“Transubstantiation was a later invention, coming in around the 9th Century, and taking full form in Aquinas. But it is pure sophistry, a way to get people to disbelieve the eyes God gave them, and thereby invest the wrong idea of spiritual power in the priesthood, which priesthood should have ceased after Christ became our only High Priest, offering Himself once for all, and declaring the work finished as He died for our sins.”
Good post. The add-ons to the ONCE FOR ALL SACRIFICE of our Lord Jesus Christ are the “death in the pot” we have to be wary of, the leaven of which just a smidgen “works through the whole batch of dough”, nullifying grace. Rome opened the door through “tradition”, and have created their own bastardized version of the Levitical priesthood. Nice work if you can get it! “They love to be seen of men.” And the laity love to have someone ELSE speak to God, mediate to them His dreadful voice! How absolutely unnecessary!
It’s very hard to deal with those who refuse to accept the free gift of God. I get angry because behind every add-on is a slander against Christ. Currently I’m dealing with a relative who’s veered of into the Hebrew Roots/Sacred Name movement, which goes in the opposite direction of Rome. I reject both systems, as well as much of “Protestantism”. If Luther “came to” while reading Romans—“Oh the depths of the riches of the wisdom and power of a God” found there!—then let’s READ ROMANS!!! Instead of “reformation” I say it was really a “reconnection” to God-breathed Truth.
Yes, Hebrew Roots errors are ramping up at the moment. Every evangelical Christian should prepare for such encounters. I believe they will increase for a while. In time, though, the more distant future will vindicate those of us who stayed with the plain old Gospel.
As for relatives, mine are interesting. The Roman Catholic wing is up in the Chicago area. They’ve adopted abortion as a right, not just theoretically, but in practice. They’ve also identified with communism and radical feminism. The feminist angle is interesting, because they project it onto their view of Mary, alleging her to be co-redemptrix with Christ, because we can’t have a patriarchal deity. Very bizarre.
Note to my RC friends here on FR. I try not to generalize from the extremes. I know not all Catholics are like my relatives. But when folks get on their hobby horse about having a denominational monopoly on God, these relatives jump right to the foreground and make me wonder what kind of Christian church would fail to discipline them for such egregious departure from the faith once delivered to the saints. Surely if it is God’s work, it will carry His fingerprints, changed lives that honor Christ and hunger for His word and His righteousness.
Anyway, good post, though I would say the candle of Christian truth has never gone out, though it may have occasionally been harder to find due to persecution and unpopularity in the world system. God is faithful.
Peace,
SR