March 25, 2024
Introduction
It occurred to me that there was much important information that should be examined that my first article on the Roman Catholic Church did not address. That first article was focused more on doctrinal disputes and the most important theological issues that led me away from the Roman Catholic Church. But there is so much more to the story. The purpose of these additional articles is to provide more evidence that the Roman Catholic Church is not a good tree. Jesus said a good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. We are going to consider a great deal of rotten fruit, from a bad tree. I am pretty sure that most Catholics have little or no idea about the things that I will address in these articles. Most Catholics do not even understand the theology of their church, let alone its history, nature, and character. If the Roman church was truly repentant, then there might not be a need for these articles. But the battle rages on, and most Christians seem to be unaware that the war is far from over.
The Truth is the main issue.
What is really at stake here is the truth, not simply an apostate Christian religion. Please remember that I am not against Catholics. I am for the truth and against lies (that which is unbiblical). It seems that there are very few Christians who believe the truth is absolute and unchanging. Most people, including Christians, talk about the truth as if it were relative and situational. We have all heard it said, “You have your truth and I have mine,” as if the truth worked that way. The truth becomes whatever you want it to become. Francis Bacon’s quote is relevant: “People prefer to believe what people prefer to be true.” Not what is objectively true, but what they want the truth to be; that is what people choose to believe. We know from experience that it is much easier to believe a lie than to accept the truth. The truth always has strings attached, while lies often pay immediate dividends.
The truth of God has been and continues to be under attack even by those who claim loyalty to the person of Jesus Christ. It all started back in the Garden of Eden, when the serpent posed a question to Eve, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” This sowing of a question was no innocent matter. It was the sowing of doubt about what God said to Adam and Eve.
The question was meant to create doubt about the trustworthiness of God. Eve responded to the serpent and said, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Genesis 3:3. The serpent quickly followed up his question with the statement, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5.
The serpent accuses God of not telling them the truth because God wanted to deprive them of something. God’s motive can’t be trusted, according to the serpent. How easy it was to get Eve to doubt the Word of God to her and Adam. How easy it is today to get Christians to doubt the Word of God and the truth of God. Jesus Christ claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life. He did not claim to be one of several ways but the only way. Jesus did not claim to be a truth, but the one and only truth. The serpent continues his attack on the Word of God and the truth of God. As these articles will make clear to anyone willing to consider the evidence, one of the serpent’s most valuable tools has been the Roman Catholic Church. That is not his only tool, but it is a tool that he has used successfully over many centuries.
“And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know me not, saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:3, KJV emphasis added. God sent the prophet Jeremiah to His people with this word. God had already set in motion the final destruction of the Jewish nation and the temple. Why? Because of their continual refusal to acknowledge God and His truth. These stiff-necked people were valiant for lies and not the truth. Their evil knew no limits as a result. This warning applies to us as well. Where are those who call themselves “Christians” who are valiant for the truth of God? Today, like in Jeremiah’s day, we have God’s people, who ‘bend their tongues like their bow for lies’.
Source material for these articles
I recently watched a three-part YouTube video series “The Dark History of the Roman Church, in context with Jim Green.” Each video was about 2.5 hours long. It highlighted some matters that deserve to be brought out into the light of day. In addition, I used several books, some already in my library, as well as newly purchased books, in writing the following articles. These books contain essential information regarding the Roman Catholic Church and the Bible. The Bible claims to be the very Words of God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. How has the Roman Catholic Church treated the Bible and Bible believers in the last 1500 years? All that will be referenced in due course.
The Bible and early history
The Bible claims to be a history book of the beginning of the universe, our world, humanity, and the nation of Israel. It also claims to be God’s revelation of Himself to humanity. The Bible is the most influential, contested, and blood-stained book in all history. You will soon see why that is true.
In the Old Testament, we read of God’s condemnation of evil people, including His chosen people, the Jews. God is long-suffering and compassionate, but does have limits. Oh, how often have we human beings pushed God to the very limits of His patience? With the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, Christians paid with their lives and property to believe and practice the precepts of the Bible. That includes the teachings of Jesus Christ. As the centuries rolled on, many Christians were tortured and burned alive by others who claimed to be Christian for simply owning a Bible or reading and believing it. Persecution of the followers of Jesus Christ began immediately upon the death of Jesus.
