Scientia et Deus

Haeresis et Cultura Gentilitatis in Ecclessia Protestantia

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

There is a certain Protestant assembly in the Charlotte, NC area called Grace Christian Center which espouses the heresy of the Word of Faith theology and sports a variant of the pagan heartagram symbol as its moniker:

Grace Christian Center
Logo

This logo was originally designed by the Finnish rock and roll band HIM:

HIM Rock and Roll Band
Heartagram

The symbol was based on the pagan inverted pentagram:

Pagan Inverted Pentagram

The symbol is clearly satanic:

The Satanic Pentagram

Why a church that claims to be Christian - Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox - would NOT use what St Paul used as a symbol in Galatians 3:1, let alone a modification of what is clearly a demonic symbol, is beyond understanding:

"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?"

Crucifix

I therefore urge anyone attending Grace Christian Center to flee that place as one would the abode of Satan. The theology that it preaches - Word of Faith - is a heresy. and a clear and present danger to the Christian Faith. And the adoption of a demonic pagan symbol that this center makes as its logo confirms everything with Protestant Faith Preacher John Edwards writes here:

Why I Left the Word of Faith and RHEMA

Eucharistia Est Eventum Aeternum in Spatio Temporeque

Amici,

The Holy Eucharist is our entry into the eternal event of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Golgotha. Every single event that occurs in this four dimensional universe of space and time exists eternally. Even though we experience these events in one direction - past to future - due to the nature of the arrow of time, each event (once it occurs) can never be erased and exists forever as an artifact in the structure of space time. Thus will we at the final judgement before God Almighty be judged according to our works. Each one of our past actions while perhaps forgiven can never be erased from the structure of the four dimensional universe. Each one exists as an artifact in the edifice of four dimensional space-time.

And thus is it with the Holy Eucharist. When the priest says the words of consecration over the bread and wine, they become the real presence of Jesus Christ and we enter into the Crucifixion that happened some 2000 years ago. That event (like all others in space-time) never goes away. We do NOT re-crucify Christ. Rather, we return to His single once and forever Crucifixion which happened 2000 years ago. The Christ on the Cross is made present and real to us right now in this very day and age, and that is the miracle at every Holy Mass. Why Protestants sing that song, "There is Power in the Blood, Wonder Working Power," but refuse to accept the Sacred Blood of the Holy Eucharist is beyond understanding. Jesus' Bread of Life Discourse in John Chapter 6 is very clear: unless you eat Jesus' Flesh and drink His Blood, then you have NO life in you, and there is only ONE place where you can do this - the Eucharist at a Catholic Mass or at Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy. Protestants do NOT have Jesus in the Eucharist and therefore cannot give you His Body and His Blood as He commanded be done - "As oft as ye do this, ye do it in remembrance of me."

Crucifixus in Centro Sacrarii aut Cohors Musica

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

What is in the middle - the center - the sanctuary of your church as you enter it? Do you see a crucifix above the Tabernacle where the Consecrated Host - Jesus' Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity - resides?

St Matthew South
Waxhaw, NC

Or do you see a music band with no crucifix, no cross - just the glorification of people instead of the glorification of Jesus Christ?

Christlife Church
Charlotte, NC

Even some Pentecostal churches have common sense enough to actually put a Cross front and center, albeit above a music band on a stage (oh for the old time altar where one kneels to receive Jesus' Body and Blood at the Holy Eucharist!)

Christian Assembly Church
Pittsfield, MA

I would like to know whom these Protestant churches actually worship? Fine sounding music? The music band? The people singing and playing guitar who are but creatures created by God? Or the Living God Himself? Even before one goes into a Catholic or Orthodox Church, one knows immediately Who is being worshiped, and it isn't the music band or the preacher boy in black polo shirt, tan shorts, and sneakers pontificating from an iPad.

Orthodox Church
Russia

But in self-gratifying la-la land, there is nothing of the holiness and awe of Heaven to see.

Christlife Church New Place
Charlotte, NC

Translatio Institutionis Generalis Missalis Romani CCXCIX (GIRM 299)

Amici, Americani, et Compatriotae,

It has recently come to my attention that the English (as well, I am told, the Spanish and Italian) translations of paragraph 299 in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) is a mistranslation intended to indicate that the priest facing the congregation (versus populum) is the favored position at Mass instead the priest leading the congregation in worship of God (ad orientem) . As it turns out, a correct translation indicates that "versus populum" is not necessarily preferred but only permitted.

