Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

Authored By  :
Published On :
Last Updated :

NOTE: This article or series has not been updated recently. As such, it may possibly contain some outdated information, and/or ideas and beliefs which I no longer embrace, or which have changed to some degree.



The reason why it is so very important for you to understand this teaching from the Scriptures, is because it is primarily based on their misguided and erroneous interpretation of what Jesus said to Peter in the Gospel of Matthew that the Vatican hierarchy in Rome claims the legitimacy of the Roman Catholic Church. By destroying that false doctrinal pillar, the Roman Catholic Church has absolutely nothing left on which to stand. It can make no claim to any direct tie to the Christian Church of the First Century. All it has left are the real events that occurred during the Fourth Century, when Roman Catholicism was foisted upon the pagan masses of the Roman Empire by means of legal force, and the threat of persecution against those who refused to embrace this seriously compromised brand of our faith.

As I have mentioned before, a number of years ago I was very surprised to discover that, apparently, some Roman Catholics do not view themselves as Christians. I honestly do not know how widespread this belief is, or whether or not it is even something that is generally promoted and taught by the Roman Catholic Church. Whatever the case may be, I assure you that I have engaged in conversations with Roman Catholics where they have told me flat out that they are not Christians; they are Catholics. Even when I have explained to such people what the word "Christian" signifies, and inquired of them if they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Savior of the world -- which I know that they do -- nevertheless, these people have still insisted that they are Roman Catholics and not Christians. It has left me flabbergasted to say the least.

Given the adamancy of some of these people, I can only assume that even if this belief is not outright taught and promoted as a Roman Catholic doctrine in their catechism, it must at least be strongly encouraged within Roman Catholic circles -- and certainly not frowned upon -- as a part of their general misguided "one true faith" mentality. It almost seems as if in the Roman Catholic mind, to confess that one is a Christian is to somehow deny or be unfaithful to their Roman Catholic faith.

Returning to the original conversation which motivated me to write this current series, in his response to another person, the same person -- who I quoted at beginning of part one -- stated that one of the primary practices which sets the Roman Catholic faith apart from Christianity -- please notice again the intentional distinction which is made by Roman Catholics -- is their worship of Mary, the biological mother of Jesus Christ. Of course, any knowledgeable individual realizes that this misguided worship extends way beyond just Mary, and also includes the worship of many other Roman Catholic saints. This is reflected in the manufacture of many thousands of statues and other smaller figurines and various objects of worship.

As I pointed out in part one, it is the Scriptures, and the Scriptures alone which serve as the model for what should be viewed as acceptable Christian beliefs and practices. Upon undertaking a thorough examination of God's Word, we discover that there are quite a few verses which strongly condemn the sin of idolatry and related practices. Carefully consider the following:

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."


"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them."


"The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them."


"They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them: But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions."


"They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble."


"For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good."


"A drought is upon her [Babylon's] waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols."


"Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars. In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD."


"And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself: And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD."


In addition to manufacturing thousands of statues and other figurines, Roman Catholic practices likewise include lighting candles before their idols, praying to the saints, observing saints days and feast days, and various other Roman Catholic traditions which find absolutely no basis in the Scriptures.

Please notice how in some of the previous verses, we are told that "they have ears, but they hear not." Despite this truth, how often have we seen devout Roman Catholic standing before or kneeling before a deaf and dumb statue of Mary or of one of the many other Roman Catholic saints, and quietly offering a prayer to the idol, as if the idol can actually hear them? As you may know, there are many Scriptures in the Bible which make it absolutely clear that we are only to bow down to and worship, and offer prayers to our Heavenly Father, by way of the person of His Son. According to God's Word, Jesus Christ alone is our Mediator with our Heavenly Father. This truth is made so evident by verses such as the following:

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"


"But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises."


"And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."


"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."


As Jesus Himself informs us in the Gospel of John, "No man cometh unto the Father but by [Him]." If no person can come to the Father other than through Jesus, that most certainly leaves out other supposed mediators and intermediaries such as Mary and the Roman Catholic saints, doesn't it? Consider this verse:

"I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me."


Because our Heavenly Father has personally established His Son as our one and only Mediator, we should only petition the Father in Jesus' Name, and not in the name of Mary, or of any of the Roman Catholic saints. Please consider the following verses which confirm this point:

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."


"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."


"And whoso shall receive one such little child IN MY NAME receiveth me."


"For where two or three are gathered together IN MY NAME, there am I in the midst of them."


"But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle IN MY NAME, that can lightly speak evil of me."


"For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink IN MY NAME, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward."


"And these signs shall follow them that believe; IN MY NAME shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;"


"And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child IN MY NAME receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great."


"And whatsoever ye shall ask IN MY NAME, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing IN MY NAME, I will do it."


"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send IN MY NAME, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."


"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father IN MY NAME, he may give it you."


"And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father IN MY NAME, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing IN MY NAME: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask IN MY NAME: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:"


As you can plainly see, the previous verses are quite clear. We are not to ask or petition God for things in the name of Mary, or in the name of any other Roman Catholic saint. We are only to pray in the Name of Jesus. Therefore, for Roman Catholics to refer to Mary as their so-called Co-Redemptrix and Co-Mediatrix is utterly false, because Mary is no such thing. Jesus Christ is our one and only Redeemer, and our only Mediator. Furthermore, to pray to dead Roman Catholic saints and make petitions of them, and to in fact supposedly serve as channels of communication for the spirits of the departed -- as I have read that some charismatic Catholics do -- is in blatant violation of God's Laws. The Scriptures refer to the vile practice of communicating with the dead as necromancy and having familiar spirits, and it is strongly condemned, as we can easily determine by these verses:

"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God."


