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"Take
Heed" Ministries
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Cecil Andrews, PO BOX 13, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AL, Northern Ireland. Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEBSITE - http://www.takeheed.net |
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The ‘gospel truth’ according to ‘Father’ Paul Symonds |
In the latter part of February I received a phone
call from a Christian man who asked me if I had heard that Ballymena was awash
with rumours that a local Roman Catholic priest had ‘got saved’ and that he was
buying gospel tracts in the local Faith Mission bookshop and distributing them.
I asked the caller if he could give me the name of
the priest at the centre of the rumours and he said he was sure it was ‘Father’ Paul Symonds. I wrote an article about
Paul Symonds in my June 2006 News
From The Front newsletter called ‘The “Ecumenical Wizardry” of Jesuit Paul
Symonds’
and that newsletter can be accessed on http://www.takeheed.net/JUNE2006.htm I chose the title of
that article deliberately because this Roman Catholic priest verges on the
brink of having the ability to ‘cast a spell’ over his listeners and to
‘hoodwink’ people who, with their professed theological ‘know-how’, should not
be subject to what is clearly a ‘strong delusion’ that he is putting forth.
It is clear from current events that a much more
detailed warning about ‘The
“gospel truth” according to ‘Father’ Paul Symonds’ needs to be sounded and that is the
purpose of this article. Of necessity I will reproduce in this article some
portions from my previous article but there will be much more included that
will expose, from his own lips and pen, just precisely what this trained
Jesuit, Paul Symonds, really means when he speaks about his faith.
God’s people who read this article would do well to
bear in mind these Collins English Dictionary definitions –
‘Jesuit’ – 1. A member of a Roman Catholic religious order (The Society
of Jesus) founded by
Ignatius Loyola in 1534 with the aim of defending [Roman] Catholicism against the
Reformation. 2. A person given to subtle and equivocating [to
equivocate is to avoid speaking directly or honestly] arguments.
From ‘The Spiritual Exercises of St
Ignatius’ [founder of the Jesuits] by Jesuit Louis J Puhl, we read
this on page 160 ‘If we wish to proceed securely in all things, we must hold fast to
the following principle: What seems to me white, I will believe black, if the
hierarchical Church [‘The Magisterium
composed of the Pope and his Bishops] so defines’.
When someone is truly converted to Christ they
receive two gracious [unmerited] gifts from God –
1.
‘Eternal Life’ [Romans
2.
God’s permanently indwelling Holy Spirit [Ephesians
What is the
personal testimony of Paul Symonds on these life-changing matters? In the book
published in 1998 by the ‘Evangelical Catholic Initiative’ called ‘Adventures in Reconciliation
— 29 Catholic Testimonies’, Paul Symonds wrote [p226] ‘From my experience I have always believed that in
my baptism in the Methodist Church [as
an unbelieving infant] I received the gift of new life and the Holy Spirit’. He is a
firm believer in the heresy of ‘Baptismal Regeneration’ and you will see and
hear him publicly testify to that later in this article.
However, as an example of his
‘equivocating’ [something less than direct or
honest] language, having stated on page 226 that he believed he had
received ‘new
life’ and ‘the
Holy Spirit’ when he was baptized as a baby in the Methodist Church, he then
went on to write on page 228, ‘It was in the Catholic Church that I first met the living Lord
Jesus’. If that were so then who or what on earth does he believe he ‘met’
when he was baptized as a baby in the Methodist Church and supposedly
received ‘new life’ and ‘the Holy Spirit’? These
contradictory statements just don’t ‘stack up’.
What I plan to do later in this
article is to give you links that will take you to extracts from a public
debate that I organized back in 1995 in the Lough Moss Leisure Centre in Carryduff
on the subject of ‘Getting to Heaven’. On the Roman Catholic side of the debate
there was ‘Father’ Paul Symonds and on the Biblical Christian side of the
debate there was my brother in Christ, Rob Zins, Director of ‘A Christian
Witness to Roman Catholicism’ – this link will take you to Rob’s ministry
website http://www.cwrc-rz.org/
I have divided the debate DVD extracts
up into 6 ‘segments’ and after I give you the links to view each of them in
turn I will then set out for you a synopsis of the important points that I
believe that you should have noted as you listened to Paul Symonds speak in
each segment. The visual quality of what you will see is not great because
it is from a DVD that I put together by extracting portions from a copy of
the video of the original debate. However, you will be able to see that it
is Paul Symonds speaking and you will be able to hear what he says. Now, herewith
are the segments and points to listen out for –
Paul Symonds here addressed the question as he
phrased it ‘But how do we come to know Jesus Christ and so be enabled to open our
hearts to the gift of eternal life’? An Evangelical, Biblical Christian would
understand this question in terms of ‘But how does someone get saved’?
Paul Symonds basically pointed to 2 necessities as
follows –
1. Contact with ‘the Church’
2. Participation in ‘The Sacraments’ [particular
emphasis is given by him to baptism].
In this answer Paul Symonds was being totally
faithful to Roman Catholic teaching as outlined for instance in the 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Please follow this line of thinking with me. Paragraph 1129 states ‘The [Roman
Catholic] Church
affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for
salvation’. Paragraph 1210 states ‘Christ
instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism,
Confirmation [or Chrismation], the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the
Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony.