GIRM 299 in English translation from USCCB is provided below:

The altar should be built separate from the wall, in such a way that it is possible to walk around it easily and that Mass can be celebrated at it facing the people, which is desirable wherever possible. Moreover, the altar should occupy a place where it is truly the center toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally turns. The altar should usually be fixed and dedicated.

GIRM 299 in the original Latin is provided below:

Altare maius exstruatur a pariete seiunctum, ut facile circumiri et in eo celebratio versus populum peragi possit, quod expedit ubicumque possibile sit. Altare eum autem occupet locum, ut revera centrum sit ad quod totius congregationis fidelium attentio sponte convertatur. De more sit fixum et dedicatum.

GIRM 299 literally translated into English is provided below:

The larger altar may be built separated from the wall, to easily walk around and in it the celebration is able to be finished toward the people, which is expedient wherever it may be possible. However, the altar may occupy this place, that it may actually be the center to which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful may be turned voluntarily. From this custom it may be fixed and dedicated.

ANALYSIS

The relative pronoun “quod" in the phrase “quod expedit ubicumque possibile sit” is neuter singular like the noun to which it refers, “altare,” in the phrase “altare maius exstruatur” whereas the noun “celebratio” in the phrase “celebratio versus populum” is feminine singular. Therefore, the phrase “which is expedient wherever it may be possible” refers to “the larger altar may be built separated from the wall” and NOT the phrase, “the celebration is able to be finished toward the people.” Otherwise, instead of the relative pronoun "quod" (neuter singular) being used, the relative pronoun "quae" (feminine singular) would have been used. A better way to explain this is the following tutorial which the translators at the Vatican would do well to avail themselves of:

KNOW LATIN – Scite lingam Latinam

LIVE LATIN – Vivete linguam Latinam

LOVE LATIN – Amate linguam Latinam

Eschatologia Falsa Raptus

THE FALSE ESCHATOLOGY OF THE RAPTURE

During the sermon on the evening of July 10, 2016 at Christlife Church, another anecdotal reference was made to a theological viewpoint not held by any of the early Fathers of the Church in the first four centuries after Christ. This reference was to the eschatology of the Rapture which purports (based on a misreading of selected verses of Sacred Scripture taken out of context) that:

(1) Christ will physically return to planet Earth to rescue all true Christians

(2) The majority of humanity will be left behind to be persecuted under the reign of antichrist for seven years

(3) Then Jesus Christ will come for a third time to establish a reign of 1000 years of peace and prosperity (called the Millennial Reign of Christ)

(4) After this Satan will be released upon the world for one last rebellion after which he is thrown into hell and the Final Judgment comes.

This essay will refute the false eschatology of a dispensationalist rapture using first Sacred Scripture and second historical evidence.

SACRED SCRIPTURE

When the Pentecostal fundamentalist eschatology is explained in the simple and straightforward way described above, it seems like the ludicrous theology that it actually is. But let us examine this deeper. The idea of the rapture evolves out of a misinterpretation of Matthew 24:40-44 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Matthew 24:40-44 states:

40 Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left.  41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.  42 Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  43 But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into.  44 Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Fundamentalist dispensationalists like Pentecostals take this to mean that when Christ returns at the Parousia, the person who is truly and authentically Christian will be lifted into the sky to meet Jesus in the air and go to Heaven while the sinful person will be left behind to suffer torture and torment on this Earth. Unfortunately, the parallel passage of this part of St. Matthew’s Gospel in Luke 17:34-37 is ignored:

34 I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.  35 There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.”  37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

St. Luke’s account gives a detail that St. Matthew’s account omits (the two Saints simply reported the same thing differently). The disciples ask the Lord where this abduction of people will happen, and the Lord says where the eagles are gathered together. Now we must remember that these things were said in Judea in the early 1^st century AD when the Roman Empire had conquered the entire Mediterranean world. The symbol used by the Roman legions above their military banner inscribed with the initials SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romae) was the golden eagle. 

