Showing posts with label Christian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian. Show all posts
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Angry with our creations?
Here's a little story about a lesson I learned from my stupid wristwatch.
So when my dad came back from his trip to see his family I was very happy to see him and even ore so because he brought me back a gift. It was a brand new watch and I valued it so much more because I was in dire need on of one. Well as it turns out, bracelet was too big for my wrist when I put it on so I had to adjust it, when I was trying to adjust it though I found it extremely difficult to pull out the extra links and it started to become a nuisance. Instead of asking for help I continued on, mostly because of my stubborn pride and the "I can do it by myself attitude" I insisted on trying to do it myself until I began to become very irritated and started hollering curses at the wristwatch(I know this is funny) you know I kept at it cuz I believed I was super skilled at this I've done it before so many times, but this time there just seemed to be no dice it was like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Well it got to the point eventually where I became so stressed and angry that I said "forget this stupid watch!" and I actually threw the wristwatch right into the garbage can. Keep in mind that this is the brand new watch that my dad just got me and that I needed( I know, just thinking about it can still kindle my anger to this day arghhh! stupid watch!)
So before I tell you the conclusion of the story lets find out and examine why I acted the way I did. In the Bible in Genesis 1:26, God says: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." and then it says in verse 27: "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." And Genesis 1:31: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good..." The Bible makes it plain that when God created man he created him perfect without blemish, and we were created in his image and likeness. So when Adam was still perfect his nature and actions would be very similar to those of God. But check this out when Adam sinned God became very upset with his creation fro not obeying him and then cursed the world and everything in it just because of one man's sin, which by the way was eating a fruit. Does this sound familiar? Just like how God became angry and upset at Adam when he disobeyed him and brought suffering and death into the world through curses, I also who am a son of Adam made in the image of God reacted the same way when the stupid watch didn't do what I wanted it to do so I threw it in the garbage can.
Ever notice how we always get angry when the computer freezes and the blue screen of death appears that people become very angry and smack their monitors? This happens especially when they've been working on an important paper all night and the computer crashes before they get a chance to save it.When the car breaks down, or the cell phone cuts off in the middle of an important call, or when the printer jams for the 50th time and the stress has been building up for a while, you feel like doing the same as the guy from Office Space. Or the most common one of these is a parent with their disobedient children. God has allowed these things to happen so that we could get just a tiny taste of what kind of predicament and dilemma hes in. Can you imagine if you crafted a chair from scratch and as you finished it you said: "Ah what a beautiful chair this my creation is" and as you went to sit down on it it came to life and moved out of the way so you fell on the floor. What would happen? Wouldn't you become very frustrated? The thing that you created is not doing what you made it to do!
So check this out. Right after I threw the watch in the garbage, in my anger I layed down in my bed and was just thinking about these things and why I did what I just did, and I got the revelation of us being made in the image of God and was thinking about all the things I just talked about above. And it just hit me like a brick in the head... wow just like the Bible teaches God is perfect and he has every right to hate and be angry with those creations that don't do what he commands them to and we have disobeyed God so many times and made him so angry, why hasn't he thrown us in the garbage can yet(which is hell) It's because God is Love, and he has provided a way for us to be forgiven and cleansed of our sins and our crimes by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ is beloved Son so we can become his children again. If I was able to get that angry with an inanimate object, imagine how much worse it is with God when he disobey him. This just triggered the question, How God? how are you able to be so forgiving and have so much mercy, I threw that watch in teh garbage right away and yet you are so long suffering. It is because God is love, even though He's perfect and His justice is perfect God is the epitome of love. This entire experience just took away more of the veil that was blinding me from the true nature of God. As soon as I realized how much mercy was bestowed upon me I was filled with compassion and went to grab the watch out of the garbage and just dropped it off on my dad's desk to fix. It's funny because this was an inanimate object yet I learned so much from it, now lets just replace the watch in this story with the people which we havn't forgiven yet and do the same. Let's take them out of the garbage cans of unforgiveness that we have thrown them into and forgive them from the bottom of out hearts because we have received so much forgiveness.
Bible Passage:
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. So his fellow servant fell down at his feet 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
God is love
Sometimes when Bible believing Christians begin to seek after knowledge and doctrinal truths(which is good), the devil can play a trick on us where we just focus on the justice, holiness and perfectness of God and we completely forget that God is also love.
Don't get me wrong, meditating on the holiness and perfect justice of God is not wrong, but when you focus only on this then when you stumble in your walk and you sin, then you will fall into a big trap hole that is hard to get out of. I have experienced this myself so I know, and I'm pretty sure every Christian has gone through this at some point as well. When you forget that God is love then its a continuous perpetual cycle of guilt and an unhealthy type of fear towards God.
With enough time of doing this then gap between you and Christ begins to widen and the separation begins to cause you anger and you now begin to blame God for everything that is happening, without ever realizing that the devil has got you right where he wants you. Just because God is sovereign does not mean that every bad thing that happens is his fault, if you read the book of Job you can see that its was the devil doing the damage and the harm, and God allowed him to do it because of his accusations against Job.
Why would God allow the devil to do it? There are many different answers to this, a really popular one is purification that comes because of grace, God is sanctifying us and molding us into the image of His Son, (which by the way suffered more than any man) and through struggles we learn the greatest lessons. The bottom line is that we are sinners and we deserve so much more, theologically we deserve hell for our crimes against God but because He loved us so much he came down and lived a perfect life resisting every temptation and willingly went to the cross and endured the wrath of God so we wouldn't have to. If that doesn't describe the love of God then I don't know what does.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1John 4-8 NKJV
If we only knew the fierce and vigorous love that God has towards his saints. We are His bride and if a godly man loves his wife then imagine how much more the SON of God will love His bride. If a godly man loves His son then imagine how much more God the Father will love His son. The shepherd holds his lambs in his arms and caresses them and He loves them, for they are his own.
Pray this prayer: Father God who is in heaven, grant me a greater revelation of your love and your grace, open the way for me to see the fierce love that you have for me and all your saints, and help me to share it with others.
Don't get me wrong, meditating on the holiness and perfect justice of God is not wrong, but when you focus only on this then when you stumble in your walk and you sin, then you will fall into a big trap hole that is hard to get out of. I have experienced this myself so I know, and I'm pretty sure every Christian has gone through this at some point as well. When you forget that God is love then its a continuous perpetual cycle of guilt and an unhealthy type of fear towards God.
With enough time of doing this then gap between you and Christ begins to widen and the separation begins to cause you anger and you now begin to blame God for everything that is happening, without ever realizing that the devil has got you right where he wants you. Just because God is sovereign does not mean that every bad thing that happens is his fault, if you read the book of Job you can see that its was the devil doing the damage and the harm, and God allowed him to do it because of his accusations against Job.