At first, persecution came from the Jews, then the Roman Empire, followed by the Catholic Church, then the Roman Catholic Church, and Islam. In the intervening years, the persecution of Christians has been common around the world. American Christians know very little about the experience of our persecuted brethren around the world. Jesus told us to expect persecution, for if they persecuted Him, they will surely persecute those who follow the Master. In America, we live, for the most part, in a persecution-free bubble. I wonder when this bubble will burst, along with the many other bubbles that prop up our godless systems.
It is still true today that around the world, many Bible believing Christians are being persecuted for believing in and practicing what the Bible teaches. Overt persecution from the Roman Catholic Church has subsided, but Islam has taken over the lead in the persecution of Christians. Islam continues to persecute Christians even today in other nations around the world.
There are several things that the Roman Catholic Church and Islam have in common. One is that they both hate the Bible. Most people have no problem believing that Muslims despise the Bible. That comment about the Roman Catholic Church hating the Bible may be shocking, but the following pages will demonstrate that truth.
By the end of the first century AD, a written record (what would become the New Testament) was produced and circulated among the churches throughout the Middle East. Most of this record was written by eyewitnesses. Compared to the Qur’an and other ancient writings, this is most remarkable. The date the Qur’an was written was 200-300 years after the death of Muhammad. Eyewitnesses did not write it. How many people today speak against or burn the Qur’an? Not very many. Yet many people today speak ill about or ‘burn’ the Bible without a second thought. How does one explain that?
How does the Bible compare to other ancient books? If you do some research, you will find that many books from antiquity have extant manuscripts that date hundreds of years following the supposed date of origination. For example, “Aristotle’s work has around 1,000 manuscripts in existence today. The earliest is dated at 1,200 years from the events in BC. The earliest copy is dated AD 850. Plato’s work (Tretalogies) has 210 manuscripts dated 1,200 years from the events, written in 427-347 BC, with the earliest copy dated AD 900. Homer’s Iliad, the history of the Trojan War, has 1757 manuscripts, dated 400 years from the events, written in 800 BC. The earliest copy is dated 400 BC.
Let us compare that to the Bible. Today, there are around 5800 Greek manuscripts (complete or partial) of the Bible, dated from 30 to 100 years after the events. Jesus died around AD 33. The entire New Testament was written between AD 49 and AD 95, mostly by eyewitnesses. The earliest copy of the New Testament is from AD 117.
In addition to the thousands of Greek manuscripts, we have over 7974 manuscripts in other languages such as Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syriac, Gregorian, and Slavic. These are dated to the early second century (100-150 AD). We also have over 10,000 manuscripts in the Old Latin Vulgate dated from the third century to the fifth century (300-350 years AD).
New Testament autographs (original manuscripts) were complete and in use by the end of the first century AD, with surviving manuscripts and fragments dated within 25 to 150 years of the events. Adding all that together, we have around 25,000 fragments and complete manuscripts of the Bible. See website truthfaithandreason.com.
The Bible is unique in all of history.
Many scholars believe that the Bible should be treated like any other ancient manuscript and be subject to textual criticism like all the rest. But the Bible is not like other ancient manuscripts. The Bible is from God and is a supernatural book. Critics reject the supernatural inspiration and preservation of the Bible. They also reject the miracles written about in scripture. No other religion and its holy book contains the prophetic, that I am aware of. Only the Bible speaks of the future prophetically. Only the Bible contains evidence of prophecy fulfilled, to the detail. The Bible predicts the future, and there are many miraculous examples of that. (For instance, the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ fulfill some 40 plus Old Testament prophecies exactly). Fulfilled prophecy is unlike any other ancient book from antiquity, either secular or religious. In an article written by Dr. Hugh Ross of ‘Reasons to Believe’ on August 23, 2003, he states that the Bible contains about 2,500 prophecies of which 2,000 have already been fulfilled, “to the letter, with no errors.” The remaining 500 are yet to be fulfilled. As a scientist, he claims that the probability of this happening is one in 10^2,000 or one followed by 2,000 zeros. The human mind can’t comprehend how significant a number that is. Ross realizes that some clairvoyants occasionally get some predictions correct with some degree of accuracy, but they are never 100% accurate like the Bible. (Ross is a Ph. D. in astronomy and a Christian apologist. He is also an old-Earth creationist. I do not believe the Bible teaches an old age to the earth.) All things considered, the Bible is most definitely unique in all of history.
