In no instance does the word convey any thought of a mere "free-offer of grace."
When Jesus stood and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink," He no more invited the thirsty, than He invited the light when He said, Let there be light.
In the first place there is not a soul on the earth that does or can thirst for the living waters which flow from Him, until He quickens it, and makes it thirst, and when made to feel its thirst, and even when the tongue faileth for thirst, it can no more approach the living fountain than it can make a world, until Jesus applies, not the invitation, but the word, "Come unto Me." His words are spirit and they are life; and His sheep hear them, and they know His voice, and they follow Him; because they have no power or even disposition to resist their Shepherd's voice (John 10).
The calling of the saints is nowhere in the scriptures denominated an invitation. He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. If he only invited them they would have to get out themselves, or stay behind. But when he calls, the dead hear His voice, (not His invitation,) and they that hear shall live.
How would it suit the condition of a poor, lost, helpless soul, one that feels his poverty, inability and impotence, to read the word thus: The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall be invited to live, and they who accept the invitation shall live. And when He inviteth forth His own sheep He goeth before them, provided they accept the invitation.
It is perfectly in keeping with every feature of Arminianism for workmongers to talk of invitation of the gospel, because the very term implies the willing and the doing power to be in the creature. But it is neither in harmony with the doctrine of experience of the saints of God to so speak of His communications to them as to imply that He has yielded up the government to them; that He has hinged the effect and result of His communications on their will instead of His own will. It is derogatory to His character, it reflects on His wisdom, power, and grace.
Gilbert Beebe, July 15, 1846
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Charismatic and Reformed Churches preach the gospel
As we await ascension Sunday and Pentecost, I'm glad to introduce a witness from the Association of Charismatic/Reformed Churches. Learn more by going to http://www.charismaticreformed.org/about.html
An excerpt from the above website from "Our History, Purpose and Vision for the Future" by Pastor Kirk Wetsell, Jacksonville (Arkansas) Christian Fellowship, president of the Association of Charismatic/Reformed Churches
I continued to teach and preach, and to mature in my understanding of Reformation Theology. I still, however, was resistant on some points, particularly Limited Atonement. Then, somewhere in the early 90's, I read a book that absolutely turned my theology upside down! (It has almost been like getting saved all over again!) The book was entitled The Quest for Godliness, by J.I. Packer, which introduced me to the Puritans. Nothing has been the same since! The chapter, "Saved by His Precious Blood", was especially instrumental to my theological growth. It is actually an introduction that Packer wrote for a re-release of what I believe is one of the most important works ever written, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, by Puritan John Owen.
These works by Packer and Owen were the straws that truly broke the camel's back. It was the last bit of weight that crushed any resistance I had to a full embracing of Reformation Theology. From them I learned that the Arminian way of thinking truly "limits" the Atonement! It limits it and makes it subservient to the supposed free will of man, which is thought to be able to actually trump the Sovereign will of an Omnipotent God! I also learned that while we do have a will, and we do make real decisions in our lives that have real consequences, our will is anything but free! It is in absolute bondage and slavery to sin - that apart from Grace, it has no chance of either understanding or desiring spiritual Truth!
I have further come to understand that this Limited or Effective Atonement is really "the Truth" that brings assurance and security to our hearts as Christians! We have security because the Blood of Christ was totally effective in securing all those that the Father intended it to secure. The Father, before the foundation of the world gave these "Elect" to the Son, and at that time their destiny was set. Therefore, it is Reformation Theology alone that can impart true faith through its teaching that God is Sovereign in every detail of our lives!
Another book that has been influential is No Place for Sovereignty, by R.K. McGregor Wright. In it he chronicles the history of the "Free Will" debate. I began to see that this struggle, bottom line, is simply a manifestation of the idolatry that exists in the human heart. We simply cannot bear the thought that our destiny may be in someone else's hands! Mr. Wright exposes this as the root of the current shift in evangelicalism towards the "Openness of God" theories.
As I was reading it, however, it dawned on me that this idolatry is also at the root of the "Word of Faith" heresy. In this movement there is great emphasis on our "taking of authority" and being able to control our own life and destiny. If this theology is true, my contention is, that, it actually produces fear and doubt, not faith! If I am in control of my own destiny, I'm in serious trouble! The only way this theology can produce something that even resembles faith is if we really believe we are capable of making decisions of eternal value, and that they are dependent on our will. This attitude is not however, real faith. It feeds on, and is, arrogance and pride. Again, I
Respectfully,
Pastor Kirk Wetsell, Jacksonville Christian Fellowship
Association of Charismatic/Reformed Churches
An excerpt from the above website from "Our History, Purpose and Vision for the Future" by Pastor Kirk Wetsell, Jacksonville (Arkansas) Christian Fellowship, president of the Association of Charismatic/Reformed Churches
I continued to teach and preach, and to mature in my understanding of Reformation Theology. I still, however, was resistant on some points, particularly Limited Atonement. Then, somewhere in the early 90's, I read a book that absolutely turned my theology upside down! (It has almost been like getting saved all over again!) The book was entitled The Quest for Godliness, by J.I. Packer, which introduced me to the Puritans. Nothing has been the same since! The chapter, "Saved by His Precious Blood", was especially instrumental to my theological growth. It is actually an introduction that Packer wrote for a re-release of what I believe is one of the most important works ever written, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, by Puritan John Owen.
These works by Packer and Owen were the straws that truly broke the camel's back. It was the last bit of weight that crushed any resistance I had to a full embracing of Reformation Theology. From them I learned that the Arminian way of thinking truly "limits" the Atonement! It limits it and makes it subservient to the supposed free will of man, which is thought to be able to actually trump the Sovereign will of an Omnipotent God! I also learned that while we do have a will, and we do make real decisions in our lives that have real consequences, our will is anything but free! It is in absolute bondage and slavery to sin - that apart from Grace, it has no chance of either understanding or desiring spiritual Truth!
I have further come to understand that this Limited or Effective Atonement is really "the Truth" that brings assurance and security to our hearts as Christians! We have security because the Blood of Christ was totally effective in securing all those that the Father intended it to secure. The Father, before the foundation of the world gave these "Elect" to the Son, and at that time their destiny was set. Therefore, it is Reformation Theology alone that can impart true faith through its teaching that God is Sovereign in every detail of our lives!
Another book that has been influential is No Place for Sovereignty, by R.K. McGregor Wright. In it he chronicles the history of the "Free Will" debate. I began to see that this struggle, bottom line, is simply a manifestation of the idolatry that exists in the human heart. We simply cannot bear the thought that our destiny may be in someone else's hands! Mr. Wright exposes this as the root of the current shift in evangelicalism towards the "Openness of God" theories.
As I was reading it, however, it dawned on me that this idolatry is also at the root of the "Word of Faith" heresy. In this movement there is great emphasis on our "taking of authority" and being able to control our own life and destiny. If this theology is true, my contention is, that, it actually produces fear and doubt, not faith! If I am in control of my own destiny, I'm in serious trouble! The only way this theology can produce something that even resembles faith is if we really believe we are capable of making decisions of eternal value, and that they are dependent on our will. This attitude is not however, real faith. It feeds on, and is, arrogance and pride. Again, I
Respectfully,
Pastor Kirk Wetsell, Jacksonville Christian Fellowship
Association of Charismatic/Reformed Churches
Friday, May 27, 2011
Are Catholics Christians? From a former priest
Dear Friend,
We have an investigative, new article called “Are Catholics Christians?” While one analyzes Catholicism in the light of biblical faith, one reaches an irrefutable answer; the outcome must also be carefully investigated.
Many Evangelicals will be dismayed that such a question need even be asked. Moreover, the question will be totally abhorrent to those in ecumenical movements as “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” and “Christian Churches Together.” Thus, in this article the Christian response to the effects of the incontestable answer are clearly outlined.
I ask that you respond to this important article by your prayers and by forwarding it to others.
I request also that is possible that you place it on your website.
Yours in Jesus Christ and His Gospel of grace,
Richard Bennett
Are Catholics Christians?
By Richard Bennett
The Catholic Church presupposes itself to be Christian. Nothing could be further from the truth; yet, the Catholic Church has been ardently promoting that image, particularly since the close of Vatican Council II in 1965. A primary, non-negotiable goal of Vatican Council II was to lay the groundwork and to establish the rules and parameters for a multifaceted, ecumenical outreach. Evangelical Christians, now called “separated brethren,” rather than “heretics,” are the primary target of Catholic ecumenism. The goal is to draw them into the Roman Catholic fold. Thus, in the 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church, the word “Christian” occurs more than 100 times in these official teachings. Buzzwords such as “dialogue,” “ecumenism,” and “social justice” are being used under the guise of promoting Christianity to advance the Roman Catholic agenda.
Assurances to Evangelicals Negated
Evangelicals are assured that Catholics who believe in the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are true Christians, even though they misunderstand some of the “technicalities” regarding salvation. Such reasoning is negated by the fact that Catholicism differs from biblical faith—not only on minor details, but more importantly on what is essential to salvation.
The most dangerous aspect of Catholic Church doctrine is that it appears to be based on the great, indispensable truths of God’s revelation. In reality, however, the blatant fact is that Catholic doctrine denies essential, biblical doctrines by what it affixes to biblical truths. For example, while Catholic doctrine holds that in the Godhead there are three distinct Persons worthy of the same worship, it adds divine adoration for Mary by addressing her in prayer as “the All Holy One.” The exact words of the official statement are, “By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ the All Holy One.” Another example is the fact that the Catholic Church demands that the worship, which is due to the true God, is to be given also to their Communion element. Thus, she officially declares,
“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind ‘that all the faithful ought to show to this most holy sacrament the worship which is due to the true God, as has always been the custom of the Catholic Church. Nor is it to be adored any the less because it was instituted by Christ to be eaten.’”
These two official teachings of the Church of Rome show that the divine worship due to God alone is being given to Mary and to the communion element.
Then the essential doctrine of man’s redemption by Jesus Christ is totally different in Papal Rome from what it is in the Bible. The Scripture declares that sinners dead in trespasses and sins are “by grace” “saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: It is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” This Scripture shows that God directly saves sinners by His grace alone through faith alone. However, the Catholic Church introduces the necessity of her sacraments and consequently states,
“The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ‘Sacramental grace’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.”
The sacraments that are declared to be indispensable negate the biblical doctrine of man’s redemption. With these explicit examples of the Catholic Church’s negation of essential biblical truths, the Papacy’s official doctrine and teaching on all the major topics of biblical truth needs to be carefully examined.