Why would God allow the devil to do it? There are many different answers to this, a really popular one is purification that comes because of grace, God is sanctifying us and molding us into the image of His Son, (which by the way suffered more than any man) and through struggles we learn the greatest lessons. The bottom line is that we are sinners and we deserve so much more, theologically we deserve hell for our crimes against God but because He loved us so much he came down and lived a perfect life resisting every temptation and willingly went to the cross and endured the wrath of God so we wouldn't have to. If that doesn't describe the love of God then I don't know what does.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1John 4-8 NKJV
If we only knew the fierce and vigorous love that God has towards his saints. We are His bride and if a godly man loves his wife then imagine how much more the SON of God will love His bride. If a godly man loves His son then imagine how much more God the Father will love His son. The shepherd holds his lambs in his arms and caresses them and He loves them, for they are his own.
Pray this prayer: Father God who is in heaven, grant me a greater revelation of your love and your grace, open the way for me to see the fierce love that you have for me and all your saints, and help me to share it with others.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Everybodies Favorite Subject
Today I'm going to be talking about anti-christ, who and what it is. This topic is very relevant to jehovah's witnesses, mormons, quixtians(amway,BWW,LTD and all other MLM affiliates that try to take the place of christianity), and all of the prosperity gospel followers. Yay everybodies favourite subject... lol.
So first let's find out what does the word "anti"-Christ mean. Is it a word that means against Christ? Yes and no. Only recently has this word began to mean against, kind of like how anti-semitic means against jews, or some people even think it means hating jews.
Although with today's dictionary this word can be used in this manner, tradionally this word "anti" does not mean against or hating, so it becomes confusing. The word "anti" in the original greek and in almost every instance of the new testamant, was only used in terms of replacement. The most correct use of the word "anti" could be seen in the bold italic word in the next sentence.
-They were expecting Greg, but Billy came instead of Greg.
So basically the simplest way I can put this is that when the anti-christ comes he will be a replacement christ that tries to come instead of the real Christ at the time of the second coming. What does this mean? Is he going to be a man so completely opposite of Christ? Someone like adolph hitler, that everyone is going to know that it's him, that is warring against the Annointed One of God? No not at all, what this is means is that the anti-christ is going to come and fool and deceive everyone who's name is not written in the book of life, into believing that he is the true messiah that has come to save him and they will believe it to a point of zealous worship.
On the outside he will seem to be an exact replica of Jesus Christ, by being loving, kind, authoritative, angry when he has to be,gentle and meek,working miracles, he will have one come before him just like John the Baptist and the bible says he will speak boastfully whatever that means. How will a true Christian be able to quickly notice that this is the beast? What is the dividing line? The determining factor? It is the cross of Jesus Christ and all those things attached to it: his resurection, sin, judgement, wrath of God, Hell, guilt, and need for forgiveness + grace.
You will say how can these things be how will this man come and replace Christ without ever talking about sin or the cross? Just look around today there are probably billions of people worshiping the anti-christ or what I like to call "fueling his coming". For now there are many anti-christs just like it says in 1 John 4 ... many anti-christs will come, but when the fueling is complete he will manifest and there will be only one and he will fit the bill for all of them.
Let's examine some of them:
The jehovah's witnesses claim to be worshiping a saviour messiah but this messiah did not die on the cross to pay for sins and did not endure the wrath of God because there is no hell to them. Thus they believe that Jesus only came to set an example of the works we must do to get to heaven. The Christ that I praise and worship is the one that endured the wrath of God hanging on the cross for my sins so I wouldn't have to. If they are not worshiping this Christ then what christ are they worshipping? It is an anti-christ. You see a Hindu person who is worshiping a false god like vishnu or a greek worshiping zeus is in reality just worshiping a demon and in the long run the devil because they are just idols, false Gods. But when you claim to be worshiping Jesus Christ, the Messiah like figure of the Bible when upon closer examination (crucifixtion, sin) you are not. Then you are worshiping a replacement christ.
The mormons also claim to be worshiping a messiah like figure who's name is Jesus. But this Jesus of theirs was the brother of satan and born of a sexual realtionship between Mary their god which they call Elohim who has also granted all judging privileges to joseph smith. Thier Jesus was married to several wives and had children but apparently he did die on the the cross for their sin. Is this what they believe though? If one were to actually join the mormon church they would quickly find that their salvation is completely works oriented, no grace at all. And since judging privileges were hand over to joseph smith they are likely to obey him and what he wrote in his works rather than God, and how can they resist worshiping this man. The christ that they worship is Jesus Smith or Joseph Christ. They are worshiping an anti-christ.
So the mormons and jw's think we can work our way to heaven. Here is the answer to this: This is assuming that we start with a clean slate and every sin we do gives us a -1 and when we do a good deed it gives us a +1 to get back to 0. But the Bible says that we are conceived in the womb of a sinner and born in sin. And if we just commit 1 sin then the infinite wrath of an infinitely powerful God, the wrath of the God that created all those big huge stars out there in 6 days, abides on us. Why does it abide on us? Its because Before God is a loving God he is a God of Justice and since he's perfect the best analogy I can describe it with is like someone who is a perfectionist and has obsessive compulsive disorder who loves straight lines, when he sees a bump in the line you know what his greatest desire is, its to make it straight again, and since he is super powerful this is a very scary thought. But God is not a maniac who loses control of himself he does it because that is what he wants to do and since God is also a loving God who is the epitome of love we can see that he worked around his perfect Justice by unloading his wrath and crucifying the Lamb before the foundation of the world was set. Praise the LORD!
Ok now I'm going to do my best to thoroughly describe the replacement-christ that has so gripped the christian church that I have given it its own name: "The anti-christ in emotional Christianity."
This heresy is so bad that it needs it own introduction.
-Because of certain things that have happened to Christianity, like christian leaders thinking that cultural relativity and being inoffensive is more important than preaching truth, and a belief that man has the awesome power to convert sinners by his own enthusiasm and motivation, a very dangerous 8-legged venomous belief has crept into the Christian Community. It is the belief that if one has had an emotional experience that they have been saved by Jesus Christ. Q: "What do you mean B-man? Isn't genuine repentance usually accompanied by an emotional experience? Like say: crying, weeping, sorrow. " A: Yes, most genuine repentances are accompanied by sorrow and weeping, but that does not mean that every emotional experience brings about a saving work by Jesus Christ. Lets move on, I will explain.
-Let's say that my family and I go to the movies and we decided to watch a very chick flicky dramatic movie that is a tear jerker. You know those movies that make you cry because they are very sad and depressing, but they also make your do the "happy cry" for some of the scenes that have a uplifting or vindicating theme. It's the crying that you do when you find out extremely good news, like your cancerous tumor is completely healed or your father survived a plane crash. Something like that.
