Add on's ( Hebrews 9 v 12 ) 4

 Let us continue to look at what the RC church calls the mass and their very strange way they look at it,to say the least, it does not get any better,in fact it gets much worse.It clearly underminds the atonement,and when anyone does that it is very serious.We have pointed out their wrong interpetation of the bread and wine,the question is what do they believe the mass is,to them it is a literal sacrifice ,everytime they have a mass it becomes that self same sacrifice that happened on calvary .Every mass is a re-enacting of Calvary. Hebrews 9- 10  deals with Christ sacrifice ,the writer points out that the animal sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year was imperfect,they did not deal effectively with sin.They could never do that they were only a shadow, he points to the impossiblity of the blood of bulls and goats taking away sin.God had a bigger plan, Jesus the Lamb of God would take away the sin of the world (John 1 v29)Jesus one sacrifice would effectively  deal with sin ,Cp Hebrews 9 , read v23ff were it clearly tells us that He does not need to be offered again and again v25 reads,' Nor yet that He should offer himself often.' v28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many'. To say that Christ has to be sacrificed continully is really saying, it is not effective in dealing with sin. I have a friend who was ardent RC,as a RC he felt that his sins were not forgiven,that all changed when He trusted Jesus one time sacrifice on the cross.

Add on's ( Luke 22 v 17 -19)3

The last one of the add on's is the 'Mass', what is it? it is one of the core doctrines of the Catholic faith, the core of  this is the death of Christ .All Christian churches do what Christ told us to do ,when he eat bread and drink wine,the bread stands for his body,and the wine stands for His blood,these remind us, of his death on Calvary,He said do this in rememberance of me. (Luke 22 v14-20) The simplicity of it is wonderful,there is nothing complicated about it.But the mass turns it iinto more than that,based on John 6 v53 were Jesus says,'unless you eat the flesh of the Son of  Man and drink His blood,you have no life.'There were those who heard those words, took it literally,and they stopped following Jesus.No Jew would drink blood,and none of us would eat flesh,it was never to be taken literally.The simplest answer is this 'the taking of Christ within oneself  that is by the metaphor of eating and drinking'( Dr .Leon Morris) When Jesus said He was a door in John 10 v9 ,he was using a metaphor,when He said he said He was the good shepherd,he was using it to illustrate something people could identify with ,I suppose one could say that was a metaphor also,He never was a literal shepherd .Coming back to the mass,the RC church takes  what Jesus said literal,which to say the least is wrong,they believe the bread miraculously turns into the body of Christ so that  they believe they are literally eating the flesh of Christ,and the wine likewise when they drink the wine  they belive they are literally drinking the blood of Christ.

Add on's . (Colossians 2 v13) 2

 Now let us consider the next add on 'Purgatory', what is purgatory?It is seen as a tempory state or place after death where souls are cleansed and purified of remaining sins before entering heaven.This purifying is done by a spiritual fire which is agony.It did not become  official Roman Catholic doctrine until the 13th-15th centuries.I wonder what happened before then?The RC base it on a verse 2 Maccabees 12 v46,but the problem is that 2Maccabees was never accepted as being part of the cannon of scripture,by the Protestant church,and Jewish authorities. This teaching weakens the atoning death of Christ,which is the only thing that deals with sin 1John 1 v 7, make that clear,it reads ,'the blood of Jesus his Son,purifies us from all sin.' Hebrews 9v22 reads,'Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness'.There is no such thing as a spiritual purifying us from our sin after death.Nor is there any bases of going to a place called purgatory, we read of the dying thief in Luke 23 v43 'Jesus answered him,'Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise'2 Corinthians 5 v 8 reads,'We are confident,I say,and willing rather to be absent from the body,and to be present with the Lord' It is very clear that Enoch went straight to heaven.(Hebrews 11 v 5)The biggest argument against purgatory, there is no mention of it in the Bible it is just one of those add on's.