Jesus was telling his disciples that where they would see that banner with its eagle would be the place of abduction, and those being abducted would not be going to Heaven in some sort of mysterious rapture by Him, but into Roman prison and possibly subsequent crucifixion. That is why Jesus says, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together,” for at the dead bodies of crucifixions would be the SPQR banners atop of which were the Roman eagle.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is the other passage of Sacred Scripture used to promote this false eschatology of a rapture:

13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.  15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.  16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; 17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.  18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

St John Chrysostom, one of the 36 Doctors (or recognized Teachers) of the Church who lived from AD 347 to AD 407, explains in part what this passage of Sacred Scripture means in his eighth homily on St. Paul’s First Letter to the Church at Thessalonika: 

Let us then see what he now also says. “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in nowise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the last trump.” For then, he says, “The powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” [Matthew 24:29] But wherefore with the trumpet? For we see this on Mount Sinai too, and Angels there also. But what means the voice of the Archangel? As he said in the parable of the Virgins, Arise! “The Bridegroom comes.” From [Matthew 25:6] Either it means this, or that as in the case of a king, so also shall it then be, Angels ministering at the Resurrection. For He says, let the dead rise, and the work is done, the Angels not having power to do this, but His word. As if upon a king's commanding and saying it, those who were shut up should go forth, and the servants should lead them out, yet they do this not from their own power, but from that Voice. This also Christ says in another place: “He shall send forth his Angels with a great trumpet, and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” [Matthew 24:31] And everywhere you see the Angels running to and fro. The Archangel therefore I think is he, who is set over those who are sent forth, and who shouts thus: “Make all men ready, for the Judge is at hand.” And what is “at the last trumpet”?  Here he implies that there are many trumpets, and that at the last the Judge descends. “And the dead,” he says, “in Christ shall rise first. Then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

It is apparent from this that St. Chrysostom regards St. Paul’s account as an event happening at the end of the Earth prior to the Last Judgment, hence his words above:

The Archangel therefore I think is he, who is set over those who are sent forth, and who shouts thus: “Make all men ready, for the Judge is at hand.” And what is “at the last trumpet”?  Here he implies that there are many trumpets, and that at the last the Judge descends.

To regard this in any other way than the prelude to Final Judgment is to require not two comings of Christ (one at His birth 2000 years ago and another at the end of time), but three (one at His birth 2000 years ago, a second at the rapture and another when Jesus comes to defeat antichrist and start His millennial reign), or possibly even four (the last being at the end of His millennial reign when He at last casts Satan into hell). Obviously such eschatology is ludicrous.

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE

Before the 19^th century the idea and the term rapture never appeared in any Christian writings, including Protestant, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. The writings of the men who were taught by the Apostles in the late 1^st century and early 2^nd century are completely devoid of any eschatology where Christ raptures true believes, a seven year tribulation occurs, and then a millennial reign happens. Rather, this idea came from a man by the name of John Nelson Darby who lived from 1800 to 1882, and whose ideas another man by the name of CI Scofield popularized in a Protestant Study Bible in the early 20^th century.

John Nelson Darby started out as an Anglo-Irish priest. But when he learned that to continue in the Irish-Anglo Church he had to swear allegiance to England’s George IV as the rightful king of Ireland, he resigned to join an interdenominational group of believers who did not want to be answerable to any ecclesial authority.  Eventually through the twists and turns of human self-will run riot he became the head of what was informally known as the Darbyite Brethren. He maintained the false Calvinist notion of predestination (the heresy of once saved, always saved contrary to 2^nd Peter 2:20-22) and created a man-made system of dispensationalism and futurism which included this idea of a rapture. Interestingly, fellow Calvinist and contemporary Charles Haddon Spurgeon published various criticism of John Darby’s theology (there is no unity within the various factions of Protestantism).

In a first edition of 1909 and then in a revised edition of 1917, a certain Cyrus I (CI) Scofield, having come upon John Darby’s ideas, popularized them in his dispensational study notes in a Scofield Reference Bible. CI Scofield's notes on the Book of Revelation are a major source for the various timetables, judgments, and plagues elaborated on by popular religious writers in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries such as Hal Lindsey, Edgar C. Whisenant, and Tim LaHaye; and in part because of the success of the Scofield Reference Bible, 20^th century American fundamentalists placed greater stress on eschatological speculation. This, needless to say, has contributed to great financial success in the publication of books and the production of movies. Yet NONE of these ideas which have profited self-made, self-appointed Protestant clergymen so much were ever taught by the Apostles or heard of by their spiritual descendants, the ones whom they taught, the early Church Fathers. Indeed, St. Victorinus (a bishop of Pettau in what is now Austria and an ecclesiastical writer of AD 270 who suffered martyrdom probably in AD 303 under Emperor Diocletian) wrote a Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John. None of the ideas of a rapture and dispensationalist futurism purported by John Darby and CI Scofield appear in this late 3^rd and early 4^th century exposition on the Book of Revelation (or Apocalypse as it is called in Greek).

