Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

CHAPTER XII.

THE ERRORS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM ARE BASED UPON THE LITERAL APPLICATION OF THE THINGS OF NATIONAL ISRAEL.

How does the Roman Catholic Church justify its ornate ritual, etc.? The following extracts from "The Question Box" explain the Catholic view:

"Why do you Catholics make so much of a show in your churches during divine worship? Why do you have so many silly and meaningless ceremonies? ... So Catholics, believing with the certainty of faith that Jesus Christ is really present upon the altar, so that our churches are indeed temples of the living God, wish to give outward expression to their love of Him. Therefore, silver, gold, flowers, incense, lighted candles, processions, architecture, sculpture, painting, music—all strive to pay their homage. If it were silly or superstitious, how then do you account for God's sanction of the minutest detail of the Mosaic ritual? Ex. 26:27, 28; Num. Lev."

Roman Catholics fail to see that the literal Mosaic ritual terminated at the cross: the Old Testament ritual now meets its literal antitype in the heavenly sanctuary, From p. 187 we quote:

"Why are so many thousands of dollars put into the building of churches? . . . The Jews of the Old Law did not spare gold or precious stones in the Temple of Solomon, which was merely a figure of the Catholic Church on whose altars Jesus Christ was to be really present—the Emmanuel—God with us."

The New Testament teaches that Christ's temple on earth is now spiritual and world-wide. See 1 Cor. 3:9, 16, 17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Ephes. 2:21, 22; Rev. 11:1, 2, etc. Christ (the Emmanuel—"God with us") is spiritually in His church—temple. The literal temple is in heaven. Heb. 8:2; Rev. 11:19, etc.

On page 188 of the "Question Box" an endeavour is made to justify the use of incense:

"Why do you burn fragrant spices during your service? ... The burning of incense before the altar was part of the prescribed ceremonial of the Old Law. Ex. 30:7; cf. 25:6; 30:23; Lev. 26:13; Num. 16:46."

The appeal to the literal service of the Old Testament to justify the present use of incense condemns, not justifies. The offering of literal incense on earth terminated at the cross: incense is now offered in the heavenly sanctuary. Rev. 5:8; 8:3.

In the Old Testament, literal incense offered on a literal altar symbolized prayer. Ps. 141:2. Prayer is now offered on a spiritual altar. Mal. 1:11; Heb. 13:15; 1 Cor. 9:13; "Gospel Workers," p. 255. We also have spiritual altars upon which spiritual sacrifices are offered. 1 Pet. 2:5; Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:15, 16. Since the Old Testament typical services ceased at the cross (Matt. 27:50, 51), the literal and the spiritual do not have simultaneous application upon earth, and will not do so in "this dispensation of the Holy Spirit."

Page 189 seeks to justify holy water—literal water—by the same principle of applying literally the things of literal Israel:"Why do Catholics sprinkle themselves on entering a church? What warranty in the Bible for the use of holy water? ... How explain the use of holy water in the Old Law?—Viz., 'Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet in it [a brazen laver], when they are going into the tabernacle.' Ex. 30:19; Num. 5:17; 8:7; cf. Ex. 19:10-14; Lev. 8:6."

Water is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. See Isa. 44:3; Zech. 9:1; John 7:37, 39, etc. Therefore, the cleansing in the spiritual temple—"to drive forth the evil one"—is done by spiritual water, not literal.

On page 190 of the same book we read: "Why do Catholic priests wear such peculiar clothes during services? The vestments worn by the priests at Mass mark him a man apart from the world, as in the Old Law, Ex. 28:4."

In Rev. 1:12-20 Jesus Christ is pictured in heaven wearing the vestments of the priesthood; but on earth, spiritual robes (Isa. 61:10; Rev. 3:4, 5; 6:11, etc.) and the spiritual priesthood belong to the church.

"Keenan's Catechism," p. 193, says:

"Was the manna of the desert a figure of the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist? Yes, Christ Himself declares it. But if the Protestant bread and wine be the Christian Pasch, then the figure is greater than the reality, and Christianity is degraded even below the level of the Judaic rite. The manna was miraculous bread. The manna was a heavenly food, given only to the people of God; the Protestant sacrament is the common food of all men. . . .

"But when we look at the Catholic Pasch, and believe in the illustrious sacrifice and sacrament in which the body and blood of Jesus are offered and received, we are extricated from such difficulties; our understanding becomes unclouded; we perceive at once the noble and significant figure of the Old, and the infinitely superior reality of the New Law."

The above reasoning is contrary to the Biblical law of interpretation, which teaches that the literal things of the Old Testament are spiritually applied in the New. The manna, a literal substance, could not typify the Mass, another literal substance, notwithstanding their claim that the bread becomes Christ. Christ is the living reality of the manna; the Bible is the spiritual manna. Matt. 4:4, etc. The literal is in heaven; the spiritual is on earth.

On page 202 of the same catechism, we read:

"Do Catholics act properly in carrying the Adorable Sacrament with religious pomp and solemnity in processions? If the Israelites carried the ark of the alliance with great solemnity (Joshua 6), Catholics have much more reason to carry in triumph the holy sacrament, of which the ark was only a mere figure."

Instead of being the "shadow of heavenly things," as we are explicitly informed by God's Word, the ark is erroneously taken to be a figure of the sacrament—an earthly thing.

