There are several things everyone should understand about Catholic doctrine.This is not 'hate' ,This is 'Love of the Truth!'
The bible should be the basis of all our beliefs in particular. Some of the most obvious things noticeable, in the Catholic church, contrary to the bible, are: 1st Timothy 4:3 "Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats".
Just prior to that, in verse 1, it refers to it as "seducing spirits ,and doctrines of devils"
We see that the Catholic church would not allow the priests to marry, which is even contrary to Saint Peter, whom they claim to be their original preist; Peter was married; did that hinder his service to God?
Catholic tradition is not to eat meat on Friday, whereas it says above "commanding to abstain from meats"
The bible clearly teach's that "The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof" 1st Corinthians 10:26 referring to food that we eat.
In Matthew 23:5 ,It refers to a practice religious people do, that is not good; "and enlarge the borders of their garments"; Just what kind of clothing do you see the preists and pope wear?
And just a little further, in verse 9 "And call no man father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
OK ! Who do we see making a big display of disobedience to Jesus words on this?
I do not want to appear to frustrate or be legalistic; I do not want to make people afraid to even speak; But when there are obvious instructions from Jesus, and we say we are His servants and ambasadors, shouldn't we be careful in our practice and in how we do things, that we present our lifestyle without contradiction? Could it be that at some point, those who were in charge of how things went in the catholic church, were not aware of Jesus words?
If that were the case, how could they truely be in charge, unless, they knew what was said, and willingly disreguarded, and disobeyed.
In Matthew 6:7 "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."
Now what kind of practice do we see of prayer in the catholic church? They say "hail Mary mother of God" over and over so many times as they count the beads by which they devote.
About Mary in Catholic doctrine:
THIS now, is one of the worst things we find of the Roman Catholic doctrine:
When they refer to the 'immaculate conception' , it is not in reference to Jesus being born of the Spirit of God, not by union of man and woman, no, it is in reference to Mary!
They have taken the holy conception that Jesus was born of, and claimed that Mary was the one born without sin.
The bible says clearly that there was only one who had no sin, it was Jesus, and that if anyone else says they have no sin, that the truth is not in them see: 1st John 1:8.
The thing catholic Mary doctrine does, is similar to those who taught the worshipping of angels, in Colossians 2:19, where Paul said "not holding the head" The head being Jesus. This attitude behind Mary worship takes peoples focus and relations and trust, away from God, and on to Mary;
That attitude and belief, giving her the place where Jesus is supposed to be, is Idolatry!
For, as it is written in 1st Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"
By this verse, we see, we are not to be going to any other, not even a Saint or Mary, but to God and to Jesus.
We need to look closely at Jesus words, to get the right attitude of
things concerning Mary:
Luke 11:27 "a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and
said unto him (to Jesus),Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the
paps which thou hast sucked.
28: But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of
God ,and keep it."
You see, JESUS wants our attention and focus to be in the correct
direction and point. I am sure Mary would not dissagree with Jesus
words. Getting or having the wrong attitude in our attention and
focus, is the makings of idolatry.
This same problem was addressed earlier in Luke 8:19-21 when Mary and
his half brothers wanted to get in to where Jesus was to see him,
when he was ministering;
Jesus said "My mother and my brethern are these which hear the word of
God, and do it."
Jesus was about getting our eyes off his side of his family that was
natural, by amplifying the real issue at hand, the Spiritual side of
his heredity; This is the True family of God, and real point of
focus, when it comes to these matters; Any other way of thinking
leads to err; That's why Jesus was so to the point in this.
Is any of this against Mary? No, it is the truth that puts real
worship and faith and the mind in it's right place; afterall, we are
to love God with all our understanding, so, we need to understand
this.
Our fellowship is with the Father. That means our heavenly Father,
not a father in a church, not the pope; Our heavenly Father, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus taught us not even to pray to himself, much less some saint
who has passed on. Read John 16:23 through 27.
He said to pray directly to our heavenly Father in Jesus name
("name" in the greek =character and authority).
In John 2:5 "His mother (Mary) saith unto the servants, Whatsoever
he (Jesus) saith unto you, do it"
Marys own words instruct us to do what Jesus says. Jesus own words
tell us to go directly to Father God, in Jesus name.
If you truely have Jesus as your saviour and Lord, His Spirit
lives in you, otherwise you are none of his; But if so, then the name
(character and authority of Jesus) is in you, and you have dirrect
personal relations with Abba Father.
Nothing less will do or is acceptable, if you want to be rightly
blessed in the family of God.
About Confirmation:
In Hebrews 6:17 the word 'confirmed' refers to a sort of position, like where a
lawyer stands in between two things; Like where it says Two Immutable
Things, This conversation carries on for several chapters, and talks
about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant; The word 'immutable',
meaning, unchangable; and of it , it said God can not lie; So, there
was quite a bit to deal with to comprehend how two covenants were
true, but that he had to confirm it as a lawyer would determine the
difference between two real testamonies.
In the light of these things;their actual meanings; I suggest that
each of you read the context around these verses:
Mark 16:20
Romans 15:8
1st Cor 1:6&8
2nd Cor 2:8
Ph'p 1:7
Heb 2:3& 6:16&17
Acts 14:22& 15:32&41
Gal 3:15&17
we can see, that that thing called 'confirmation' in church, could be
misleading from the truth in meaning, when we research these
scriptures and their meaning.
