Participants: John Lomacang, John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL110017
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00:01 Hello, friends.
00:03 Grab your Bible and a friend and sit back 00:04 as we explore God's word together 00:05 on this edition of House Calls. 00:21 Welcome to another House Calls program. 00:23 So glad that you've taken the time 00:24 to sit down again and join us. 00:26 If you're joining us again, 00:28 but if this is your first time, don't forget us, 00:30 this is John and John and we're here 00:33 to walk you through the Bible. 00:34 And we thank you for taking the time just tune in. 00:37 So, John, how you are feeling today? 00:39 I'm feeling good today. How about you? 00:41 I'm feeling really well. 00:43 Even more excited that we have an audience here 00:44 today that people have chosen to sit down 00:46 and listen to House Calls. Amen. 00:48 We are not doctors because, you know, 00:50 House Calls is often associated with doctors, 00:51 but Jesus wants to make a House Call on you, 00:54 and He wants to do that through the word. 00:56 So get your Bibles, get your pens, 00:58 don't forget to invite people that are standing 01:01 around and sitting around, tell them, 01:03 it's time to watch House Calls. 01:05 Hit the record button, if you want to continue 01:07 following us on the program on, 01:09 why are there are so many denominations? 01:11 And today, we're gonna start introducing 01:14 some of those denominations to you after our prayer 01:17 and after our Bible questions. 01:18 So, John, let's have prayer today. 01:20 Let's do that. 01:21 Our Father in heaven, we are so in need every time 01:24 we open Your word of Your presence, 01:26 presence of Your Holy Spirit to lead us, 01:29 to direct us, to guide us. 01:31 He is the Spirit of truth and we ask that 01:33 you'd pour out that Spirit upon us today. 01:36 Be with all of our viewers, our listeners 01:38 those who are part of this program, a very important part. 01:41 We just pray that you would bless them as well, 01:43 in Jesus name, amen. 01:44 Amen. 01:46 If you have your questions that are floating around 01:49 in your head and you want to send those to us, 01:51 you can send those to housecalls@3abn.org 01:55 that's housecalls@3abn.org 01:58 because these questions are very important 02:00 and we thank you for being diligent to send them to us. 02:02 So at the end of our question period, 02:05 if something comes up, send it to us. 02:08 If you use snail mail that is, 02:10 you use the almighty post office. 02:13 You can send those to P.O Box 220, 02:15 West Frankfort, Illinois, 62896. 02:18 John, what's our first question out of the shoot today? 02:21 Well, you know, John, sometimes we get these questions 02:23 that don't really have a thus saith the Lord. 02:26 So we have to do the best we can to answer a question, 02:30 sometimes difficult questions and this is one of those. 02:34 And you know, the English is a little difficult. 02:39 This says, man's name is Marichae 02:41 and he writing to us from I believe Zimbabwe, 02:45 but I'm not sure. Okay. 02:47 But he is asking here what, 02:48 what happens in regard to babies at the resurrection? 02:52 When Jesus comes, are they saved 02:53 by the faith of their parents? 02:57 As the Bible says that our parents will not change, 02:59 but only our mortal being will turn into the immortal 03:03 and will babies remain as babies. 03:06 So a lot of concern here and this makes sense, 03:09 because I know parents out there, 03:10 they are very concerned about their loved ones 03:12 and many of them probably have had children 03:16 that have died way to early in life and want to be sure 03:19 that those children have an opportunity to live 03:22 in the kingdom above as well. 03:24 And so these are where you have to put 03:25 a lot of pieces together. 03:27 What is the character of God and His mercy, 03:30 and what can we reasonably expect 03:35 with regard to babies at the resurrection? 03:37 And here is some of the conclusions that I have, 03:40 you know, God says, that He is going to 03:42 or that all who within this earthly community 03:50 called human kind. 03:52 All of us will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ. 03:56 And the reason we appears because we must receive 04:00 our reward for the things that we have done. That's right. 04:03 Question is with babies, they really never really 04:05 had a chance to do anything yet. 04:08 You know, they're, they basically got up 04:11 a one-track mind which is, give me something to eat. 04:15 And you put them to sleep, and few other things 04:17 you have to take care with babies, but that's about it. 04:20 And so the question is, you know, 04:22 when they are raised in the judgment, 04:24 how does God view them? 04:25 And I would find it very difficult that a God 04:28 who is a God of love would judge them for sins 04:30 that they don't even realize or aren't even 04:32 accountable to realize they're committing. 04:35 Now we recognize we're born sinful flesh. 04:39 So we are on death row, the moment we are born. 04:42 But I do know also that the Lord is gracious enough 04:46 to give us all an opportunity to make decisions 04:48 for or against His son Christ. 04:51 And so knowing His character, 04:55 knowing that He wants everybody to have 04:57 that opportunity to be saved, it wouldn't surprise me 05:00 at all and I believe in my heart that babies will 05:04 absolutely be in the resurrection 05:06 and have their opportunity from that point on 05:09 and whether it would be, because of the parents faith 05:11 that they're putting the parent's hands 05:13 who then entered the kingdom, however, 05:16 you know, God seems fit to do that, 05:18 we aren't told in scripture, but I do see God, 05:20 a loving God and one that would be merciful in that way. 05:23 So I expect to see babies there. 05:27 Well, I would chiming on that and I would build on 05:31 the fact that we mentioned clearly 05:33 that the Bible doesn't say babies 05:36 as it relates to the resurrection. 05:39 Couple of points that we want to really be cautious 05:42 to emphasizes since the Bible doesn't give 05:44 any clear scriptural statements to say 05:48 that babies, who have not accept to Jesus will 05:52 or will not be in the resurrection? 05:54 You know the thing I often say and I know that 05:56 sometimes people that asked that question 05:59 are concerned that a baby may have been born 06:02 and died early, maybe weeks after his birth. 06:05 I've seen people say, you know, 06:07 see you in the mornings, see you in the resurrection 06:10 that is the longing of the parent. 06:12 And I would, I would say that for the parent 06:15 who is a Christian, for the parent who has lived 06:18 his or her life for the Lord, I could see that baby 06:21 being restored to that parent in the resurrection. 06:26 I don't see any reason for that baby 06:29 to be punished for sins not committed, 06:35 having never reach the age of accountability. 06:38 So at best we have to just accept what the Lord says 06:42 and that is His long suffering towards us, 06:45 not willing that any should perish. 06:48 Quite a different story when a person 06:50 gets to the age of accountability, 06:51 they've to make decision for or against salvation. 06:54 But because it's not stated in scripture, 06:58 we have to just make it a point of speculation and say, 07:01 God knows best, He'll not cause the resurrection 07:06 to be a second point of pain for parents 07:08 who have lost their children, who live a Christian life. 07:12 But on the other side of that, 07:14 I believe that for those who have, 07:18 haven't lived the Christian life 07:19 there is one text in the Bible, it's just came to my mind 07:23 and I believe the Holy Spirit brought to me that text. 07:26 Now go with me to Exodus, Exodus Chapter 20, 07:30 you know, we pray for guidance 07:31 and as we move our lips, the Lord inserts knowledge 07:36 into our brains. 