HOUSMAIL HM#099 - THE CATHOLIC REQUIEM MASS                                                       30 November 2002

For the very best of reasons, Doreen and I don't make a regular habit of visiting IDOL TEMPLES! But when we do occasionally, for weddings or funerals, our conscience ABSOLUTELY FORBIDS eating what is sacrificed to Idols! That is especially true of Catholic Churches and Catholic Masses! Of course we DO NOT HATE Catholics! Rather the opposite! It is precisely because we love them that we wouldn't want to give ANYONE the slightest impression that we think the Catholic religion is a valid expression of Christianity!

Yesterday morning, we attended a Catholic Requiem Mass, (funeral service), for the father of a close friend and brother in the Abrahamic Faith. We were there on this occasion to express our sympathy, and just "be there", for a younger brother in the faith, who is the only member of his LARGE Catholic family to embrace the Gospel of the Kingdom. He respected his father, who by "ordinary" standards was perceived by all who knew him, to be a "good man". However, "good man", measured by "normal" human standards, is NOT enough, is it? We have to learn to measure it by the far higher standards taught by Jesus. And by THAT standard, over many years, the father vigorously opposed and personally rejected the Gospel of the Kingdom, when his son tried to present it to him. So of course our friend entertains no false hopes about the eternal destiny of his father!

A difficult time indeed! How does he fulfill the duty of a son to honor a distraught grieving mother -- and at the same time "let the dead bury the dead", whilst resisting all the subtle Catholic family peer group pressures to "hide his light under a bushel" and "deny Jesus before men"?
(Eph 6:2; Luke 9:60; Matt 5:15; Matt 10;32)

Over the years we have attended LOTS of Nuptial Masses, and just one or two Requiem masses. We have developed "thick skins" which enable us to be there respectfully, and without embarrassment on our part, whilst VISIBLY and OBVIOUSLY NOT participating in the service in any way.

e.g. We sit quietly at the back, and don't stand or kneel with the Catholics, (and ignorant, apathetic, or Ecumenical Protestants!) for prayers, hymns, etc. We don't go out of our way to "cast pearls"(Matt 7:6) -- BUT we certainly do pray for opportunities to tell others, as gently as we know how, WHY we do this. (whilst also quietly praying for "Gospel opportunities" to bear witness to the REAL Jesus.)

Once again, we were reminded of the blessing we have, through our belief in the REAL Abrahamic Faith! We only had to look around a little to be reminded that we were in a 21st Century IDOL TEMPLE! And the proceedings left us in no doubt at all, that we were amongst COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIANS, whose religion is actually far closer to paganism, than it is to the teachings of the REAL Jesus!

IDOLS?
Yes there were. Up front where you couldn't miss it, was a large statue of a "mother and child", both wearing LARGE crowns. The mother wore the biggest crown, reminding us just how important she is in Catholic theology, as "mediatrix", "mother-of-god" and "queen-of-heaven". There were also several other IDOL statues.

THE MIRACLE? - TRANSUBSTANTIATION
Once again we were confronted with the counterfeit "miracle" performed by the priest at EVERY Catholic Mass! Some authorities (but not all) believe that this particular "miracle" is the source of our English term, "HOCUS POCUS", which is said to come from a corrupted form of the words used by the priest in the old Latin mass: hoc est (enim) corpus (meum), "this is my body". Whether or not that claim is true, it is certainly true that official Roman Catholic doctrine insists that during the Mass, the bread and wine are changed by a miracle, into the actual body and blood of Christ!

My problem with that is that it still LOOKS just like ordinary bread and wine! However, under threat of being considered heretics, the "faithful" are asked to throw away their minds, deny the evidence of their eyes, and believe that the "miracle" has actually happened!

How gullible can you get? But perhaps we shouldn't really be surprised at anything from the same Church that invented the impossible and illogical "mystery" of the Trinity, gives men inherent unconditional immortality from birth, baptises infants, and "sells" its counterfeit "salvation"!

PURGATORY?
In official Catholic teaching, only the greatest "saints" can bypass Purgatory, and go direct to heaven. It isn't popular any more amongst many Australian Catholics. Nevertheless the priest is committed by his ordination vows to teach it.

In this service it took a sensitive ear to pick it up -- but it was there! The printed words of the service several times consigned the man to "heaven", and did not mention Purgatory at all -- but just once the priest quietly also slipped in the word "eventually"! Most wouldn't have noticed it, but as far as the Church is concerned, this "good man" is going to suffer torment for some indeterminate time, before he gets to his final destination!

COUNTERFEIT?
There can be no doubt at all that the Catholic Requiem Mass is totally COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIANITY in action! Blasphemy, idolatry, witchcraft, miracles which deceive, prayers to the dead, and a false gospel!

Paul was not unsympathetic to the problems of former idol worshippers, especially in his Epistles to Corinth. But he left us in no doubt at all, about the consequences of associating ourselves with false gospels. To act in any way which gives others the impression that we think it is O.K. with God, is to place ourselves at risk of the CURSE which comes upon all who promote a false Gospel! (Gal 1:8) John tells us the same thing. We are not to receive such people as brethren, or bid them "godspeed" in what they do.(2 John 1:10) How can they be saved unless they first become convicted that they are NOT saved?

How could we ever deceive ourselves to pretend otherwise? If you don't KNOW why that is so -- go out of your way to ask! In this confused Church world, dominated by "the spirit of antichrist" and its associated counterfeit Christianity, EVERY Abrahamic Believer really does owe it to himself to know!

Allon

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