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. WHOSE SINS YOU FORGIVE ARE FORGIVEN THEM, AND WHOSE SINS YOU RETAIN ARE RETAINED.”
What incredible gifts Jesus bestowed upon his Church on the very day of his Resurrection! The gifts of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, and the inauguration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation by which his Apostles are given delegated authority to forgive penitents their sins! In this extraordinary encounter, Jesus bestows on his Apostles that which he affirmatively proved, to the Pharisees and teachers of the law of Israel, that he, himself had the authority to do, namely, to forgive sins.
How can sin be retained if some other person does not perform the hearing of Confession?
Jesus died on the Cross, to make the Forgiveness of Sin POSSIBLE, it is NOT AUTOMATIC, and your sins were not pre-forgiven. We are NOT to “confess” or “admit” our sins just to ourselves, that is excessively too easy, otherwise, why did Jesus say to the Apostles: “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.”? Or was Jesus just babbling on, as Protestants apparently believe?
Catholics believe that Christ’s death opened the gates of heaven for us. But we still need to earn graces that cleanse and purify our souls of sin so we can get into heaven. We need to become saints here on earth (sanctified) in order to be justified. We need to enter into the right relationship with God.
Recall the story in Luke’s Gospel of the healing of the paralytic. “Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there having come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and Jerusalem.” Jesus said to those in attendance “That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
Why do you suppose so many Pharisees and teachers of the law were present that day to observe Jesus? It was, likely, his healing of a leper. Before that healing, no Israelite had been cured of leprosy since they entered the Promised Land, some thirteen hundred years prior. That healing was the first of three Messianic miracles the Jewish rabbis had taught, for nearly a hundred years to that point, that only the Messiah could accomplish. Jesus would go on to perform all three!
Both, the proof, and the delegation of his authority, are explicitly revealed in the gospels to make it abundantly clear that his Church has the authority to forgive sins.
Jesus gave this authority to forgive sins, not only to his Apostles but, by extension, to the bishops and priests of his Church as well. Christ gave his Church, a Church he, himself founded, the means to provide his disciples with the sanctifying grace necessary for them to successfully traverse this “valley of tears”. And not just then, but for his disciples of all times!
We are to Confess our sins to an Ordained Priest whose vow of secrecy is unbreakable and inviolable! Each priest realizes that he is the ordained mediator of a very sacred and precious Sacrament. He knows that in the confessional, the penitent speaks not so much to him, but through him to the Lord. Therefore, humbled by his position, the priest knows that whatever is said in confession must remain secret at all costs.
Why Would Sin Be Retained? When the sin is continuously ongoing, and you have no real desire to quit.
WHEN PROTESTANTS ASK GOD TO FORGIVE THEIR SINS:
How would one be absolutely certain that God has forgiven your sin, just because you asked? When Protestants ask God for Forgiveness of Sin, does God give them any sign that they are forgiven? First you would have to quit committing that sin, because he knows that within a few hours or days you will be doing it again! Then once more with the heart of a hypocrite they will be ‘asking for forgiveness’ …yet again! A Priest not only has the power and authority to forgive sins THROUGH the power of God, but councils you about it. Will Protestants receive any counseling from God, or will it be just their imagination? How would you know the difference? Or will it be Satan in the guise of God doing the “counseling”?
WHERE DOES JESUS SAY IN THE HOLY BIBLE: “ASK GOD TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS”?
No verse of Scripture says that “only God can forgive sins, or that no human has the power to forgive sins.” That idea came from the Protestant tradition. The truth is that God grants the authority to forgive sins as He pleases. He granted that authority to His Son and, furthermore, to the apostles and their successors. Once again, the Protestant’s “Sola Scriptura” fails, because Protestants IGNORE Scripture, even Scripture right out of the mouth of Jesus and the text is in RED in their own Bibles! John 20:23 records Jesus saying to the Scribes: “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven.” If the Scribes were right in Mark 2-7, then Jesus was a liar! Jesus never lies! Protestants say: ‘Only God can forgive sins’; however, the Apostles were all granted the power and authority to forgive sins. Or are you REALLY a “Bible-believing Christian”? Or do you cherry-pick what you claim to believe? It is GOD who makes ALL the rules, you don’t unless those rules thoroughly conform to God’s own rules. Jesus gave the Apostles the authority on earth to forgive sins (Matt 9:6-8; John 20:21-23; James 5:16) https://catholicstrength.com/
“CALL NO MAN FATHER” Matthew 23:29 https://catholicstand.com/call-no-man-father/
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was asked what people needed to do to go to Heaven. His response included things such as not to kill, and to honor your mother and father. Jesus also called Abraham, who was a human being “father”. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says that anyone who comes to Him without hating his father and the balance of his family can never be His disciple. Jesus uses hyperbole frequently in his messages, which was the conversational convention of His time, but the message is still the same, He was not saying call no male on the face of the planet father. If you look at the entire section of the Gospel, rather than taking a sentence out of context, you will find that Christ was telling the people not to imitate the Scribes and Pharisees since they were not particularly deserving of respect in many cases. That is, they did not deserve the respect of being referred to as a father.
Examples:
Matthew 15:4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’
Matthew 10:37 Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 19:5 and said, ‘For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
Matthew 19:19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
Saint Paul called himself “father”, even though he was unmarried and without a child, in 1 Corinthians when he told the people, “I became your father in Christ.” He called Timothy his true child in faith, he also called Titus his child, and there are a couple of other examples that could be used as well. So, the point remains that while Christ did say not to call any mortal man your father, it was said in a specific frame of reference concerning specific people and under specific conditions.
If you go to BibleGateway.com enter ‘Father’ in the search bar, then hit the ‘Filter’ option then select ‘New Testament’ you will get around 1100 results depending on the Bible version selected. Many of those will be of course referring to God the Father, but the rest will be other PEOPLE referred to as ‘father’.
ASKING GOD FOR SPECIAL FAVORS
When you ask God for health, happiness, or riches does He immediately grant it in abundance? Usually, God says ‘No, not now’, or: “What you are asking for will not be good for you, I have other plans for you, even though you might not like them.” (Think of Jonah!) “You are asking for something that would be harmful to your salvation if you had it –so by not getting what you’ve asked, you are really getting what you want” –St. Catherine of Siena
Jesus did say “Ask and the door shall be opened” but He did not say it will be opened immediately, nor did he say that what is behind the door will be exactly what you are looking for! Perhaps something in your life needs to change first, and it is YOU who needs to change it!
Many people pray to God to win the Lottery, will God immediately grant all fifty million people who are praying to win the fifty million dollars in Wednesday’s Drawing? I don’t believe that is how the lottery operates, or how GOD operates!)
Acts 15:1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
BTW: THE EATING OF THE MUSLIM’S “HALAL” MEAT IS FORBIDDEN TO CHRISTIANS:
Acts 15:28-29: ‘It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us, not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from MEAT SACRIFICED TO IDOLS, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell.’
Revelation 2:20: But I have against thee a few things: because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach, and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and TO EAT OF THINGS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS.
How could this “Allah” of pre-Mohammad pagan Arabia be the same as the God of Israel? For many hundreds of years before Mohammad, “Allah” or the ‘Moon-god’ was the Head ‘god’ of Mohammad’s pagan Quraysh Meccan Arab tribe’s pantheon of about 360 deities.
So, can anyone tell me why, just because they ‘worship’ only one fabricated ‘god’, that, this so-called ‘god’ is the SAME GOD as worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
SIX SINS THAT OFFEND THE HOLY SPIRIT.
These are:
(1) Despair,
“By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it, or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God’s goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy.” (C.C.C. # 2091)
(2) Presumption of God’s mercy,
“There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God’s almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).” (C.C.C. # 2092)
(3) Impugning the known truth,
(Clarification: To “impugn” the known truth means to attack it by word or argument, to resist it, to contradict it, or even to oppose the known truth or to challenge it as false.)
(4) Envy the spiritual good of another,
(Clarification: Regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians states, “All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually as the Spirit chooses.” To envy the spiritual good of another is to question the Divine judgment of the Holy Spirit in His distribution of spiritual gifts. It is to be jealous of another person who has a gift different than one’s own gift. Through envy, one rejects the gift that he has received from the Holy Spirit, determining in his own mind that the gift he has received is not good enough for him and he wants someone else’s gift.)
(5) Obstinacy in sin,
(Clarification: To be “obstinate” means to resist the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, to be stubborn, to persist in sin, to be unyielding.)
(6) Final impenitence.
(Clarification: “Impenitence” means to be un-contrite, unrepentant, hardened, unconverted, to be without regret, shame, or remorse.)
FEAR OF GOD
The phrase translated as ‘fear of God’ is more accurately expressed as ‘awe of God’. The difference is that fear comes from ignorance or an encounter with the unknown. It is reasonable to fear the dark. An encounter with a beast of unknown origins and abilities is terrifying. But awe comes from knowing how powerful something is.
THE DEVIL’S HORRIBLE SIN OF PRIDE
For those who don’t know, pride is one of the seven deadly sins. Pride was the great sin of Lucifer, who wanted to be God and who led a third of the angels with him down into hell. The lure of self-pride worked well with those angels, now referred to as demons, and with Adam and Eve. Lucifer told Adam and Eve that they would be like God if they would only disobey Him and eat from the forbidden fruit. So now we have the original sin of disobedience to God (a sin we are all born with) mixed in with pride.
BEING PROUD OF OTHERS
As a reminder, being proud of your spouse, your kids, your parents, and others for what they have accomplished is not a sin. The difference, of course, is that you are proud of someone else and not of your own sinfulness. Pride in one’s own self, in one’s own mind, in one’s good looks, and one’s own personal wisdom, is a great trap that a lot of people have fallen into.
Jesus’ Human Nature is 100% Human, His Divine Nature is 100% Divine. There is no “the Man Jesus” as some Protestants say!
THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION:
“During the meal Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples ‘Take this and eat it,’ he said, ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. ‘All of you must drink from it,’ he said, ‘for this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.’ (Matthew.26: 26-30)”
John 6:53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats MY flesh and drinks MY blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For MY flesh is real food and MY blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats MY flesh and drinks MY blood remains in me, and I in them.”
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: ‘Feed my sheep’ [John 21:15-17; cf. 10:11].
We are to receive Holy Communion as the actual Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ
The Catholic Church teaches a dogma called “transubstantiation,” which the Catechism explains thus: “By the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood” (CCC 1376). This means that while the appearances of bread and wine remains, the substance is changed (through the power of God) completely to the body and blood of Christ. It is a teaching based on scripture and tradition and has remained unchanged in its essence since Apostolic times. “During the meal Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples ‘Take this and eat it,’ he said, ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. ‘All of you must drink from it,’ he said, ‘for this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.’ (Matthew 26: 26-30)
John 6:51-58
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Another version: Matthew 26:26-28
26 And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body. 27 And taking the chalice, he gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. 28 For this is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.
Remember that the Last Supper was the Jewish Seder or Passover Meal that Jesus ate with his disciples, which we celebrate on Holy Thursday when he transformed the Seder into the first Mass.
Seder had already been celebrated by Jews for 2,000 years. When Jesus blessed the bread and gave God thanks for the wine, He used the 2,000-year-old Passover blessings, and said: “Praise be thou, oh Lord our God, King of the universe, who has brought forth bread from the earth.”
Then Blessing the wine, “Praise be thou, oh Lord our God, King of the universe, who has brought forth fruit from the vine.”
Matthew wrote his Gospel for a Jewish audience and never wrote out these two blessings because every Jew would already know these Blessings.
The Seder is the ritual meal on the first night of Passover that commemorates the flight from Egypt, most notably featuring unleavened bread, lamb, and wine. It has become a more popular liturgical tradition among Catholics. It’s a powerful way of experiencing the origin of our Mass and Jesus’ fulfillment of the great story of salvation. Here is a guide for hosting a Seder meal with your family and friends this Holy Thursday.
https://www.stcatfamilyfaith.com/a-christian-seder-meal.html
JESUS SAID REPEATEDLY BETWEEN JOHN 6:40 AND JOHN 6:60
40 And this is the will of my Father that sent me: that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day. 41 The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 42 And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then saith he, I came down from heaven? 43 Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me. 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father; but he who is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 52 If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. 53 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 54 Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 55 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. 56 For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. 57 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. 58 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. 59 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever. 60 These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum.
But once again, even though John 6:40-60 is also in the Protestant Bible, they ignore it, because it is “too Catholic.”
Are not these passages in YOUR Bible too, if so, how can you ignore Jesus speaking the WORD of GOD? See also: Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20, John 6:48-59, and 1 Corinthians 11:24-27?
The Word of God will not submit itself to our desires. Our desires must submit to the Word of God.
Mark 14:22-24
22 And whilst they were eating, Jesus took bread; and blessing, broke, and gave to them, and said: Take ye. This is my body. 23 And having taken the chalice, giving thanks, he gave it to them. And they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them: This is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many.
Luke 22:19-20
19 And taking bread, he gave thanks, and brake; and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me. 20 In like manner the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you.
1 Corinthians 11:24-27
24 And giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye, and eat: this is my body, which shall be delivered for you: this do for the commemoration of me. 25 In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. 26 For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come. 27 Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 10:16
16 The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?
Acts 2:42
42 And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 27:35
35 And when he had said these things, taking bread, he gave thanks to God in the sight of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
It is bad enough that Protestants will go to Judgment after willfully disregarding the clear call to Catholic Communion that the Word of Jesus is repeated many times in the Holy Bible, with variations of:
Eating His ‘Flesh’ at least six times,
His ‘Body’ at least six times, or ‘Bread’ at least four times, as referring to His Body or Flesh, and His ‘Blood’ at least nine times, or ‘Chalice’ at least five times as referring to His Blood.
How Many Times and Ways Do You Need to be Told?
Perhaps if these actual Words of Jesus concerning Eating His Body and Blood had appeared more times in the Holy Bible, such as: “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you”, that Protestants would take the WORD of the LORD more seriously?
Apparently, Protestants believe that Jesus just liked to rattle-on and babble, just because He liked to hear Himself talk?
All the Eucharistic miracles of the Communion Host that bleed are of the same blood type as on the Shroud of Turin and Lanciano and many others. The blood is always human and is type AB with a positive Rh factor. Many times, the scientific testing on the bleeding Communion Hosts is done without the scientist having a clue as to what the object is that they are testing! Sometimes they find striated heart muscle.
Try doing that with “Oyster Crackers”!
Shroud of Turin gets ‘true crime’ treatment in science-driven documentary. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254940/shroud-of-turin-new-movie-robert-orlando-documentary
THE EUCHARIST: REAL PRESENCE OR “REAL SYMBOL” BY KEN LITCHFIELD https://www.facebook.com/Ken.Litchfield
Catholics and Protestants have different views on the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper as it is known in many Protestant faith traditions. Protestants and even some Catholics have a hard time with Jesus’ command that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood.
To properly understand the full impact of the Bible, one needs to learn the Jewish context…
To understand the Eucharist and the Bible, we must first know its Jewish background. In Genesis chapter 14 we learn that after Abraham won a battle against 5 Kings in the land of Canaan, he offered 10% of the spoils of battle to the Priest/King of Salem named Melchizedek. Melchizedek offered him bread and wine with his blessing. This is the first time a blessing was given after a thanksgiving offering. In Hebrew, the word for thanksgiving is Todah. In Greek, the word for thanksgiving is Eucharistia. This is where the English word Eucharist comes from.
Exodus chapter 12 tells how the Israelites celebrated the first Passover before they left Egypt by killing a male unblemished lamb and applying its blood on their door frame. The Israelites then had to roast the lamb and eat the lamb along with unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and wine. They did this while the angel of death passed over their homes and didn’t kill their firstborn sons. If they didn’t eat the lamb, then the firstborn son would die. After leaving Egypt the Israelites received the miraculous bread from Heaven called Manna in the morning and quail for flesh in the evening (Exodus ch16). The Manna was their miraculous Daily Bread. The Israelites kept some of the Manna in the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments and Arron’s staff.
Later the Israelites built the portable Temple, specified by God to Moses in the book of Exodus chapter 26. This Temple had a special Altar for the Bread of the Presence and a pitcher of wine in the Holy Place. This bread was called the bread of Angels or Face of God in Hebrew. This Altar was also present in the Temple built by Solomon and rebuilt by Herod. On the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the Priests would take the Bread of the Presence out and show it to the faithful Jews while the Priests proclaimed, ‘Behold God’s Love for You”. It was not a great leap for the Jews to believe that God could be present in the bread.
In the Gospel of John chapter 6 Jesus gives His Bread of Life speech. When Jesus says in John chapter 6 “You have to eat My flesh and drink My blood” to have Eternal Life. All the Jews and the Disciples were scandalized by this saying. Everybody took Jesus seriously and left except for the 12 Disciples who also didn’t understand. Judas decided at this time to betray Jesus because he didn’t believe. It wasn’t until the Last Supper that the Disciples understood how they were to eat His flesh and drink His blood. This is covered in Matthew Chapter 26, Mark Chapter 14, Luke Chapter 22, and by Paul in 1 Corinthians Chapter 11. In every chapter, Jesus says THIS IS My body about the bread, and THIS IS My blood about the cup of wine. The words are plain and easy to understand here.
In Luke chapter 24, we learn that after the crucifixion, two disciples on the road to Emmaus came to know Jesus through the “breaking of the Bread” which was the Eucharist. When Luke writes the Book of Acts, he refers many times to the “Breaking of the Bread” as a shortcut referring to this Eucharistic meal.
In 1st Corinthians chapter 5 Paul writes “Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed so let us keep the feast.”
This connects the first Passover lamb that had to be eaten to be saved to Jesus the new Passover Lamb that we must eat to be saved. In Revelation chapter 5 and onward, Jesus is also identified as the Lamb.
In 1st Corinthians chapter 10, Paul writes:
15 I speak as to wise men: judge ye yourselves what I say. 16 The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord? 17 For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread.
This shows the unity of the first Christians in the celebration of the Eucharist.
In 1st Corinthians chapter 11 Paul gives his account of the Last Supper where Jesus says the bread is His Body and the wine is His Blood. This is the earliest account of this event in Scripture. Jesus’ words about His Body and Blood are again plain and easy to understand. Paul warns that if you are in a sinful state or don’t recognize it as the Body and Blood of Jesus you compound your sin and that is why many are sick and dying. Paul also says, “We have no other practices and neither do the Churches of God.”
In the book of Hebrews, we learn about the once for all sacrifice of Jesus. The Catholic Church re-presents the sacrifice that Jesus started in the upper room on Holy Thursday and finished on the cross on Good Friday at Mass every day during the Eucharistic Prayer. It is the same sacrifice that Jesus performed but re-presented like the Jews re-presented the original Passover. The Eucharist is the Perfect Sacrifice that Christians have been celebrating from the beginning during the Breaking of the Bread.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church discusses the Eucharist in parts 1322 through 1419 because it is so central to our Faith. All the Christian Churches that trace their founding to an Apostle believe in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is the original Christian understanding available only in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
It wasn’t until the 1500s that Martin Luther taught that Jesus was present under and around the bread and wine.
John Calvin taught that Jesus was present spiritually during the Lord's Supper only.
It was Ulrich Zwingli that first proposed that the presence of Jesus was “only symbolic” because he misunderstood the Greek understanding of ‘symbol’. For the Greeks, a “symbol” was a physical representation of a spiritual reality. Zwingli, living 1500 years later misunderstood this by thinking that a “symbol” was just a reminder of an earlier reality.
The earliest rule of Faith for Christians was called the Didache from circa A.D. 50 The Didache warns about the sin of Abortion and says the Eucharist is only for the Baptized believers because we don’t give that which is Holy to the dogs (unbaptized non-believers). In A.D. 107 Saint Ignatius of Antioch says the Eucharist is the medicine of immortality because Jesus said if you eat My flesh and drink My blood you will have eternal life. Saint Ignatius also says to have nothing to do with the heretics who don’t believe the Eucharist is the flesh and blood of our Lord. In A.D. 150 Justin the Martyr says the bread and wine are prayed over and are transformed into the flesh and blood of our Savior Jesus Christ and the Deacons take it to those who cannot attend. This shows Jesus is substantially present in the bread and wine because it can be transported. Jesus is not just present symbolically or spiritually only during the Mass. His presence exists while it still looks like bread and wine.
In A.D. 180 Irenaeus explains the Eucharist has two realities earthly and Heavenly.
Around A.D. 400 St. Augustine wrote, “The Bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. The chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ.” –Ken Litchfield
St. Ignatius was taught by St. John the Apostle himself. He taught of the continuation of the priesthood, confession, and the Mass in his Letter to the Philadelphians. The Eucharist is the literal body of Christ in Letter to the Smyrnaeans with this same book in the OP which is pointing to Apostolic succession—his notation of the Catholic Church in Rome as the key teacher in Epistle to the Romans 3:1.