07:38 The one evidence I have in scripture 07:41 is Exodus Chapter 20, all right. 07:49 And look at verse 5. 07:51 Now in the middle of verse 5 the Lord talks 07:53 about well, let's just read it, it says, 07:58 "You shall not bow down to them." 08:00 That's to graven images. 08:02 Nor serve them for I the Lord your God 08:04 I'm a jealous God. 08:05 ' And here is something that really opened 08:07 my mind just a moment ago. 08:09 "Visiting the iniquity of the father 08:11 on the children to the third and fourth generation 08:14 of those who hate me." 08:16 So I would say in that context 08:18 if a person doesn't serves the Lord 08:22 and the whole family line is one family line 08:26 after the other of those who do not serve the Lord. 08:30 I think that the iniquities of the father will be 08:32 passed on to the children of the third and fourth generation. 08:36 In other words, the practices will go on, 08:38 not that, not that your sins will have to be atoned 08:41 for by your son or by your daughter. 08:43 But the sins of the father will be 08:45 practiced by the next generation, 08:46 to next generation, to next generation, 08:48 and if any one of the children along the way die young, 08:52 it appears to say that the transgressions 08:54 that were from one generation continuing the next 08:57 and the next until this cycle of evil is broken. 09:00 I don't see that child coming forth in the resurrection 09:04 because the sins of the father have been passed on. 09:07 You also have another text in the Book of Ezekiel, 09:09 where it says, though Daniel, Job, and Noah in it, 09:14 they shall neither save them 09:16 their sons or daughters by their righteousness. 09:19 In other words, they had to have their 09:20 own righteousness to be saved. 09:22 But at best we have to just lean 09:23 on the sovereignty of God and say, 09:25 in the resurrection you won't be greatly disappointed 09:27 if you're gonna be there and say but what about my kid? 09:30 What about my child that died when I was, 09:32 when the child was just born? 09:35 That's the best I could do on that one. Good. 09:37 Not having any scriptural evidence. 09:38 If you have something that you come up within the Bible, 09:41 we'll be very glad to hear it, all right. 09:45 Here is another one. This is Diana from Bermuda. 09:51 I've the following question. 09:54 What is the difference between Jesus ascending to His Father 09:56 after resurrection and coming back to earth, 10:01 that is full of sin and His second coming, 10:04 when He does not touch the earth because of sin? 10:08 Well, one is finishing the plan of salvation, 10:11 the second one is, well let me just put 10:14 in the context of three things. 10:15 He appeared the first time to save us from sin. 10:20 When He came back to the earth, 10:23 He came to empower us to live a victorious life over sin. 10:28 And then the third time He's gonna come back to free us 10:30 from the presence of sin. 10:32 So His life, and death, 10:35 and resurrection gave us the power to be, 10:37 set to be saved from the penalty of sin. 10:43 When He came back in His resurrection 10:46 and His life was acceptable, 10:48 He gave us daily power to live over the power of sin. 10:53 And then when He comes back, He's not gonna touch the earth. 10:56 The Bible says, He's gonna come back without sin. 10:58 He's gonna come back to deliver us from the presence of sin. 11:01 So here is from the penalty of sin, 11:03 from the daily power of sin, and finally, 11:06 from the presence of sin. 11:08 So He is not touching the earth, 11:10 primarily because He made a promise 11:11 in John Chapter 14 verse 1 to 3. 11:14 We're not preparing a place for Him, 11:16 He is preparing a place for us. 11:18 And so in order for the earth to be made new, 11:22 we will be removed from that earth to be made new, 11:24 and then come back to the earth 11:26 after the thousand years is done, 11:27 but He's not coming back to touch the earth. 11:30 As a matter of fact one of the indicators 11:32 of a false Christ is anybody walking to the earth and saying, 11:35 He is the second coming of Jesus, that's how we all now. 11:38 That's why Jesus says, many false Christs' 11:40 and false prophets will arise 11:42 and show great signs and wonders. 11:44 So if somebody says that he's the Christ 11:46 or if they really stretches that 11:49 and she says that she is the Christ, 11:51 don't believe it because Christ will not come back 11:53 and touch to the earth again. 11:55 And I think there's a safeguard to let us know that, 11:57 that when Jesus comes back, 11:58 we'll be caught up to meet Him in the air. 12:00 You know, what I think the other thing that we need, 12:02 this big focus here is the intent 12:04 and I think you alluded to that already. 12:07 When He came back to earth after the resurrection, 12:09 He intended to stay for 40 days, 12:11 He intended to teach His disciple something. 12:13 There are things that need to be accomplished 12:15 to establish His church, but when He comes back 12:18 in the second coming, He's not staying. 12:21 No, He is not touching the earth. 12:22 No and He is bringing people away from sin, the sinful world. 12:25 So the intend here, the message also is I'm not staying, 12:29 there is no reason to stay, 12:30 I've got a place prepared for you, 12:31 that I'm taking you too. 12:33 And that's why He is bringing His saints. 12:35 You know, one of the things that points into this John, 12:38 that I know that is often misunderstood 12:40 is 1st Thessalonians Chapter 4, where it talks about Jesus 12:44 bringing with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 12:48 And you know much of the Christian world today 12:52 has begun to translate that text 12:54 as bringing with Him from heaven, 12:56 those who have found a sleep in Jesus 12:58 back to this earth to establish His earthly kingdom. 13:01 The problem that they don't, 13:02 the thing they don't see is that He is not touching this earth 13:04 and the bringing with Him is, from the resurrection, 13:07 bringing with Him the saints 13:08 that sleep in Jesus back to heaven. 13:11 Right. The place He's prepared for them. 13:13 It's a reverse direction, He's going up, 13:15 He's not coming down. Right. 13:17 And that's kind of a misunderstanding 13:18 that a lot of Christians today really see 13:21 or have taken from 1st Thessalonians 4. 13:23 And that is hinged on this idea of the immortality of the soul. 13:29 Somebody once said to me, what had cleared up there? 13:33 But it helped them to make a decision to follow Christ was, 13:36 they always wondered with this idea 13:39 of a soul continuing to live on. 13:42 That a person in their understanding died, 13:45 he went to heaven then came back and went back. 13:48 They said, what's all the rigmarole 13:49 and when they discovered that there is a resurrection, 13:52 where John 5 verse 28 and 29 says, 13:56 ''Do not marvel at this for the hour is coming 13:58 in which all that are in the graves 14:00 will hear His voice and will come forth." 14:02 All that are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth. 14:05 Those that have done good to the resurrection of life, 14:08 those that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. 14:10 So the resurrection has often them, 14:13 the doctrine that's kind of ignored today. 