As already seen convincingly, the Catholic church indeed began about 1,600 years ago and not approximately 2,000 years ago. It is therefore not surprising that not one doctrine or practice in this church coincides with the original church. The same terminologies are being used like “baptism”, “Lord’s supper”, “repentance” etc., but they mean something else and they are being administered and practised in a totally different way to what they were in the early church.

Nowhere is a pope spoken of in the Holy Scriptures nor is therein mentioned of a successor of Peter, neither a vicar of Christ nor of any apostolic succession. Some scripture passages were used by force to justify the self-established aspiration, namely the Words of Jesus in Mt. 16:18, “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter (petros) and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The Lord did not say to Peter, “… upon thee I will build my church”, but instead, “… upon this rock”. The word “petros” means stone, but the church should be built consisting of many stones (I Pet. 2:5) upon “petra”, the rock.

If somebody wishes to look this up in the Greek text of the Old and the New testament, there the “rock” is spoken of as “petra”. How could the Lord of heaven build His church upon a man, even if he were the greatest prophet or apostle? That is simply absurd. Peter was a movable stone “petros” and not the immovable rock “petra”. Just 5 verses after this statement the Lord turns to Peter and says the following words, “… get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest not the things that are of God, but those that are of men” (vs. 23).

Peter had just received the revelation who Christ is and upon this revelation of Jesus Christ the church was built. One must read verse 17 before speaking about verse 18. “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, who is in heaven.” The connection here shows very clearly that Peter had received a heavenly revelation of who Jesus Christ is. The same he already uttered in verse 16:“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Just before that statement, the Lord had asked about the various other opinions. But when He asked, “… But who say ye that I am?”, the answer was a divine revelation, and upon this revelation of Jesus Christ the New testament church is founded.

Verse 19 is also misconstrued and falsely interpreted. “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” The concern are the keys of the kingdom of heaven. John the Baptist commenced his preaching, “… saying, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”(Mt. 3:2). Our Lord started His ministry with the same wording, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 4:17). In Luke 16:16 the connection is shown unto us, “The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached …”

On the day of Pentecost, the first believers entered into the Kingdom of God and were more privileged than John the Baptist himself who had announced this Kingdom, therefore, our Lord said, “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist; not withstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Mt. 11:11-12). The apostle Peter had received divine authority which he used as the keys of the Kingdom of heaven in the right way. He was the one who gave the ever valid ordinances for the New Testament church right at the very beginning.

The symbol of keys is very easy to understand. Whosoever has a key for a house may enter, who has one for a car can drive the same and whosoever is in possession of the keys of the Kingdom of heaven has the access to this kingdom and he could unlock things which were formerly locked up and could reveal what was hidden before. By the power of divine calling and of placing into the ministry, the New Testament doctrines binding for the whole period of grace were laid down for the church and can never be altered. The Lord accused the spiritual leaders of His day in regards to the keys as follows: “Woe unto you, lawyers! For ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered” (Lk. 11:52). Could it be that we find ourselves today in the same spiritual condition?

It is also misunderstood and wrongly interpreted what Jesus spoke in this connection mentioned to Peter, “… and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt. 16:19). What does this mean? Whatever the apostle Peter by the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit declared must be valid as long as the church is on the earth. Repentance, water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit, all this was done under God’s leading and, therefore, it is valid in heaven as it is valid on earth. This is the actual significance of the keys.

The divine authority was not restricted to Peter only who in the hour of the birth of the New Testament church spoke forth the things which must be taught and practised. But the same authority was also placed on the whole church. This fact is shown without doubt in Mt. 18:18 where the text is used in the plural, “Verily I say unto you, Whatever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” It is seen very clearly that the same authority given to the man of the first hour to lay down the binding doctrines and practices was also given to the whole church because it must teach and practise what was laid down. As seen from the connection, it is also valid for the things personally pertaining to every believer. If someone did not take heed to what the church according to the Word decided, the same was considered to be an unbeliever. This divine authority is not bound to a single man but rather it is the authority of the Word Itself for the whole church. It, therefore, cannot be applied peradventure but must be used in precise agreement with the Holy Scriptures. The next verse shows exactly how the application is administered according to the prayer, “Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father, who is in heaven” (Mt. 18:19).

A clarification should also be given about John 20:21-23. There the Lord spoke to the apostles, “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you; as my Father has sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and spake unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit. Whosoever’s sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever’s sins ye retain, they are retained.” This passage is also totally misunderstood by the Roman Catholic church and is being applied unscriptural. There is no man on earth who has something to do with the forgiveness of sins. The sins are forgiven by God only. Through the preaching of the gospel those who believe in Christ and in the accomplished work of redemption receive the forgiveness of sins from God. It is clear that no one can forgive his own sins or the sins of someone else. The Scripture says, “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations” (Lk. 24:47). “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col. 2:13).