In response to a request by the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray, this passage is part of His response, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?” Luke 11:11. God is more willing to give us the Holy Spirit than we are to receive it. If God is willing to provide us with our daily bread and the Holy Spirit, would He not preserve His word (the bread of life) for us? It seems that very few believe that God has preserved His word, the bread of life, for His children. When His children ask for the bread of life (His Word), apparently God gives us a serpent, the ever-changing opinions of scholars and critics, who don’t believe we have the infallible, inerrant Word of the living God.
The Bible has much more historical credibility than any other book from antiquity, and few doubt these other ancient books are authentic.How do we explain the growing distrust of the Bible? Explaining that is the primary purpose of these articles. The sowing of distrust in the Word of God began in the Garden of Eden.
How did we get the Old and New Testament Canon of scripture? The word ‘canon’ means those books that God divinely inspires, and therefore they belong in the Bible. Making this determination was a process first started by Jewish rabbis, scholars, and later by early Christians. Most Christians believe that God inspired certain men to write what He wanted them to write, not in the form of dictation but with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Then God moved on the hearts of His people to recognize and embrace these works. No one individual or small group determined what books belonged in the canon of scripture. It was the consensus of believers from all over as the Holy Spirit of God convinced them. Certain church councils affirmed this choice, which the majority of Christians had already determined.
Determining the Old Testament canon was much less complicated than determining the New Testament canon. Jewish believers recognized which letters or messages were of God, and they included those in the Old Testament Canon. From the website, EvidenceforChristianity.org, we read the following. “The Old Testament canon was decided at least two hundred years before the Council of Jamnia. This council was held in AD 90. It confirmed what had already been long accepted. Josephus, the early Jewish historian, had the same list of books as the Council of Jamnia. His 22 books are our present-day 39 books.” Eventually, the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Old Testament books were translated into Greek. It is known as the Septuagint, and this was written by 200 BC.
“Jesus quoted from every Old Testament book but never quoted from other books such as the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigraphs.” That is a critically important statement as you consider which books should and should not be in our Bibles. By 200 BC, the Old Testament canon was completed. It contained the same 39 books in our current Bible (the Jewish number was 22 books, because they combined some books that our Bible counts as two books). The Pseudepigraphs are books that claimed to be written by a particular person but were not, for instance, the Gospel of Peter. Peter did not write a gospel account, and this book was written after his death, not before it.
The Apocrypha contains these books: I Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, and many more. It is claimed that there are 54 books in the Apocrypha, or 14 books depending on the source. The Roman Catholic Church includes seven (7) apocryphal books in its Bible. They are: Sirach, Wisdom, Tobit, I Maccabees, Judith, additions to the Book of Daniel, and Esther.
“All this data (Josephus, Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint translation, and quotes from Jesus and by other Jewish writers) supports the conclusion that the Jewish canon was established hundreds of years before the Council of Jamnia in 90 AD.” This site estimates the date the Old Testament Canon of scripture was formed and fixed at 400-300 BC, but certainly by 200 BC at the latest.
There was some disagreement among early Christians, but by 250 AD, there was nearly universal agreement on the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The main dispute had to do with the Apocrypha that some early “Christian” leaders arbitrarily decided should be included. Scholars know best, or do they? That debate continues today for some. Based on the Council of Trent in the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Bible includes it, and the Christian/non-Catholic Bible does not now and never has included other books as the inspired canon. Protestant and Baptist Bibles today contain 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament for a total of 66 books in the entire Bible. This canon dates back to well over 1000 years before the Protestant Reformation of 1517.
As for the New Testament, the process of determining which books were inspired by God began early. Books written by the apostles were immediately recognized as inspired by God and were included in the New Testament canon. As the decades went by, an increasing number of books were identified as part of the Canon of the New Testament by early church leaders and Christians in general. By AD 170-235, Hippolytus recognized 22 of the 27 books we now have. The New Testament books that were the most controversial were: Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, and 3 John. (Martin Luther thought the Book of James was made of straw. Even men who were mightily used of God can be blinded and deceived. Martin Luther did make some needed reformation to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, but much was left undone.)
