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
commanddo 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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