I wrote it in response to a catholic's declaration that nothing catholics practice is contrary to the WORD of GOD...
"Nothing? Really?
...well then help me brother because here are a few samples of what I found when I read the entire bible- using all versions to compare and translate direct meaning from old and new texts... these are macro issues, (in other words, one bible says provoke me to anger the other says kindle my ire... but we know God is pissed either way)
My concern is that the message and directions of God do not vary on any of these so.... help me out because I was catholic, I read this stuff and NOW I stand alone- I do not know any protestants, I do not know any one who has even read the bible so it's not like I have bad friends or heretical influences... I am citing these are words in full context of their scriptural use and application. If you can tell me where I can find or missed ANYTHING in scripture that indicates these no longer stand as offensive GOD, using the WORD of GOD... I'd like to know. I pretty much liked being catholic, I sure miss hanging out with my family on holidays, they sure as hell do NOT like the hint of scripture I've offered and frankly, going to church an hour a week was a lot easier than studying this stuff finding myself literally being an outsider to all I have learned in Catholic School, simply because I must stand in obedience to the WORD of GOD so:
1. exodus 20- (this is where God goes over the 10 commandments)
and Deuteronomy 5
God clearly says
"DO NOT BOW before anything or anyone other than ME."
I'm not nitpicking on the order of commandments or how catholics write them out.... I am asking for proof that God changed His mind. If you bow before anything but God when HE said don't bow, catholics must be bowing in defiance or they know something I do not.
Now I've scoured scripture to find the reversal on this bowing thing. There are only a few references to folks bowing... any bowing before anyone besides Jesus Christ is rebuked...100% of the time.. even by Peter. Acts 10, when Cornelius's prayers were accepted by God, an angel visited Cornelius to inform him. At the behest of the angel, Cornelius sent for Peter. As soon as Cornelius met Peter, however, he dropped down on his knees in reverence to Peter.
What did Peter do? did he say
"that's smart of you Cornelius because I'm the vicarious God on earth, the pope, and many who do not as you, will be slain... but alas, that's not enough respect for me pal...here's my foot, pucker up!"
... nope, humbly but sharply, Peter rebuked him "I too am a man!"
Now this is interesting because the list of men who were killed for NOT bowing before the pope is far longer than blogspot has words. So even if you believe that God's prophecy about the "cornerstone the builders rejected" means salvation is by popes and not Jesus (because you interpret "upon this rock" as the only rock reference of hundreds, that does NOT refer to God or the Son of God like Peter states)... you'd still be at a loss to explain why this, the first "pope", Peter, says don't bow to me.. I'm just a man...
It doesn't even matter if Peter is the first pope or not... Peter is consistent in instructing Cornelius, according to the Command of God, his self-appointed successors, however, are not even close to following the command of GOD. Is it a matter of personal preference to obey God's commandments then?
Here we must mention there is one figure in the bible that, like the popes, endorses bowing before ANYONE or ANYTHING OTHER THAN GOD- that is the devil, satan himself.
So what did I miss? Obviously the practice of bowing wasn't modeled by the first supposed pope peter...in fact, the only biblical figure modeling this practice is the devil. Catholics wouldn't want to worship by instruction of the devil... would they? so when did God change His mind?
then there's this one:
2. Luke 11:27
27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
So the womb that bore Jesus shouldn't be praised as blessed but if you want to be blessed.. Jesus says it's by keeping the Word of GOD....
When did Jesus reverse this rebuke of praising His mother? I can't find anything bestowing praise or queenship or anything in scripture glorifying Mary beside the angel who said she was "highly favored".... exactly like the believers were described at Ephesus. Jesus does ask her "what have I to do with thee woman, my time has not yet come" and later when Mary was looking for him, Jesus responds as if He doesn't know her:
"who is my mother, my brethren
And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."
So, when did all this get changed? Jesus does not even recognize her as his mother in Mark 3 so why bother praying in some idea that she can help as if she was not just a woman? When did Jesus decide she was not just a woman but a queen?
and here's the big one which combines 1 & 2:
3. Jeremiah 7 & 44 this is when God scatters the Jews.... why? Idolatry, and not just some golden calf in haste of worshiping God for getting them out of Egypt before God's commands came down from Mt Zion... nope, this time they had had the commandments for a long time. Jeremiah is the prophet God sends in an appeal to the Jews and says you're teachers are telling you lies, you are worshiping a false god... turn back and repent so I don't have to scatter you. But the Jews love this false god and earnestly believe that by venerating it, the queen of heaven, they are praying to the God that led them out of Egypt...
God tries to warn them, "the prophets teach lies in my name I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart."
God pleas with them even to return to scripture and discover their error-
"If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them."
But the Jews are convinced of their priests and doctrines, they pray in a building that bears GOD’s name but their prayers are made according to the precepts of men, the priests and high priests who had added "here a little, there a little" adulterating the clear instruction God had given to Moses.
Psalm 78:
For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
The Jews prayers are intercepted through doctrine of evil, deceiving the people into thinking these things are good to do despite the fact that they actually have the scripture to discover their error- they do not want to look.
