Introduction
I sat in virtual darkness in the comfort of my overstuffed easy
chair staring out the window. The sun had been in seclusion for days and the sky had a
patina that could best be described as “winter blah.”
Tiny snowflakes, the kind that sting your cheeks and make you
squint, were falling in near-blizzard conditions. The tops of the dormant blades of grass had surrendered long ago
and the white menace was encroaching on the naked, knee-high bushes.
Wind-driven snow devils danced with abandon, creating and then
erasing drifts. The gutters
howled like wolves in the cold Chicago wind. The prospects for getting out of the house were growing
bleaker by the snowflake.
It was late-morning on a Sunday.
As was my custom, I had slept in.
Over the years, I had become quite adroit at practicing lapsed
Catholicism. Like many, I had
long since concluded that God had more important things to concern Himself
with than whether or not I attended Mass.
Anyway, I felt confident God would weigh my good deeds against my
bad, see that the former far outweighed the latter, and invite me to enter
into His kingdom. It was just
a matter of common sense.
For some reason my attention was drawn to the opposite side of the
room. Two large bookcases,
one on either side of the rosewood entertainment center, adorned the wall. I noticed the sway in the middle of the shelves and the faded
colors of the spines of the well-read tomes.
I had to squint to read their blanched titles. There were textbooks on physics, math, philosophy,
psychology, engineering, economics, history, accounting, marketing, labor
relations, business law, and business administration.
Retention of enough of what was in those books had led to degrees
in physics, engineering, and business administration.
I continued my sedentary survey of rosewood treasures. There were hardbound tales of adventure by Sheldon.
Whodunits by Ludlum. Cops
and robbers with mostly cops gone from bad to worse by retired LA police
detective Joseph Wambaugh. There
were Michener’s one-word titles, some about far-off places in exotic
settings, and several classics including, “The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare.”
Then I noticed an unusually large book against one end of the
bookcase. Its immediate
neighbor had been a gift, a book on wines for wine connoisseurs.
I had never had reason or inclination to open it, much less read
it. I had simply exiled it to
the same location as its larger neighbor.
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Unlike the spines on the other books, the spine on the behemoth looked
like new, so new, in fact, I could read the two-word, gold-lettered title from
where I sat. I got out of my
recliner and reached for the green-bound volume.
It was heavier than I expected, much heavier than any textbook.
I turned on the reading light before sitting back down.
I placed the book face up on my lap.
Toward the top was a rather well-done relief. It appeared to be a miniature reproduction of what I thought
must have been a classic. The
colors, contrasts, and details were impressive.
It portrayed a smooth-faced boy with dark, curly, shoulder-length hair
who looked to be about twelve years old. He
was dressed in a white robe with a golden girdle (wide belt).
He seemed to be talking to several older, learned-looking men
situated around him. One was
seated. He held a large book in his
hands. Another stood holding a
scroll. The men wore pensive looks
under their long but well-kept beards. The
overall connotation was that the men were listening intently to whatever the lad
was saying and the ones holding the book and scroll were checking his words
against the written word to see if they were true.
The two words under the picture read simply: Holy Bible.
I felt confident that I knew as much about what was in the bible as I
knew about what was in any of those textbooks.
After all, I had attended Catholic grade school, high school, and
college. We had studied the bible
often, or at least what the nuns and priests told us was in the bible.
I was a little surprised I couldn’t remember any classes where the
actual text had been a bible. I recalled that short pieces of the gospels and epistles were
read at every Mass and I had attended countless times in years past.
I felt pretty confident I had nothing new to learn.
I gave a furtive glance out the window.
The snow was still coming down with no hint of a letup.
I abandoned all hope and opened the book.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ...,” it
read. “Yep,” I thought, “I
remember that verse.” I decided to skip over to the gospels.
I started in Matthew, “Saint Matthew,” it was officially titled.
I read the litany of “begats.” I
was puzzled for a moment, though, at 1:25.
It read: “And he (Joseph)
did not know her (Mary) till she brought forth her firstborn son.”
As best I could recall, the nuns and priests had been adamant that Mary
was a perpetual virgin even up to the time of her assumption.
