INTRODUCTION
There are two very important reasons why I felt compelled to write this series of posts, and I’d like to briefly share these reasons with you now before I go any further:
1) Since I am a former Catholic who is very aware of the teachings of the Catholic Church because I attended twelve years of Catholic school, attended Catechism classes, made my First Holy Communion, was Confirmed, and faithfully attended Mass not only every Sunday for many years, but also before school began for three years (as required by the school that I attended at the time), and who came to the knowledge of who Jesus Christ truly is and what He actually accomplished for us by reading a Catholic New Testament Bible exactly like the one pictured above, I decided to write this series with the hope of reaching Catholics so that they can not only come to an understanding of who Jesus Christ truly is as His Word, the Bible, declares Him to be, but also so they can see by reading God’s Word that they can have complete forgiveness, lasting joy, true peace, and the assurance of salvation if they choose to believe God’s Word and place their trust in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. Also, since many Catholics do not realize everything that the Catholic church actually teaches (as I once did not realize until after doing research and reading the CCC), I thought that it was extremely important to share this information to make Catholics aware of many things that are quite disturbing, as you will all soon become aware of as this series continues.
2) This series of posts is also being written with the intention of helping those of you who are born-again, Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ who have no idea of what the teachings of Catholicism are so that you can become aware of their teachings and be prepared to offer hope and assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ to Catholics based solely upon the truth that is recorded in God’s Word.
As we continue on in this series together comparing Scriptures in the Catholic New Testament to teachings found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we must keep these important thoughts in mind:
When it comes to our eternal destination — heaven or hell — we must be certain that we place our trust in solid truth and not in speculation or in the traditions of men. The Catholic church claims to be the “one true Church.” Therefore, it stands to reason that their teachings must line up with God’s Word and not contradict it since God does not change (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8), and His Word stands firm forever. (Psalm 119:89, Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:24,25) If a contradiction is found it must be rejected because God’s Word is our plumb line by which we must measure (or test) the teachings of every religion to see if it lines up or not. If it is off in one point we can be certain that it will lead us further and further away from Biblical truth and lead us into spiritual deception.
This series will cover many different subjects ranging from what does the Catholic Church teach about the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, priests, the pope, sin, forgiveness of sins, salvation, prayer, and what must a Catholic believe in order to receive eternal life. Some of these teachings will shock even many Catholics when they learn what their church actually teaches!
Lord willing, I hope to share at least one post every month with you in this new series until I have covered all the most important teachings that need to be brought to your attention. The main goal that I have in writing this series is to present the Word of God to Catholics — and to every person — in order to point everyone to Jesus Christ, who is our only hope and ‘the only name under heaven given among men by which we can be saved.’ (Acts 4:12)
Dear Catholic, please take a minute now to pray, asking God to open your mind to the Scriptures and to reveal the truth to you –whatever that may be.
Because only God can reveal the truth to you, I will refrain from making any comments unless I find it completely necessary. Since God’s Word is truth I trust that He will not only give you eyes to see the truth, but also I trust that He will give you the courage to respond to His leading. However, each one of you will find yourself having to answer this question when you come to many points that I present to you in these posts after realizing that there are oftentimes extreme differences between what the Word of God says and what Catholicism teaches, and the question that you will have to answer is:
“Are you going to believe the Word of God, or the word of man?”
Please keep in mind, as you are carefully reading all of the statements made from the following Catholic sources, that every time you see the word “church” spelled with a capital c they are referring to the Catholic church, since they believe that the “Catholic Church” alone is the “one true Church.”All of the information that I will be sharing with you I have obtained from the following sources:
1) CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (pictured above) – Imprimi Potest – Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict) – Interdicasterial Commission for the Catechism of the Catholic Church
2) THE WORD OF GOD – THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR IN TODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION – SACRED HEART LEAGUE EDITION – IMPRIMATUR JOHN FRANCIS WHEALON, ARCHBISHOP OF HARTFORD, APRIL 15, 1971 SIGNED AND SEALED BY BISHOP JOSEPH B. BRUNINI, DIOCESE OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
3) Occasionally when I share a Scripture with you from the Sacred Heart League (SHL) Catholic New Testament and notice that it lacks depth and clarity, I will then follow it with the same verse but in the King James Version in order to give you a better understanding of what is being said, and so that you can see what is missing from the SHL translation.
