BI 462 — Modern Day Cults
Tobias England
Catholic Church
With about one sixth of the world’s population in its membership, the Catholic church is by far the largest single religious organization in human history. Richer, more influential, and at times in history, more powerful than many nations, it is unquestionably one of the most remarkable human systems to have ever flourished.
Authority of the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church believes that they are the only legitimate, true church. This belief is based apostolic succession. This belief stems from Matthew 16:16-19 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
That the church was built on the confession or truth that Christ is the Son of God, and not on Peter himself can be easily demonstrated. We must remember that though there is only one Cornerstone, there were many who were part of the foundation of the church. Ephesians 2:20, And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
It is undeniable, however, that the keys were given to Peter, and we need not shy away from this plain reading of the text. A key is used for the opening of a door, and Peter used these keys on three different occasions:
1) The Jews. It is not coincidence that Peter was targeted by the Devil. (See Luke 22:31-32). He was the one the Lord was going to use to open the door of the Gospel to the unbelievers. In Acts. 2:14-40 we find him preaching to those present at Pentecost, resulting in 3,000 conversions and baptisms.
2) The Samaritans. Acts 8:14-17 we read of some Samaritan believers. The church sent Peter and John, and when they laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit.
3) The Gentiles. Acts 10 records for us a very devout man whom most of us would probably mistake as saved. He prayed, tithed, and even “feared the Lord”. However, he did not know Christ, the only way of salvation. (I Timothy 2:5, John 14:6) Peter is sent to give them the Gospel.
There are several other considerations Catholic apologists and theologians must consider when claiming that Peter was the first Pope:
· He was commissioned to be an apostle to those of the circumcision. See Galatians 2:7-8
· In Romans 16, Paul mentions 28 individuals, but never Peter. It is easy to see why Peter wasn’t mentioned when Paul wrote to Rome: he simply wasn’t there.
· In Acts 28:17, Paul brings the chief Jews together. However, he find that they know very little about the basic doctrines of the faith. (v. 22-23)
· According to II Timothy 4:11 we know that Peter was not in Rome in 65 A.D.
The Holy See
The term “Holy See” refers to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, or the Pope, and is often used interchangeably. It is a foundational teaching of the church on which they depend for support of their claim to being the true church. However, there is certainly no consensus on this list of “vicars of Christ”.
Often throughout history the Pope was the most powerful man in the world. It is only natural, then that this position at times was hotly contested.
John XII (937-964), sometimes called the “boy pope” because he was elected when only 18 years old, was undoubtedly one of the worse popes in history. He has been called the worst pope in history, and supposedly would toast to the devil’s health when drunk. He was incredibly immoral as well, and was killed by a man who found him with his wife.
Catholic historian and Archbishop of New York, John Cardinal Farley, admitted that the “[Popes] didn’t sternly insist upon sexual virtue and injustice was a general license of the papal court.”
John XII also marked a turning point in Catholic church history in thoroughly secularizing the office. He called on Otto I, king of Germany for military aid. This was granted, but at the cost of the independence of the Vatican. John XII gratefully crowned Otto I the Empire of the Holy Roman Empire. At this point, the office of the Pope was under German control because whoever the king decided to support and protect became the pope.
Benedict IX (1033-1048) was not only immoral, but seemed to lack any religious devotion. He decided to sell the papacy to another papal faction for several thousand pounds of silver, but changed his mind and refused to give up the throne. As a result of his indecisive leadership, there were soon three popes in Rome. Once again help was needed, and the current German emperor, Henry III intervened and constructed guidelines for selecting a pope. By this time the papacy had become extremely powerful, not only in maters of religion but in matters of state as well.
Through the guidelines that Henry set up, Hildebrand was elected pope as Gregory VII. The powers of church and state were destined to collide, and hey did so in what is called the Investiture Conflict. For obvious reasons, the German crown seized the right to appoint high church officers in their land. Gregory (Hildebrand) did not condone this, and when Henry appointed an archbishop, he was excommunicated. Henry responded to removing Gregory as pope. The stalemate was broken when the nobles of Germany decided that they would not support Henry, and demanded that he be reinstated in good favor with the pope. Needless to say, Gregory was delighted, and demanded that the king do penance. In order to hold onto his crown, Henry submitted and stood barefooted in the snow for three successive days before the castle gate in Canossa where the pope was staying.
Clement VI (1342-1352) described himself as “a sinner living among sinners”. This certainly was the case. Although he reigned during the Black Death in Europe, his life was lavishly lived. Except for consulting astrologers to explain the plague based on the alignment of planets, little was done about it.
His excess was not limited to shows of affluence, however, and it is little surprise that this fornicator is the pope from which the incredible doctrine of indulgences comes. Indulgences for the most part replaced the severe penances of the earlier church, and were much more convenient as they added greatly to the church treasury. Several hundred years later this was still being practiced, and was a principles means of paying for the reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Indulgences come in two kinds. A partial indulgence removes part of the penalty of your sin. For example, in the early sixteenth century the Pope declared that any faithful church member who visited the Castle Church in Wittenberg on All Saint's Day, went to confession, and viewed the more than 5000 relics which were on deposit there would be granted indulgences which reduced the amount of time necessary in Purgatory by 1,902,202 years and 270 days
"As soon as the coin into the coffer rings, another soul into Heaven springs." Tetzel
Good reference site: http://biblelight.net/tetzel.htm
2 Maccabees 12:43-45, which says "2.000 pieces of silver were sent to Jerusalem for a sin-offering...Whereupon he made reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin."
