The Falling Away From Truth

Pope Francis engaging in idol worship.

This article is about the history of errors by the Church of Rome, written by George Burnside. I didn’t agree with one of his points and omitted it, the one about “Sunday worship.” The Bible tells me that the disciples met on the first day of the week – Sunday. The Sabbath was the last day of the week.

Acts 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, …

There may be other points in this article you find questionable. If so, please tell me about it in the comments section.

Errors continue to this day. I just read on Facebook of a man speaking as if he were God saying, “I will not cast unbelievers into hell.” He doesn’t read his Bible. My Bible says,

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

200 AD
Immersion of infants who are dying, but considered sinless. (Tertullian V.12)

250 AD
North Africa region is first to practice infant baptism and reduced the age of baptism from minors to all newborns. This is opposed by other regions.

257 AD
Baptism by sprinkling for adults instead of immersion first used as an exception for those on sick beds, but it caused great dispute.

300 AD
Prayers for the dead.

320 AD
Special dress code of the clergy in worship.

325 AD
At the general council of Nice, 325, it was proposed indeed, probably by the Western bishop Hosius, to forbid entirely the marriage of priests; but the motion met with strong opposition, and was rejected.

325 AD
The date for Easter was set.

379 AD
Praying to Mary & Saints. (prayers of Ephraim Syrus)

385 AD
In the West, the first prohibition of clerical marriage, which laid claim to universal ecclesiastical authority, proceeded in 385 from the Roman church in the form of a decretal letter of the bishop Siricius to Himerius, bishop of Tarragona in Spain.

389 AD
Mariolatry begins with Gregory Nazianzen, who mentions in a eulogy, how Justina had besought the virgin Mary to protect her virginity.

400 AD
Impossibility of apostasy or once saved always saved, (Augustine XII.9).

416 AD
Infant baptism by immersion commanded of all infants (Council Of Mela, Austin was the principal director).

430 AD
Exhalation of Virgin Mary: “Mother of God” first applied by the Council of Ephesus.

502 AD
Special dress code of the Clergy all the time.

500 AD
The “Habit” of Nuns (Black gowns with white tunics).

519 AD
Lent.

526 AD
Extreme Unction.

593 AD
The Doctrine of Purgatory popularized from the Apocrypha by Gregory the Great.

600 AD
First use of Latin in worship (Gregory I) Beginning of the Orthodox/Roman Catholic church as we know it today in its present organization.

607 AD
First Pope: Boniface III is the first person to take the title of “universal Bishop” by decree of Emperor Phocas.

608 AD
Pope Boniface IV. turns the Pantheon in Rome into a temple of Mary ad martyres: the pagan Olympus into a Christian heaven of gods.

709 AD
Kissing of Pope Constantine’s feet.

753 AD
Baptism by sprinkling for those on sick beds officially accepted.

787 AD
Worship of icons and statue approved (2nd council of Nicea).

787 AD
Rome (Latin) and Constantinople (Greek) part ways and begin the drift towards complete split, resulting in two denominations emerging in 1054 AD
.

965 AD
Baptism of bells instituted by Pope John XIII.

850 AD
Burning of Holy Candles.

995 AD
Canonization of dead saints, first by Pope John XV.

998 AD
Good Friday: fish only and the eating-red meat forbidden.

1009 AD
Holy water.

1022 AD
Penance.

1054 AD
Roman Catholic church breaks away from the Orthodox church.

1054 AD
Roman Catholics officially embrace instrumental music, Orthodox reject instrumental music down to the present time.