It is a very personalized solidification of Gods grace and power in
and for each of us.
Now, I dont mean 'our will, or own desire to act or believe , if
contrary to actual Godliness' But by 'personal' I mean it is for each
individual, personally authenticated and empowered by God as real,
valid, and effectual, according to his will.
About "Being Converted"
It's common to hear a catholic minister refer to being converted, as if it were becoming catholic, and even as if it meant changing from protestant to catholic.
This word 'converted' used in the bible, refers to; when you quit denying Jesus, or stop backsliding. Peter was told of Jesus in Luke 22:31-34 "When thou art converted, strengthen the brethern."
It's not about becoming catholic, or changing over to catholicism; It's about not denying the Lordship of Jesus!
About Peter and The genuine Church:
In Roman Catholic doctrine, it is taught that the
church was built on Peter.
Jesus asked in Matthew 16:13 "Whom do men say that I the Son of man
am?"
in verse 16 Simon Peter said "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God".
In verse 17, Jesus said "Blessed art thou Simon Barjona: for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven.
18: And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter (Petros in the greek),
and upon this rock (petra in the greek) I will build my church; and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19: And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
There are several things to notice here.
1) petra and petros are two different words in the greek. So beings
Jesus was not talking about Peter being what He would build the
church on, what was it? Answer; it was just what Jesus just finished
saying, it was up in verse 17, it's the personal revelation from God
that Jesus is the promised messiah, the Christ.
The church that has Jesus authority, that the gates of hell will not prevail against, is, each and every believer who has the revelation from God, that Jesus Is the Christ, The Son of the living God; that He was not born naturally, like we were naturally, who have earthly dads, but that Jesus was born of the Spirit and word of God upon Mary. That's what that verse was referring to; each believer who is born of the Spirit is a member of this authentic church.
It's not any denomination or sect or single organization nor exclusivly the roman catholics; It is You!, and everyone you gather together with who has the inward witness Of Jesus! That's the Church !
With all this said;
I will quote the Apostle Paul from Romans 16:17&18 "Now I beseech you, brethern, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but rather their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple."
And on that note, I say, notice that it says "contrary to the doctrine"; those who have beliefs and teachings and doctrine contrary to the bible, we are told to avoid them.
A word of admonition:
from 2 Thessalonians 2:10b-11 "because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."
I dont know about you, but as for me, I want to make every effort to see that I have "The Love of The Truth", which includes Jesus words in John 8:31&32 " Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
If I want to say I love the truth, not only should I not be offended by it, I should live and abide in and by it; not that any of us will expect to be at a state of sinless perfection in this world, but that we follow after, because God sees us that way in Spirit:
For this cause, we can take communion of the cup of blessing at the Lords table, without fear or doubting.
"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ "2Corinthians 2:14a AMEN
Here is another thing you should be aware of; Roman Catholic doctrine says that the pope is "infalable" , meaning, he can not be in error. No doctrine could be further from humility then such a prideful statement.
They say popes are following in a special office of Peter; But Peter wasn't infalable. Jesus very sharply rebuked Peter referring to Peter as Satan, for being concerned with natural humanistic thoughts, and not of God; This also indicates to us, if we are in error from Gods will, we are as teaching from Satan; That's very serious, please be concerned about that!
Paul the Apostle had to sharply rebuke Peter openly in front of many others. This happened years after Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit! How much now should everyone be concerned to examine what they believe, seeing how such an anointed Peter could be in such error!
Paul even admitted of himself, that he had not apprehended yet, that is to say, he had not yet come to a place of sinless perfection, even though we are seen that way from Gods eyes.
Seeing that everyone has not come into a place yet that is complete perfection, Everyone needs to heed the truth, and humbly admit that no one sees it all yet, and that each of us needs to accept that we each need correction or instruction; that no one is "infalable" That every person and denomination sect or catholic, or whatever; We all stand in need of humility, to be taught of the Holy Ghost, to come down off our high horse and be willing to receive the reality God wants us to have.
It is a false unity to just try to say we have unity between denominations and the catholic church, if we each are not in reverance to the humility I speak of.
It says; The fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in our Lord, and we are complete in him.
There are verses in the bible like that, that you could trick yourself into thinking what I said is wrong. But, the completeness we are in him, is not saying that everything we say and understand is complete, but that it is in reference to our spiritual condition. Spiritually, we are complete in him, not in the areas of our understanding and practices. Everything that God the Father is, is in our Lord Jesus, and being In Christ, everything of him is in us, in our spirit. That's not to say we are demi gods, or little gods, but we are now spiritually of the same stuff God is in our spirit. That's why Jesus said, greater things shall we do than he did; because now ,being in him, our spirit and his spirit are one, joined together as unity, like when you take two glasses of water and pour them in one glass, God changed our spirit to be alive like his, that now, like Jesus changed water into wine, our spirit was changed into the same substance as His Spirit, being cleansed and joined together. This is what it means to be complete in him. But our understanding still goes through a lifetime of growing and learning and changing, and fellowship of truth with others and the Holy Ghost does this.
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