The True Christ

ORTHODOXY – PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Part Sixteenth

REFUTATION OF THE PAPACY OR ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

     The divine authority prescribed in the Bible is totally different than papal authority, which is man devised and worldly and is not divine. The Father spoke of the divinely ordained authority of His Son and subsequently He remained silent, and with His words He introduced Jesus Christ, saying: “This  is my beloved son in whom I have well decided; listen to him.” After this command, authority went from the Father to Jesus and Jesus began to instruct His disciples. Jesus spoke in His own authority which He had assumed. This established Jesus as the Head and authority over the Church which He was now building. Jesus did not transfer that authority to Peter or any other disciple as the popes falsely assert, for He would have to say, as did the Father: “This is my beloved disciple Peter in whom I have decided; listen to him.” So Peter could not exercise authority (which he did not have) over the other disciples and so could not possibly pass authority which he did not have to the popes of Rome. 

     Anyone reading the Bible will see that Christ is the authority and He speaks as such.  He says: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Also: “Receive Holy Spirit.”  “Whosoever’s sins you retain are retained and whoever’s sins you remit are remitted.”but he does not pass any authority to Peter alone, but he does transmit authority equally to all His disciples. Nor did He send Peter to Rome to become pope, but He did send all of His apostles into the world to preach the Gospel and “baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

     In order to properly examine any structure’s integrity the foundation must be primarily examined. To examine an organization’s structural integrity, the fundamental law must be examined, for it is vital. The fundamental law of the true and Orthodox Church is found expressed in Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ, son of the living God”. Jesus replied by declaring Peter’s confession saying: “Upon this rock I will build my Church.” This means that everyone who enters the Orthodox Church must abide by its fundamental law and declare: “You are the Christ Son of the living God.”

     All men know what the fundamental law of the Roman Church or Papacy is,  that must be observed in order to become a papist or Roman Catholic. It declares: “People must recognize the pope-king whose seat is in Rome to be the infallible representative of Christ and of God and they must listen to his voice.” Formerly the Roman Church agreed, but when they went into apostasy they made their newly formulated declaration valid, and no longer required: “You are the Christ, Son of the living God.”

     The popes have proclaimed themselves as being the true Church by grabbing and usurping the authority of Jesus Christ who is the alone Head of the Church. Going even further, the popes also usurped the Holy Spirit also claimed to be the  only guides of the Church over the entire human race, usurping the authority of the true Guide. Jesus proclaimed Him as  the Church’s Guide into all truth when He said: “But the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, which the Father shall send in my name, shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you. For He shall not speak of himself, but whatever He hears, that shall He speak; and He will show you the things to come” (John 14:26; 16:13). Christ leaves no room for doubt that the All-Holy Spirit and not Peter, is the divine guide and the teacher of the Apostles and the faithful of everything that He commanded.

     Because Christ is both God and man, divine and human, His Body the holy Orthodox Church which is also divine and human, but the papacy remains a corrupted human institution.  Let us consider that if Christ intended to establish Peter as His successor, He would have said: “This is my beloved disciple Peter, listen to him.” Then Christ would remain silent and Peter would speak. But Christ never proclaimed that we should listen to Peter alone and each of the popes, for this idea came from their empty heads.

nnnnnThe Roman Catholics or papists, invented a papal purgatory, and they decided not to baptize by three immersions and so are all in need of the true Orthodox baptism when they denounce the papacy and enter the true Church.  For the one Church has one baptism nor can there ever be a second, for no second baptism can be done inside or outside the Church, and even if it were done properly for a priesthood is necessary and there no priesthood outside the Church. 

     The papacy also officially and directly contradicts Christ himself when they illicitly changed the sacred Creed of faith by addition of the “ et filioque” (“and the son”). They drastically changed the Creed by this addition that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.  This defies and directly contradicts  our Lord’s clear declaration: “But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He shall bear witness of me.”  No, say the papists: He comes from the Father and the son, not as Christ says, from the Father alone. Belief in the popes’ creed leads to the kingdom of this world but not the kingdom above, where no lie can exist.