-O.k so lets do some dissecting here by asking some questions. If I am watching the movie and a certain scene that is packed with protagonist vindication happens to makes me cry, does that mean that I have been saved by Jesus Christ? L.o.L of course not. I know its a silly question but check this out. If a particular excited evangelist comes up to me and has a conversation with me, and during this conversation he uses the same techniques the movie does to manipulate my emotions and bring me to tears, and then he proceeds to take me through the 4 spiritual laws technique and he takes me through the hoops and I end up saying the "salvation prayer" does that mean I am saved? Of course not.
Now I know that someone is going to say: "but thats how I got saved." And I believe you it is very possible God to save someone through this method, God can do whatever he wants. Here is what I am trying to say and what is very dangerous, not everybody who goes through this experience is actually truly saved, and I would go as far to say that 9/10 people that this happens to are not saved.
-The big problem here is that they actually do believe that they are saved, because of the false teachings of the preacher afterward and not only that, but because on the outside it actually resembles true salvation so much its very hard to be discerned. If they just had an emotional experience and their emotions fueled by pastoral motivation is what keeps them coming to church and worshiping but they are not actually truly saved, then who are they worshipping? It is an anti-christ.
-By the way, the backsliding and falling away rate of these false christians is very high, but when they are motivated enough and do not fall away then they will become a goat that thinks hes a sheep or "goat with a Bible" which is very dangerous because they will do the most damage to the church as false prophets.
-O.k now, that previous bit of information is applicable to many many Christians, but mainly to those that belong to the dangerous end of Christianity that many fine scholars would call "hyper(extreme) Armenianism" who seem to think that being emotionally excited and doing the same to others is all there is to Christianity.
To name a few: charismatic, hyper-charismatic, prosperity, and many pentecostal offshoots. I am not saying that this applies to everyone in these denomination because I know there are lots of pentecostal churches that do not practice this. Now I am going to go on and elaborate on what I believe is the most dangerous branch of this heresy which is the prosperity gospel.
-O.k so the prosperity gospel not only practices what I mentioned above, but after "converting" their prospect through their emotional experience this gospel will motivate their new convert by building up their self-esteem ego and telling them that God wants them to be super wealthy and prosperous and God wants them to have all of their dreams come true because it is very man centered rather then God-centered. I'm just going to divide this into sections because it so very wicked so I must explain each doctrine seperately. Here are the topics. 1.) Man-centered not God-centered 2.) Man's will be done rather then God's will be done 3.) Positive and negative theology.
1.) Man-centered not God-centered
-In the 16th and 17th Century there was a fierce debate as to whether the Sun revolved around the Earth or the Earth revolved around the Sun, eventually with the help of science men were able to discover 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt that the earth revolves around the Sun and that the Sun was the center of the Solar system, but isn't funny that men are still trying to convince people that The Son revolves around man and that man is the center of the universe. No my friends the earth and every man in it revolves around the Son of God not the other way around. The earth and man keep revolving,moving and changing but The SON never changes and is the center of everything AND does not revolve around man. Just as the Sun gives light to the world and is needed for the existence of life on earth, the same is true with The SON, He provides light and life to the world and not the other way around.
-I have searched far and wide but I have yet to find a God-centered teaching in the prosperity gospel, every teaching has the emphasis that man is the center, "the end all be all" of the universe.
For example :
-God created the entire universe just for man, all for man's pleasure all because of man.
-God created man just so man could have a pleasurable relationship with God and so man could have a pleasurable life in the garden of Eden, If only Adam didn't blow it.
-Every time God makes a move in the universe or does something out of his own free will towards a man, it's always gotta be because of something the man has done(whether good or bad) because God has to submit to certain "laws of judgement" in the universe because God can't do whatever he wishes to man, because thats not "fair".
-God is just some weak puppet who does everything that a man with enough faith demands be done, God is constantly being stone-cold stunnered by the devil, and needs man to help him win this war that has been going on for centuries.
-These and many other silly things are done, they will gather practically every orthodox Christian doctrine they will take the fact that it is God centered and make it all about man even up to and including the cross of Jesus Christ. It's no surprise either too because that's just what the devil does he takes things that are about God and tries to make it about him because of his pride. Since we are all born in sin and with him as our spiritual father it really is no surprise that we will duplicate him in this aspect.
-And here is my response: No, the earth was created by God for God to do whatever he wanted to do with his creation which just happened to be have a relationship with man. God is sovereign and does whatever He wants, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, He does whatever pleases. If God wants to kill someone then he can do it without asking any questions. God created man to give glory to God not the other way around.
2.)Man's will be done rather then God's will be done
-All you ever hear the people in these prosperity sects talking about is what they want and how God is helping them to get it. God's will is not prevalent in their lives because they have not truly been saved so theres no way for them to know it.
Just to give you a clue in case you are wondering, God's will usually revolves around repenting of your sins, getting truly saved and helping others do the same.
-Preachers like Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland will frequently talk about how its God's will for man to be wealthy, healthy, successful, prosperous or "blessed" as they call it. Although it is true that God may want to sprinkle one of those things on one person here and there, prosperity preachers would have us believe that there is some law that God has to submit to out there and that God has to treat everybody the same way and that God wants this for everybody all the time.So to hold to this theology, they must make a God in their image who is loving and good to them all the time ,wanting to increase their wealth and success all the time and is not a Holy God or a God of Justice, but one who blesses and blesses and blesses materially.
-The main conviction of all true prosperity believers is that all good things come from God and all bad things come from the devil, and the believer defines what good and bad is according to his will. So if it's the believers will to be millionaire rap star then, anythings that comes up against him, whether it be, spoken read or in some sort of media is "of the devil" . Why is it of the devil? Because its trying to stop them from achieving their will duh, and that's whats important in a sinner's life, getting their own thing done. I will be speaking more about this in #3 positive negative theology.
3) People in all the Quixway systems(BWW, Leadership team development, network21 etc..) and in prosperity doctrine religions(kenneth copelant,benny hinnm joel osteen etc..) they all HOLD STRONG to what they like to call positive vs.negative mentality. Here's how it works.
-Lets say my name is Steve, and I want to build a nation wide-empire using the LTD business system as my vehicle, anything or anyone that supports me and my goal, furthers my ability to achieve my goal or makes me happy, excited or motivated is "positive" and it comes from God because God is the ultimate extreme of this positive force. God is the epitome of positive. He the force thats out there to give you what you want all the time. Jesus is just a name that I say or call to get this "god" to give me what I want all the time.
-So here's an example: Billy comes up to me and says: "Hey Steve, I heard about what you did yesterday that was so awesome and courageous, your an inspiration to the entire team, keep that up and you'll be a millionaire, young wealthy and free in no-time.
To which I Steve would respond: "wow Bill thats so positive, thank you so much for the encouragement."