“I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE ... FOR MY FLESH IS TRUE FOOD, AND MY BLOOD IS TRUE DRINK. WHOEVER FEEDS ON MY FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD ABIDES IN ME, AND I IN HIM”
(John 6:35a; 55-56 ESVCE).
The sixth chapter of the Gospel of John provides us with the clearest teaching on the Eucharist. Read these Gospel passages so that you will understand, and you will take to Eucharistic adoration to pray with and to listen to the words of Jesus. Jesus makes clear in John 6 the truth of his real presence in the Eucharist, and he never waters it down or speaks of it as a sign or symbol. Disciples who followed Jesus saw it as a hard teaching, and “...many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). My prayer for you is that like the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) your hearts may burn with love for Jesus as you listen to him, as your teacher, and learn from him (Matthew 11:29)
John 6
In John 6, we encounter Jesus’ direct teaching on the Eucharist. If anyone would question whether the Church’s teaching accurately represents Jesus’ own teaching, look no further than this chapter where Jesus says:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh ... Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” -- KL
Jesus NEVER said:
“He who eats this ‘symbol’ of my flesh, and drinks this ‘symbol’ of my blood, shall have eternal life. For my flesh is ‘symbolic’ food and my blood ‘symbolic’ drink.”
Many Protestants believe their so-called “communion” is of no particular significance, just a hollow response to: “Do this (meaningless gesture) in remembrance of Me”. Their “communion” is neither Blessed nor Sanctified, no more than the coffee and doughnuts later after church!
Drinking Alcohol is not forbidden
GRAPE JUICE or WINE?
Most Protestants’ so-called “communion” is of no special significance, just a hollow response to: “Do this (meaningless gesture) in remembrance of Me”, in commemoration and memory of the Lord’s Last Supper. They believe It is NOT the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ!
They just go through the motions, using grape juice, and sometimes they use ordinary commercial oyster crackers! Then they claim that Jesus drank grape juice and not wine!
Many years ago, a Protestant congregation in the USA, was looking for a non-alcoholic substitute for “Communal Wine”. There was no suitable drinkable product at that time, and they commissioned a certain Mr. Welch to create one. He tried and tried, all the European and ‘Old World’ grapes tasted awful as juice, the only palatable grape juice that he could find originated right here in the USA, it was made from (New World) Concord grapes, and they were only first developed in 1849.
Is that man’s name and his product sound familiar?
The person that I am referring to is Thomas Bramwell Welch. He was a Methodist minister and a dentist who pioneered the use of pasteurization to prevent grape juice from fermenting. This innovation led to the creation of Welch’s Grape Juice, which was first used as a non-alcoholic substitute for Communion wine.
There was no such thing as a drinkable grape juice in the time of Jesus, and he could not have drank it, because it had to wait for the discovery of the New World in 1492, Concord Grapes in 1849, Pasteurization in 1856, and after the 1869 commissioning of Mr. Welch!
(I had some “Protestant communion” crackers the other day in my soup, did I feel blessed? NO, I did not!)
All crushed grape juice that is put in a wineskin automatically turns into wine… the grapes are spotted with a natural yeast on their outside. When the juice is put into a new skin bag… Natural grape sugar and yeast are already present to convert it into wine. If you put grape juice into a used wineskin it will burst, for it cannot expand further but a new skin can… also proof of being wine, not grape juice.
Archeologists have discovered that grapes used to make wine were grown in Mesopotamia 8,000 years ago.
There are at least 38 Bible results for “drunken” and even more for “drunk”, yet today, some Protestants think that everyone in the Holy Bible drank only grape juice, never wine!
Or do they REALLY think it is possible to get drunk from drinking too much grape juice?
Genesis 9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
Deuteronomy 21:20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
Ephesians 5:18 advises, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” This verse clearly discourages excessive drinking and emphasizes the importance of being guided by the Holy Spirit.
Proverbs 20:1 states, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Here, the Bible acknowledges the potential dangers of alcohol when consumed irresponsibly.
1 Timothy 5:23 offers practical advice: “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” In this context, wine is recommended for health reasons, but moderation is key.
Romans 14:21 encourages consideration for others: “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.” This verse highlights the need to avoid causing stumbling blocks for fellow believers.
Ultimately, the Bible doesn’t categorically forbid alcohol, but it does caution against overindulgence and encourages responsible consumption. Each person’s decision regarding alcohol should be guided by their own convictions and the leading of the Holy Spirit… these are just a few.
See also: Deuteronomy 29:6, Deuteronomy 29:19, 1 Samuel 1:13-14, 1 Samuel 1:12-15, 1 Samuel 25:36, 2 Samuel 11:13, 1 Kings 16:9, 1 Kings 20:16
50 BIBLICAL PROOFS THAT JESUS IS GOD
Jesus is God the Son. He is the eternal, all-powerful, all-loving, self-existent Creator God.
“We apologists hear every fable, myth, and tall tale regarding theology that anyone could ever imagine. I’ve heard for more than 30 years that “the Bible never says that Jesus is God.” One of my first research projects in the early 1980s, after I started taking up apologetics (back in my evangelical days), was to collect biblical passages that provide evidence for the Holy Trinity and deity, or divinity, of Jesus Christ.” https://www.ncregister.com/blog/50-biblical-proofs-that-jesus-is-god
MARRIAGE:
Isaiah 62:5 - For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
This is the passage with Catholic teaching against divorce:
Matthew 19:2-9 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate…”
LAST RITES:
More properly the Anointing of the Sick is a similar kind of anointing as Confirmation:
Second Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
James 5:14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”
KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
Saint Peter was given the power to bind on earth and to lose on earth as the Vicar of Christ. Since Peter was a mortal man, his responsibilities, his ‘keys’ were passed on to Linus, then to Anacletus I, then to Clement I, all the way to the present Pope Francis. An unbroken, apostolic succession for two thousand years.
Many Christians and especially Protestants now read Christ’s Sermons like scribes, twisting Jesus’ words as the Pharisees twisted the Law.
Protestantism did not get rid of the Papacy—it made every man his own pope, and every “pope” could start his own “church”!
Most Protestants believe that Jesus “pre-forgave” their sins when He died on the Cross so that they can go ahead and sin all they want, after supposedly being “Saved”, just by once mouthing some ‘pious’ words, and getting themselves dunked. However, some Protestants believe that getting Baptized is not required! Just giving ‘Lip Service’ by saying some words is not sufficient… You must Live out the Life of a Christian! To Protestants “Being Saved” envisions salvation as an accomplished event that lies in their past—as something that has already happened, and that they are ‘truly’ bound for Heaven, no matter how the rest of their life proceeds. If so, then please explain how the Protestant concept of “Backsliders” works?
Many so-called “christians” believe that going to Church EVERY Sunday is not at all necessary. Some believe that if they show up for Christmas or Easter, they have fulfilled their “Christian Duty”. The command in Exodus 20:8 is clear: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
This directive is more than just about rest; it’s a call for sanctity, reverence, and refraining from daily mundane tasks or work endeavors on the Sabbath.
Then some believe that they NEVER need to go to Church, even though the Ten Commandments clearly state, “Keep Holy the Sabbath Day”.
Some believe that their “faith” is a private thing, and their faith is not something they really need to practice or share. “It’s just between me and Jesus, I can pray at home, I don’t need to go to church, I don’t need the Community of Faith, I can just do it all myself!” They believe that being a “Christian” is a Do-it-all-yourself religion. They believe they are an Island unto themselves. Then because they do not participate in a community of faith, they don’t even do or practice what they SAY they ‘believe’! Even their praying never gets done.
While it is true as Protestants proclaim that, you cannot “buy” your way into Heaven through ‘works’…However, as it says in James 2:17 Faith, without works is an empty “faith” and is DEAD!
How does that song go?
“They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love….
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love…”
How can you show your love without doing works? You must continuously prove your Faith through Works!
If a “Christian person” never performs the work of a Christian: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc. their “faith” is dead.
We are not earning salvation by doing good deeds but doing good deeds is the result of faith-filled action. Living faith is faith in action for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26)
Matthew 7:18
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, Not earning salvation by doing good deeds, but doing good deeds as faith-filled action. Living faith is faith in action for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26) nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 25: 35-36
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome, 36 lacking clothes and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.
Without doing the Works of a Christian, how will anyone else ever know that the person is actually Christian? You are required to spread the light of faith, not hide it from the world under a bushel basket!
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
James 2:14-26
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so FAITH APART FROM WORKS IS DEAD.
Saint James’ teaching is in agreement with Paul’s provided you understand Scripture. Using the original unedited version of St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 3:28 “For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law.” Luther changed it to make the verse agree with his OWN VIEW of WHAT HE THOUGHT it SHOULD HAVE SAID (faith alone).
Martin Luther justifies his action by claiming that this is the gist of St. Paul’s meaning, However, Luther must be wrong for St. Paul said previously in Romans 2:13 “For not the HEARERS of the law are just before God, but the DOERS of the law shall be justified.”
Therefore St. Paul says that unless one works and keeps the Law, one will not be justified by God. Therefore faith “alone” cannot be what St. Paul meant. Because the idea directly opposes Scripture in James 2:14 and Romans 2:13.
“I will show you my faith through my works”, James 2:18. That is exactly what we are called to do. Jesus tells us, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”, Matthew 25:40.
All three versions of KJV, agree (KJV, AKJV KJ21)
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
James 2:24-26: You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.
Revelation 20:11-14
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it; from his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also, another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
1 Peter 1:17 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Reverence. 17 Now if you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning,
Therefore, we can confidently say that James’ teaching is not a contradiction, but rather that it teaches us that once we have received the hope of salvation, and that we establish a genuine relationship with God, then the works that reflect our relationship with God must flow from within us.
Matthew 5:16 So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Romans 2:6: For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;
THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT
REVELATION 20:12-13 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works.
Footnotes:
Revelation 20:11 The earth and the sky disappear; the first creation is abolished. Human beings alone remain, responsible toward God.
Revelation 20:12 This is a grandiose final sequence. As in Daniel (12:1-7) and Matthew (25:31-36), all human beings appear before the tribunal of God and are judged according to their choices and life commitments. (This principle of judgment according to one’s works is also found in Ps 62:12; Jer 17:10; Rom 2:6; 1 Pet 1:17 and elsewhere.) Everything is laid bare before the Lord—the same idea expressed in the symbol of books in Daniel (7:10). There is another book—that of Life; it contains the names of those who have resolutely chosen Christ in the face of idolatry and are now destined for glory (see Rev 13:8; 17:8). When one knows all that is represented by the concept of the netherworld, the sojourn of death and the power of death personified in the Bible, verse 14 announces the end of the anguish and fear that have weighed heavily on humankind throughout history.
Revelation 20:14 The second death, in which death itself is swallowed up, is the definitive failure, the condemnation from which no resurrection can rescue (Rev 2:11; 20:6; 21:8).
CHARITY IS A MAJOR COMPONENT OF WORKS
“Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God,” the Catechism states. “Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: ‘So faith, hope, charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity.’”
Colossians 1:22-23 “In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: IF YE CONTINUE in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;”
Salvation is free but we need to do works to keep it.
For the True Christian Love is an action, not a feeling, we are called to live that love by serving others. We will not be blessed if we are not blessing others.
GRACE IN THE HOLY BIBLE
Never just quote a single passage without examining the surrounding passages, you will often get the wrong message.
“Protestants claim: We are saved by grace and not by works!” REALLY??
Ephesians 2-8:10 For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God; 9 Not of works, that no man may glory. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them.
In another Biblical version:
Ephesians 2:9 doesn’t say “lest any MAN should boast”. It says, “lest ANY should boast”. St. Paul isn’t concerned here (or anywhere in Ephesians) about men boasting before God about their good deeds. He is concerned about Jewish Christians boasting before Gentile Christians about their own adherence to the 600 or so observances required in the Torah. Paul is saying that these things don’t matter under the new covenant. Protestants consistently misconstrue this verse from Ephesians (as do some Catholics, I’m sorry to say). It’s not about God/Man. It’s about Jew/Gentile.
Grace is a gift from God to man. There is nothing man can do to merit grace, because it is a gift.
Grace is available to everyone; all you must do is accept it. Just like a $20 bill you find on the sidewalk (that would be impossible to return to the rightful owner), all you must do is pick it up, or you can walk past and ignore it.
Wisdom 3:9: Those who trust in him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with him in love, because grace and mercy are upon his elect, and he watches over his holy ones.
Sirach 37:21: for grace was not given him by the Lord since he is lacking in all wisdom.
(**NOTE - 1 Corinthians 3:19 says the following: “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” If you are wise in the ways of the world, but not in the ways of God, then you need to start changing your priorities. Otherwise, the grace you would otherwise receive may not be given to you.) John 1:17: For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Acts 15:11: But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.
(**NOTE - We are saved by grace, not “faith alone”) Romans 3:24: they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus,
Romans 5:20-21: Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(**NOTE - If you are leading a very sinful life, from the above verse, know without a doubt that God your loving Father is sending you even more grace to overcome your sinful lifestyle. All you must do is to accept it through humility and prayer). Romans 6:14: For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
(**NOTE - Absolutely true for all of us, but especially true for the Blessed Virgin Mary, who IS full of grace). 1 Corinthians 15:10: But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God, which is with me.
Ephesians 2:8: For by grace, you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.
(**NOTE - Grace increases our faith, which in turn spurs us on to bear good fruit, our good works done out of love for Jesus Christ - Faith without works is dead - James 2:26).
Ephesians 4:7: But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED?…
If we have no responsibility for our final redemption after once being “saved”, these verses (as well as countless others) become unnecessary and actually contradictory. Man has contradicted the Bible through doctrines and theologies, which are not in the bible. The Bible is not contradictory. The “Once Saved, Always Saved” theory contradicts many scriptures including:
2 Peter 2:20-22
20 For if after they have ESCAPED the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have KNOWN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that WAS WASHED to her wallowing in the mire.
This is talking about people who had been “saved”, however, through their actions once again fell away from God. The argument that these people were not saved to begin with is not substantial. “Escaped” shows that they are already forgiven of sin. In addition, the proverb is used as an example to capture the idea with the word “washed” to express one that has been cleansed of the old sin.
If this were referring to unsaved people, to begin with, one could not have “known the way of righteousness”. However, here it says, “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,” implying that the way of righteousness was known.
The Lord Jesus himself gives a parable that is quite revealing.35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome, 36 lacking clothes and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.
This is how everyone will know that a person is actually Christian! You are required to spread the light of faith, not hide the light from the world under a bushel basket!
THIS WAS MY REPLY TO A FUNDIE:
Surely, you have known someone who has been “Saved” and later become a backslider? Is the backslider still saved? Or is he destined for Hell if he dies still in his sin? Or are you saying that once you are “Saved” and that it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to sin, and lose the Grace of God, which will send you to Hell? Then how does a “Saved” person become a “Backslider”? Are you not supposed to continue obeying the Ten Commandments? Keep Holy the Sabbath Day etc.
You cannot be assured of eternal life, until you enter Heaven!
For a person to be so arrogant as to speculate that God has already found favor in him would be putting his soul in jeopardy or else God would not have said “Salvation is for those that endure to the end”. How do you know if you have endured to the end? You won’t know until that time comes, for it is God who makes the final judgment, not you! We Catholics are accused and ridiculed all the time for not believing we are already saved. We believe we could be, we might be, eventually be saved when we have died. However, will we boast as to being already saved? That would be putting God to one side and taking it upon ourselves to say we are saved, which could be a disaster for us in the end.
“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”— Hebrews 6:4-6
When I was a sinner, I sinned both night and day,
I got dunked, then backslid, and now I never even pray!
Never ever go to Church, now I sin just as much as before,
But I know my place in heaven is still secure!
Really? I hope you like hot weather… extremely hot “weather” for all eternity!
A scorner seeks wisdom, and finds it not: but knowledge is easy to him that understands. Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you perceive not in him the lips of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit. –Proverbs 14:6-8
Another Fundie on Facebook claimed some ignorant things about John 1:1-5 including saying: “Jesus was created by God sometime AFTER the Earth was created.”
New International Version
The Gospel according to John
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
This Fundie totally missed the word ‘He’ in verse 2… “He was with God in the beginning”!
Yet they claim, “Sola Scriptura”
TELL US, DEAR PROTESTANTS, WHO WERE THE CHRISTIANS BEFORE THE LUTHERAN CHURCH –A.D. 1517?
Which churches were Founded BY Humans, not by GOD Himself, and not by Jesus? The Lutheran Church and all the subsequent 45,000 protestant ‘churches’ did not exist before this time. Martin Luther, a German ex-Augustinian monk of the Roman Catholic Church, violated his sacred vows of both obedience and celibacy when he married a Nun.
WHAT BIBLE DID CHRISTIANS READ BEFORE LUTHER?
Martin Luther at first decided to delete books constituting much of the canon of Sacred Scripture. His first edition of the German Bible removed twenty-four books (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Esther, Job, Ecclesiastes, Jonah, Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation. He referred to the Epistle of James as “straw not worthy to be burned in my oven as tinder.” The rest he called “Judaizing nonsense.”
Luther recanted on most of that above and created a brand-new protestant bible by throwing out seven Old Testament books of the Bible he personally didn’t agree with, (Too Catholic) i.e. The Wisdom of Solomon, Tobit (Tobias), Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Judith,1st and 2nd Maccabees, Baruch (with the Letter of Jeremiah as the sixth Chapter) as well as removing non-Apocryphal parts of the Bible: parts of Daniel and Esther. He also added the word “alone” after the word “faith”, in Romans 3:28, (For we account a man to be justified by FAITH, without the works of the law) to make the verse agree with HIS VIEW of WHAT HE THOUGHT it SHOULD HAVE SAID (faith alone). This alteration of sacred scripture directly contradicts James 2:24 (Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only?) This alteration of sacred scripture also directly contradicts Matthew 25:31-46.
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS
Mat 25:31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’…
Matthew 25:40-42 “And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ 41 Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink…”
(I believe you are familiar with the rest) THOSE are a list of ‘WORKS’ as quoted by Jesus Christ Himself!
By what God (ALONE) Right, did Martin Luther obtain the right to start his own church, to toss out seven books of the Holy Bible, parts of Daniel and Esther, and ADD the word “alone” after the word “faith”, in Romans 3:28?
Certainly NOT by God! Nowhere in Luther’s writings does it ever appear that: “An Angel of the Lord appeared unto me, and instructed me to…”
PROTESTANTS AND THE ‘PAID IN FULL’ MYTH
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/protestants-and-the-paid-in-full-myth
So, what some Protestants are saying is that after you are “Saved” you can go ahead and sin, Sin, and SIN all you want, you can just break ALL those Commandments!
Having once declared that Jesus is King and that He died on the Cross to Save Souls.
“It’s OK, Jesus died on the Cross for me, but now I’m already saved,” so I may go about my life as I please!
No way, Jose!
That road leads to HELL, you won’t like it!
Sadly, there are many today who confuse a God of mercy with a “god” of license. They mistakenly believe they can do whatever they desire without eternal consequences on the belief that God is all merciful.
Indeed, God is all merciful. But they fail to realize that mercy and justice are in harmony with one another and are not mutually exclusive. God is all merciful, but God is also all just! A “god” of license is a “god” who is indifferent to justice, which is non-biblical and based upon a lie! It is principally the result of this flawed reasoning, that so many do not avail themselves of this great sacrament of forgiveness! The Sacrament of Reconciliation not only reconciles the penitent with God; but also serves to reconcile God’s mercy with his justice!
May we, as born-again believers continue in goodness, working for the glory of God, never turning back to our foolish worldly ways again!
Psalm 85:8 “I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and TO HIS SAINTS: but LET THEM NOT TURN AGAIN TO FOLLY.”
Did you notice that word “AGAIN”?
Being “saved” is a constant battle between you (with God’s help) and Satan!
According to many Protestant faiths, being Baptized is the final step in their Spiritual Journey, when in truth it is just the beginning, not the end.
Jesus died on the Cross; to ENABLE the forgiveness of Sin, he did not pre-forgive all the sins of the world before they were ever committed… let alone before you were born!
You are “Born Again” by Baptism, and then you live out the rest of your life, you are not “protected” or prevented from ever sinning again! People sin every day, and all those sins count as your one-way ticket to Hell unless you properly Confess those sins and receive the Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in Holy Communion.
“If you believe what you like in the Gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.” –- Saint Augustine
Our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted a specific authority to Peter the future leader of His Church, when He said to him, “Thou art Peter (Rock), and upon this rock, I will build MY Church. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” [Matthew 16:19].
“Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” (John 20:23)
Or was Jesus just saying that to hear Himself talk?