4) Very briefly in this series, I will also be quoting from THE CATHOLIC DOUAY RHEIMS VERSION OF THE BIBLE – in which you will find the following statements:
“EXCERPT FROM ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR HOLY FATHER BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE LEO XIII ON THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE:
“The God of all Providence, Who in the adorable designs of His love at first elevated the human race to the participation of the Divine nature, and afterwards delivered it from the universal guilt and ruin, restoring it to its primitive dignity, has in consequence bestowed upon man a splendid gift and safeguard–making known to him, by supernatural means, the hidden Mysteries of His divinity, His wisdom, and His mercy. For although in Divine revelations there are contained some things which are not beyond the reach of unassisted reason, and which are made the objects of such revelation in order “that all may come to know them with facility, certainty, and safety from error, yet not on this account can supernatural Revelation be said to be absolutely necessary; it is only necessary because God has ordained man to a supernatural end.” This supernatural revelation according to the belief of the universal Church, is contained both in unwritten Tradition, and in written Books, which are therefore called sacred and canonical because, “being written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church.” (Page ix)
“Wherefore it must be recognised that the sacred writings are wrapt in a certain religious obscurity, and that no one can enter into their interior without a guide; God so disposing, as the Holy Fathers commonly teach, in order that men may investigate them with greater ardour and earnestness, and that what is attained with difficulty may sink more deeply into the mind and heart; and, most of all that they may understand that God has delivered the Holy Scriptures to the Church, and that in reading and making use of His Word, they must follow the Church as their guide and their teacher. St. Irenaeus long since laid down, that where the charismata of God were, there the truth was to be learnt, and that Holy Scripture was safely interpreted by those who had the Apostolic succession. His teaching, and that of other Holy Fathers, is taken up by the Council of the Vatican, which, in the renewing of the decree of Trent, declares its “mind” to be this–that “in things of faith and morals, belonging to the building up of Christian doctrine, that is to be considered the true sense of Holy Scripture which has been held and is held by our Holy Mother the Church whose place it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures; and therefore that it is permitted to no one to interpret Holy Scripture against such sense or also against the unanimous agreement of the Fathers.” (Page xvii)
“Wherefore the first and dearest object of the Catholic commentator should be to interpret those passages which have received an authentic interpretation either by the sacred writers themselves, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost (as in many places of the New Testament), or from the Church, under the assistance of the same Holy Spirit, whether by her solemn judgment or her ordinary and universal magisterium –to interpret those passages in that identical sense, and to prove, by all the resources of science that sound hermeneutical laws admit of no other interpretation. In the other passages, the analogy of faith should be followed, and Catholic doctrine, as authoritatively proposed by the Church, should be held as the supreme law; for seeing that the same God is the author both of the Sacred Books and of the doctrine committed to the Church, it is clearly impossible that any teaching can by legitimate means be extracted from the former, which shall in any respect be at variance with the latter. Hence it follows that all interpretation is foolish and false which either makes the sacred writers disagree one with another, or is opposed to the doctrine of the Church.” (Page xviii)
“For although the studies of non-Catholics, used with prudence, may sometimes be of use to the Catholic student, he should nevertheless, bear well in mind–as the Fathers also teach in numerous passages –that the sense of Holy Scripture can nowhere be found incorrupt outside of the Church, and cannot be expected to be found in writers who, being without the true faith, only gnaw the bark of the Sacred Scripture and never attain its pith.” (Page xix)
(To read PART 1 click HERE).
(For PART 2 click HERE).
(For PART 3 click HERE).