Obviously not every Roman Catholic can or does
qualify to participate in every one of these seven ‘sacraments’ so as regards
becoming a Christian [as understood in Roman Catholic terms] we read this in paragraph 1212 ‘The sacraments of Christian
initiation – Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist – lay the foundation of
every Christian life’. Roman Catholics must look to the sacraments of the Roman
Catholic Church for the foundation of their ‘Christian life’ – in contrast the
Bible says that true believers should be “Looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith” [Hebrews 12:2] “For other foundation can no man lay than
that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” [1 Corinthians 3:11].
Rome regards herself as the ‘One true Church’ and
believes that normally only her priests [except in
a ‘case of necessity’ where baptism is concerned] can properly ‘perform’ these
sacraments. Listen to these teachings from Rome’s Code of Canon Law. Canon 861 ‘The ordinary minister of baptism
is a Bishop, a priest or a deacon’ Canon 882 ‘The ordinary minister of confirmation is a Bishop. A priest can also
validly offer this sacrament’. Canon
900 ‘The
only minister, who, in the person of Christ, can bring into being the sacrament
of the Eucharist is a validly ordained priest’.
Paul Symonds stated that for Roman Catholics ‘the
first step on the road to heaven’ was to ‘come into contact with the [Roman
Catholic] Church’
and he stated that for him that happened when he was at primary school. Perhaps
I need to remind him that in his testimony in ‘Adventures in Reconciliation’ he
stated ‘From my
experience I have always believed that in my baptism in the Methodist Church [as an unbelieving infant] I received the gift of new
life and the Holy Spirit’ – that baptism took place years before he attended
primary school so is he now telling us that this baptism was not his ‘first
step on the road to heaven’ even though he believes that in it he ‘received the
gift of new life and the Holy Spirit’. Again something here doesn’t ‘stack up’.
Paul Symonds affirmed the Roman
Catholic heresy of ‘Baptismal Regeneration’ when he stated ‘Baptism introduces
us to Christ – it is an effective and not just a symbolic encounter’ and he
quotes Acts 2:38 to infer that sins are remitted through being baptized with
water.
Again he was fully endorsing
official Roman Catholic teaching – Canon 849 ‘Baptism is the gateway to the
sacraments, is necessary for salvation…By it people are freed from sins, are
born again as children of God…are incorporated into the Church. It is validly
conferred only by a washing in real water with the proper form of words’.
John MacArthur in his Study Bible
has these helpful comments on ‘Acts 2:38 “for the remission of sins”. This
might be better translated ‘because of the remission of sins’. Baptism does not
produce forgiveness and cleansing from sin. The reality of forgiveness precedes
the rite of baptism…Every believer enjoys the complete remission of sins’.
Rome teaches that ‘Confirmation’ is
to be administered to people who have been baptized, have been instructed and
are able ‘to renew the baptismal promises’. They must have attained ‘the age of
discretion’ [see Canons
889 & 891].
Paul Symonds stated that in
‘Confirmation’ people are ‘sealed’ with the Holy Spirit and cites Ephesians
4:30. The Biblical reality is that all true believers are ‘sealed’ with the
Holy Spirit the instant they are truly converted as we read in Ephesians
1:13-14 and 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Paul Symonds referred to the
Sacrifice of Christ at Calvary as having been ‘once and for all’ and listeners
might infer from this that he believes the sacrifice was finished, in time, at
Calvary. Not so! As a faithful Roman Catholic priest he would also endorse the
teaching of Rome that states concerning the Eucharist in Canon 899 ‘In it
Christ the Lord, through the ministry of the priest OFFERS HIMSELF,
substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine, TO GOD THE
FATHER, and gives himself as spiritual nourishment to the faithful who are
associated with him in his offering’.
In relation to the Eucharist Paul
Symonds said it was the source of ‘hope and strength’ for the Marist nuns who
influenced his mother into becoming a Roman Catholic. He then basically stated
that as we are ‘body and spirit’ we can in part be built up spiritually by
physical [consecrated bread and wine] means [as does Canon 899’s reference to ‘spiritual nourishment’].
I would Biblically refute that by
quoting this portion from a talk that I gave on ‘Transubstantiation’ –
Physical ‘ingestion’ does not affect a persons’
‘spiritual’
condition yet the 1994 Catholic Catechism states
[Para:1392]
‘What material food produces in our bodily life,
Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual
life’
[Para:1393]
‘Holy Communion separates us from sin’
[Para: 1394]
‘the Eucharist strengthens our charity…and this living
charity [not the blood of
Christ] wipes away venial sins’
[Para: 1396]
‘Communion renews, strengthens and
deepens…incorporation into the Church,
already achieved by Baptism’
Concerning physical ‘ingestion’ - The Lord Himself said in
Matthew 15:11, 17-18
11 Not
that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of
the mouth, this defileth a man. 17 Do
not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the
belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18 But
those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they
defile the man.
The
truth is that a ‘consecrated’ and
supposedly
‘transubstantiated’ piece of bread
has
no ‘POWER TO CHANGE’ anyone or anything.
itself,
when it becomes ‘mouldy old dough’.
It
is ‘corruptible’ despite Rome’s claim of it having
the
‘incorruptible Christ’ at the very heart of its being!
