“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9).
In response to a portion of one of my past commentaries, an individual stated that he spoke, in German, with the “Holy Father” and was told that my commentary was in error. So I asked this man if he was referring to the Creator of the universe or to a mere man who had been elevated by other mere men to the position of god on earth. I received no response.
Jesus’ words in the above verse are clear; we aren’t to refer to any man as Father as we have only one Father which is in heaven. Imagine referring to a “man” as Holy Father; besides being against the Word of God, it just doesn’t sit well. What are the implications of any man desiring to be so revered on earth?
“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased…” (Matthew 23:12a)
Abased means to be humbled. If you continue reading Matthew 23 you’ll discover one of many heptadic (sevenfold) structures in the scriptures.
The seven woes outlined by Jesus are a condemnation of the Pharisees and scribes of His day. Seven times Jesus refers to these men as hypocrites. Then He drives the final nail into their coffin with these words:
“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:33)
Although Jesus’ words were pointed at the Pharisees of His day, they also paint a perfect picture of the popery of the Roman Catholic Church as we can plainly see their hypocrisy displayed throughout its bloody awful history.
Jesus is very specific about all who wish to be first.
“And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35)
There is a religion where the leadership is elevated to such an exalted position that these men actually believe they are Christ on earth. They refer to themselves as “Vicarius Christi” which is Latin for Vicar of Christ.
“The Latin equivalent of the Greek word “anti” is “vicarious” from which comes Vicar. So those who refer to themselves as Vicar of Christ are actually calling themselves anti-Christ, or another Christ.”
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.’” (Matthew 24:4-5)
The question is, who would follow such men? Why would anyone want to replace our Lord Jesus the Christ the Creator of the universe with a mere human? The answer can be found in the above verse “Take heed that no man deceive you.”
The deception has been with us since the Apostles wrote their epistles. In the fourth century AD Constantine became the first pope. From that time on the popery began their reign of terror by deceiving and murdering the masses. When the word of God is not taken seriously the deception is easily manifested.
A short history lesson: During the 14th century A.D. a devout Christian man stood up against the evil of the anti-Christ system. John Wycliffe was one of the first to translate the scriptures from Latin into the language of the common folk. Wycliffe was hounded by the Catholic Church because of his stance against it.
Wycliffe said, “The authority of the Scriptures was greater than the authority of any man.”
And that “We ought to believe in the authority of no man unless he say the word of God, that if any man in earth, either angel of heaven teacheth us contrary of holy Writ we should flee from him as from the foul fiend of hell, and hold us steadfastly to the truth and freedom of the holy gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The Catholic Church hated Wycliffe so much that 44 years after his death they had his remains exhumed, his bones smashed, and then burned. The council of Constance then condemned Wycliffe and had him anathematized. Down through the ages the popes have condemned any and all who would stand against them and their doctrines.
Jan Huss was another that was condemned by the council of Constance at the same time as Wycliffe. Huss was burned at the stake in 1415 for his opposition to papal infallibility and because he stood on the authority and infallibility of the Bible. When the Roman Catholic Church caught Huss’ followers, they burned them at the stake. A century later, inspired in part by the sermons of Huss, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Church door in Wittenberg, Germany.
Jan Huss, Jerome of Prague, and many others believed the Bible and placed its authority over the Roman Catholic popery, thus the popery condemned them all and burned them all at the stake. These were true Christians being burned at the stake; true believers in Christ who knew the truth about the popery, that all the popes were and are anti-Christ. Following this religion and believing in their doctrines will get you to only one location upon your death, and it isn’t heaven.
Martin Luther made the following statements:
The Pope, possessed by demons, defends his tyranny with the canon “Si papa.” This canon states clearly: if the Pope should lead the whole world into the control of hell, he is nevertheless not to be contradicted. It’s a terrible thing that on account of the authority of this man, we must lose our souls which Christ redeemed with His precious blood.
Luther also declared, “I believe the Pope is the masked and incarnate devil because he is the anti-Christ.” All the reformers from Wycliffe to Spurgeon believed the pope to be anti-Christ. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “It is the duty of every Christian to pray against Antichrist, and as to what Antichrist is, no sane man ought to raise a question. If it be not the popery in the Church of Rome, there is nothing in the world that can be called by that name.”
William Tyndale was another who was terribly persecuted by the Roman Catholics. They hated Tyndale because he was determined to translate the New Testament scriptures from Greek into English. Rome’s position on this subject was as follows: Simple and uneducated men were not to touch the Bible or venture to preach its doctrines.
After completing his translations of the Bible, Tyndale was put to death by the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church (basically that means the pope). One of Tyndale’s statements that so infuriated the Roman Catholic Church and which put the final nail in his coffin was this:
“I defy the pope and all his laws if God spare my life here these many years I will causeth the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost.”