There is nothing GOOD that you can do on Earth, which will guarantee your direct admittance into heaven. Except for:
Being Baptized with water “In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19)
Obeying the Ten Commandments
Receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession)
Receiving Holy Communion as the actual Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ
Doing Good Works for others
Then finally dying in the State of Grace.
(Or) Being Martyred.
You MUST die in the State of Grace to be admitted directly into Heaven! It is the Good things that you should have done (Good Works) including the Bad things that you have done, (Sins) and not following the Ten Commandments that will guarantee your permanent admittance into Hell.
Guess who it was who said: “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.”?
There was nothing recorded in the Bible as to what and how this was to be accomplished, Jesus did not leave the Bible for us, or write the Bible for us, he left the CHURCH for us. He did not explain everything in minute detail, what we could figure out for ourselves or how we should follow Him. He did not create an organization for the administration of His Church. He did not give us all the terminology that we would need or develop the concepts to intrinsically explain Christian Truth.
Jesus thought we were not that STUPID!
Yet apparently some of His people are that stupid, I can give you over forty-five thousand reasons why!
Do you really think EVERYTHING was written down in the Bible? Do you think that someone followed Jesus around and wrote down on papyrus or a clay tablet every utterance that Jesus said, just as he said them? The Gospels and all the other Books of the Bible concerning the Life and Death of Jesus were written much LATER from people’s memories and the stories that were told about Him. That is why we have FOUR different versions of the Gospels; it is what those different Gospel writers remembered and thought it important enough to write down. It is likely that some of what was written down must have been lost, due to Persecutions, fires, floods, etc. before it had a chance to be added to the Bible when it was assembled in A.D. 325.
(BTW: Ask any police officer who has interviewed several witnesses to a crime or accident, many of the witness statements do not agree on all the details, which are still FRESH in their memories!)
Remember that part of the Bible that said: John 20:30 “Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
”Ephesians 1: 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation, in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your heart enlightened that you may know what the hope is of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us, who believe according to the operation of the might of his power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, raising him up from the dead and setting him on his right hand in the heavenly places. 21 Above all principality and power and virtue and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. 22 And he hath subjected all things under his feet and hath made him head over all the church, 23 Which is his body and the fullness of him who is filled all in all.
2 Corinthians 3:3 Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written: not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God: not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart. 4 And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God. 5 Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God. 6 Who also hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament, not in the letter but in the spirit. For the letter killeth: but the spirit quickeneth.
PURGATORY - CATHOLIC 101:
What is purgatory? Fr. Reginald Martin writes: “Our belief in purgatory is based on a passage from 2 Maccabees, in which the Jewish hero, Judas Maccabeus, orders prayers and sacrifices for slain patriots, that their sins might be forgiven.”
2 Maccabees 12:43-46
46 And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection,
44 (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,)
45 And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them.
46 It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
Listing foundational Biblical Scriptures for Purgatory:
The belief in Purgatory is indeed BIBLICAL: 1 Corinthians 3:15 “Saved through Fire”.
(1.) 15 If any mans work burn, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
Hebrews chapter 11 which references 2 Maccabees.
(2.) Matthew 12:32
(the “age to come” cannot be either heaven or hell, because forgiveness cannot be received in either place as both are final places)
(3.) 2 Timothy 1:16-18:
“May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, [17] but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me – [18] may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day – and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.” (Onesiphorus is dead - so why is St Paul praying for him? Because there’s the belief that the dead need our prayers for God’s mercy.)
(4.) Matthew 5:25-26
Both the Catholic and Orthodox churches have the Tradition of praying for the dead. Again, this is where Catholics and Orthodox rely on Sacred Tradition.
The Bible is the written Word of God, and Sacred Tradition is the oral Word of God, not found in Scripture, but taught by the Apostles.
“Purgatory is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace, are not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions.”
In other words, God has forgiven them, but they have not received justice for their sins, and/or they have not perfectly detached themselves from their sins.
Purgatory is not a pleasant place! It is very much like Hell, but still, there is Hope in Purgatory. There is no hope in hell.
Prayers for the souls in Purgatory provide for strength and sustenance.
Catholics pray for the souls to be purified in Purgatory. Our Prayers send sustenance. They are “fed” by our prayers.
Every soul in Purgatory is in anguish! “I am separated from God! I am separated from my family and friends. I am starving.” If Purgatory did not exist to remove the stain of sin from imperfect souls, the only alternative would be Hell. Therefore, Purgatory is a necessary place of expiation.
All personal sin carries two consequences: blame (which, in the case of mortal sin, destroys sanctifying grace and leads to Hell) and temporal punishment warranted by the offense to God. Although Confession frees us from blame and part of the punishment, we must still make additional reparation to God. In this life, this can be done through prayer, Mass intentions, giving of alms, penance, and acquiring indulgences. One who dies in a state of venial sin or without sufficient reparation goes to Purgatory.
Purgatory allows for the cleansing of unforgiven sin that you die with that is on your soul, but it is sin that is not grievous enough to send you to Hell. Purgatory cleanses our soul in order to enter into Heaven in the State of Grace to meet God.
The word “Purgatory” does not appear anywhere in the Bible. But does that mean Purgatory is not a “biblical concept”? No. Just because something is not explicitly mentioned in Scripture does not mean it isn’t scriptural. The primary example of that: the word “Trinity” never appears in the Bible either; yet the Trinity is indeed a biblical concept.
‘Sola Scriptura’ is NOT in the BIBLE! Neither is ‘‘Alter Call’, ‘Rapture’, nor ‘Eternal Security’ but Protestants believe in those things! Some Protestant Churches have built their whole religious teachings around having a ‘personal relationship with God’, you won’t find anything about that in the Bible either. It is not a bad idea, but you won’t find it mentioned in the Bible, and it won’t save you!
Eternal Security is the doctrine that simply states, “Once saved, always saved (OSAS). This false doctrine teaches that once a person has been born again by trusting in Jesus as his personal Savior, i.e., “saved”, he can never be eternally lost, i.e., go to hell after his life has ended, no matter how far that person may backslide or live and die in unconfessed sin after his initial belief in Christ. Eternal security claims that one act of faith in Christ at some time in a person's life guarantees heaven for them forevermore, no matter how insincere the person was when they
claimed their “Saved” status.
“Insincerity” is one of the reasons the practice of “Altar Calls” is being abandoned, too many people called to the Altar are never seen again!
Jesus may not have mentioned every possible thing, nor was everything he said written down. Jesus did not pre-forgive your sins when He died on the Cross, that is a Protestant heresy. He made the Forgiveness of Sin POSSIBLE! Otherwise, we could do all the evilest of sins for our entire life and go right to Heaven! That is NOT what God wants, He wants you to NOT sin, but He has instituted Confession to make the Forgiveness of Sin POSSIBLE, it is NOT automatic!
Purgatory washes away any unforgiven sin that is still staining your soul when you die, so you can enter Heaven purified of sin.
“Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.”
From the beginning, the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead. (CCC 1032)
Ephesians 6:18 Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE ON PURGATORY #1 – There is punishment for sin even after one has received forgiveness. Not every sin is Confessed or Forgiven, nor do people usually die immediately after being cleansed and have since sinned again. Do you think that people deserve the everlasting fires of Hell for just one venial (small) sin?
Revelation 21:27 “But nothing unclean shall enter it…” I.E., the New Jerusalem – Heaven.
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE ON PURGATORY #2 – Nothing unclean, nothing with the stain of sin, will enter Heaven.
Heb 12:22-23 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living god, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect…”
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE ON PURGATORY #3 – There is a way, a process, through which the spirits of the just are “made perfect”.
1 Cor 3:13-15 “…each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day [The Final Judgment Day] will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation [Jesus Christ] survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
Where is this place that a man, after he dies, suffers loss, as through fire, but is still saved?
It cannot be Hell – No, once you’re in Hell, you don’t get out. Heaven – No, you don’t suffer loss in Heaven. Hmmm…must be somewhere else!
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE ON PURGATORY #4 – there is a place in the afterlife other than Heaven or Hell.
Let’s summarize these four principles: There is punishment for sin even after one has received forgiveness. Nothing unclean - nothing with the stain of sin - will enter Heaven. There is some way, or process, by which the spirits of the just are made perfect. And there is a place besides Heaven or Hell where you can suffer loss, after you die, as through fire, yet still be saved.
These principles, when taken together, make an extraordinarily compelling case for Purgatory, straight from the Bible.
We as Catholic Christians are encouraged to Pray for the Dead. Praying to assist one who is already in heaven is unnecessary, as they are already in heaven, and praying for someone in hell is useless, as they are beyond any and all help. Therefore, praying to help one to be released from purgatory is the only possible answer. We of the Church Militant do not and cannot know where our deceased loved ones are at any time, whether they are in Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory, so when we pray for our loved ones for the Repose of their Soul in Purgatory, all of our miss-directed prayers go to all the other faithfully departed people who are suffering in Purgatory.
THE “COMMON SENSE” CHRISTIAN VIEW OF PURGATORY
Those who are not yet perfected here in this lifetime on Earth. Yet, when we enter Heaven, we must be perfected. So, between the time we die imperfect here on Earth but do not deserve Hell, and the time we enter Heaven perfect, something has to happen to “purge” us of our imperfections. Call that whatever you want, but Catholics call it Purgatory.
“And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”
https://www.biblechristiansociety.com/purgatory/
1 Peter 3:18-20 (RSVCE) states,
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
In the Bible, ‘prison’ represents a place in which occupants undergo punishment for a fixed period of time. Consider Psalm 107:10-20. It describes prisoners who had “rebelled against the word of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High.” They suffered affliction because of their iniquities and loathed spiritual food. But they cried to the Lord, and He “healed them and delivered them from destruction”.
Purgatory or “Prison” allows for the cleansing of unforgiven sin that you die with that is on your soul, but it is sins that are not bad enough to send you to Hell. Purgatory cleanses our soul in order to enter into Heaven in the State of Grace to meet God.
The Jews typically referred to the abode of the damned as Gehenna, or as in 2nd Peter the Greek word ‘Tartarus’, also translated as “hell.” This is the only place that this Greek term appears in the Bible. Tartarus is a Greek term for “dark abode of woe”; or “the pit of darkness in the unseen world.”, what we typically mean by Hell. They referred to the abode of the justified dead as Abraham’s Bosom, where the righteous dead awaited the Redeemer. Therefore, the Jews believed Hell/Hades/Sheol consisted of two compartments, Gehenna, and Abraham’s Bosom, or what we Catholic Christians call Limbo.
Limbo is where people go who do not deserve Hell, nor Heaven because they were not properly Baptized, yet some Protestants would prevent a child from being Baptized as a child… and deny them entry into Heaven if they died as an unbaptized child! That is an EVIL and WICKED thing that they do!
Saint Augustine (354-430) on Baptism: “Who is so wicked as to want to exclude infants from the kingdom of heaven by prohibiting their being baptized and born again in Christ?” “This [infant baptism] the Church always had, always held; this she received from the faith of our ancestors; this she perseveringly guards even to the end”.
God in His infinite wisdom can and will (rarely) grant Heaven to those who by their actions, have merited Heaven on an individual case-by-case basis. Think of the Good Thief on the cross next to Jesus.
All the Good People who died before Jesus’ death on the Cross, DID NOT, COULD NOT enter into Heaven! Their soul had to go somewhere! Where did they go? Abraham’s Bosom or Limbo –because they neither deserved Hell or went into Purgatory until they were released into Limbo or Abraham’s Bosom while waiting for Jesus.
PURGATORY IN THE BIBLE –Luke 12:47-48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YesD9TjrUes
47 That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. 48 But one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.
Jesus’s parable here in Luke chapter 12 gives us one of the clearest scriptural foundations for the fact that heaven and hell are not the only eschatological options when it comes to judgment, there’s also a third area, or a third realm which is a temporary punishment for sin that doesn’t exclude one ultimately from God’s Kingdom but has to be undergone before you can enter into the joy of the Masters household.
See also: 2 Maccabees 12:39-46, 2 Timothy 1:18, Matthew 5:24-25, Matthew 12:32, Luke 23:43, 1 Corinthians 3:11–3:15, Hebrews 12:29, Revelation 21:27, Habakkuk 1:13
OUR LADY OF FATIMA REFERRED TO PURGATORY BY NAME!
In 1917, at Fatima, Our Lady told Lucia that a girl who had recently died would be in Purgatory until the end of the world.
…Until the end of the world!
From Catholic Answers Is Purgatory in the Bible?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI_wDopUaQw
“A soul in Purgatory once told Venerable Stanislaus that all the fires of the earth are like a refreshing breeze compared to the fires of Purgatory.”
“There are many terrifying punishments in Purgatory, it is the place between Heaven and Hell. Here are five of them, told to us by the saints! Before we begin, I want to note that in Purgatory, the soul is separated from the body. But for their purification, God can make the souls in Purgatory experience the bodily sensations I’m about to describe.” Watch to learn more! https://americaneedsfatima.org/video/5-horrific-punishments-in-purgatory#main
RAPTURE… IT IS NOT IN THE BIBLE
The fact that John Nelson Darby invented the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine around A.D. 1830. is unquestionably true. All attempts to find evidence of this wild doctrine before 1830 have failed, with a single exception: Morgan Edwards wrote a short essay as a college paper for Bristol Baptist College in Bristol England in 1744 where he confused the second coming with the first resurrection of Revelation 20 and described a “pre-tribulation” rapture. However, Edward's ideas, which he admitted were brand new and never before taught, had no influence on the modern population of the false doctrine. That prize to goes to Darby. The concept of the Rapture, where believers are taken to heaven at the end of the world, is often associated with mainstream Christian doctrine. However, it’s primarily a part of specific evangelical and fundamentalist teachings, not universally accepted among all Christians.
Before 1830, no church taught it in their creed, catechism, or statement of faith.
CATHOLIC OLD TESTAMENT (46 BOOKS)
There are sixty-eight times writers of the New Testament quote from those seven books that Luther tossed out.
These are the Deuterocanonical books; they are missing from most non-Catholic Bibles and are those that are tossed out, using his “Committee of ONE”.
1. The Wisdom of Solomon, 2. Tobit (Tobias), 3. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), 4. Judith, 5. 1st Maccabees, 6. 2nd Maccabees, 7. Baruch (with the Letter of Jeremiah as the sixth Chapter) as well as parts of Daniel and Esther.
Protestants also made other changes to the New Testament text which, like the Old Testament, they made omissions and additions, when the original versions conflicted with their beliefs. First, they edited – bowdlerized - butchered the Holy Bible, then they claimed “Sola Scriptura”
Hmmm… so much for Sola Scriptura!
John 6. Where Sola Scriptura gets thrown out the window. Not even Martin Luther wasn't that dumb.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2015/09/luther-espoused-eucharistic-adoration.html
THE DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS...
Jesus quotes from them. Paul quotes from them. John quotes from them. To say those books are wrong or should not be part of the Holy Bible Scripture, you would then have to admit Jesus is wrong for quoting from them. Is that a stance anyone would want to take? I don’t think so. Since I know no one will take my word for it, here are a few of those verses and the books they are quoting from. Thus, validating the legitimacy of the Books and passages that Luther tossed out.
Source #1:
Matthew 6:19-20 Jesus’ statement about laying up treasure in Heaven follows Sirach 29:11
Matthew 16:18 Jesus’ reference to the “power of death” and “gates of Hades” references Wisdom 16:13
Matthew 24:15 The “desolating sacrifice” Jesus refers to is taken from 1 Maccabees 1:54 and 2 Maccabees 8:17
Mark 4:5, 16-17 Jesus’ description of seeds falling on rocky ground and having no root follows Sirach 40:15
Mark 9:48 Jesus’ description of hell where “worm does not die and fire is not quenched,” references Judith16:17
Luke 21:24 Jesus’ words “fall by the edge of the sword” follows Sirach 28:18
Acts 17:29 Paul’s description of false gods as like gold and silver made by men follows Wisdom 13:10
James 1:19 James’ instruction that every man should be “quick to hear and slow to respond” follows Sirach 5:11
Romans 9:21 Paul’s reference to the potter and the clay making two kinds of vessels follows Wisdom 15:7
James 5:3 James’ teaching about silver that rusts and laying up one’s true treasure follows Sirach 29:10-11
There you go my Protestant brothers, ten of the sixty-eight. Let’s put this nonsense to bed and admit the seven books that Luther took out, should be in your Bible. After all, they were part of the Bible for over 1,200 years before Luther. Jesus quotes from them, that’s good enough for me. You better have some really good reasons why it’s not good enough for you too.
Source #2: The New Testament contains quotes from, and allusions to, other literature. Some sources identify as many as 132* such influences. A question sometimes raised is whether Deuterocanonical books have influenced the New Testament. *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-canonical_books_referenced_in_the_Bible
1. WHAT ARE THE DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS?
The Deuterocanonical books are seven documents that appear as canonical Scripture in the Old Testament of Catholic Bibles.
The Book of Tobit was written between 225 and 175 B.C. It was composed in either Hebrew or Aramaic, as fragments in each language were found at Qumran. (See 4Q Tob.) The oldest complete copies of the text exist in Greek. See Codex Sinaiticus.
The Book of Judith was written around 100 B.C. Linguistic analysis suggests that it was probably composed in Hebrew or in Aramaic, but there is no direct evidence to confirm it. The oldest manuscripts are in the Greek Septuagint: Codex Alexandrinus.
1 Maccabees was written about 100 B.C. Linguistic analysis suggests that it was probably written in Hebrew. The oldest text is to be found in the Greek Septuagint: Codex Alexandrinus.
2 Maccabees was written about 150–100 B.C. It was probably written in the Greek version which can be seen in the Septuagint: Codex Alexandrinus.
The Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon) was written in the first century B.C. It was probably composed in the Greek version which can be seen in the Septuagint: Codex Vaticanus.
The Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) was written about 175–120 B.C. It was preserved in a Greek Septuagint version. (See Codex Sinaiticus.) However, it was probably originally written in Hebrew, as around 2/3 of a Hebrew version has been recovered from Qumran, Masada, and the Cairo Genizah. (See Bensira.org.)
The Book of Baruch was written about 200–100 B.C. It was probably written in Hebrew, as a Hebrew fragment of Chapter Six (the Letter of Jeremiah) was discovered at Qumran. (See 7Q2.)
In the following sections, we will look at possible examples of where the content of these Deuterocanonical texts may have influenced New Testament documents. However, there are wide differences of opinions between scholars about this matter.
2. THE BOOK OF TOBIT
Examples of New Testament texts which may have been influenced by Tobit:
2A Matthew 7:12 - ‘Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
’Tobit 4:15 - ‘Do to no one what you yourself hate.’
2B Matthew 22:25–26 - ‘There were seven brothers… The first married and died and, having no descendants, left his wife to his brother. The same happened with the second and the third, through all seven.’
Tobit 7:11 - ‘I have given her in marriage to seven husbands who were kinsmen of ours, and all died on the very night they approached her.’
2C Acts 10:31 - ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your almsgiving remembered before God.’ [So Peter is sent to baptize Cornelius.]
Tobit 4:10 - ‘For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps one from entering into Darkness.’
2D Revelation 8:3 - ‘Another angel…was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones.’
Tobit 12:12 - ‘When you, Tobit, and Sarah prayed, it was I [the angel] who presented the record of your prayer before the Glory of the Lord.’
3. THE BOOK OF JUDITH
Examples of New Testament texts which may have been influenced by Judith:
3A Matthew 9:36 - ‘For… they were… like sheep without a shepherd’ Judith 11:19 - ‘You will drive them like sheep that have no shepherd…’
Both texts may be influenced by 1 Kings 22:17 (‘I see all Israel scattered… like sheep without a Shepherd’).
3B Luke 1:42 - ‘Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’
Judith 13:18 - ‘Blessed are you, daughter… above all the women on earth.’
Both texts may be influenced by Judges 5:24 (‘Most blessed of women is Jael’).
3C 1 Corinthians 2:11 - ‘Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person… ? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.’
Judith 8:14 - ‘You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or grasp the workings of the human mind; how then can you fathom God…’
4. THE BOOKS OF MACCABEES
Examples of New Testament texts which may have been influenced by Maccabees:
4A James 2:23 - ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’1 Maccabees 2:52 - ‘Was not Abraham found faithful in trial, and it was credited to him as righteousness?’
Both texts may be influenced by Genesis 15:6 (‘Abram put his faith in the Lord who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness’).
4B Hebrews 11:35 - ‘Women received back their dead through resurrection. Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection.’
2 Maccabees 7:1, 7, 8, 13–14, 20 - ‘It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured… After the first brother had died… they asked him, “Will you… [give in] …” He said “Never…” The fourth brother… said… “It is my choice to die at the hands of mortals, with the hope that God will restore me to life.” … Most admirable… was the mother who, seeing her seven sons perish… bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.’
