Are you a Catholic – after all?
by Robert Schmid
Out of approximately 2.1 billion Christians in the world, appr. 1.2 billion profess to be Catholic.
What is it that makes one a Catholic, and why are there so many Catholics in the world?
Being born into a catholic household, located in a predominately catholic city and or country, is probably the primary reason why one becomes a Catholic. Obviously, there are an unlimited number of reasons and circumstances why people have converted to Catholicism over the past 1700 years.
The beginning and history of the Roman Catholic Church is well documented by the Roman Catholic Church who claims its beginning and foundation to be Jesus who established the Catholic Church on the day of Pentecost with Saint Peter being the first Pope. The problem with this historical account is that it is not in the Bible. Search as you will, there is no (Roman) Catholic Church and no Pope in all of scripture.
What then is in the Bible? “When the day of Pentecost had come…,” God sent forth His Holy Spirit and established a new covenant with the spiritual nation Israel, consisting of people from every nation, Jews and Gentiles, who received the gift of the Holy Spirit. This then was the beginning of the New Testament Church, fulfilling Jesus Christ’s prophecy when He told His disciples: “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Please note the biblical fact that Jesus said: “I will build MY church,” but He did not call His church the “Church of Jesus.” The biblical name of the church is the “Church of God.” There is only one conclusion one can draw; Jesus must be God, otherwise His church that HE build could not be the “Church of God.”
Well, as we know from history, no sooner did Jesus Christ raise up the Church of God, Satan, the deceiver and liar, laid the groundwork for a counterfeit church in competition to the Church of God. Since he had to enter into an alliance with the Roman Government, this counterfeit church became known as the “Roman Catholic (or Universal) Church.” This church is a mixture of good and evil: Yes, there is a church – that’s good, but it is another church – that’s evil.
What is it that makes one a Catholic? There are many aspects and doctrines that define a Catholic. The most fundamental one is an acceptance that the Roman Catholic Church is the true (mother) Church and that there is a succession of Papal authority that goes uninterrupted back to Peter and to Jesus Christ Himself.
For the purpose of this article, I will focus on only three specific Catholic doctrines that make one a Catholic. These three doctrines are foundational and rejecting even one of them makes you a heretic, subject to excommunication, and denial of partaking of any of the sacraments.
The three foundational Roman Catholic doctrines are:
- The Holy Trinity (a definition of God)
- Sunday (the weekly day of rest)
- Easter (the celebration of the resurrection)
The Holy Trinity
The trinity doctrine is supposed to define the nature of God. One God in three divine persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, from and into all eternity. Where does this definition of God come from since it is not to be found in scripture? Again, Roman Catholic history tells us that the trinity doctrine was the result of a controversy about the deity of Jesus Christ in the 4th century CE between Arius, a Priest from Alexandria and Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. In a number of church councils God was eventually defined as being triune, one God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. To be sure, this definition established the divinity of Jesus Christ, but it also created a number of new and false understandings of the God of the Bible. This is how Satan works; he concedes a point of truth in order to introduce other points of false-hood.
What are the major points of false-hood that make up the trinity doctrine?
- The elevation of the Spirit of God to person-hood.
Much has been written and amply documented to proof that the Holy Spirit is not a third person, is not a separate center of thought and mind. God is holy and God is spirit so that God is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spirit and or the power of God through which God accomplishes His deeds and actions. Any personification of the Holy Spirit is simply a reference to the person/being of God Himself from whom His (holy) Spirit emanates.
- The creation of a triune model to define God
In the various church councils there was no question or controversy that God the Father was a person/being, nor was there any question or controversy that God the Son was a person/being. It was the addition of God the Holy Spirit as a third person/being that created (not without controversy) the triune nature of God. ONE God in THREE persons/beings--the Holy Trinity.
- The mystery of relationships
The relationship between the Father, the first person in the trinity, and the Son, the second person in the trinity is self-explanatory and comprehensible to all, even children. The mystery question arises as to what the relationship is of the third person, the Holy Spirit, to the Father and the Son? How does the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost fit into a family relationship that is clearly in view, established by a father and a son? Let it be known that the reason why the trinity is a mystery is because there is no identifiable relationship between a father & son and a spirit/ghost. All it creates is a mystery god.
- The conflicting nature between a family and a trinity
If God is a trinity He cannot be a family, and if God is a family He cannot be a trinity. The trinity, by its inherent nature, is limited to three persons/beings. In contrast, the family by its inherent nature is unlimited in the number of persons/beings. Therefore, if God would be a trinity, one could never become ONE with the Father or with the Son as the Son is ONE with the Father (John 17).