-Now the "negative" is anything that comes against me and my dreams and goals of building my empire, anythings that tries to take away from my self esteem, my ego, my pride, my motivation, anything that tries to "steal my dream" .
-For instance: my old friend Spurgeon comes up to me and says: "Hey Steve, you seem to have become entranced by that business system, you have allowed it to become an idol in your life, what does it profit it a man if he gain the whole world but lose his own soul?"
-To which I Steve would respond: Hey loser, I never realized how much of a negative loser you were until today, why are you trying to steal my dream, you are so negative, get behind me satan! in the name of Jesus!"
and I would procede to cut Spurgeon out of my life, because not only do I not like this "negative" but I can't handle it either because it the worst kind of "negative" because it sounds like truth! OH NO! if I keep listening to this my golden calf will collapse!
-By the way the devil is the exact opposite of God in the prosperity doctrine equation, hes the epitome of negative he exists to make your life stink and to try and stop you from getting what you want all the time.
-All this sounds silly right? guess what millions of people believe this more zeaolously then any bible believing Christian I've ever seen, its because they have duplicated the biblical model of a church from acts so they have comradeship for their own evil purposes which is able to drive them forward. These organizations claim to be giving all the honor and glory to "jesus christ" which christ that is, we must inspect, for they are zealously worshiping a replacement christ, an anti-christ.
So first let's find out what does the word "anti"-Christ mean. Is it a word that means against Christ? Yes and no. Only recently has this word began to mean against, kind of like how anti-semitic means against jews, or some people even think it means hating jews.
Although with today's dictionary this word can be used in this manner, tradionally this word "anti" does not mean against or hating, so it becomes confusing. The word "anti" in the original greek and in almost every instance of the new testamant, was only used in terms of replacement. The most correct use of the word "anti" could be seen in the bold italic word in the next sentence.
-They were expecting Greg, but Billy came instead of Greg.
So basically the simplest way I can put this is that when the anti-christ comes he will be a replacement christ that tries to come instead of the real Christ at the time of the second coming. What does this mean? Is he going to be a man so completely opposite of Christ? Someone like adolph hitler, that everyone is going to know that it's him, that is warring against the Annointed One of God? No not at all, what this is means is that the anti-christ is going to come and fool and deceive everyone who's name is not written in the book of life, into believing that he is the true messiah that has come to save him and they will believe it to a point of zealous worship.
On the outside he will seem to be an exact replica of Jesus Christ, by being loving, kind, authoritative, angry when he has to be,gentle and meek,working miracles, he will have one come before him just like John the Baptist and the bible says he will speak boastfully whatever that means. How will a true Christian be able to quickly notice that this is the beast? What is the dividing line? The determining factor? It is the cross of Jesus Christ and all those things attached to it: his resurection, sin, judgement, wrath of God, Hell, guilt, and need for forgiveness + grace.
You will say how can these things be how will this man come and replace Christ without ever talking about sin or the cross? Just look around today there are probably billions of people worshiping the anti-christ or what I like to call "fueling his coming". For now there are many anti-christs just like it says in 1 John 4 ... many anti-christs will come, but when the fueling is complete he will manifest and there will be only one and he will fit the bill for all of them.
Let's examine some of them:
The jehovah's witnesses claim to be worshiping a saviour messiah but this messiah did not die on the cross to pay for sins and did not endure the wrath of God because there is no hell to them. Thus they believe that Jesus only came to set an example of the works we must do to get to heaven. The Christ that I praise and worship is the one that endured the wrath of God hanging on the cross for my sins so I wouldn't have to. If they are not worshiping this Christ then what christ are they worshipping? It is an anti-christ. You see a Hindu person who is worshiping a false god like vishnu or a greek worshiping zeus is in reality just worshiping a demon and in the long run the devil because they are just idols, false Gods. But when you claim to be worshiping Jesus Christ, the Messiah like figure of the Bible when upon closer examination (crucifixtion, sin) you are not. Then you are worshiping a replacement christ.
The mormons also claim to be worshiping a messiah like figure who's name is Jesus. But this Jesus of theirs was the brother of satan and born of a sexual realtionship between Mary their god which they call Elohim who has also granted all judging privileges to joseph smith. Thier Jesus was married to several wives and had children but apparently he did die on the the cross for their sin. Is this what they believe though? If one were to actually join the mormon church they would quickly find that their salvation is completely works oriented, no grace at all. And since judging privileges were hand over to joseph smith they are likely to obey him and what he wrote in his works rather than God, and how can they resist worshiping this man. The christ that they worship is Jesus Smith or Joseph Christ. They are worshiping an anti-christ.
So the mormons and jw's think we can work our way to heaven. Here is the answer to this: This is assuming that we start with a clean slate and every sin we do gives us a -1 and when we do a good deed it gives us a +1 to get back to 0. But the Bible says that we are conceived in the womb of a sinner and born in sin. And if we just commit 1 sin then the infinite wrath of an infinitely powerful God, the wrath of the God that created all those big huge stars out there in 6 days, abides on us. Why does it abide on us? Its because Before God is a loving God he is a God of Justice and since he's perfect the best analogy I can describe it with is like someone who is a perfectionist and has obsessive compulsive disorder who loves straight lines, when he sees a bump in the line you know what his greatest desire is, its to make it straight again, and since he is super powerful this is a very scary thought. But God is not a maniac who loses control of himself he does it because that is what he wants to do and since God is also a loving God who is the epitome of love we can see that he worked around his perfect Justice by unloading his wrath and crucifying the Lamb before the foundation of the world was set. Praise the LORD!
Ok now I'm going to do my best to thoroughly describe the replacement-christ that has so gripped the christian church that I have given it its own name: "The anti-christ in emotional Christianity."
This heresy is so bad that it needs it own introduction.
-Because of certain things that have happened to Christianity, like christian leaders thinking that cultural relativity and being inoffensive is more important than preaching truth, and a belief that man has the awesome power to convert sinners by his own enthusiasm and motivation, a very dangerous 8-legged venomous belief has crept into the Christian Community. It is the belief that if one has had an emotional experience that they have been saved by Jesus Christ. Q: "What do you mean B-man? Isn't genuine repentance usually accompanied by an emotional experience? Like say: crying, weeping, sorrow. " A: Yes, most genuine repentances are accompanied by sorrow and weeping, but that does not mean that every emotional experience brings about a saving work by Jesus Christ. Lets move on, I will explain.
-Let's say that my family and I go to the movies and we decided to watch a very chick flicky dramatic movie that is a tear jerker. You know those movies that make you cry because they are very sad and depressing, but they also make your do the "happy cry" for some of the scenes that have a uplifting or vindicating theme. It's the crying that you do when you find out extremely good news, like your cancerous tumor is completely healed or your father survived a plane crash. Something like that.