5. THE BOOK OF WISDOM
We know that the Book of Wisdom was popular in the Early Church. It appears on the oldest list of Canonical Books, the Muratorian Fragment (c. 170 CE). It was also quoted more than 340 times in the third century, and 930 times in the fourth century.
(See The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity, Appendix, p. 412.)
Possible examples of influence might include:
5A Matthew 2:16 - ‘Herod… ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem…’
Wisdom 11:7 - [a prophecy] ‘as a rebuke to the decree for the slaying of infants…’
5B Matthew 27:43 - ‘He trusted in God; let him deliver him... For he said, “I am the Son of God.”
‘Wisdom 2:18 - ‘If the righteous one is the son of God, God will help him and deliver him.’
Both texts may be influenced by Psalm 22:9 (‘He relied on the Lord, let him deliver him’).
However, the Early Church did in fact read Wisdom 2:12–20 as a Messianic prophecy of Christ’s passion, so it could well have influenced the text of the Passion narrative.
5C Luke 2:7 - ‘She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.’
Wisdom 7:4 - ‘In swaddling clothes and with constant care I was nurtured.’
5D John 5:18 - ‘[Jesus]… also called God his own father.’
Wisdom 2:16 - ‘[The righteous one] … boasts that God is his father.’
5E Romans 1:19–22 - ‘For what can be known about God is evident… Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes … have been able to be understood and perceived… As a result, they have no excuse… While claiming to be wise, they became fools.’
Wisdom 13:1 - ‘Foolish by nature were all who were in ignorance of God, and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing the one who is, and from studying the works did not discern the artisan.’
5F Romans 9:21 - ‘Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one?’
Wisdom 15:7 - ‘The potter… fashions out of the same clay both the vessels that serve for clean purposes and their opposites... As to what shall be the use of each vessel… the worker… is the judge.’
Both texts may be influenced by references to potters and clay in Jeremiah 18:6 or Isaiah 29:16.
5G Hebrews 1:3 - ‘[The son] … is the refulgence of his [God’s] glory, the very imprint of his being, … who sustains all things by his mighty word.’
Wisdom 7:26 - ‘For she [Wisdom] is the reflection of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness.’
6. THE BOOK OF SIRACH
6A Matthew 6:14 - ‘If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.’
Examples of New Testament texts which may have been influenced by Sirach:
Sirach 28:2 ‘Forgive your neighbor the wrong done to you; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.’
6B Matthew 7:16 - ‘By their fruits you will know them.’
Sirach 27:6 - ‘The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had.’
6C Matthew 11:29 - ‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…’Sirach 51:26 - ‘Take her [Wisdom’s] yoke upon your neck; that your mind may receive her teaching.’
6D Mark 4:6 and 16 [Parable of the Sower] - ‘It was scorched and withered for lack of roots… These are the ones sown on rocky ground.’
Sirach 40:15–16 - ‘…for the root of the godless is on sheer rock… They are like reeds, withered before all other plants.’
6E Luke 1:52 - ‘He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.’
Sirach 10:14 - ‘God overturns the thrones of the proud and enthrones the lowly.’
6F James 1:19 - ‘Everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak…
’Sirach 5:11 - ‘Be swift to hear, but slow to answer.’
6G 1 Peter 4:8 - ‘Love covers a multitude of sins.’
Sirach 3:30 - ‘Almsgiving atones for sins.’
7. THE BOOK OF BARUCH
Examples of New Testament texts which may have been influenced by Baruch:
7A Matthew 8:11 - ‘Many will come from the east and the west…’
Baruch 4:37 - ‘Here come your children…gathered in from east to west.’
7B John 1:14 - ‘And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.’
Baruch 3:38 - [Wisdom] ‘has appeared on earth and is at home with mortals’.
7C John 3:13 - ‘No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven.’
Romans 10:6 - ‘... “Who will go up to heaven?” (that is to bring Christ down).’
Baruch 3:29 - ‘Who has gone up to the heavens and taken… [wisdom], bringing her down from the clouds?’
7D 1 Corinthians 10:20 - ‘[They sacrifice] to Demons, not to God.’
Baruch 4:7 - ‘… you provoked your Maker with sacrifices to demons and not to God.’
All of these texts may be influenced by similar ideas in
Deuteronomy 32:17 (‘They sacrificed to demons, to no-gods…’).
Over the centuries Catholic and Protestant polemicists have argued about these matters. However, if it is impossible to determine whether the Deuterocanonicals influenced the New Testament, then that restricts what the polemicists can conclude. It means that Catholic polemicists cannot prove the canonical validity of the Deuterocanonicals, by claiming that they are accredited through their use by other New Testament documents. It also means that Protestant polemicists cannot disprove the canonicity of the Deuterocanonicals by claiming that they do not influence New Testament writers, or that New Testament writers do not approve of, or otherwise make use of, Deuterocanonical books.
This is what Protestants say that they believe, so WHY are the Protestant “bibles” MISSING certain Books, Chapters, Verses, and Passages and have all these Changes and Omissions?
Or do they REALLY believe in Sola Scriptura?
Why use LATIN?
The first Pope to celebrate the liturgy and write Church documents in Latin rather than Greek was Saint Pope Victor I, sometime between the years 189 to 199 when he helped normalize Latin in the Church and theology.
What most people do not understand is that in the Middle Ages, Latin was the common language. Everyone who could read had to know Latin. All higher education was in Latin. Around the year 1800 publication of scientific and medical books in Latin the international language of scholarship, religion, and science since the Roman Empire— diminished, if it did not entirely cease. Sir Isaac Newton’s “Principia” was published in 1687, which explained the Laws of Motion was written in Latin. Even today, doctors write prescriptions in Latin and any pharmacist in the world can understand it regardless of what his own language was. That is the UNIVERSAL aspect of Latin that has diminished with time. Latin is one of the great legacies of the Roman Empire, influencing languages across Europe and giving us scientific, medical, and legal terms that heretofore had been thought perfectly fitting.
Just because Latin is no longer the universal language it once was, does not mean it was ever wrong to use it, even today.
(Just as all the International Commercial Airline pilots and the International Air Traffic Flight Control operators the whole world over are required to speak and communicate with each other in ENGLISH with a certain high level of English proficiency, to be able to fly an International Flight, or to work in International Air Traffic Flight Control facilities. “All pilots flying internationally are required to learn some English.
It’s called Aviation English, and it’s the lingua franca of the friendly skies. The International Civil Aviation Organization first recommended that all pilots flying internationally learn some English in 1951, and required testing was later implemented. The rationale behind pilots and air traffic controllers across the world being able to understand one another is self-evident — communication is key, whether on the ground or in the air — and even native English speakers are required to take the test. Operation Level 4 is the minimum level pilots must reach, and level six is the highest.”)
The Catholic Church discontinued almost all usage of Latin as used in the Services of the Church by 1969.
https://www.answers.com/Q/How_was_it_having_the_service_in_Latin_before_the_Vatican_II
There is currently a movement in the Church to reinstitute many of the "reforms" that VATICAN II changed, including returning to using Latin.
However, due to Catholicism being the Universal Church and practiced all over the world by speakers of hundreds of different languages, all Official Papal documents are still written in Latin, the Universal language of the Church.
Papal Encyclicals are official documents written by the Pope to address a particular moral or doctrinal concern. Their name is determined by the first two words of the Latin text because Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church. This is the same reason all physicians throughout the world use Latin, so any other physician in the world can understand.
PROTESTANTS FALSELY CLAIM THAT THEY WERE THE FIRST TO PUBLISH THE BIBLE IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE PEOPLE.
Luther’s bowdlerized (Dictionary definition: To remove words or parts from a book, play, or film that are considered to be objectionable) German translation ‘Protestant Bible’ came out in 1520 A.D. and before Luther’s Bible, the Catholic Bible had been translated into Bohemian, Danish, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, and Spanish, there was exactly 104 editions in Latin: 38 editions in German language, 25 editions in Italian language, and 18 in French. In all, 626 editions of the Catholic Bible with 198 in the language of the laity, had been edited before the first Protestant Bible was sent forth into the world. The first English language Bible manuscripts were produced 140 years prior in the 1380s by John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian. However, the Wycliffe version had many errors in his English version. His errors threatened the souls of readers. Wycliffe supervised many unauthorized Middle English versions of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate. All these translations included the Deuterocanonical Books.
In 1525 the Protestant William Tyndale made a Middle English translation of the New Testament. He later revised it in 1535 and 1536 to correct some of his many grievous errors. Remember that the Lutherans –1517, Anabaptists –1520, Swiss Reformed –1523, and Mennonite –1525 Protestant churches were in existence when Tyndale started his translation, then later in 1534 Henry the Eighth formed the Anglican Church, only 17 years after the original “Reformation”.
They ALL made war with each other and with the Catholic Church, killing each other and burning each other’s churches, yet according to the Protestants he “escaped” Catholic persecution in England and fled to another CATHOLIC country in the Flemish territory of the Catholic Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1535 Tyndale was arrested and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde (Filford) outside of Brussels for over a year. Tyndale died not for the right to read the Bible as many Protestants arrogantly claim. He was put to death by the Civil judges of King Henry VIII of of English Protestant Reformation, for “doctrines subversive to Law and Order”, which the Protestant, Dr. James Gardiner said “was intended to produce an ecclesiastical and social revolution of a most dangerous character…”
William Tyndale was executed for the charge of “Heresy” by the order of the Protestant King of England Henry VIII in October 1536.
Between 1582 and 1610 the English language Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible was completed. It is an English translation of the Bible provided by the Catholic Church with margin notes explaining the translation from Hebrew, Greek, and Vulgate texts.
In 1611 the King James translation of the Bible was completed. It used five different English texts including the “Great Bible” and the “Bishops Bible” and Tyndale’s translations, the Textus Receptus Greek translation, and the Hebrew Masoretic texts as sources. It was purposely written to provide smooth, flowing, and poetic-sounding English.
This translation still included the Deuterocanonical Books of 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Wisdom, Baruch, Sirach, Tobit, and Judith. In 1769 the Deuterocanonical Books were dropped after the revision by an Oxford Professor. In 1826, these books were removed from all Protestant Bibles, because it was CHEAPER to publish the Bible without them.
SOME OF THE LIES ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAVE BEEN REPEATEDLY TOLD FOR GENERATIONS!
In about 2020 during a Protestant Church Service that I attended with a friend; they were griping about Catholics PREACHING in Latin! We have not PREACHED in Latin for many, many hundreds of years!
This was not the first time that I heard those same lies at that same Protestant Church service!
Why were they repeating that same sermon again, as if there was no other subject to talk about, or were they addressing it all just to me??
They also believe that in the Church, the Priest reads the Gospel and the other Bible Readings using LATIN. It has not been that way for around five hundred years ago, back when Latin was generally spoken and understood!
However, since then, Preaching and Bible Readings have always been in the language of the people.
We have seldom used Latin at all, for around 45 years! Some of the regularly said Mass prayers and several songs were previously in Latin, but the prayers were said at each, and every Church Service and the interpretation was readily available in the Mass Book, which every Catholic carried to Church and used, the English was written on the page opposite the Latin text! Some of the songs were sung in Latin at High Mass, with the English text also readily available. We were NOT, as some ignorant Protestants would have you believe, “Blathering in Gibberish”!
However, we still say the ‘Kyrie’ which contains only four words in Latin and sometimes sing the Agnus Dei.
What would be the use of using a language unknown to those in hearing, in trying to preach and recite Bible Readings during Mass? It would be as useless as an English-only speaker going to a Spanish Language Service, which we have for our Spanish speakers who have difficulty with or don’t speak English, (as 28% of all parishes do in the USA, many of the other parishes do not have Spanish services, sometimes because there is a “Spanish speaking” Church nearby), Other local churches can say Mass in whatever is the language of the people that they serve.
It was optional to say the Mass completely in the vernacular as early as 1906.
These Protestants are completely ignorant of their criticism of what they believe as to the current customary practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church! The misinformation being told in the Protesters’ “churches” is beyond credibility!
Do they ever get into the proverbial faces of other Protestant ‘faiths’ criticizing them to no end? Or do they only have an unwavering and unmitigated contempt and prejudice against anything Catholic? I can think of more than a few Totally Non-Biblical ‘beliefs’ of some of the Protestant “churches”!
But do you know what? I have NEVER heard a Catholic Priest or Deacon EVER criticize Protestant beliefs and practices unless he was challenged, only then he will respond.
Priests don’t stoop that low! However, we in the Laity will respond to the Protestant’s ignorance and lies!
The Protestants criticize what they know NOTHING about! They have never even been to a Catholic Mass! Many Catholic Churches now broadcast their Mass Services on the Web.
For Catholics to try to correct all this misinformation is like herding cats!
Debunking 10 Misconceptions about Catholicism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc6Os54hGg0
5 Richest Religious Organizations in The World https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3431435427090092
WE CHRISTIANS ARE TO WELCOME SINNERS, BUT WE ARE NOT TO CONDONE OR “CELEBRATE” THEIR SINS!
All are welcome on Christ’s terms, not yours, you are to leave your agenda at the door.
“Loving the Sinner” is not “Love” if you are standing by and “supporting” or enabling the sin of a sinner and allowing that person a one-way express ticket to hell.
It is also NOT “Love the sinner and Love the sin” as some would have you believe by their actions.
We are not to enable wrong-headed thinking! –If you had a young child who insisted on running away from home, would you help pack their bags for them, drive them to the bus station, then give them money for lunch and the bus ticket, then just go home and forget you ever had a child?
Jesus commands us to welcome sinners into our churches, however, He never said that we are to encourage and ‘celebrate’ sin, let alone make openly practicing sinners our Church Leaders. He commanded the sinner to “Go and sin no more”. We are not called to allow those who live in grave sin to receive Holy Communion. It is: “Love the sinner, but hate the sin” –St. Augustine of Hippo, A.D. 354 –430
Should we create a list of sins and crimes that we openly allow, encourage, and “Celebrate” as committed by our parishioners and Church Leaders? Are we supposed to assist the thief in hauling out our brand-new church organ to his waiting truck, while we allow him to carry out Sunday’s Collection proceeds?
Yet, some so-called “churches” allow unrepentant and practicing openly gay ministers and bishops!
For example, the Council of Trent teaches: “[T]he divine law which excludes from the kingdom of God not only the unbelievers, but also the ‘faithful’ who are ‘fornicators, adulterers, effeminate, liers with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, railers, extortioners’ [1 Cor. 6:9], and all others who commit deadly sins, from which with the assistance of divine grace they can refrain and for which they are separated from the grace of God.”
The Catholic Church has strongly spoken against sexual acts such as sodomy from the beginning.
SEE: BIBLE SCRIPTURE AND HOMOSEXUALITY
In the early third century, Tertullian wrote:
“All other frenzies of the lusts which exceed the laws of nature and are impious toward both [human] bodies and the sexes, we banish, not only from the threshold but also from all shelter of the Church, for they are not sins so much as monstrosities.”
So, one would have to change Church doctrine on the Eucharist to allow these people to receive Holy Communion without first repenting and changing their lives!
This is a matter of divine revelation. The truth about eucharistic coherence that must be believed by divine and Catholic faith was articulated by St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians: “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord… For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself” (1 Cor. 11:27—29).
As the Code of Canon Law defines, heresy is “the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith” (canon 751).
Homosexuals, transgenders, and pro-abortion people will go to great lengths to claim that because Jesus never preached anything against their favorite sins, so therefore it must be an acceptable practice. Jesus never directly said much about the Ten Commandments either. Jesus also never mentioned, rape or incest, does that mean that Jesus was in favor of those sins? The Ten Commandments were given by God Himself to Moses, Jesus did not change them! Jesus did not waste time “Preaching to the Choir” things that his Disciples and the Jewish people already knew and have understood, since the time of Moses!
BTW: The reason that you won’t find the word ‘homosexual’ in the Holy Bible is because the word was never coined until 1868.
MYTH: JESUS NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY
“What this means is that every time Jesus affirmed the authority and truth of the Old Testament, he affirmed everything the Old Testament had to say about homosexuality. Hence, we see that at various times, Jesus referred to the Sodom episode knowing full well what it was all about (Matt. 10:14-16; 11:23-25; Lk. 10:11-13; 17:28-32).
Jude 1:7 – “...just as Sodom and Gomor′rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
Of course, you already know the story –Lot and his family escape the city after receiving a warning from several angels that Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding cities are all to be destroyed by fire. It is from Sodom that the cry unto Heaven for vengeance came. (For those who believe the sin of Sodom was about “inhospitality” or “greed,” I welcome an explanation as to why inhospitality or greed is not euphemistically referred to as “Sodomy.”)
“In sum, Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. Jesus affirmed all of the Old Testament as God’s authoritative Word. Jesus rejects sexual immorality as defined by the Law. Jesus defines marriage as the exclusive union of one man and one woman.”
https://caldronpool.com/myth-jesus-never-said-anything-homosexuality/
See also:
JESUS NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY, OR DID HE?
https://www.missionamerica.com/article/jesus-never-said-anything-about-homosexuality-or-did-he/
THE FIRST KNOWN USAGE OF THE WORD “CHRISTIAN”
In Which City Were Followers of Jesus First Called Christians?
The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch, as recorded in Acts 11:26. This name indicated that they were followers of Christ.
New International Version
26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So, for a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
THE FIRST KNOWN USAGE OF THE WORD “CATHOLIC”, THAT WE HAVE, IS FROM THE PEN OF ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, AROUND THE YEAR A.D. 107.
St. Ignatius was sentenced to death by lions in the Coliseum. As he was being escorted to Rome, he wrote a famous series of letters to different Churches.
In his letter to the Church at Smyrna, St. Ignatius wrote:
“Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the Bishop. The celebration of the Eucharist is valid only if the Bishop administers it or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Where the Bishop is, there let the people also be; just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
The fact that St. Ignatius uses the word “Catholic” (He katholike Ekklesia) without the necessity of explaining what he meant because he knew his readers would already understand, has led scholars to believe that the appellation, ‘Catholic Church’, may have already been in general use as early the end of the first century.
St. Justin Martyr, born about A.D. 100, gave explicit written descriptions of the early Catholic Church’s beliefs and its mode of worship. Justin describes the weekly Sunday liturgy as a sacrifice and speaks of the Eucharist as the true body and blood of Christ. He further states that only baptized persons who believe the Church’s teachings and are free of serious sin may receive it.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-justin-martyr-486
St. Evodius was the second bishop of Antioch in modern-day southwestern Turkey, succeeding St. Peter and preceding St. Ignatius of Antioch. He was one of the seventy-two disciples sent out by Jesus in Luke Chapter 10 and is credited with coining the word “Christian.”
Jesus Christ established the Catholic/universal Church—not a book—to be the foundation of the Christian faith
Ephesians 2:20
20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
Ephesians 3:10
10 so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 4:11-15
11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
1 Timothy 3:15
15 if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.
Hebrews 13:7-17
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. 9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings; for it is well for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food, which have not benefited those who observe them. 10 We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. 13 Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. 15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing—for that would be harmful to you.
Where was that BOOK for the first 325 Years? It did not yet exist!
The Catholic church is the universal church that Christ established. It is not limited to just a book.
That book, the Holy Bible was compiled of existing documents by the Roman Catholic Church in A.D. 325. What was used for the first 325 years was written documents from the Apostles and the Oral Traditions, from Jesus and the Apostles.
The term “Real Presence”, when used by Roman Catholics, refers to Christ’s physical presence in the form of the bread and the wine that has been transubstantiated into His literal body and blood.
The Eucharist is not just a symbol. The Eucharist is Jesus himself! The person who holds something contrary to the Catholic faith is materially a heretic. They possess the matter of heresy and theological error.
St. Ignatius (A.D. 50-107) of Antioch, used the Greek word “Katholicos” (universal) to describe the universality of the Church established by Christ. He was a disciple of the Apostle John, and concerning the heretics of his day wrote: “They have abstained from the Eucharist and prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of Our Savior Jesus Christ.”
QUESTION: How do we KNOW that St. Ignatius of Antioch was not following a heretical sect of his day and those he claimed to be heretics were really the “True Church”?
ANSWER: Those heretical sects no longer exist! Yet The Catholic Church still exists! “…I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.
St. Augustine of Hippo was born in a Roman province in 354 when speaking about the Church of Jesus Christ, calls it the Catholic Church 240 times in his writings.
Constantine and the Council of Nicaea
Constantine I (The Great) came to the throne when his father, Constantius, died in 306. After defeating his rivals, Constantine became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire in 324 and is credited with social and economic reforms that significantly influenced medieval society. In 313 his Edict of Milan legally ended the pagan persecution of Christians, and in 325 he used imperial power to bring unity to the church at the Council of Nicaea. He also moved the capital of his empire to Byzantium, renaming it Constantinople in 330. Constantine’s embrace of Christianity eventually led him to be baptized in 337.