(For PART 4 click HERE).
(For PART 5 click HERE).
(For PART 6 click HERE
INTRODUCTION TO PART 7
In Part 7 we will be covering pages 224-251 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) which addresses ‘The Church–People of God, Body of Christ, Temple of the Holy Spirit‘ as stated in the CCC.
Please keep in mind that every time “the Church” is mentioned and capitalized, they are referring to the Catholic “Church,” since Catholicism claims to be the “one True Church.”
As you continue reading this post, watch for the emphasis on “unity” and the proclamations that are made that cause total and complete dependency upon the Catholic Church as the only means for one’s salvation.
Note the compromises that are made with Biblical truth as God’s Word is set aside at many points and the “Traditions” of men are elevated as if they are new revelations from God. The Canon of Scripture is closed (Hebrews 1:1,2); we are not to add or to take away from the truth of God’s Word to present something that is in complete contradiction to the truth that God has presented to us in His Holy Word.
I realize that this post is extremely long, but please take the time to at least read the Scriptures as well as the highlighted portions of this post which I have done for the convenience of those of you who lead very busy lives and only have time to read short posts.
It is extremely important for those of you who are not familiar with the teachings of Catholicism to understand what they teach so that you do not embrace Catholicism as being Biblical. Yes, they teach the deity of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, the Trinity, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, but what they add to Scripture by means of their “Tradition” truly does “nullify God’s Word” just as Scripture says (Matthew 7:5-13). (More on that in an upcoming post in a month or so –Lord willing). [MY NOTE: With the Traditions that they add to Scripture it becomes quite clear that Roman Catholicism presents “another Jesus” and “another Gospel” as we are warned about in Galatians 1:6-9 and 2 Corinthians 11:2-4:
“I am surprised at you! In no time at all you are deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, and are going to another gospel. Actually there is no “other gospel,” but I say it because there are some people who are upsetting you and trying to change the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel that is different from the one we preached to you, may he be condemned to hell! We have said it before, and now I say it again: if anyone preaches to you a gospel that is different from the one that you accepted, may he be condemned to hell!” (Sacred Heart League Edition)
“I am jealous for you just as God is; you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage to one man only, who is Christ. I am afraid that your minds will be corrupted and that you will abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ–in the same way that Eve was deceived by the snake’s clever lies. For you gladly tolerate anyone who comes to you and preaches a different Jesus, not the one we preached; and you accept a spirit and a gospel completely different from the Spirit and the gospel you received from us!” (Sacred Heart League Edition)
As we continue going through the teachings found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it will become very evident to all of you (at least that is my prayer) that Catholicism indeed presents “another Jesus” and “another gospel,” both having no power to save.
With all of that being said, let’s now begin PART 7:
II. THE CHURCH–BODY OF CHRIST
Para 787 From the beginning Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission, joy, and sufferings. Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him:
“Abide in me, and I in you…I am the vine, you are the branches.” And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”
[MY NOTE: Catholicism teaches that the bread and wine presented at communion literally becomes the body, blood. soul. and divinity of Jesus Christ. (CCC 1374 PARA) They believe that the Sacrifice of the Mass was instituted by Jesus Christ (CCC PARA 611), They teach that the Sacrifice of the Mass is “truly propitiatory.” (CCC PARA 1367)These concerns will be addressed when we get to Pages 368 and beyond in the CCC. We will be ending this post at Page 251,so we have quite a few more pages to cover yet.
God’s Word makes it very clear that when Jesus Christ spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His blood He was speaking figuratively and not literally:
“Jesus said to them. “I tell you the truth; ‘If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you will not have life in yourselves. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day. For my flesh is the real food, my blood is the real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way, whoever eats me will live because of me. This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.” Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum. Many of his disciples heard this and said, “This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to this?” Without being told, Jesus knew that his disciples were grumbling about this; so he said to them, “Does this make you want to give up? Suppose, then, that you should see the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before? What gives life is God’s Spirit; man’s power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.” (John 6:53-63) (Sacred Heart League Edition)
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.”John 6:63 (KJV)
Para 788 When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his disciples orphans. He promised to remain with them until the end of time; he sent them his Spirit. [MY NOTE: Please keep the truth of this Scriptural statement based on John 14:15-18 in mind, because I will be addressing this in another post in this series –Lord willing.]