“Therefore,” I wondered, “how did that little word till fit into
the perpetual virginity doctrine?” It
crossed my mind for a brief moment that I might be reading a Protestant bible.
Still in St. Matthew, I read through the familiar sermon on the mount,
Jesus’ healing miracles, the feeding of the five thousand, and about a king
who gave a marriage feast for his son. The
story had no particular relevance. However,
something caught my eye in 23:9. Jesus
was providing a much unappreciated critique of the traditions of the Scribes and
Pharisees, the organized, hierarchal religious establishment of His day.
He warned the people, “And call no one on earth your father; for one is
your Father, who is in heaven.”
“Give no one on earth the title of Father!” I exclaimed to myself.
“But that’s what priests are called.”
I read on. In Acts 8:16, I
was surprised to learn that some had been baptized but the Holy Spirit had not
come upon them. This, I knew, was
contrary to Catholic teaching! I
hurriedly flipped to the front of the book.
On the inner page was the Imprimatur, along with a color picture of a
seated Pope Paul VI titled, “Pope Paul VI and the Vatican, 1969 edition (Douay-Challoner
text), published by Catholic Bible Publishers, Chicago, Illinois.”
My interest was no longer on the weather.
What compelled me that cold, blustery January day, at the age of 41, to
pick up a book in which I had never before had an interest puzzled me.
I didn’t understand until much later.
God used one of His smallest and most delicate creations, the snowflake,
to put hooks into my jaws [see Ezechiel 38:4], turn me around, and bring me face
to face with the Jesus of the New Testament, the prophesied Messiah of the Old
Testament, and the Christ who fulfilled the New Testament.
This was a Jesus previously unknown to me.
By the time the snows of winter ended, I had accepted the Jesus of the
New Testament as my Savior and Lord and made a pretty good start reading the
only book ever to bring about successful heart transplants.
I discovered that despite my earned degrees, I had lived a life devoid of
wisdom [see Proverbs 9:10], totally lacking in knowledge [see Proverbs 1:7].
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My sincerest hope is that you will begin to read this work and at some
point be prompted to lay it aside and pick up the only book that has ever
changed lives and, most important, eternal destinies.
If you allow it, God will use the Scriptures to speak to your
heart through His Holy Spirit. He
will regenerate your dead spirit, seal you for the day of your redemption, renew
your mind, reveal the good works He has prepared for you to walk in, and give
you life everlasting. He stands at
the door and knocks [see Apocalypse 3:20].
It is up to you whether to answer. The
will of the Father is clear, as proclaimed in that beautiful Catholic Bible:
“For
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that those who
believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.
For God did not send his Son into the world in order to judge the world,
but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged: but he who does not believe is already judged, because he
does not believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” [St. John
3:16-18]
If God sent His Son to save the world, then that includes you.
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Maybe you are asking, “How can I be sure the Word of God is true and
not just the writings of learned men with good intentions?”
The Catholic Bible has the answer. St.
Peter tells us:
“And
we have the word of prophecy, surer still, to which you do well to attend (study),
as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star
rises in your hearts. This, then,
you must understand first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is made by
private interpretation. For not by
the will of man was prophecy brought at any time; but holy men of God spoke as
they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” [II St. Peter 1:19-21]
What St. Peter is explaining is that no man wrote down his own words.
Rather, holy men of God who could and would respond to the prompting of
the Holy Spirit wrote those things the Holy Spirit moved them to write.
This is referred to as “inspired” writing.
The literal Greek translation is “God-breathed.”
Old Testament prophets did not literally walk with Jehovah-God.
Therefore, they used the literary form, “Thus says the LORD,”
so as to make clear that the words written by the prophets and their scribes
were from the LORD.
Those who wrote the books of the New Testament walked with the Lord, with
Jesus. They were personal witnesses
and His friends. Therefore, there
was no need for them to preface
their writings with, “Thus says the Lord.”
The present-day understanding of “prophet” can be problematic.
It is often misinterpreted to mean one who can prognosticate the future.
However, the word prophet means simply one who tells the truth.