Hebrews 9:27 says "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"
History of Heresy
One author has given the following list of false teachings of the Catholic Church:
· 300 A.D.: Practice of praying for the dead and “signing with the cross” introduced.
· 375 A.D.: Veneration of dead people and use of statues and images as part of worship introduced.
· 500 A.D.: Doctrine of purgatory first preached by the Roman Catholic Church.
· 500 A.D.: Priests adopt a different form of dress than the laity. The costumes were copied from that of Roman government officials.
· 600 A.D.: Pope Gregory I mandates that only Latin is to be used in church worship, a language that practically none of the laity could understand.
· 610 A.D.: Pope Gregory the Great mandates the practice of baptizing infants.
· 750 A.D.: Papacy changes from a church office to a state office. The pope was seen as the head of the “Holy Roman Empire.”
· 754 A.D.: Alarmed by the then common practice of laity kissing and worshiping religious statues and pictures, Pope Leo III bans them from the church.
· 788 A.D.: Worship of statues, images and supposed relics of dead “saints” was reintroduced into the Roman Catholic Church, this time to stay.
· 850 A.D.: “Holy water” was introduced into worship. Its use was believed to scare away demons.
· 965 A.D.: “Baptism” of church bells was introduced as a Roman Catholic Church practice.
· 995 A.D.: Pope John XV decreed that only those that he “canonized” could be called saints.
· 998 A.D.: Fasting on Fridays was imposed. The exception made for fish during this fast is said to be because profits from fishing contributed a great deal to the Pope’s treasury at the time.
· 1050 A.D. (approximate): Mass evolved into a ceremony where Christ was said to be sacrificed again and again at the command of the priest (each time the ceremony was performed). Attendance at Mass was made mandatory in all Catholic countries.
· 1079 A.D.: Pope Hildebrand, Boniface VIII bans marriage among priests (married priests were common until then).
· 1090 A.D.: Rosary beads were introduced into the church. The church got the idea from their Islamic and pagan neighbors who had used them in their worship.
· 1096 A.D.: Practice of selling “indulgences” to raise money for the church instituted. According to the church, by purchasing an indulgence, one’s time in purgatory was shortened.
· 1215 A.D.: Pope Innocent III made confession of one’s sins to a priest at least once a year mandatory.
· 1215 A.D.: Roman Catholic laity banned from drinking the wine during communion (only priests were granted this privilege).
· 1215 A.D.: “Transubstantiation” made a part of Roman Catholic doctrine. Transubstantiation is the doctrine that the communion bread and wine magically turns into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ during the mass.
· 1220 A.D.: “Adoration of the wafer” instituted by Pope Honorius; literally the worship of the bread used during communion.
· 1229 A.D.: Roman Catholic laity were forbidden to own or read a Bible; reading the Bible was declared to be a mortal sin. Getting caught violating this decree could lead to a death sentence. Bible verses and concepts were only to be passed down to laity through the priests’ sermons and church ceremonies.
· 1245 A.D.: The Roman Catholic Church declared that a sinner can not be pardoned unless he confess his sin to a priest and receive “absolution” from that priest.
· 1287 A.D.: Use of the scapular comes into practice in the Roman Catholic Church. The scapular was an undergarment that acted as a lucky charm, warding off disease, lightning, fire, storms, enchantments and evil spirits.
· 1302 A.D.: Pope Boniface VIII declares that only those in full obedience to the pope can be saved from hell.
· 1439 A.D.: Doctrine of purgatory was made an article of faith (a mandatory belief for any Roman Catholic).
· 1439 A.D.: Roman Catholic doctrine of seven “sacraments” introduced. Sacraments are religious acts that supposedly help one work his way towards forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
· 1545 A.D.: The Council of Trent decreed that all Roman Catholic Church members had to agree that priests “remit sins as God” and that they are “justly called not only angels, but also God, holding as they do among us the power and authority of God.” Failure to agree was a mortal sin and grounds for excommunication.
· 1546 A.D.: In response to the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church added the Apocryphal books to the Bible. Until this point, these books were considered suspect, of dubious authorship and error-prone by the scholars and theologians of the Roman Catholic Church.
· 1558 A.D.: Ave Maria prayer (”Hail Mary…Mother of God…” etc.) instituted in the Roman Catholic Church.
· 1713 A.D.: Pope Clement XI reaffirms the ban on possession of the Bible by the laity.
· 1824 A.D.: Pope Leo XII condemns translators who were translating the Bible into languages where a translation did not previously exist. This position was reaffirmed by popes in 1844 & 1878. 1854 A.D.: Despite the many Biblical references that refuted this assertion, Pope Pius IX decreed that Mary bore no child other than Jesus (so-called doctrine of “immaculate conception”).
· 1870 A.D.: Pope Pius IX declares himself and all popes before and after infallible when officially speaking on matters of church doctrine.