“One Body”
Para 790 Believers who respond to God’s Word and become members of Christ’s Body, become intimately united with him: “In that body the life of Christ is communicated to those who believe, and who, through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his Passion and glorification. This is especially true of Baptism, which unites us to Christ’s death and Resurrection, and the Eucharist, by which “really sharing in the body of the Lord…we are taken up into communion with him and with one another.” [MY NOTE: I will also be strongly addressing Catholicism’s teaching on the Eucharist/ the Sacrifice of the Mass in another post in this series, as well as in a completely separate post in the near future –Lord willing.]
Para 795 Christ and his Church thus together make up the “whole Christ” (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ. The saints are acutely aware of this unity:
Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself. Do you understand and grasp, brethren, God’s grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice we have become Christ.
III. THE CHURCH IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
PARA 797 “What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.” ~Saint Augustine
PARA 804 One enters into the People of God by faith and Baptism. “All men are called to belong to the new People of God” (Lumen Gentium 13), so that, in Christ, “men may form one family and one People of God.” (AG 1).
PARA 805 The Church is the Body of Christ. Through the Spirit and his action in the sacraments, above all, the Eucharist, Christ, who once was dead and is now risen, establishes the community of believers as his own Body.
PARA 808 The Church is the Bride of Christ: he loved her and handed himself over for her. He has purified her by his blood and made her the fruitful mother of all God’s children.
PARA 809 The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the soul, as it were, of the Mystical Body, the source of its life, of its unity in diversity, and of the riches of its gifts and charisms.
PARA 810 “Hence the universal Church is seen to be ‘ a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’ ” (Lumen Gentium 4 citing St, Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 23: PL 4 553).
Paragraph 3. The Church Is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
PARA 811 “This is the sole Church of Christ, which is the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other, indicate essential features of the Church and her mission. The Church does not possess them of herself; it is Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, makes his Church one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and it is he who calls her to realize each of these qualities.
PARA 812 “Only faith can recognize that the Church possesses these properties from her divine source. But their historical manifestations are signs that also speak clearly to human reason. As the First Vatican Council noted, the “Church herself, with her marvellous propagation, eminent holiness, and inexhaustible fruitfulness in everything good, her catholic unity and invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable witness of her divine mission.” [MY NOTE: Because of the many thousands of cases of sexual abuse by priests towards children that have come to light, it is clear that the“credibility” of the Catholic Church has been lost; they are not “an irrefutable witness of her divine mission.“
THE CHURCH IS ONE
“The sacred mystery of the Church’s unity” (UR2)
PARA 813 The Church is one because of her “soul” :”It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle of the Church’s unity.” Unity is of the essence of the Church:
What an astonishing mystery! There is one Father of the universe, one Logos of the universe, and also one Holy Spirit, everywhere one and the same; there is also one virgin become mother, and I should like to call her “Church.”
PARA 815 What are these bonds of unity? Above all, charity “binds everything together in perfect harmony.” But the unity of the pilgrim Church is also assured by visible bonds of communion:
–profession of one faith received from the Apostles;
–common celebration of divine worship, especially the sacraments;
–apostolic succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders, maintaining the fraternal concord of God’s family.
PARA 816 “The sole Church of Christ [is that] which our Savior, after his Resurrection, entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it. … This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in (subsistit in) the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him.”
The Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism explains: “For it is through Christ’s Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the Apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the People of God.
Wounds to unity
PARA 817 In fact, “in this one and only Church of God from its very beginnings there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly censures as damnable. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions appeared and large communities became separated from full communion with the Catholic Church–for which often enough, men of both sides were to blame.”