“The first New Testament canon was the Muratorian Canon, which was compiled in AD 170. It included all of the New Testament books except Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, and 3 John. In AD 363, the Council of Laodicea stated that only the Old Testament (along with one book of the Apocrypha) and 26 books of the New Testament (everything but Revelation) were canonical and to be read in the churches.” After that, the Council of Hippo in 393 AD and the Council of Carthage in 397 AD confirmed that the same 27 books in our current Bibles of the New Testament are authoritative. Again, this means we had the 66 books of the Bible 1,100 years before the Protestant Reformation, which Martin Luther initiated.
How was the New Testament canon determined? Christian leaders used a few essential tests to determine if the many books circulating were to be included in the New Testament canon, such as;
- Was the book written by an apostle or someone closely related to the apostle?
- Is the book being accepted and embraced by the body of Christ at large?
- Was the book consistent with other books in doctrine and other important information?
- Did the book read like a book from God, who is truth, light, holy, and righteous?
Most real Christians ultimately believe that God supernaturally determined the canon of both the Old and New Testaments. God worked through flawed men to eventually bring forth the whole council of God. God is sovereign in the affairs of man. He promised that His word would never pass away and that He would preserve it forever. Psalm 12:6,7.
Ancient books rejected from the Bible
Many books or manuscripts were being circulated early on, but only those “chosen” were included in the Bible. From the website, creationtruth.com, this is a list of ancient books considered spurious and therefore rejected from the canon of scripture: Acts of Paul, Shepherd of Hermas, Revelation of Peter, Epistle of Barnabas, Didache, and the Gospel of Hebrews. Christians read these books, but they were not considered inspired by God and were not included in the New Testament canon.
These are the heretical books which were rejected immediately: Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Thomas, Acts of Andrew, Acts of John, Gospel of Matthias. These were never to be considered part of the New Testament canon.
As mentioned already, the Roman Catholic Church added some books of the Apocrypha into their canon first in 382 AD and then formally solidified that inclusion at the Council of Trent in 1546. The Council of Trent was Rome’s response to Martin Luther and the Reformation. It was part of its counter-reformation.
Then there are the Pseudepigraphs. That designation includes the following: 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 2 Baruch, 3 Baruch, Assumption of Moses, Jubilees, Letters of Aristeas, Life of Adam and Eve, Ascension of Isaiah, Psalms of Solomon, Sibylline Oracles, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, 3 Enoch. None of these books was included in the Jewish canon or the early Christian canons. Many Christians and others read these books, but understood that God did not inspire them. I have many great theological books in my library, but none of these books is on the same level as the Bible. I have profited by them over the years, but never assumed these writers’ words were inspired by God, as the books of the Bible are. The Bible alone, containing 66 books, is the final authority.
Attacks on the Word of God continued.
From the very start of the Christian Church, false prophets, teachers, and pastors crept in and sowed lies and falsehoods to the body of Christians to deceive them. You will notice some of these early heresies being refuted in the New Testament by the apostles. For example, 1 John addressed those who deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and called them antichrist.
After the apostles died, the attacks on the Word of God continued and gained momentum. Here are a few important names. I gathered this information from Dr. Grady’s book, Final Authority. The men who follow were used to sow distrust in the Word of God. In Antioch, followers of Jesus Christ were first called Christians. It is from this source that the Word of God was preserved, copied and circulated. South of Antioch in Alexandria Egypt, is where much of the heretical teaching sprang forth.
- Philo (20 BC – 50 AD) was a Jewish apostate and intellectual. He is credited with starting or founding Alexandria’s infamous catechetical school of science, theology, and philosophy. He is also credited with pioneering the allegorical mode of interpreting scripture. (By the way, you can make scripture say anything you want if you, and not the context, decide to interpret scripture using allegory. The use of allegory can be just another way to make the Bible a human work and not the supernatural work of God. With the inappropriate use of allegory, a person can eliminate all the miracles of God.) Philo combined Greek philosophy with Judaism in his school. You might ask, what does light have to do with darkness? Good question. What do Plato, Aristotle, or Socrates have to do with the Word of God given to Moses, other prophets, and through Jesus Christ? To try to combine the truth of God with the teachings of Greek pagans is a grave error, and it crept in very early.
