Tag: syncretism

Why I Am No Longer a Roman Catholic: Part 7 – The Priesthood

The priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) is based on the Old Covenant Law of Moses and has no place in the New Covenant.

Moses ordained priests descended from Aaron to perform the cultic ritual of animal sacrifice as a means to temporarily appease God’s wrath against Israel’s sin. These priests were intermediaries between God and the nation and constituted a separate class of people with a special calling and ministry. Today we use the term “clergy” to distinguish people separated by ordination to perform a ministerial function in the church.

This article examines the following questions.

  1. Did God intend for a new class of priests to exist in the New Covenant?
  2. Is the clergy-laity distinction a New Testament concept?

Old Covenant animal sacrifices were a stopgap measure to delay God’s judgment against sin until Jesus, the Lamb of God, offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to expiate our sins once and for all. I covered this earlier in this series in the chapter on the Mass.

After Jesus completed his perfect sacrifice on the cross, the purpose for animal sacrifices ceased. Consequently, the need for priests to offer these sacrifices also disappeared. 

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Hebrews 10:1 (NASB95)

When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Hebrews 8:13 (NASB95)

As prophesied by Jesus, the Romans destroyed the Jewish temple in 70 AD, eliminating forever the Old Covenant sacrificial system with its attendant priesthood.

In the Old Covenant Law, the high priest entered the the Holy of Holies in the Temple, where only he was allowed to go and only once a year on the Day of Atonement, to sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant.

Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, 7 but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, 9 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, 10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:6–12 (NASB95)

Jesus, the perfect high priest, fulfilled the shadow of Old Covenant priesthood. After Calvary, the position and function of the Jewish high priest ended.

The RCC’s doctrine of the Mass is teaches that a new order of priests conducts a daily bloodless re-sacrifice of Christ.

This is an abomination since only Christ himself, acting as his own high priest, was qualified to oversee his perfect sacrifice of himself. He was both the sacrifice and the offerer. The Bible makes it clear that his sacrifice is never to be repeated. It was once and for all time.

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Hebrews 10:11–14 (NASB95)

Any so called priest who pretends to offer Christ again defies the Word of God and participates in a Christ-dishonoring lie.

The RCC priesthood supposedly acts as a mediator of God’s grace through ministering the sacraments. I will cover this in more detail in later chapters. For now, let it suffice that the Bible teaches that there is only one mediator between God and men – our Lord Jesus.

For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:5–6 (NASB95)

Anyone who claims to be a mediator of God’s grace, by granting absolution for sins, as an example, unlawfully attempts to replace the ministry of the Lord himself.

The New Covenant is a new way of relating to God that is categorically different from the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant failed because it depended on man’s obedience. Our disobedience breached the covenant, bringing upon us the consequences of our rebellion against God, which is death.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NASB95)

In order to properly and permanently reconcile us to himself, Father God instituted a new covenant between himself and our Lord, which depended on Christ’s obedience, rather than ours.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; 9 NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD. 10 “FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. Hebrews 8:7–10 (NASB95)

The New Covenant transformed all believers into a new sort of priesthood which offers spiritual sacrifices to God.

And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 1 Peter 2:5 (NLT)

The New Covenant temple is made of people, living stones, in whom dwells the Spirit of God, not bricks and mortar. We offer spiritual sacrifices of surrender, praise, giving, and hospitality, to name of few (Romans 12:1-2, Hebrews 13:15-16), rather than animal sacrifices. Essentially, a spiritual sacrifice is an act of worship whereby we offer ourselves back to God in appreciation for all he has done for us in Christ.

Since we are all priests of God who offer spiritual sacrifices, the idea of a separate priesthood and clergy, as was instituted in the Old Testament, has no place in the New Covenant.