The Basis of Truth
The first topic to address is, “What is the basis of truth?” In other words, what is the norm by which we can know truth? The absolute standard set by the Lord Jesus Christ is the fact that “the scripture cannot be broken.” The Lord also declared the truth of God’s Word by saying, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” From this statement we understand that God’s Word not only contains the truth, but rather, it is truth itself. The Holy Scripture is the source of the believer’s standard of truth. Since Scripture alone is inspired, it alone is the ultimate authority, and it alone is the final judge of all human tradition and reasoning. Accordingly, the commandment of the Lord states, “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Thus, in His written Word, the absolute authority of the Lord God is totally sufficient for all the believer’s needs, as outlined by the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The Lord rebuked the Pharisees because they placed their human tradition on the same level as the written Word of God. Thus, the Pharisees corrupted the people’s understanding by confusing them in regards to God’s Word as the very basis of truth. Jesus declared to them, “[You are] making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered.”
In spite of this clear standard of truth, the Catholic Church declares her own standard of truth. She begins her reasoning with the following words,
“Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and communicate one with the other” “And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God, which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit.”
The fact is that no “tradition” transmits in its entirety the Word of God. This task is solely that of the Holy Spirit. First, in an exclusive sense, the Scriptures are the composition of the Holy Spirit; as stated by the Apostle Peter, “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Spirit is fully fitted for this work because He is “the Spirit of truth.” He has perfect knowledge of the truth because He is God, one with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit reveals the truth of the written Word to believers. For this reason the Lord Christ Jesus said, “He shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” Thus, the Holy Spirit perfectly transmits the Word of God in its proper fullness.
Having equated her “Sacred Tradition” with Sacred Scripture, and stating that her tradition transmits the Word of God in its entirety, the Catholic Church reaches its conclusion with the following words,
“As a result the [Catholic] Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”
This statement is a formal denial of the sufficiency of Scripture and a repudiation of its unique authority. For a church, claiming to be Christian, to affirm her equal love for tradition as she does Scripture is to make Scripture of no unique value. It is like a husband who declares that he loves his wife and at the same time states that he also loves equally the woman across the street. Such love would be adulterous; so also are Papal Rome’s “equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.” Such a declaration is tantamount to a rejection of Scripture and unfaithfulness to the God of Scripture.
Catholicism, however, does have a standard for truth that is taken to be absolute. It is not the unqualified authority of God in His written Word; rather, it is the authority of a man, the Pope of Rome. For Catholics, the ultimate authority lies in the decisions and decrees of the reigning Pope. This is seen in their official teaching which states,
“The Supreme Pontiff, in virtue of his office, possesses infallible teaching authority when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful...he proclaims with a definitive act that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held as such.”
Thus, in practice, the Catholic Church’s basis for doctrine is her Pope and what he states to be truth. In other words, this is claimed truth by decree. How ludicrous the claim is when we realize that some popes were declared to be heretics and thus condemned by Church councils.
Salvation by Grace Alone Denied by Catholic Sacramental System
That salvation is by grace alone must be clearly understood. Unredeemed sinners, of whom all are “dead in trespasses and sins,” can only be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because salvation is “the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” It is God who graciously saves by His unmerited free gift. In total contrast to this, salvation in the Catholic Church is said to come about by “grace” that is merely a “help” with the intention that people will respond. Thus, the Catholic Church officially states, “Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life.” In this view, human beings are presumed to be good enough to respond to the help that God gives to them. According to the Catholic Church, grace is not a manifestation of God’s sovereign action in salvation but merely a “help” given to humans that they may respond, should they decide to believe. The Catholic teaching contradicts the very concept of grace. As the Scripture states, “and if by grace, then is it [salvation] no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.” God’s sovereign action is what is at stake and not uncertain, human response.
The Catholic concept of “grace” denies God’s sovereign grace. Therefore, the Papacy needed to construct a mechanism by which Catholics can profess that they have received grace. The primary tools of their invention are called the sacraments. Accordingly, the Catholic Church states,
“The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ‘Sacramental grace’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.”
This teaching is appalling. In the Bible, salvation is given to an individual by the absolute power of God’s grace alone – because in God alone is the power to deliver a man spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins” to being spiritually alive in Christ. However, the Catholic Church adamantly disagrees with the Bible on this primary issue, for it officially claims “man has only been wounded by sin.” Thus, her Catechism describes God’s grace as a “help” accessible through her sacraments. These sacraments are in turn totally under the control of the Catholic priesthood.
We absolutely praise the Lord God that from Scripture we know His grace is totally His free gift, “wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” In salvation, we are accepted not in any institution, or by partaking of any sacrament, but in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Papal Substitute for Christ Alone as Object of Faith
The object of faith is clearly seen in Scripture as the person of Christ Jesus Himself. Consequently, it is stated, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” This faith is God-given faith, as declared by the Apostle Peter, “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
This God-given faith comes by hearing the Word of God as is stated, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The topic of faith is so clear in Scripture that one would doubt that it could be twisted by any church. The Catholic Church, nonetheless, completely changes the concept of faith. Regarding faith, she focuses attention on herself as “the Church,” as the one that first believes. Thus she teaches, “It is the Church that believes first, and so bears, nourishes and sustains my faith.”
Then she has the audacity to declare that faith comes through the Church because the Church is our Mother. As a result she officially teaches, “Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother…” In the Catholic Church the result is that a person believes in Mother Church and not on the Lord Jesus Christ. Her official words stating this are the following,
“‘Believing’ is an ecclesial act. The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all believers. ‘No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.’”
Therefore, the position for Catholics is that they are compelled to submit to holy Mother Church and accept what she teaches. The Catholic Church basically attempts to replace Jesus Christ as the object of saving faith with a substitute: faith in Mother Church.
What this change does is to enslave an individual to the Roman Catholic Church rather than to make him free in Jesus Christ. To maintain the Catholic Church as the object of faith, the Papacy curses all who believe on Christ by faith alone. Their official words are,
“If anyone says that by the sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred ex opere operato [from the work worked], but that faith alone in the divine promise is sufficient to obtain grace, let him be anathema [cursed].”
Christ’s Sufficient Finished Sacrifice
The unique oneness of Christ’s sacrifice is the fact that it was one offering—once made. The concept “once” is deemed so important that it is asserted seven times by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The perfection of Christ’s sacrifice is contrasted with the repeated daily sacrifices of the Old Testament.
The truth of the excellence of Christ’s sacrifice is highlighted by the word “once.” For example, the Apostle Paul teaches, “for in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” The Apostle Peter likewise declares, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” The same truth is taught five times in the book of Hebrews with the conclusion, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” The majestic truth is found in the Lord’s declaration from the cross, “It is finished.”
In total contrast, the Catholic Church declares that Christ’s sacrifice, which was offered on the cross, is contained and offered in her Mass. Her official words are the following,
“In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner.”
Quite unbelievably she states an even worse conclusion. She declares that the sacrifice of Christ is also a sacrifice of the Church offering herself with Him. The official words are, “The Church, which is the Body of Christ, participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and entire.” It is utterly blasphemous for a church to teach its members to offer themselves with Christ’s sacrifice. The doctrine of participating in Christ’s sacrifice is entirely perverse and immoral. This proposition is an utter lie as it denies the repeated statements of God’s truth in Scripture. The work of redemption is “by Himself,” “without the deeds of the law,” “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” To teach people such a proposition is a dreadful abomination before the Lord God!
The Nature of God as the Only All Holy One
The Bible clearly teaches that God alone is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His Being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Most important is the fact that He is the All Holy One. His holiness is the divine attribute that covers all attributes so that His righteousness is holy, His truth is holy, and His justice is holy. He is each of His attributes, and the overall attribute of holiness is that which separates Him from all beings. His holiness is distinctive and matchless. This is the reason why we need to be saved by Him, the All Holy God. Thus, we read in Scripture, “there is none holy as the Lord.” Again, the Word of the Lord proclaims, “who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorify Thy name for thou only art holy and all nations shall come and worship before thee.”
The Lord God is utterly holy in the words of Scripture, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” In addition to declaring the holiness of God, the official teaching of the Catholic Church declares Mary to be “the All Holy One.” The capital letters are there in print, and there is no disclaimer or footnote to explain differently what is said. The following is stated, “By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ the All Holy One.”
Furthermore, Catholic teaching also officially states, “From the Church he [the Catholic] learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model and source in the all-holy Virgin Mary…” This blasphemous teaching is an attempted theft of the very essence of the divine glory reserved unto God alone. It comes as a shock to see that in this doctrine alone the Papacy has shown its total disregard for the Godhead. We know that Lord God alone is the All Holy One and that He is protective of His glory, opposing all that are hostile to it, “I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another.”
Idolatry
The Scriptures are absolutely clear in declaring that we are neither to make a graven image nor show any veneration to such images, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything...Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” Then Scripture explains how this is to be understood, “and he [God] declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even Ten Commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake...Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure....” Hence, there is to be no similitude (or likeness) of God made by mankind. That which is forbidden in Scripture is the making of any likeness of Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church, however, rationalizes that one can indeed practice idolatry. Paragraph 2132 of the 1994 Catechism states,
“The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype, and whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it.”
The reason given is that one venerates the person portrayed by the image and not the image itself. Yet, this is exactly what the Bible forbids and why God’s second commandment had forbidden Aaron from making the golden calf. The second reason given by Papal Rome to justify the practice of idolatry, uses an 8th century council, it states the following,
“Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word, the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea (787) justified…the veneration of icons—of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels, and all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new ‘economy’ of images.”
When the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea decided that the incarnation of Jesus Christ introduced a new “economy” of images, the unstated logic of their decision required them to maintain that God changed His mind regarding the Second Commandment. This reasoning is blasphemous. God does not change His mind. Jesus Christ and the Apostles were equally forceful in condemning idolatry, as were the commandments in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church claims that a “tradition comes from the Holy Spirit” which justifies the making of graven images and these are to be publicly displayed. In its Catechism, Paragraph 1161 states,
“Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets.”
This is idolatry plain, simple, and condemned by the Lord God.
The Holy Spirit is forthrightly blasphemed in their claim that He established tradition to justify the use of images. Rather, the Bible makes abundantly clear that God hates idolatry and forbids a representation in art of what is divine (Exodus. 20:4-6). Making images to represent God corrupts those who use them (Deuteronomy 4:13, 15-16). Images teach lies about God (Habakkuk. 2:18-20). God cannot be represented in art and all who practice idolatry are commanded to repent (Acts 17:29-30). The Holy Spirit orders in the New Testament as He did the Old, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (I John. 5:21). Some of the evil fruits of bringing into the worship of Holy God the idolatry that He hates are the many pagan superstitions and traditions of Roman Catholicism. But the worst fruit of the idolatry that Roman Catholicism offers under the guise of being Christian is its false gospel.