14:17 And if you're Christian of a different faith 14:19 other than Adventist, ask yourself the question 14:21 when have you heard the resurrection talked about? 14:25 I heard it talked about once by pastor, who said, well, 14:29 yeah the body is gonna be resurrected 14:31 and the soul is gonna come back from the heaven, 14:34 but you have a problem with that, 14:35 because there is no place in scripture 14:36 that teaches that and thirdly, 14:39 Ezekiel 18:4, "The soul that sins, it shall die." 14:43 So we have all sinned and fallen short to the glory of God, 14:45 but so there is a lot of inconsistencies there 14:49 with people being brought back with Christ. 14:52 He is coming first time for His saints, 14:57 that's a second coming at the end of the thousand years 14:59 coming back with His saints. 15:01 Forty verses in the New Testament 15:03 about the resurrection. Okay. 15:05 So this is a significant teaching in the Bible 15:08 that is being disregarded really today. 15:10 Forty on the resurrection, 15:12 sixty on the Sabbath both pretty much overlooked. 15:15 Yes, John, I have a question here 15:18 and there were several questions on this, 15:20 so I wanted to kind of issue, 15:21 there is a point of clarification. 15:22 Our previous program Pastor Murray and I did, 15:26 we had the question. 15:27 Do Muslims believe in a true God? 15:33 Is Allah the true God? 15:35 And, you know, we answered that question that Allah is God. 15:41 Now, what I wanted to do is the clarification here comes from, 15:45 well, you know, then do we just accept Allah 15:47 and that's just is fine, He is accepting the, 15:49 you know, the Christ and that's not the point. 15:52 We were asked the question whether or not Allah is God. 15:55 And Allah is the Arabic word for God. 15:59 So, yes, in that respect, 16:01 in a literal respect the word Allah is God. 16:04 Right. Secondly though, it depends on how, 16:07 what kind of minutiae, you want to go into 16:09 when answering this question because if you want to interpret 16:13 only those that believe in the true God 16:16 as believing all of His true doctrines to the very end 16:19 from the first to the end, then you would exclude 16:22 much of the Christian world from believing in the true God, 16:26 but in the general sense, 16:27 we understand that the Christian world believes in Christ. 16:30 They believe in God who created the heavens and the earth 16:33 and they believe in Jesus who was divine. 16:37 Now I know that Muslims do not believe in Jesus who was divine, 16:42 but they believe in one God, 16:44 they believe in Him as the Creator. 16:47 They don't believe in polytheistic, 16:49 any kind of polytheistic teachings 16:51 and so in a general sense, yes, they believe in Allah 16:55 which is Arabic for God, in God. 16:57 So in that general sense that's the way 17:01 we answered that question. 17:02 So if you have any questions or concerns about that is, 17:05 that is in fact where we were coming from. 17:07 Now I know that John in our topic today, 17:10 we're gonna be getting into those 17:14 who profess to believe in God, 17:16 profess Christ and then do vary in their 17:20 or at least vary from scripture 17:22 in their beliefs about Him. Right. 17:24 And so I know we're not, 17:26 we're gonna segue there in just a minute, 17:27 but that's not the minutiae we got into. 17:30 Okay. We were interpreting Allah. 17:32 So I just wanted to share that clarification at least 17:34 for our listeners and our viewers today. 17:35 All right, and just to cap that off, 17:38 there is a statement of Jesus in John 14:1, 17:43 he says "You believe in God, believe also in Me. 17:48 And in, I did a topical study that I presented 17:54 on the recent series that I did called "Last Day Events." 17:58 And I talked about there are various systems 18:00 that have existed throughout time 18:04 and one of those was Islam that surprisingly enough, 18:10 in Islam it's a requirement to believe in Jesus. 18:15 However, as a messenger from God 18:20 like all other messengers from God. 18:23 See, so he is not the savior, but he is the messenger of God, 18:29 and they also teach in Islam that even Jesus 18:32 will deny that He ever claimed divinity. 18:35 So its number of other things that go along with that. 18:38 So there is the one God, Allah and that's it, 18:42 but then you have the derivatives of that, 18:45 you have the Sunni and the Shiite. 18:47 So the Shiites and the Sunnis, 18:49 one traditional, one nontraditional. 18:51 So even amongst those who are Muslim, 18:54 you have varying belief systems. 18:56 Yeah and I think and God we know have other sheep 19:00 that are not of this fold and I think that even extends 19:03 worldwide to those who in conscience 19:06 are following to the best of their ability and, 19:11 you know, with the bottom and the fullness of their heart, 19:14 the God that they know will save them, 19:16 that they can trust to save them and, 19:18 you know, we can't judge a heart? No. 19:21 We can only judge their actions 19:23 and we know whether it would be Christianity 19:25 or whether, whether it become Islam, 19:28 whether it would be Islam we're talking about. 19:30 There are people who definitely do not follow God, 19:32 because they don't display any kind of characteristics. 19:34 Right. And the character of God at all 19:36 whether it would be Allah or whether it would be God 19:40 depending upon whether you're using Arabic or using English. 19:43 Yeah, they are, here we are living thousands of years 19:50 through the stage of development 19:52 and development in the sense of religions of the earth. 19:56 We are now at the point of hojpoj, 19:58 there are so many and some are traditional 20:01 that have been around for thousands of years, 20:03 others are photocopies of photocopies 20:07 of photocopies of photocopies 20:08 and some things left out along the way. 20:10 So we want to try to deal with each person's religious 20:13 convictions in a very respectful way 20:16 not to minimize anything that they hold in 20:20 relationship to their worship of God. 20:23 So we hope we don't communicate that at all. 20:26 Pastor Lomacang, I have a question. 20:29 For I ordered the set. 20:32 Well, he watched my series on the Unclean Spirits, 20:34 by the way that's a very good series to get. 20:36 He says, you mentioned that Satan had been learning 20:39 all his evil ways for 6000 years now. 20:42 My question is this. 20:43 This world is 2000 years old, I'm wondering how He knows that 20:47 Satan started all this 4000 years earlier? 20:50 Well, the world is not 2000 years old. 20:53 If you look at, if you look at 20:55 the even the theological dating of the creation is 4004 B.C. 21:03 Before. Before Christ. Yes. 21:05 And so it's been 2000 years since Christ. 21:08 So right of the back, we have. Six thousand years. 21:11 Six thousand years right there. 21:13 So check that again because we're in 2011, that is A.D, 21:19 Anno Domini in the year of our Lord 21:21 that is post B.C, and you have. 21:25 The entire Old Testament is older than 2000 years. 21:28 Right, exactly, we have the Egyptian culture 21:30 that's been around for nearly 5000 years. 21:33 You have some that have been around for 3000 years. 21:35 So look at the historical books 21:37 and just get a broader perspective on that. 21:40 In America, we don't have anything 21:42 that is-we don't have anything in the America 21:44 that's 400 years old, do we? 21:46 Barely, barely, I know that... 21:49 The only thing in America would be 21:50 anything its native American. Right. 21:52 So you have to go there. 21:53 So I think that's the question and that is the answer. 