Our
‘spiritual’ state is
governed
by the HEART and not by the STOMACH
Listen
to Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:8
“But
meat [food] commendeth us not to God; for neither if we
eat, are we the better; neither if we eat not, are we the worse”
No
wonder the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:11
“Thy
WORD have I hidden in mine HEART,
that
I might not sin against thee”
God’s
Word, the scriptures are referred to as ‘milk’ as ‘meat’
as ‘bread’ and as ‘honey’ and Jesus Himself said of those same
scriptures in John 5:39 that these
“are
they which testify of me”
is
to ‘feed’ on Christ
Paul Symonds spoke of God’s ‘free
gift of salvation’. But just how ‘free’ is it according to Rome? Paragraph 2010 of the
Catholic Catechism states ‘no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness
and justification at the beginning of their conversion. Moved by the Holy
Spirit and by charity, we can [then] MERIT for
ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the
increase of grace and charity and FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF ETERNAL LIFE’. If a person has to ‘merit’ something they
must of necessity first perform some work that ‘merits’ a reward and that is
precisely the false teaching and thinking about God’s salvation that the
Apostle Paul roundly rejects in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye SAVED
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT OF WORKS [that would earn ‘merit’] lest any man should boast’.
On this matter of the ‘free gift of
salvation’ I would also alert you in advance to watch out for the quote given
in segment 6 of the DVD segments when Paul Symonds quotes from the writings of
one of his favorite Roman Catholic theologians, deceased Jesuit Henri de Lubac.
Interestingly the quote is from de Lubac’s book entitled ‘Catholicism’ and from
the chapter ‘Salvation
through the Church’ – In contrast to this claim of ‘Salvation through the
Church’ the supposed first Pope, the Apostle Peter wrote concerning Christ [not ‘the Church] – “Neither is there salvation in any other” [Acts
4:12].
Paul Symonds taught that the [Roman Catholic] Church and its sacraments are ‘how we come to know
Jesus Christ and so be enabled to open our hearts to the gift of eternal life’.
God’s Word gives an altogether different teaching and truth in this matter.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10: 14 “How then
shall they call on him [for salvation] in whom they have not
believed? And how shall they believe in him [for
salvation] of
whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear [of the
Saviour] without
a preacher?’ [No mentions here of any ‘church’ or any sacramental
priesthood].
In contrast to Paul Symonds’ ‘false gospel’ of
sacramentalism for salvation we read of the God-ordained and appointed way of
salvation in 1 Corinthians 1:21 “For it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching [not priestly-orchestrated sacramental observance] to save them that
believe”. People who hear the gospel preached and believe it are those who
“after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation…after ye
believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” [Ephesians 1:13].
In this short segment Paul Symonds affirmed his
belief in the Roman Catholic teaching of ‘transubstantiation’. He stated that
the Eucharist is a ‘thanksgiving’ but failed to mention that it is also
according to Rome [Canon 897] ‘The most august
sacrament…in which the Sacrifice of the cross is for ever perpetuated’. The Rev
J A Coleman in his little booklet ‘The Tragedy of The Mass’ quoted from
‘Instruction on the Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery’ [page 5] as follows ‘In
the Sacrifice of the Mass our Lord is immolated [Collins
English Dictionary – ‘Immolate’ – to kill or offer as a sacrifice; to sacrifice
something highly valued] when he begins to be present sacramentally…under the
appearances of bread and wine’.
The Rev Coleman also quotes from ‘Fundamentals of
Catholic Dogma’ by Ludwig Ott as follows [pages 412-413] ‘The Sacrifice of the
Mass is not merely a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving but also a sacrifice
of expiation and impetration [procures removal]…As a propitiatory
sacrifice the Sacrifice of the Mass effects the remission of sins and the
punishment for sins…the Eucharistic Sacrifice of propitiation can, as the
Council of Trent expressly asserted, be offered, not merely for the living, but
also for the poor souls in Purgatory’.
Some years ago, for research/information purposes,
Margaret and I attended some public lectures in Belfast on Roman Catholicism
given by ‘Father’ Patrick McCafferty and, when speaking about The Eucharist,
Patrick was making much of it being a ‘thanksgiving’ to the virtual exclusion
of it being a ‘sacrifice’. When it came to the feedback/question time from the
audience one Roman Catholic man pointed out very forcibly to Patrick that the
Eucharist was not just a ‘thanksgiving’ but also a ‘sacrifice’.
In the Catholic Catechism under the section headed
‘What is this sacrament [The Eucharist] called’ we read in paragraph 1330 ‘The “Holy Sacrifice” because it
makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Saviour and includes the
Church’s offering’. In relation to the underlined portion I immediately
thought of the words of Psalm 49:6-8 “They that trust in their wealth and boast
themselves in the multitude of their riches. None of them can by any means
redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of
their soul is precious”.
In Indianapolis in 1987 at an ecumenical,
charismatic gathering one of the lead speakers was ‘Father’ Tom Forrest who
headed up The Decade of Evangelisation called by the late Pope John Paul II. In
a report of this event, David Cloud wrote ‘Another illustration of the gross
heresy countenanced in the charismatic-ecumenical movement is seen in a speech
in Indianapolis by priest Tom Forrest. Forrest is a Catholic priest based in
Rome and is in charge of the Roman Catholic programme to “evangelise” the world
by the year 2000. He works hand in hand with the pope and is a great lover of
Roman heresies. One morning in Indianapolis Forrest spoke to the Roman Catholic
session and said “Our
role in evangelisation is not just to make Christians; our job is to make
people as richly and as fully Christian as we can make them by
bringing them into the Catholic church”. Forrest continued by glorying in
the Catholic distinctives. He praised God for the sacraments. He praised God
for the mass. He praised God for the priesthood “according to the order of
Melchisidec” [a blasphemous claim as Christ alone is such a
priest according to Hebrews 5:5-10 &
Hebrews 7:14-21 & 24-25] He praised God for Mary, the “Queen of Paradise” who
is praying for us all…He praised God for the Papacy…for Catholic tradition, for
saints, for the liturgy…for purgatory’.