The topic of idolatry is of utmost importance as many Bible-believing churches in the present day attempt to justify pictures and videos of Christ. They argue that both we, and those who cannot read, can come to a fuller understanding of the person of Christ from these images. Yet, the Bible clearly states that such images lie. Jesus Christ is the only one with two distinct natures – both divine and human – in one body. Therefore, to attempt to make any kind of an image of Jesus Christ, graven or two dimensional or moving, still falls under the Second Commandment. No image can portray Christ’s divinity, for He “is the brightness of his [God’s] glory and the express image of his person,” “in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
If we are to be biblical, we do not have any pictorial representation or video showing the persons of Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The punishment for idolatry is severe, as both the Old Testament and New Testament make clear. The temptation to visualize Christ, the Father, or the Holy Spirit must be repented of, for God is Holy and the truth of Bible is sufficient for all our knowledge of things divine.
Conclusion
As has been shown above, the Roman Catholic Church most certainly is not Christian. Rather, it is an apostate church. The Bible God’s written word is the great authority against the apostasy of the Catholic Church and against her false gospel. The Bible states that by nature, we are all born “dead in trespasses and sins,” and in practice, we rebel against the All Holy God. Therefore, we justly fall under the curse of the Law. Yet, the love of the heavenly Father, through the Gospel of grace, rescues His own from His fiery wrath. By means of the conviction of sin, placed on the human heart by the Holy Spirit, He by His grace alone turns us to Himself in faith alone for the salvation that He alone gives. This salvation is based on Christ’s death and resurrection for His own. As a result we believe on Jesus Christ the Lord alone, “for by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” Such grace and love engages our hearts in an ever deepening gratitude so that we proclaim with our whole heart, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”
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Our MP3s are easily downloaded and our DVDs seen on Sermon Audio at: http://www.sermonaudio.com/go/212
Our website is: http://www.bereanbeacon.org
We have an investigative, new article called “Are Catholics Christians?” While one analyzes Catholicism in the light of biblical faith, one reaches an irrefutable answer; the outcome must also be carefully investigated.
Many Evangelicals will be dismayed that such a question need even be asked. Moreover, the question will be totally abhorrent to those in ecumenical movements as “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” and “Christian Churches Together.” Thus, in this article the Christian response to the effects of the incontestable answer are clearly outlined.
I ask that you respond to this important article by your prayers and by forwarding it to others.
I request also that is possible that you place it on your website.
Yours in Jesus Christ and His Gospel of grace,
Richard Bennett
Are Catholics Christians?
By Richard Bennett
The Catholic Church presupposes itself to be Christian. Nothing could be further from the truth; yet, the Catholic Church has been ardently promoting that image, particularly since the close of Vatican Council II in 1965. A primary, non-negotiable goal of Vatican Council II was to lay the groundwork and to establish the rules and parameters for a multifaceted, ecumenical outreach. Evangelical Christians, now called “separated brethren,” rather than “heretics,” are the primary target of Catholic ecumenism. The goal is to draw them into the Roman Catholic fold. Thus, in the 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church, the word “Christian” occurs more than 100 times in these official teachings. Buzzwords such as “dialogue,” “ecumenism,” and “social justice” are being used under the guise of promoting Christianity to advance the Roman Catholic agenda.
Assurances to Evangelicals Negated
Evangelicals are assured that Catholics who believe in the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are true Christians, even though they misunderstand some of the “technicalities” regarding salvation. Such reasoning is negated by the fact that Catholicism differs from biblical faith—not only on minor details, but more importantly on what is essential to salvation.
The most dangerous aspect of Catholic Church doctrine is that it appears to be based on the great, indispensable truths of God’s revelation. In reality, however, the blatant fact is that Catholic doctrine denies essential, biblical doctrines by what it affixes to biblical truths. For example, while Catholic doctrine holds that in the Godhead there are three distinct Persons worthy of the same worship, it adds divine adoration for Mary by addressing her in prayer as “the All Holy One.” The exact words of the official statement are, “By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ the All Holy One.” Another example is the fact that the Catholic Church demands that the worship, which is due to the true God, is to be given also to their Communion element. Thus, she officially declares,
“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind ‘that all the faithful ought to show to this most holy sacrament the worship which is due to the true God, as has always been the custom of the Catholic Church. Nor is it to be adored any the less because it was instituted by Christ to be eaten.’”
These two official teachings of the Church of Rome show that the divine worship due to God alone is being given to Mary and to the communion element.
Then the essential doctrine of man’s redemption by Jesus Christ is totally different in Papal Rome from what it is in the Bible. The Scripture declares that sinners dead in trespasses and sins are “by grace” “saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: It is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” This Scripture shows that God directly saves sinners by His grace alone through faith alone. However, the Catholic Church introduces the necessity of her sacraments and consequently states,
“The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ‘Sacramental grace’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.”
The sacraments that are declared to be indispensable negate the biblical doctrine of man’s redemption. With these explicit examples of the Catholic Church’s negation of essential biblical truths, the Papacy’s official doctrine and teaching on all the major topics of biblical truth needs to be carefully examined.
The Basis of Truth
The first topic to address is, “What is the basis of truth?” In other words, what is the norm by which we can know truth? The absolute standard set by the Lord Jesus Christ is the fact that “the scripture cannot be broken.” The Lord also declared the truth of God’s Word by saying, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” From this statement we understand that God’s Word not only contains the truth, but rather, it is truth itself. The Holy Scripture is the source of the believer’s standard of truth. Since Scripture alone is inspired, it alone is the ultimate authority, and it alone is the final judge of all human tradition and reasoning. Accordingly, the commandment of the Lord states, “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Thus, in His written Word, the absolute authority of the Lord God is totally sufficient for all the believer’s needs, as outlined by the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The Lord rebuked the Pharisees because they placed their human tradition on the same level as the written Word of God. Thus, the Pharisees corrupted the people’s understanding by confusing them in regards to God’s Word as the very basis of truth. Jesus declared to them, “[You are] making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered.”
In spite of this clear standard of truth, the Catholic Church declares her own standard of truth. She begins her reasoning with the following words,
“Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and communicate one with the other” “And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God, which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit.”
The fact is that no “tradition” transmits in its entirety the Word of God. This task is solely that of the Holy Spirit. First, in an exclusive sense, the Scriptures are the composition of the Holy Spirit; as stated by the Apostle Peter, “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Spirit is fully fitted for this work because He is “the Spirit of truth.” He has perfect knowledge of the truth because He is God, one with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit reveals the truth of the written Word to believers. For this reason the Lord Christ Jesus said, “He shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” Thus, the Holy Spirit perfectly transmits the Word of God in its proper fullness.
Having equated her “Sacred Tradition” with Sacred Scripture, and stating that her tradition transmits the Word of God in its entirety, the Catholic Church reaches its conclusion with the following words,
“As a result the [Catholic] Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”
This statement is a formal denial of the sufficiency of Scripture and a repudiation of its unique authority. For a church, claiming to be Christian, to affirm her equal love for tradition as she does Scripture is to make Scripture of no unique value. It is like a husband who declares that he loves his wife and at the same time states that he also loves equally the woman across the street. Such love would be adulterous; so also are Papal Rome’s “equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.” Such a declaration is tantamount to a rejection of Scripture and unfaithfulness to the God of Scripture.
Catholicism, however, does have a standard for truth that is taken to be absolute. It is not the unqualified authority of God in His written Word; rather, it is the authority of a man, the Pope of Rome. For Catholics, the ultimate authority lies in the decisions and decrees of the reigning Pope. This is seen in their official teaching which states,
“The Supreme Pontiff, in virtue of his office, possesses infallible teaching authority when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful...he proclaims with a definitive act that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held as such.”
Thus, in practice, the Catholic Church’s basis for doctrine is her Pope and what he states to be truth. In other words, this is claimed truth by decree. How ludicrous the claim is when we realize that some popes were declared to be heretics and thus condemned by Church councils.
Salvation by Grace Alone Denied by Catholic Sacramental System
That salvation is by grace alone must be clearly understood. Unredeemed sinners, of whom all are “dead in trespasses and sins,” can only be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because salvation is “the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” It is God who graciously saves by His unmerited free gift. In total contrast to this, salvation in the Catholic Church is said to come about by “grace” that is merely a “help” with the intention that people will respond. Thus, the Catholic Church officially states, “Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life.” In this view, human beings are presumed to be good enough to respond to the help that God gives to them. According to the Catholic Church, grace is not a manifestation of God’s sovereign action in salvation but merely a “help” given to humans that they may respond, should they decide to believe. The Catholic teaching contradicts the very concept of grace. As the Scripture states, “and if by grace, then is it [salvation] no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.” God’s sovereign action is what is at stake and not uncertain, human response.
The Catholic concept of “grace” denies God’s sovereign grace. Therefore, the Papacy needed to construct a mechanism by which Catholics can profess that they have received grace. The primary tools of their invention are called the sacraments. Accordingly, the Catholic Church states,
“The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ‘Sacramental grace’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.”
This teaching is appalling. In the Bible, salvation is given to an individual by the absolute power of God’s grace alone – because in God alone is the power to deliver a man spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins” to being spiritually alive in Christ. However, the Catholic Church adamantly disagrees with the Bible on this primary issue, for it officially claims “man has only been wounded by sin.” Thus, her Catechism describes God’s grace as a “help” accessible through her sacraments. These sacraments are in turn totally under the control of the Catholic priesthood.
We absolutely praise the Lord God that from Scripture we know His grace is totally His free gift, “wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” In salvation, we are accepted not in any institution, or by partaking of any sacrament, but in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Papal Substitute for Christ Alone as Object of Faith
The object of faith is clearly seen in Scripture as the person of Christ Jesus Himself. Consequently, it is stated, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” This faith is God-given faith, as declared by the Apostle Peter, “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
This God-given faith comes by hearing the Word of God as is stated, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The topic of faith is so clear in Scripture that one would doubt that it could be twisted by any church. The Catholic Church, nonetheless, completely changes the concept of faith. Regarding faith, she focuses attention on herself as “the Church,” as the one that first believes. Thus she teaches, “It is the Church that believes first, and so bears, nourishes and sustains my faith.”
Then she has the audacity to declare that faith comes through the Church because the Church is our Mother. As a result she officially teaches, “Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother…” In the Catholic Church the result is that a person believes in Mother Church and not on the Lord Jesus Christ. Her official words stating this are the following,
“‘Believing’ is an ecclesial act. The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all believers. ‘No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.’”
Therefore, the position for Catholics is that they are compelled to submit to holy Mother Church and accept what she teaches. The Catholic Church basically attempts to replace Jesus Christ as the object of saving faith with a substitute: faith in Mother Church.
What this change does is to enslave an individual to the Roman Catholic Church rather than to make him free in Jesus Christ. To maintain the Catholic Church as the object of faith, the Papacy curses all who believe on Christ by faith alone. Their official words are,
“If anyone says that by the sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred ex opere operato [from the work worked], but that faith alone in the divine promise is sufficient to obtain grace, let him be anathema [cursed].”
Christ’s Sufficient Finished Sacrifice
The unique oneness of Christ’s sacrifice is the fact that it was one offering—once made. The concept “once” is deemed so important that it is asserted seven times by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The perfection of Christ’s sacrifice is contrasted with the repeated daily sacrifices of the Old Testament.