"And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people."


"There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer."


"And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger."


"And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger."


"Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD."


"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?"


"And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards."


"But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments . . . Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee."


"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."


"Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."


"And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived."


To reiterate, it is only through the Name of Jesus that we are to pray, because He is our link to the Father. Please notice in the previous verses that Jesus is not even saying that we should pray to Him. Rather, He clearly says that we should pray to our Heavenly Father in His -- Jesus' -- Name. If we are not even to pray to Jesus, how then do misguided Roman Catholics arrive at the erroneous conclusion that it is okay to pray to Mary or to statues of their dead saints?

There should be no doubt then that Jesus Christ is our only Intercessor and Mediator before God the Father. He is our Defense Attorney who fights against that evil Prosecuting Attorney -- Satan -- before the Judgment Seat of God. Jesus paid the full ransom price, and made the Ultimate Sacrifice for our sakes. Thus He deserves this highly exalted position in the Heavenly Courts. Because He lived amongst us in weak human flesh, Jesus fully understands all of our temptations, weaknesses, battles, desires and needs. That is why He makes the perfect Intercessor for us. Consider these verses:

"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."


"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."


"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;"


"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."


Despite the plethora of Scriptural evidence which I have provided thus far in this series, dogmatic Roman Catholics remain very adamant regarding their belief that it is okay to make supplications to statues of Mary and their saints, There are a number of verses that are found in the Epistles which Roman Catholics use in their vain attempt to justify their wayward practice. These include the following:

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"


"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;"


"Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."


It really amazes me the way that Roman Catholics twist the obvious meaning of the previous verses. Carefully notice what these verses state. They say "for all saints" and not "to all saints." They say "for all men" and not "to all men". They say "pray one for another" and not "pray one to another". There is a major difference between praying for a person, and praying to a person. The previous verses do in fact encourage us to pray for and intercede for our fellow Christian brethren. Personally, I do it all the time because I often receive prayer requests from my Facebook friends via private chat. So what do I do? I pray to our Heavenly Father in Jesus' Name, on their behalf, exactly as Jesus told us to do. In the following verse, the Apostle Paul likewise tells us to "let [our] requests be made known unto God":

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."


Please carefully notice that Paul does not say that we should make our requests known to Mary or to a Roman Catholic saint. He clearly states that we should make our requests known to God. By comparing Scripture with Scripture, we have already come to understand that this we do by using the Name of our one and only Mediator, Jesus Christ. Let me also point out to you that the previous verses all describe living persons who are praying for other living persons. None of the previous verses in any way hint at praying to dead persons, and much less bowing to or kneeling before and praying to statues of Mary and departed Roman Catholic saints.

As a former member of the strict sect of the Pharisees, the Apostle Paul was acutely aware of the fact that to set up stone idols and pray to them was an abomination to the Lord. Paul was extremely knowledgeable of the Scriptures, and he would never have condoned such a thing. Tragically, therein lies the subtle deception of the Roman Catholic Church. Those misguided people take the previous verses regarding making intercession for each other, and totally twist their meaning in order to support their blatant idol worship. Worse yet, as I mentioned earlier, some Catholics even engage in necromancy and entertain familiar spirits. Some time ago I read some of their material firsthand, and I was appalled to say the least.

The Apostle Paul's distaste for stone statues and idols is likewise made apparent by some of his experiences which are described for us in the pages of the Acts of the Apostles. I am reminded, for example, of the problems which Paul and his companions encountered in Ephesus. To quote the entire story as it is found in Acts chapter nineteen would require a lot of space. Thus, allow me to share with you a summary of the events, as they are recorded by the writer Luke. There was a Greek craftsman in Ephesus by the name of Demetrius. Being a pagan at heart, Demetrius was engaged in the very lucrative business of making silver shrines to the Roman goddess Diana.

During the early years of her worship, this pagan goddess was associated with hunting and the forests, and was viewed as the virgin goddess of childbirth and women. However, in later years, she also became known as the moon goddess. It is interesting to note that in our modern day, there is also a flavor of the Wicca religion that is referred to as Dianic Wicca due to the fact that Wicca is also a religion which is closely associated with the natural creation. As I point out in the seven-part series called "Our Pagan World: The Easter Myth Exposed", based on my studies, I suspect that a number of these ancient goddesses may have possibly been the very same demon which simply posed as different female deities in various cultures throughout history. These false goddesses would include Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Asherah, Astarte, Artemis, Aphrodite, Venus, and Diana herself. All of these goddesses were at some point associated with love and fertility.

Directly associated with this is the fact that there was a major temple dedicated to Artemis in Ephesus at the time that the Apostle Paul and his companions visited there. In fact, this temple -- which was the third and final version of that edifice -- was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Historical records indicate that it was eventually destroyed as a result of the Goth invasions which occurred during the middle of the Third Century AD. This temple was also known as the Temple of Diana. At any rate, due to the presence of this famous Temple of Artemis -- or Diana -- the idol makers in Ephesus were apparently making quite a handsome profit by selling their silver shrines and other objects which were related to this false goddess.

Please go to part four for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

---

---

Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.