PARA 818 “However one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers. …All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church.”
PARA 819 “Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth” are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: “the written Word of God; the life of grace, faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements.” Christ’s Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, and are in themselves calls to “Catholic unity.”
Toward Unity
PARA 820 “Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time.” The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit.
PARA 821 Certain things are required in order to respond adequately to this call:
–a permanent renewal of the Church in greater fidelity to her vocation; such renewal is the driving-force of the movement toward unity;
–prayer in common, because change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and merits the name ‘spiritual ecumenism;’
–fraternal knowledge of each other;
—ecumenical formation of the faithful and especially of priests;
—dialogue among theologians and meetings among Christians of the different churches and communities;
—collaboration among Christians in various areas of service to mankind. “Human service” is the idiomatic phrase.
PARA 822 Concern for achieving unity “involves the whole Church, faithful and clergy alike.” But we must realize “that this holy objective–the reconciliation of all Christians in the unity of the one and only Church of Christ–transcends human power and gifts.” That is why we place all our hope “in the prayer of Christ for the Church, in the love of the Father for us, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
II. THE CHURCH IS HOLY
PARA 824 It is in the Church that “the fullness of the means of salvation” has been deposited. It is in her that “by the grace of God we acquire holiness.”
PARA 828 By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors.
PARA 829 “By while in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary” : in her, the Church is already the “all holy.”
III THE CHURCH IS CATHOLIC
What Does “Catholic” Mean?
PARA 830 The word “catholic” means “universal,” in the sense of “according to the totality” or “in keeping with the whole.” The Church is catholic in a double sense: First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. “Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.” In her subsists the fullness of Christ’s body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him “the fullness of the means of salvation” which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession, The Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost and will always be so until the day of Parousia.
PARA 831 Secondly, the Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race: All men are called to belong to the new People of God. This People, therefore, while remaining one and only one, is to be spread throughout the whole world and to all ages in order that the design of God’s will may be fulfilled: he made human nature one in the beginning and has decreed that all his children who were scattered should be finally gathered together as one.…The character of universality which adorns the People of God is a gift from the Lord himself whereby the Catholic Church ceaselessly and efficaciously seeks for the return of all humanity and all its goods, under Christ the Head in the unity of his Spirit.”
PARA 834 Particular Churches are fully catholic through their communion with one of them, the Church of Rome “which presides in charity.” “For with this church, by reason of its pre-eminence, the whole Church, that is the faithful everywhere, must necessarily be in accord.” Indeed “from the incarnate Word’s descent to us, all Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great Church that is here [at Rome] to be their only basis and foundation since, according to the Savior’s promise, the gates of hell have never prevailed against her.”
Who belongs to the Catholic Church?
PARA 836 “All men are called to this catholic unity of the People of God.…And to it, in different ways, belong or are ordered: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ, and finally all mankind, called by God’s grace to salvation.”
PARA 837 “Fully incorporated into the society of the Church are those who, possessing the Spirit of Christ, accept all the means of salvation given to the Church together with her entire organization, and who–by the bonds constituted by the profession of faith, the sacraments, ecclesiastical government, and communion–are joined in the visible structure of the Church of Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops. Even though incorporated into the Church, one who does not however persevere in charity is not saved. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but “in body” not “in heart.”
PARA 841 “The Church’s relationship with the Muslims “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.“ [MY NOTE: If you will please take a few minutes to read some of the Islamic beliefs below regarding who their God is and what they believe about Jesus and compare them with what Christianity teaches, you will clearly see that we do not worship the same God even though some professing Christians such as Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, and Brian Houston, pastor of Hillsong Church, claim that we do. Precious Muslim people need to hear the good news about Jesus Christ just as everyone else does who have not yet come to know the truly good news of the Biblical gospel.]
PARA 843 The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as a “preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life.”
PARA 845 To reunite all his children, scattered and led away by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son’s Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is “the world reconciled.“ She is that bark which “in the full sail of the Lord’s cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.” According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah’s ark, which alone saves from the flood.”