-O.k so lets do some dissecting here by asking some questions. If I am watching the movie and a certain scene that is packed with protagonist vindication happens to makes me cry, does that mean that I have been saved by Jesus Christ? L.o.L of course not. I know its a silly question but check this out. If a particular excited evangelist comes up to me and has a conversation with me, and during this conversation he uses the same techniques the movie does to manipulate my emotions and bring me to tears, and then he proceeds to take me through the 4 spiritual laws technique and he takes me through the hoops and I end up saying the "salvation prayer" does that mean I am saved? Of course not.
Now I know that someone is going to say: "but thats how I got saved." And I believe you it is very possible God to save someone through this method, God can do whatever he wants. Here is what I am trying to say and what is very dangerous, not everybody who goes through this experience is actually truly saved, and I would go as far to say that 9/10 people that this happens to are not saved.
-The big problem here is that they actually do believe that they are saved, because of the false teachings of the preacher afterward and not only that, but because on the outside it actually resembles true salvation so much its very hard to be discerned. If they just had an emotional experience and their emotions fueled by pastoral motivation is what keeps them coming to church and worshiping but they are not actually truly saved, then who are they worshipping? It is an anti-christ.
-By the way, the backsliding and falling away rate of these false christians is very high, but when they are motivated enough and do not fall away then they will become a goat that thinks hes a sheep or "goat with a Bible" which is very dangerous because they will do the most damage to the church as false prophets.
-O.k now, that previous bit of information is applicable to many many Christians, but mainly to those that belong to the dangerous end of Christianity that many fine scholars would call "hyper(extreme) Armenianism" who seem to think that being emotionally excited and doing the same to others is all there is to Christianity.
To name a few: charismatic, hyper-charismatic, prosperity, and many pentecostal offshoots. I am not saying that this applies to everyone in these denomination because I know there are lots of pentecostal churches that do not practice this. Now I am going to go on and elaborate on what I believe is the most dangerous branch of this heresy which is the prosperity gospel.
-O.k so the prosperity gospel not only practices what I mentioned above, but after "converting" their prospect through their emotional experience this gospel will motivate their new convert by building up their self-esteem ego and telling them that God wants them to be super wealthy and prosperous and God wants them to have all of their dreams come true because it is very man centered rather then God-centered. I'm just going to divide this into sections because it so very wicked so I must explain each doctrine seperately. Here are the topics. 1.) Man-centered not God-centered 2.) Man's will be done rather then God's will be done 3.) Positive and negative theology.
1.) Man-centered not God-centered
-In the 16th and 17th Century there was a fierce debate as to whether the Sun revolved around the Earth or the Earth revolved around the Sun, eventually with the help of science men were able to discover 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt that the earth revolves around the Sun and that the Sun was the center of the Solar system, but isn't funny that men are still trying to convince people that The Son revolves around man and that man is the center of the universe. No my friends the earth and every man in it revolves around the Son of God not the other way around. The earth and man keep revolving,moving and changing but The SON never changes and is the center of everything AND does not revolve around man. Just as the Sun gives light to the world and is needed for the existence of life on earth, the same is true with The SON, He provides light and life to the world and not the other way around.
-I have searched far and wide but I have yet to find a God-centered teaching in the prosperity gospel, every teaching has the emphasis that man is the center, "the end all be all" of the universe.
For example :
-God created the entire universe just for man, all for man's pleasure all because of man.
-God created man just so man could have a pleasurable relationship with God and so man could have a pleasurable life in the garden of Eden, If only Adam didn't blow it.
-Every time God makes a move in the universe or does something out of his own free will towards a man, it's always gotta be because of something the man has done(whether good or bad) because God has to submit to certain "laws of judgement" in the universe because God can't do whatever he wishes to man, because thats not "fair".
-God is just some weak puppet who does everything that a man with enough faith demands be done, God is constantly being stone-cold stunnered by the devil, and needs man to help him win this war that has been going on for centuries.
-These and many other silly things are done, they will gather practically every orthodox Christian doctrine they will take the fact that it is God centered and make it all about man even up to and including the cross of Jesus Christ. It's no surprise either too because that's just what the devil does he takes things that are about God and tries to make it about him because of his pride. Since we are all born in sin and with him as our spiritual father it really is no surprise that we will duplicate him in this aspect.
-And here is my response: No, the earth was created by God for God to do whatever he wanted to do with his creation which just happened to be have a relationship with man. God is sovereign and does whatever He wants, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, He does whatever pleases. If God wants to kill someone then he can do it without asking any questions. God created man to give glory to God not the other way around.
2.)Man's will be done rather then God's will be done
-All you ever hear the people in these prosperity sects talking about is what they want and how God is helping them to get it. God's will is not prevalent in their lives because they have not truly been saved so theres no way for them to know it.
Just to give you a clue in case you are wondering, God's will usually revolves around repenting of your sins, getting truly saved and helping others do the same.
-Preachers like Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland will frequently talk about how its God's will for man to be wealthy, healthy, successful, prosperous or "blessed" as they call it. Although it is true that God may want to sprinkle one of those things on one person here and there, prosperity preachers would have us believe that there is some law that God has to submit to out there and that God has to treat everybody the same way and that God wants this for everybody all the time.So to hold to this theology, they must make a God in their image who is loving and good to them all the time ,wanting to increase their wealth and success all the time and is not a Holy God or a God of Justice, but one who blesses and blesses and blesses materially.
-The main conviction of all true prosperity believers is that all good things come from God and all bad things come from the devil, and the believer defines what good and bad is according to his will. So if it's the believers will to be millionaire rap star then, anythings that comes up against him, whether it be, spoken read or in some sort of media is "of the devil" . Why is it of the devil? Because its trying to stop them from achieving their will duh, and that's whats important in a sinner's life, getting their own thing done. I will be speaking more about this in #3 positive negative theology.
3) People in all the Quixway systems(BWW, Leadership team development, network21 etc..) and in prosperity doctrine religions(kenneth copelant,benny hinnm joel osteen etc..) they all HOLD STRONG to what they like to call positive vs.negative mentality. Here's how it works.
-Lets say my name is Steve, and I want to build a nation wide-empire using the LTD business system as my vehicle, anything or anyone that supports me and my goal, furthers my ability to achieve my goal or makes me happy, excited or motivated is "positive" and it comes from God because God is the ultimate extreme of this positive force. God is the epitome of positive. He the force thats out there to give you what you want all the time. Jesus is just a name that I say or call to get this "god" to give me what I want all the time.
-So here's an example: Billy comes up to me and says: "Hey Steve, I heard about what you did yesterday that was so awesome and courageous, your an inspiration to the entire team, keep that up and you'll be a millionaire, young wealthy and free in no-time.
To which I Steve would respond: "wow Bill thats so positive, thank you so much for the encouragement."