21:57 The world is older than 2000 years. 22:02 Thank you, for that question. What else do you have? 22:06 That's all we have for questions I think today. 22:08 Okay, well, let me see what else I've here. 22:10 Our subject. Okay. 22:12 Yeah, let's take the rest of time and dive into the subject. 22:15 If you have any questions that you would 22:16 like to communicate to us and send it to us, 22:20 send those to housecalls@3abn.org, 22:23 that's housecalls@3abn.org. 22:26 And we do appreciate all that you do to rack our brains 22:32 and to stimulate us to dive deeper into the Bible. 22:36 John, yesterday we began talking about various religions 22:40 and we began by laying the foundation on Babylon. 22:45 We talked about the mother church 22:47 and the other churches that are daughters. 22:51 We talked about the pure church in Revelation 12, 22:55 the pure woman that was pursued by the beast or the dragon 23:00 and then we found that dragon was a red dragon. 23:03 Then we find that same color beast supporting 23:08 the woman in Revelation 17. 23:10 And the woman being described is having daughters, 23:12 meaning, if a woman has daughters, 23:14 they are all connected to her DNA. 23:17 In this sense, the DNA is religious 23:19 and the DNA is based on beliefs that connect 23:23 back to the mother church. 23:26 So give me some more foundation 23:28 as to how we're hopping into the boat 23:30 and where we're going to paddle to today. 23:31 Well, we've titled these programs, 23:33 we may do about six, seven, eight, 23:35 eight programs on this. 23:37 Why so many denominations? 23:40 And so in establishing that we can see clearly 23:42 in scripture by prophecy and interpreting 23:45 the symbols correctly in Revelation 23:48 that God is always established, 23:50 it has established from the beginning His people. 23:52 Right, His one true people, 23:53 a remnant so to speak throughout ages. 23:56 There's always been a line of His people 23:58 that He communicates to, communicates to them 24:01 through His truth. Right. 24:03 His direction, His ways, and His word. 24:06 And so, in that we find the woman 24:09 being pursued by the devil, the dragon, who hates it. 24:13 Makes war against her. 24:15 And then, of course, as you said by Revelation 17, 24:18 we have a woman, but this time 24:19 it's not a pure woman, it's a harlot. That's right. 24:21 Who rides this beast that was first pursuing her in 12? 24:25 Now, she is on top of her and being directed by this beast. 24:29 So, I like the point that you made there 24:32 with regard to having daughters, 24:34 but the other reverse is true, 24:36 if there are daughters, she is a mother. 24:39 That's right, and so one of the things 24:41 we're going to do is, we're talk about 24:43 several denominations 24:44 that we find throughout Christianity today, 24:47 to try and answer the question, 24:49 why so many denominations? 24:51 First of all, you know, it's predicted by future, 24:54 by prophecy or by the Biblical record and prophetic word. 24:58 But secondly, we're finding that 25:01 there is divisions within Christianity 25:03 because of the problems with truth. That's right. 25:07 They believe different things 25:09 and here this mother of the harlot's has a wine that 25:13 she is dispensing that people are partaking of, 25:17 and they are being mislead and we define that wine 25:19 as being deceitful words. False teaching. 25:22 False teachings. Right. 25:24 And the Bible is clear on that Micah 2:11, 25:26 I believe, helps explain that. 25:28 So now we're getting to the heart of the issue 25:30 which is look at some of these denominations 25:34 and see what they might have in common 25:37 with a overall systems that we define as Babylon, 25:40 the Bible says is Babylon, right, 25:42 which is the mother of harlot's? 25:44 So I would always say, let's start with mother 25:48 and if the woman as a church, and there is a mother church, 25:53 let's take a look at what aspects 25:57 of this mother church truly are? 26:00 Now it's, don't even have to say 26:02 who claims to be the mother church, 26:04 I mean, we know throughout history that the only church 26:09 that claims to be the mother church 26:11 is the Roman Catholic Church. Right. 26:13 So I don't think there is any debate about that. 26:17 Now I know that there is a debate 26:18 with regard to prophecy as to seeing whether or not 26:22 the Roman Catholic Church 26:23 is truly the mother of harlots, 26:27 the mother Babylon who has children 26:32 also that's carried forward from Daniel Chapter 7 and 8, 26:36 where the little horn comes out of the fourth beast, 26:39 that fourth beast being Rome, right, 26:41 becomes then people Rome, 26:42 the little horn. That's right. 26:43 And so the disagreement there, 26:46 we know is in the interpretive methods 26:48 in prophecy, maybe we got to just touch on that, 26:50 just briefly. Okay. 26:52 Because the reformers during the Protestant Reformation 26:57 as God was pushing forward His truth, 26:59 the truth of His word, what you found 27:02 was growing disagreement over centuries 27:08 of how to interpret prophetic truth. Right. 27:11 And symbols and prophecy in general. 27:14 And the reformers, 27:15 if you want to start with that there, 27:16 I can turn this over to you. 27:17 Reformers believed in what was called historicism, 27:22 and they saw clearly that from beginning to end, 27:26 prophecy stretched, they had a beginning 27:27 and has an end combination of Christ and His return. 27:31 And that this little horn power 27:33 was in fact the Church of Rome, 27:35 who they were seeking to protest against 27:37 and separate it from. Right. 27:39 But over time, we've lost that picture. 27:42 Oh, yeah, we have lost that picture. 27:45 Lot of what exist in Christianity today 27:47 hasn't really been developed by many of the mainline 27:52 Protestant Churches and to use the word Protestant 27:54 is almost an ironic thing nowadays 27:57 because nobody is protesting anything anymore. 28:01 We forgot what the word protesting, 28:02 or Protestant comes from. 28:04 Yeah, Protestants, these are like contestants, 28:09 protestants, Protestants, if we were to roll that word, 28:13 the way that it's phonetically pronounced. 28:16 They protested the reason why Protestantism began was 28:19 because they protested many of the teachings 28:22 of the Roman Catholic Church. 28:23 Supremely, they protested the authority 28:25 that the Pope claimed to have. 28:28 And so what I'd like o begin with today is 28:30 to talk about some of the things that 28:32 most of Christianity have in common with Rome, 28:35 that are scriptural, that's really, 28:38 where we want to begin with today 28:41 and I would even go to the next level as saying, 28:44 these are the teachings that 28:46 the Roman Catholic Church has in, 28:48 in harmony with even the Adventist Church. 28:50 So not everything that all church teach, 28:52 not everything that all churches teach are either 28:57 in harmony with each other, the most important harmony 28:59 that must exist is not between each other, 29:02 but between that denomination and the Bible. 29:04 See because sometimes people may say, 29:06 well, I know 35 denominations that believed that. 29:09 Well, if it's not supported by scripture, 29:11 it's just denominationalism. 29:12 Yeah, and I think what we're talking about here 29:13 is the narrowing down of the picture of God's truth, 29:17 right, by the number of beliefs 29:19 that coincide with the word of God. 29:21 And there are definitely, I mean, 29:22 to even call yourself a church, 29:24 you've got to at least coincide with 29:26 some truths of God's word. 29:28 What is the old adage John there, 29:31 you know, the worst kind of poison 29:33 is the one disguised. 