- Origen, Adamantius (185-254). He ran the Alexandrian catechetical school of theology and philosophy for some time. He was a proponent of the allegorical method like Philo. He is credited with the beginning of textual criticism. (This is a natural consequence of the inappropriate use of allegory.) He denied the existence of hell, believed that the Holy Spirit was a created being, and that everyone would eventually be saved. He also thought that the stars in heaven were living creatures in possession of souls for which Christ died. He castrated himself and was excommunicated from the Alexandrian school. (He might have done much better by consistently adopting the allegorical method of interpretation and not assuming a literal interpretation of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:30 to cut off your right hand if that causes you to offend or stumble!) He took his corrupted manuscripts of scripture to Caesarea, where he set up another school. On his death, he gave his library to one of his pupils, Pamphilus.
- In turn, when Pamphilus died in 309, he passed these corruptions on to Eusebius. Constantine the Great ordered that 50 Bibles be made, and Eusebius naturally would have used the works of Origen. “Most scholars believe that codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus are two of these fifty copies.” Final Authority, Grady Publications. Page 332. (We will come back to these two corrupt codices later. They have been used in almost all newer translations of the Bible since the late 19th century.)
- Clement of Alexandria (150-215) was the successor to Pantaenus as head master of Alexandria’s catechetical school of theology and philosophy. He believed God inspired Plato’s writings! How could a thinking Christian believe such a ridiculous idea? I understand how godless intellectuals find this appealing, but for an honest Christian to be attracted to it is a marvel to me. Clement also believed that the stars in heaven were to be worshiped. Origen succeeded him in 202. Clement is also credited with adding the Apocrypha to scripture. Origen followed suit.
The Alexandrian or Egyptian school is a picture of intellectualism and scholarship, combining pagan thinking with Christian truth, all without the Spirit of God. Alexandrians went from the study of books to the worship of books and mankind’s intellectual achievements. Eventually, in 641 AD, the Muslims destroyed their great city and its excellent library. Alexandria, Egypt, is a picture of the God hating world system with its emphasis on sensuality, idolatry, amusement, scholarship, intellectualism, greed, lust, pride, and covetousness.
Most Christians today do not understand that most modern Bible translations are Egyptian or Alexandrian, which was a hotbed of heretical and pagan teaching. It was supposedly the seat of all science, where both philosophy and theology would be combined—a perfect compromise, as some thought. But God thought otherwise. Origen and Clement both believed ridiculous and heretical things. (Check out Dr. Grady’s book if you want a good laugh or a good cry.) And how is it that honest Christian’s fawn over these scholars (Clement and Origen, for instance) who were most likely not reliable Christians to begin with? Fast forward to the late 19th century, and we have the same situation where godless scholars, such as Westcott and Hort, are shown the highest of regard and allowed to corrupt the preserved Word of God with their unbelief. It is a troubling thing to behold.
Why didn’t any of the original autographs originate in Egypt or Alexandria? The unsubstantiated claim that Mark brought his gospel to Alexandria is repudiated, according to Dr. Grady. (See his book for more information.)
According to the Wescott and Hort theory of the 19th century, it is from Alexandria (where Satan’s throne is) that God raised “Christian” scholars to preserve His New Testament Word. (Page 80 of Dr. Grady’s book). Many scholars from the 19th century on believe this is true. Dr. Grady and others make a great case as to why the opposite is actually true. It is from Alexandria that heresies and the corruption of the Word of God gained strength.
“Another area of pronounced Nicolaitan deception concerns the Alexandrian fathers. By equating spirituality with religious intellectualism, the typical Bible College faculty will venerate a host of Egyptian heretics from Clement to Origen”, Dr. Grady’s book, page 73. Why is it that unregenerate man is almost always fooled by intellectualism, assuming that to represent spirituality? Never forget that the religious Pharisee in Jesus’ day represented the intellectual scholar, and they killed Jesus Christ. That is how godly those intellectuals were.
God is not impressed with scholars or intellectuals who are in love with their thinking more than they are with God and His truth. We see this today, much like in the days of Clement and Origen, where many evangelical Christians are confident that they provide the scholarship needed to correct the word of God and alter it at will, based on their intellectual scholarship. Knowledge puffs up, and pride goes before the fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction. God is not impressed with the cold-hearted and prideful intellectual or scholar. Many of these men have no fear of God but much fear of man. Many are simply blind guides with heads full of knowledge and self.