The truth of the excellence of Christ’s sacrifice is highlighted by the word “once.” For example, the Apostle Paul teaches, “for in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” The Apostle Peter likewise declares, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” The same truth is taught five times in the book of Hebrews with the conclusion, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” The majestic truth is found in the Lord’s declaration from the cross, “It is finished.”
In total contrast, the Catholic Church declares that Christ’s sacrifice, which was offered on the cross, is contained and offered in her Mass. Her official words are the following,
“In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner.”
Quite unbelievably she states an even worse conclusion. She declares that the sacrifice of Christ is also a sacrifice of the Church offering herself with Him. The official words are, “The Church, which is the Body of Christ, participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and entire.” It is utterly blasphemous for a church to teach its members to offer themselves with Christ’s sacrifice. The doctrine of participating in Christ’s sacrifice is entirely perverse and immoral. This proposition is an utter lie as it denies the repeated statements of God’s truth in Scripture. The work of redemption is “by Himself,” “without the deeds of the law,” “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” To teach people such a proposition is a dreadful abomination before the Lord God!
The Nature of God as the Only All Holy One
The Bible clearly teaches that God alone is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His Being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Most important is the fact that He is the All Holy One. His holiness is the divine attribute that covers all attributes so that His righteousness is holy, His truth is holy, and His justice is holy. He is each of His attributes, and the overall attribute of holiness is that which separates Him from all beings. His holiness is distinctive and matchless. This is the reason why we need to be saved by Him, the All Holy God. Thus, we read in Scripture, “there is none holy as the Lord.” Again, the Word of the Lord proclaims, “who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorify Thy name for thou only art holy and all nations shall come and worship before thee.”
The Lord God is utterly holy in the words of Scripture, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” In addition to declaring the holiness of God, the official teaching of the Catholic Church declares Mary to be “the All Holy One.” The capital letters are there in print, and there is no disclaimer or footnote to explain differently what is said. The following is stated, “By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ the All Holy One.”
Furthermore, Catholic teaching also officially states, “From the Church he [the Catholic] learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model and source in the all-holy Virgin Mary…” This blasphemous teaching is an attempted theft of the very essence of the divine glory reserved unto God alone. It comes as a shock to see that in this doctrine alone the Papacy has shown its total disregard for the Godhead. We know that Lord God alone is the All Holy One and that He is protective of His glory, opposing all that are hostile to it, “I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another.”
Idolatry
The Scriptures are absolutely clear in declaring that we are neither to make a graven image nor show any veneration to such images, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything...Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” Then Scripture explains how this is to be understood, “and he [God] declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even Ten Commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake...Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure....” Hence, there is to be no similitude (or likeness) of God made by mankind. That which is forbidden in Scripture is the making of any likeness of Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church, however, rationalizes that one can indeed practice idolatry. Paragraph 2132 of the 1994 Catechism states,
“The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype, and whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it.”
The reason given is that one venerates the person portrayed by the image and not the image itself. Yet, this is exactly what the Bible forbids and why God’s second commandment had forbidden Aaron from making the golden calf. The second reason given by Papal Rome to justify the practice of idolatry, uses an 8th century council, it states the following,
“Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word, the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea (787) justified…the veneration of icons—of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels, and all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new ‘economy’ of images.”
When the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea decided that the incarnation of Jesus Christ introduced a new “economy” of images, the unstated logic of their decision required them to maintain that God changed His mind regarding the Second Commandment. This reasoning is blasphemous. God does not change His mind. Jesus Christ and the Apostles were equally forceful in condemning idolatry, as were the commandments in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church claims that a “tradition comes from the Holy Spirit” which justifies the making of graven images and these are to be publicly displayed. In its Catechism, Paragraph 1161 states,
“Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets.”
This is idolatry plain, simple, and condemned by the Lord God.
The Holy Spirit is forthrightly blasphemed in their claim that He established tradition to justify the use of images. Rather, the Bible makes abundantly clear that God hates idolatry and forbids a representation in art of what is divine (Exodus. 20:4-6). Making images to represent God corrupts those who use them (Deuteronomy 4:13, 15-16). Images teach lies about God (Habakkuk. 2:18-20). God cannot be represented in art and all who practice idolatry are commanded to repent (Acts 17:29-30). The Holy Spirit orders in the New Testament as He did the Old, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (I John. 5:21). Some of the evil fruits of bringing into the worship of Holy God the idolatry that He hates are the many pagan superstitions and traditions of Roman Catholicism. But the worst fruit of the idolatry that Roman Catholicism offers under the guise of being Christian is its false gospel.
The topic of idolatry is of utmost importance as many Bible-believing churches in the present day attempt to justify pictures and videos of Christ. They argue that both we, and those who cannot read, can come to a fuller understanding of the person of Christ from these images. Yet, the Bible clearly states that such images lie. Jesus Christ is the only one with two distinct natures – both divine and human – in one body. Therefore, to attempt to make any kind of an image of Jesus Christ, graven or two dimensional or moving, still falls under the Second Commandment. No image can portray Christ’s divinity, for He “is the brightness of his [God’s] glory and the express image of his person,” “in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
If we are to be biblical, we do not have any pictorial representation or video showing the persons of Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The punishment for idolatry is severe, as both the Old Testament and New Testament make clear. The temptation to visualize Christ, the Father, or the Holy Spirit must be repented of, for God is Holy and the truth of Bible is sufficient for all our knowledge of things divine.
Conclusion
As has been shown above, the Roman Catholic Church most certainly is not Christian. Rather, it is an apostate church. The Bible God’s written word is the great authority against the apostasy of the Catholic Church and against her false gospel. The Bible states that by nature, we are all born “dead in trespasses and sins,” and in practice, we rebel against the All Holy God. Therefore, we justly fall under the curse of the Law. Yet, the love of the heavenly Father, through the Gospel of grace, rescues His own from His fiery wrath. By means of the conviction of sin, placed on the human heart by the Holy Spirit, He by His grace alone turns us to Himself in faith alone for the salvation that He alone gives. This salvation is based on Christ’s death and resurrection for His own. As a result we believe on Jesus Christ the Lord alone, “for by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” Such grace and love engages our hearts in an ever deepening gratitude so that we proclaim with our whole heart, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”
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Sunday, May 1, 2011
John Paul II: Cult of Personality, part 2
John Paul II: Blessed in the Sight of God? (part 2)
By Richard Bennet
The Faith and Practice of John Paul II
As Pope, John Paul II believed that he had sacraments that were capable of sanctifying the hearts and souls of men and women. In the Code of Canon Law, which he revised and republished, he taught that a person is reborn by the sacrament of baptism. The following words are his words:
“Through baptism men and women are freed from sin, are reborn as children of God, and, configured to Christ by an indelible character, are incorporated in the [Catholic] Church.”
Then, by the physical sacrament of Confirmation, he claimed a spiritual outpouring like that of Pentecost itself. His words are the following,
“The effect of Confirmation is a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit like that of Pentecost. This outpouring impresses on the soul an indelible character and produces a growth in the grace of Baptism.”
He then claimed that people have their sins forgiven when a Catholic priest utters the words over them, “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” These words were, in his estimation, so important that he insisted that to obtain reconciliation with God one must confess all serious sins to a priest. The exact assertion that the Pope authorized was the following,
“One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers after having carefully examined his conscience.”
Pope John Paul II believed that by the words of consecration at a Catholic mass, the bread and wine are literally changed into the body of Christ together with His soul and divinity. His official teaching reads as follows,
“By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity.”
This official teaching of John Paul II led the Catholic priest, John O’Brien, to express his thoughts on how the consecration of bread and wine by the priest at Mass works. O’Brien wrote,
“While the Blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man—not once, but a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.”
Such heretical teaching denies the very nature of the Incarnation. Christ Jesus became incarnate a single time, and forever, and it is never to be repeated. If what John Paul II and John O’Brien believed were true, then in the same Mass “Christ” would be de-incarnated, once the communi-cant had physically absorbed the elements and they no longer contained “Christ.” What a horrific insult this teaching is, for it both assails the Lord and deceives people.
John Paul II even claimed that power effectively flowed from the Communion element itself. Thus, his official teaching was the following, “By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins.” Consequently, John Paul II taught his people to look to “it,” a physical thing, as a means of conveying God’s grace, teaching a person to look to a physical thing as if it had supernatural power. Such a teaching comes under the eternal curse of perverting the Gospel of Christ. To propose an oral ingesting of Christ’s flesh is bad enough; however, what John Paul II taught is much worse. He declared that it “preserves us from future mortal sins.” These enticing words of human philosophy teach the age-old practice of looking to a physical substance in order to procure life.
What makes the doctrine all the more repulsive is that this very teaching, which speaks of preserving from serious sin, is itself a blasphemous sin. John Paul II’s beliefs and practices were in fact spiritually lethal hazards. He presented physical things as if they were powers themselves and necessary for salvation. Thus, it was that John Paul II proposed his church’s physical sacra-ments as the inherent means of obtaining the grace of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, his official teaching declared,
“The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ‘Sacramental grace’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.”
Inculcating dependence on these physical sacraments instead of direct faith on the Lord Christ Jesus was the scheme of John Paul II. It deflected faith from the person of Christ to rituals that are claimed to be powers. He explicitly called them “powers” as he stated, “Sacraments are ‘powers that come forth’ from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving.”
True Christians see God’s power proclaimed in “the gospel of Christ… the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,” each one “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Thus, John Paul II’s faith and practice were not those of a person that is blessed in the sight of God, indeed, quite the opposite.
The Character of John Paul II
The character of John Paul II was presented as resplendent in humility and compassion, earnestly going about to bring peace and unity to the world. Underneath the façade, however, was an iron fisted hold on people in terms of law. Like Pope Gregory VII in the eleventh century, John Paul II determined to build an empire by meticulous laws. He was adamant in his efforts to update the laws of the Catholic Church. Since the days of Gregory VII, Popes have seen the necessity of making inflexible church laws before attempting to control their subjects and others by compulsion, if necessary. Thus, it was in 1983 that John Paul II revised the 1917 Code of Canon Law. He added laws to those already existing, such as the following,
“The Church has an innate and proper right to coerce offending members of the Christian faithful by means of penal sanctions.”
Examination of his extra laws shows them to be even more totalitarian than those of the past. For example, in clearer terms than any cult, John Paul II decreed the necessity of suppressing one’s God-given faculties of the mind and will. His law stated,
“A religious respect of intellect and will, even if not the assent of faith, is to be paid to the teaching which the Supreme Pontiff...”