God does give some individuals special responsibilities to care for and equip the church for ministry and service. These people are called elders, pastors, teachers, apostles, prophets and evangelists. (Ephesians 4:11) These are not a separate class of people, however, but fellow servants with a specific role. Their job is to prepare the rest of the church to do the ministry, not keep it for themselves.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11–12 (NLT)

Any group that seeks to reserve ministry for a special class of priests or clergy violates what the Bible teaches in the New Covenant.

Therefore, the RCC concept and practice of priesthood is wrong on all counts. RCC priests cannot possibly re-sacrifice Christ. They are not able to mediate grace, since Jesus is our only mediator, and in the New Covenant, all believers are priests who offer spiritual sacrifices.

The Roman Catholic Church practices syncretism relating to the priesthood by incorporating Old Covenant concepts into the New Covenant, thus producing a hybrid that is foreign to the New Covenant.

By doing this they present us with a different gospel and bring God’s judgment upon themselves.

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! Galatians 1:6–9 (NASB95)

Click here to see more articles in this series.

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The Creation Account Cannot Be Harmonized with Heliocentrism

Syncretism is a sin that results from any attempt to combine worship of a false god with devotion to the one true God.

God commanded the Israelites to destroy the idols of the people who lived in Canaan to protect themselves from their deluding influence.

Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 “But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— 15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. Exodus 34:12–16 (NASB95)

The people of that day recognized what many today do not understand. Demonic “principalities and powers” often gain influence and even mastery over those who live in certain areas because of sacrifices made to those evil beings in an effort to procure favor and blessings from them. This is spiritual blackmail. In order to protect themselves, invading conquerors often made an effort to appease the local gods of the land they defeated. They would not abandon their own gods but would simply add some new ones. This eclectic religion seemed very practical to them and revealed that they believed that there was not one supreme God over all, but many gods whose authority was regional. This resulted in a syncretistic blending of elements from the various religions into something new, a sort of hybrid religion.

Another definition of syncretism is “the attempted union of principles or parties irreconcilably at variance with each other.”

In a previous article, I showed how biblical creationism and evolutionary thinking are hopelessly irreconcilable. Nevertheless, many well-meaning Christians over the years have caved to societal pressure and tried to combine the two. They did not want to seem “foolish” or “ignorant” of the latest “scientific breakthroughs.” We want to hang on to our Bible beliefs while simultaneously incorporating the anti-biblical beliefs of modern so-called science. Doing this will lead to our doubting the truthfulness of God’s Word. This is always Satan’s end game. He uses “science,” otherwise called “knowledge,” to cast doubt on God’s words.

Syncretism always wars against our allegiance to God and his written Word.

Today, many believers have unwittingly become syncretistic. We have tried to blend heliocentrism with the creation account in Genesis. This toxic mix requires us to deny the order of creation in Genesis Chapter One. This is not a merger of beliefs. It is a hostile takeover. This compromise with lies results in two things. First, it teaches us to distrust and abandon the literal teachings of the Bible, and, secondly, it renders God irrelevant and unneeded, which is exactly the goal of every satanic philosophy and “scientific” system of thought.

Once we choose to make a stand on the Word of God, everything becomes simple. Since the Bible is always true, then anything that disagrees with the Bible is false.

Since heliocentrism, evolution, and the Big Bang theory do not harmonize with the creation account, they are by definition false.

The Bible does not always satisfy our curiosity by giving us the “how” or “why,” but it does give us “what” we need to know. Some things relating to origins and cosmos are simply past our comprehension and “need to know.”King David wrote these words of worship as he pondered the heavens.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, Psalm 8:3–6 (NASB95)

God intends for us to grow in our knowledge and worship of him. He also wants us to understand that mankind is central to his creation purposes.

The Big Bang theory leaves us thinking that we are inconsequential specks in a vast impersonal universe. We can detect Satan’s hand in this pervasive lie. As a result, many today feel quite hopeless and take the escape route of suicide rather than face a lifetime of meaningless pain.

Coming back to a biblical understanding of creation restores hope to us.

