Monthly Archives: December 2014

Eucharistic Sacrifice

Their Praise was their Sacrifice (part 2)

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The Early Church understood praise, not the Lord's Supper, to be the sacrifice of the New Covenant (Hebrews 13:15).
The Early Church understood praise, not the Lord’s Supper, to be the sacrifice of the New Covenant (Hebrews 13:15).

In our introduction to this series last week, we accepted The Sacrifice Challenge, which is a gauntlet, as it were, that has been thrown down by Roman Catholics who believe that the “incense” and “pure offering” of Malachi 1:11 can only refer to the Roman Catholic sacrifice of the Mass. “All the … Fathers … of the primitive ages, teach,” says the Douay Catechism, “that the mass is the self same sacrifice of bread and wine” to which Malachi referred. According to the Douay Catechism, the Sacrifice of the Mass (in which the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ and then offered as a sacrifice to God for our sins) is the “pure offering” prophesied by Malachi. Continue reading Their Praise was their Sacrifice (part 2) →

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Eucharistic Sacrifice

Their Praise was their Sacrifice (part 1)

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“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” — Hebrews 13:15

As we explained several months ago in our entry, In Vain Do They Worship Me, Roman Catholics worship the elements of the Lord’s Supper, and because the bread of the Lord’s supper remains bread throughout, we do not hesitate to call our Roman Catholic acquaintances—and yes, even this writer’s own Roman Catholic family members—”bread worshipers.” This term is considered offensive to Roman Catholics but we do not shy away from it. As the Scripture says,

“he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto, …he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, ‘Deliver me; for thou art my god.’ … a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?'” (Isaiah 44:15-20)

The “bread god” in the priest’s right hand is a lie, and we will no more demur from calling the idol what it is than we will demur from preaching the Gospel, which is equally offensive to them. Much more offensive to us is their insistence that we join them in worshiping the work of their hands. The world cannot be fully converted, they say, until all men bend the knee to their bread idol. Continue reading Their Praise was their Sacrifice (part 1) →

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Church Fathers, Church History, Marian Dogmas, Papal Infallibility, The Immaculate Conception

“A significant turning point…”

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The conception of Mary occurred 400 years before Rome even dreamed of its immaculacy.
Mary’s conception was understood by the Early Church to be no different than ours, until “a significant turning point” occurred toward the end of the 4th century.

Readers who have been following this blog are familiar with our position that Roman Catholicism as a religion originated in the latter part of the 4th century A.D. The religion of Rome is not of apostolic origin. As we explained in The Rise of Roman Catholicism, distinctively Roman Catholic dogma can be traced to the late 300s A.D., no earlier. In that article, we touched briefly on the late development of the immaculacy of Mary in the imagination of Rome. This week, we explore the magnitude of Rome’s historical revisionism in its attempt to prove the apostolicity of the dogma of her “Immaculate Conception.” Continue reading “A significant turning point…” →

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Church History

Novel Antiquity

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The unenviable task of Rome is to try to convince the world of the antiquity of her novelties.
The unenviable task of Rome is to try to convince the world of the antiquity of her novelties.

One of the most consistent Roman Catholic complaints against Protestants is that we just don’t “get” the incarnation. If we only understood the incarnation of Jesus Christ, they say, we would understand the inherent incarnationalism of the religion He founded. Just as Jesus intersected our world in fleshy realism, the grace and presence of God continue to intersect our world “incarnationally” in the forms of oil, water, bread, relics, icons, statues, images, priests, liturgy, the Mass sacrifice, Eucharistic adoration and a visible, apostolic head of the church in Rome.

Mark Shea is one of the foremost, or at least one of the most passionate, Roman Catholic apologists on the matter of Roman “incarnationalism.” “In the Incarnation,” Shea wrote recently, “Catholics believe, God was committing Himself to revealing His power and grace in and through human things. And the unfamiliar ways Catholics express this belief tend to make Evangelicals very nervous.” Continue reading Novel Antiquity →

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