CONCLUSION

A true reading of Sacred Scripture is inconsistent with the man-made eschatology of a rapture. And none of the dispensationalist ideas of John Darby and CI Scofield appear in history until a Protestant “priest” got upset over having to swear allegiance to the King of England who himself was Protestant. So I ask the reader this: will you believe what the early Church Fathers (Sts John Chrysostom, Victorinus et alias) learned from the Apostles themselves, or will you default to the feel-good and exciting theology of dispensationalism that has contributed so mightily to the profit of self-appointed clergymen who write books and produce movies for the titillation of the emotions without the edification of the spirit? We would do well to remember what is said in the 2^nd Papal Encyclical (other known as St peter’s 2^nd Epistle):

20 First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. [2 Peter 1:20-21]

Interpretation of Sacred Scripture belongs to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church Who Herself at the Councils of Carthage and Rome in the 4^th century AD determined what would be in the Sacred Canon and what would not be. It does NOT belong to self-made, self-appointed men like John Darby and CI Scofield, nor with their descendants who use a false eschatology to earn monetary profit for themselves.

Origo Bibliorum Sanctorum

ORIGO BIBLIORUM SANCTORUM

Amici,

Protestors say that they believe the Bible is inerrant and that the Bible is the only authority for spiritual truth. The first part of what they say is true and correct: the Bible is without error. Yet these same protestors reject the very Church which determined what books would be in the Bible and what books would not be. The second part of what they say is false: the Bible is the only authority for spiritual truth. In point of fact, both Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church are authoritative, especially since it was on the basis of these that the Church determined what would be in the Bible and what would not be. Therefore, if someone says that he accepts the authority of the Bible, then by definition he must accept the authority of Sacred Tradition and the authority of the Church. If he rejects either of the last two, then when he says he accepts only the authority of the Bible, he is a hypocrite and a heretic.

THE CHURCH: THE PILLAR AND BULWARK OF TRUTH

St. Paul writes in 1st Timothy 3:15 the following:

“…if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.”

It is the Church, NOT Sacred Scripture, which is the pillar and bulwark of the truth. Sacred Scripture records that truth but it is NOT that truth. There is a difference between a record and that which is recorded. Therefore, if it is accepted that Sacred Scripture records the truth, and if the Church according to that Scripture is the pillar and bulwark of that truth, then everyone – Protestants, Orthodox and Catholic – is obligated to give assent to the Church.

TRADITION: BOTH VERBAL AND WRITTEN ARE AUTHORITATIVE

St. Paul writes in 2nd Thessalonians 2:15 the following:

“So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.”

Tradition then is authoritative and must be obeyed, whether verbal or written. To reject the authority of the Sacred Tradition of the Church is to reject Sacred Scripture which admonishes us to adhere to Tradition. Therefore, if it is accepted that Sacred Scripture records the truth, then everyone – Protestants, Orthodox and Catholic – is obligated to accept as authoritative the past 2000 years of the Church’s Sacred Tradition.

SCRIPTURE: CONTENT AT THE TIME OF CHRIST

At the time of Christ, the Scriptures held to be sacred and divine were those recorded in the Septuagint, a translation into Koine Greek of the books in the Old Testament completed by 70 scholars in Alexandria, Egypt in 132 BC. It was this translation which the writers of the New Testament quoted throughout the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles and Revelation. Therefore, it is stipulated that the books in this translated were regarded by Jesus, His disciples and St. Paul as canonical. These included the standard 66 books recognized by the protestors of the 16th century as well as 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Wisdom and Sirach. Yet in spite of the fact that Jesus Himself and his disciples accepted these books, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the other protestors rejected them on their own cognizance. They defied the Church and the Holy Spirit Who inspired the Church on what to accept and what to reject as canonical.