The consequences of not submitting were spelled out in his laws, “The following are to be pun-ished with a just penalty: 1. a person who…teaches a doctrine condemned by the Roman Pon-tiff….” Specific penalties are also decreed by John Paul II, “The law can establish other expiatory penalties which deprive a believer of some spiritual or temporal good and are consistent with the supernatural end of the Church.”
Imposes Greater Control over Catholic Church
John Paul II knew right well how to enforce his will in law. In few other activities was his genius more conspicuous than in this. There were no checks and balances to his absolute power and authority. In the official commentary on his Canon Law is the following,
“The Church’s governmental system is vastly different from the notion of a balance of powers. In fact, the three functions are situated in the same office.... Unlike the American system, ecclesiastical law does not arise from the will of the governed, nor does the Church’s juridical structure rely on a system of checks and balances to maintain its effectiveness...The Code promotes this system through a hierarchical structure that is more vertical than horizontal. Ultimately, the highest judge, the pope, is also the highest legislator and administrator....”
The imposition of John Paul II will was clearly seen in an article in the Catholic World Report called, “Rome Has SpokenAgain.” The article stated the following,
“‘The Pope Moves to Stamp Out Liberal Debate on Heated Issues,’ headlined the New York Times in a front-page story, warning darkly of possible ‘just punishment’ for dissenters…In another front-page story, the Washington Post introduced its coverage with a headline reading, ‘Papal Letter is Divisive, Critics Say’, nor did the Post fail to add the obligatory subheadline about how ‘Dissent on Dogma Risks Punishment....’”
Then in order to push forward John Paul II’s ecumenical agenda to snare Evangelicals, Lutherans and Anglicans into accepting Catholicism as a valid form of Christianity, the Vatican announced that an apology was to be made for the Inquisition. However, during a Mass on March 12, 2000 in which this was to be done, John Paul II merely asked pardon for wrongs committed in the past by members of the Church. The fact is, as he right well knew, that individual members of the Catholic Church did not order the systematic murder of believers and confiscation of their private property during the 605 years of the Inquisition. Rather, as Lord Acton, who was himself a Catholic, observed, it was “the Popes in particular that caused and instigated the sufferings and persecutions, involving themselves in detail even in the minute ways that believers were to be tortured.” Thus, while John Paul II appeared to be eminently pious, when one studies his laws, decrees, verdicts and deeds; he was a despot with dictatorial power.
Solemn warnings are given in Scripture concerning such veneer that conceals devious people, “… false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” As a consequence from just what is documented here, it becomes clear that the character of John Paul II was not that of a person exalted in God’s sight, and not one who knew Him. Rather, he is one to be exposed that others might not fall into the deceptions and traps which he perpetrated on the Catholic world, the Evangelical world and any who would pay attention to him.
Accursed before the Lord God
It is quite evident that John Paul II was not and is not blessed in the sight of God. What then was he? In his own estimation, he saw himself as the absolutely supreme authority. Accordingly on October 8th 2000, under his assumed title of Vicar of Christ, he consecrated the world and the new millennium to “Mary Most Holy.” By such a blasphemous act, he made mockery of the First Commandment. By these and other blasphemous official acts, John Paul II demonstrated who indeed he was. Overtly and unequivocally, he fulfilled the Thessalonians text definition of “the man of sin.” The same John Paul, who assumed to himself the titles of “Holy Father” and “Vicar of Christ,” fulfilled in an unqualified sense the definition of the Antichrist given by the Apostle John, “who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” John Paul II in taking these designations denied both the Father and the Son and again showed who he was. Even in his Catechism he took to himself Christ’s office of supreme and universal power over the whole Church. Thus he decreed,
“For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, namely, and as pastor of the entire Church, has full, supreme and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.”
John Paul was the worst enemy of Christ who, under the pretense of service to Him, presumed to undermine His unique offices by blatantly attempting to usurp His position and power. Most se-rious of all is the fact that John Paul stated unequivocally that there is “an abundant exchange of all good things,” in so-called “communion with the dead.” In the same paragraph he elabo-rates, “In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others.” This in fact is a straight denial of the Gospel of Christ. There is no known record of John Paul II’s recantation of any of this. Yet the Lord’s written word, which John Paul had in his possession as part of his authority base, proclaims. “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” This must be the utterly grave and somber conclusion of the matter: before the tribunal of God’s absolute Word, John Paul II has shown himself to be accursed by his own words. With the deepest con-cern, therefore, we reach out with the true Gospel to those who live their lives under the damna-ble teaching that this man had propagated.
Bible Believers’ Response
We carefully analyze John Paul’s beliefs and practices because the Lord commands us “to contend for the faith once given to the saints.” Our stand for the true biblical faith is to be with “compassion, making a difference.” As the Lord told us, “in the world you will have tribula-tion; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” In Him we are commanded that “hav-ing done all, to stand… stand therefore.” We, therefore, have total assurance that the Lord God is with us. The certainty of the final triumph should animate our effort and encourage us in our struggle. With great confidence we do look for fruit from the work done in His name as He in-structs us, “this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.” In the midst of spectacu-lar pageantry to surround the beatification of John Paul II, the Lord will save just as He did in the midst of the splendor of the Pope’s visit to the UK in September 2010.
Let the Gospel trumpet sound! On the authority of Scripture, let it be known that sinners are justified by grace only, through faith only, in Christ Jesus only! And to God only be the glory! The clear resounding cry is the command of the Lord Himself, “This is the work of God that you believe on him whom He has sent.” “Repent and believe the gospel.” Where there is true faith and love of the Lord, there is in the midst of all afflictions a joy unspeakable and full of glory. God is the only Holy Father, the All Holy One. His holiness is the distinguishing factor in all His essential characteristics. This is the reason why we need to be in right standing before the one and only All Holy God on the terms He prescribes. Turn to God in faith alone, in Christ alone, for the salvation that He alone gives by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, based on Christ’s death and resurrection for His own. Believe on Him alone, “to the praise of the glory of his grace.” ♦
Permission is given to copy, post and distribute this article.
Our MP3s are easily downloaded and our DVDs seen on Sermon Audio at: http://www.sermonaudio.com/go/212
Our website is: http://www.bereanbeacon.org
By Richard Bennet
The Faith and Practice of John Paul II
“Through baptism men and women are freed from sin, are reborn as children of God, and, configured to Christ by an indelible character, are incorporated in the [Catholic] Church.”
Then, by the physical sacrament of Confirmation, he claimed a spiritual outpouring like that of Pentecost itself. His words are the following,
“The effect of Confirmation is a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit like that of Pentecost. This outpouring impresses on the soul an indelible character and produces a growth in the grace of Baptism.”
He then claimed that people have their sins forgiven when a Catholic priest utters the words over them, “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” These words were, in his estimation, so important that he insisted that to obtain reconciliation with God one must confess all serious sins to a priest. The exact assertion that the Pope authorized was the following,
“One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers after having carefully examined his conscience.”
Pope John Paul II believed that by the words of consecration at a Catholic mass, the bread and wine are literally changed into the body of Christ together with His soul and divinity. His official teaching reads as follows,
“By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity.”
This official teaching of John Paul II led the Catholic priest, John O’Brien, to express his thoughts on how the consecration of bread and wine by the priest at Mass works. O’Brien wrote,
“While the Blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man—not once, but a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.”
Such heretical teaching denies the very nature of the Incarnation. Christ Jesus became incarnate a single time, and forever, and it is never to be repeated. If what John Paul II and John O’Brien believed were true, then in the same Mass “Christ” would be de-incarnated, once the communi-cant had physically absorbed the elements and they no longer contained “Christ.” What a horrific insult this teaching is, for it both assails the Lord and deceives people.
John Paul II even claimed that power effectively flowed from the Communion element itself. Thus, his official teaching was the following, “By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins.” Consequently, John Paul II taught his people to look to “it,” a physical thing, as a means of conveying God’s grace, teaching a person to look to a physical thing as if it had supernatural power. Such a teaching comes under the eternal curse of perverting the Gospel of Christ. To propose an oral ingesting of Christ’s flesh is bad enough; however, what John Paul II taught is much worse. He declared that it “preserves us from future mortal sins.” These enticing words of human philosophy teach the age-old practice of looking to a physical substance in order to procure life.
What makes the doctrine all the more repulsive is that this very teaching, which speaks of preserving from serious sin, is itself a blasphemous sin. John Paul II’s beliefs and practices were in fact spiritually lethal hazards. He presented physical things as if they were powers themselves and necessary for salvation. Thus, it was that John Paul II proposed his church’s physical sacra-ments as the inherent means of obtaining the grace of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, his official teaching declared,
“The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ‘Sacramental grace’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.”
Inculcating dependence on these physical sacraments instead of direct faith on the Lord Christ Jesus was the scheme of John Paul II. It deflected faith from the person of Christ to rituals that are claimed to be powers. He explicitly called them “powers” as he stated, “Sacraments are ‘powers that come forth’ from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving.”
True Christians see God’s power proclaimed in “the gospel of Christ… the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,” each one “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Thus, John Paul II’s faith and practice were not those of a person that is blessed in the sight of God, indeed, quite the opposite.
The Character of John Paul II
The character of John Paul II was presented as resplendent in humility and compassion, earnestly going about to bring peace and unity to the world. Underneath the façade, however, was an iron fisted hold on people in terms of law. Like Pope Gregory VII in the eleventh century, John Paul II determined to build an empire by meticulous laws. He was adamant in his efforts to update the laws of the Catholic Church. Since the days of Gregory VII, Popes have seen the necessity of making inflexible church laws before attempting to control their subjects and others by compulsion, if necessary. Thus, it was in 1983 that John Paul II revised the 1917 Code of Canon Law. He added laws to those already existing, such as the following,
“The Church has an innate and proper right to coerce offending members of the Christian faithful by means of penal sanctions.”
Examination of his extra laws shows them to be even more totalitarian than those of the past. For example, in clearer terms than any cult, John Paul II decreed the necessity of suppressing one’s God-given faculties of the mind and will. His law stated,
“A religious respect of intellect and will, even if not the assent of faith, is to be paid to the teaching which the Supreme Pontiff...”
The consequences of not submitting were spelled out in his laws, “The following are to be pun-ished with a just penalty: 1. a person who…teaches a doctrine condemned by the Roman Pon-tiff….” Specific penalties are also decreed by John Paul II, “The law can establish other expiatory penalties which deprive a believer of some spiritual or temporal good and are consistent with the supernatural end of the Church.”
Imposes Greater Control over Catholic Church
John Paul II knew right well how to enforce his will in law. In few other activities was his genius more conspicuous than in this. There were no checks and balances to his absolute power and authority. In the official commentary on his Canon Law is the following,
“The Church’s governmental system is vastly different from the notion of a balance of powers. In fact, the three functions are situated in the same office.... Unlike the American system, ecclesiastical law does not arise from the will of the governed, nor does the Church’s juridical structure rely on a system of checks and balances to maintain its effectiveness...The Code promotes this system through a hierarchical structure that is more vertical than horizontal. Ultimately, the highest judge, the pope, is also the highest legislator and administrator....”