29:35 If you go into your cupboard and you see a bottle 29:37 that is poisoned with skull and crossbones on it, 29:40 you're gonna stay away form that, 29:41 you're not gonna take it and drink it. 29:42 But if you take a few drops and put it in some food 29:45 and kind of mix it with other food 29:46 and you hand it out to somebody, it's deadly, why? 29:49 Because you don't realize, it's poison, 29:50 because of all the wonderful food 29:52 that appears to be there. Right. 29:54 So, you know, there is a smorgasbord of food 29:57 so to speak, the bread of life, 29:59 the word of God in all these churches. 30:02 Is that smorgasbord does it have poison in it 30:05 or is it pure? 30:06 And it effects the way we see. Absolutely. 30:09 You know, I was in, in Australia few years ago 30:11 and for my contact lenses I have a fluid 30:15 by the side of my belt little eye drops, rewetting drops. 30:20 But in the journey, I don't want to take, 30:22 I had also cleaner for my glasses, 30:24 whenever I wore my glasses 30:26 and unfortunately it was in a little tiny tube also, 30:28 but had a light mixture of alcohol 30:30 and some of the saline in it just the, 30:32 you know, evaporate when you wipe the glasses. 30:34 Well during the night or in the morning 30:36 when I woke up I picked up the wrong dropper 30:38 and I drop that alcohol in my eye 30:42 to rewet my contact lens, well to say, 30:44 to say that I screamed, I did scream audibly 30:48 because it would have scared my wife to death. 30:50 But internally I was going and I've got up in the, 30:55 with one eye open the left eye went to the bathroom 30:58 and just started throwing water on my eye 31:00 and I washed it out. 31:02 So what happens is false teachings can lie 31:06 so close to true that you pick up one 31:10 and it affect the way you see 31:11 and that's usually what happens in Christendom. 31:13 We accept what other churches give to us, 31:16 they package it almost identical to the way 31:18 the Bible is packaged. 31:20 And then we, it effects the way 31:22 we see the word of God and what the Bible teaches. 31:25 And you have to look closely 31:27 to distinguish between the two, 31:29 had you really examine closely, 31:30 rather than just remaining in the dark to wet your eyes? 31:33 And that was the key. 31:34 You would have figured out that 31:36 what you are putting in your eye was not rewetting drops. 31:39 There are so many parallels there, 31:40 because I did it in the dark 31:42 and that's usually what happens 31:43 when you're in the dark, 31:44 you accept those things based on feeling. Right. 31:46 Not based on what you actually see. Right. 31:48 And that's what happened during the Dark Ages, 31:50 people operated in the dark 31:51 and many things came into the church, 31:53 because they could not see in fact, 31:57 to distinguish between truth and error, 31:58 they had no access to the Bible's. 32:00 And so that illustration would be 32:02 the Bible is the right solution, 32:05 and if I turned the light on 32:08 or if that was an age of enlightenment 32:10 I would be able to see 32:11 the difference between right and wrong. 32:12 But five, let's just talk about five things 32:16 that Roman Catholicism has in common 32:19 with much of Christendom and including Adventists. 32:24 One of those is the teaching of God had, 32:26 the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. 32:29 As a matter of fact some denominations 32:30 go to great length to say when-- 32:33 when we say, we baptize you in the name of the Father, 32:36 and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 32:37 Lot of denominations say, 32:38 ah, you guys are following the Catholics. 32:40 No, we're actually following Matthew 28, verse 18 to 20 32:44 where Jesus Himself said, Go ye therefore, 32:47 and baptize them, teaching them to observe all things 32:51 and He talked about baptizing in the name of the Father, 32:53 of the Son, of the Holy Spirit. 32:54 Well people say, what's the name of? 32:56 Well, the word there is in the Greek, the authority of. 33:00 So whether I come into the authority of the Father, 33:03 Son, and the Holy Spirit, 33:04 I'm coming in the same authority. 33:07 So that's one thing that's held 33:08 in common with Catholicism and much of mainline 33:11 Christianity including Adventist. 33:13 The other one is the virgin birth of Christ. 33:16 Now we believe in the virgin birth of Christ 33:18 and they believe in a virgin birth of Christ. 33:20 But they have something else 33:24 that's often used in the term Immaculate Conception-- 33:28 Yeah, we'll talk about that. 33:29 You know, we'll talk about that briefly. 33:31 We don't go down that, 33:33 that line of the Immaculate Conception, 33:36 meaning that there is some difference. 33:39 Mary was the vessel that God shows. Right. 33:42 But as far as preeminence in the state of, 33:44 you know, having any kind of divinity in up 33:47 and our self is not what we support. Right. 33:51 The other one is, the necessity of obeying God. 33:55 Most religions, including Catholics teach 33:58 that it's important to be obedient 34:00 to God has outlined in His word, 34:04 but John the only problem with that is many Catholics. 34:07 And I know my family is 99% Catholic. 34:09 Catholics don't really read the Bible 34:11 on a continual bases. 34:13 Now there are some that are an exception to the rule. 34:16 Some of them hold their Bible by their bed, 34:18 they read their Bibles, but also they read their missal 34:22 or they read the Douay Version 34:25 which is often known as Catholic Bible. 34:29 Although there is not a whole lot of difference 34:31 in the content in some ways 34:33 you have to microbes and all that. 34:35 But in on the fifth point that is held in common, 34:38 many Catholics believe in the seconds coming of Christ. 34:43 They are some variations in that area also. 34:47 So to recap the God had 34:50 the virgin birth of Christ obedience to God. 34:56 The other one I didn't mention was 34:57 inspiration of scripture. 34:59 They believe that the Bible was inspired by God. 35:01 The problem sometimes comes in 35:03 and who has the right to interpret it, 35:05 that's where the weakness comes in between us. 35:08 We say the Holy Spirit is one that's teaching you, 35:11 but lot of times the authority is given 35:14 over to the Priests and the Popes 35:16 and the Bishops for them to interpret scripture 35:18 for the common man to understand, 35:21 that's where we vary, because we believe in praying 35:23 and opening the Bible and understanding it. 35:25 Matter of fact through the leading 35:26 of the Holy Spirit we get to understand 35:28 and know the Bible for ourselves. 35:29 And I think what you're saying here 35:30 the general point is that, we believe and see that 35:34 even within Roman Catholicism 35:36 there are some baseline measures 35:38 at least on the surface there are commonalities 35:41 with other faith groups 35:43 and with the doctrine of scripture. 35:46 Beyond that though we do know that 35:48 there are some problematic teachings 35:49 and there is fairly extensive list of those 35:52 which is where we start to see that, 35:54 the church separates from that 35:56 and I wanted to mention one of these, 35:58 because it really lies rise at the top 36:00 and where a lot of these are actually flowing from. 36:04 And that is the tradition that, 36:09 tradition is held above scripture and authority. 36:13 So the mother church they believe 36:14 and let's, we can go back little bit 36:16 that the Roman Catholic Church, 36:18 they believe the first Pope was Peter. 