What does the utterance which is in the plural actually signify “Whosoever’s sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them…”? To whom was it addressed and in what connection? After His resurrection, our Lord spoke to the apostles whom He had personally called to preach the gospel. In this connection, Jesus refers to the sin committed against someone directly ordained to preach the gospel. When our Lord ministered, there were those who sinned against Him, because they were ascribing the supernatural ministry to Beelzebub. He then made the following statement, “Wherefore, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, neither in the age to come” (Mt. 12:31-32). Whosoever sins against those men of God who were called and authorised to minister according to the divine calling since the day of Pentecost, is in great danger.

If somebody blasphemes a man sent from God, persecutes and stones him then that man can forgive to the persecutor this sin. Jesus Himself gave us the best example of such forgiveness, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34). When Stephen was stoned he followed his Master’s example, “… calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge …” (Acts 7:59-60). When someone does not sin against the man of God but against the working of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Spirit which are in operation and blasphemes, that is an unpardonable sin which is being retained. A man of God can only forgive those who sin against him and not those who sin against the Holy Spirit. In the Lord’s prayer we are clearly taught, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Mt. 6:12). “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have anything against any, that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses” (Mk 11:25). If somebody sins against his neighbour and if it were even until seventy times seven, we must forgive one another (Mt. 18:21-35).

Therefore, if someone blasphemes against a servant of God, it can be forgiven. In a case where the Holy Spirit is working through a man and somebody blasphemes whatever is done by the Holy Spirit, then the man is not concerned whom God uses as a vessel, but it is directed against the Holy Spirit Himself. In such a case a person is guilty before God of having committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. This can never be forgiven and that is the sin unto death — the eternal separation from God. Generally every human being is guilty before God and receives the forgiveness of sins from Him who alone can forgive. “Who forgives all thine iniquities, who healeth all thine diseases” (Ps. 103:3). “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom. 4:7-8).

The practice of the Roman Catholic church, to express it mildly, is unscriptural. All through life sins are being forgiven and from birth until death salvation is administered, but after death the mourners are told that the deceased inspite of having received even the last sacrament did not go up but landed in purgatory. There he shall be further cleansed from his sins committed in his lifetime although having received forgiveness all the time. What a paradox! By the way there is no purgatory as such and it was invented as were many other doctrines and dogmas.

The Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli wrote like this, “Therefore purgatory — such is called the deceptive fire-atonement, but can nowhere be verified in God’s Word. How is it possible that we can be so dumb to believe such fade, suspective and foolish talk. We see the same person who defend purgatory teach us how one can quench the same. They themselves offer to be fire extinguishers. They say, ‘You must pay money, with it the fire will quickly diminish, if those who take the money bravely say Mass, pray and sing songs.’ They read Mass, at the same time stretch out their hand after money.” (Zwingli, Der Theologe, II part, pg 193-194).

Since the coming into existence of this universal church, many new and strange things were invented, taught and proclaimed as dogmas which have absolutely nothing to do with the original Christendom. The believers of the early church did not know anything about candles, incense or holy water. The same applies to the beatification or canonisation of the deceased or their veneration. There was no daily Mass, no calling upon a mother of God and no convents. Before me is a list of the various proclamations right to the declaration of the infallibility of the pope in the year 1870 of which we shall mention later. Against this were strong protests among those present, 79 German theologians were against and only 25 for it. In 1950 the dogma was proclaimed that Mary ascended bodily into heaven. All such things have no Biblical foundation. On the contrary they are directly against God’s Word. It is written, “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven” (Jn. 3:13).

The proclamations of the popes must be classified as being antichrist, because they are directly contrary to Christ’s own declarations. At the council of Ephesus (431 A.D.) Mary was declared Mother of God. From then on the different titles were added such as Queen of heaven, Mediator, Advocate, Mother of mercy, Mother of the Church and the one who bruised the serpent’s head. The many descriptions which apply only to Christ were transferred and given to Mary. All this is antichrist. HE is the King, He is the Mediator, He is the Advocate and He is the One Who bruised the serpents head. If Mary is the one who has done all this where do we place Christ and what has He done?