Worse yet, their vanity has them argue with Jeremiah...."NO! this is the queen of Heaven who has made our life comfortable for when we stopped venerating her all things got worse for us"...
So according to the Word of GOD, in the book of Jeremiah, the Queen of Heaven is nothing more than evil in drag…...
Why did the catholic church bestow such a title, so offensive to God, on Jesus' mom? It did not happen right away either... kind of like the Jews in fact, that title wasn't even officially bestowed until September 27, 1748 in the Gloriosae Dominae issued by Benedict XiV.
Vanity is scripture's only explanation for the catholic's idea that Mary is the queen of heaven, with the Jews being the primary case in point example of the exact same vanity. Jesus rebukes the only any mention of his mother's praise.(Luke 11)
The catholic explanation rests soley on arguing the divinity of Mary from the slow evolution of tradition of men now considered early church fathers but considering it was by the direction of false teachers of the Jews that led them to false beliefs in the queen of heaven, it's an unwise path. There is no scriptural basis for Mary's glorification and that which catholics use contradict scripture itself. I do not even disagree with the early church's consent about theotokos - I get how the mother of God can be the mother of Jesus, the argument underscores the deity of Jesus, however, for though Jesus was born as a man he retains His divinity. Furthermore, however "theotokos" is used to elevate Mary it must by the same measure remove the atonement of man's innocent blood in exchange for the guilty. If both Jesus' parents were divine, He could not be human. If Jesus was not born of flesh, Jesus was not the WORD of God made flesh and if He wasn't flesh He could not die and if he did not die death was not conquered, the blood shed was inconsequential, men's sins remain and there is forgiveness of sin, no salvation offered by God because His word says the penalty of sin is death and the blood holds the life- without shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins.... unless you believe in a lying god who would therefore be unjust and not the CREATOR of the universe who is JUST and TRUE and RIGHTEOUS. Catholic doctrine loses on this whole argument when it is held up to the light of scripture. Now if the catholics want to profess belief in a god other than the one in scripture... that's their problem but it's not the biblical GOD who created everything. (No wonder they spent so much energy burning the bible, chading and killing anyone who had it and maintaining the mass in latin until a few decades ago!)
And no matter what an early church father said or thought, what sense is there in naming Mary- after an offensive false god of idolatry? She may have been blessed or "highly favored" according to the angel that spoke to her but by Mary's own humble recognition, and by the only words every recorded of her "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour" she was a sinner and needed a savior! So not only was she not immaculate, the only words she speaks in scripture reveal she knows she is a sinner- maybe one of God's very favorite sinners... but a sinner none the less. Yet among all these other discoveries contradicting the catholic slow mutilation of scriptural description of Jesus' awesome mom until she now has coredemtrix status... I never found any indication that God ever stopped being provoked to anger by His People bowing to anthing bearing the title of queen of heaven. There are however direct quotes from God proving HIS wrath is kindled over it.
Then... there is the whole GLORY issue. Glory is tribute or honor that is either matched to the rightful possessor of the attribute or it is distributed in error but the attribute itself remains no matter how it is cited or distributed. Where did the attribute of GLORY (credit) for anything in or over CREATION get handed by God over to anyone besides Jesus who is Himself, God?
Pope Puis XII declares in the Ad caeli reginam 50 encyclical “May the powerful Queen of creation, whose radiant glance banishes storms and tempests and brings back cloudless skies, look upon these her innocent and tormented children with eyes of mercy”
so apparently, the pope gives it to Mary…. I suppose, like the false teachers of the Jews, Pius would have the catholics never mind the fact that it took almost 2000y after the deposit of faith to evolve such an abominable decree but an earnest catholic MUST ask Based on what? The fact that men did it across history? Sure, men were venerating the queen of heaven as far back as Isis, Semiramis, Ishtar et al- (they had that title too- and God wiped out everyone who worshiped them too) but the Glory of power over creation? How can you divide the ultimate credit due to the Sovereign CREATOR? Because an angel reported her as "highly favored?" so was the exact same Greek word used to describe the church at Ephesus, so they too get so distinguished credit over creation?
Do not misunderstand, certainly Mary was blessed above all us women but how was she sovereign in anything she did, let alone creation? I guess she could have said no to God's angel… but who has the deciding sovereign will that she would say yes….? No matter how you slice it, God is due all GLORY, no one is due credit for the work of God's hand and all is HIS WORK so all GLORY is due always to GOD ALONE! (Psalm 29: Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.) or am I missing where God specifies His GLORY goes to anyone besides JESUS, HIS SON, our Lord who is God? "(Matthew 28:16-20)
Now in the temptation of Jesus, satan boldly offers Jesus both the authority and the glory of the kingdoms on earth saying it is delivered to him to give to whomever he wants to give it to..if Jesus wilt worship to satan.... the word in Greek is proskuneo.. which means to bow.. that's why Jesus responds: It is written ... Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. again the same Greek word used is proskuneo.
This harkens back to the 1st question about bowing- obviously Jesus reiterates the Father's command by quoting it and honoring it.