Here was a deluded, high-ranking Roman Catholic
priest ‘trusting in’ and ‘boasting in’ Rome’s ‘multitude of spiritual riches’
as being the means of making people ‘as
richly and fully Christian’ as is possible, even to the extent of supposedly
adding ‘the Church’s offering’ to the Sacrifice of Christ during ‘The
Sacrifice of the Mass’ to obtain forgiveness of sins for people. What a
soul-damning delusion that is refuted by Peter who explains what we previously
read in Psalm 49 of how ‘the redemption of their soul is precious’ – Peter wrote
in 1 Peter 1:18-19 “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things like silver and gold from your vain manner of life, received
by TRADITION from your fathers, but with the PRECIOUS blood of Christ as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot” [no
mention of, room for or need here for any ‘Church’s offering’].
Returning to Paul Symonds and his personal
affirmation of his belief in ‘transubstantiation’ it is worth noting precisely
what he said about the Mass. He spoke of ‘we take bread and wine…invoke the
Holy Spirit…speak the words of Jesus…This is my body…This is my blood…we believe the Lord meant what he
said…so that by the power of the Holy Spirit the bread and wine become the body
and blood of the glorious, risen Lord’.
In the 1994
Catechism of the Catholic Church we read in Paragraph 1376 ‘it has always been the conviction of the
Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the
consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance
of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole
substance of the wine into the substance of His blood. This change the holy
Catholic Church fittingly and properly called ‘transubstantiation’.
In 1st
Corinthians 11 the Apostle Paul recounts the events of the last supper as we
read in verses 24-25 “And when he had
given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which
is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner
also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New
Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance
of me”. Echoing the account, as recorded in Luke 22:19-20, in Paul’s inspired
account we do not find the Lord specifically saying of ‘the wine’, “this is my
blood”. In relation to these accounts Rome takes the Lord ‘literally’ when he
speaks of ‘the bread’ but Rome takes the words of the Lord metaphorically or
symbolically when he speaks of ‘the cup’.
What was even more disturbing was the claim by Paul Symonds that Rome’s priests can orchestrate the actions of the Holy Spirit – he spoke of ‘invoking the Holy Spirit’ – this is the language of spiritism and occultism. No human being can orchestrate or control the actions of the Holy Spirit who sovereignly moves according to His own will just like the, humanly-speaking, uncontrollable wind as we read in John 3:8.
Nowhere in the accounts of the last supper do we find the Lord stating
that by using His words as an ‘invoking incantation’ that the Holy Spirit would
then come and ‘transubstantiate’ mere bread and wine into His literal body. In
fact when the Apostle Paul is ending his inspired comments on what is often
referred to as ‘The Lord’s Table’ he says in verses 26 “For as often as ye eat this
bread and drink this cup ye do show the Lord’s death till he come”.
The
Westminster Confession of Faith, using the language of its day, in Chapter
XXIX: VI sets out a very good scripturally-based assessment of Rome’s claims –
‘That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine into
the substance of Christ’s body and blood (commonly called transubstantiation)
by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant, not to
Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason and overthroweth the
nature of the Sacrament [a remembrance of Calvary] and hath been and is the cause of manifold
superstitions; yea of gross idolatries’.
The
reality is that the Mass is ‘gross idolatry’ for the Council of Trent instructs
Roman Catholics, in Chapter V, under a heading of ‘The Worship and Veneration
to be shown to This Most Holy Sacrament’, as follows – ‘all the faithful of
Christ may, in accordance with a custom always received in the Catholic Church,
give to this most holy sacrament [the
supposedly transubstantiated wafer] in veneration, the worship of latria [Rome’s highest form of ‘worship’] which is due to the true God’. As a Roman Catholic
priest holds aloft a supposedly transubstantiated piece of bread, Roman
Catholics must worship it as ‘the true God’ – this is ‘gross idolatry’
and Paul Symonds practices and promotes it.
In
these segments we heard Paul Symonds publicly seeking to justify the role of
the sacrifice-offering/sin-pardoning Roman Catholic priesthood. He described
their role as ‘making His [Christ’s] saving grace present’. It is
not for any sinful human being to determine when or how Almighty God will deal
graciously with a sinner – that is God’s sovereign prerogative alone and He
acts graciously in the true conversion of a sinner when His Holy Spirit moves
by His determination alone in convicting and converting power. God alone
determines when He will act graciously – sinful man cannot ‘manipulate’ the
grace of God. The whole Roman Catholic teaching of ‘ex opere operato’ [Hardon’s Pocket Catholic Dictionary - A term defined by the Council of
Trent to describe how the sacraments confer the grace they signify…”from the
work performed” – Cecil’s comments - What a travesty of truth to
claim that the unmerited’ grace’ of God can be obtained from Him through
performing some ‘work’] is a devilish claim for Rome’s priests to ‘be like the most high’ [Isaiah
13:14].