Tyndale was speaking to a Roman Catholic priest in his own home. Of course, I would be remiss without saying that the Roman Catholic Church did take pity on William Tyndale as they first strangled him before burning him at the stake
But murdering William Tyndale was not enough for this most ungodly religion of anti-Christ. They also burned all the Tyndale Bibles they could get their hands on, as well burning at the stake all those who were in possession of a Tyndale Bible. The Roman Catholic Church is as bloody as any tyrannical ruler in earth’s history.
Looking back through the whole ungodly history of the Roman Catholic Church it’s not hard to discover that they have always stood contrary to the truth of the scriptures. The popes have always claimed to be Jesus Christ on earth. Anyone who knows their Bible and believes it to be the inerrant Word of God must be appalled at the Catholic popes and their horribly blasphemous statements.
From the inception of the Roman Catholic Church, the popes have declared themselves to be equal with God. They took to themselves the title of Holy Father with full authority over the Church.
Pope Innocent III, who fathered the inquisition, said, “The Pope holdeth place on earth not simply of a man, but of the true God.” Pope Nicholas said of himself “I am in all, and above all, so that God Himself, and I, the vicar of God, hath both one consistory and I am able to do almost all that God can do. I then, being above all seen by this reason, to be above all Gods.”
Pope Nicholas also claimed that the popes themselves had the power to change the gospel itself saying “Wherefore, no marvel if it be in my power to dispense with all things, yea, with the precepts of Christ.”
The Lateran Council, while addressing Pope Julius II, said to him “Take care that we lose not that salvation, that life and breath which thou has given us for thou are shepherd, thou art physician, thou art governor, thou art husbandman, thou finally art another God on earth.”
Pope Pious X declared, “The Pope is not simply the representative of Jesus Christ; on the contrary he is Jesus Christ Himself, under the veil of the flesh. Does the Pope speak? It is Jesus Christ who is speaking. Hence when anyone speaks of the Pope, it is not necessary to examine but to obey.”
Pope Pious IX blasphemously declared “I alone am the successor of the apostles. The voice of Jesus Christ, I am the way, the truth, and the life…” Pope Boniface VIII said, “We declare, say, define and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”
Pope Clement VI said “No man outside obedience to the Pope of Rome can ultimately be saved. All who have raised themselves against the faith of the Roman Church and died in final impenitence have been damned and gone down to Hell.” Pope John XXIII said, “Into this fold of Jesus Christ no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff and only if they be united to him can men be saved…”
In 1984 Pope John Paul II was quoted as saying “Don’t go to God for forgiveness of sins: come to me.” Catherine of Siena, one of the patron saints of Italy, said “Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest in his bosom. He who rebels against our Father is condemned to death, for that which we do to him, we do to Christ. We honor Christ if we honor the Pope.”
There is no doubt in my mind that the Roman Catholic Church is pure evil in origin; they remain so even in today’s enlightened society. Why do I say this? Even though our current society is supposed to be enlightened there are few that know and understand the Word of God. Therefore many remain susceptible to the deceptions of Rome while ignoring Jesus’ admonition to beware of such deceptions.
This commentary is just the tip of the iceberg when compared to the volumes of heresies which would describe even more of how horrible the Roman Catholic Church has been to the true Christians over the last 1,700 years. Suffice it to say, Jesus told us about this evil that would appear on the scene claiming to be Him, but since they wouldn’t listen to Him why would they listen to me?
The apostle John wrote about the anti-Christ’s that would come and who were already among them.
“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” 1 John 2:18-19.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “For truth’s sake, our Protestantism must protest perpetually…No peace with Rome…” Yet what we currently see taking place is many evangelicals running back to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. This is a hard thing to witness, as we who are true believers in Christ know how obscene the Roman Catholic Church actually remains.
The way to enter Heaven is not by elevating ourselves to a position of prominence resulting in men bowing to us with much pomp and circumstance, but to humble ourselves as little children. “…Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3.
Sometimes it takes a lot of humbling to become as a little child in the eyes of God. For some of us it may take a lifetime to understand how to become “as little children”.
The Catholic popery work to elevate themselves to positions of exaltedness above the laity thus they are in for a huge surprise. First of all it’s obvious these popes have no fear of God. Secondly, they can’t be believers in Christ as all indications are that they disparage God’s Word.
Instead of cherishing the Word of God as true believers do and adhering to God’s precepts as the truth they simply ignore God as they make themselves out to be god on earth.
Study your Bible. Don’t be one of those who have been, or are about to be, deceived in these end times. Call no man your Father on earth as God is our Father. All in all pray for all those deceived individuals, but by all means stay far clear of the Roman Catholic Church.
God bless you all,
Ron Graham