“Outside the Church there is no salvation”
PARA 846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.”
PARA 847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience–those too may achieve eternal salvation.”
PARA 848 “Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”
Mission–a requirement of the Church’s catholicity
PARA 849 The missionary mandate. “Having been divinely sent to the nations that she might be ‘the universal sacrament of salvation,’ the Church, in obedience to the command of her founder and because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the Gospel to all men…”
PARA 851 Missionary motivation it is from God’s love for all men that the Church in every age receives both the obligation and the vigor of her missionary dynamism, “for the love of Christ urges us on.” Indeed, God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”; that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth. Those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in God’s universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionary.
PARA 853 Only by taking the “way of penance and renewal” the “narrow way of the cross,” can the People of God extend Christ’s reign. For just as Christ carried out the work of redemption in poverty and oppression, so the Church is called to follow the same path if she is to communicate the fruits of salvation to all men.” [MY NOTE:Why then all the elaborate Catholic church buildings made with marble and decorated with gold? Why all of the expensive treasures in the Vatican? These are not examples of living in “poverty.”]
PARA 854 It must involve a process of incultration if the Gospel is to take flesh in each people’s culture. There will be times of defeat. “With regard to individuals, groups, and peoples it is only by degrees that [the Church] touches and penetrates them, and so receives them into a fullness which is Catholic.”
IV. THE CHURCH IS APOSTOLIC
PARA 857 The Church is apostolic because she is founded on the apostles, in three ways:
–she was and remains built on “the foundation of the Apostles,” the witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself;
–with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching, the “good deposit,” the salutary words she has heard from the apostles;
–she continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the apostles until Christ’s return, through their successors in pastoral office: the college of bishops, “assisted by priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the Church’s supreme pastor”:
You are the eternal Shepherd who never leaves his flock unattended. Through the apostles you watch over us and protect us always. You made them shepherds of the flock to share in the work of your Son…”
PARA 862 “Just as the office which the Lord confided to Peter alone, as first of the apostles, destined to be transmitted to his successors, is a permanent one, so also endures the office, which the apostles received, of shepherding the Church, a charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops.” Hence the Church teaches that “the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ.”
PARA 870 “The sole Church of Christ which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic,… subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him. Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines.” (Lumen Gentium 8)
IN CLOSING
Time, and the length of this post already, does not permit me to add more comments in order to express more of my concerns to you regarding everything that I shared with you in this post, but I hope that you were able to see the many valid concerns that one should indeed have regarding the teachings of Catholicism.
If you took the time to read through this entire post, thank you! I hope that you saw how many statements made in the teachings of Catholicism emphasize “unity” and how oftentimes their teachings contradict one another. At one point they say “the [Catholic] Church is necessary for salvation,” and yet, at another point they can easily say: “…those who do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience–those too may achieve eternal salvation.”
It is out of my love for Jesus Christ and the truth of His Word — as well as out of my love and concern for precious Catholics — that I am writing this series. I urge those of you who are Catholic to please get yourself a Bible and begin reading through the Gospel of John on your own. Pray and ask God to reveal His truth to you. Continue reading through the New Testament and test everything that you have been taught against the truth of God’s Word. As I have basically said in previous installments in this series: “After reading what Catholicism teaches and when you see what God’s Word actually says, you will get to the point where you must make a choice; are you going to believe the Word of God [the Bible]? Or the word of man[Catholic Tradition]? Your eternal destiny truly depends upon what you choose to believe is true.”
