Absolute Biblical Truth Opposed by Roman Catholicism, Part 4
The Claim that Apostolic Succession Upholds Tradition
Under the heading “
The Apostolic Tradition”and the sub heading “
…continued in apostolic succession”, Rome claims the following,
“In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them ‘their own position of teaching authority.’ Indeed, ‘the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time.’ This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it.”
[44]
Nowhere in Scripture is there reference to “a continuous line of succession” (which amounts to “apostolic succession”). In the New Testament the Apostles did not appoint other apostles but rather elders
[45] and deacons. Nonetheless Rome attempts to defend her position in the name of acontinuous line of successionfrom the Apostles.
[46] If one wants to use the concept of “apostolic succession”, the true successors of the Apostles are the saints of the household of God who “
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.”
[47]If that doctrinal foundation is destroyed, one does not have apostolic faith; rather he has apostasy. “Apostolic succession” without apostolic doctrine is a fraud. It is only Scriptural doctrine that makes one wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus.
If one actually investigates “succession” in terms of Catholicism, the evidence of a sequence from pagan Rome is what appears as obvious. This is documented by one of Vatican’s famous scholars, Cardinal John Henry Newman, as he wrote of the pagan origin of many Catholic practices,
“We are told in various ways by Eusebius that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen, transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own….The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holidays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure…. images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church.”
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Such a succession in tradition of incense, candles, votive offerings, holy water, processions, blessed oils, palms, ashes and forbidding people to marry and the ordering of abstinence from certain foods is, in the words of the Apostle “
…a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”
[49]The same Apostle spoke of the deterioration to follow; such in fact is the succession of the Vatican. “
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.”
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It is Christ Jesus the Lord who speaks in Scriptures. In it His Holy Spirit tells us who He is, and what we are. He tells us that He has come to save us from our sins, and for that purpose the Father sent Him into the world. In order to bring that work to completion in individual men, the Holy Spirit applies the truth of Scripture to the individual believer. He will lead His people out the religion of “baptized paganism” embodied in the Church of Rome. For all imaginative habits of tradition, her teachings, worship, and emotional pseudo-spiritual experiences that arise from outside the Scripture, are no more than vagrant deceits and self-willed deceptions. “
Beware,” says the Scripture, “
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
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Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
The frank examination of the Catholic Church’s doctrine of authority made here leads to the conclusion that her authority is not simply without true biblical foundation, but it also is an attempt to completely usurp the divine authority of the Lord God in His Written Word. “Holy Mother Church” in biblical terms is neither holy nor strictly speaking a church. She is rather the clear successor to the Imperial Roman Empire, which is embodied in her arrogance in law, traditions and pagan customs. (This we will more fully describe and document in chapter twelve.)
Attributing her Tradition to the inspiration and leading of the Holy Spirit, and presumptuously assuming such preposterous claims as papal infallibility, is in the strict sense of the term a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. That is why there can never be any negotiation, compromise, or alliance between the Vatican and Bride of Christ. The “Temple curia” of the Pharisees, in the Lord’s time, identified themselves with all that was good, upright, and holy. There was no question in their minds but that God worked wholly in, by, and through their teachings and administrations. Christ Jesus, however, proved them to be “
like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”
[52] In a similar manner, the proud privileges and claims of the Roman system to be the very mouthpiece of God are shown by the Word of the Lord to be “
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”
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Even the testimony of history shows that this system has been an instrument of persecution of true Biblical faith and a tool of assimilation whereby pagan shrines and artifacts have become grottos of Mary and images of her person. The Roman religion and her form of godliness has become a cloak to cover her paganism. Her basis of all of this is the plea that her Tradition is to be equally honored as the Lord’s own Written Word to the destruction of “the faithful”, “
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.”
[54] Her flawed basis in Tradition has allowed her to construct a worldwide empire where she enforces her will over 814,779 women who are her nuns, 57,813 men whom she calls religious brothers, and 404,626 men whom she calls her priests.
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The Holy Spirit, foreseeing all these things, as the guide and Comforter of the true Church, has graciously provided a divine answer for the dangerous, ubiquitous, and deceiving system of Rome and her fabricated authority base. God Himself, Who began the writing of the Word with His own finger, has in these last days spoken to us “
by his Son.”
[56] This Son authenticated the writings of the Old Testament and, as the Alpha and Omega, having all Authority in heaven and on earth, authorized the New Testament and commanded its writing in His words to the Apostle John, “
what thou seest,
write in a book.”
[57]The Lord Jesus Christ’s mind and counsel come unto the believers in writing. The Scripture is given as a merciful and steadfast relief against all that is confusion, darkness, and uncertainty, including the Catholic Church. In our precious Lord we truly praise God for the treasure and confidence that we have in the Scripture, which is truth, and that “
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
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