SCRIPTURE: DETERMINED BY THE CHURCH

The content of the New Testament was written by the Apostles in the 1st century AD, but there was a lot of controversy over what was canonical and what was not canonical in the first 400 years of the Church. Some noteworthy and salutary books like the Shepherd of Hermas, the Didache, and the letters of Clement, were highly regarded and read as Scripture in some of the local Churches. Others, like the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Judas, were Gnostic and clearly heretical; these were rejected outright. And still others such as the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of St. Jude and the Book of Revelation, while regarded as canonical today, were not always accepted by every local Church in the first few centuries after Christ. So how and when did the Church Universal (i.e., Catholic) – the undivided Church of East (Orthodox) and West (Roman) – decide on which books would be accepted as canonical and which would not be? The Church did in the late 4th century AD what She had done to decide the problem of Judaizers in 1st century AD as recorded in Acts 15:6-29. She held a Council of the Bishops and Presbyters (i.e., Priests). Actually, she held two councils: one at Rome in AD 382 and another at Carthage in AD 397. The relevant text of the proceedings of these Councils is reproduced below. The reader must bear in mind, however, that the names given to the books of the Old Testament in this text are their Greek versions given in the Septuagint vice their original Hebrew or Aramaic versions to which the Protestants default in their publications. That is because Jesus and His Apostles, and hence the early Church used the Septuagint.

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF ROME IN AD 382 ON SACRED SCRIPTURE

It is likewise decreed: Now, indeed, we must treat of the divine Scriptures: what the universal Catholic Church accepts and what she must shun.

The list of the Old Testament begins: Genesis, one book; Exodus, one book: Leviticus, one book; Numbers, one book; Deuteronomy, one book; Jesus Nave, one book [Joshua]; of Judges, one book; Ruth, one book; of Kings, four books [1st & 2nd Samuel and 1st & 2nd Kings]; Paralipomenon, two books [1st & 2nd Chronicles]; One Hundred and Fifty Psalms, one book; of Solomon, three books: Proverbs, one book; Ecclesiastes, one book; Canticle of Canticles, one book; likewise, Wisdom, one book; Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), one book; Likewise, the list of the Prophets: Isaiah, one book; Jeremias, one book; along with Cinoth, that is, his Lamentations; Ezechiel, one book; Daniel, one book; Osee [Hosea], one book; Amos, one book; Micheas, one book; Joel, one book; Abdias, one book; Jonas, one book; Nahum, one book; Habacuc, one book; Sophonias [Zephaniah], one book; Aggeus [Haggai], one book; Zacharias, one book; Malachias, one book. Likewise, the list of histories: Job, one book; Tobias, one book; Esdras, two books [Ezra and Nehemiah]; Esther, one book; Judith, one book; of Maccabees, two books.

Likewise, the list of the Scriptures of the New and Eternal Testament, which the holy and Catholic Church receives: of the Gospels, one book according to Matthew, one book according to Mark, one book according to Luke, one book according to John.

The Epistles of the Apostle Paul, fourteen in number: one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Ephesians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Galatians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to Timothy, one to Titus one to Philemon, one to the Hebrews.

Likewise, one book of the Apocalypse of John. And the Acts of the Apostles, one book.

Likewise, the canonical Epistles, seven in number: of the Apostle Peter, two Epistles; of the Apostle James, one Epistle; of the Apostle John, one Epistle; of the other John, a Presbyter, two Epistles; of the Apostle Jude the Zealot, one Epistle.

Thus concludes the canon of the New Testament.

Likewise it is decreed: After the announcement of all of these prophetic and evangelic or as well as apostolic writings which we have listed above as Scriptures, on which, by the grace of God, the Catholic Church is founded, we have considered that it ought to be announced that although all the Catholic Churches spread abroad through the world comprise but one bridal chamber of Christ, nevertheless, the holy Roman Church has been placed at the forefront not by the conciliar decisions of other Churches, but has received the primacy by the evangelic voice of our Lord and Savior, who says: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it; and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall have bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall have loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE IN AD 397

It was also determined that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in the Church under the title of divine Scriptures. The Canonical Scriptures are these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua the son of Nun, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings [1st & 2nd Samuel, and 1st and 2nd Kings], two books of Paraleipomena [1st & 2nd Chronicles], Job, the Psalter, five books of Solomon, the books of the twelve prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezechiel, Daniel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras [Ezra and Nehemiah], two books of the Maccabees. Of the New Testament: four books of the Gospels, one book of the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, one epistle of the same [writer] to the Hebrews, two Epistles of the Apostle Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude, one book of the Apocalypse of John. Let this be made known also to our brother and fellow-priest Boniface, or to other bishops of those parts, for the purpose of confirming that Canon, because we have received from our fathers that those books must be read in the Church. Let it also be allowed that the Passions of Martyrs be read when their festivals are kept.