Ceremony

This also covers the area's of Ordinance. There is a separate category for the ordinance of Baptism.

Q. I am a former Catholic, having left the Catholic Church about three years ago. I left the Catholic Church because I found that many Catholic teachings had no basis in scripture (for example: penance, purgatory, indulgences, veneration of Mary, prayers to the dead, prayers for the dead, etc.) I came to realize that I was saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for my sins. I realized that I could not be saved through the sacramental system of the Catholic Church.

I do have a concern with the following scripture verses: John 6:53-56 "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him."

Catholics use these verses to prove that in the Eucharist, they actually receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. What is your understanding of these verses? Thank you. [Donna]

A. Donna, this is the one subject that has sent may Christians to their deaths. The Lords Supper has been and ever shall be a way to REMEMBER the Lords sacrifice! As for John 5:53-56, it is a Spiritual verse that by the catholics has become a literal verse.  Many religious people seem to have a hard time separating the Spiritual from the natural! The Savior was trying to tell Nicodemus in John 3 about being Born Again and he just couldn't seem to grasp it! John 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 3:10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 3:11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

Do you remember seeing the letters I.H.S., on the bread when you took the mass? These initials are supposed to represent, "Iesus Hominum Salvator", "Jesus the Saviour of men". To the pagans in Rome it meant: "Isis, Horus, & Seb", in other words, "The Mother, the Child, (reincarnated) and the Father (or husband who dies) of the gods", in other words, "The Egyptian Trinity". When the women of Arabia began to adopt this wafer and offer the "unbloody sacrifice" the real Christians saw very quickly the real character of their sacrifice. These Christians were treated as heretics. But Rome saw that the heresy might be to their benefit in controlling the congregations; and therefore the practice of offering and eating this "unbloody sacrifice" was instituted by the Papacy; and now, throughout the whole bounds of the Roman Catholic communion, it has replaced the simple, but most precious ordinance, the Supper instituted by our Lord Himself.

In performing the mass, the priests are supposed to be given the power to transform a piece of bread into the very body of Christ, and the wine into His blood. Transubstantiation is the changing of one substance into another; hence the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, but this is an unbloody sacrifice of the sun goddess and not the Lord's supper. It is not the crucifying of Christ afresh, but the unbloody sacrifice that is implied in the mass that dismisses a man's sins! Sounds like blasphemy to me. The papacy teaches that after the consecration the body and blood as well as the soul of divinity of the Lord Himself are present in "the Eucharist". If you refuse to take the Eucharist, the priest the has the power to deny you your salvation! If you said the Lords Supper was a symbolic event to bring us to remembrance of the Saviors sacrifice, in centuries past you would have been burned at the steak or even worse.

Once you receive your salvation, you are in the hands of the Savior and if you are in the hands of the Savior, you are also in the hands of God Almighty. Look at what Jesus said about that: John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 10:30 I and my Father are one.

I hope this answered your question Donna!

[Timothy]

Q. Please explain the Lords supper. [H.R.Copen]

A. This is a commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ! We are to do this in remembrance of Him least we forget! This is symbol of the Death, & Burial of our Savior for our sins. Doing this in the Spirit will "keep" us in remembrance of the great sacrifice! "This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me."

Matthew 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

Luke 22:15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 22:16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 22:17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 22:18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

But now, if we partake of it unworthily (with unconfessed sin in our lives), it can be a great danger to the Saved!

1st Corinthians 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 11:24 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. 11:25 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. 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 11:27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 11:30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

There are some who say that if we neglect partaking of the Lords Supper we cannot keep our Salvation. Rubbish! It is important to obey the Lord in our lives and this certainly is a commandment but the very act does not keep you saved. There is nothing we can do to keep ourselves Saved, that's already taken care of by our Lord and He will not let anyone or anything take us from Him. We are His if we are washed in the Blood!

• Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
• John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 10:30: I and my Father are one.

[Timothy]