The God who created the earth and seas also made us to inhabit it. Knowing the truth about creation provokes us to want to know our wonderful Creator through our Lord Jesus.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16–17 (NKJV)
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Repentance from Syncretism

In my previous article, I showed how we can repent from believing the “scientific” lie of evolution as opposed to the Bible creation story. This article will address the sin of syncretism whereby we try to blend two or more irreconcilable ideas or faiths.

God warned the Israelites that they must destroy the idols of the people who lived in Canaan to protect themselves from their deluding influence.

Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 “But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— 15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. Exodus 34:12–16 (NASB95)

The people of that day recognized what many today do not understand. Demonic “principalities and powers” often gain influence and even mastery over the residents who live in certain areas because of sacrifices made to those evil beings in order to procure favor and blessings. In order to protect themselves, invading conquerors often made an effort to appease the local gods. They would not abandon their own gods but would simply add some new ones. This eclectic religion seemed very practical and revealed that they believed that there was not one supreme God over all, but many gods who vied with one another. This would result in a syncretistic blending of elements from the various religions into something new, a sort of hybrid religion.

Another definition of syncretism is “the attempted union of principles or parties irreconcilably at variance with each other.”

I hope I showed how biblical creationism and Darwinism are hopelessly irreconcilable; nevertheless, many well-meaning theologians over the years felt pressure to try to fuse the two. They did not want to seem “foolish” or “ignorant” of the latest “scientific breakthroughs.” They wanted to have their Christian religion while simultaneously bowing to the gods of science. It created something very different from simple belief in the Bible’s teachings and led people to doubt the truthfulness of God’s Word. This is always Satan’s end game. He uses “science,” otherwise called “knowledge,” to cast doubt on God’s spoken or written words.

When engaging in this sort of syncretism, something has to give, and it always seems to be our adherence and allegiance to the written Word of God.

Instead of God’s creating the known world and everything in and around it in six days, blending evolutionary theory into the mix requires us to drag things out over millions of years using supposedly naturalistic but quite impossible processes to spontaneously generate life. Such syncretism results in a sort of Deism in which God passively steps back and lets things play out on their own.

As is apparent, this compromise results in two things. First, it teaches us to distrust and abandon the literal teachings of the Bible, and, second, it makes God irrelevant and unneeded, which is exactly the goal of every satanic philosophy and “scientific” system of thought.

Followers of Christ should never cave to syncretism. As Joshua said so long ago.

“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14–15 (NASB95)

Now let us consider the creation story in more detail and examine another form of syncretism that involves the Big Bang theory. Have you ever wondered where scientists got the idea of the entire known universe exploding out of nothing? This idea is found the Kabbalah, an occult form of Jewish mysticism.

All of existence started with an explosion from one point that is continually multiplying, according to Jewish mysticism. Thus, Wolfson sees a distinct relationship between the contemporary Big Bang theory and the Kabbalistic notion that the universe burst forth from a single point, which in mystical terms is the limitless light of the divine, or Infinite, known as the “Ein Sof.” In Hebrew, “Ein Sof” literally means “no end.” So the divine, or god, is just another word for infinity. Kabbalists are people who study the manifestations of infinity. And just as physicists seek a single principle, a so-called “unified theory of everything” that will explain all of life, so do mystics. “For the kabbalists, that one principle is the light of infinity, which materializes into the multiplicity of all beings,” Wolfson says. That light emerging from darkness is both physical and symbolic, the professor explains. As an idea, it shows that things are often much more complex than they appear at first glance, and that the most abstract of notions explain the material world. “Cast in the lingo of quantum physics, we could identify the immaterial light as the particle and the material vessel as the antiparticle, which meet and collide in the zero gravitational energy of empty space, the nothingness that spawns the something that is the stuff of being,” Wolfson says.  (https://qz.com/1375015/jewish-mysticism-offers-a-poetic-explanation-of-the-big-bang-and-black-holes)

This is a perfect example of satanic “science” which weaves its web around the mind, appealing to our desire to have knowledge without getting it from God. It baffles us with the appearance of intellectual brilliance.

