Head of the Serpent?. Mary Spinale Williams
universe are designed, and when that happens there is usually a designer. We could get into DNA and everything else that proves a designer but God tells us that we should know by looking around us that there is a designer and that we are without excuse. Romans 1:20 says “For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
We as believers are also without excuse not to learn and know His truth. Our Creator wrote us a book to tell us where we came from, where we are going and how to get there. We can remain in our pride and our comfortable little worlds with our own truth or we can humble ourselves and ask God for His truth. Galatians 1:8-9 says “But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell! As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell!” You need to decide for yourself. Is the Roman Catholic Church preaching a gospel contrary to what we received in His word? Is it all about Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross or will we be sidetracked with man-made traditions which ultimately are Satan’s lies and deceptions?
We need to spend time in His word and learn that He is the truth and that truth is not just a concept, but it is a person who has reached out to us, if we are willing to really open our hearts and minds to accept His word and not man’s word. This is not always easy and sometimes can take years before the blinders are removed from our eyes and we are willing to accept true doctrine from the Holy Spirit working within us. God not only wants to speak to us, but through us as believers and disciples of Christ. We as believers need to share and spread His word with a humble heart praying to God that our loved ones will respond. The gospel is simple, but man has complicated matters with the help of Satan. John 3:16 is famous for summing up His word. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
So there it is, belief in Him, not the Pope, not Mary, not the Roman Catholic Church and its man-made traditions, but Him and Him alone. Jesus Christ is our advocate and mediator, not the church, not a priest, not the pope nor even Mary. Scripture tells us in Acts 4:12 that “neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” So you can go to a priest to confess your sins, kneel and pray to Mary as an advocate, listen to the Pope and all of his heresies, or we can go back to the Bible and find Jesus. That’s why the bible says, “He is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him.” I can't understand if you believe that Jesus is the sole way to God, you can still go to Mary and others. Can we get that into our heads?
It’s only through Jesus, sisters and brothers. Why do we ignore this and continue to do what we’ve always done and not give it a thought? Our lives are but a vapor. Don’t fill it with useless traditions that won’t bring you any closer to God. Let God speak to your heart to see the truth of His word. Don't allow the church to confuse you and twist His word.
So who will you depend on at your last breath? Whose name will you utter? If your answer is Jesus, don’t wait, go to him now where you can draw closer to him, maybe wake up our loved ones and bring them to their senses. His word will do that for you. Read the Bible yourself and you might find you’re no longer “Catholic."
My fervent prayer is for anyone that is following any Christian religion or denomination, to stop and follow the Bible. If there is one faith, why do we have so much confusion and denominations within the Christian Community? His word is the only truth. It’s imperative we follow God and His word and not man and traditions. Don’t let deceiving spirits and your pride keep you from His truth. Open your heart and mind and let the Holy Spirit teach you the truth that will set you free. It's man ultimate decision, it's your ultimate decision. Make the right one.
Read what Paul says in Acts 17:23-31 "Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "...So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Paul says that in every way they were very religious but ignorant of the very thing they worship. Let's not be ignorant of what we worship. God wants us to reach out to Him and we will find Him because He is not far from any one of us. He tells us we are His offspring. What happened? If we are His offspring why do we seek another face like Mary or the Pope? Paul tells us that in the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. Will you? He has given us proof of who he is by raising Him from the dead, yet here is man looking to Mary or the Pope for salvation. There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved. Don't let the Catholic church interpret His word and decide what it says for you.
How is it that we can all read the same book yet come up with different translations, a different Jesus, a different gospel? Why are there so many different denominations within the Christian religion? How many books can be written on the same subject? Is there any “Church” on earth anymore without its own agenda that teaches the truth? Or is there no one truth anymore? Do all roads lead to God?
Let’s go to His Word to see what He is really telling us.
Chapter One: The Pope
Is the pope infallible? Was Peter our first pope? Was he, “the rock”, as the Catholic church teaches? I find it very interesting that within hours of when Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation on February 11, 2013, two separate bolts of lightning struck St. Peter’s. What are the chances of two bolts of lightning striking hours after his resignation? Was God trying to tell us something? Or when two white doves were released from a window as a peace gesture by children standing on both sides of Pope Frances and were attacked by a seagull and a large black crow sweeping down on them after they were released. Not one but both birds were attacked while thousands of people watched in St Peter’s Square! I think maybe God’s trying to get our attention. He does it twice each time so we will have a harder time passing it off as coincidence and to get us thinking.
Pope Francis has been quoted as saying it is harmful and dangerous for anyone to have a relationship with Jesus outside of the church! Psalm 119:130 says “The opening up of Thy words gives light: it supplies understanding to the simple." “Understanding to the simple” means you and me. We don’t need any one person or organization to tell us what God’s word says. What’s harmful and dangerous is the following of man and his traditions instead of scripture. God says in 1 Corinthians 8:3 “But the one who loves God is known by God.” Reading His word is what brings us closer to Him and develops a relationship with Him. As you study and become closer to Jesus you will see for yourself all the lies and deception within the Catholic church.
Back in the Dark Ages you were burned you at the stake as a heretic if you were caught reading the Bible for yourself. It's hard for us to believe that it was forbidden to possess a bible in your own home, but there it is in our history. You can research it for yourself. The average person was prohibited and not allowed to own a Bible. Let's not forget that the average person didn't know how to read. In 1229 the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Toulouse declared that laity (ordinary person) should