Constantine won a great victory on October 28th, 312. Just before The Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine and his troops saw a sign in the sun: “In hoc Signo vinces” is a Latin phrase meaning “In this sign, you will conquer” Constantine’s vision of the Chi Rho before his conversion to Christianity, in 337
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/battle-milvian-bridge
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/constantine
The political backdrop: Constantine’s influence
Many might not realize the extent to which Emperor Constantine played a role in the Council of Nicaea. As the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, some historians claim Constantine had a personal interest in resolving theological disputes that threatened the unity of his empire.
The controversy over Arianism, which questioned the divinity of Jesus Christ, had created significant discord. Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea not only to address these theological issues but also to consolidate his political power. By bringing together bishops from across the empire, he aimed to foster a unified Christian doctrine that would, in turn, stabilize the realm. Thus, the Creed was not just a religious declaration. For Constantine, it was also a tool for political, social, and cultural cohesion.
Western Roman Emperor Constantine I and Eastern Emperor Licinius met in Mediolanum (modern-day Milan) to change policies regarding Christians. The agreement, known as the Edict of Milan, was issued in February 313. Christianity gained legal status and a reprieve from persecution. Sixty-seven years later, Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380.
NO PROTESTANT CAN SHOW THAT THEIR CHURCH WAS FOUNDED BY JESUS CHRIST, YET SCRIPTURE SAYS THERE IS ONLY ONE CHURCH, THE ONE FOUNDED BY CHRIST -- (Matthew 16:18).
Whatever YOUR protestant “church” is, it was invented by men AFTER 1500!
PROOF OF JESUS CHRIST’S EXISTENCE:
Ancient secular and Jewish sources (Flavius, Josephus, and Tacitus) in Judea documented Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.) Tacitus expressly records the death of Jesus Christ and is mentioned as a HISTORICAL person.
The Secular Roman historian Tacitus in A.D. 96 says of the Christians: “But the pernicious superstition, checked for a moment, broke out again, not only in Judaea, the native land of the monstrosity, but also in Rome.”
These people were then Martyred for their belief that Jesus Christ lived, performed miracles and was the Savior and all the ancients predicted his coming in every detail, even Christ’s killers admitted they killed him.
After Tacitus’ record, the Roman Empire was then engulfed by Christianity! That’s the miracle of this historical event that against all the torture and odds Christianity survived and thrived and continues to this day!!
CONTEMPORARY REPORTS THAT SUPPORT THE CRUCIFIXION
Having dealt with the claims against the crucifixion, it would be well to consider the positive evidence given by historians of the period soon after Jesus’ life. There is ample evidence from early Christian writers, but only that from non-Christians are mentioned here, as these authors had no vested interest in Jesus or his crucifixion.
• Tacitus, a Roman historian from the 1st/2nd-centuries, said: ‘[Nero] falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius.’
• Lucian was a 2nd-century satirist and referred to Jesus as, ‘… the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world…’ He denounced the Christians for ‘worshipping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws.’
• Josephus, a 1st /2nd-century Jewish historian, had this to say: ‘[Jesus] was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day’.
• Suetonius refers to Jesus in his political writings.
All these non-Christian writers believed that Jesus Christ lived and died.
https://bib.irr.org/tacitus-suetonius-and-historical-jesus
• Many other references were made that have been lost to us today. Bishop Apapius in the Tenth Century stated: ‘We have found in many books of the philosophers that they refer to the day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.’ He then goes on to list and quote the ancient works, some of which are currently not known (LOST) to modern scholars, likely due to one thousand years of fire, flood, wars, and pestilence.
From Catholicstand.com: There are many references to Christ’s resurrection in prophecies contained in the books of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament the term Messiah, a Hebrew word meaning “anointed”, is synonymous with the term Christ, which is the English translation of the Greek word Christos.
You may be surprised to learn that there are 353 prophecies pertaining to the Messiah, contained in the books of the Old Testament, which are fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
These prophecies include but are not limited to the following:
that he would be born of the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10);
that he would be born from the line of King David (2 Sam. 7:16);
that he would be born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14);
that he would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2);
that he would be born during the fourth kingdom to rule over Israel, which was the Roman Empire (Dan. 2:44-45);
that he would be called out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1);
that a herald would announce his coming, in the person of John the Baptist (Mal. 3:1);
that he would be a miracle worker (Isa. 35:5-6);
that he would make a triumphant entrance into Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Zech. 9:9);
that he would institute a new and eternal covenant (Jer. 31:31);
that he would be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12-13);
that he would die a cruel and agonizing death for the sins of others (Isa. 53:5-12);
that he would rise from the dead on the third day (Hos. 5:15b-16:2); and that he would ascend into heaven (Dan. 7:13-14)!
All of these and more were prophesized, by prophets of the Old Testament, hundreds to well over a thousand years before Christ’s incarnation.
Twelve Old Testament prophecies pertain specifically to Christ’s resurrection.
The one referenced above from the Book of the Prophet Hosea is but one of these prophecies. A couple of other prophecies that refer to his resurrection are: “For you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld nor will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.” (Ps. 16:10); “He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.” (2 Sam. 7:13-14)
Note the change in the behavior of the Apostles from before to after the resurrection.
Before the resurrection, all but John, acted in a cowardly manner at Jesus’ arrest, fleeing the Garden of Gethsemane and in the case of Peter, vehemently denying even knowing Jesus three times. Contrast that with their behavior after the resurrection and their anointing by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. They traveled the known world spreading the Good News of the Gospel to all they met testifying that they were eyewitnesses to Christ’s resurrection. All but John would die a martyr’s death. Three of whom, Peter, Andrew, and Bartholomew would die very cruel and agonizing deaths. And none of them, even in the face of death and torture, recanted their eyewitness testimony to the resurrection.
But the most dramatic conversion of one’s behavior must be reserved for the Apostle Paul. After all, before his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus he was a zealous persecutor of the early Church, and after that encounter, he became his most fearless, hard-working, and zealous evangelist. The common denominator in all these behavioral transformations was their encounter with the risen Christ. This argument is more practical in nature. It deals with the Roman sentries posted at the tomb. The relevant passage of sacred scripture pertaining to this argument comes from Matthew’s Gospel (Matt.27:62-66). The passage refers to the chief priests and the Pharisees having had an audience with Pilate where they requested a Roman guard be placed at the tomb of Christ. This request was made to prevent Jesus’ disciples from stealing his body and then claiming he had been raised from the dead. Pilate granted their request, and a guard of Roman sentries was posted at the tomb as requested.
FROM: https://catholicstand.com/seven-arguments-for-the-historical-resurrection-of-christ-part-i/
DO CATHOLICS “WORSHIP” STATUES AND ICONS OR GRAVEN IMAGES?
Exodus 20:4 - Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image…
Graven Images: Altering the Commandments?
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource/56000/graven-images-altering-the-commandments
Catholics do not pray to wood, metal, and stone!
Exodus 20:4 - Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image… The word means Idol, it is something to be “worshiped” as a being a “god”.
Deut. 5:7 “You shall have no other gods before me.”
(Q.) Who designed the Ark of the Covenant?
ANSWER: GOD Himself!
(Q.) What was on the cover of the Ark?
ANSWER: Cherubim!
(Q.) Are Cherubim “Graven Images” or Holy Images?
ANSWER: HOLY!
God did not instruct the Children of Israel to create Graven Images, nor did they ever “Worship” them!
Exodus 25:17-22 The Ark of the Covenant
17 “Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 18 And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. 19 Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. 20 The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. 21 Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. 22 There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.”
Numbers 21:8-9
And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So, Moses made a bronze serpent...
The phrase “graven image” comes from the King James Version and is first found in Exodus 20:4 in the second of the Ten Commandments. The Hebrew word translated “graven image” means literally “an idol.” A graven image is an image carved out of stone, wood, or metal. It could be a statue of a person or animal or a relief carving on a wall or pole. It is differentiated from a molten image, which is melted metal poured into a cast. The Abstract Asherah poles, carved wooden Ba’als covered in gold leaf, and etchings of gods accompanying Egyptian hieroglyphics are all graven images.
The progression of idolatry in a pagan religion generally starts with the acknowledgment of a power that controls natural forces. The presence of the force is then thought to indwell an object, like a stone, or a place, like a mountain. The next step is altering a naturally occurring object, like a standing stone, a deliberately planted tree, or a carved Asherah pole, and asking the force to indwell it. When the idolatrous culture has had time to contemplate the personality of the ‘god’, they then make corresponding physical images—a statue that looks like a woman or a relief carving that looks like an animal. Graven images can be either of the last two steps.
https://www.gotquestions.org/graven-image.html
There is a biblical difference between worship (Greek: latria) reserved for God alone and respect/veneration (Greek: dulia) given to Saints, humans, and revered objects. We discover how the Catholic Church made this distinction clear and affirmed the veneration of Saints and images in A.D. 787 at the Second Council of Nicaea.
We pray to Jesus, or the Saint in Heaven who is represented by the statue. We pray that the Saint is to advocate to Jesus to grant our needs.
Contemplation of Sacred Icons
"The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a meadow delights the eyes and subtly infuses the soul with the glory of God." Similarly, the contemplation of sacred icons, united with meditation on the Word of God and the singing of liturgical hymns, enters into the harmony of the signs of celebration so that the mystery celebrated is imprinted in the heart's memory and is then expressed in the new life of the faithful. -- CCC 1162
Beautiful sacred images are able to evoke the mystery of God and can be very helpful in the life of prayer:
Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God - the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who "reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature," in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier. -- CCC 2502
Icons and other sacred images are not ends in themselves but are instruments of God's presence and are designed to lead a soul into a closer relationship with God.
Suppose you were away from home for a long time such as in a war and wanted to write a letter back home. Many soldiers in this situation will get out a photo of their loved one that they are writing to and write the letter. Are they writing the letter to the photo or the person the photo represents?
In religious art, symbols are often used to convey complex theological concepts, stories, and beliefs, using statues and images that lift the soul to God. Worshiping God should invoke the best we have to offer, physically as well as spiritually.
Atheists and other idiots love to twist the words of the Holy Bible into things that were never meant, nor ever thought of before around 1500 and later.
SOME OF THE IMPORTANT DOCTRINES OF THE CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH:
The Divinity of Jesus Christ
The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ
We honor Mary Ever Virgin. Here are fourteen quotations from the early Church Fathers testifying to her perpetual virginity. https://www.churchfathers.org/mary-ever-virgin
Mary as mediatrix: the ultimate spiritual guide, leading believers towards the divine through her nurturing presence, example, and intercession. This is of course represented perfectly in Jesus' first miracle at Cana.
Mark 6
There was also no word for “cousins, aunts, or uncles” at that time, so the words ‘brothers and sisters’ were used instead. You must study and learn the History of the times. This is one possible explanation.
If you examine Mark 15:40 and 47 in context it is the best proof for those guys NOT being his brothers, but being his cousins, the same two guys James and Joseph are identified as the sons of another woman also named Mary who later appears in the Gospels at the foot of the Cross. John’s Gospel in Chapter 19:25 identifies that particular Mary as the wife of Clopas. (25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.)
QUOTATIONS FROM FIRST-GENERATION PROTESTANT LEADERS CONCERNING MARY:
“The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart.” –Martin Luther
“Mary is the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ. She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough!” –Martin Luther, Christmas Sermon 1531
“It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of His Son, granted her the highest honor.” –John Calvin
“I esteem immensely the Mother of God, the ever chaste, immaculate Virgin Mary.” –Ulrich Zwingli
“This is not expressly declared in Scripture, but is yet piously believed with human faith from the consent of the ancient church. Thus, it is probable that the womb in which our Savior received the auspices of life (whence he entered into this world, as from a temple) was so consecrated and sanctified by so great a guest that she always remained untouched by man; nor did Joseph ever cohabit with her. - Francis Turretin
Pope Sixtus III (432–440), after the Council of Ephesus in 431 declared Mary to be the Mother of God.
Mary is the Mother of God
Why do Protestants have a problem with this…
Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is 100% God and 100% Man, Jesus is the son of Mary, because He was conceived in her womb, making Mary His Mother, the Mother of God… NOT God the Father, but God the Son!
The most Blessed Virgin Mary is the pinnacle of God’s creation, perfect in all ways, without blemish, and literally full of God’s Grace. God created Mary to be a bridge of perfection between Himself and man. Without Her perfection, there could be no passage from Godhood to humanity. And through Our Lady’s fiat, God became man as our Lord was conceived in Her womb.
At that very moment, our Blessed Lord, who has two natures, was in full presence within the womb of Mary. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. And as God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, He became Man. And once incarnate in the womb of the Most Pure Virgin Mary, He became completely reliant upon Her for life and sustenance. In fact, after He was born, it was the first time in all of human history, a human was able to look DOWN into the face of God.
And in picking up the Christ Child to place Him upon Her knee, our Lady became the Seat of Wisdom.
Ask yourself: “Would the Son of God be conceived in an unclean vessel, stained with even a hint of sin?”
https://matthewsleonard.com/086/
“Him whom the Heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman bore. She ruled our Ruler; she carried Him in whom we are; she gave milk to our Bread.” -- Saint Augustine of Hippo, November 13, 354 - August 28, 430, feast day August 28, Bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430
Catholics don’t worship Mary. It is God alone is worthy of worship. Rather, we honor Mary with the highest honor. Since she was closest to Jesus on earth, she is closest to Jesus in Heaven. She was the perfect follower of Jesus, so imitating her will help us to follow Jesus more faithfully. We ask her to pray for us, just as we might ask our own parents or a friend or a priest to pray for us—and Mary’s prayers are far more effective, for she is far closer to Christ!
Never forget—true devotion to Mary doesn’t lead us away from Jesus, it leads us to Jesus through Mary. We can never honor Mary too much because we can never honor her more than Jesus honors her. Come to Mary—and trust that She will lead you to her Son.
Read more at https://shalomtidings.org/qa-does-our-devotion-to-mary-distract-us-from-god
Why Is Mary So Important to Catholics? Biblical Roots of Marian Devotion | Dr. Brant Pitre
WHAT PROTESTANTS BELIEVE:
Protestants have an overwhelming NEED to criticize everything the Catholic Church teaches and believes.
They will focus on a single passage and take it out of its context to “prove” their misreading of the Bible.
“Whatever the Catholic Church believes or does… we will believe and do the opposite, and we (all 45,000 differing, dissenting, and diametrically opposing Protestant Churches) all disagree with each other too, (that is why there are over 45,000 Protestant Sects!) but we seldom publicly criticize another Protestant Denomination, however, there is something that we can all agree with, we will only browbeat and hate the Catholic Church!”
However, when discussing “what Protestants believe”, one must allow for a wide variety of views concerning all the myriads of variations in Protestant beliefs.
WHAT CATHOLICS BELIEVE:
The Christian Trinity of God the Heavenly Father, God the Son who is Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit. (BTW: The English word spirit comes from the Latin Spiritus, meaning “breath”, but also “spirit, soul, courage, and vigor” Many times in the Holy Bible it talks about the breath of God, or God or Jesus breathes on someone or something.)
Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected and ascended into Heaven. The defense of Traditional Marriage of One Man and One Woman. The defense of the unborn against abortion. The defense of the elderly against euthanasia. “Life must be protected from conception until natural death.”
Infant Baptism: To be “Born Again” you must be Baptized “In the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit”
Baptism is indeed required for salvation. And guess what? The Bible agrees (1 Peter 3:20-21; Titus 3:4-7; John 3:3-5; and elsewhere) Some Protestant faiths do not believe in Infant Baptism, they believe that one must always decide for oneself whether one wants to be Baptized or not, therefore, a person could live out his entire life surrounded by other Baptized Christians and then die from old age having never been Baptized. This extended time to decide is insane!
“Do I want to go to Heaven or Hell? Hmmm… Heaven or Hell? Eternal bliss to delight all the senses, or eternal punishment to assault all the senses? Let’s see, I don’t know, let me think about it some more!”
In Acts 22 (Ananias came to see the newly sighted Saul, and said) 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on his name.
’The Anabaptist tradition wasn’t invented until 1525. When Luther, Zwingli, and others led their movements away from Catholicism, (Whatever it is that Catholics do… we will do the opposite!) many established practices were changed; including infant baptism, the accepted mode for most of Christian history, into Baptizing only adults—that is, people who chose to be baptized—was a radical idea that cut at the heart of both church and state.
Jesus commands us in Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:14, and Luke 18:16 But Jesus, calling them together, said: “Suffer children to come to me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” (Hey, that was just something JESUS said and was reported by THREE Gospel writers of the Holy Bible, therefor it just might be important?)
One cannot enter Heaven without first becoming a Christian by Baptism and becoming a Child of God. Some Protestants would prevent you from spending Eternity with God if you died as an unbaptized child!
THE TRINITY - HOW CAN WE SHOW FROM SCRIPTURE THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD?
The fact that there is only one God was already made clear in the Old Testament. For example, the book of Isaiah proclaims: “You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me” (Is 43:10). “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god” (Is 44:6).
HOW CAN WE SHOW THAT THE FATHER IS GOD?
The Father is proclaimed as God numerous times in the New Testament. For example, St. Paul declares: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Cor 1:3). “There is ... one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:4-6).
HOW CAN WE SHOW THAT THE SON IS GOD?
This is proclaimed in a variety of places in the New Testament, including at the beginning of the Gospel of John:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (Jn 1:1, 14). “Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (Jn 20:27-28).
HOW CAN WE SHOW THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD?
In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is portrayed as a divine Person who speaks and who can be lied to:
“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’” (Acts 13:2). “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? ... You have not lied to men but to God’” (Acts 5:3-4).
HOW CAN WE SHOW THAT THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE SPIRIT ARE DISTINCT PERSONS?
The distinction of the persons can be shown, for example, in the fact that Jesus speaks to his Father. This would make no sense if they were one and the same person. “At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will’” (Mt 11:25-26). The fact that Jesus is not the same Person as the Holy Spirit is revealed when Jesus — who has been functioning as the Counselor (Greek, “Parakletos”) of the disciples — says he will pray to the Father and the Father will given then “another Counselor,” who is the Holy Spirit. This shows the distinction of all three Persons: Jesus who prays; the Father who sends; and the Spirit who comes:
“And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you” (Jn 14:16-17).
HOW CAN WE SHOW THAT THE SON IS GENERATED BY THE FATHER AND THAT THE SPIRIT PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON?
The fact that the Son is generated by the Father is indicated by the names of these Persons. Sons are generated by fathers. The second Person of the Trinity would not be a Son if he were not generated by the first Person as his Father. The fact that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son is reflected in another statement of Jesus: “But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me” (Jn 15:26). This depicts the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son (“whom I shall send”). Here the outward operations of the Persons of the Trinity reflect their mutual relations with each other. It may also be said that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son.
YOU MUST BE ABLE TO DO INFANT BAPTISM, AS THE APOSTLES DID WHEN THEY BAPTISED ENTIRE HOUSEHOLDS!
At that time, and for most of history, several generations of the family lived in the same household.
In Acts chapter 10:48“Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit” Peter preaches to Cornelius who received the Holy Spirit. Then he Baptizes Cornelius and his household.
Acts 11:14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.
In Acts chapter 16:15“The Conversion of Lydia” Paul Baptizes Lydia and her household.
When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.
Acts 16:30-34 Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
Acts 18:8 Crispus, the official of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul became believers and were baptized.
1 Corinthians 1:16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
All these households would likely have infants and older children because the Jews often lived in 2 or 3-generation households.
1 Corinthians 16:15 Now, brothers and sisters, you know that members of the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints;
Acts 2:37-39 Saint Peter said: What shall we do, men and brethren? 38 But Peter said to them: Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is to you, and to your children.
Did those below the age of reason understand the words “repent and be baptized”? NO.
Do infants have anything to repent from? NO, except for Original Sin.
Did the parents of the infants hear that the promise is for them and for their children? YES.
Christ said you must be born again (born from above) of water and spirit in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. ABSOLUTELY!
Is the Kingdom of Heaven the promise? YES.
How can you dare deny your infant’s entrance into the kingdom of heaven? “Baptize the children, and if they can speak for themselves, let them do so. Otherwise, let the parents speak for them.”–Hippolytus of Rome, ca.210
The main problem is that Protestants love to rewrite, edit, and bowdlerize their “Bibles”, and then totally ignore direct quotes from JESUS Himself (printed in RED!) Then take passages out of context.
Then they have the gall to claim that the very first and original Christian Church who WROTE and ASSEMBLED the HOLY BIBLE is “Unbiblical”!