That truth, spoken or written, may, from the prophet's perspective, be
“past truth,” “present truth,” or “future truth.”
But true prophecy is always from the Lord!
Deuteronomy 13:1-6 commands us to test the words of the prophets and
gives us criteria by which to evaluate their veracity.
More will be said on this later.
At the times of the writing of the individual books that make up the
bible, about thirty percent of their content was future-truth prophecy.
This characteristic is unique to the Holy Bible.
There are no future-truth prophecies in the Koran, the Hindu Vedas, or in
the sayings of Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, or Zoroaster.
God tells us that one of His reasons for including future-truth prophecy
in Scripture is to authenticate that the revelations are from Him:
“Remember
the former age, for I am God, and there is no God beside (me), neither is
there the like to me (neither is there anyone like me, god or man), who
show from the beginning the things that shall be at last, and from the ancient
of times the things that as yet are not done, saying:
My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done.”
[Isaias 46:9-10]
In other words, God tells us in His Holy Word the endings of things even
before their beginnings! Moreover,
these prophecies have been fulfilled literally and exactly as described by the
prophets. For example, the Old
Testament contains numerous references to a people called Hittites (also spelled
Hethites, sons of Heth). For
centuries, unbelieving archaeologists and anthropologists not only dismissed the
notion of any such people, but used the lack of cultural proof of their
existence to denigrate those who took the bible literally.
That changed in 1906 when the royal archives of the Hittites were
discovered in excavations at Bogazköy in central Turkey.
Today, one can earn a college degree in Hittitology.
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Jesus’ coming to earth as the suffering servant, along with His death,
manner of death, burial, and resurrection were prophesied in dozens of Old
Testament verses, all of which were fulfilled to the minutest detail.
Some New and Old Testament prophecies are yet to be fulfilled.
Many of these relate to Jesus’ Second Coming as King of kings and Lord
of lords. Most of the book of
Apocalypse is future-truth prophecy. All
prophecy is “past truth” from God’s perspective, as might be deduced from
the above citation.
During the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century B.C., the
prophet Daniel foretold in chronological order the future world kingdoms that
would rule over Jerusalem and the known world.
These kingdoms included the Medes and Persians; Greeks; Romans; and,
lastly, the earthly millennial kingdom of Jesus.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus specifically referred to many Old
Testament prophets by name, including Daniel [St. Matt 24:15], thus affirming
their validity.
With regard to whether the writings that would one day be assembled to
form the New Testament were considered the inspired Word of God by early
believers, we have the word of St. Peter. In
II St. Peter 3:16, he refers to St. Paul’s epistles as “Scriptures.”
Thus, in St. Peter’s mind, there was no distinction between the
writings of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and St. Paul’s writings.
St. Peter considered both “God-breathed.”
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In attempting to defend the role of tradition against the infallible Word
of God, when tradition clearly
flies in the face of God’s Word, some apologists argue that “the bible
wasn’t even written until hundreds of years after the death and resurrection
of Jesus.” The implication is
that tradition was in existence long before God’s Word in the New Testament
and, therefore, tradition must take precedence over God’s Word as recorded in
Scripture. 1 This is
more than a little misleading, as will be explored later.
While the writings that one day would be assembled into the canon of the
Holy Bible had not been put together at the time of St. Peter, St. Peter’s
words in II St. Peter 3:16, discussed above, indicate clearly that St. Paul’s
writings were in existence and well circulated among the Christian communities
at the time of St. Peter. Moreover,
if certain Christian traditions were being practiced prior to the writing of the
books of the New Testament, then one would logically expect to see such
traditions endorsed in those books. On
the other hand, if some traditions practiced after the writing of the books are
not sanctioned in them but are contradicted by their teachings, then such
traditions are the traditions of men and are counter to God’s Holy Word.
More will be said about this in later chapters.
How does the Roman Catholic Church view Scripture?
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Scriptures are
inspired by Almighty God and are free from error. 2
However, following the fiasco involving Galileo, the Catholic Church
modified its position. It now stipulates that Scriptures are infallible with regard
to faith and morals, but not with regard to the physical universe.