- The eternal existence of the Son
According to Roman Catholic, Trinitarian teaching, the Son existed prior to being born (an oxymoron). The Nicene Creed states: “We believe….in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father….” And the second anathema of the Second Council of Constantinople (553) states: “If anyone does not confess that God the Word was twice begotten, the first before all time from the Father, non-temporal and bodiless, the other in the last days when He came down from the heavens….let him be anathema.” The question is: Where does it say that in the Bible and what does it mean to be “eternally begotten” and “begotten before all time”? Romans 1:19-20 tells us that we can understand the divine by the things that were made. There is no creature, man or animal that was “eternally” or “before all time" begotten. These ideas are pure mythology and do not exist in the created order. There is no such thing as pre-existence. Jesus did not exist before He was born. It was the Word [that BECAME the Son] that always existed with God (John 1:1,14)
- The necessity of an incarnation
What is an incarnation? First of all, the word “incarnation” like the word “trinity,” is not in scripture. The basic definition of incarnation is the mythological idea of a god or the gods assuming human form—becoming man. The incarnation is a necessary component of the trinity doctrine in order to change the pre-existent God the Son, into the human being-Jesus. When there is no trinity, then there is no pre-existence and therefore no need for an incarnation. God did not become a man! God sired a son who was born as a man!
Sunday
The fourth commandment is clear and unambiguous. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…” Why? …”for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
Sun worship was part of Babylonian mystery religions long before the birth of Christ, so that it is not surprising that Sun-day, the first day of the week eventually replaced God’s Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. The historical record is clear that it was the Catholic Church that claimed to have the authority to change the law of God. And so, Emperor Constantine in 321 AD issued his infamous edict: “Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun.” It was Satan’s master stroke to change the one law that identified God as the Creator of “Heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them.” Those who continued to remember and kept the Sabbath holy were pronounced anathema (accursed), and often had to pay with their life to remain faithful. This then fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel 7 that the “little horn” (the “beast” of Rev. 13) would “think to change the times and the law.” The Sabbath command truly is the test command for Jesus plainly said: “IF you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Those who do not keep the Sabbath command do not love Jesus.
Easter
God has given His people seven annual feast days (Lev. 23). These seven Sabbaths outline the complete plan of salvation. Without a recognition and understanding of these seven feast days, one cannot know, and cannot have salvation from the (death) penalty incurred by breaking the laws of God.
“These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is the LORD’s Passover” (Lev. 23:4,5).
The plan of salvation begins with the Passover. All other feast days are meaningless without the Passover. At the Passover God does something for us that we cannot do for ourselves. God applies the sacrificial blood of His Son to wash us clean from the penalty of past sin. Without the Passover there can be no salvation.
So, what does the Passover have to do with Easter? Nothing--and that is precisely the problem, or more correctly, the deception. Again, it was Satan’s master stroke to do away in his church with the Passover that remembers the death of Christ, and replaced it with Easter Sunday commemorating the resurrection of Christ. But the plan of salvation does not begin with the resurrection; it begins with the death of Christ, for Christ is our Passover (not our Easter bunny).
Webster’s defines “Easter” as: “name of pagan vernal festival almost coincident in date with paschal festival of the church.” “An annual Christian festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus held on the first Sunday after the date of the full moon, which occurs on or after March 21.”
The problem--where does it say that in the Word of God? Nowhere! To be sure, the resurrection is an extremely important event, but it is not a commanded, annual feast day of remembrance. God says: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is the LORD’s Passover.”
Let us now consider the fact that ALL human beings, since Cain and Abel, are born in sin, receiving their physical life through their sinful human parents, and receiving their spiritual life through their sinful spiritual father—Satan. The moment Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (syncretism), they became spiritually begotten children of their father, the false god – Satan. How can this spiritual orientation be changed?
- By replacing the “Catholic Trinity god” with the “Biblical Family God.”
- By replacing the “Catholic Sunday” with the “Biblical Sabbath.”
- By replacing the “Catholic Easter” with the “Biblical Passover.”
This (false) spiritual orientation can only be changed by rejecting Satan (Easter) and accepting Jesus (Passover). For this to happen requires a calling, a begettal from God, that allows one to partake of the tree of life, the receiving of a down payment of the Holy Spirit, that changes our spiritual orientation, making God our spiritual Father.
It goes without saying; that all atheists and non-Christian religions do not recognize Christ as their Passover, and therefore have no salvation from the penalty of sin which (ultimately) is eternal death. But, the same holds true for all individuals and “Christian Churches” who have done away with the Passover and replaced Passover with Easter. You may call yourself a Lutheran, a Protestant, a Baptist, an Evangelical Christian, etc., etc., but, if you have accepted the “Catholic Easter” in place of the “Biblical Passover,” you are (still) a Catholic!
What about those individuals and church organizations that have rejected the trinity doctrine, but have retained from the trinity any of the six points that make up the trinity? Could, for example, the acceptance of the “pre-existence of Christ” and the “incarnation” still make you a Catholic? I do not know. I am no body’s judge. I do know however that it is wise and prudent to stay away from a cliff, from falsehood, as far as possible. No doubt, we Christians are all much closer to the cliff, to Satan, than we realize [Satan is, after all, the god of this world], so that in the end we all depend upon the love and mercy of God. But, the God of love is also the God of justice who will hold us responsible as to what we have done with the talents, the knowhow and understanding He has given to us. God admonishes us to “grow in grace and knowledge,” which is not a onetime event when we accepted the Statement of Beliefs of a given church organization, but is an ongoing process from the day we are born to the day we die.
There are three ways Satan relies upon to keep us from growing
in grace and knowledge: TRADITION, ORGANIZATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS and PRIDE. Has
one, or all of them, kept YOU from growing in grace and knowledge, making
YOU a Catholic—after all?
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