How many of our local churches or Christian ministries are more concerned about the spirituality and godliness of their pastors than they are about the pastor’s educational credentials? Not very many in my estimation. No wonder the church, generally speaking, is as wicked as the rest of the world. Spirituality or godliness is much more critical than intellectualism and scholarship. God is looking for those men and women who tremble at His word, and not those ‘scholars’ who sit in judgment of His word.
But don’t different Christian churches have different Bibles?
If you look this subject up and use Wikipedia, you will find a wealth of information and much confusion. There are a variety of religious groups that use a variety of books as their sacred canon of scripture. For instance, the Mormon Church uses the Bible plus five books of its own. Almost every Christian church rejects the inclusion of those five additional books of Mormonism.
Roman Catholics put church teaching and tradition on par with scripture or even as more important than the Word of God. By doing this, the Roman Catholic Church is the judge of even the Bible. They alone determine what the Bible means. As mentioned already, the Roman Catholic Church formally added a few books to its Bible as part of its Counter-Reformation in the 1500s.
Many other books were considered during the process of determining the Holy Scripture, such as the books of Jubilees, Enoch, and 1,2, 3 Megqbyan (Ethiopian Maccabees, which is different from the books of Maccabees). Other books, such as Pseudo-Josephus, are books of Jewish history. The Ethiopic version (Zena Ayhud) has eight parts. It is included in the Orthodox Tweahedo canon. Some ancient copies of other language books include 2 Baruch in the Syrian tradition. “The Ethiopian Twahedo Church accepts all of the deuterocanonical books of Catholicism and anagignoskomena of eastern Orthodoxy except for the four Books of Maccabees.” The source is Wikipedia. Wikipedia has an interesting chart. I probably do not need to remind you that Wikipedia is not a good source for conservative Christian thinking.
For example, take the Ethiopian Church, which dates back to 330 AD and was influenced by Origen and the school at Alexandria. It has millions of adherents today. It is a founding member of the World Council of Churches, early in the 20th century. (That should give every evangelical Christian severe heartburn.) It has 81 books in its Bible canon. It includes the books we usually associate with our Bible, but adds additional books. Check it out if you are interested. Our Bible has 66 books, which is 15 books shorter. Both Jews and Christians have agreed on the canon of the Old Testament, as reflected in the Protestant Bible. For example, the Book of Maccabees was never considered in the Hebrew or Christian Bible, while it is in the Ethiopian canon. Does God care about such matters?
Why does the Ethiopian Church have 81 to 88 books in its canon? The broader canon seems to have been created by Ethiopian scholars commenting on the Fetha Negest law code, which says that the canon has 81 books, but only lists 73. The additional eight books were those presumed to be missing from the list. That is interesting. Was God not able to preserve those missing books, or could it be that those missing books were never to be included in the first place? From the website Quora, they state that there are “certain Ethiopian tribes that have been worshiping the God of Israel for over 3500 years. But this does not mean all Ethiopians worship the God of Israel. They are split between Muslim, Protestant, and Orthodox in their worship.”
Creationtruth.com states the following. “Based on what we’ve previously learned, these books (additional books in the Ethiopian canon) have either already been shown throughout history to not be inspired / canonical / scriptural, or this is the only place they have ever been found. If for some of these books, this is the only place they’ve been found, then why did the Lord hide them from the rest of the world for so long? Why did He provide only 66 books to the rest of the world?” I think those are great questions.
Having more books in a canon does not make it more helpful and godly. And why would any real Christian embrace the World Council of Churches, which stands for things God hates? The World Council of Churches embraces homosexual marriage and homosexual clergy, among other things, most real born-again Christians would never agree to. We know that is true of different Christian denominations as well. To approve of what God prohibits, all these denominations must, in effect, rewrite the Word of God. They must rewrite their canon. What value is a canon of scripture that so-called scholars can rewrite? If this makes sense to you, then I am fearful for your soul.