In 1927, a prescient [Jesuit] astronomer named Georges Lemaître looked at data showing how galaxies move. He noticed something peculiar – all of them appeared to be speeding away from Earth. Not only that, but the farther away they were, the faster they went. He determined a mathematical way to represent this, and connected his relationship to Einstein’s law of General Relativity to produce a grand idea: That of a universe continually expanding. It was a radical idea then, but today it fits with our conception of a universe spawned by a Big Bang. (https://www.astronomy.com/science/the-jesuit-astronomer-who-conceived-of-the-big-bang/)

Personally I believe that Satan was just as surely behind the Kabbalistic and Jesuit versions of origins as he is behind the Big Bang theory. I think they are one and the same, only the latter is dressed up in the clothes of science rather than religious mysticism.

The Kabbalah was developed during the Middle Ages by a Jewish mystic. Practical Kabbalah is the process of engaging in rituals, summoning angels and demons, uttering incantations and divine names, using amulets and magical seals to actually change the world.

The Kaballah is syncretistic, blending biblical Judaism with witchcraft. One might say the same thing about the Big Bang theory. It seeks to weave a magical spell around our minds to keep us from seeing God’s glory in creation.

The attempt to blend the Big Bang theory and its attendant cosmology with what the Bible teaches is quite impossible, even though its seems as it might be done at first. The Bible says that God spoke the our world into existence out of nothingness. So far, so good.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (NASB95)

But, besides refusing to credit the Creator with initiating the process, the Big Bang theory holds that the sequence of events after the initial ‘blast” unfolded is completely unlike what God’s Word tells us. Employing supposed naturalistic forces and assumptions, the Big Bang theory posits that an entire “universe” of exploded matter and energy over vast amounts of time formed into stars, planets, etc., eventually producing what we observe, including all forms of life, without any reference or reliance upon the Creator. The Bible is very specific in how God put things together, dividing his work into six twenty-four hour days. The two simply do not mix.

By giving us a naturalistic, supposedly scientific, explanation of our origins, Satan tries to make those who hold to what the Bible says seem backward, “archaic,” and ignorant. If you want to be mocked or patronized, tell your “educated” friends that you believe the Bible 100%.

The Bible does not always satisfy our curiosity by giving us the “how” or “why,” but it does give us what we need to know. Our problems start with wanting to know more than God chooses to tell us.

This insatiable quest for knowledge that goes beyond and stands opposed to what God has revealed is what got us into trouble in the first place and continues to do so now. Some things relating to origins and cosmos are simply past our comprehension and “need to know.”

When Job virtually demanded to know why God allowed him to be afflicted, God eventually appeared to him, but not to answer his questions. Job’s interaction with his Maker resulted in his gaining a new awe and admiration for God that satisfied every fiber of his being. He no longer needed to know why.

‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” 4 ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6 Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:3–6 (NASB95)

The creation is meant to impress upon us awe and wonder resulting in worship of the Creator. The Big Bang theory is meant to reduce the universe to mere materialistic mechanisms that rob us of knowing God.

King David wrote these words of worship as he pondered the heavens.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, Psalm 8:3–6 (NASB95)

God intends for us not only to grow in our knowledge and worship of him. He also wants us to understand that mankind is central to his creation purposes.

The Big Bang theory leaves us thinking that we are inconsequential specks in a vast impersonal universe. Can you not detect Satan’s hand in weaving the witchcraft-like spell of this pervasive lie? Satan hates that we who put our faith in Christ are destined to rule with him forever, seated with Christ at God’s right hand. We are handed what Satan tried to take from God.

In my next article, I will begin to explore in more detail what the Bible says about the world in which we live. It is quite at odds with the lie of the Big Bang theory. We cannot mix the two. We, like Joshua, must decide whom we will serve – modern so-called “science” with its cleverly spun lies or the God of the Bible whose words are always true. He cannot and does not ever lie.

O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge—21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen. 1 Timothy 6:20–21 (NKJV)
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