Paul
Symonds likened the Roman Catholic priestly call to those who were called to
the Old Testament Aaronic priesthood. That priesthood was made forever
redundant by the finished work of Christ on the cross. We read in Hebrews
10:11-12 & 14 “And every [Aaronic] priest standeth daily
ministering and offering the same sacrifices [just
like Roman Catholic priests do today by offering daily ‘The Sacrifice of The
Mass’] which can
never take away sins; But this man [Christ] after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins [on the cross] for ever, sat down on the
right hand of God…For by one offering he hath perfected [given a perfect standing before God to] them that are sanctified’ [those truly converted and now set apart for God –all true believers].
In
speaking of the Roman priesthood’s claim to forgive sins Paul Symonds spoke of
their ‘power and responsibility to release people from their sins’ and of
course that supposedly happens during ‘confession’. Former Roman Catholic, Jim
McCarthy in his book ‘The Gospel According to Rome’ has some helpful comments
on this claim. He wrote on pages 80-81 –
‘When
King David repented of his adultery, he confessed his sin directly to God.
No priest. No ritual. No sacrament. Just a broken man owning up to his sin
before His maker…Confession directly to God was also the experience of
Nehemiah [1:4-11], Daniel [9:3-19] and Ezra [9:5-10]. New Testament Christians
can also go directly to God with their sins …”If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness” [1 John 1:9]. Jim also wrote on these pages that Christians
‘go not to a Judge but to their Father with Jesus at their side [for] “If
anyone sins we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” [1
John 2:1-2].
Paul Symonds quoted John 20:22-23 to substantiate
this claim that priests have the power to forgive sins in Christ’s name –
“Receive ye the Holy Spirit; Whosoever’s sins ye remit, they are remitted unto
them and whosoever’s sins ye retain, they are retained”. In understanding
scripture it is always necessary to consider all relevant verses on a
particular topic and these verses must be understood in the light of for
instance Luke 24:45-47 “Then opened he [Christ] their understanding that
they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written
and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day;
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”.
In Antioch we read of Paul saying in Acts 13:38 “Be
it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man [Christ]
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins”.
Earlier I also quoted Paul when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:21 “For it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching
[not priestly-orchestrated sacramental observance] to save them that
believe”.
Returning to Jim McCarthy’s book ‘The Gospel
According to Rome’ we read on page 82 ‘The disciples were to go forth and
proclaim the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ…This is the very thing we
find the disciples doing in the book of Acts. Peter for example proclaimed
Christ to Cornelius saying, “…whosoever believeth in him shall receive
remission of sins”…There were also occasions when the disciples found it
necessary to proclaim the sins of some retained. Simon the magician was one
such person. Simon heard the gospel, said he believed and was baptised. Shortly
afterward he revealed his true motive. He thought he could obtain magical
powers from the apostles. Peter told Simon he was still in his sins [Acts
8:21-22]’.
Perhaps I could add to this by saying that Peter
didn’t then tell Simon to seek out some priest to whom he should confess his
sins in order to obtain God’s forgiveness. Peter said to Simon “Repent
therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee” [Acts
8:22].
One of the earliest joys in my Christian life was to
meet former Roman Catholic priest, Bart Brewer, at a conference in London –
Bart went to be with the Lord in 2005 and this link will take you to a short
tribute that I penned in memory of Bart http://www.takeheed.net/BartBrewertribute.htm
In his book ‘Pilgrimage from Rome, Bart wrote about
his experiences of ‘taking confession’ during his time as a Roman Catholic
priest. On page 55 he wrote ‘Although my first experience of taking confession
had been harsh and disturbing, I soon adjusted, although I never liked the
duty’. Quoting then from the Council of Trent [Session
14: Chapter III], Bart wrote ‘Canon VI:”If anyone denies that sacramental confession was
instituted by divine law or is necessary to salvation; or says that the manner
of confessing secretly to a priest alone, which the Catholic Church has always
observed from the beginning and still observes, is at variance with the
institution and command of Christ and is a human contrivance, let him be
anathema’ [Cecil’s comments – according to this if you don’t
accept Rome’s teaching on confessing sins to their priests you cannot be saved
and you are under the curse of God!]. Bart continued, ‘This canon is a
classic example of the misuse of scripture. Confession to a priest, secretly or
openly was not commanded or ordained by Christ. Nowhere does the Bible say that
such confession is necessary for salvation. The confessional is a mere
invention of men…It is the privilege of every sinner, whoever he may be, to
confess his sins directly to God’.
This last truth was denied by the late Pope John
Paul II during one of his trips to America when according to this report in the
Los Angeles Times [12 December 1984] we read, ‘Rebutting a belief
widely shared by Protestants and a growing number of Roman Catholics, Pope John
Paul II on Tuesday dismissed the “widespread idea that one can obtain
forgiveness directly from God” and exhorted Catholics to confess more often to
their priests’
This quote can be viewed on this rather lengthy link
–
Summing up his views on the ‘confessional’ Bart
Brewer wrote [pages 56-57] ‘Why does the church hold to the confessional as
such an important part of its dogma? The chief reason is that obligatory
confession keeps Catholics in submission…The confessional, linked as it is to
penances and purgatory, is a yoke of bondage to Catholics, not only in this
life, but even beyond the grave, as masses and prayers for the dead are said’.
