eluzai
posted on Feb 15, 2010 - 06:30 AM
I would like to apologize for the length. This is actually part of the writing I am going, so it is not complete as of yet, and remember I am not attacking anyone I am merely pointing something out to try and help others realize the dangers of protestantism.
Protestantism rejects the sacraments, or the idea of them being sacred, of the one holy apostolic church of God. It is difficult to say which ones believe what because there are 30,000+ denominations, so generally speaking most of them believe in marriage, baptism, the bible some believe in communion, most not believing it to be the body and blood of Christ, but a mere “symbol”. This is very important to point out to those who insist on mixing Protestantism with Orthodoxy. Protestants not only reject the sacraments but the Divine Liturgy, which is not man made but given to man by God, whom is being worshipped in heaven at all times and in every hour through liturgical means. Revelation chapter eight speaks of the Divine Liturgy taking place in heaven. Therefore Liturgical worship, as understood in Orthodoxy, is a means to achieve heaven on earth upon which we receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If the protestants reject liturgical worship, as well as the sacraments how does this make them Christian? While their earlier protestant denominations have structured worship, they still lack a major component, apostolic succession which would make a church valid. It was argued against me that the Anglican is exactly like the Orthodox church, I believe it to be closer to that of Catholicism, to which I responded that these Anglicans/Episcopalians ordain homosexual priests and bishops, so in their liberal ideology and theology they resemble Protestantism, while in their church setting the resemble the Catholic church.
In their rejection of the holy sacraments, Divine Liturgy, and Orthodox doctrine, are they not denying God? They deny the sacraments, in which lay salvation through the body and blood of Christ, the Divine Liturgy, which is heavenly and from God Himself. They deny the Orthodox doctrine which is to deny the church. They church is the body of Christ on earth, how can you reject it without rejecting Christ? The word Orthodox itself means “right doctrine” or “correct or true worship” so if we believe that anyone that believes in Christ is Christian we should remove the title Orthodox.
This brings us to another point. What is a Christian? Is a Christian anyone that believes in Christ? This is the opinion shared by many, including many in our own Holy Church. This would be like saying, I am a police officer because I have a gun. No you have power because you have a gun but you have not been granted authority from the powers that be to use that gun lawfully. This is the same as Protestantism. They still have power in that they can use the name of Christ, they can form their own denominations, but do they have the authority on which to act in this way? Mt. 7:21 demonstrates this clearly “Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” Notice Christ says “ you who practice lawlessness.” We know Christ is speaking to people that clearly think they are Christians, so when Christ tells them they have practiced lawlessness, it clearly means those who practiced outside of the Church He speaks of in Mt 16:18.
In 2 Tim 4:3 St Paul says: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” St Paul is very clear that in the latter times many will fall away from the faith, believing in what they want. Hearing what they want to hear. Notice he is not specific as to the group of people, but by using “they” is he not generalizing? He uses this word because it is such a large number of people with no specific belief.
St Paul is important for many reasons and one of them is that he continually warns of falling away. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 St Paul warns: “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” An amazing verse that warns us of a coming apostasy or falling away. If indeed anyone who believes in Christ is considered a Christian then the falling away has not yet taken place, and to be quite honest will never happen, atleast using the logic that anyone that believes in Christ is Christian.
What can we make of this? Has the apostasy happened or is it taking place? And does St Paul consider these that fall away as Christian? The apostasy started with Rome, who throughout Christian history has had a God complex seeking power over salvation and faith in Christ. As a result of of their abuses, and pridefully leaving the grace of the Holy Spirit, God allowed their foundation to be shaken by the so called “reformation”. This is the point where the apostasy became much more evident. This act of rebellion has led to over 30,000 denominations each differing from one another all unrecognizable compared to the Orthodox church, in faith and in doctrine. 1 Corinthians 14:33 “ For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” Clearly proof that God did not inspire the protestant movement.
This is what St Paul is speaking of. Why would he warn us continually if these people are part of the Body of Christ? What is the sense in that, unless of course St Paul did not believe them to be Christian, and clearly does not view this as an act of God. God permitted it yes of course, but the invention of Protestantism is inspired by our adversary the devil. It is man made and offers no hope of salvation. St Paul again warns us, with much stronger language, in 1 Tim 4 saying: “ Now the spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”
This further reinforces the argument that Protestants are not Christian. With all these denominations varying in doctrine how could God possibly be telling all of them different things? This is trickery and that is an attribute of the devil not of God. Now notice St Paul says “depart from the faith” which would clearly be Martin Luther, who is credited with starting the fire of Protestantism. Luther chose of his own accord to leave the Catholic faith, and instead of seeking out the Orthodox he decided to create his own church with doctrines vastly different than that of ours and Rome. Did Luther know of Orthodoxy? As a priest-monk I find it hard to believe he didn’t. Not long before the “reformation” St. Mark of Ephesus admonished the Roman church at the council of Florence, so yes Martin Luther most definetly knew of Orthodoxy, but he clearly gave heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.
Martin Luther, as well as many other early protestants, created doctrines out of thin air. Sola Scriptura is the idea that the bible is above the church in authority, as if Gods word is about His body. Martin Luther believed that anyone can interpret the bible for themselves, probably not realizing that this belief would actually cause more chaos and confusion than he expected. Sola Fide is the belief that you only need faith to be saved, despite what is writtin in the book of St James, Martin Luther believed his word above Holy Scripture. This actually led him to remove the book from the original canon referring to it as “the epistle of straw”. He did however add it back to the canon later.
These doctrines are only two of many heretical doctrines created by men that are in direct conflic with the scriptures and Orthodoxy. To accept Protestantism as Christian that would mean we would have to accept their doctrines as truth, making our faith relative and our traditions and sacraments unnecessary. 2 Pet. 2:20 “ Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Yet Luther would have us believe the exact opposite, anyone can interpret the holy Scripture according to him, this shows that Sola Scriptura, which every protestant believes, is in direct conflict with Scripture.
2 Pet 2:18-22 Shows a very clear picture of what is to happen in these apostate denominations. We will read from 2:18-19 which says: “ For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” If you have ever turned on a televison you have probably seen some televangelist, or even a typical mainstream protestant church service. What I find disturbing is that many of them preach a feel good gospel, or a prosperity gospel. Both of which should be considered doctrines of demons, just plain heretical.
This verse in 2 Peter describes Protestantism and its apostasy with great accuracy. When many of them preach they preach a message that makes people feel good, or that God is there to serve you because you believe in Christ. These are swelling words of emptiness. I have even heard sermons by Roman Catholic priests that were directed and motivating the people to live a better life in the material sense. This is further evidenced in St Paul’s letter to the Romans in which St Paul states: “ Now I urge you brethren, not those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” Again we are warned that these false teachers or apostates will use smooth words and flatter us. This kind of heresy exists within Protestantism, actually it is quite prevalent in Protestantism. St Paul also says that they do not serve Christ, meaning they are not Christian. Since Protestantism and Roman Catholicism have fallen away, and that protestant sermons usually consist of what St Paul warns us of in his letter to the Romans.
I am dismayed that I see so many of our Orthodox brothers and sisters believing there is no difference between us and them. They have fallen into this heresy of liberalism, which seeks to make all things relative. This ecumenical movement aims to unite all churches based on their belief in Christ, whom we all share no common opinion. This is just one of the many aspects needed for the antichrist’s arrival. Globalization. The unification of the political, financial, and religious is a necessity for the antichrist, to make it easier for him to consolidate his power as the world ruler. Because we are giving up the truth slowly, in favor of unity, there will be very little Orthodox left in the end, many being deceived by the antichrist and his tricks.
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eluzai