Pages 209-210 show the Catholic belief that their priesthood is the continuance of the Melchisedek priesthood. A literal Old Testament priesthood is thus erroneously interpreted to foreshadow another literal earthly priesthood. The literal priesthood is in heaven, and the spiritual priesthood is on earth. See 1 Pet. 2:5.

Pages 210-212 maintain that as the priest of the Mosaic economy was ordained "that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins," so the priest of the Catholic Church offers the sacrifice of the Mass as "a true, propitiatory sacrifice or sin-offering." But the Scriptures state that Christ is our Priest, and He is constantly offering the merits of His own blood, as a propitiation for our sins. Heb. 9:11-12; Rom. 3:24-25, etc.

Page 111 of "Keenan's Catechism" teaches that the Pope is "the visible head of the church." In an editorial in the Tablet (Roman Catholic) of June 13th, 1914, Italy is mentioned as that nation:

"Whose capital is also the centre of Christendom, and against the spoliation of which as the seat of his necessary temporal dominion, Christendom's head, in the person of our High Priest, still makes his dignified protest."

Thus Roman Catholics regard the Pope as "our High Priest." Paul states that "our High Priest" is in heaven sitting on "the throne of grace." Heb. 8:1; 4:14-16. On earth there is no "visible head of the church." The Holy Spirit is the invisible, spiritual head of the church. John 14:16-17; 16:7.

Cardinal Manning wrote:

"God has instituted His kingdom upon earth, and fixed the head and centre of it in Rome, as of old in Jerusalem."

The teaching that God has established a kingdom upon earth, with Rome as the new, literal centre, is really the basic error of the Papacy. From that literal kingdom idea, with a visible city, and a visible head, have come all the other Papal errors—even the putting to death of those who disagreed with the Pope may be justified by the destruction of the enemies of the Jews, as recorded in the Old Testament. The theocracy was a government of God, through a visible head. And God's enemies were slain by the Israelites when He ordered them to go to battle. If the literal still operated, the Papal idea would have much to support it. But the church is the spiritual Jerusalem, and uses the spiritual sword of the Spirit—God's Word. Heb. 4:12; Ephes. 6:17.

Instead of adorning churches, clothing, etc., with literal crosses, Christ asks each believer to take up his spiritual cross and follow Him. Matt. 10:38; 16:24, etc. In the Scriptures, the literal things are associated with Jesus, and the spiritual application is always associated with the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus bore a literal cross; we bear a spiritual cross. The thief on the cross was literally crucified "with" Jesus, but we are to be spiritually crucified "with Him." Rom. 6:6-8, etc. We must have a spiritual death, burial and resurrection "with Him," and must spiritually reign "with Him" before we can have a literal resurrection, and literally reign "with Him" in the eternal kingdom. The New Testament Epistles contain many spiritual applications concerning death and resurrection.

By a process of sanctification—of fighting against unholy desires and keeping the will subjected to God's authority—the believer goes through a spiritual, purifying process. 1 Pet. 1:22, etc. Satan, who literalizes every spiritual truth, places a literal purgatory after death, as the purifier of the soul to fit one for habitation with God.

The east was employed in the Old Testament as a symbol of the place of the rising of "the Sun of Righteousness" to give light and blessing to God's people (see P.K. 688, 719; D.A. 261, etc.). By literalizing the east, Satan led the people into the idolatries of sun-worship, and by it also brought Sun- day keeping into the Christian church. By literalizing the number eight, which is employed in Scripture as a symbol of Christ's resurrection, Satan, by specious reasoning, deceived people into making Sunday, the first day of the week, a kind of "eighth day," to be observed in honour of the Lord's resurrection. See my "Christ Conquers or Why Christ Rose on Sunday, the First Day of the Week," pp. 12, 14, 38, 42-44, 123- 129.

The literal east, the literal number eight with reference to Sunday, a literal king (the Pope), a literal throne, literal bread, literal "holy" water, literal altars, literal priests, literal robes, literal candles, literal incense, literal earthly sanctuaries, literal images instead of mental images. literal interpretations of the prophecies pertaining to Israel and the antichrist, and the literal, Palestinian— "Armageddon," are all literal counterfeits of those things which are spiritually applied in the New Testament in connection with spiritual Israel. The Papacy is Satan's counterfeit of the ministry and kingdom of the Lord Jesus. Fostered by the Papacy is that system of interpretation which literalizes, in connection with Palestine and the literal Jews, those prophecies outlining the details of the final conflict involving spiritual Israel and the Sabbath.

In "this dispensation of the Holy Spirit," the literal interpretation of the things of Israel is contrary to the Scriptures. The principle of interpreting spiritually that which is mentioned in the Old Testament concerning Israel and her enemies is expressed by Paul:

"No you have not come near to something material. . . No! you have come to lilt. Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." Weymouth's Translation, Heb. 12:18-22.

In this "dispensation of the Holy Spirit" (T.M. 511) the things of the kingdom of Christ are spiritual. Jesus, the King, is "invisible" (1 Tim. 1:17: 6:16), and His Representative, the Holy Spirit, is also unseen to human eyes, and because the world "seeth Him not" (John 14:17) it rejects the spiritual things of the spiritual kingdom: even the Third Angel's Message.