1079 AD
Celibacy enforced for priests, bishops, presbyters (Pope Gregory VII).

1090 AD
Rosary beads: invented by Peter the Hermit.

1190 AD
Sale of Indulgences or “tickets to sin” (punishment of sin removed).

1215 AD
Transubstantiation by Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council.

1215 AD
Auricular Confession of sins to priests instituted by Pope Innocent III, (Lateran Council).

1215 AD
Mass a Sacrifice of Christ.

1217 AD
Adoration and Elevation of Host: ie. communion bread (Pope Honrius III).

1230 AD
Ringing bells at Mass.

1251 AD
The Scapular, the brown cloak worn by monks invented by Simon Stock.

1268 AD
Priestly power of absolution.

1311 AD
Baptism by sprinkling accepted as the universal standard instead of immersion for all, not just the sick. (Council of Ravenna)

1414 AD
Laity no longer offered Lord’s cup at communion. (Council of Constance)

1439 AD
Purgatory a dogma by the Council of Florence. (see 593 AD)

1439 AD
Doctrine of Seven Sacraments affirmed.

1480 AD
The Inquisition. (of Spain)

1495 AD
Papal control of marriage rights.

1534 AD
Order of Jesuits founded by Loyola.

1545 AD
Man-made tradition of church made equal to Bible. (Council of Trent)

1545 AD
Apocryphal books added to Bible. (Council of Trent)

1546 AD
Justification by human works of merit.

1546 AD
Mass universally said in Latin. (see 600 AD)

1547 AD
Confirmation.

1560 AD
Personal opinions of Pope Pius IV imposed as the official creed.

1864 AD
Syllabus Errorum [Syllabus of Errors] proclaimed that “Catholic countries” could not tolerate other religions, (no freedom of religion), conscience, separation of church and State condemned, asserted the Pope’s temporal authority over all civil rulers (Ratified by Pope Pius IX and Vatican Council) condemned.

1870 AD
Infallibility of Pope. (Vatican council)

1908 AD
All Catholics should be christened into the church.

1930 AD
Public Schools condemned by Pope Pius XII. (see 1864 AD)

1950 AD
Sinners prayer, invented by Billy Sunday and made popular by Billy Graham. (Some Catholics now use this.)

1950 AD
Assumption of the body of the Virgin Mary into heaven shortly after her death. (Pope Pius XII)

1954 AD
Immaculate conception of Mary proclaimed by Pope Pius XII.

1995 AD
The use of girls in the traditional altar boy duties.

1996 AD
Catholics can believe in Evolution. (Pope John Paul II)

Can Roman Catholics Accept The Bible?

• 1. Why does it condemn clerical dress? (Matthew 23:5-6).
• 2. Why does it teach against the adoration of Mary? (Luke 11:27-28).
• 3. Why does it show that all Christians are priests? (1 Pet. 2:5,9).
• 4. Why does it condemn the observance of special days? (Galatians 4:9-11).
• 5. Why does it teach that all Christians are saints? (1 Corinthians 1:2).
• 6. Why does it condemn the making and adoration of images? (Exodus 20:4-5).
• 7. Why does it teach that baptism is immersion instead of pouring? (Colossians 2:12).
• 8. Why does it forbid us to address religious leaders as “father”? (Matthew 23:9).
• 9. Why does it teach that Christ is the only foundation and not the apostle Peter? (1 Corinthians 3:11).
• 10. Why does it teach that there is one mediator instead of many? (1 Timothy 2:5).
• 11. Why does it teach that a bishop must be a married man? (1 Timothy 3:2, 4-5).
• 12. Why is it opposed to the primacy of Peter? (Luke 22:24-27).
• 13. Why does it oppose the idea of purgatory? (Luke 16:26).
• 14. Why is it completely silent about infant baptism, indulgences, confession to priests, the rosary, the mass, and many other things in the Catholic Church?

Reasons Why The Apocrypha Is Not Inspired:

1. The Roman Catholic Church did not officially canonize the Apocrypha until the Council of Trent (1546 AD). This was in part because the Apocrypha contained material which supported certain Catholic doctrines, such as purgatory, praying for the dead, and the treasury of merit.

2. Not one of them is in the Hebrew language, which was alone used by the inspired historians and poets of the Old Testament.

3. Not one of the writers lays any claim to inspiration.

4. These books were never acknowledged as sacred Scriptures by the Jewish Church, and therefore were never sanctioned by our Lord.

5. They were not allowed a place among the sacred books, during the first four centuries of the Christian Church.

6. They contain fabulous statements, and statements which contradict not only the canonical Scriptures, but themselves; as when, in the two Books of Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes is made to die three different deaths in as many different places.

