Praying to “saints”
As I explained1, we are told that the dead in Christ are “asleep” in the earth, waiting for his second coming — they are not alive in heaven. But Catholics pray to the dead saints and to Mary, as if they had already been raised, as if they did not have to wait until the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, like all those who sleep in Christ: “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40). Therefore, when we make our confession at Mass and say, “…and I ask the Blessed Virgin, and all the angels and saints, and you my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God,” we are asking the impossible. In the Eucharistic Prayer No. 1, we say, “…In union with the whole Church we honor Mary, the ever-virgin mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God. We honor Joseph, her husband, the apostles and martyrs Peter and Paul, Andrew, etc. and all the saints. May their merits and prayers gain us your constant help and protection.”2However, Scripture shows us that these dead people can in no way “gain us your constant help and protection.” Believing and professing that they can is tantamount to disbelief in God’s word.
Paul writes,
“Beware lest anyone cheat you [plunder/take you captive] through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in him, who is the head of all rule and authority and power… Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God,” (Col 2:8-10, 18-19).
According to Scripture, elevation of the Pope is blasphemy
Despite the above admonition, the Pope claims to have all power on earth. At the Council of Trent, it was stated: “He hath all power on earth… All temporal power is his; the dominion, jurisdiction and government of the whole earth is his by divine right. All rulers of the earth are his subjects and must submit to him”.3However, Jesus made the SAME CLAIM: After Jesus had been risen from the dead, he “came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ ” (Matt 28:19-20). Who, then, has this divine power? Who is telling the truth? The Pope, or Jesus Christ?
Final thoughts
Paul warned us that before the second coming of our Lord Jesus, there would be someone who “opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess 2: 4). This “mystery of lawlessness” was already at work in the infant church, altering the true traditions and gospel message as preached by Jesus and his Apostles:
“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan [meaning adversary; one in opposition to God], with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess 2: 9-11).
Who is this lawless one, who “will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming”? (2 Thess 2: 8). We are warned in Revelation to “come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues,” and “in the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow” (Rev 18: 4).
Likewise, John warns us about deceivers who were among the early Christians:
“As you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come… They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things…. Therefore let that abide in you which you heard FROM THE BEGINNING. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us — eternal life” (1 John 2: 18-25).
The Apostle Peter warns us about false teachers (men), and tells us to heed the Scriptures, because “prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,” (2 Pet 1: 21). So, in the book of God’s Word, we are taught that we must rely solely on Scripture for spiritual guidance, and not on the traditions of men.
In Revelation, Jesus warns us:
“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev 22: 18).
A personal appeal
Finding and obeying God’s Truth is a matter of eternal life and death. It is the most important thing that one can do in his or her entire earthly life. Jesus said “This is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). If the above is the Truth and I ignore it or reject it because of the assurance of false teachers, will the teachers be willing or able to plead to the Lord for me at the “great and terrible day of the Lord”? “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psa 49:7). I alone am responsible for my behavior; I will stand alone before the Judgment seat of Christ.
In light of the above, I cannot remain in the Roman Catholic Church. Some of her practices and doctrines are clearly from men and oppose Scripture. As Peter said, “we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5: 29). I have thus decided to “come out of her.”
If anyone would like to talk to me about the above, please do not hesitate to contact me. I earnestly wish you well on your own journey of faith and search for Truth. I pray that both you and I may be found pleasing in God’s sight, and that we might attain that glorious hope of eternal life with Jesus Christ, our King, where “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One