The Church and Galileo controversy will be explored in Chapter Five.
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Jesus used two different words for church.
Therefore, two Greek words are translated as “church” in the New
Testament. The first, ekklesia,
is used to designate a local assembly of believers such as the church at
Jerusalem or the church at Antioch. The
second, autos, is used to designate all the redeemed from the time of
Pentecost [see Acts 2:1], that is, first fruits, to the rapture.
The rapture, a yet-future event, will be explained in later chapters.
It is the ekklesia that is the body of Christ on earth. Jesus’ physical body is in heaven. Therefore, numerous local churches function as His body in
countless communities world wide. They
take the gospel from place to place and minister to the needs of the sheep.
The English word “church” is used 115 times in the New Testament.
Some 92 times it refers to a local congregation, ekklesia.
The other 23 references are to the church general, autos, which
translates “all together.” It
is in this sense that the word “church” is used in, “And the Lord added to
the church (autos) daily those who were being saved.” [Acts 2:47]
On the other hand, when Jesus said, “... upon this rock I will build my
church,” the word He used was ekklesia [St. Matthew 16:18].
Obviously, all believers from the day of Pentecost to the rapture will
not be complete until the rapture. Because
the church general (autos) will not be complete until the marriage supper
of the Lamb [see Apocalypse 19:9], discussed in later chapters, the greatest
emphasis is placed upon the role of the local church, a called out assembly of
believers who do the Lord’s work on earth. The local church is the visible
operation of the church general in a given time and place.
As used in this work, the non-capitalized word “church” refers to an ekklesia.
It functions under the direction of one or more pastors and several
deacons. The capitalized word
“Church” refers to a collection of churches (ekklesia) under the
control of those who consider themselves to be “The Church.”
These generally talk about salvation in terms of “religion,”
“sacraments,” and “process” and tend to think and argue within the
framework of Protestantism versus Catholicism.
They also follow “tradition” rather than the Scriptures.
Examples include The Roman Catholic Church, The Old Catholic Church
(denies papal infallibility), The Greek Orthodox Church, The Russian Orthodox
Church, The Albanian Orthodox Church, The Syrian Orthodox Church, The Ukranian
Orthodox Church, The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, The Romanian Orthodox Church,
The Serbian Orthodox Church, The Antiochian Orthodox Church, The Anglican
Church, The Episcopal Church, The Lutheran Church, etc.
Each believes to varying degrees that it, and it alone, controls the door
to the kingdom of heaven and that apart from it there is no salvation. Each also subscribes to the theory of “replacement
theology.” More will be said on
this in later chapters.
The Old Catholic Church separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1871,
following the First Vatican Council’s 1870 declaration that the pope is
infallible. While the Catholic
Church claims that it has always taught papal infallibility, it was only after
this teaching was incorporated as doctrine, something the faithful must
accept, that the Old Catholics split. Today,
there are more than 70,000 Old Catholics in the U.S. 3
Some attach a unique and even mystical significance to the word
“church.” They mistakenly
believe this idea to be unique to the New Testament.
However, its Old Testament Hebrew equivalent is “congregation,” which
appears many times in the Old Testament. The
word “congregation” is used once in the New Testament where its meaning is
the same as “church,” ekklesia.
In either case, it refers to the same thing:
a called out assembly to do the work of God on earth. Many who belong to the various Churches, which stress the
role of “The Church” in salvation, rather than God’s gift of salvation
received through faith in Jesus’ propitiatory death on the cross, mistakenly
believe that Jesus spent much time preaching about His church.
They are surprised to learn that Jesus mentioned the word “church”
only three times, all recorded in the gospel of St. Matthew.
In all three instances, He referred to an ekklesia, never to an autos.
On the other hand, Jesus referred to the written Word and the Scripture
many times, as recorded in all four gospels.
Moreover, the gospels record numerous instances of Jesus scolding the
Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and others for not knowing the Scriptures. Some of these are addressed in later chapters.
With this brief background, let us now proceed to get a better
understanding of God’s Holy Word and how it came down to man. 4
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