Then they came along over 1,100 YEARS LATER, then they eventually created over FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND differing, dissenting, and diametrically opposing so-called “christian truths” of God!
Protestants believe: “Whatever the Catholic Church believes or does… we will believe and do the opposite, and we all disagree with each other too, however, there is something that we can all agree with, we will only browbeat and hate on the Catholic Church!”
Their only “problem” is with the Catholic Church, and not with each other!
Catholic Stand
COMPREHENDING THE GREAT MERCY AND ESSENTIAL NATURE OF THE GATEWAY SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
Deacon Frank Dec 5, 2023,
The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel records a conversation that God had with the Prophet about a gateway sacrament that would pardon each person’s offences and impart upon them a life of grace. He did so in the sixth century B.C. or nearly six hundred years before the birth of Christ!
God not only described to Ezekiel the action required to effectuate this gateway sacrament, but also described its effects, and just as importantly, what the recipient would be required to do once it was administered.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees (Ezekiel 36: 25-27).
This gateway sacrament is of course the great Sacrament of Baptism. It’s considered the gateway sacrament as it is the first and absolutely essential sacrament to be received prior to one receiving any of the other sacraments of the Church. Importantly, it is through the worthy reception of the sacraments of the Church that the recipient receives sanctifying grace and eternal life with God! Thus, the paramount importance of the Sacrament of Baptism, a gateway into the spiritual life of Christ’s Church!
This biblical passage is but one of many revelations of God’s premeditative plan for our salvation as contained in the various books of the Old Testament. This prophetic utterance concerning the institution of the Sacrament of Baptism would be justified by the sanctifying death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and brought to fruition when he commissioned his disciples, just prior to his ascension, with these words.
All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Mt 28: 18-20).
There are two particularly important and parallel points to make when looking at these two passages side by side. The first deals with the action, element and form that are to be present in the Sacrament of Baptism. All the Church’s sacraments have these three characteristics.
The action in this sacrament is immersing, pouring, or sprinkling water (all these actions are acceptable) upon the person being baptized. The essential element is water. The form is the words expressed by the minister when the water is applied by one of these three methods during the baptism.
The action and the element of this gateway sacrament are both contained in the reading above from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel while the form, or words of institution, is revealed by Jesus to his disciples in the reading above from Matthew’s Gospel. Thus, these two biblical passages provide all the essential characteristics of this great sacrament, namely the action, element, and form required, along with their resulting effect.
The second important and parallel point regarding these two passages is that each of these biblical passages has two parts. The first part of each provides either the structure or form to the Sacrament of Baptism, which we have already discussed, while the second to each concerns the responsibilities the newly baptized must adhere to as a newly initiated disciple of Jesus Christ. Thus, while the Sacrament of Baptism is the initiation into the life of grace with God, it requires an ongoing commitment to live a life worthy of God’s great gift of eternal life!
In the passage from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, God conveyed this when he said:
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees (Ez 36: 25-27).
While in the passage from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus conveys the same message when he told his disciples:
Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Both biblical phrases contain the word “observe”. Here the word observe means to follow, or to adhere to, or to be obedient to. Essentially, God is revealing that to live with him for eternity, we must be baptized as prescribed and henceforth observe, or in other words, to follow all the teachings that Jesus commanded of his disciples.
All Christians, or roughly a quarter of the world’s population have been baptized. But sadly, many of those counted among the baptized do not observe or adhere to the teachings of Jesus. In addition, though the number of baptized is large, it misses the mark by a great order of magnitude! The vast majority of people remain unbaptized. This is a result of a crisis of faith in God in our culture today. We must do better!
What’s urgently needed is a greater evangelization effort that incorporates better catechesis and better apologetics! Poor catechesis for several decades has resulted in ignorance, by many, of even the most basic elements of our faith, paramount among them, the need to be baptized and to live a life of discipleship in Jesus Christ! It’s not an either-or, but rather both are necessary! We are three generations removed from good and comprehensive catechesis! We cannot adequately defend the faith if we don’t first know the faith! Good catechists will breed good evangelists and good apologists, as well as additional good catechists!
Jesus underscores how vitally important it is for one to be baptized when he said to Nicodemus:
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God (Jn 3:5).
Upon reflection, these words of Jesus are quite revealing about the absolute necessity to be baptized. Many would say that baptism can’t possibly be required for one to enter eternal life with God. They would likely submit that it would be patently unfair of God to condemn someone who has never heard of baptism let alone received it. Maybe, as many suppose, God will be merciful when judging those who are unbaptized.
But that seems to fly in the face of Jesus’ words to Nicodemus referenced above. How else should one interpret “Born of Water and Spirit” other than by means of baptism. In any case, every effort should be made to instruct the unbaptized as to the importance for them to receive the regenerative waters of baptism and to embrace the richness of the faith! Their eternal souls may well be at significant risk if they remain unbaptized.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there are three means of receiving baptism, though only one is a sacrament. The principal among them is Baptism by water as described in this article. But two others are also deemed effectual in relatively narrow circumstances. They are the Baptism of Blood and the Baptism of Desire.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer martyrdom for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of Blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament (CCC 1258).
The Catechism goes on to discuss the Baptism of Desire by stating, “For catechumens who die before their baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.” (CCC 1259)
These are two, very narrowly applied exceptions to the Baptism of Water and Spirit that Jesus refers to in John’s Gospel. And these circumstances are only effectuated by one’s predisposition, as noted above, immediately prior to death. With three-quarters of our world’s population unbaptized, the risks assumed by the vast majority of people are unfathomable.
God is all merciful, but he is also all just! Mercy without justice isn’t mercy but license. Jesus taught frequently on the existence of hell and the reality that many will, by their actions, end up going there.
Many in our culture are so self-absorbed in the visual or material world, which is transitory, that they ignore the reality of eternity. And by virtue of one’s life choices, where one will spend that eternity. Indeed, so many are woefully unprepared for what is to come once this life draws to a close! Sadly, if circumstances don’t change radically, many souls will be lost. And we the baptized will have to share some of the responsibility for those lost souls due to our own inactions during our life. It would be a sin of great omission. And sins of omission can be just as egregious as sins of commission.
Recall the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Upon his death, the rich man finds himself in the netherworld where he is in torment, and he petitions Father Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and to come to cool his tongue. Jesus’ parables are factually self-contained, meaning no additional information about the characters or their actions in the parable are required to understand the teaching of Jesus. The rich man’s sin was ignoring the plight of poor Lazarus when they were both alive, which was a sin of omission. In other words, it wasn’t what the rich man did but rather what he failed to do that warranted an eternal life without God! A place we call Hell!
We can and must take action. We still have time to help make it right. Jesus said, “The harvest is rich, but the laborers are few”. As I reflect on the state of our world today, I sense that the harvest has never been richer, nor have the laborers been so few relative to the vastness of the harvest. It’s time for each of us to head for the harvest fields and put our backs to the work!
Many may say I don’t know how to do so. Well, if you lack an understanding of the faith, devote your attention to understanding it as best as you can, rather than dithering valuable time away on needless things. There is no time like the present! Each of us must seek ways to spread the good news of the gospel to those within our sphere of influence and beyond. If you have the inclination and inspiration to do so, become a catechist, an evangelist, or an apologist for the faith!
Our time in purgatory may well be spent contemplating the souls lost that God had placed within our lives and we chose to remain silent for fear of a misguided belief that instructing them about the necessity of baptism would insult them. Put aside your foolish pride and recognize that time is short for many! Courage is a heroic virtue needed today as never before!
GOD’S OWN ABSOLUTES
When God is Absent in Our Life: Evil becomes the way of life!
We cannot allow what the Church forbids.
We cannot forbid what the Church permits.
We must protect all Human Life, from Conception to Natural Death.
Man’s laws cannot make moral what God has declared immoral. Even if Man’s Laws “legalize sin, it is still a sin in the eyes of God.
God’s own Word shall never change, no matter what his creation, which is humankind, considers as the new ‘reality’!
GOD will NEVER approve of what GOD has condemned since the beginning of time, no matter what Man-Made laws are passed!
“Yes, we are to love God and love each other. But if we love God, we will seek to obey His Word. Jesus told us, ‘If you love Me, keep My Commandments’ (John 14:15). Many times, Jesus said, ‘Go and sin no more’. God defines what is sin, not us; and His Word is clear that homosexuality is sin,” –Franklin Graham
The Ten Commandments were not created to be a pick-and-choose salad bar. Where does it say that GOD’s OWN Commandments shall be periodically updated? Where in the Bible does it say that GOD will allow YOU to decide, (or vote on) which of the Ten Commandments are currently relevant? It is: “Love the sinner but hate the sin!” –St. Augustine of Hippo, A.D. 354 –430.
1. Any so-called “christian church or organization” that accepts abortion, suicide, euthanasia, transgenderism, and/or homosexuality as an accepted practice, is NOT CHRISTIAN!
2. Abortion, euthanasia, suicide, transgenderism, and homosexuality are ALWAYS SINS!
3. Any person or church that accepts “chrislam” or “christianized islam” as an accepted practice and belief is NOT CHRISTIAN!
4. Anyone who supports any of the three above is giving homage to Satan!
ISLAM
Islam rejects God as a Father; Islam rejects Jesus as the divine Son of God and Islam rejects the Jewish people as the ancient inheritors of God’s promises. There is now a heretical movement that is quickly infecting the “christian” church with its creeping influence, called “Chrislam” that we must stop.
See: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ISLAMIC IDEOLOGY
How could this “Allah” of pre-Mohammad pagan Arabia be the same as the God of Israel? For many hundreds of years “Allah” or the ‘Moon-god’ was the Head ‘god’ of Mohammad’s pagan Quraysh Meccan Arab tribe’s pantheon of about 360 deities. So, can anyone tell me why, just because they ‘worship’ only one fabricated ‘god’, that this so-called ‘god’ is the SAME GOD as worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
According to Muhammadanism, “Peace” or ‘Dar al-Salam’ will only be obtained when there is a worldwide Ummah, when the entire world is suffering under the oppressive yoke of Islam, either as a ‘believer’ or as a non-believer-Dhimmi who pays the Jizyah tax (‘Protection Money’ of 30% to 50% or more annually) or as a slave. Islam seeks to overthrow all non-Moslem religions and governments, establish Shariah Law everywhere and usher in a worldwide Caliphate.
Islam hates Jews more than Christians, and they hate Christians with a passion. A popular Islamic slogan of the 1940s ran, “First the Saturday people (Jews), then the Sunday people (Christians)”.
Islam adamantly rejects the Deity of Jesus Christ and says Allah has no sons [Surah 72] (However, “allah” has three daughters: Al-lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat!) The Koran declares the idea of ‘Jesus is God’ as blasphemy. (Believing that Jesus is the Christ is considered shirk or “filth” to Muslims.) Furthermore, Islam denies the death of Jesus Christ on the cross (4:157-158). Islam denies the paternity, deity, crucifixion, death, & resurrection of Jesus Christ and makes him to be a barbarian warlord who will return to kill us. In two places in the koran, Mohammad openly admitted he (Mohammad) could do no miracles to show any sort of divinity or divine calling (Surah 17:90-95; 3:183, also see: 29:50-51) Islam’s name for Jesus is ‘Isa’. The ‘Jesus’ or Isa in the Koran is not the same Jesus as in the Bible. Islam views Isa as just a “normal human prophet who was appointed by Allah to prepare mankind for the coming of Mohammad”. Yet, nowhere in the Old or New Testament is Mohammad mentioned or even hinted about!
https://www.allaboutreligion.org/chrislam.htm
“There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.” ― Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
SO... WHO STARTED YOUR CHURCH, SOME HUMAN BEING AFTER A.D. 1500, OR JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF?
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment.
Yet today, there are over 45,000 self-identified schisms as individual Protestant Denominations. Protestants will continue to do what they have always done… start a new “church”. “I don’t agree with the interpretation of what my current church teaches so I, in my infinite ‘god-given wisdom’ will leave this rotten to the core church and start a new one, teaching my proper interpretation of the Bible, exactly as God wants.”
GOD WANTS ANOTHER CHURCH? Forty-five thousand churches are not enough? Someone thought that every one of them was wrong and started another!
The Great Schism
On July 16, 1054, A.D., Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius was excommunicated, starting the “Great Schism” that created the two largest denominations in Christianity—the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths. The original cause was the splitting of the Roman Empire. The first person to split the Empire was Diocletian with his creation of the Diarchy in 286 CE, but the Empire was unified and split several times until 395 when it was split for the final time. With the final split, Theodosius I was the last ruler of a united Roman Empire. Then eventually Islam kept the two from communicating.
(Inquisition started 1215)
Spanish Inquisition. See “34 Common Errors About the Spanish Inquisition.”
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH –A.D. 1517. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Martin Luther, a German ex-Augustinian monk of the Roman Catholic Church, who violated his sacred vows of both obedience and celibacy. Luther created a brand-new Protestant bible by throwing out seven books of the Bible’s OLD Testament, that he personally didn’t agree with because they were too “Catholic” and added the word “alone” after the word “faith”, in his German Translation. The original version of St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 3:28 “For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law.” Luther changed it to make the verse agree with his OWN VIEW of WHAT HE THOUGHT it SHOULD HAVE SAID (faith alone). Martin Luther justifies his action by claiming that this is the gist of St. Paul’s meaning, However, Luther must be wrong for St. Paul said previously in Romans 2:13 “For not the HEARERS of the law are just before God, but the DOERS of the law shall be justified.” Therefore St. Paul says that unless one works and keeps the Law, one will not be justified by God. Therefore faith “alone” cannot be what St. Paul meant. Because the idea directly opposes Scripture in James 2 and Romans 2. That would be like hiding your Faith under a bushel basket! This alteration of sacred scripture directly contradicts James 2:24 (Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only?) Luther wanted to toss out the Book of James and Revelation!
“Some people like to use the good thief on the cross as an example of a person saved by Faith without Works. However, the thief on the cross did many works in the process of his salvation. He admonished his fellow sinner when he told him to be quiet because they were only getting what their sins deserved. He recognized Jesus as his Lord and Savior and asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom. These two actions gave witness to Jesus’ mission to save us from our sins for others to follow. The good thief received the Baptism of Desire since he knew that Jesus was the Messiah and that we should imitate Him. This shows that even the thief on the cross did works after he came to Faith in Jesus.” –Ken Litchfield https://www.facebook.com/Ken.Litchfield
The Lutheran Church has recently declared its support for abortion on demand and to oppose “Heartbeat” legislation.
Martin Luther originally tossed out TWENTY-FOUR BOOKS of the BIBLE constituting much of the canon of Sacred Scripture. In the first edition of his German Bible, he deleted: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Esther, Job, Ecclesiastes, Jonah, Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach (i.e., Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Matthew, Luke, 1st and 2nd John, Acts, Romans, Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation. He referred to the Epistle of James as “straw not worthy to be burned in my oven as tinder.” The rest he called “Judaizing nonsense.”
Then Luther partially recanted, but he still tossed out SEVEN Books of the Old Testament Scripture. They are: The Wisdom of Solomon, Tobit (Tobias), Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Judith, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Baruch (with the Letter of Jeremiah as the sixth Chapter) as well as tossing out several passages of the NEW TESTAMENT removing parts of Daniel and Esther, and added the word “Alone” to Romans 3:28 (For we account a man to be justified by FAITH, without the works of the law) to make the verse agree with HIS VIEW of WHAT HE THOUGHT it SHOULD HAVE SAID (faith alone). This alteration of sacred scripture directly contradicts James 2:24 (Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only?) This alteration of sacred scripture also directly contradicts Matthew 25:31-46,
The Sheep and the Goats, which is a list of works quoted by Jesus Himself!
Protestants totally IGNORE other Passages QUOTING JESUS Himself... (Printed in RED!) THEN... Protestants heretically claim Luther’s false doctrine of “Sola Scriptura”!
Protestants also made other changes to the New Testament text which, like the Old Testament, they made omissions and additions, when the original Catholic version conflicted with their beliefs.
Hmmm… so much for the unbiblical concept Sola Scriptura!
2 Thessalonians 2:15
15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.
“I find it interesting that Gavin Ortlund, James White, and other Protestant apologists suggest the early church fathers believed in Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide when clearly, they are Catholic through and through. The early church fathers had a strong theology in the Eucharist. Protestant apologists fail to see that the early church fathers practiced and believed in Catholic traditions.” –MFH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnizaBAiqR0
I find that highly amusing that the Protestants claim that the earliest Church Fathers “believed” in Sola Scriptura... when much of the New Testament had either not yet been written, or the fact that the Books of the Bible had not been assembled, until the Fourth Century!
7 Verses Every Catholic Should Know | Dr. John Bergsma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1LK90dnRkI
SOLA SCRIPTURA IS NOT IN THE BIBLE BY KEN LITCHFIELD https://www.facebook.com/Ken.Litchfield
The Bible Alone was not the practice of the Christians in the first century since the writings that later became the New Testament were still being written. It was not the practice of Christians in the 100s or 200s or 300s because during this time different Churches had different books that they read during the liturgy of the Mass. The Catholic Church didn’t establish which books could be read at Mass until the end of the 300s.
In 2 Tim 3:16-17 Paul tells Timothy, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” Those who are ignorant of the history of the Bible mistakenly think this verse refers to the whole Bible. When Paul wrote this, John had not yet written his Gospel and may not have yet written the Book of Revelation. When Paul refers to “Scripture” he is referring to the Old Testament, not the Whole Bible because it was not yet assembled!
2 Tim 3:16-17 is the first verse Protestants use to “prove” Sola Scriptura also known as the ‘Bible Alone’. These verses need to be read in context with the previous two verses of 3:14-15 “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
The Scriptures of Timothy’s youth was the Old Testament. Likely it would have been the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament because Timothy lived outside of Jerusalem, had a Greek father, and had a Jewish mother. The Greek Septuagint Old Testament contains the books that the Protestants removed from their Old Testament.
The Bereans from Acts chapter 17 also would have been using the Septuagint version of the Old Testament since they lived in a Greek city as well. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul warns the Corinthians not to go beyond what is written. Here Paul is not writing about going beyond what is written in the Scriptures. He is writing about those whose names are in the Book of Life and how they are in there by the gift of God’s Grace so do not be proud of being in the Book of Life. None of these verses in the Bible say we should go by the Bible alone.
The Apostle John writes in his Gospel at the end of chapter 20 “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” At the end of Chapter 21, John writes “It is this disciple (John) who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written. These verses tell us that everything that Jesus did and said is NOT written in the Bible. The teachings that are not written in the Bible were passed on through the Oral Apostolic Tradition. The Bible is the written part of the whole Apostolic Tradition. When the Catholic Church was establishing the Canon of Scripture it reviewed the collection of early Christian writings to see which ones supported the Apostolic Tradition; were read in Churches known to be founded by Apostles; and had Apostolic authors or secretaries.
First Clement to the Corinthians, the Didache, Epistle of Barnabas, and Shepherd of Hermas were read in many early Churches. The Book of Revelation by John (as opposed to Peter’s), Hebrews, Jude, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John were considered questionable by many early Churches. People who do not know Bible history mistakenly think that the books of the New Testament were the only writings of the first century of Christianity. Paul also wrote a letter to the Corinthians before the letter we now call 1 Corinthians. He refers to it in the first part of the letter we call 1 Corinthians. Paul also refers to a letter to the Laodiceans in Colossians chapter 4. These two letters are not in the Canon of Scripture, yet they were written by Paul. Some people think that the only writings the early Christians used were the writings that the Catholic Church established as the New Testament; historical research shows otherwise.