-Now the "negative" is anything that comes against me and my dreams and goals of building my empire, anythings that tries to take away from my self esteem, my ego, my pride, my motivation, anything that tries to "steal my dream" .
-For instance: my old friend Spurgeon comes up to me and says: "Hey Steve, you seem to have become entranced by that business system, you have allowed it to become an idol in your life, what does it profit it a man if he gain the whole world but lose his own soul?"
-To which I Steve would respond: Hey loser, I never realized how much of a negative loser you were until today, why are you trying to steal my dream, you are so negative, get behind me satan! in the name of Jesus!"
and I would procede to cut Spurgeon out of my life, because not only do I not like this "negative" but I can't handle it either because it the worst kind of "negative" because it sounds like truth! OH NO! if I keep listening to this my golden calf will collapse!
-By the way the devil is the exact opposite of God in the prosperity doctrine equation, hes the epitome of negative he exists to make your life stink and to try and stop you from getting what you want all the time.
-All this sounds silly right? guess what millions of people believe this more zeaolously then any bible believing Christian I've ever seen, its because they have duplicated the biblical model of a church from acts so they have comradeship for their own evil purposes which is able to drive them forward. These organizations claim to be giving all the honor and glory to "jesus christ" which christ that is, we must inspect, for they are zealously worshiping a replacement christ, an anti-christ.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Some Differences between the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity
Difference between Roman Catholic and Christianity.
At this present day there are about 1 billion roman catholics in the world as of 2008.
Now I am not writing this to attack or hate on Roman Catholics because as a christian it is my job to love everyone but especially lovingly share the truth, especially since I was a Roman Catholic for 17 years, so I cannot rag on them the slightest. For those who are solid Bible believing christians and you know the truth and are trying to share it with a R.C please do it lovingly, for they are just like us and everybody else, we are all born sinners and are brought up into some sort of false religious system which leads to bondage, unless you are raised in a solid christian home that is. We must help free them from that bondage, not by dispute but by learning the truth and sharing it with the love of Christ.
Here I go down the list of the major problems with the Roman Catholic Church and I header them with titles of the sin they fall into. Rebukes are not always easy because you are pointing out what someone or a group of people is doing wrong, but they must be pointed out for the love of truth and Christ, and if they are harsh it is for a reason.
IDOLATRY
1.Worshipping of Mary
-FACT: Roman Catholics believe that Mary is the mother of God, instead of just the mother of Jesus thereby making here into a deity.
*** the Bible says that Mary is only the mother of Jesus' Body, For Jesus existed as God(the Word) before the earth began John 1.1, and God does not need a mother for he is Sovereignly eternal and the alpha and omega. Rev 22:13
- They believe that Mary was sinless and did not die but ascended into heaven, and now we can pray to her and she will forgive our sins, and shes prays to God for us to help us get to heaven.
***Whereas the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:5 : For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and in John 14:6 : "Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me."
-For Mary to had remained sinless catholics believe that Mary had to remain a virgin so they must believe Jesus did not break Mary's virginity while being born, so they claim that Jesus was cut out of his mothers womb, and some go as far to say that she vomitted him out, which is (not surprisingly) a very popular form of pagan deity birth.
FALSE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION
Now I will take you through the Pillar of Roman Catholic Works based salvation Doctrine "The 7 Sacraments" and why the way they teach is either False or almost completly False.
1. Baptism-
Roman Catholics teach that a baby should be baptized as soon as possible after birth by sprinkling some water on its head, and if there is a new convert to R.C they just need to have some water sprinkled on them.
-In R.C the widespread belief is that after you are baptized as a baby your are safely secure in the bosom of God and no matter what sins you do they will be purged away in purgatory.
Although baptism is a correct doctrine the way the roman catholics teach it is completly false.
*** Baptising babies is wrong because baptism is a public display of your inward faith in Christ(babies can't have faith in Christ) by being immersed(buried) in water. Your old self dies and stays under the water while your new self comes up out of the water. Getting baptized doesn't save but it's silly to not get baptized if you are a christian. Acts 8:36-27 Mark 16:15-16
2. Holy Communion/Eucharist
-The Roman Catholic church teaches that around the age of 9 one must take part of his first holy communion which one cannot take part of until that age.
-The R.C's teach that the wafer of bread and cup of wine become actual body and blood of Jesus at the priest's command and this is also part of their works based salvation. This is a sin and it is idolatry because of unkowledgable misenterpretations of scriptures.
*** Although there is a Lord's supper and there is a piece of bread and cup of wine to consume the idea that it becomes the body and blood of Jesus is a misreading of John's gospel. The Lord's supper is a completly symbolic meal that we do in remembrance of what Jesus did on the Cross for us. When we take the bread we remember his body which was broken and ravaged for the healing of our spirits and our salvation, and when we drink the wine we remember the blood that was spilled to wash away our sins. Read Luke 22:14-20
3.Reconciliation/Confession
-After one takes his first Eucharist he is required to regularly tell the priest some of the sins hes commited so that the priest will plead his case before God.
****This is old Covenant mentality! We don't need another mediatior all we need is Jesus, and we can and only should confess our sins directly to him to ask for forgiveness and repent!
God loves us so much that he bled for us and died and rose again just so there could be a mediator and we could have the chance to actually talk to God, and we are being very ungrateful if we ignore this and try to talk to him using other methods.
Read 1 John 1:9 1and 1 Tim 2:5 again.
-After you tell your sins to the priest he tells you to say 10 Hail Maries and 3 Our Fathers, the amount varies depending on the gravity of your sin.
***This is works based salvation, Only the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins and not some silly repetition of prayers. Read Ephesians 2:8-9 to see how we are saved.
4. Confirmation/Recieiveing the Holy Spirit
-At around the age of 14 the Church goer must receive his "Confirmation" where the R.C believer recieves the Holy spirit for the first time thus once more securing his salvation through a series of mandate rituals.
*** The Bible says that to be saved ye must be born again (John3:3) by repenting. When you repent God recreates your spirit and you are "Born again" and at that moment you have the Holy Spirit helping you along the way.
5. Marriage and 6. Holy Orders
-The Roman Catholic Church states with authority that if you get married you can have no part in teaching or preaching the gospel or any work for the Lord. Also if you want to be a priest(a.k.a pastor) or any other leadership position you must be celibate.
*** This is completly against new testament teaching, the bible says that bishops must be husbands of one wife in 1 Timothy 3:2. Read and Consider I Timothy 4:1-3.
7.Last Rites/Extreme Unction/Anointing of the Sick
-Once again yet another thing that must be done to a human being in order for him to be saved. If one is sick and on his deathbed he must be anointed by the preist to secure his salvation. Yet if someone were to get hit by a car and die instantly he doesn't need the Extreme Unction.