36:21 And that of course, is found, 36:23 they believe it's found in Matthew Chapter 16 36:25 verses 18 and 19. 36:28 We see that as a misuse 36:30 or misapplication of that scripture, 36:31 because Christ was not bestowing upon Peter 36:34 the authority for the church whatsoever. 36:38 In fact, the two words that you, 36:39 uses of the word "petra" 36:41 and "petros" are different there, 36:42 the rock, the small pebble, I mean there is definitely 36:45 a difference in the rock Christ Jesus 36:47 from what Peter was. 36:48 Right, and the Bible interprets the rock, 36:51 1st Corinthians 10 verse 4, 36:52 that rock was Christ. Right. 36:55 So it doesn't show. 36:56 Matter of fact if you just ask the simple question 36:59 if the church is built on Peter? 37:01 Where would the church have been after Peter failed? 37:04 The church of falsehood. Right. 37:06 But it was not built on Peter. 37:08 And so, you know, as we think about that 37:11 where it originated, where it began. 37:13 Their mentality was that Christ was transferring 37:16 the authority to the church through the first Pope 37:20 for all matters of ecclesiology 37:23 and for doctrine and for all teachings. Right. 37:26 And application of discipline and everything that happens 37:29 on this earth with regard to the church, 37:31 which is where it gets the term that uses, 37:33 we commonly we use the term that it's the mother church. 37:37 And it says when Protestants reformed 37:39 or at least protested against Rome 37:42 if they were the children 37:44 that still need to comeback. Right-- 37:45 That's where the ecumenical movement, 37:48 ecumenism is the coming, 37:49 they are gathering together into one is still at work 37:52 within the mother church to bring her children back. 37:54 That's right, it's worldwide. 37:56 So it is a worldwide church, it is a billion people. 37:59 So you are talking about almost 20% of the world 38:02 identifies with Roman Catholicism, 38:04 so it's quite large, but I want to bring up 38:06 the issue of tradition over scripture. Okay. 38:08 Because, you know, the other teachings 38:10 what we are finding is stuff it's not in the word 38:13 is being taught or imposed by the mother church, 38:17 because it claims the authority to do so. 38:19 Yeah, that's a very, very good point, 38:23 when you par lay tradition on the same level as the Bible, 38:29 then you almost give them both equal authority. 38:32 And that's the way that Rome was able to stand up 38:37 against the reformers like Luther and Hus 38:42 and Jerome and Wycliffe, they were able to say well, 38:45 we have exulted the Bible or exulted tradition 38:49 on the same platform of the Bible. 38:51 They actually say above. Yeah. 38:52 The trumps scripture. True. Yeah. 38:55 And that was, there was the sacred tradition 39:01 and there is. 39:02 Oh, I have the terms, it will come back to me in a moment. 39:05 But it was based on the fact 39:06 that they honored traditions. Right. 39:08 That they said we're not listed in the Bible, 39:12 for example you use a text in John where it says 39:14 and there are many other things 39:15 that Jesus did. Right. 39:17 They said, oh, see so it there, 39:19 he didn't write them down, 39:20 but there are many other things that He did, 39:23 so how do we ind out? 39:25 We look at the traditions of the Christian church 39:28 and we begin to sanctum, 39:29 we begin to give them equal platform 39:33 or in some cases exulting it above the Bible. Yeah. 39:36 But we have to be careful with that, 39:37 because when the Bible says, 39:39 all scripture is given by inspiration of God. 39:41 He is also in essence saying all the knowledge necessary 39:44 for salvation is revealed to us. 39:46 And Jesus also strongly rebuke the Pharisees 39:49 for honoring traditions above scripture because it said, 39:52 you forsake the commandments of God 39:53 for the sake of your tradition. 39:56 So even the scripture itself tells us very clearly 39:58 traditions are never to be elevated 40:00 above the commandments, 40:02 the word of God. 40:03 And so, anyway there are some things here 40:06 that I think we'd like to go through fairly quickly, sure, 40:08 because we don't have a lot of time to do this 40:10 and this isn't meant to be in depth, 40:11 it's just to point out some basic issues, 40:14 for those of you who aren't aware, 40:16 the first protester so to speak that 40:20 became very visible was Mark Luther. 40:22 All right, who nailed his theses to the wall, 40:28 the door, excuse me, of the church. 40:31 In Wittenberg. In Wittenberg, 40:33 that's right and so I'm looking 40:34 for a date here on my notes, but, 40:38 oh, I know it's here somewhere. 40:43 I think it's around 15. 40:44 Fifteen, seventeen, here we go, 40:45 I know I had here, its 95 theses. 40:46 So as we go through, 40:48 when we look at the protest there 40:51 that he made through his theses. 40:53 We're finding that these doctrines 40:55 are the things that he objected to. Right. 40:57 Many of them and their abuse of these doctrines 40:59 in the service of God to the people that it was over. 41:04 And so just let share some of these things 41:06 that they do believe and these, 41:08 most of these things are found, 41:10 we didn't do any research that requires, you know, 41:15 super knowledge you can find these kind of stuff, 41:17 we're not saying, 41:18 giving you anything that is not well known 41:20 and that the church itself, 41:22 the Roman Catholic Church doesn't profess to believe. 41:26 Okay, one of them is the people supremacy. 41:32 There are denominations that still 41:38 identify themselves as Catholic, 41:40 but the reason why they are not linked 41:43 to the Catholic Church, 41:44 like in some avenues of Anglicanism, 41:47 is they don't honor the supremacy of the Pope. 41:50 They don't honor him as infallible. 41:53 They don't see him in the position 41:55 that he sees himself. 41:56 So there are those who may embrace 41:58 some of the catholic teachings, 41:59 but when it comes to the exultation of this man 42:02 as he where God on earth, 42:03 they reject that particular aspect of him. 42:07 So one of the ones that is not scripturally 42:09 based is the people successions, 42:12 Peter being the first Pope. 42:13 You actually serve the question 42:15 well then why do Popes not marry. 42:18 Peter was clearly a married man. 42:20 So you find that's one of the one's 42:22 that's not supported by the Bible, 42:23 that Peter was the first Pope. 42:25 But the other one is the sacraments, 42:29 the concept that God dispense 42:31 His grace through the sacraments of baptism, 42:33 confirmation, confession, Holy Communion marriage, 42:36 holy orders or extreme unction. 42:39 These are things that your are giving 42:43 sanctification to the sacraments 42:46 and not salvation by grace through faith. 42:50 This once again builds on the system of works 42:52 and there are many, 42:53 there are many in Catholicism. 42:56 I remember growing up 42:58 and going to Catholic Church 43:01 and lighting a candle and, you know, 43:03 you get in and you do the Sign of the Cross, 43:07 you pray the Rosary. 43:08 There are so many, 43:09 so many things that are connect to the acts of works. 43:12 The sacraments many of those 43:15 are also put in that particular category 43:18 as important and essential. 43:20 Well, because it to them 43:22 it's the dispensing of holiness. Right. 43:24 The actual true holiness through these sacraments, 43:28 one of them clearly being communion, 43:29 there is something called transubstantiation 43:32 which is the way for itself. 