BIBLICAL TRUTHS AND SCRIPTURES FOR CATHOLICS TO REFLECT ON
1. The Bible is God’s Living Word, therefore that is all we need to determine what is true or not spiritually:
“But as for you, continue in the truths that you were taught and firmly believe. You know who your teachers were, and you remember that ever since you were a child you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the man who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good work. I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge all men, living and dead: because of his coming and of his Kingdom, I command you to preach the message, to insist upon telling it, whether the time is right or not; to convince, reproach, and encourage, teaching with all patience. The time will come when men will not listen to the true teaching, but will follow their own desires, and will collect for themselves more and more teachers who will tell them what they are itching to hear. They will turn away from listening to the truth and give their attention to legends. But you must keep control of yourself in all circumstances; endure suffering, do the work of a preacher of the Good News, and perform your whole duty as a servant of God.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17, 4:1-5)(SHL)
“The Word of God is alive and active. It is sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meets, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of men’s hearts. There is nothing that can be hid from God. Everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes; and it is to him that we must all give account of ourselves.” (Hebrews 4:12) (SHL)
2. Concerning needing personal or further revelations, we need nothing else since God has given us not only His Holy Word, but also His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who is the living Word of God:
“Before the world was created, the Word already existed; he was with God, and he was the same as God. From the very beginning, the Word was with God. Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.” (John 1:1-5) (SHL)
“He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son, by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the firstborn Son, superior to all created things.
For by him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him. He existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place. He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body’s life; he is the firstborn Son who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things. For it was by God’s own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God.
Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son’s death on the cross, and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven. At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends in order to bring you holy, pure, and faultless into his presence. You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation and not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul, became a servant–this gospel which has been preached to everybody in the world.” (Colossians 1:13-23) (SHL)
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. He is the one through whom God created the universe, the one whom God has chosen to possess all things at the end. He shines with the brightness of God’s glory; he is the exact likeness of God’s own being, and sustains the universe with his powerful word. After he had made men clean from their sins, he sat down in heaven at the right side of God, the Supreme Power.
The Son was made greater than the angels, just as the name that God gave him is greater than theirs. For God never said to any of his angels, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” Nor did God say to any angel, “I will be his Father, and he shall be my Son.” When God was about to send his firstborn Son into the world, he also said, “All of God’s angels must worship him.”
This is what God says about the angels, “God makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire.” About the Son, however, God said: “Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever! You rule over your kingdom with justice. You love the right and hate the wrong; that is why God, your God, chose you and gave you joy of an honor far greater than he gave to your companions.”
He also said, “You, Lord, in the beginning created the earth, and with your own hands you made the heavens. They will all disappear, but you will remain; they will all grow old like clothes. You will fold them up like a coat, and they will be changed like clothes. But you are always the same, and you will never grow old.” God never did say to any of his angels: “Sit here at my right side, until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet.” What are the angels, then? They are all spirits who serve God and are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation.” (Hebrews 1:1-14) (SHL)
3. Beware of “another Jesus” and “another gospel” being preached to you:
“I am jealous for you just as God is; you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage to one man only, who is Christ. I am afraid that your minds will be corrupted and that you will abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ–in the same way that Eve was deceived by the snake’s clever lies. For you gladly tolerate anyone who comes to you and preaches a different Jesus, not the one we preached; and you accept a spirit and a gospel completely different from the spirit and the gospel you received from us!” (2 Corinthians 11:2-4) (SHL)
“I am surprised at you! In no time at all you are deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, and are going to another gospel. Actually, there is no “other gospel,” but I say it because there are some people who are upsetting you and are trying to change the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel that is different from the one we preached to you, may he be condemned to hell! We have said it before, and now I say it again: If anyone preaches to you a gospel that is different from the one you accepted, may he be condemned to hell! (Galatians 1:6-9)(SHL)
4. Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father, the only Mediator between God and man, and the only name by which we can be saved. The Virgin Mary, a humble and courageous woman who loved and obeyed God, was indeed blessed among women to have been chosen by God to give birth to His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who wrapped Himself in human flesh and came into this world to be our Savior. However, she must never be presented in such a way that what is taught about her goes beyond what God’s Word says and ends up even contradicting God’s Word and elevating her to the point of almost being equal to Jesus Christ, or even at times having more power and authority than Jesus Christ, as you will soon see by some of the information that I have added further below. Please keep these Scriptures in mind:
“Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.” (John 14:6) (SHL)
“For there is one God, and there is one who brings God and men together, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself to redeem all men.” (1 Timothy 2:5) (SHL)
“Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, answered them, “Leaders of the people and elders: if we are being questioned today about the good deed done to the lame man and how he was made well, then you should all know, and all the people of Israel should know, that this man stands here before you completely well by the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth–whom you crucified and God raised from death. Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says, ‘ The stone that you the builders despised turned out to be the most important stone.’ Salvation is to be found through him alone; for there is no one else in all the world, whose name God has given to men, by whom we can be saved.” (Acts 4:8-12) (SHL)
5. The Holy Spirit, the third Person in the Godhead, was sent by Jesus Christ to guide us into all truth and to be with us forever. Never in Scripture do we read that the Virgin Mary would be sent to us to be with us, as some of the messages in many apparitions declare:
“If you love me, you will obey my commandments. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, the Spirit of truth, to stay with you forever. The world cannot receive him, because it cannot see him or know him.” (John 14:15-17a) (SHL)
6. All of us are sinners –including the Virgin Mary who humbly admitted her need for a Savior:
“Mary said, “My heart praises the Lord; my soul is glad because of God my Savior, because he has remembered me, his lowly servant.” (Luke 1:46-48)
7. The only sinless person who ever walked this earth was Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. God clearly shows us this truth in His Word, as well as His amazing love and mercy –if you will only take the time to read these Scriptures, dear Catholic, and anyone else who has not yet place your trust in Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection as your only hope for forgiveness and acceptance by a thrice Holy God:
“As the Scriptures say: “There is no one who is righteous, no one who understands, or who seeks for God. All men have turned away from God; they have all gone wrong; no one does what is good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12) (SHL)
“God puts men right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: all men have sinned and are far away from God’s saving presence. But by the free gift of God’s grace they are all put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free. God offered him so that by his death he should become the means by which men’s sins are forgiven, through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In the past he was patient and overlooked men’s sins; but now in the present time he deals with men’s sins, to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus. ” (Romans 3:23) (SHL)
“Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great high priest who has gone into the very presence of God–Jesus the Son of God. Our high priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy with our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a high priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. Let us be brave, then, and come forward to God’s throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.” (Hebrews 4:14,15)(SHL)
8. Nowhere in Scripture do we see the Virgin Mary proclaimed to be the New Eve. We do, however, see Jesus Christ being declared as the last/second (New) Adam:
“For the scripture says, “The first man, Adam, was created a living being.”; but the last Adam is the life-giving Spirit. It is not the spiritual that comes first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first Adam was made from the dust of the earth; the second Adam came from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:45-47) SHL
9. God’s Word shows us the importance of testing the teachings of everyone claiming to teach the truths of God in Acts 17:11:
“The people there were more open-minded than the people in Thessalonica. They listened to the message with great eagerness, and every day they studied the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was really true.” SHL
10. Dear Catholic, please listen to me carefully…nowhere in Scripture is the Virgin Mary ever exalted in such a way as to be called the Queen of Heaven as the Catholic church refers to her. Only God deserves such praise:
“I the Lord, this is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven things.” (Isaiah 42:8) (Douay Rheims Catholic Bible)
“For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another.” (Isaiah 48:11) (DRCB)
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Thank you very much for stopping by today.
God Bless You
~Mary Dalke/Living4HisGlory
NOTE:
Lord willing, I hope to present you with at least two other important posts this month; another post regarding how New Age mysticism is entering many Christian churches these days, as well as another post concerning one of my previous churches –Harvest Bible Chapel. It is extremely important for all of us as Christians to read and to study our Bibles, to pray for discernment, and to take some time to do some research on the authors of books that may be recommended to us to read by a pastor or teacher before reading them, or we may very well be led right into spiritual deception just like what has happened to many Christians already.
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Mary/Living For His Glory