The final words of that quotation from Bart Brewer will bring me rather nicely
to the subject of the next segment on the DVD but before that let me direct
your thoughts to the words of a former Jesuit priest called Jose Rico.
Earlier in this section I quoted from Hebrews 10.
The book ‘Far from Rome: Near to God’ chronicles the testimonies of 50
converted, former Roman Catholic priests, and on pages 104-105, in the
testimony of former Jesuit, Jose Rico we read this ‘When I finished studying
the Epistle to the Hebrews I felt that an invisible and omnipotent hand
stripped me of my vestments and my priestly character. The only priesthood
found was that recorded by St Peter “Ye also, as lively stones are built up
a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”
[1Peter 2:5]. It is the same [priesthood] that is referred to in
Hebrews “By him therefore let us offer sacrifice of praise to God
continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name”
[Hebrews 13:15]…Christ became my “only” Saviour for none other had died on the
cross for me. He also became my “sufficient saviour” because His blood is
all-powerful to wash my sins from my soul. How miserably the rites and
ceremonies, the human traditions of Romanism, had failed to cleanse the soul
for God…From that moment I knew myself as a new creature in Christ Jesus {2
Corinthians 5:17]…Yes, I had “passed from death unto life” [John
5:24] …In
this manner the curtain fell that put an end to the tragedy that had existed
throughout my nineteen long years [as a Jesuit] in the priesthood’.
God’s people should pray earnestly that God would
use His same ‘omnipotent and stripping hand’ in the life of trained Jesuit,
Paul Symonds and through a sovereign, gracious work of true salvation bring
down ‘the curtain’ on his time in the Roman Catholic priesthood.
The last quote I gave a few paragraphs earlier from
former priest Bart Brewer made reference to ‘prayers for the dead’ and this and
related topics are dealt with by Paul Symonds in this segment of the DVD. Payl
Symonds fully endorses the Roman Catholic belief that there can be
‘interaction’ between the living and the dead.
Back in 1994 the Belfast Telegraph published a
series of interviews on the subject of ‘Heaven’. Local pastor, Derick Bingham,
oversaw this series. He had clearly issued a set of pro-forma questions to
various local ‘religious’ personalities and then their answers were published.
One of those local religious ‘personalities’ was ‘Father’ Paul Symonds. In
response to the question ‘Do you think the people now in heaven can see us
now on earth?’ Paul Symonds’ answer was ‘Yes and I believe friendly dialogue can go on between us too’.
God’s Word makes it very clear in Deuteronomy
18:9-11 that any attempt to communicate with the dead [‘necromancy’ – verse 11]
is, in the sight of Almighty God, an ‘abomination’ [verse 9]. In 1st
Samuel 28:7-25 we read of Saul’s attempts to make contact, via a ‘medium’, with
the deceased prophet Samuel. 3 chapters later we read that after being severely
wounded in battle with the Philistines, and having asked his armour-bearer to
end his life, a request that was refused, “Saul took a sword and fell on it” [1st
Samuel 31:4]. We then read these very sobering words in 1st
Chronicles 10:13-14 “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed
against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and
also for asking counsel of a medium, to inquire of her and inquired not of the
Lord, therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom
unto David, the son of Jesse”.
King Saul had disobeyed God and had attempted to
communicate with the dead and as a result, even though he committed suicide, we
read that it was God who “slew
him” – what
a practical outworking of the truth of Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is in
the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turneth it whithersoever He
will”.
Apart from God’s prohibition about attempting to communicate
with the dead, the nonsensical, in practical terms, of Paul Symonds’ claim
that there can be ‘dialogue’ between the living here on earth and those who
have died but are now in heaven just beggars belief. How ‘on earth’ could
some mere human, who is now in heaven, possibly ‘tune in’ to some attempted
communication being offered up by one or perhaps simultaneously even more
people down here on planet earth? They would need to be omniscient, omnipotent
and omnipresent and those attributes belong alone to Almighty God.
Paul Symonds attempted to ‘impute’ the teaching of
James 5:16 “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” to
the realm of those now in heaven – they are, in his opinion, clearly so much
more ‘righteous’ than mere mortals down here on earth and so they have more
influence in having our prayers answered – this is basically what he said.
When someone is truly converted to Christ, they are
said to be “made the righteousness of God in him [Christ]” [2 Corinthians 5:21].
The righteousness that is credited to the believer’s ‘account’ when he is
converted is the righteousness of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. That is why
believers are “accepted in the beloved” [Ephesians 1:6] – they are “accepted”
by God because they are now ‘clothed’ in Christ’s perfect righteousness and not
their own sinful, imperfect self-righteousness. This perfect righteousness is
not fashioned by any personal human works but is received as a gracious gift
from God by faith alone as we read in Romans 4:4-5 “Now to him that worketh is
the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth in him that justifieth the
ungodly, his
faith is counted for righteousness”.
Once converted, faithful and obedient believers are
to live righteous lives and God’s ‘ear’ is open to the prayers of such
‘righteous’ people. In contrast, the Psalmist quite rightly said in Psalm 66:18
“If I regard iniquity in my heart [if I behave in an
unrighteous fashion] the Lord will not hear me”. James 5:16 applies to
believers, here on earth, who are walking in fellowship with and obedience
before God and who have not sinfully backslidden.