The imposition of John Paul II will was clearly seen in an article in the Catholic World Report called, “Rome Has SpokenAgain.” The article stated the following,
“‘The Pope Moves to Stamp Out Liberal Debate on Heated Issues,’ headlined the New York Times in a front-page story, warning darkly of possible ‘just punishment’ for dissenters…In another front-page story, the Washington Post introduced its coverage with a headline reading, ‘Papal Letter is Divisive, Critics Say’, nor did the Post fail to add the obligatory subheadline about how ‘Dissent on Dogma Risks Punishment....’”
Then in order to push forward John Paul II’s ecumenical agenda to snare Evangelicals, Lutherans and Anglicans into accepting Catholicism as a valid form of Christianity, the Vatican announced that an apology was to be made for the Inquisition. However, during a Mass on March 12, 2000 in which this was to be done, John Paul II merely asked pardon for wrongs committed in the past by members of the Church. The fact is, as he right well knew, that individual members of the Catholic Church did not order the systematic murder of believers and confiscation of their private property during the 605 years of the Inquisition. Rather, as Lord Acton, who was himself a Catholic, observed, it was “the Popes in particular that caused and instigated the sufferings and persecutions, involving themselves in detail even in the minute ways that believers were to be tortured.” Thus, while John Paul II appeared to be eminently pious, when one studies his laws, decrees, verdicts and deeds; he was a despot with dictatorial power.
Solemn warnings are given in Scripture concerning such veneer that conceals devious people, “… false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” As a consequence from just what is documented here, it becomes clear that the character of John Paul II was not that of a person exalted in God’s sight, and not one who knew Him. Rather, he is one to be exposed that others might not fall into the deceptions and traps which he perpetrated on the Catholic world, the Evangelical world and any who would pay attention to him.
Accursed before the Lord God
It is quite evident that John Paul II was not and is not blessed in the sight of God. What then was he? In his own estimation, he saw himself as the absolutely supreme authority. Accordingly on October 8th 2000, under his assumed title of Vicar of Christ, he consecrated the world and the new millennium to “Mary Most Holy.” By such a blasphemous act, he made mockery of the First Commandment. By these and other blasphemous official acts, John Paul II demonstrated who indeed he was. Overtly and unequivocally, he fulfilled the Thessalonians text definition of “the man of sin.” The same John Paul, who assumed to himself the titles of “Holy Father” and “Vicar of Christ,” fulfilled in an unqualified sense the definition of the Antichrist given by the Apostle John, “who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” John Paul II in taking these designations denied both the Father and the Son and again showed who he was. Even in his Catechism he took to himself Christ’s office of supreme and universal power over the whole Church. Thus he decreed,
“For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, namely, and as pastor of the entire Church, has full, supreme and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.”
John Paul was the worst enemy of Christ who, under the pretense of service to Him, presumed to undermine His unique offices by blatantly attempting to usurp His position and power. Most se-rious of all is the fact that John Paul stated unequivocally that there is “an abundant exchange of all good things,” in so-called “communion with the dead.” In the same paragraph he elabo-rates, “In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others.” This in fact is a straight denial of the Gospel of Christ. There is no known record of John Paul II’s recantation of any of this. Yet the Lord’s written word, which John Paul had in his possession as part of his authority base, proclaims. “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” This must be the utterly grave and somber conclusion of the matter: before the tribunal of God’s absolute Word, John Paul II has shown himself to be accursed by his own words. With the deepest con-cern, therefore, we reach out with the true Gospel to those who live their lives under the damna-ble teaching that this man had propagated.
Bible Believers’ Response
We carefully analyze John Paul’s beliefs and practices because the Lord commands us “to contend for the faith once given to the saints.” Our stand for the true biblical faith is to be with “compassion, making a difference.” As the Lord told us, “in the world you will have tribula-tion; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” In Him we are commanded that “hav-ing done all, to stand… stand therefore.” We, therefore, have total assurance that the Lord God is with us. The certainty of the final triumph should animate our effort and encourage us in our struggle. With great confidence we do look for fruit from the work done in His name as He in-structs us, “this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.” In the midst of spectacu-lar pageantry to surround the beatification of John Paul II, the Lord will save just as He did in the midst of the splendor of the Pope’s visit to the UK in September 2010.
Let the Gospel trumpet sound! On the authority of Scripture, let it be known that sinners are justified by grace only, through faith only, in Christ Jesus only! And to God only be the glory! The clear resounding cry is the command of the Lord Himself, “This is the work of God that you believe on him whom He has sent.” “Repent and believe the gospel.” Where there is true faith and love of the Lord, there is in the midst of all afflictions a joy unspeakable and full of glory. God is the only Holy Father, the All Holy One. His holiness is the distinguishing factor in all His essential characteristics. This is the reason why we need to be in right standing before the one and only All Holy God on the terms He prescribes. Turn to God in faith alone, in Christ alone, for the salvation that He alone gives by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, based on Christ’s death and resurrection for His own. Believe on Him alone, “to the praise of the glory of his grace.” ♦
Permission is given to copy, post and distribute this article.
Our MP3s are easily downloaded and our DVDs seen on Sermon Audio at: http://www.sermonaudio.com/go/212
Our website is: http://www.bereanbeacon.org
Saturday, April 30, 2011
John Paul II: Cult of Personality
John Paul II: Blessed in the Sight of God?
By Richard Bennett
John Paul II is to be beatified by Benedict XVI on May 1, 2011. It will be “an historic event which has no precedent,” said the director of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. The “Decree for John Paul II’s Beatification” states, “The proclamation of a Saint or of a Blessed by the Church is the fruit of putting together various aspects regarding a specific Person…. the sine qua non condition is the holiness of the person’s life, verified during the precise and formal canonical proceedings.” The communiqué announcing the beatification referred to “the great fame of sanctity which Pope John Paul II enjoyed during his life, in his death and after his death.”
Indeed, there is a great general admiration for the life and achievements of John Paul II. In terms of worldly acclaim, it is hard to find an equal to him in recent history. The Catholic world will soon officially proclaim him blessed and many others will agree. But are they right? Is John Paul II blessed in the sight of God? Is the alleged sanctity or holiness which is claimed for John Paul II in line with what the Scripture teaches?
Objective measure for John Paul II’s sanctity
The Lord underscored scriptural truth as the foundation of sanctity. He declared, “if a man love me, he will keep my word.” Consequently, it is the responsibility of the one who claims to be Christ’s disciple to keep His Word. In fact, the authentic mark of sanctity is total esteem for His Word. As the Lord describes it, “to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”
Did John Paul II have an absolute respect for Scripture? No, it was the exact opposite. In his role as Pope, he published the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the first universal catechism of the Catholic Church in several centuries. In it he decreed the following,
“As a result the [Catholic] Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.’”
This teaching of John Paul II equates Scripture with tradition. Christ Jesus continually rebuked the Pharisees because they likewise placed their tradition on a par with Scripture. Christ con-demned them because they were attempting to corrupt the very basis of truth by equating their traditions with the Scripture. John Paul II has committed the same error; thus he falls under the same condemnation. The Lord Jesus Christ clearly showed that God’s written word alone is the sole basis of truth. He proclaimed, “sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” This is why He commands nothing to be added to it nor subtracted from it. Consequently the Holy Scripture alone is the believer’s standard of truth. John Paul II attempted to corrupt this absolute basis of truth set by God alone; therefore, he is to be reckoned as a false teacher.
Reaping from his Corrupted Foundation
From John Paul II’s corrupted foundation, it was possible as Pope to esteem himself gifted with the divine attribute of infallibility. Thus he stated publicly,
“The Supreme Pontiff, in virtue of his office, possesses infallible teaching authority when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful...he proclaims with a definitive act that a doc-trine of faith or morals is to be held as such.”
His claim to “infallible teaching authority,” a divine attribute, proves absolutely that he falls under the category of false teacher. It also implies he saw himself as divinely inspired. In addition to this dreadful arrogance, he also proclaimed in his Catechism, “The Pope enjoys, by divine insti-tution, ‘supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls.’” In that assertion, he has arrogated to himself the power given to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Thus he has demon-strated actively that from his corrupted foundation, he was not only hopelessly deceived but he also propagated these deceptions world wide. Therefore, his own claims show that he did not possess any sanctity before the All Holy God; but his Catechism shows that he did possess a ter-rible pride.
Nonetheless, the Catholic world desires to show him religious veneration, or worship. Once he is beatified, John Paul will be given the title ‘blessed’ and can be publicly venerated. Many peo-ple, especially in Poland, already venerate him privately, but the ceremony will make it official. Yes, many people will willingly “venerate” or worship John Paul II, as they have been taught is morally right to do once it has been made official by the Papacy.
Ancient sin encouraged
This latest entry point into necromancy simply ensures that the deceptions John Paul II taught will continue to bear much evil fruit. In fact, officially, in his Catechism he encouraged mankind to contact the dead. He publicly taught, “Communion with the dead...Our prayer for them is ca-pable not only of helping ‘them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.’” “We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.”
Supposed communion with the dead and deification of the dead has held a prominent place in nearly every system of paganism. The dead are consulted to give help to the living, which is the alluring charm of the occult. The practice of communicating with the spirits of the departed is sinful, since the Word of the Lord forbids it: “there shall not be found among you any one...that useth divination…or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer, [one who calls up the dead].” John Paul II’s teaching on communion with the dead is quite similar to what one finds in the pages of the occult. The Lord Jesus Christ com-manded worship in prayer to God alone, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” He gave the indispensable command that communication in worship is due to God alone and must not be given to any creature. “I am the LORD thy God…Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
It was not simply that John Paul II recognized and approved of “communion with the dead.” He created more and more personages to be contacted, and did it with great speed. One news service expressed it in the following words, “John Paul II has created more saints and be-atified more people than all the popes put together. He has so far named 477 men and women as saints, and beatified 1,318 others, as it were, putting them into orbit for final elevation to the heavenly pantheon of Christian saints.”
Exchange of merit between believer and dead “saint”
During his lifetime, John Paul II continued his teaching regarding the dead by declaring that there is an interchange of holiness in expiation of sin, shared even with the dead in purgatory. In his Catechism, he officially stated,
“In the communion of saints, ‘a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things.’ In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others.”