7. The Apocrypha inculcates doctrines at variance with the Bible, such as prayers for the dead and sinless perfection.

And the day following Judas came with his company, to take away the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen, in the sepulchers of their fathers. And they found under the coats of the slain some of the donaries of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth to the Jews: so that all plainly saw, that for this cause they were slain. Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, who had discovered the things that were hidden. And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought him, that the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sins of those that were slain. And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. (2 Maccabees 12:39-46)

8. The apocrypha contains offensive materials unbecoming of God’s authorship.

Ecclesiasticus 25:19 Any iniquity is insignificant compared to a wife’s iniquity.

Ecclesiasticus 25:24 From a woman sin had its beginning. Because of her we all die.

Ecclesiasticus 22:3 It is a disgrace to be the father of an undisciplined, and the birth of a daughter is a loss.

9. It teaches immoral practices, such as lying, suicide, assassination and magical incantation.

10. The apocryphal books themselves make reference to what we call the Silent 400 years, where there was no prophets of God to write inspired materials.

And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them. (1 Maccabees 4:46)

And there was a great tribulation in Israel, such as was not since the day, that there was no prophet seen in Israel. (1 Maccabees 9:27)

And that the Jews, and their priests, had consented that he should be their prince, and high priest for ever, till there should arise a faithful prophet. (1 Maccabees 14:41)

Josephus rejected the apocryphal books as inspired and this reflected Jewish thought at the time of Jesus.

“From Artexerxes to our own time the complete history has been written but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets.” … “We have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine…”(Flavius Josephus, Against Apion 1:8)

12. The Manual of Discipline in the Dead Sea Scrolls rejected the apocrypha as inspired.

13. The Council of Jamnia held the same view rejected the apocrypha as inspired.

They debated the canonicity of a few books (e.g., Ecclesiastes), but they changed nothing and never proclaimed themselves to be authoritative determiners of the Old Testament canon. “The books which they decided to acknowledge as canonical were already generally accepted, although questions had been raised about them. Those which they refused to admit had never been included. They did not expel from the canon any book which had previously been admitted. ‘The Council of Jamnia was the confirming of public opinion, not the forming of it.'” (F. F. Bruce, The Books and Parchments [Old Tappan, NJ.: Fleming H. Revell, 1963], p. 98])

14. Although it was occasionally quoted in early church writings, it was nowhere accepted in a canon. Melito (AD 170) and Origen rejected the Apocrypha, (Eccl. Hist. VI. 25, Eusebius) as does the Muratorian Canon.

15. Jerome vigorously resisted including the Apocrypha in his Latin Vulgate Version (400 AD
), but was overruled. As a result, the standard Roman Catholic Bible throughout the medieval period contained it. Thus, it gradually came to be revered by the average clergyman. Still, many medieval Catholic scholars realized that it was not inspired.

16. The terms “protocanonical” and “deuterocanonical” are used by Catholics to signify respectively those books of Scripture that were received by the entire Church from the beginning as inspired, and those whose inspiration came to be recognized later, after the matter had been disputed by certain Fathers and local churches.

17. Pope Damasus (366-384) authorized Jerome to translate the Latin Vulgate. The Council of Carthage declared this translation as “the infallible and authentic Bible.” Jerome was the first to describe the extra 7 Old Testament books as the “Apocrypha” (doubtful authenticity). Needless to say, Jerome’s Latin Vulgate did not include the Apocrypha.

18. Cyril (born about A.D. 315) – “Read the divine Scriptures – namely, the 22 books of the Old Testament which the 72 interpreters translated” (the Septuagint)

19. The apocrypha wasn’t included at first in the Septuagint, but was appended by the Alexandrian Jews, and was not listed in any of the catalogues of the inspired books till the 4th century.

20. Hilary (bishop of Poictiers, 350 A.D.) rejected the apocrypha (Prologue to the Psalms, Sec. 15)

21. Epiphanius (the great opposer of heresy, 360 A.D.) rejected them all. Referring to Wisdom of Solomon & book of Jesus Sirach, he said “These indeed are useful books & profitable, but they are not placed in the number of the canonical.”