The good news for God’s people is that there is
someone who is perfectly righteous and who is right now in heaven praying for
them. In 1 John 2:1 we read “My little children, these things write I unto you,
that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous”. True
Christians have one who ‘pleads their cause’ in heaven. He is the one who died
to save them and who lives to keep them. He is the Lord Jesus Christ who
according to Hebrews 7:25 “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them”.
Paul Symonds fully endorsed the false Roman Catholic
exaltation of Mary and her supposed intercessory help claimed to be given to
those who pray to her. Roman Catholicism robs Christ of many attributes and
roles and robes Mary in them – a sin-free, Immaculate Conception is given to
Mary by Rome but that belonged alone to Christ. A sin-free life is given to
Mary by Rome but that belonged alone to Christ. A glorified human bodily
existence in heaven is given to Mary by Rome but presently that belongs alone
to Christ.
A role in heaven as monarch [Queen] is given to Mary
by Rome but there is only one ruling monarch in heaven, Jesus Christ, who is
“King of Kings” – there He is also the bridegroom who awaits His marriage to His bride
and that is His Church, made up of the redeemed of all ages, and they will be
by His side as “joint heirs” and not some false [Queen] Mary, crowned by Rome
as their Queen of Heaven.
In the Catholic Catechism, we read in paragraph 969 ‘Therefore the Blessed Virgin is
invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate [remember 1 John 2:1 that I
quoted above], Helper, Benefactress and
Mediatrix’. These roles belong alone to the triune God of Heaven but Rome has
credited them to their [Queen] Mary who is certainly not the Mary of The
Scriptures.
Some years ago I was very privileged to be asked to
contribute to a DVD/video called ‘Messages from Heaven’ that dealt with the
claimed apparitions of and messages from the false Roman Catholic Mary. A
former Roman Catholic, Jim Tetlow, compiled it, and you can obtain it from Jim
by going to this website link if you live in the USA
http://www.eternal-productions.org/ApparitionsofMary/index.html
or to this website link if you live in the UK
http://www.penfoldbooks.com/category/129
Back in February 1998 I received an invitation to
debate with a Jesuit Priest, Richard Foley, on a Channel 5 TV programme called
‘Crossfire’ on the subject of ‘Should Mary be declared Co-Redemptrix?’ If you
go to this link LONDON 1998 :
Debate : 'Should Mary be declared Co-Redemptrix?'
you can listen to that half-hour debate.
There is a relatively
modern hymn that captures extremely well the Biblical reality of Christ’s
current heavenly role for His people and that exposes the unscriptural futility
of Rome’s claims of the need for ‘prayers for and to the dead’ and of her false
and exalted claims for Mary. I will conclude this section by quoting the first
and last verses of this beautiful hymn.
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart
Behold Him there! The risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless, Righteousness
The Great unchangeable I AM
The King of Glory and of Grace
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Saviour and my God
With Christ my Saviour and my God
What Paul Symonds said in this segment is of very
deep personal significance to my own conversion and myself. If what he stated were true then I have been
the victim of some giant ‘delusion’ and ‘con’. Why do I say that? Well, in my
own personal testimony that has been posted to our website for many years now I
wrote this –
‘Fearful
of the consequences of my sin I decided to attend a church service on the
evening of 19th August 1984. I can't recall what the preacher spoke about but I
know that during the service God revealed to me that the sinless life and
substitutionary death of Jesus Christ would solve my problem. HE was righteous
["CHRIST is the end of the law for righteousness" Romans 10:4]
and I needed HIS righteousness. I deserved punishment for my
sins and HE didn't for HE was sinless but HE suffered in my place ["For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins {the substitute}
the just for the unjust {the sinner} that he {by
his sinless life and substitutionary sufferings and death - no work on my part}
might bring us {not assist us to get there by our own works/endeavours} to
God" 1st Peter 3:16].
Here
I saw Christ fulfilling the role of SUBSTITUTE as pictured in Leviticus 1:4 but
the missing piece of the 'jig-saw' revealed to me by God was this. Before
Christ was nailed to the cross He was stripped and the last garment removed was
"his coat; now the coat was without seam [a
picture of perfect righteousness] woven
from the top throughout [the God-man who came to earth]"
John19:23. God revealed to me that not only was Christ
taking "our [my]
sins in his own body on the tree" 1st Peter 2:24 but He was also in
exchange giving me His robe - His righteousness to cover me "the
righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all
them that believe" Romans 3:22.
That
night I was clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith and in
consequence I knew I was "accepted in the beloved" Ephesians 1:6…I
knew that Christ had given me a perfect and permanent righteousness
[HIS]’
The imputation of Christ’s perfect
righteousness to every truly born-again believer is a gracious and glorious
truth ‘enshrined’ in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in Romans
1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…For in it is the righteousness
of [would be better translated ‘from’] God revealed from faith to faith; as it is
written, The just shall live by faith”. The hymn quoted earlier so eloquently
states– ‘Behold Him there! The risen
Lamb My perfect, spotless, Righteousness’.
In this segment
Paul Symonds firmly rejects this biblical truth of ‘imputation’ and in suppoprt
of his belief quotes from the writings of deceased Jesuit, Henri de Lubac.
