posted
Elsewhere in the "Institutional Churches" section, I read:
quote:Externally, there is not, in my opinion, any worship service today that is more reverent and well-ordered than that of the Catholic church. One cannot help but feel, as you enter their churches, that the very presents of God is abiding there. The atmosphere is reverent and holy and the services are conducted with precision and attention to detail. Consider this in contrast to walking into a building filled with men and women clothed in everyday attire and speaking out of turn and over the top of each other.
For me, it is quite the opposite. I sense the presence of great evil in such places. Many, if not most of the great European cathedrals were built with money wrongfully extracted from the poor. Many of the services are/were conducted in an unknown tongue. (The picture is about as far away from Corinthians 14 as one could imagine.) And the birthright of every Christian to address the assembly is completely suppressed.
Furthermore, the showy garments, headgear, and ornaments openly defy the words of our Lord that we are all equal brethren. I could go on...
I am unaquainted with any groups who practice or advocate talking over each other. Certainly, this is plainly forbidden.
As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs. - Tetzel
It is so good to have your participation. I agree with your assessment. But to the unregenerated heart the appearance is quite the opposite. The soul is filled with awe, as it views the magnificience, then pride of the entrapements and pomp as it presumes to honor God. Yet, with all these visual, deceptive practices the church charms its victims ever closer and closer to the flames of hell as a fly is drawn, by intrigue, to the flame of the wick. The light that draws them is a false light, a light than men have manufactured through ages of study with the master deceiver in order to please the carnal heart and attact souls away from the beauty of the Light of Truth in Jesus Christ. It is a form of godliness which passes as true godliness and soothes the soul with vain comforts and sacraments of empty promises. It appeals to man's desire to be independent of God while professing dependence by insinuating that a man is not saved by grace through faith but that, in plain words, a man must suffer in purgatory or by penance to atone for his sins--as if the sacrifice of Jesus was not sufficient for these things, he must perform certain duties and fulfill obligations to merit the favor of God--as though the wrath of God is appeased by such triffles.
But while we condemn the institution as against the cross of Christ we must not forget that there are thousands in that body of faith who are faithful to God in all respects according to the knowledge of God that they have received. And, let us not be too hasty to refine them to hell for the beggarly forms of worship they have adopted because they have received these from the hands of the priests, the very ones they are raised to revere and honor. Jesus the True Shepherd will call to them, "Come out of her, my people," and they will hear his voice. We are that voice! We are the ministers of reconciliation on behalf of Jesus. We are to raise our voices to give true hope where it has been suppressed by false hope. We are to direct their attention to the mediatorial work of Jesus in heaven on their behalf and explain to them that the earthly priesthood ended with the death of Jesus. We are to intruduce them to Jesus as the compassionate Savior who cares for them and thereby remove the clutter of priests and Mother Mary that blocks their direct access to Christ their Redeemer. And, we are to teach them that by study of the word of God we receive the bread that is his life and by denial of self we drink of his sacrifice of blood thereby exposing the false hope they now place in the Eucharist Mass.
David, thanks for you thoughts. I have often felt the presense of evil in such places myself. With my wife being Catholic I have been in quite of few buildings. There is beauty and detail in the work which may very well portray the love of the artist for God.
May God bless His people in the Catholic church. May we be chosen to give the message to come out and come to Christ alone.
I have seen people raise their voices in song to praise God and think to themselves that they "make a joyful noise unto the Lord." By does God accept our songs of praise if our life does not also make beautfil noise? We could say that justice and mercy and truth in our words and deeds would also be a joyful noise unto the Lord. A bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit. So too, an evil heart cannot bring forth anything holy to honor and praise God. We need a heart that is in harmony with the will of God, a heart that is the recipient of the new covenant promise. "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." When we are obedient to the will of God, then we have peace with him. For his wrath is against the disobedient. "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." But in contrast, "... being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Who is it that God justifies but the very ones he also makes his children. Certainly not the children of disobedience. God will never call evil good!
So we need to cry to God to deliver us from the death of our old man, our natural heart, and to give us a new heart--a heart that sings with the new covenant faith, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."
Much to my chagrin, I have been drawn into contentions about the law on this forum. I realize that no amount of arguing whether or not God's law is binding upon us or not is of any value. It is only by faith that we receive the new covenant promise. Faith is something that happens in the deep recesses of the heart and is between God and man. But because the carnal heart is at enmity against God and is not subject to his law, nether can be, it cannot regenerate itself with any amount of human logic. For one thing, it has no desire to do so. It is predisposed to war against God's will and thus his commandments.
The cross must first convict of sin and then draw the soul to the Savior as its only hope. Then if that dear soul will only believe the promises of God he will receive power to become that obedient child of God. He will have strength to turn from sin and his life as a child of disobedience. But it must be an exercise of the faith that God bestows on every person. There is no human effort required, only the decesion to open the door of the heart to God's appeal.
The truth that is in Jesus Christ is represented as being comprehended by a very young child. If we would just receive Christ by faith and believe his promises as a little child and not cover or explain away the truth that is in Christ, then we would not need to ponder whether of not the law of God is eternal. It would be written in our hearts and the enmity we had for God and the issue of subjection to his law would dissolve into nothingness.
posted
Some Words come to mind which I hope are helpful. Amos 5:21-23 21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. 23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
Isa 59:1-4 1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that HE WILL NOT HEAR. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
ALSO
Gal 3:24 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster TO BRING US UNTO Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
What converts the soul of a sinner to Christ?
Psalm 19 7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
1Tim 1:8-9 8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; 9 Knowing this, that the LAW is NOT MADE for a righteous man, but FOR the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, ...
It seems that the Holy Spirit uses God's word to bring conviction and repentance to Christ. Until then, He's not interested in our meetings or our praise songs.
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