“That’s a fact. And a pagan one at that.”
Name for me all the pagan cults you know who believe in the following:
The Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all Divine Persons. These divine Persons are the only deity in the universe. There are no other gods. Second Person of the Trinity took on flesh and walked the earth as a man, born of virgin Jewish girl named Mary, just so He could suffer, die on a cross, and be resurrected for our salvation.
Put up or shut up.
Deuteronomy 12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. 31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God
But the Catholic Church says.
“We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendor of religious ceremonial. We must not forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments etc. were not identified with any idolatrous cult in particular; but they were common to almost all cults” (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, 246.)
“When we give or receive Christmas gifts; or hang green wreaths in our homes and churches, how many of us know that we are probably observing pagan customs...the god, Woden, in Norse Mythology, descends upon the earth yearly between December 25th and January 6th to bless mankind...But pagan though they be, they are beautiful customs. They help inspire us with the spirit of 'good will to men', even as the sublime service of our Church reminds us of the ‘peace on earth’ which the babe of Bethlehem came to bestow” (Externals of the Catholic Church, 140).
Catholics can’t deny that the RCC has incorporated pagan practices into its practices. The RCC itself admits that it does. The RCC refuses to hear the words of the Lord.
Jer.44:16-17 “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.”
The RCC will, just as Israel did, experience the wrath of God for disobeying His word. The admonition in Revelation to “come out of her my people” is for those who truly want to listen to God.
Then one only needs to see the list designating a cult and compare it to the claims by the Catholic Church to see it’s a cult.
You know...if you stopped there you'd be ok. However, the Roman catholic church goes further with it's teachings and that's where it becomes a cult.
When you teach the following you achieve cult status:
1)worshipping/praying to Mary and that she was sinless in direct contradiction of scripture which says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...you're a cult
2)Mary plays a role in our salvation
3)when you declare you have to believe BOTH scripture and tradition
4)when you teach that only a priest can explain the Scriptures
5)when you teach it's ok to have relics, statues of saints, mary, etc,
6)when you assign to mary titles such as co-redemtrix and mediatrix and mediatrix of all graces...you're a cult.
7) when you teach that as no man goes to the Father but through Christ, so no man goes to Christ but by His mother, you're a cult. The first part of this is ok. It's the second part that's cult territory.
8) when you teach that Mary did not lay aside her salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation....you're a cult.
and we haven't even talked about indulgences, penance, having to confess to a priest, etc.
Hey...this could be a Jeff Foxworthy routine.
The burden is on the Roman Catholic Church to show sound Biblical support for these false teachings....which they cannot. Without having tradition to appeal to, these false teachings cannot be justified by reading the Word and keeping the text in context.