Why isn’t the book of Enoch included in our Bible, but is in other canons? This book was written in the second century BC. It is authentic but not inspired by God, and that is why it is not included in the canon. It was not written by Enoch, as the title claims, who lived many centuries before this was written. Enoch lived before Noah. No one believes Enoch wrote this book. Therefore, it is not inspired by God. And the Jews never accepted it either. The Alexandrian Christians used this book, as well as other books not used by the churches in Antioch. (This is a critical statement, and we will come back to it as we proceed.)
Origen was more open to imaginative explanations and speculative theology. We also know that Alexandria was the center of allegorical interpretation of scripture. Recall my previous comments about the unrestrained and inappropriate use of allegory. This website is not exactly sure why these Ethiopian churches used this book, but they say that it should never have been included in the Canon of scripture. John Oakes was the writer of this piece.
Dawit Muluneh produced a YouTube video on this question, “Why is the Ethiopian Bible so different?” If interested in more information, check it out.
In the second and third centuries, the Gnostics were circulating several books or writings and stirring up lots of controversy. Their books made many claims that could not be reconciled with the scriptures. Their writings were deemed heretical and not included in our canon of scripture.
How do we know the Bible we have today is the same Bible as the one of the early Christians? How can we trust our Bible?
As already explained, in total, there exist over 25,000 old manuscripts (in whole or in part). No other ancient book comes even close to that number of supporting manuscripts. Most importantly, there is excellent agreement among them. In comparing early with late manuscripts of the Bible, there is about 90% stability of these manuscripts over the many centuries. You may recall the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls several decades ago and how remarkable it was that these ancient writings were the same as what we have today.
The canon of both the Old and New Testaments was settled by the end of the fourth century. With the growing apostasy of the Catholic Church under the Roman Emperor Constantine, the attacks on the Bible were immediate and have continued until today. Some groups added other books to their canon, others changed or added words to the text of the Bible, while the new Roman Catholic Church desperately tried to keep the Bible hidden and out of reach of the common person for about the next thousand years. We are going to explore some of this history leading up to the 19th century, when a monumental change occurred. It was just another attack on the Word of God.
In the Garden of Eden, the serpent approached Eve and planted doubt in her mind about what God told her and Adam. The serpent said, “Hath God said…?” That doubt about the truthfulness and trustworthiness of the Word of God began about 6000 years ago, and it still rages on today.
Even if one allows for a variety of canonical books the real issue is the truth. Has God preserved the truth for us or not? Is the Jesus they proclaim the same Jesus given to us in the New Testament, or is it a creation of their demented minds?
As mentioned, the Mormon Church and the Roman Catholic church have added additional books to their canon. Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church has added church tradition and church teaching to the Word of God. Church teaching trumps the canon of the Bible for the Roman Catholic and the Mormon, as well as other Christian denominations. Bottom line is that both in the Mormon Church and in the Roman Catholic church, as just two examples, we end up with what is not the truth. The Jesus Christ of Mormonism and the Jesus Christ of the Roman Catholic Church is not the Jesus Christ given to us in the New Testament. That should matter to everyone who names the name of Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior.
Paying lip service to a canon of scripture is easy to do. Jesus said that He is the truth, the life, and the way. The truth is objective and unchanging. By defining Jesus Christ according to extra-biblical sources and or church tradition, one will always bring forth a false gospel, a false Jesus, and deception. You can pick a canon with 66 books, 88 books, or more, and not follow or believe in any of them. You can create a Jesus of your imagination. This is done all the time. God calls that idolatry, and that alone is enough to exclude you from the Kingdom of Christ. (See my first article on the Roman Catholic Church, which was focused primarily on the unbiblical doctrines of the Church of Rome.)
In Part 3, we will continue to look at the evidence pertaining to the assault on the Bible and Bible believers coming from the Roman Catholic Church.
In Part 4, we will focus on the persecution of Christians by ‘Christians’ (the Roman Catholic Church).
In Part 5, our focus will be on how we got our English Bible and the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition.
In Part 6, we will address the ongoing war to save the Bible.
In Part 7, the subject matter will be textual criticism and dating of ancient manuscripts.
The following article, Part 8, will focus on the Jesuits and their part in this ongoing battle.
The following article, Part 9, will consider the papacy and what the Popes have done over the many centuries.
The last article, Part 10, will provide a summary. What kind of picture have these articles revealed about the Roman Catholic Church? Is this a picture of the Kingdom of God or something else entirely?