In 1 Peter chapter 3, we find “Just as Noah and his family were saved through water; Baptism now saves you.” In John chapter 6 Jesus says “My Flesh is True food, and My Blood is True drink. and You must eat My Flesh and drink My Blood to have eternal life.” At the Last Supper Jesus shows His Disciples how they were to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood in Matthew Chapter 26, Mark Chapter 14, Luke Chapter 22, and by Paul in 1 Corinthians Chapter 11. The Catholic understanding of Baptismal regeneration and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist can be historically traced all the way back to the beginning of Christianity. -- Ken Litchfield
From A.D. 405 until 1520, no one questioned the authenticity of those Biblical books that Luther tossed out. They were originally approved for inclusion in the Holy Bible, after also surviving a similar process of inclusion in the Tanakh sometime before. Tanakh’ is an acronym derived from the names of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible: Torah (Instruction, or Law, also called the Pentateuch), Neviʾim (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). Determining the canon of the Old Testament was a multi-staged process that took over many centuries, was conducted first by Jewish Rabbis and scholars of what was to be included in the Old Testament. Then later early Christians determined what was to be included in the New Testament. Ultimately, though, it was God who decided what books belonged in the Biblical Canon. The complete canon of the Old Testament wasn’t completed until after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, but most parts had been recognized far earlier. (Also, in A.D. 70 the Teachings of the 12 Apostles known as the Didache was written to provide guidance to the early Church.) The Books of the Law (also known as the Torah or Pentateuch—Genesis to Deuteronomy) were acknowledged as early as 2 Kings 22. The Prophets were identified as Scripture by the end of the second century B.C. The Psalms were accepted, but the remaining books varied depending on the Jewish sect.
https://www.compellingtruth.org/content_Bible-Canon.html
CANON: WHAT IS THE EARLY CHURCH EVIDENCE
https://catholicstand.com/bible-canon-what-is-the-early-church-evidence/
There was no Bible for the first four centuries. There were lots of “books” being passed around and read in the Churches in various parts of Christendom. As the Church always does when there is a dispute, it holds a Council. At the Council of Rome in A.D. 382, Pope Damasus I and the other Bishops Authoritatively canonized the 27 books of the NT out of about three hundred books being debated for inclusion. They combined them with the forty-six books of the OT and gave the Bible to the world. Of course, the vast majority of people were illiterate, so they kept them in Churches for people to come read if they could. If one could not read, there were paintings, sculptures, and stained-glass windows. Catholic monks painstakingly took up to three years to copy just one, they did that for another 1100 years until the printing press came along in 1455. There is a lot more information if you read “Where We Got the Bible”, by Henry Graham. Oh, and there were no Protestants around until 1517 when Luther made everyone their own “pope” and then they decided everyone could read and interpret (or misinterpret) the Bible for themselves after he had thoroughly bowdlerized it.
EXCERPT FROM: THE SHORT HISTORY OF THE BIBLE BY KEN LITCHFIELD https://www.facebook.com/Ken.Litchfield
“Around 200 B.C. a Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures called the Septuagint was completed. It consists of the 66 books of the later Jewish Masoretic text or the Protestant Old Testament. It also contains the books of the Catholic and Orthodox Old Testament including Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, continuations of Daniel, additions to Esther, 1, 2, 3, and 4 Maccabees. The books of 3 and 4 Maccabees are part of the Orthodox Old Testament but not the Catholic Old Testament. The Septuagint also contains writings that are not in the Catholic or Orthodox Old Testament including 1 Esdras, Odes, Prayer of Manasseh, the Psalms of Solomon, and Psalm 151.”
Starting a few centuries before the Codex Aleppo’s creation, Jewish scholars known as Masoretes started codifying oral traditions of how to properly spell, pronounce, punctuate, and chant the words of Judaism’s holiest book. Unlike Torah scrolls, where the Hebrew letters are devoid of vowels and punctuation, these manuscripts contained extensive annotation instructing readers how to recite the words correctly. The Aleppo Codex, dated to around 930, has been considered the gold standard of the Masoretic Bibles for around 1,000 years. -- Ken Litchfield
All of these processes were accomplished by a multitude of people, not just ONE single person who was exercising a grudge like Martin Luther.
Where do you find any reference in Luther’s writings, “An Angle of the Lord instructed me to...”? He did it all on his OWN violation!
Proverbs 30:6 “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” The converse is also true: Subtract thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Rev 22:18 “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:”
Yet they ignore the plain language of the Holy Bible and reinterpret it into something it DOES NOT SAY and DOES NOT MEAN!
One of the biggest impediments to mutual understanding among the various Christian sects is the amazing array of different versions of Holy Scripture that are used. Very few translations and versions are alike and each version feeds into what the believers of each of the over 45,000 Protestant Sects will then accept as part of their faith.
PURE EVIL FROM THE LAST PARAGRAPH FROM THE PEN OF MARTIN LUTHER’S “LET YOUR SINS BE STRONG:”
A Letter from Luther to Melanchthon
Letter no. 99, 1 August 1521, From the Wartburg Castle
https://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/letsinsbe.txt
“…If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God’s glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.”
THE REFORMATION OF THE REFORMATION
Protestants keep inventing new ways and new Sects to “Worship the Lord”, yet they are never satisfied.
Forty-five thousand Protestant Sects are NOT Enough!
EVEN A HERETIC LIKE MARTIN LUTHER OCCASIONALLY GETS SOMETHING RIGHT!
“There are almost as many sects and beliefs as there are heads; this one will not admit baptism; that one rejects the Sacrament of the altar; another places another world between the present one and the day of judgment; some teach that Jesus Christ is not God. There is not an individual, however clownish he may be, who does not claim to be inspired by the Holy Ghost, and who does not put forth as prophecies his ravings and dreams.”- Martin Luther
He was describing the “Protestant Reformation” then, and it is even more so today!
THE HERETICAL ERROR CALLED ‘SOLA SCRIPTURA’.
Did the Apostles ever teach, or where can you find that all authentically Christian beliefs are to be found directly in Scripture? It could not have possibly been taught by Jesus, as Scripture was not yet written during his time on Earth.
It is the belief that ONLY the written text of the Bible is a limit on what is to be believed and that anything which is not mentioned in the Bible should be discarded from belief… However, using WHICH Biblical text? There are hundreds of versions now.
The Bible does not have specific text that suggests that the Bible alone is our final authority in all matters of Faith and Practice. Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox, typically know this. However, using the ‘Sola Scriptura’ error, the person affirms that all he needs is himself and his Bible. (All these ‘himselfs’ have thus far created over 45,000 Protestant Denominations!) According to Protestants, the wisdom of the church in history, and the community of believers, are all deemed irrelevant to understanding the things of God. ‘Sola Scriptura’ is reprehensible, ignorant, unhistorical, and UNBIBLICAL! ‘Sola Scriptura’ is NOT in the BIBLE! Neither is ‘Alter Call’ nor ‘Rapture’, but Protestants believe in those things too!
JESUS CHRIST ESTABLISHED HIS CHURCH… NOT A BOOK!
Sola Scriptura utterly fails to recognize that God has gifted the church with teachers and pastors. It fails to recognize that the Church has progressed and reached consensus on critical issues in and through the ancient ecumenical creeds. It fails to affirm with that same vigor that we are all standing on the shoulders of giants. But we must also affirm that even these giants have feet of clay. Where in the Bible does it teach Sola Scriptura? That would be a tautology- the kind of argument we find in that collection of lies called the Book of Mormon. Instead, the Bible is not our final authority just because it is the Word of God, even though it has been attested, and authenticated, by God Himself. Miracles serve as the divine imprimatur, the proof that this is a message of God. This is how Nicodemus reasoned when he said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). This is also how Jesus Himself reasoned when He first forgave the sins of the paralytic lowered through the roof. In response to the unspoken charge that He had blasphemed, Jesus told the man, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house” (Matthew 9:1-8).
SOLA SCRIPTURA IS NOT SO EASY TO KILL
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/sola-scriptura-is-not-so-easy-to-kill
Is the ONLY Truth about God, to be found only in the Holy Bible?
Were the authors of the Bible the ONLY discerners of God’s Truth? Did God Himself set a “Time Limit” on the discerning of Truth? Or could God still inspire other holy people, to reveal more of God’s own Truth, even to this day? There is only ONE God and ONE God’s OWN Truth! However, the Catholic Church did set a time limit on what would be included in the Bible: Public and Official revelation ended with the death of St. John the Apostle in about A.D. 100 Private revelations since then have been vetted by the Church that do not contradict church teachings in matters of faith and morals are good for spiritual insights. We are not required as Catholics to believe any of these accounts, but such approved private revelations are great for meditations. They do not contain spurious speculations or notions.
God also did not quit Revealing Himself to His children, even today further Revelations can and do occur.
(Information about ‘St. John the Apostle’ Also known as ‘John the Evangelist’, ‘John of Patmos’ and the ‘Beloved Disciple’.)
https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=228
The Protestant’s “Individual search for truth through the study of the Bible and prayer”, has given us today, more than 45,000 differing, dissenting, and diametrically opposing so-called “christian truths” of God! They are nothing but Heretics and Blasphemers!
BY WHAT GOD ALONE RIGHT DID MARTIN LUTHER OR ANY OF THE OTHER (CURRENTLY OVER 45,000) PROTESTANT ‘CHURCH’ HUMAN FOUNDERS HAVE, TO START THEIR OWN ‘CHURCHES’?
Starting a CHURCH is a GOD ONLY RIGHT, not a Human right!
If they did have the Right, who would have given it to them? Why would there be more than one church? Why would God ordain or want more than ONE church? So, they could fight wars amongst themselves? That was Satan’s doing! Otherwise, explain why there are now OVER 45,000 differing, dissenting, and diametrically opposing so-called “christian truths” of God? Shortly after the beginning of the “Reformation” starting with Luther’s Peasants War in 1524, until the end of the Thirty Years’ War, from 1618 – 1648, for 124 years Christians fought wars against other “christians”! They ALL made war with each other and with the Catholic Church, killing each other and burning each other’s churches. In only the first 17 years there were five different Protestant ‘churches’! It was Luther who opened the Pandora’s Box of people creating their own ‘church’ upon their own whims and personal interpretations because there are now around 45,000 “Protestant Denominations”!
If self-interpretation really were of the Holy Spirit, then nearly 100% of the people would necessarily arrive at the same interpretation almost 100% of the time, for “God is not a god of confusion” (1 Cor. 14:33).
EVEN IN SAINT PAUL’S DAY, THERE WERE THOSE WHO TAUGHT A HERETICAL GOSPEL.
Galatians 1:6-9 “No Other Gospel”
6 I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel. 7 Which is not another, only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. [The denunciation of someone as accursed] 9 As we said before, so now I say again: If anyone preaches to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema.
Different version:
The Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians…
“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)
Thirteen out of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament come from Saint Paul and all of them possess a profound depth of beauty and truth which resonates with the heart and makes the inspiration of such a text irrefutable.
Where are those First Century preachers of Heresy now, which Saint Paul refers to in his Letter to the Galatians?
Where are the heretical movements of the Middle Ages such as:
Albigensian or Cathars, held that the universe was a battleground between good, which was spirit, and evil, which was matter.
Arianism, which denied the divine nature of Jesus Christ. Declared that Christ is not truly divine but a created being. According to the Alexandrian presbyter Arius (fourth century), God alone is immutable and self-existent, and the Son is not God but a creature with a beginning. The Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) condemned Arius and declared the Son to be “of one substance with the Father.”
Bogomils, was dualistic in nature—that is, its followers believed that both good and evil forces created the universe. The Bogomils believed that the devil created the material world, and they therefore condemned all activities that brought mankind into close contact with matter, including eating meat, drinking wine, and marriage.
Donatism, a Christian sect leading to a schism in the Church, in the region of the Church of Carthage, from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and their prayers and sacraments to be valid. Donatism had its roots in the long-established Christian community of the Roman province of Africa, roughly in the northern part of present-day Morocco.
Ebionites, denied the Divinity and the virginal birth of Christ; they clung to the observance of the Jewish Law; they regarded St. Paul as an apostate and used only a Gospel according to St. Matthew.
Manichaeism, is an extreme form of dualistic Gnosticism. It is gnostic because it promises salvation through the attainment of special knowledge of spiritual truths. It is dualistic because it argues that the foundation of the universe is the opposition of two principles, good and evil, each equal in relative power.
Monothelitism, whose adherents denied that Christ had a human will.
Montanism, having converted to Christianity, Montanus fell into a trance and began to prophesy. Others joined him, and the movement spread through Asia Minor. The Montanists held that the Holy Spirit was speaking through Montanus and that the Second Coming was imminent.
Pelagianism, denied several fundamental Christian doctrines including original sin, the fall of man, salvation by grace, predestination, and the sovereignty of God.
Paulicians, distinguished between the good God, the creator of souls and ruler of heaven, and the evil God, the ruler of the material universe. They rejected the Old Testament and parts of the New Testament, Baptism, the Eucharist, marriage, hierarchy, and cult, especially of the cross and pictures. They denied the reality of Christ’s body and His Redemption and considered His teaching His most important work.
Waldensians originated in 12th-century France. The movement is sometimes viewed as an early forerunner of the Reformation for its rejection of various Catholic tenets. In modern times the name has been applied to members of a Protestant church (centered on the Franco-Italian border) that formed when remnants of the earlier movement became Swiss Protestant reformers.
These were all simply the latest unsuccessful challenges to the Church!
Their false “Gospels” are as dead and gone as they are!
PROTESTANTISM EMERGED ONLY 1500 YEARS AFTER THE EXISTENCE OF CATHOLICISM.
Catholics can trace their unbroken history back to Jesus Christ and Saint Peter and the other Apostles, however, Protestantism can only trace its history back to 1500, and some Protestant churches still did not exist until after the debut of the 20th Century, and some were invented in the 21st Century!
“I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.
Tell us why GOD would want 45,000 differing, dissenting, and diametrically opposing so-called “christian truths”?
Yet the Roman Catholic Church still exists today!
The only Church that Jesus Founded!
Sadly, many “Protestants” do have an incorrect understanding of sin, forgiveness, and the Sacraments.
But, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), are Confessional Christians, they do not believe as the Reformed, or the “Once Saved, Always Saved” groups; nor do they use grape juice at our Lord’s Supper. They do not ignore Scripture, but instead faithfully study the Word of God, allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture and always looking at context. They are Pro-Life -from conception to natural death and work with the Catholic's “40 Days for Life” and have their own ‘Lutherans for Life’ group.
(I just wanted to let you know that there is a confessional, liturgical Christian church outside of Rome and Orthodoxy.)
There were no changes made to Catholic teaching at the Council of Trent, Italy, between 1545 and 1563 The Number One priority was to defend clearly Catholic beliefs under attack by Protestants, which included: the belief that Christ instituted seven sacraments, not just two as asserted by Luther; that justification was achieved by faith and good works, not by faith alone; that the deposit of faith included both the sacred Scriptures and sacred Tradition, not the Scriptures alone; that Communion of one kind for laypeople is sufficient to receive the Real Presence; that the traditional teachings on transubstantiation and original sin are correct; that purgatory does exist; that Masses for the dead are appropriate. These were affirmations, not changes to Catholic beliefs. In a like manner, the conciliar decrees that defended the Mass were based on unchanging truths and revelation, not on innovation.
Saint Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians 2:15
15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
2 MACCABEES 12 - PRAYERS FOR THOSE KILLED IN BATTLE
42 and they turned to supplication, praying that the sin that had been committed might be wholly blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened as the result of the sin of those who had fallen. 43 He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin-offering. In doing this he acted very well and honourably, taking account of the resurrection. 44 For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. 45 But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore, he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sin.
Maccabees is one of the many books removed from the Holy Bible by Protestants.
First, they butchered the Holy Bible… then they claimed, “Sola Scriptura”!
BTW Which church is “The One True Church” and established by Jesus Christ? It cannot possibly be any of the Protestant churches, who came into existence only after 1500 years had passed! Would God leave his People alone, as a child abandoned in the wilderness for the first 1500 years of His Church? According to the Holy Scripture, you can’t have a Church in existence, then to apostatize, then later be re-existing again. There must be continuity, otherwise, Jesus lied… Jesus NEVER lied!
The Lord will not abandon his people. (Psalm 94:14)
Matthew 16:18 “…I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.
John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans…”
(Matthew 28:19-20) This is St. Paul’s fidelity to God’s mandate to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Notice also that God Himself commanded the proper words to be used for Baptism. Will other formats be just as valid, is it worth the Eternal Risk?)
Remember always: Baptism is just the beginning of our Spiritual Journey, not its end.
The Holy Bible was compiled by the Roman Catholic Church in A.D. 325 from approximately 300 existing books of the time.
Constantine the Great called the First Council of Nicaea, which was composed of three hundred religious leaders. Three centuries after Jesus lived; this council was given the task of separating divinely inspired writings from those of questionable origin. Those questionable existing books were tossed aside as having doubtful authenticity or not Gospel Truth.
Pope Damasus I, known as Damasus of Rome, was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 which determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies, thus solidifying the faith of the Catholic Church, and encouraged the production of the Vulgate Bible with his support for Jerome.
Then the Catholic Church confirmed the Canon as OFFICIAL.
So, what were the “Sola Scriptura” people reading before A.D. 325? It was NOT the Bible; it did not exist yet!
BTW… Neither did those “Sola Scriptura” people exist until after 1517!
The Catholic Church is the only authority that guarantees the accuracy and inerrancy of the Bible itself. It was the Catholic Church that selected the books of the New Testament and defined the canon of the Bible. Those who believe that the Bible is reliable, are in fact relying on the Catholic Church’s testimony that the New Testament books accurately reflect the faith & teachings of the Apostles, which is in turn grounded in the faith & teachings of Christ.
There were many other writings available that were NOT selected to be a part of the Bible because their contents were flawed in some way. The Church itself made the selection many years after the death of the Apostles, based on its living witness to the Faith, guaranteed by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
This is the same church that through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, decided what would compose the New Testament after living the faith for longer than America has been a country.
Protestants don’t believe in Scripture; they believe in anti-Catholicism.
CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm
Catholic Old Testament (46 books)
These are the Deuterocanonical books; they are missing from most non-Catholic Bibles and are those that Luther tossed out.
1. The Wisdom of Solomon
2. Tobit (Tobias)
3. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
4. Judith
5. 1st Maccabees
6. 2nd Maccabees
7. Baruch (with the Letter of Jeremiah as the sixth Chapter) as well as continuations of Daniel and Esther.
If your Bible is missing these Books, then you are using a Bible that was codified by the Jews between A.D. 100 and 140 after they had REJECTED CHRIST. However, if your Bible includes these Books, then your Bible was Codified by the Catholic Church, which was founded by Jesus Christ, the same Church that wrote and codified the canons of the New Testament.
** Protestants also made other changes to the New Testament text which, like the Old Testament omissions, conflicted with their beliefs.
Hmmm… so much for Sola Scriptura!
Protestant Old Testament (39 books)
Myths and Facts About the Council of Trent
https://www.simplycatholic.com/myths-and-facts-about-the-council-of-trent/
The first Bible ever PRINTED was the Gutenberg Bible, in 1455, sixty-two years BEFORE Luther started his Reformation in 1517. The seven books that Luther tossed aside are indeed in that Bible. You can check this out for yourself.
Of course, it is in the Latin and printing style of the time.
https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/gutenberg-bible/
Rabbi Akiba Ben Joseph started standardizing the writings that the Jews would use in their Synagogues between A.D. 100 and 130. This collection is known as the Tanakh. He declared that the book of Sirach and all others written after that do not defile the hand which means they were not sacred texts that could not be touched after they were written. He established a canon of 22 or 24 books depending on how they were organized. The current Protestant Old Testament of thirty-nine books is a reorganization of the twenty-four books. The Jews that rejected Jesus settled their Old Testament more than one hundred years after Christianity had been started by Saint Peter and the Apostles.
In A.D. 136, after the Bar Kokhba revolt, the Jews declared that the 7 Deuterocanonical books were not to be considered scripture because they were used by the “Nazarenes”. The Jews called the Early Christians Nazarenes because they followed Jesus of Nazareth.
–Ken Litchfield https://www.facebook.com/Ken.Litchfield
Saint Peter says about people like Luther. “Beware of false prophets that will come teaching a different gospel than what we teach. He will come from among your very own and pull many from the faith.”
“DISCERNMENT is NOT knowing the difference between RIGHT and WRONG.
It is knowing the difference between RIGHT and ALMOST RIGHT.”
THE ANABAPTIST CHURCH –A.D. 1520. Founded by human beings, not GOD Himself. Nicholas Storch, and Thomas Münzer, in Germany who were former Lutherans, but prior to that they were Catholics, just like Luther. The Anabaptists rejected infant baptism and were denounced by Martin Luther. This “reformation of the Reformation” is proof positive that the doctrine of “scripture alone” and “personal interpretation” is false. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been more than one interpretation of scripture and no need for an Anabaptist Church that totally ignores Luke 18:15-17.
15And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. 16But Jesus called them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
THE SWISS REFORMED CHURCH –A.D. 1523. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Huldrych Zwingli in Switzerland
THE MENNONITE CHURCH –A.D. 1525. Founded by human beings, not GOD Himself. Grebel, Mantz, and Blaurock, in Switzerland, as an offshoot of the Anabaptists. It derived its name from Menno Simons, a former Catholic priest.
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH –A.D. 1534. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. King Henry VIII, as a direct result of the Pope not granting him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, then took Anne Boleyn as his wife then after that, he changed his wives like he changed his gloves. King Henry VIII after apostatizing and proclaiming himself head of the Church, forming the Church of England in 1534, causing of a very bloody and cruel persecution. After the king broke with Rome and founded the Church of England with himself as its head, he issued an “Act of Supremacy,” allowing people who refused to recognize his “authority” over the Pope to be charged with high treason. Many Scottish, Welsh, and English Catholics were martyred and died brutally in defense of their beliefs in their Faith for refusing to recognize the false church. Amongst the most famous were St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher.