43:34 Litterally becomes the body of Christ, 43:36 representation of Christ. 43:38 And so that's where the holiness of the, 43:40 the holy communion which they called it, 43:42 comes through and then infuses 43:44 the believer with that holiness 43:46 that comes from God, the sanctification process. 43:49 And we know that's not scriptural, 43:51 because Jesus said to His disciples 43:55 when He gave them the bread 43:56 and the wine, He referred to eating my flesh 43:59 and drinking my blood while He was right there, 44:01 He was right in front of them. 44:03 So they were not eating Him, 44:05 but they were partaking of that 44:06 as an act of Him shedding His blood, 44:09 of Him about to have 44:11 His body broken for their redemption. 44:13 So it's not the actual what's that word again? 44:17 Transubstantiation. Transubstantiation of turning 44:21 this way for in the actual body of Christ. Right. 44:24 It reminds me of years ago 44:25 when I was watching particular 44:27 show in television, 44:28 there was a pastor selling splinters to the cross 44:31 and there was enough splinters 44:32 to make trees in hole of the Yellowstone. 44:36 Well, we know that was not the case. 44:38 The other one is. 44:39 Wasn't say, we've got one here that's pertly, 44:41 you know, we is fairly well known purgatory. 44:45 You know, purgatory teach the teaching 44:46 if there is an intermediate state for those who, 44:49 you know, didn't really believe in God, 44:51 but weren't really that bad 44:52 and they had a chance, 44:53 it was a time 44:54 and opportunity for them to become purified. 44:56 They did that through suffering, 44:58 bodily suffering, experiencing 44:59 the suffering of purgatory 45:01 until they were purified of their sin 45:03 able to be translated to them heaven from that point on. 45:07 And so there is this teaching of purgatory, 45:09 but there is no real basis for that within scripture. 45:13 Because scripture clearly teaches 45:15 that at the resurrection, 45:17 that is when God will take His people 45:19 directly to heaven with no intermediate stop. 45:22 I was also mindful of the purgatory aspect 45:25 but then also the limbo. 45:27 See purgatory was for the adults, 45:29 limbo was for the child that wasn't baptized. 45:33 That's why it's common to baptize infants 45:35 at certain point after their birth, 45:37 because, you know, 45:38 they believe that this, 45:39 phrase called original sin, 45:42 they have to purge the child of original sin. 45:45 So they, so the child can be saved. 45:48 Well baptism is to the Christian 45:49 where marriage is to everyone else. 45:51 You have to understand, you know, 45:52 that you are marking a commitment there. 45:53 So the purgatory aspects 45:55 are not supported by scripture. 45:57 The other one was, 45:58 you mention when we go tradition of the Bible. 46:00 Tradition is not above the Bible, 46:02 just simply look at the words of Christ. 46:05 He says in vain you worship Me 46:06 for the sake of your traditions. 46:08 So are all traditions bad and the answer is no, 46:13 but whenever tradition is exulted above the Bible 46:16 and whenever removes the direct command of God. 46:19 One of those great, great traditions 46:21 we'll get to in a moment, 46:22 but just to insert that right here 46:24 and go back 46:25 and built on it later is Sunday worship. 46:29 Purely traditional, 46:31 totally non-scriptural, 46:33 but is a tradition that gained ascendancy 46:36 through the centuries 46:37 and it's now looked at as a holy day. 46:40 It's like somebody living together for 30 years 46:43 and all of a sudden, well something, 46:45 well they married. 46:46 But you go and try to collect social security 46:49 on people that lived together for 30 years. 46:51 I've no records of that. 46:53 And history is recorded pretty well on this issue. 46:55 Yeah. In that the first Sunday worship 47:00 or observance of worship occurred 47:03 after Constantine's conversion 47:06 where he declared venerable day of the sun, 47:08 worked as a gathering together for worship purposes 47:11 and it called pagans in that area 47:13 when Christianity was becoming more popular 47:15 now than paganism to begin to transition the day, 47:19 the pagan day of observing the sun God 47:22 to a day to observe and worship Christ. Right. 47:26 Sunday and it was done in accordance 47:29 with and in the same timing as Sabbath 47:31 was still being observe by the early church. 47:34 So you have them side by side for a time, 47:36 but then over, as that occurred for, 47:39 for a period toward the, 47:42 after probably 20, 30, 40 years, 47:44 you were seeing that. 47:45 The Sabbath became more 47:47 and more of a picture of what the Jews did, 47:49 not what Christians did and thus it 47:51 became the official tradition of 47:54 "The Mother Church." Right. 47:56 Which is where we see then 47:58 it was passed on to her children. 48:01 And we'll talk about that in a future program, 48:03 but it did start clearly 48:05 and history teaches, 48:06 even their own history teaches that's 48:08 where Sunday worships first began. 48:11 And where it was prevalent among the, 48:13 among those who are not Christians, 48:16 but actually began to start making his way 48:18 in an evolving sense about 168 AD. 48:21 But prior to that, it was just pagan observance. 48:24 Right, yeah, 48:26 I mean that the rules were here are clearly, 48:27 it was just official declaration 48:28 that came through. Exactly. Yeah. Another one is. 48:31 Yeah, immortality of the soul, 48:32 I don't think you mention that 48:33 one yet, because that wasn't. 48:35 I didn't mention that one, good. 48:36 Sure, immortality of the soul, 48:37 we've mentioned this many times before, 48:38 but they believe that the soul is a mortal, 48:41 it cannot be killed, they cannot die, 48:43 that even when the body die 48:44 the soul separates from the body goes to purgatory 48:47 or if you are absolutely good enough 48:49 and maybe you've received sainthood 48:51 you might go directly to heaven. 48:53 So anyway that, that teaching 48:55 was clearly part of the Roman Catholic Church. 48:59 And the immortality of the soul, 49:02 let me just make a comment on the sainthood part. 49:04 Usually a person is declared 49:06 a saint years after they died, 49:09 they are exulted to, you know, saint whatever, 49:12 saint whatever he has been. In purgatory. 49:15 Because they are recommended for sainthood, 49:17 rather than becoming a saint and go to heaven, 49:19 but in the sense of Christian saints. 49:23 So you have two kinds of saints. Right. 49:25 Those who are saints following Christ, 49:27 the Bible talks about the saints here 49:29 and the saints there 49:31 and then you have sainthood. Right. 49:33 Which is a recommendation made 49:34 and they just determine 49:35 whether or not this person is followed all the--. 49:38 I've met all the qualifications 49:39 to be sainted or as the phrase will be knighted. 49:44 The other one is Immaculate Conception, 49:48 the idea that Jesus was sinless, 49:50 because Mary was miraculously protected 49:56 from sin by the Holy Spirit. 49:59 Mary wasn't sinless, 50:02 but you find that this Immaculate Conception idea 50:07 is based on idea that Mary was sinless. 50:10 And so therefore that's the only way 50:12 that Jesus could be sinless. Right. 50:14 Now Jesus came in the likeness 50:17 of sinful flesh. Right. 50:20 Okay, the Bible says that, 50:21 so how do you get, 50:22 how do you get sinful flesh? 