Again, John Paul II has revealed that he was not blessed; rather, he officially taught damnable heresy. Factually, an abundant exchange of all good things in Scripture is in Christ alone, “in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” To assign Christ’s role to humans, including the dead ones, is a serious contradic-tion of God’s truth. God’s righteousness, which is credited to the believer at Christ’s expense, fills the believer again and again with awe, worship, and praise to the Holy God, Who Himself has provided the permanent finished work of justification for sin. To purport an imputation of righteousness outside of Him is preposterous in face of biblical truth. Jesus Himself said, “Truly truly, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”
The assertion of an exchange of merit between the believer and dead “saints” was egre-gious effrontery against the biblical truth that God alone justifies the sinner. John Paul II simply enlarged greatly the list of officially acceptable Catholic idols. In giving glory, honor, and com-munion in prayer, which is due to God alone, to the spirits of departed humans, the Pope fla-grantly sinned against the Lord God and His first Commandment. That prohibition includes an acknowledgement that He alone is God and therefore in prayer we worship Him alone. It sets our affections entirely upon Him alone.
John Paul II, who practiced and warmly encouraged idolatry, will soon have been given his place officially among the Catholic idols. The Papacy turns a blind eye to the fact that terrible, immutable judgment awaits each and every person who dies embracing such forbidden practices. For Bible believers, this sobering consideration ought to turn the official declaration to be held on May 1st into a day of mourning. It is our prayer to God alone that those still trapped by or being enticed into these destructive pagan practices might be turned to Christ Jesus through the proclamation of the true Gospel.
(Continued tomorrow)
By Richard Bennett
Indeed, there is a great general admiration for the life and achievements of John Paul II. In terms of worldly acclaim, it is hard to find an equal to him in recent history. The Catholic world will soon officially proclaim him blessed and many others will agree. But are they right? Is John Paul II blessed in the sight of God? Is the alleged sanctity or holiness which is claimed for John Paul II in line with what the Scripture teaches?
Objective measure for John Paul II’s sanctity
The Lord underscored scriptural truth as the foundation of sanctity. He declared, “if a man love me, he will keep my word.” Consequently, it is the responsibility of the one who claims to be Christ’s disciple to keep His Word. In fact, the authentic mark of sanctity is total esteem for His Word. As the Lord describes it, “to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”
Did John Paul II have an absolute respect for Scripture? No, it was the exact opposite. In his role as Pope, he published the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the first universal catechism of the Catholic Church in several centuries. In it he decreed the following,
“As a result the [Catholic] Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.’”
This teaching of John Paul II equates Scripture with tradition. Christ Jesus continually rebuked the Pharisees because they likewise placed their tradition on a par with Scripture. Christ con-demned them because they were attempting to corrupt the very basis of truth by equating their traditions with the Scripture. John Paul II has committed the same error; thus he falls under the same condemnation. The Lord Jesus Christ clearly showed that God’s written word alone is the sole basis of truth. He proclaimed, “sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” This is why He commands nothing to be added to it nor subtracted from it. Consequently the Holy Scripture alone is the believer’s standard of truth. John Paul II attempted to corrupt this absolute basis of truth set by God alone; therefore, he is to be reckoned as a false teacher.
Reaping from his Corrupted Foundation
From John Paul II’s corrupted foundation, it was possible as Pope to esteem himself gifted with the divine attribute of infallibility. Thus he stated publicly,
“The Supreme Pontiff, in virtue of his office, possesses infallible teaching authority when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful...he proclaims with a definitive act that a doc-trine of faith or morals is to be held as such.”
His claim to “infallible teaching authority,” a divine attribute, proves absolutely that he falls under the category of false teacher. It also implies he saw himself as divinely inspired. In addition to this dreadful arrogance, he also proclaimed in his Catechism, “The Pope enjoys, by divine insti-tution, ‘supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls.’” In that assertion, he has arrogated to himself the power given to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Thus he has demon-strated actively that from his corrupted foundation, he was not only hopelessly deceived but he also propagated these deceptions world wide. Therefore, his own claims show that he did not possess any sanctity before the All Holy God; but his Catechism shows that he did possess a ter-rible pride.
Nonetheless, the Catholic world desires to show him religious veneration, or worship. Once he is beatified, John Paul will be given the title ‘blessed’ and can be publicly venerated. Many peo-ple, especially in Poland, already venerate him privately, but the ceremony will make it official. Yes, many people will willingly “venerate” or worship John Paul II, as they have been taught is morally right to do once it has been made official by the Papacy.
Ancient sin encouraged
This latest entry point into necromancy simply ensures that the deceptions John Paul II taught will continue to bear much evil fruit. In fact, officially, in his Catechism he encouraged mankind to contact the dead. He publicly taught, “Communion with the dead...Our prayer for them is ca-pable not only of helping ‘them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.’” “We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.”
Supposed communion with the dead and deification of the dead has held a prominent place in nearly every system of paganism. The dead are consulted to give help to the living, which is the alluring charm of the occult. The practice of communicating with the spirits of the departed is sinful, since the Word of the Lord forbids it: “there shall not be found among you any one...that useth divination…or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer, [one who calls up the dead].” John Paul II’s teaching on communion with the dead is quite similar to what one finds in the pages of the occult. The Lord Jesus Christ com-manded worship in prayer to God alone, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” He gave the indispensable command that communication in worship is due to God alone and must not be given to any creature. “I am the LORD thy God…Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
It was not simply that John Paul II recognized and approved of “communion with the dead.” He created more and more personages to be contacted, and did it with great speed. One news service expressed it in the following words, “John Paul II has created more saints and be-atified more people than all the popes put together. He has so far named 477 men and women as saints, and beatified 1,318 others, as it were, putting them into orbit for final elevation to the heavenly pantheon of Christian saints.”
Exchange of merit between believer and dead “saint”
During his lifetime, John Paul II continued his teaching regarding the dead by declaring that there is an interchange of holiness in expiation of sin, shared even with the dead in purgatory. In his Catechism, he officially stated,
“In the communion of saints, ‘a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things.’ In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others.”
Again, John Paul II has revealed that he was not blessed; rather, he officially taught damnable heresy. Factually, an abundant exchange of all good things in Scripture is in Christ alone, “in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” To assign Christ’s role to humans, including the dead ones, is a serious contradic-tion of God’s truth. God’s righteousness, which is credited to the believer at Christ’s expense, fills the believer again and again with awe, worship, and praise to the Holy God, Who Himself has provided the permanent finished work of justification for sin. To purport an imputation of righteousness outside of Him is preposterous in face of biblical truth. Jesus Himself said, “Truly truly, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”
The assertion of an exchange of merit between the believer and dead “saints” was egre-gious effrontery against the biblical truth that God alone justifies the sinner. John Paul II simply enlarged greatly the list of officially acceptable Catholic idols. In giving glory, honor, and com-munion in prayer, which is due to God alone, to the spirits of departed humans, the Pope fla-grantly sinned against the Lord God and His first Commandment. That prohibition includes an acknowledgement that He alone is God and therefore in prayer we worship Him alone. It sets our affections entirely upon Him alone.
John Paul II, who practiced and warmly encouraged idolatry, will soon have been given his place officially among the Catholic idols. The Papacy turns a blind eye to the fact that terrible, immutable judgment awaits each and every person who dies embracing such forbidden practices. For Bible believers, this sobering consideration ought to turn the official declaration to be held on May 1st into a day of mourning. It is our prayer to God alone that those still trapped by or being enticed into these destructive pagan practices might be turned to Christ Jesus through the proclamation of the true Gospel.
(Continued tomorrow)
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Is Christ Alone Enough? #2
(Just a note from Jim: Miles McKee is a reformed evangelist who is currently working in his home country of Ireland. It's a pleasure to feature his writings on the gospel which is so very practical and applicable to our daily lives. He first updates us on his ministry--below--before continuing his important reminders on the gospel. Miles helps us see why the gospel truly is "good news.")
The work in Ireland is growing. We are very encouraged to see the gracious progress of the gospel. However, we are somewhat concerned in that a number of our supporters have faded away. At the same time, everything seems to have gone up in price here and the dollar is buying less. Petrol (gas) is equivalent more than $10 a gallon (or so I’m told). For this last three months right about this time, even with strict budgeting, our support money runs out at this time of the month. Please pray for us that the Lord will add some new supply for this work here. We urgently need help so that we can preach Christ crucified here.
The Wednesday Word: Is Christ Alone Enough? #2 by Miles McKee
Let me ask you a question. Are you more conscious of your sins than you are of the fact that they have already been paid for and taken away? If this is the way you think you still believe that Christ‘s work is not enough for you. As gospel driven believers, however, we need to concentrate, not on our sins, but on the fact that Jesus has paid for them. The Lamb of God has taken them all away (Jn 1:29)! The past cannot make us prisoners. Our focus is now centered on Him, the Lord Christ. It is because of His doing and dying alone that we are forgiven, accepted and redeemed! And when He purged our sins He really purged them---they and their memory are gone.
But there’s even more on which we can center our attention! Not only has Jesus taken away our sins, He has also brought us to God (1 Peter 3:18)! This is good news for we could never have found our way there in the first place. But Jesus, by His person and performance has already brought us to Him.
The good news is that, there’s even more good news. For example, He, as our Great High Priest, is at this precise moment exercising His ministry for our benefit! As our penal substitute He bought us for God and as our High Priest He brings us to God. By the ministry of His priesthood He now sustains, keeps, maintains and protects every one of His blood bought people.
Our High Priest has now given us free and open access to the Father. Someone asks, “Exactly how near has He actually brought us to the Father?” The Hymn writer answers that question when He says,
“So near so very near to God,I nearer cannot be, For in the person of His Son, I am as near as He.”
We are brought to God “in Christ”. Indeed, there is no possibility of standing before God other than by standing in Christ. That’s why Peter tells us, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3:18).
You don’t have to feel that, just believe it. We are a redeemed people whom He has purchased for Himself so that we would be with Him forever. Jesus promised us, "that where I am, there ye may be also"(John 14:3). We, therefore, will lose this nearness to God only when Christ loses His ----and that will never happen---for He is God manifest in the flesh. We may fail, fall and flat out sin---we say this to our shame, but our High Priest retains our nearness to God! Although, the religious, self-righteous man rejects this statement, the truth remains that access to God is not founded upon any religious system based upon our performance. Our nearness to God is based on Christ and His finished performance alone.
The Father values the finished work and person of His Son and our salvation rests on the fact that God sees Him and is satisfied. It is impossible that God will ever reject the sacrifice and person of His precious Son. The Father, on the basis of Christ alone, has legally declared us both not guilty and reconciled. As repentant blood bought believers we can move past the domination of our failures because Christ alone is enough.
And that’s the Gospel Truth
Miles
Miles McKee Ministries
www.milesmckee.com
Please pray for us as we continue in a severe war here! The town of New Ross has been a grave yard for preachers over the years. There is strong spiritual opposition to us here. We are keenly aware that the powers of darkness hate the gospel and are trying to block it at every turn. We are also keenly aware that Christ is the Victor.
Let me encourage you to forward the Wednesday Word to friends and family.