The reformer Martin Luther has spoken up regarding church councils and the declarations made by the popes attending the Reichstag at Worms on the 18th of April, 1521. His statement is documented in the church history. “Because I don’t believe the pope nor the council as it is a fact that they often erred and caught themselves in contradictory statements. So am I, if not conquered by the testimony of the Scriptures and illuminating reasons, am I conquered by the testimonies of the Scriptures I referred to and I am taken a prisoner in God’s Word. Retract I cannot and will not, because to act against the conscience is not safe and not beneficial. So help me God. Amen.” (F. Haus, Väter der Christenheit, pg. 147). History proves how fallible the popes were. “Until the end of the Thirty Years’ War there were 245 popes; 24 antipopes, and a fable which was long believed to be a historical truth, one woman-pope. 19 popes had left Rome, 35 reigned outside Italy, 8 did not reign longer than one month, 40 than one year, 22 up to two years, 54 up to five years, 57 up to ten years, 51 up to fifteen years, 18 up to twenty years, and only 10 popes reigned longer than twenty years. From the 245 popes 31 were declared usurpers and heretics. Among the legitimate popes 64 died by force, 18 popes were poisoned, 4 were strangled and 13 died in peculiar manners.” (E. Rosenow, Wider die Pfaffenherrschaft, vol. 1, pg. 42).

Rome or more precisely the Vatican has assumed universal authority which in no way is justified by God’s Word. It is a worldly power under a clerical robe. The legend that Peter was in Rome and even being a bishop there for twenty years is a desperate effort to justify the invented assertion by the universal church. Historians only record of a man Simon Magus who made a great impression on the Roman senate because of his sorcery tricks. Indeed the missionary trips of Paul and those of Peter are clearly described. There is no doubt about them. If Peter would have made a trip to Rome that would have been an outstanding event, a sensation, and most certainly it would have been recorded.

According to Galatians 2:9 Peter, James and John gave the hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas and agreed that Paul and Barnabas would minister to the nations, whereas Peter, James and John would be working for the Jews. Paul has written letters to the church in Rome and at the end he greets 27 persons by name, but Peter is not found in this list. Also in the many letters Paul wrote being in Rome to churches and single brethren Peter is not mentioned even a single time.

If one considers the word of God and compares it with the religious developments it becomes quite evident that none of the doctrines the Roman church invented can stand the test of the Holy Scriptures. The self-established authority of the popes is totally unfounded. In the whole of church history, it is not recorded even a single time where a pope had received a divine call or had an experience with the Lord. On the contrary, it is commonly known that the popes are determined by the conclave — the college of cardinals.

As already seen convincingly, the Catholic church indeed began about 1,600 years ago and not approximately 2,000 years ago. It is therefore not surprising that not one doctrine or practice in this church coincides with the original church. The same terminologies are being used like “baptism”, “Lord’s supper”, “repentance” etc., but they mean something else and they are being administered and practised in a totally different way to what they were in the early church.

Nowhere is a pope spoken of in the Holy Scriptures nor is therein mentioned of a successor of Peter, neither a vicar of Christ nor of any apostolic succession. Some scripture passages were used by force to justify the self-established aspiration, namely the Words of Jesus in Mt. 16:18, “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter (petros) and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The Lord did not say to Peter, “… upon thee I will build my church”, but instead, “… upon this rock”. The word “petros” means stone, but the church should be built consisting of many stones (I Pet. 2:5) upon “petra”, the rock.

If somebody wishes to look this up in the Greek text of the Old and the New testament, there the “rock” is spoken of as “petra”. How could the Lord of heaven build His church upon a man, even if he were the greatest prophet or apostle? That is simply absurd. Peter was a movable stone “petros” and not the immovable rock “petra”. Just 5 verses after this statement the Lord turns to Peter and says the following words, “… get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest not the things that are of God, but those that are of men” (vs. 23).

Peter had just received the revelation who Christ is and upon this revelation of Jesus Christ the church was built. One must read verse 17 before speaking about verse 18. “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, who is in heaven.” The connection here shows very clearly that Peter had received a heavenly revelation of who Jesus Christ is. The same he already uttered in verse 16:“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Just before that statement, the Lord had asked about the various other opinions. But when He asked, “… But who say ye that I am?”, the answer was a divine revelation, and upon this revelation of Jesus Christ the New testament church is founded.

Verse 19 is also misconstrued and falsely interpreted. “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” The concern are the keys of the kingdom of heaven. John the Baptist commenced his preaching, “… saying, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 3:2). Our Lord started His ministry with the same wording, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 4:17). In Luke 16:16 the connection is shown unto us, “The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached …”

On the day of Pentecost, the first believers entered into the Kingdom of God and were more privileged than John the Baptist himself who had announced this Kingdom, therefore, our Lord said, “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist; not withstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Mt. 11:11-12). The apostle Peter had received divine authority which he used as the keys of the Kingdom of heaven in the right way. He was the one who gave the ever valid ordinances for the New Testament church right at the very beginning.