*** Hmm, every single sacrament is neccessary for salvation if you happen to be alive until the appropriate time of receivng it. Yet if you happen to die before the time it's ok you don't need them.
OTHERS
-These are just some short random facts about the Roman catholic church that don't fall into the other categories but are dangerous nonetheless.
1.Purgatory or limbo
- The roman catholic church teaches that if you die in sins its still ok because you will go to "purgatory" a place where you spirit goes to be purged of sins before it can enter heaven.
Thus nullifying the cross of Jesus Christ once again.
2. The Roman Catholics were largely responsible for The Crusades, and completely responsible for the Inquisitions in which they search for people who believed a different Christianity then theirs and they would burn them at the stake for "heresy".
3. Roman Catholism is commonly caught selling indulgences to remove sin of loved ones that have passed away and help them get to heaven. Another form of works salvation.
AND THE WORST....
4. THEY DON'T READ THE BIBLE.
FACT: Catholics are taught that only the priests can understand the Bible and the common man in the pew cannot understand the Bible without the priests help.
-Even at mass there is no Bibles, they use something called the "Sunday Missal" where they read along with what the priest is saying and find their hymns and songs. Catholics don't believe that the bible is 100% accurate they believe what the priests tell them over the bible. I would say that 95% of Roman Catholics have never read the bible because according to their cathechism it's not even neccessary and according to the priests its harmful to the developing of faith.
At this present day there are about 1 billion roman catholics in the world as of 2008.
Now I am not writing this to attack or hate on Roman Catholics because as a christian it is my job to love everyone but especially lovingly share the truth, especially since I was a Roman Catholic for 17 years, so I cannot rag on them the slightest. For those who are solid Bible believing christians and you know the truth and are trying to share it with a R.C please do it lovingly, for they are just like us and everybody else, we are all born sinners and are brought up into some sort of false religious system which leads to bondage, unless you are raised in a solid christian home that is. We must help free them from that bondage, not by dispute but by learning the truth and sharing it with the love of Christ.
Here I go down the list of the major problems with the Roman Catholic Church and I header them with titles of the sin they fall into. Rebukes are not always easy because you are pointing out what someone or a group of people is doing wrong, but they must be pointed out for the love of truth and Christ, and if they are harsh it is for a reason.
IDOLATRY
1.Worshipping of Mary
-FACT: Roman Catholics believe that Mary is the mother of God, instead of just the mother of Jesus thereby making here into a deity.
*** the Bible says that Mary is only the mother of Jesus' Body, For Jesus existed as God(the Word) before the earth began John 1.1, and God does not need a mother for he is Sovereignly eternal and the alpha and omega. Rev 22:13
- They believe that Mary was sinless and did not die but ascended into heaven, and now we can pray to her and she will forgive our sins, and shes prays to God for us to help us get to heaven.
***Whereas the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:5 : For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and in John 14:6 : "Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me."
-For Mary to had remained sinless catholics believe that Mary had to remain a virgin so they must believe Jesus did not break Mary's virginity while being born, so they claim that Jesus was cut out of his mothers womb, and some go as far to say that she vomitted him out, which is (not surprisingly) a very popular form of pagan deity birth.
*** Matthew 12:46-50 says that Jesus had his mother and brothers outside waiting for him, if Jesus had brothers then that means that Mary had sexual relations with Joseph after Jesus was born, this is why they call James(who wrote the epistle) the Lord's Half-Brother.
We can also see scriptures to support this in Matt 1:25.
-The statue of Mary that every roman catholic has in their home is a re-emerging version of the ancient pagan virgin godesses artemis, athena and the most cunning resemblance is to that of astarte(ishtar) the statues are almost split images.
-The statue of Mary that every roman catholic has in their home is a re-emerging version of the ancient pagan virgin godesses artemis, athena and the most cunning resemblance is to that of astarte(ishtar) the statues are almost split images.
***Where as the bible says in Exodus 20:1-6
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.........
-"There is such ignorance of the Biblical role and understanding of Mary, that for anybody who has come to Christ from a Catholic background, once the scales fall off (2 Cor. 3:14-16) and the ex-Catholic now becomes a Christian (2 Cor. 5:17), such teachings as this cause the child of God great pain and a righteous anger, for Jesus is the One to whom all the love, prayers and worship should be given to, not Mary!"
2. Worshipping of saints
-FACT: The roman catholic church has at the moment just over 10,000 canonized saints. depending on a saints popularity in a particular region, they may or may not have a specific holiday in honor of their name.
-Roman catholics have a doctrine of "attaching" themselves to a particular saint for help with that saints particular area of expertise. For example: There is a saint called "Saint Luzia of the open eyes", so people who are blind or with bad eye sight will "attach" themselves to this saint and pray to them constantly until they get better better eyes. There is a saint for practically every help area that a person could need eg. deafness, mute, finances, fertility, pain, marriage problems and the list goes on. I can ask my grandma which saint I should pray to for my "________" problem and she will tell me right away which one specializes in that area.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.........
-"There is such ignorance of the Biblical role and understanding of Mary, that for anybody who has come to Christ from a Catholic background, once the scales fall off (2 Cor. 3:14-16) and the ex-Catholic now becomes a Christian (2 Cor. 5:17), such teachings as this cause the child of God great pain and a righteous anger, for Jesus is the One to whom all the love, prayers and worship should be given to, not Mary!"
2. Worshipping of saints
-FACT: The roman catholic church has at the moment just over 10,000 canonized saints. depending on a saints popularity in a particular region, they may or may not have a specific holiday in honor of their name.
-Roman catholics have a doctrine of "attaching" themselves to a particular saint for help with that saints particular area of expertise. For example: There is a saint called "Saint Luzia of the open eyes", so people who are blind or with bad eye sight will "attach" themselves to this saint and pray to them constantly until they get better better eyes. There is a saint for practically every help area that a person could need eg. deafness, mute, finances, fertility, pain, marriage problems and the list goes on. I can ask my grandma which saint I should pray to for my "________" problem and she will tell me right away which one specializes in that area.
*** the bible says that when we pray we should only pray to God the Father, In Jesus Name. John 16:26 and says: But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:13 God supplies needs, not dead saints.
3. Worshipping the Pope
-FACT: Roman Catholics Worship the Pope, as their Doctrine states that he is the Vicar of Christ, the one who makes all the decisons for Jesus here on earth. As a man with this much power how can the Roman Catholics resist worshipping this man. There is something called the infallibility of the pope, which states that the pope can never ever be wrong! This is wrong, the pope is just a man and a sinful man just like everyone else.
3. Worshipping the Pope
-FACT: Roman Catholics Worship the Pope, as their Doctrine states that he is the Vicar of Christ, the one who makes all the decisons for Jesus here on earth. As a man with this much power how can the Roman Catholics resist worshipping this man. There is something called the infallibility of the pope, which states that the pope can never ever be wrong! This is wrong, the pope is just a man and a sinful man just like everyone else.