As we church plant here in the Republic of Ireland, we are funded by faith in Christ Jesus. If the Lord lays us on your heart to partner with us, please send your support to
In the USA
Miles McKee Ministries
PO Box 353
Ponte Vedra Beach
Jacksonville
Florida 32004-0353
In Europe
46 Dunbrody Wharf,
New Ross,
County Wexford,
Ireland
The work in Ireland is growing. We are very encouraged to see the gracious progress of the gospel. However, we are somewhat concerned in that a number of our supporters have faded away. At the same time, everything seems to have gone up in price here and the dollar is buying less. Petrol (gas) is equivalent more than $10 a gallon (or so I’m told). For this last three months right about this time, even with strict budgeting, our support money runs out at this time of the month. Please pray for us that the Lord will add some new supply for this work here. We urgently need help so that we can preach Christ crucified here.
The Wednesday Word: Is Christ Alone Enough? #2 by Miles McKee
Let me ask you a question. Are you more conscious of your sins than you are of the fact that they have already been paid for and taken away? If this is the way you think you still believe that Christ‘s work is not enough for you. As gospel driven believers, however, we need to concentrate, not on our sins, but on the fact that Jesus has paid for them. The Lamb of God has taken them all away (Jn 1:29)! The past cannot make us prisoners. Our focus is now centered on Him, the Lord Christ. It is because of His doing and dying alone that we are forgiven, accepted and redeemed! And when He purged our sins He really purged them---they and their memory are gone.
But there’s even more on which we can center our attention! Not only has Jesus taken away our sins, He has also brought us to God (1 Peter 3:18)! This is good news for we could never have found our way there in the first place. But Jesus, by His person and performance has already brought us to Him.
The good news is that, there’s even more good news. For example, He, as our Great High Priest, is at this precise moment exercising His ministry for our benefit! As our penal substitute He bought us for God and as our High Priest He brings us to God. By the ministry of His priesthood He now sustains, keeps, maintains and protects every one of His blood bought people.
Our High Priest has now given us free and open access to the Father. Someone asks, “Exactly how near has He actually brought us to the Father?” The Hymn writer answers that question when He says,
“So near so very near to God,I nearer cannot be, For in the person of His Son, I am as near as He.”
We are brought to God “in Christ”. Indeed, there is no possibility of standing before God other than by standing in Christ. That’s why Peter tells us, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3:18).
You don’t have to feel that, just believe it. We are a redeemed people whom He has purchased for Himself so that we would be with Him forever. Jesus promised us, "that where I am, there ye may be also"(John 14:3). We, therefore, will lose this nearness to God only when Christ loses His ----and that will never happen---for He is God manifest in the flesh. We may fail, fall and flat out sin---we say this to our shame, but our High Priest retains our nearness to God! Although, the religious, self-righteous man rejects this statement, the truth remains that access to God is not founded upon any religious system based upon our performance. Our nearness to God is based on Christ and His finished performance alone.
The Father values the finished work and person of His Son and our salvation rests on the fact that God sees Him and is satisfied. It is impossible that God will ever reject the sacrifice and person of His precious Son. The Father, on the basis of Christ alone, has legally declared us both not guilty and reconciled. As repentant blood bought believers we can move past the domination of our failures because Christ alone is enough.
And that’s the Gospel Truth
Miles
Miles McKee Ministries
www.milesmckee.com
Please pray for us as we continue in a severe war here! The town of New Ross has been a grave yard for preachers over the years. There is strong spiritual opposition to us here. We are keenly aware that the powers of darkness hate the gospel and are trying to block it at every turn. We are also keenly aware that Christ is the Victor.
Let me encourage you to forward the Wednesday Word to friends and family.
As we church plant here in the Republic of Ireland, we are funded by faith in Christ Jesus. If the Lord lays us on your heart to partner with us, please send your support to
In the USA
Miles McKee Ministries
PO Box 353
Ponte Vedra Beach
Jacksonville
Florida 32004-0353
In Europe
46 Dunbrody Wharf,
New Ross,
County Wexford,
Ireland
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Miles McKee tells us that Christ alone has saved us--and not our faith. Amen.
The Wednesday Word: Is Christ Alone Enough? #1
OK, we’ve said it before, but it needs to be said time and time again, faith does not actually save, it is the object of our faith Who saves us. Our act of faith, no matter how sincere, is nothing apart from its resting place---the crucified and risen Christ . Our peace and rest cannot come from any performance or spiritual discipline (Eph 2:8-9). But deary me, we know the theory of this truth yet it doesn’t often translate into real life. It seems that we have an unceasing ability to add things to the finished work of the gospel.
To grow in the enjoyment of gospel peace we need to focus much less on our faith, repentance and prayers etc, and instead look on Him, the Lord Christ (John 3:14-15; Num 21:6-9). It is in Him that salvation lies. It is in Him and His accomplishments that we find our resting place. Looking at our faith, on the other hand, is a disastrous exercise for it ministers either to our self-righteousness (if we are satisfied with our faith) or to our sense of despair (if we are not)!
If, however, we feel that we must measure the quality and quantity of our faith, before we can rest in Christ's work, then we have, without knowing it, concluded that the work of Christ is insufficient.
Someone asks, “Do you mean that our acceptance with God comes about without any sanctification in us?” Great question! Here’s the answer: ----although we do not deny that the believer grows in grace and in the knowledge of God and will be careful to maintain good works, our acceptance with the Father is not based on any work performed within us or by us. In Christ we are already fully sanctified by the will of God for we read, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all--------For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:10, 14).
Our sins were purged and put away 2000 years ago (Heb. 1:3; 9:26). Eternal redemption was obtained for us 2000 years ago (Heb. 9:12). We can’t improve on that---and better yet all this has been done according to the good pleasure of the will of God, to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph. 1:5-8). It is God's pleasure to have a people cleansed of all sin who, in the name of Jesus, can approach Him without the slightest hesitation or doubt. The Father now sees us and welcomes us, not because of our appreciation of Christ, but because of His. He alone estimates the true value and power of the blood of the one perfect offering of Christ.
We must, therefore, learn to cease from all self-righteous attempts to perform any act, or do anything whatever, in order to maintain His acceptance and favour (Rom 4:4-5). May we always see that the one great work of the Son of God done upon the cross is sufficient (2 Cor 3:5).
As soon as the Holy Spirit shows us the entire sufficiency of the great wrath offering made for sinners (John 19:30), we will cease our attempts to act or work to gain the Father’s acceptance. Instead of trying to perform, we will receive, by faith, that which Christ has done on our behalf. The Holy Spirit neither enables us to do something which saves us nor contributes to our salvation by some deep mysterious work within; on the contrary, His work is to detach us from our own effort and performance. The Spirit will lead us to be entirely satisfied with the salvation that the Saviour has already accomplished and finished.
And that’s the Gospel Truth
Miles
Miles McKee Ministries
www.milesmckee.com
Please pray for us as we are in a severe war here! The town of New Ross has been a grave yard for preachers over the years. There is strong spiritual opposition to us here. We are keenly aware that the powers of darkness hate the gospel and are trying to block it at every turn.
Let me encourage you to forward the Wednesday Word to friends and family.
As we church plant here in the Republic of Ireland, we are funded by faith in Christ Jesus. If the Lord lays us on your heart to partner with us, please send your support to
In the USA
Miles McKee Ministries
PO Box 353
Ponte Vedra Beach
Jacksonville
Florida 32004-0353
In Europe
46 Dunbrody Wharf,
New Ross,
County Wexford,
Ireland
Pay Pal is also an excellent option for making donations. It’s easy to follow the donation link from our home page at www.milesmckee.com
OK, we’ve said it before, but it needs to be said time and time again, faith does not actually save, it is the object of our faith Who saves us. Our act of faith, no matter how sincere, is nothing apart from its resting place---the crucified and risen Christ . Our peace and rest cannot come from any performance or spiritual discipline (Eph 2:8-9). But deary me, we know the theory of this truth yet it doesn’t often translate into real life. It seems that we have an unceasing ability to add things to the finished work of the gospel.
To grow in the enjoyment of gospel peace we need to focus much less on our faith, repentance and prayers etc, and instead look on Him, the Lord Christ (John 3:14-15; Num 21:6-9). It is in Him that salvation lies. It is in Him and His accomplishments that we find our resting place. Looking at our faith, on the other hand, is a disastrous exercise for it ministers either to our self-righteousness (if we are satisfied with our faith) or to our sense of despair (if we are not)!
If, however, we feel that we must measure the quality and quantity of our faith, before we can rest in Christ's work, then we have, without knowing it, concluded that the work of Christ is insufficient.
Someone asks, “Do you mean that our acceptance with God comes about without any sanctification in us?” Great question! Here’s the answer: ----although we do not deny that the believer grows in grace and in the knowledge of God and will be careful to maintain good works, our acceptance with the Father is not based on any work performed within us or by us. In Christ we are already fully sanctified by the will of God for we read, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all--------For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:10, 14).
Our sins were purged and put away 2000 years ago (Heb. 1:3; 9:26). Eternal redemption was obtained for us 2000 years ago (Heb. 9:12). We can’t improve on that---and better yet all this has been done according to the good pleasure of the will of God, to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph. 1:5-8). It is God's pleasure to have a people cleansed of all sin who, in the name of Jesus, can approach Him without the slightest hesitation or doubt. The Father now sees us and welcomes us, not because of our appreciation of Christ, but because of His. He alone estimates the true value and power of the blood of the one perfect offering of Christ.
We must, therefore, learn to cease from all self-righteous attempts to perform any act, or do anything whatever, in order to maintain His acceptance and favour (Rom 4:4-5). May we always see that the one great work of the Son of God done upon the cross is sufficient (2 Cor 3:5).
As soon as the Holy Spirit shows us the entire sufficiency of the great wrath offering made for sinners (John 19:30), we will cease our attempts to act or work to gain the Father’s acceptance. Instead of trying to perform, we will receive, by faith, that which Christ has done on our behalf. The Holy Spirit neither enables us to do something which saves us nor contributes to our salvation by some deep mysterious work within; on the contrary, His work is to detach us from our own effort and performance. The Spirit will lead us to be entirely satisfied with the salvation that the Saviour has already accomplished and finished.
And that’s the Gospel Truth
Miles
Miles McKee Ministries
www.milesmckee.com
Please pray for us as we are in a severe war here! The town of New Ross has been a grave yard for preachers over the years. There is strong spiritual opposition to us here. We are keenly aware that the powers of darkness hate the gospel and are trying to block it at every turn.
Let me encourage you to forward the Wednesday Word to friends and family.
As we church plant here in the Republic of Ireland, we are funded by faith in Christ Jesus. If the Lord lays us on your heart to partner with us, please send your support to
In the USA
Miles McKee Ministries
PO Box 353
Ponte Vedra Beach
Jacksonville
Florida 32004-0353
In Europe
46 Dunbrody Wharf,
New Ross,
County Wexford,
Ireland
Pay Pal is also an excellent option for making donations. It’s easy to follow the donation link from our home page at www.milesmckee.com
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