Victor Gonzalez ن

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. — Jude 3 One interesting aspect of this passage is the use of “the faith” as a reference to the doctrines of Christianity. These doctrines, there and then, still during the 1st century, had ALREADY been delivered to the saints. “…the faith that WAS once and for all delivered to the saints.” That is, any novel doctrines or dogmas that were not widely known to Christians in the time of the apostles are simply not part of the necessary doctrines of Christianity. The bodily assumption of Mary is one of them. Purgatory is one. The idea that marriage is a sacrament is one. The papacy is another (or even the idea that Rome had a single bishop over the region). Icon veneration is one. Even the concept that Mary was born without the stain of original sin was not in the record of apostolic teaching nor was it a generally held view, as far as we can tell. Yet many of these things are taught as if you must believe them or suffer the fires of Hell. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox tend to claim they are merely preserving first century doctrines that were universally known to the church fathers and were taught by Jesus and the apostles. But a study of Scripture or the earliest bits of church history show they have many innovations and new dogmas. That is, history, while it isn’t Protestant, isn’t RC or EO, unless we massage and edit it to make it fit. Go to the text. Go to Scripture. And if you study people who were born hundreds of years after Jesus then study them as secondary sources and read them well enough to not quote mine them for purposes they didn’t conceive of.

There are no obstacles between you and the Son which can be overcome by praying to the Lady of Lourdes. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, — 1 Timothy 2:5 Jesus is the only mediator and inserting other mediators, no matter how matronly they seem, is an affront to the person and work of Jesus. It fabricates obstacles between you and Jesus that diminish your awareness of the incarnation and sacrifice of Jesus. Draw near through Jesus. Come to Father through Jesus. No one loves you more. No one is more accessible or able to intercede for you better. Come in Jesus’ name, not in the name of another who you hope will accept you more quickly than Jesus and incline Christ’s heart toward you. He’s already told you “come to me you who are weary and heavy laden.”

Last night my small group from church was discussing when to assign the label “demonic” to something. I hesitate to overuse the term out of fear I’m being presumptuous. But failing to use it at all can be blinding. That said… This is demonic and the activity of Satan.