The infamous Tyburn Gallows is just one of the many places where faithful Catholics were martyred for their faith during the religious persecution started by Henry VIII. Many Catholics were tortured and killed by the British state from 1535 to 1679 because of the very aroused Henry trying to find another young maiden for his pleasure. Among many other martyrs, eighteen English Carthusian monks were tortured and executed under the orders of King Henry VIII for refusing to renounce their Catholic faith.
READ https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/english-carthusian-martyrs-227
https://www.tyburnconvent.org.uk/martyrs-martyrs
King Charles III is now the current head of the Anglican Church. (AKA “Church of England”)
“The Church of England, which serves as the established church of its homeland, has taken a decidedly leftward lurch in recent years under the de facto leadership of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. This was evidenced earlier when it hosted a drag show in its very own chapel, with a communications officer for the Church claiming that ‘drag queens are not copying women’ but instead are “expressing an aspect of themselves or sharing their art with other people.” She further noted that drag could also be seen as a form of activism against rigid gender roles and stereotypes.”
“The decision sparked criticism from some, including lay vice chairman at (Piccadilly’s) St James’s Parochial Church Council (PCC), Dr Wilson Wong, who argued that it did not go far enough. Wong argued that the Church should not only bless same-sex marriages but perform them as well and indicated that Parliament should threaten to de-establish the Church if it does not comply.”
https://uafreport.com/daniel/church-hosts-drag-queen-event
Any church that accepts homosexualism as an accepted practice and belief is NOT CHRISTIAN! (Totally non-Biblical!)
CALVINISM –A.D. 1530-1536. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. John Calvin in Switzerland (also called the Reformed tradition or the Reformed faith)
The Five Points of Calvin's Reformed Theology:
(TULIP)
Total depravity of Man
Unconditional election
Limited atonement
Irresistible grace
Perseverance of the saints
This is what Calvin taught, that Jesus came to save the Elect. Jesus died to save only the Elect. God chose some for Salvation in the Beginning. Jesus is the Light of the World, but only the Elect can be saved.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH –A.D. 1560. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. John Knox, in Scotland. Based on the personal beliefs of John Calvin, which include predestination, no free will in humans, and the total depravity in mankind. They have recently included a “Drag Queen Storytime” during Services at least at one church. They have also recently included “chrislam” as an accepted practice and belief. They have declared their support for abortion on demand and to oppose “Heartbeat” legislation. Any church that accepts homosexualism and “chrislam” or “christianized islam” as an accepted practice and belief is NOT CHRISTIAN! (Totally non-Biblical!)
THE UNITARIAN CHURCH –A.D. 1568. Started in Poland but died out. It was soon revived by a human being, not GOD Himself. John Biddle, in A.D. 1645 The Unitarians do not believe in the Trinitarian God. They do not believe in Jesus as the Christ, as the divine Son of God. For them, Jesus was a beloved HUMAN teacher and exemplar, and Christmas is a time to celebrate his birth as the HUMAN “Jesus of Nazareth”. (Cannot truly be called Christian! Totally non-Biblical!)
THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH (The Puritans) –A.D. 1583. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Robert Brown, in Holland. Broke away from the Church of England. Brown rejected, among other things, the authority of bishops. One Puritan, named Oliver Cromwell, got involved in the English Civil War and overthrew Charles I in 1646. Cromwell and the British government were also responsible for the subjugation and killing of hundreds of thousands of Irish Catholics, who were also forbidden to say or attend Mass, wear green, and sing Irish patriotic songs.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH –A.D. 1606. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam, as an offshoot of the Mennonites. Baptists reject infant baptism as contrary to the Scriptures and accept immersion as the sole valid mode of baptism. RECENTLY declared their support for abortion on demand and to oppose “Heartbeat” legislation. Any church that accepts abortion as an accepted practice and belief is NOT CHRISTIAN! (Totally non-Biblical!)
THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH –A.D. 1628. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Michaelis Jones in the Netherlands
THE QUAKERS -A.D. 1647. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. George Fox, in England. Also called The Society of Friends, although they originally called themselves “Children of Light”. They acknowledge absolutely no authority higher than what Fox called the “inner light” of personal revelation. (Cannot truly be called Christian! Totally non-Biblical!)
THE AMISH CHURCH –A.D. 1693. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Jacob Amman, and a Swiss Bishop. Also, a breakaway from the Mennonite Church. His followers were called the “Amish”. While similar to the Mennonites, they differ in language, dress, and interpretation of the Bible.
THE METHODIST CHURCH –A.D. 1739. Founded by human beings, not GOD Himself. John, and Charles Wesley, in England. The Wesley brothers were originally Anglican ministers who started a revival movement that eventually became Methodism. Yet another “reformation of the Reformation”. They currently believe in women pastors, ministers, and bishops, artificial birth control, and they accept homosexuality as being normal and good despite Romans 1:26-27 and many other Bible passages, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament condemning homosexuality. The Methodist Church is currently undergoing a 21st-century reformation of itself, with individual congregations breaking away from their own hierarchy over the question of scriptural inerrancy concerning homosexuality. Another proof that the doctrine of “scripture alone” without an infallible Magisterium to interpret it based on sacred Tradition is false. It seems that the Methodist Church is more concerned with going along with the current popular opinion trends of secular society than it is in being true to what scripture says about homosexuality. Declared their support for abortion on demand and to oppose “Heartbeat” legislation.
The Lesbian Methodist Bishop Dr. Karen Oliveto who calls Jesus a Bigot and defends Demon Possession and promotes Islam “chrislam”!
The United Methodist Church has voted to permit LGBTQ individuals to serve as clergy members, thereby overturning a prohibition that had been in place for four decades.
Historically, the Church had precluded individuals openly identifying as homosexual from ordination or appointment to clergy positions.
Any church that accepts abortion, and homosexualism as an accepted practice and belief is NOT CHRISTIAN! This is what happens when you dance with the Devil, you will then dance with any evil. (Totally non-Biblical!)
(Inquisition ended 1751 – 536 years)
Spanish Inquisition. See “34 Common Errors About the Spanish Inquisition.”
THE EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH –A.D. 1784. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Samuel Seabury in the American Colonies and is an offshoot of the Church of England. They believe in women pastors, ministers, and bishops, artificial birth control, and they accept homosexuality as being normal and good despite Romans 1:26-27 and many other Bible passages, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament condemning homosexuality. The Episcopalian Church is currently undergoing a 21st-century reformation of itself, with individual congregations breaking away from their own hierarchy over the question of scriptural inerrancy concerning homosexuality. Another proof that the doctrine of “scripture alone” without an infallible Magisterium to interpret it based on sacred Tradition is false. It seems that the Episcopal Church is more concerned with going along with the current trends of secular society than it is in being true to what scripture actually says about homosexuality. The Episcopal Church endorses sex changes for children ‘at all ages’ (Transgenderism) They have recently included “chrislam” as an accepted practice and belief. Any church that accepts abortion, homosexualism, transgenderism, and “chrislam” or “christianized islam” as an accepted practice and belief is NOT CHRISTIAN! (Totally non-Biblical!)
THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH –A.D. 1803. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Jacob Albright, originally a Methodist, who broke away and founded his own church.
THE MORMON CHURCH –A.D. 1829. Also call themselves “Latter Day Saints”, was Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Joseph Smith in Palmyra, New York, in 1829. It is all based on one mysterious Passage in the Bible which states: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one-fold and one shepherd.” Who or where these “Other Sheep” might be is never explained in the Bible.
Mormons are polytheists who someday hope to become a ‘god’ of their very own planet, after death. They believe that in their version of “God the Father” was a good Mormon on another planet, that they call “Kolob”. It is supposed to be “The god-planet where all gods come from” and their fake “Jesus” became the god of just our own planet. They advocate the “baptism” of long-dead ancestors. They also believe that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers on Kolob. Therefore the “God Planet” has Gods and Demons on it! (Cannot truly be called Christian! Totally non-Biblical!)
See: MORMONISM A NON-CHRISTIAN CULT
THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS –A.D. 1831. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. William Miller in New York. Based on his study of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14, Miller calculated that Jesus would return to Earth sometime between 1843 and 1844. This prediction is in spite of the fact that the bible says that no one will be able to predict when the Second Coming of Jesus will be (Matthew 24:36).
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH-MISSOURI SYNOD (LCMS) –A.D. 1847.
Founded by human beings, not GOD Himself. The Missouri Synod believes that justification comes from God “by divine grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone.” They believe in “Sola Scriptura” even though “Sola Scriptura” is never mentioned in the Holy Bible.
LCMS rejects both the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and the Reformed teaching that the true body and blood of Christ are not consumed with the consecrated bread and wine in the Eucharist. Rather, it believes in the doctrine of the sacramental union, Real Presence, that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly present “in, with, and under” the elements of bread and wine.
However, the LCMS practices infant baptism, based on Acts 2:38–39. The LCMS also endorses the doctrine of closed communion—the policy of sharing the Eucharist with only those who are baptized and confirmed members of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES –A.D. 1872. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Charles Taze Russell, as the “Millennial Darwinists”. Russell was raised a Presbyterian, then joined the Congregational church, and was finally influenced by Adventist teachings. By his own admission, he had a tough time accepting the existence of hell. He sought out the Bible, and as his “studies” continued, he systematically began to reject the major doctrines of historic Christianity. In 1879 he started publishing a magazine to promote his beliefs. This magazine was the precursor to today’s Watchtower (WT) magazine. In 1931, Judge Rutherford, his successor, decided that henceforth they would be called, Witnesses of Jehovah, or Jehovah’s Witness. The JWs deny the Trinity, deny the Sonship, deity, and divinity of Christ, deny His physical resurrection, the resurrection of the body, and refuse to take blood transfusions. They claim their “messiah” to be Saint Michael the Archangel. (Cannot truly be called Christian! Totally non-Biblical!)
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS –A.D. 1879. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Mary Baker Eddy in Massachusetts. They also refuse blood transfusions and medical care, in spite of the fact that the gospel writer Luke was a physician.
Beliefs and practices belonging to the metaphysical family of new religious movements. In her 1875 book “Science and Health” that sickness is an illusion that can be corrected by prayer alone. Emphasizing that physical healing through prayer and a recognition of the nonexistence of matter and illness.
Christian Science teaches that Jesus embodied the divinity of God but that he himself was not a Deity—in keeping with Jesus’ own words that he was not the Father, and that God, the Father, alone should be worshiped.
“We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal.But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.” (Cannot truly be called Christian! Totally non-Biblical!)
ASSEMBLIES OF GOD -A.D. 1901. Founded by a human being, not GOD Himself. Charles Parham, in Topeka Kansas. They believe in the Baptism of the Spirit, miracle healings, and speaking in tongues.
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Martin Luther created the Lutheran Church, thereby opening up Pandora’s Box of creating your own ‘church’ upon your own whims and personal interpretations or as the Protestants say: “Individual search for truth through the study of the Bible and prayer”, has given us today, more than 45,000 differing, dissenting, and diametrically opposing so-called “christian truths” of God! Heretics! Blasphemers!
It was just eight years later after the start of the Lutheran Church, that there were three more Protestant churches added, (Four Protestant Churches in all)
They were the Lutherans – 1517, Anabaptists – 1520, Swiss Reformed – 1523, and Mennonites – in 1525, then later in 1534 Henry the Eighth formed the Anglican Church, only 17 years after the original “Reformation”.
All five of those churches made war with each other and with the Catholic Church, killing each other and burning each other’s churches.
These Christian versus Christian wars lasted until the end of the Thirty Years’ War, in 1648, (just 124 years total) after that, there have been no more “Religion-inspired wars, except for Muslim wars against the entire world.
In Protestantism’s early days, Martin Luther engineered “The Peasant’s War”. He encouraged German Nobles to use their trained troops to wipe out Catholic German peasants who did not follow Luther as obediently as he wanted. Luther “violently and passionately” urged the German princes to smite the “murdering and robbing band of the peasants”, as he claimed. Over one hundred thousand were killed for disobeying Luther.
Now, according to some sources, including the IRS, there are some FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND different “Protestant” Churches, with each one of them, all claiming to be the “One True Church of Christ”!
What gave any of them the GOD ALONE “right” to start any new “church”?
Who has the RIGHT to start any new Church?
GOD and GOD ALONE has the RIGHT to start any new Church!
Yet over 45,000 people have usurped that RIGHT from God!
When heretics claim that the Catholic Church is Unbiblical, you must realize that “The heretics CHANGED the Bible and their religious practices to suit themselves”, and then they claim the Roman Catholic Church is unbiblical!
It is strange how Protestants ignore direct quotes from the mouth of Jesus that they consider as “Too Catholic”, and then declare the Catholic Church “Unbiblical”! Then claim to be “Bible-believing Christians”!
The heretics think that only some of what was recorded in the Bible that Jesus Christ Himself said is “Christian” all the rest is just “Catholic” …Protestants make things too simple, with no commitment. “All we need to do is believe in Jesus! I believe in Jesus! Jesus must let me into Heaven because I believe in Him!” Protestants love to go on and on and on about that.
Even Satan believes in Jesus! Will Jesus then let Satan into Heaven?
The Protestant Problem is clear. Jesus never said, “If you believe in Me, I will let you into Heaven.”
Jesus was extremely specific about the only people whose souls He will let into Heaven. “You are My friends if you obey My commands.”
Jesus holds those who call themselves “believers” to a higher standard. When someone says, “I believe in Jesus.” and then disobeys Jesus, their sin of disobedience is greater, and a much greater sin than those who have never heard of Jesus!
Many have willfully refused to be among His obedient “friends”.
What happens to those who knowingly and willfully disobey Jesus?
John 3:36 is as clear as crystal. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.”
Intelligent Christians want to “see life”! And we do not want “the wrath of God” remaining on us!
There are now currently over 45,000 Protestant denominations, all “believing” that they… each one of them… and they alone are “The ONE True Church” and claiming to be inspired by the Holy Spirit!
By the way... Which one of the approximately FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS is the “One True Church established by Christ”?
Where were any of these Churches between A.D. 325 and A.D. 1517?
They did not exist! Some were created as late as the 20th Century, and now some are being spawned in the 21st Century.
Did not Jesus say that “He would not leave us as orphans”?
Yet according to Protestants, He DID, and we were orphans between A.D. 325 and A.D. 1517 and later!
None of which were invented prior to Martin Luther and 1517!
FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND different “christian” Sects, each with their own “official” individual, differing, dissenting, and diametrically opposing interpretations of Scripture! Some of which you can’t even ‘call’ “christian”! Then there must be more than five hundred million ‘personal’ interpretations from a multitude of sources. There are many people in the same denomination that can’t even agree and yet they all think they are inspired by the Spirit to give testimony to the truth. Incredible! “Private Interpretations” that’s how those 45,000 different ‘christian’ Sects came to be! None of which now make war upon the other, ever since the end of the Thirty Years’ War, in 1648!
Christians no longer make war on other Christians, just because “They do not believe as we do”; however, Islam has around 73 different sects remaining in existence, and all the different sects hate and kill each other and they all make war upon one another because: “They do not believe as we do”, it has always been this way with Islam, since shortly after Mohammad died! (For around 1400 years!)
By what GOD ALONE GIVEN RIGHT did Martin Luther or any of the other 45,000 Protestant ‘church’ FOUNDERS have, to start their OWN ‘churches’?
Starting a CHURCH is a GOD ONLY RIGHT, not a Human right!
If they did have the Right, who would have given it to them? Why would there be more than one church? Why would God desire or want more than ONE church? So, they could fight amongst themselves? That was Satan’s doing! Otherwise, explain why there are OVER 45,000 differing, dissenting, and diametrically opposing so-called “christian truths” of God?
15 POINTS OF CATHOLIC APOLOGETICS YOU SHOULD KNOW
1. The Albigensian Crusade. Yes, the Albigensian Crusade did happen. Open conflict broke out immediately after the Albigensian’s broke a 75-year diplomatic détente with the Catholic Church when their leaders assassinated the pope’s ambassador.
2. Conversion of Indians in Mexico. Between 1492 and 1531, only a tiny handful of natives converted to the Faith. But in December 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to a Mexican convert named St. Juan Diego and millions of natives began converting. We couldn’t build enough churches to accommodate those begging to be baptized. https://www.facebook.com/reel/2362649150586542
3. The Holy Land Crusades. “The Crusades Were a Reasonable Response to Unchecked Islamic Aggression.”
4. Attacks Against Protestants. “Calling a Spade, a Spade.”
5. Galileo. “14 Errors Revolving Around Galileo, and How to Clear Them Up.”
6. St. Joan of Arc. “Joan of Arc, Saint of the Eternal.”
7. Protestants were responsible for tens of thousands of “Witch Burnings.” “Who Burned the Witches?” by Sandra Miesel.
8. Spanish Inquisition. “34 Common Errors About the Spanish Inquisition.” The anti-Spanish Black Legend was one of the most successful propaganda campaigns in world history.
9. Nicholas Copernicus. “The Priest Who Realized the Earth Revolved Around the Sun” and “The Myth That Catholics Are Opposed to Science Revolves Around Copernicus.”
10. Opposition to Science. “A List of 244 Priest-Scientists (From Acosta to Zupi)” and “A Short List of Lay Catholic Scientists.”
11. Giordano Bruno. “The Truth About Giordano Bruno.”
12. Cause of War. “Is Religion Really Responsible for Most Wars?” and SOME FALSELY QUOTE: “IF THERE WAS NO RELIGION THERE WOULD NOT BE ANY WAR”
13. Abortion. “22 Ways to Respond to Common Abortion Questions.”
14. Those Who Question Christ’s Divinity. “10 Times Jesus Used God’s Name for Himself.”
15. Anti-Feminism. “Being a Saint Takes Chutzpah, Moxie and Grit.”
More on the INQUISITION
During the 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition, only around 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed, it was usually by the State... NOT the CHURCH, for treasonous activities, although many were “executed” in absentia because they had fled. During that same period, as many as 150,000 witches alone were burned at the stake for heresy, in the rest of Europe.
Every day, the divisions caused by 45,000 Protestant denominations keep the Catholic Church from stopping the killing of 3,500 babies by abortionists EVERY DAY.
Spanish Inquisition was 99% Myth. (BBC)
After centuries of lies and myths aimed at the Catholic Church, we now know the Spanish Inquisition never happened, no one was burned, put on the rack, or any of that. It makes you wonder, how much “settled history” is actually not true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhlAqklH0do
VIDEO Chosen Witness
Did you notice?
Jesus calls Mary Magdalene by her name. Not only that, but Jesus also restored Mary’s mind and healed her body, and she became one of His followers. She watched Jesus suffer and die on the cross, then she was the first to speak with Him after he rose back to life three days later.
https://www.facebook.com/jesusfilm/videos/1615057705908847/
Don't you just love it when Protestants who never want to identify their own denomination, (because we could then criticize their individual Sect’s beliefs and not just general Protestant beliefs) come on to Catholic Social Media Discussion pages, just to jump on every Catholic with their heretical protestant views, that were never discussed or thought of before the heretic Martin Luther came on the scene?
Yet out of 45,000 (PLUS) protestant denominations (that are opposed to each other with differing, dissenting, and diametrically opposing so-called “christian truths” of God. Otherwise, why would there be 45,000 protestant churches?) They ONLY want to jump on the Catholic Church and not any others!
ANSWER: They know deep in their souls that WE are correct, but they are too stubborn to admit it and come home!
WHO CALLED THE EARLY CHURCH THE “CATHOLIC CHURCH” IN THE FIRST FIVE CENTURIES OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY?
Even the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed both contain the words “Catholic Church.”
(1) The Apostles' Creed (date unknown)
(2) Ignatius in 107 A.D.
(3) Martyrdom of Polycarp in 150 A.D.
(4) Justin Martyr in 151 A.D.
(5) The Muratori in 177 A.D.
(6) Irenaeus in 180 A.D.
(7) Clement of Alexandria in 190 A.D.
(8) Tertullian in 200 A.D.
(9) Hippolytus in 212 A.D.
(10) Cyprian in 254 A.D.
(11) Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. (Nicene Creed)
(12) Cyril of Jerusalem in 350 A.D.
(13) Jerome in 375 A.D.
(14) Ambrose in 379 A.D.
(15) Constantinople I in 381 A.D.
(16) Council of Rome in 382 A.D.
(17) Pope Damasus I in 382 A.D.
(18) Augustine in 390 A.D. (over 300 times!)
(19) Council of Hippo in 393 A.D.
(20) Council of Carthage in 397 A.D.
(21) Council of Toledo in 400 A.D.
(22) Pope Innocent I in 400 A.D.
v9.7
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