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Satan's Temptation of Christ

Another attempt at a justification that is offered by Rome for her pagan practices and doctrines, is to place one Biblical doctrine above, and to the exclusion of, all others.

We have a very clear example of this being done in the Bible also, so Romanists are certainly not without precedent...

Mat 4:6 "And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

Was Satan wrong? Was the scripture he quoted not a Biblical doctrine?

The answer is no, but with qualifications.

It is very true that God will give His angels charge over us, and help us from getting hurt. This IS a scriptural line of thought. But does this line of thought proceed indefinitely unto it's every utmost possible conclusion?

No.

There is a point in scripture at which a line is drawn, across which this thought is not Biblically allowed to traverse any further- "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

Now, the Biblical thought that Rome espouses, to the exclusion of any other scripture bearing on the subject, or in other words, the line of thought that they traverse to the exclusion of any line drawn to it's resistance and opposition, is this-

"Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26: 26-28).

This is a very real doctrine. That is not being denied by this writer. When one partakes in the communion with bread and wine, one partakes in the one and only sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross- really and truly, without a doubt.

But!

Just as Satan tempted Christ with taking the angel's charge to it's utmost possible conclusion, it is possible to take this Biblical doctrine to it's utmost possible conclusion, even beyond that which scripture dictates. In this manner, after a clearly satanic example, Romanism tempts the church of Christ by taking the doctrine of "My body... and my blood" to it's furthest possible conclusion....

From "The Catholic Faith," 1959, by the Rt. Rev. G. P. Dwyer: "When the priest says Mass he does what Christ did at His Last Supper. He takes bread and wine. He says: 'This is my body. This is my blood.' At that moment by the power of God the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ . . . What was bread is no longer bread, what was wine is no longer wine. It is the Body and Blood of Christ .... The change which takes place . . . is entirely supernatural and cannot be discerned by any natural means. That is why the Church has made a special word to describe it -- Transubstantiation" (pp. 96, 99, 100).

Therefore, and conclusively-

Joh 8:41 "Ye do the deeds of your father... 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?"

The conclusive problem that is presented to Rome is that the concept of the body and blood is not without it's qualifications and constraints! Constraints which Romanism, just like Satan, must ignore and denigrate, in order to make them of none effect!

And that by holding one Biblical concept above, to the exclusion of, all other scriptures bearing on the subject-

"This is My body... This is my blood"! They chant over, and over like a broken record!

They may as well chant- "He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, so go ahead and jump, Jesus!"

But!!! And to the denigration of the Catholic dogma-

It is written again-

* Act 15:29 "...Abstain... from blood..., and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well..."

* Joh 6:63 "...the flesh profiteth nothing..."

* Mat 13:34 "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them:"

* Act 17:24 "God... dwelleth not in temples made with hands"

Romanism thereby makes these words of God of none effect by their tradition, and therefore, their worship is in vain!

Mat 15:3 "...Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying,

"Abstain... from blood..." and "...the flesh profiteth nothing..." "and without a parable spake he not unto them:" and "God... dwelleth not in temples made with hands"

Mat 15:5 But ye say...

"If anyone denies that in the sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist are contained truly, really and substantially the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ, but says that He is in it only as in a sign, or figure or force, let him be anathema" (Canons on the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, Canon 1).

and...

"If anyone says that Christ received in the Eucharist is received spiritually only and not also sacramentally and really, let him be anathema." (Canons on the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, Canon 8).

Mat 15:6 "...Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

Rome has thereby demonstrably anathematized the very Bible!

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

Col 2:8 "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

1Pe 1:18 "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things..., from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;"

Rev 2:20 "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." 21 And I gave her space (time) to repent of her fornication; and she repented not."

Now if there is a crime, the detective movies tell us, there must be a motive!

by TomR.

Please continue with Part One, Reply to Seven Hills...