Herewith are extracts from the quote used that was later sent to me by Paul
Symonds –
‘If
God had willed to save us without our own co-operation,
Christ’s sacrifice by itself would have sufficed. BUT
does not the very existence of our Saviour pre-suppose a
lengthy period of collaboration on man’s part? …God did not desire to
save mankind as a wreck is salvaged; he meant to raise up within it a life, his
own life [Cecil’s comments – Increasing ‘sanctification’, as
believers are conformed more and more to the image of Christ, is evidence of
salvation and not grounds for salvation] …Christ did
not come to take our place…but to enable us to raise
ourselves through him to God. He came not to win for us an external
pardon…but to change us inwardly. [Cecil’s comments – Please remember the context –
Lubac is explaining how he believes someone is ‘saved, not ‘sanctified’] Thenceforward humanity was to co-operate actively in its own
salvation’.
In contrast to
the views of Jesuits, Paul Symonds and Henri de Lubac, former Dominican priest,
Richard Bennett, who edited the book I referred to earlier, ‘Far from Rome: Near to God’ that
chronicles the testimonies of 50 converted, former Roman Catholic priests,
writes on pages 358-360 [Banner of Truth 1997 edition]
‘Under the same general heading, “Grace
and Justification”, the new Catechism attributes merit to man’s “collaboration”
with the grace of God…The same false hope of attaining merit by “collaboration”
with the work of God is held out under the heading “Our participation in
Christ’s Sacrifice”…There is no scriptural basis for the idea of being made
partners with Christ in the paschal mystery. Christ “by himself purged our
sins” [Hebrews 1:3]. The gospel excludes meritorious woks on the part of man…The
Catechism also teaches Roman Catholics to place their faith in the clergy, and
substitutes the sacramental system, including penances and indulgences, for the
biblical truth, that Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to the believer
through faith alone…All the blessings of salvation are in Christ alone’.
Dr Eryl Davies, who retired last year as
Principal of The Evangelical Theological College of Wales, in his book ‘The
Ultimate Rescue: Christ’s Saving Work on The Cross’ wrote [pages 222-223]
‘Justification…speaks of putting us in a right relationship to God and His
law…And that is exactly what Jesus Christ achieved for us in His sacrifice.
Because He fulfilled God’s law on our behalf and suffered our punishment on the
cross, His righteousness is credited to us when we believe personally on
the Lord Jesus. The result is “There is therefore now no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus” [Romans 8:1]. Justification is the opposite of
condemnation’.
Under a sub-heading of ‘Imputation’ Dr
Davies also wrote [pages 227-228] ‘There is another glorious aspect to
justification, namely, God credits those who believe with the righteousness of
Christ…”the obedience of one” [Romans 5:17-19] is credited to the believer’.
John Murray in his excellent book
‘Redemption: Accomplished and Applied” dealt with the heart of the false
beliefs and teachings of Rome and Paul Symonds when he wrote on pages 118-127
‘The truth of justification has suffered at the hands of human perversion as
much as any doctrine of Scripture…Justification does not mean to make
righteous, good or holy or upright…It is one of the primary errors of the Romish
Church that it regards justification as the infusion of grace, as renewal and
sanctification, whereby we are made holy…That is why Luther endured such
travail of soul as long as he was governed by Romish distortion…The obedience
of Christ must therefore be regarded as the ground of justification; it
is the righteousness which God not only takes into account but reckons
to our account when he justifies the ungodly…Righteousness wrought in us or
wrought by us, even though it be altogether of the grace of God [as
Rome teaches] and even though
it be perfect in character, is not a God righteousness. It is, after all, a
human righteousness…The righteousness of justification is the righteousness and
obedience of Christ [Romans 5:17-19]’.
This beautiful gospel truth of ‘Imputed
Righteousness’ is captured most wonderfully in Zechariah 3:4 where we read “Behold
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with
change of raiment”. No wonder that the Lord Jesus, after he had taken the
two on the road to Emmaus on a comprehensive Old Testament bible study said to
them in Luke 24:42 “all things must be fulfilled which were written in the
law of Moses and in the prophets and in the psalms, concerning me”. Earlier
in His ministry He had declared in John 5:39 that “the scriptures…are they
which testify of me”. It should be noted that in Zechariah 3 verse 1 there
is opposition to this glorious truth of ‘Imputed Righteousness’ for we read
there of “Satan standing at his right hand to resist him”. Today Rome
and her spokespersons are standing ready ‘to resist’ a core message of
the gospel for “in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith…The just shall live by faith” [Romans 1:17].
As a final rebuttal of the false teachings
of Paul Symonds I want to quote from a ‘Dictionary of Theological Terms’ by Dr
Alan Cairns. Under the heading of ‘Imputation’ on page 187 we read ‘It
describes the act of God in visiting the guilt of believers on Christ and of
conferring the righteousness of Christ upon believers…As Christ is not made a
sinner by the imputation to Him of our sins, so we are not made holy by the
imputation to us of His righteousness. The transfer is only of guilt from us to
Him, and of merit from Him to us. He justly [under
God’s plan of salvation] suffered
the punishment due to our sins, and we justly [under
God’s plan of salvation] receive
the rewards due to His righteousness…Imputation, then is clearly indispensable
to the Biblical doctrine of justification’.
This matter was at the very heart of the Protestant Reformation and this link will take you to an article by John MacArth