The symbol of keys is very easy to understand. Whosoever has a key for a house may enter, who has one for a car can drive the same and whosoever is in possession of the keys of the Kingdom of heaven has the access to this kingdom and he could unlock things which were formerly locked up and could reveal what was hidden before. By the power of divine calling and of placing into the ministry, the New Testament doctrines binding for the whole period of grace were laid down for the church and can never be altered. The Lord accused the spiritual leaders of His day in regards to the keys as follows: “Woe unto you, lawyers! For ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered” (Lk. 11:52). Could it be that we find ourselves today in the same spiritual condition?

It is also misunderstood and wrongly interpreted what Jesus spoke in this connection mentioned to Peter, “… and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt. 16:19). What does this mean? Whatever the apostle Peter by the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit declared must be valid as long as the church is on the earth. Repentance, water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit, all this was done under God’s leading and, therefore, it is valid in heaven as it is valid on earth. This is the actual significance of the keys.

The divine authority was not restricted to Peter only who in the hour of the birth of the New Testament church spoke forth the things which must be taught and practised. But the same authority was also placed on the whole church. This fact is shown without doubt in Mt. 18:18 where the text is used in the plural, “Verily I say unto you, Whatever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” It is seen very clearly that the same authority given to the man of the first hour to lay down the binding doctrines and practices was also given to the whole church because it must teach and practise what was laid down. As seen from the connection, it is also valid for the things personally pertaining to every believer. If someone did not take heed to what the church according to the Word decided, the same was considered to be an unbeliever. This divine authority is not bound to a single man but rather it is the authority of the Word Itself for the whole church. It, therefore, cannot be applied peradventure but must be used in precise agreement with the Holy Scriptures. The next verse shows exactly how the application is administered according to the prayer, “Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father, who is in heaven” (Mt. 18:19).

A clarification should also be given about John 20:21-23. There the Lord spoke to the apostles, “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you; as my Father has sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and spake unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit. Whosoever’s sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever’s sins ye retain, they are retained.” This passage is also totally misunderstood by the Roman Catholic church and is being applied unscriptural. There is no man on earth who has something to do with the forgiveness of sins. The sins are forgiven by God only. Through the preaching of the gospel those who believe in Christ and in the accomplished work of redemption receive the forgiveness of sins from God. It is clear that no one can forgive his own sins or the sins of someone else. The Scripture says, “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations” (Lk. 24:47). “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col. 2:13).

What does the utterance which is in the plural actually signify “Whosoever’s sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them…”? To whom was it addressed and in what connection? After His resurrection, our Lord spoke to the apostles whom He had personally called to preach the gospel. In this connection, Jesus refers to the sin committed against someone directly ordained to preach the gospel. When our Lord ministered, there were those who sinned against Him, because they were ascribing the supernatural ministry to Beelzebub. He then made the following statement, “Wherefore, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, neither in the age to come” (Mt. 12:31-32). Whosoever sins against those men of God who were called and authorised to minister according to the divine calling since the day of Pentecost, is in great danger.

If somebody blasphemes a man sent from God, persecutes and stones him then that man can forgive to the persecutor this sin. Jesus Himself gave us the best example of such forgiveness, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34). When Stephen was stoned he followed his Master’s example, “… calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge …” (Acts 7:59-60). When someone does not sin against the man of God but against the working of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Spirit which are in operation and blasphemes, that is an unpardonable sin which is being retained. A man of God can only forgive those who sin against him and not those who sin against the Holy Spirit. In the Lord’s prayer we are clearly taught, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Mt. 6:12). “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have anything against any, that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses” (Mk 11:25). If somebody sins against his neighbour and if it were even until seventy times seven, we must forgive one another (Mt. 18:21-35).

Therefore, if someone blasphemes against a servant of God, it can be forgiven. In a case where the Holy Spirit is working through a man and somebody blasphemes whatever is done by the Holy Spirit, then the man is not concerned whom God uses as a vessel, but it is directed against the Holy Spirit Himself. In such a case a person is guilty before God of having committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. This can never be forgiven and that is the sin unto death — the eternal separation from God. Generally every human being is guilty before God and receives the forgiveness of sins from Him who alone can forgive. “Who forgives all thine iniquities, who healeth all thine diseases” (Ps. 103:3). “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom. 4:7-8).