*** Once you take the focus off Christ and put it on something or someone else it is Idolatry and if it gets serious enough it can become a replacment Christ (anti-Christ).The bible says in 1 John 4:1-3 that many false prophets and anti-Christs will come.
4. Worshipping carved images and statues(idols)
-FACT: Catholics regularly bow down to idols, icons and images of Jesus, Mary and the apostles, kissing the feet of the statues and praying to them. They will kiss their rosary before going to sleep and kiss the carved image of Jesus on their necklace all the time.
*** the Bible reads: Cursed be the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, it is the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Deuteronomy 27:15
4. Worshipping carved images and statues(idols)
-FACT: Catholics regularly bow down to idols, icons and images of Jesus, Mary and the apostles, kissing the feet of the statues and praying to them. They will kiss their rosary before going to sleep and kiss the carved image of Jesus on their necklace all the time.
*** the Bible reads: Cursed be the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, it is the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Deuteronomy 27:15
FALSE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION
Now I will take you through the Pillar of Roman Catholic Works based salvation Doctrine "The 7 Sacraments" and why the way they teach is either False or almost completly False.
1. Baptism-
Roman Catholics teach that a baby should be baptized as soon as possible after birth by sprinkling some water on its head, and if there is a new convert to R.C they just need to have some water sprinkled on them.
-In R.C the widespread belief is that after you are baptized as a baby your are safely secure in the bosom of God and no matter what sins you do they will be purged away in purgatory.
Although baptism is a correct doctrine the way the roman catholics teach it is completly false.
*** Baptising babies is wrong because baptism is a public display of your inward faith in Christ(babies can't have faith in Christ) by being immersed(buried) in water. Your old self dies and stays under the water while your new self comes up out of the water. Getting baptized doesn't save but it's silly to not get baptized if you are a christian. Acts 8:36-27 Mark 16:15-16
2. Holy Communion/Eucharist
-The Roman Catholic church teaches that around the age of 9 one must take part of his first holy communion which one cannot take part of until that age.
-The R.C's teach that the wafer of bread and cup of wine become actual body and blood of Jesus at the priest's command and this is also part of their works based salvation. This is a sin and it is idolatry because of unkowledgable misenterpretations of scriptures.
*** Although there is a Lord's supper and there is a piece of bread and cup of wine to consume the idea that it becomes the body and blood of Jesus is a misreading of John's gospel. The Lord's supper is a completly symbolic meal that we do in remembrance of what Jesus did on the Cross for us. When we take the bread we remember his body which was broken and ravaged for the healing of our spirits and our salvation, and when we drink the wine we remember the blood that was spilled to wash away our sins. Read Luke 22:14-20
3.Reconciliation/Confession
-After one takes his first Eucharist he is required to regularly tell the priest some of the sins hes commited so that the priest will plead his case before God.
****This is old Covenant mentality! We don't need another mediatior all we need is Jesus, and we can and only should confess our sins directly to him to ask for forgiveness and repent!
God loves us so much that he bled for us and died and rose again just so there could be a mediator and we could have the chance to actually talk to God, and we are being very ungrateful if we ignore this and try to talk to him using other methods.
Read 1 John 1:9 1and 1 Tim 2:5 again.
-After you tell your sins to the priest he tells you to say 10 Hail Maries and 3 Our Fathers, the amount varies depending on the gravity of your sin.
***This is works based salvation, Only the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins and not some silly repetition of prayers. Read Ephesians 2:8-9 to see how we are saved.
4. Confirmation/Recieiveing the Holy Spirit
-At around the age of 14 the Church goer must receive his "Confirmation" where the R.C believer recieves the Holy spirit for the first time thus once more securing his salvation through a series of mandate rituals.
*** The Bible says that to be saved ye must be born again (John3:3) by repenting. When you repent God recreates your spirit and you are "Born again" and at that moment you have the Holy Spirit helping you along the way.
5. Marriage and 6. Holy Orders
-The Roman Catholic Church states with authority that if you get married you can have no part in teaching or preaching the gospel or any work for the Lord. Also if you want to be a priest(a.k.a pastor) or any other leadership position you must be celibate.
*** This is completly against new testament teaching, the bible says that bishops must be husbands of one wife in 1 Timothy 3:2. Read and Consider I Timothy 4:1-3.
7.Last Rites/Extreme Unction/Anointing of the Sick
-Once again yet another thing that must be done to a human being in order for him to be saved. If one is sick and on his deathbed he must be anointed by the preist to secure his salvation. Yet if someone were to get hit by a car and die instantly he doesn't need the Extreme Unction.
*** Hmm, every single sacrament is neccessary for salvation if you happen to be alive until the appropriate time of receivng it. Yet if you happen to die before the time it's ok you don't need them.
OTHERS
-These are just some short random facts about the Roman catholic church that don't fall into the other categories but are dangerous nonetheless.
1.Purgatory or limbo
- The roman catholic church teaches that if you die in sins its still ok because you will go to "purgatory" a place where you spirit goes to be purged of sins before it can enter heaven.
Thus nullifying the cross of Jesus Christ once again.
2. The Roman Catholics were largely responsible for The Crusades, and completely responsible for the Inquisitions in which they search for people who believed a different Christianity then theirs and they would burn them at the stake for "heresy".
3. Roman Catholism is commonly caught selling indulgences to remove sin of loved ones that have passed away and help them get to heaven. Another form of works salvation.
AND THE WORST....
4. THEY DON'T READ THE BIBLE.
FACT: Catholics are taught that only the priests can understand the Bible and the common man in the pew cannot understand the Bible without the priests help.
-Even at mass there is no Bibles, they use something called the "Sunday Missal" where they read along with what the priest is saying and find their hymns and songs. Catholics don't believe that the bible is 100% accurate they believe what the priests tell them over the bible. I would say that 95% of Roman Catholics have never read the bible because according to their cathechism it's not even neccessary and according to the priests its harmful to the developing of faith.
FACT: The Pope teaches that he can change what is in the Bible if he wants.
And here we come to a conclusion, The reason why the Roman catholic church is so apostate is because they do not read the Bible or believe it. When the first person to come out of the R.C church, Martin Luther, protested against their evils the first thing he posted after he posted Solos Cristos was Solos Scritura, which means "Solely Scripture" or "Only Scripture". Martin Luther had a good answer to the problem, maybe we should listen to him.
And here we come to a conclusion, The reason why the Roman catholic church is so apostate is because they do not read the Bible or believe it. When the first person to come out of the R.C church, Martin Luther, protested against their evils the first thing he posted after he posted Solos Cristos was Solos Scritura, which means "Solely Scripture" or "Only Scripture". Martin Luther had a good answer to the problem, maybe we should listen to him.
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