50:24 You get it from your mom. 50:26 Okay, that's clearly, 50:27 so Mary was not sinless 50:29 and therefore making Jesus sinless, 50:32 that teaching would make it appears 50:34 though Jesus received His sinlessness from Mary 50:36 and not His preexistence as Jesus. Right. And. 50:41 There are some others that 50:43 we need to move through very fairly quickly here, 50:45 because we're almost to the end of the program, 50:46 but--. One is very big confession. 50:48 Yeah, confession to an earthly 50:50 mediator or priest and by their, 50:52 the virtue of their authority, 50:53 they also claim to be the only mediator 50:55 between man and God. 50:57 You have to go through a priest 50:58 to receive absolution from your sin. 51:02 You must confess to a priest then 51:04 you're absolved from the sin. 51:05 And that could involve something else, 51:07 once you confess and involve. 51:09 Our next one is indulgences 51:11 and this is one of the huge things that 51:13 Martin Luther protested against this thesis. 51:15 The license to sin. 51:16 The license to sin and then payment 51:19 to receive indulgences 51:20 from the church to be absolved from those sins, 51:24 it's just was a misuse and abuse, 51:26 not only of scripture, 51:27 but of God's design and plan for salvation. 51:30 If you look at the history of the Dark Ages, 51:32 it will do, you were to look at some of these things, 51:34 these massive monstrosities of cathedrals 51:37 that came up and spring up all throughout Europe 51:41 where the Rome reigned. 51:42 All the results of the sales of indulgences, 51:47 the result of people paying to get their 51:49 loved ones out of purgatory, 51:50 paying the church to pray their loved ones, 51:53 their babies out of limbo. 51:55 The church found ways of raising money, 51:57 because all that, 51:59 if you look at 52:00 let's get back to the immortality 52:02 of the soul that you have purgatory, 52:05 you have of limbo. 52:07 What was the next on we just talked about, 52:09 immortality of the soul. 52:11 Indulgences, involving absolution 52:13 or once you add absolved, 52:15 then you pay indulgences to be released 52:17 from that temporary purgatory state and punishment. 52:22 And so the indulgences were to say, 52:27 I'm planning on going to party on Tuesday 52:31 and I want pre-approval that, you know, 52:34 I'll be pardoned from that sin. 52:36 Or impart they can include that, yes. 52:38 They can, so it's really unusual thing, 52:40 but something else that, 52:41 that embraced all that is this eternally burning hell, 52:46 is another the infernal from below, 52:48 is another thing that's the reason 52:50 why people were motivated to pay for people, 52:52 you know, they are afraid. 52:53 Motivated to pay for their infants 52:55 who got it at limbo 52:57 and they were motivated to just do all 52:59 they can to escape eternal torment, 53:02 that's also something embraced by the church 53:05 through the teaching of the immortality of the soul. 53:08 If the soul really never die 53:09 and its wicked where does it go 53:11 to a place to be punished infinitesimally. 53:15 So you can see that there, you know, 53:18 immortality of the soul is a huge issue. Yeah. 53:20 And touches many, many the teachings 53:22 of the Roman Catholic church 53:23 which is one of the reasons 53:24 why it carries on 53:25 and it's passed down to those 53:26 who even separated from her to, till this day. 53:30 Some other ones are the identification of miracles, 53:34 they used those to validate 53:36 or to establish the workings of God. 53:40 And so when it is verified or established 53:43 that miracle is valid then it's God that did it. 53:47 And they alone have the authority to determine that. 53:50 Right now there are lots of relics 53:52 that exist in the Vatican 53:54 that are supposed to be authenticated 53:56 that this was the last piece of bread 53:59 at the last supper, 54:00 this was truly a splinter from the cross, 54:03 this was the piece of the garment cloth 54:04 from Christ burial robe, 54:07 I mean just all these kinds of unusual, 54:10 this is a chalice that was used 54:12 at the final, final supper. 54:16 All those things are, 54:17 as you point the church feels 54:18 that it has the authority to now, 54:21 what's the word? 54:23 Authenticate. Authenticate miracles. 54:25 But the other part of this too John, 54:27 because you, you are almost, 54:28 you were saying it was the issue 54:32 that these things are holy. 54:34 There is the worship of images 54:37 and icons and stuff that is determine 54:40 to have come from the past, 54:42 that they validated 54:44 and authenticated as worthy of worship 54:47 when it's clearly in opposition 54:49 to the Second Commandment. 54:50 And in fact they went as far, 54:52 in their translation of scripture 54:54 to eliminate the Second Commandment. Right. 54:56 The current Bibles have kind of brought 54:58 that back in, it's just almost too obvious. 55:00 But back when there was clearly 55:02 a time where most Bibles, 55:04 Catholic Bibles eliminated 55:05 the Second Commandment all together. 55:07 And it was for the purpose of maintaining 55:08 that whole image worship thing, 55:10 that's why, not that 55:11 I want to be disrespectful to anybody or say 55:13 this out of lack of feeling or respect. 55:19 But that's why it was easy for people to go to, 55:23 you know, you remember that piece of pizza 55:24 where they said, somebody said they saw 55:26 the face of Mary in the piece of pizza. 55:27 Then somebody say, they saw the face of Mary 55:29 on a stand underneath a highway overpass. 55:33 Or somebody else saw, 55:36 I don't want to even go on it just that's 55:38 what makes it easy, when you, 55:40 when you say you could worship images 55:41 that's what makes people think 55:43 that this plastic statue on my dashboard 55:45 is gonna protect me in a next car accident. 55:47 And its tie again the immortally of the soul. 55:49 All these things, 55:50 these things are continuing to live to protect you. 55:53 The other one is infant baptism, 55:55 I think we mention that briefly, 55:57 infants can't be baptize 55:58 any more than a baby can be married. 56:01 But even tie with that just the whole baptism right, 56:04 I mean, is baptism by sprinkling. Right. 56:06 Not by immersion. Right. 56:08 And we're gonna cover very soon 56:11 and probably in our next program 56:12 the Baptist denomination. Right. 56:14 This is one of their main things 56:16 when they came out and protested against Rome, 56:19 they saw that they weren't 56:20 performing baptism correctly. 56:21 The Bible never endorses or even suggest 56:24 that it would by sprinkling. 56:25 It is by immersion, 56:27 baptism too which comes from word baptismo 56:30 to immerse underwater completely. 56:33 That's right, and so you have these things 56:35 that exist today, in the hearts 56:37 and lives of many sincere Christians 56:40 and these are so vitally important 56:42 to their daily function as Catholics that love Jesus. 56:47 Yeah, and many Catholics just like many of these 56:49 other denomination are God's people. 56:52 God's people who is calling out of Babylon, 56:55 out of a false system to worship Him in spirit 56:58 and in truth and we see more 57:00 and more growing until, until the last day, 57:02 until Christ come this swelling loud cry of calling 57:05 them out and they will hear God's voice 57:08 and they'll respond. 57:09 And so friends here at House Calls 57:10 we do believe that, 57:12 understanding what the Bible teach is 57:14 so important to walking with Christ 57:17 and knowing Him as your personal Savior, 57:19 so important to knowing that the truth of God 57:21 does really matter. 57:22 So continue studying God's word, 57:24 until we see you again. 57:25 May the Lord bless you in your walk with Christ. |
Revised 2014-12-17