The practice of the Roman Catholic church, to express it mildly, is unscriptural. All through life sins are being forgiven and from birth until death salvation is administered, but after death the mourners are told that the deceased inspite of having received even the last sacrament did not go up but landed in purgatory. There he shall be further cleansed from his sins committed in his lifetime although having received forgiveness all the time. What a paradox! By the way there is no purgatory as such and it was invented as were many other doctrines and dogmas.

The Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli wrote like this, “Therefore purgatory — such is called the deceptive fire-atonement, but can nowhere be verified in God’s Word. How is it possible that we can be so dumb to believe such fade, suspective and foolish talk. We see the same person who defend purgatory teach us how one can quench the same. They themselves offer to be fire extinguishers. They say, ‘You must pay money, with it the fire will quickly diminish, if those who take the money bravely say Mass, pray and sing songs.’ They read Mass, at the same time stretch out their hand after money.” (Zwingli, Der Theologe, II part, pg 193-194).

Since the coming into existence of this universal church, many new and strange things were invented, taught and proclaimed as dogmas which have absolutely nothing to do with the original Christendom. The believers of the early church did not know anything about candles, incense or holy water. The same applies to the beatification or canonisation of the deceased or their veneration. There was no daily Mass, no calling upon a mother of God and no convents. Before me is a list of the various proclamations right to the declaration of the infallibility of the pope in the year 1870 of which we shall mention later. Against this were strong protests among those present, 79 German theologians were against and only 25 for it. In 1950 the dogma was proclaimed that Mary ascended bodily into heaven. All such things have no Biblical foundation. On the contrary they are directly against God’s Word. It is written, “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven” (Jn. 3:13).

The proclamations of the popes must be classified as being antichrist, because they are directly contrary to Christ’s own declarations. At the council of Ephesus (431 A.D.) Mary was declared Mother of God. From then on the different titles were added such as Queen of heaven, Mediator, Advocate, Mother of mercy, Mother of the Church and the one who bruised the serpent’s head. The many descriptions which apply only to Christ were transferred and given to Mary. All this is antichrist. HE is the King, He is the Mediator, He is the Advocate and He is the One Who bruised the serpents head. If Mary is the one who has done all this where do we place Christ and what has He done?

The reformer Martin Luther has spoken up regarding church councils and the declarations made by the popes attending the Reichstag at Worms on the 18th of April, 1521. His statement is documented in the church history. “Because I don’t believe the pope nor the council as it is a fact that they often erred and caught themselves in contradictory statements. So am I, if not conquered by the testimony of the Scriptures and illuminating reasons, am I conquered by the testimonies of the Scriptures I referred to and I am taken a prisoner in God’s Word. Retract I cannot and will not, because to act against the conscience is not safe and not beneficial. So help me God. Amen.” (F. Haus, Väter der Christenheit, pg. 147). History proves how fallible the popes were. “Until the end of the Thirty Years’ War there were 245 popes; 24 antipopes, and a fable which was long believed to be a historical truth, one woman-pope. 19 popes had left Rome, 35 reigned outside Italy, 8 did not reign longer than one month, 40 than one year, 22 up to two years, 54 up to five years, 57 up to ten years, 51 up to fifteen years, 18 up to twenty years, and only 10 popes reigned longer than twenty years. From the 245 popes 31 were declared usurpers and heretics. Among the legitimate popes 64 died by force, 18 popes were poisoned, 4 were strangled and 13 died in peculiar manners.” (E. Rosenow, Wider die Pfaffenherrschaft, vol. 1, pg. 42).

Rome or more precisely the Vatican has assumed universal authority which in no way is justified by God’s Word. It is a worldly power under a clerical robe. The legend that Peter was in Rome and even being a bishop there for twenty years is a desperate effort to justify the invented assertion by the universal church. Historians only record of a man Simon Magus who made a great impression on the Roman senate because of his sorcery tricks. Indeed the missionary trips of Paul and those of Peter are clearly described. There is no doubt about them. If Peter would have made a trip to Rome that would have been an outstanding event, a sensation, and most certainly it would have been recorded.

According to Galatians 2:9 Peter, James and John gave the hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas and agreed that Paul and Barnabas would minister to the nations, whereas Peter, James and John would be working for the Jews. Paul has written letters to the church in Rome and at the end he greets 27 persons by name, but Peter is not found in this list. Also in the many letters Paul wrote being in Rome to churches and single brethren Peter is not mentioned even a single time.

If one considers the word of God and compares it with the religious developments it becomes quite evident that none of the doctrines the Roman church invented can stand the test of the Holy Scriptures. The self-established authority of the popes is totally unfounded. In the whole of church history, it is not recorded even a single time where a pope had received a divine call or had an experience with the Lord. On the contrary, it is commonly known that the popes are determined by the conclave — the college of cardinals.