Obviously if GOD is the SOVEREIGN CREATOR, HIS authority rules over HIS creation and all GLORY is due to GOD. So what the heck is satan doing? How can he show Jesus all authority of the kingdoms on earth and all the glory of the kingdoms while claiming they are given unto him?
Satan is not offering God's due GLORY and God's authority- those are God's attributes, but satan is offering the misdirected glory and authority he harnesses from men through deception and as Paul calls it "doctrines of devils" that were to come in "later days". But just as Isaiah conveys God's words warns the jews
"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men"
Jesus says the say thing to the Pharisees (priests):
"Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
The glory satan offers Jesus is stolen with false doctrine that adds to or subtracts from the Word of God and therby misdirects men in glorifying God so the glory goes to satan himself. When man strays from the word of God, he is being led by the deceiver -satan. Satan dupes mankind into directing their obedience to authority and glory of their praise away from GOD and into his own hands to tempt those who seek power with power... and that's why it is tempting, who wouldn't want to get the glory due to God- that's a lot of glory and who wouldn't want to have God's authority over men, especially if you could have it without suffering on the cross? This is a huge temptation of Christ. Obviously Jesus said no because in his patience and obedience to the WORD and WILL of the real HOLY FATHER which is in HEAVEN, JESUS laid down HIS LIFE to be crucified so all who believe on HIS name may have forgiveness of sins through His having endured the wrath of God on our behalf. But His suffering wasn't the whole deal because when Jesus raises HIMSELF and really is truly GLORIFIED of the Father, Jesus therein "swallows up death in Victory". That's amazingly super cool and the whole reason we are damned and dumb to not be very careful...These are triumphs of God, most worthy of glory. Even if only a few of us, those saved in His name, know the TRUTH and glorify Him until HE RETURNS, eventually "the whole world will know HIS GLORY "- it's still His Glory (yeah!). Unfortunately, if you don't do TRUTH, when HE comes to be revealed in His Glory... it's too late, He's come TO JUDGE the living and dead.
In the meantime, satan is allowed deceive the vain and ignorant... right unto death by misdirecting the ignorant with the vanity of the powerful men who follow to glory things of the flesh rather than God. Ironically most everyone agrees that if there is a CREATOR, then all Glory would necessarily be due to GOD, and yet here we are catholics. You know and profess that to glorify any BUT God is to add unto satan undue glory to satan. But the catholics do not want to worship the devil, do they? The glory of men, however, is the devil's offer to Jesus and the catholics willingly bestow that glory unto the queen of heaven and the queen of heaven is satan.
All this do the catholics, despite the fact that the very Word of God reveals in the Book of Jeremiah- all copies of the bible, tell us the queen of heaven is satan in drag, for on October 11, 1954, Pope Pius states:
" the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen."
Are you kidding?
nope.
and it doesn’t matter how it’s done, be it with a “mother's solicitude”, an empty belly or a poker face.... Pius clearly says “the queen of heaven rules over the entire world…”
now unless I missed when Christ returned, evil was eliminated and the 1000y of peace ensued so that Christ Jesus already ruled in HIS Glory and THEN somehow decided to transfer it all over to the false god of the jews…. for old times sake, catholics have a bit of a problem:
For just as satan said in his offer tempting Jesus, and Jesus Himself responds implicitly confirming, it is quite true: as long as men are vain and vulnerable to the deception of satan, he actually does rule over the world and usurp the authority handed over because men won't obey the authority of God- they give their authority to popes, dictators, dollars and other things... and that's just the way it is until the Lord our Savior Christ Jesus returns.
In the meantime, we are subjects of deception and vulnerable in our vanity to following our own misplaced authority. We are fallen, and until we are saved by Christ we turn over to evil that which we owe to God but allow evil to deceptively intercept from us of the GLORY that is actually due to GOD alone!....
Ephesians 6... Paul says "we’re not wrestling with blood and flesh, but with the principalities, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places"
Jeremiah predates RCC by several hundred years and the deception of the queen of heaven he warned about was of no interest to the Jews who didn’t care, they were solidly convinced in their vanity that they were doing what was good in the sight of the Lord and thus they continued to worship satan. Satan offers Jesus a way out of God’s command because fallen man gave satan the authority to rule over the world in their unrighteous vanity imagining they are capable of discerning good and evil without the instruction of a perfect GOD… which they can’t because only God is GOOD so if you are obedient to any BUT GOD, you’re screwed. And finally the wise words of Solomon
Ecclesiastes 1:9So until a man is saved by Jesus or until Jesus returns to claim His Kingdom the reigning ruler is the queen of heaven, satan…. so how, my catholic friends and family, are you not worshiping satan by worshiping the queen of heaven when even your pope clearly says that's EXACTLY who you proskuneo?
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Please explain how I am wrong on those 2 things and I'll listen... but since Jesus Christ IS the WORD made FLESH- the old testament instruction of GOD became man, the LIGHT of the WORLD, THE BREAD OF LIFE, THE TRUTH, THE WAY AND THE LIFE... please use quotes of God (scripture) in your rebuke and explanation, otherwise you are just arguing for satan.
thanks