Add on's ( Romans 6 v23 )1

Beware of the add on's,for once  they start, who knows where they are going to end ,the result is they take people further and further from the truth.The greatest culpit who does this well, I won't mention them by name but we will consider the add on's they have brought in,well some of them. The first one is, we cannot be saved by faith alone,the next one is a place which they call purgatory,were one is purified by fire.and the next one is  the mass. Let us consider the first one,we can't be saved by faith alone,is that true?,no it's not,  they add on .'good works'. they base this on what James says in his epistle chap 2 v14ff in understanding what James says ,we must consider v18  which reads,'Show me your faith without deeds and I will show my you my faith by my deeds'. Our deeds are the evidence that our faith is true,as James says twice,'show me'.If we are showing no evidence of being a Christian then we not a Christian. We read throughout scripture,that we are saved by simple faith in Christ and his finished work.The thief  on the cross did no good works John 23 v43.Abraham did no good works to be saved Cp  Romans 4 v1-6. v3 reads 'What does scripture say? Abraham believed God,and it was counted unto as righteoudness' Rom 5 v1 'Therefore,since we have been justified by faith,we have peace with God through our Jesus Christ.I could go on but I leave  you with  Ephesians 2 v  8-9,'For it is by grace you are saved,through faith,and this is not from yourselves,it is a GIFT of God, not by WORKS,so that no one can boast.'

                                           'Martin Luther said 'We are saved by faith alone

                                            but the faith that saves is never alone'

Repentance ( 2 Peter 3 v 9)

 The Christian author Os Guinness said,'Confession is a source of strength not weakness,he also mentioned what  Margaret Thatcher said,'the womens not for turning',as being dangerous'.When we. sin it is is vital that we confess our sins and repent of them. 1John 1 v 9 reads ,'If we confess our sins,He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness'.King David committed a terrible sin, , adultery and murder ,he confessed this is to God  ,and God forgive him.No matter how terrible ones sins are ,God will forgive us.He forgave Paul,the persecuter of His Church he was shown mercy'.Paul never forgot that,he wrote,'Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man,'he was shown mercy (1 Timothy 1 v 13). Manasseh was one of the worse kings who ruled Judah,he sinned greatly ,read 2 Chronicles 33 ,but God forgave him. Remember in God's sight all sin is equally evil and needs to be confessed.Sin unconfessed will drive us away us away form God.Os Guinness pointed out that Jewish scholars spoken of repentance as coming home,the story of the prodigal illustrates that,the hymn writer wrote 

                                                          'I've wandered far away from God;

                                                           Now I'm coming home;

                                                            The paths of sin too long I've trod;

                                                             Lord, I'm coming home'.

Are you listening? ( Revelation 2 v 29)

I was out with fellow Christians ,having a meal,and I jokingly said husbands have a deaf ear,because so often the women says to their husbands,'your not listening' We may smile at those words,there may be a degree of truth in what is said. Often a parent says to their children,are you listening to what I say? of course they are,pull the other leg.But let us move on to a higher level,as regards God speaking and the importance of people listening and acting on what He says.In Psalm 95v 7-8/Hebrews 3 v 15,it reads 'Today, if you hear his voice not harden your hearts,as you did in the rebellion'.what does harden mean?it has different aspects to it,it can describe a person's feelings becoming tough and unfeeling,and unbelieving.During our Lords earthly ministery he spoke to many people,especially the religious leaders. In Matthew 13 v 15 He declares why 'Though seeing,they do not see; though hearing ,they do not hear or understand. ......For this people  have become calloused;the  word calloused means ,'cruel and not concerned with others fellings.It is a picture of people who do want to hear God's word.Such as the times we live in,we understand the non-Christian being like that ,but what about us who are Christians,are we listening? or do we have deaf ear?

Better He choose. ( Psalm 23 v 3)

 Sometimes in life you just have to accept things,I didn't get to be that missionary I wanted to be,but I have two son's in Chritian ministry,one who travels all over the world ministering.David wanted to build a temple but God said no, it didn't stop him from supplying the materials for the temple.Moses wanted to go into the promised land,but God said no,although he was allowed him to see it from afar. Paul wanted to be healed,but God said no,but God granted him the grace to bear it.Let us never forget God is in control in Psalm 47 v4 we read, 'He shall choose our inheritance for us'Jonah did not accept the task God had given him to do,but he soon learned,the folly of that,when he ended up in the belly of a great fish.You may have been let down in romance,consider that it was not God's choice for you.That promotion you wanted and it didn't happen,it was not God's choice for you.

                                                                 'Thy will be done'