THE TRADITIONs OF MEN

1^st Capt. Jochebed River

The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) says:

“...these truths and rules are contained in the written books and in the unwritten TRADITIONS... the TRADITIONS, whether they relate to faith or morals, as having been dictated either orally by Christ or by the Holy Ghost, and preserved in the Catholic Canon in unbroken succession.” (Council of Trent, 1546, emphasis mine)¹

“...Sacred TRADITION is the handing on of God’s Word by the successors of the Apostles. Together, Tradition and Scripture form one sacred deposit of the Word of God, which is committed to the Church...” (Vatican II notes in “Handbook for Today’s Catholic”, Liguori) ²

Jesus said: “But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition.” Mark 7:7-9; Matt 15:6-9, Revised Version.

Having been a former Catholic, steeped in the culture and traditions of the church, the following issues were weighed mentally and emotionally through time before the choice of obedience to the Word of God alone by the leading of the Holy Ghost was taken. These issues are on the Mass and Images, the reason being as a child, the writer gave herself over to the faithful practice of these things only to find out later by the light of God’s Word that they are vain tradition. There are other innumerable practices that could be questioned by the honest reader with regards to their validity vis-a-vis the Truth, but the reader can check the footnotes below.

I. The Mass/Eucharist/Communion

The RCC says: “There is in the Catholic Church a true Sacrifice, the Mass instituted by Jesus Christ. It is the sacrifice of His body and blood, soul and divinity, himself, under the appearances of bread and wine. The Sacrifice is identical with the Sacrifice of the Cross, inasmuch as Christ is the Priest and Victim in both. A difference lies in the manner of offering, which was bloody upon the Cross and is bloodless on the altar. The Mass is a propitiatory Sacrifice, atoning for sins of the living and dead for whom it is offered. Christ instituted the Mass at the Last Supper. Christ ordained the Apostles priests, giving them power and the command to consecrate His Body and Blood to perpetuate and renew the Sacrifice.” (1990 Catholic Almanac, pg 212, cited in Zims, pg.133)

The Bible says, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I come to do thy will He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins, but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;...(14) For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified...(18) Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” (Hebrews 10:8-18) See also, Heb. 7:26-27; and Heb 9:26-28

1 Peter 3:18 says, “Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit.”

The Levitical law of sacrifices and offerings were abrogated by the once and for all sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. The New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant because Jesus fulfilled the law- “It is finished” -John 19:30 To say that in the Mass, Jesus is offered again and again, is to make void what He has done on the Cross once and for all. To say that He’s done it, but He has not done it, is typical of RC double talk.

II. Images/Saints/Relics

The RCC says: “...The holy council commands all bishops and others who hold the office of teaching...to instruct the faithful diligently in matters relating to intercession and invocation of the saints, the veneration of relics, and the legitimate use of images,... and those who maintain that veneration and honor are not due to the relics of the saints, or that these and other memorials are honored by the faithful without profit, and that the places dedicated to the memory of the saints for the purpose of obtaining their aid are visited in vain, are to be utterly condemned, as the Church has already long since condemned and now again condemns them.” (Canon and Decrees of the Council of Trent, 25^th Session, cited in Zims, pg. 140)

The Bible says: “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor the likeness of any form 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 unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands, of them that love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6; Deut 5:8-10). Deut 27:15 - “Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and setteth it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.” See also the following Scriptures: Lev. 26:1; Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 44:9; Hab 2:18; John 4:24.

Contemporary Catholics replace the word “worship” with “venerate” to go around this commandment. In fact, this second commandment on images is not even mentioned in the Catholic Cathechism. To fill up the ten commandments, they divide the tenth into the 9^th and 10^th . But the making of an image per se is foremost to what God has forbidden and bowing down to such IS worship.

III. There is an incident in the Old Testament where a king disobeyed God’s command given through a prophet which incurred God’s displeasure over the king. In 1^st Samuel 15, God commanded King Saul through the mouth of the prophet Samuel to: “Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” (1 Samuel 15:3) Now in verse 9 it says, “But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.” Continuing on, in chapter 15:22, “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Verse 23 - “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is idolatry and teraphim. Because thou hast rejected the Word of the LORD, he hath rejected thee from being king.”

How can we apply this principle to the RCC? Through the centuries they have made excuses for their disobedience to the Word of God (the Bible) and have set up spurious authority through their councils, bishops and popes to authenticate their disregard for the same by their tradition. With the indictment of the prophet Samuel, may I reiterate verses 22 and 23 as judgments against this church:

“Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in OBEYING THE VOICE OF THE LORD? BEHOLD, TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE, AND TO HEARKEN THAN THE FAT OF RAMS. FOR REBELLION IS AS THE SIN OF WITCHCRAFT, AND STUBBORNNESS IS IDOLATRY AND TERAPHIM. BECAUSE THOU HAST REJECTED THE WORD OF THE LORD, HE HATH REJECTED THEE FROM BEING CHURCH.”

To the honest reader, may I invoke the command of the Spirit in Revelation 18: 4, 5: “Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues: for her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” History has multiplied evidences of her sins, if the honest reader would search out the fruit of the RCC through the centuries: the murders (Inquisition); the corruption in the hierarchy and the people: lying, cheating, stealing, perversion, pedophilia*, etc. She is definitely NOT concerned with the righteousness of God nor the morality of people, nor about the TRUTH. She’s only concerned about her entrenched spurious authority over souls and over nations.

“The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere REPENT.” (Acts 17:30)

Before Jesus left this earth, He has promised the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Truth to lead and guide us. John 15:26 says, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.” And in John 16:13 - “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak; and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come.”

Luke 11:13 says, ”If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Can’t we trust the Father to give us the Holy Spirit if we ask Him? Let us trust God, not the council of men.

1 & 2 cited in “Romanism”, by Rob Zims, pg. 22

* Two new books give evidence that the Roman Catholic priesthood in America is overrun with homosexuals. One is “Goodbye Good Men...”by Michael Rose, and the other is “The Changing Face of the Priesthood” by Donald Cozzens. Some people say at least 60% of the clergy are homosexuals, perverts, or both.

*All Scripture References are taken from the Revised Version which has the Catholic Imprimatur.