The #3 reason is their false claim that Peter the Apostle was the first Pope of Rome. This false claim creates for them an anchor of authority to which their church continues to utilize and promote. We can see during the First Vatican Council of 1869-70AD how the papal bureaucracy gathered to create a doctrinal constitution regarding the authority of the Pope. This doctrine was called “Pastor Aeternus” meaning “Eternal Shepherd”.
“The decree states that the true successor of St. Peter has full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole church; that he has the right of free communication with the pastors of the whole church and with their flocks; and that his primacy includes the supreme teaching power to which Jesus Christ added the prerogative of papal infallibility, whereby the pope is preserved free from error when he teaches definitively that a doctrine concerning faith or morals is to be believed by the whole church.” Encyclopaedia Britannica
(prerogative: a right or privilege exclusive to a particular individual or class)
They essentially made the church a dictatorship where the Pope can enforce any interpretations and rules regarding their religion, and no one can say he is wrong.
If you go to the Vatican’s website, www.vatican.va , they have a list of supreme pontiffs. The title ‘Supreme Pontiff’ is the Latin ‘pontifex maximus’ meaning ‘greatest priest’ which was the pagan title of the Chief High Priest of the pagan College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. The college members under the Supreme Pontiff were the highest ranking priests of the state religion. It included ‘Flamen’ priests who were in charge of the 15 official cults of Roman religion and were each assigned to one of their gods. It was a fully pagan institution headed by the Supreme Pontiff, and it seems not much has changed. Even today, they have a ‘college of bishops’ who wield similar powers to the original ancient college, they have kept their pagan structure.
On their website, there is a section where you can scroll to the very beginning of all their Popes. There you can see Peter the Apostle is listed as their first ‘Supreme Pontiff’. (If the scroll won’t go to the beginning showing Anacletus, Linus, and then Peter, you can enter ‘Peter’ in the scroll search bar which takes you to the Peter link, or you can reduce the zoom on the webpage to 90% which seems to fix the scroll.)
When you click on the Peter circle, it will take you to a webpage that states that Peter was their first Pope.
This false claim is based on an interaction between Christ and Peter,
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18
The name ‘Peter’ that Christ gives him is the Greek ‘Petros’ which means ‘rock’. So essentially, the verse is this,
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art ‘Rock’, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18
The Roman Catholic Church’s interpretation is that when Christ said ‘upon this rock I will build my church’, He meant that Peter was the rock that Christ’s church would be built upon. Peter, himself, contradicts this and actually explains what Christ was talking about. Christ is the Cornerstone, the Stone upon which other stones will be added. Peter is one of those stones, and Peter uses quotes from the Old Testament (Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 8:14, Hosea 2:23) to explain this concept.
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.’ They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” 1Peter 2:4-10
When Christ said ‘on this Rock I will build my church’, He was speaking of Himself. Peter was a rock that would join with the First Stone who is Christ. The other Apostles were also stones like Peter, who would also join to the Cornerstone to create the foundation. And we as believers will be stones who will keep being added to the building. Paul also had this understanding.
“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22
The Catholic church would have you believe that Peter alone is the foundation but he is only part of the foundation. Think about a cornerstone. Even if you think Peter was the first to be added to Christ the Cornerstone, doesn’t a cornerstone have two sides joining to the foundation? Technically, a third stone should be touching also at the corner in between the two side stones.
Sometimes even more than one stone is fitted to each side but there would be at least one other stone of equal importance. So then another apostle or prophet would have to be equal to Peter if you go by that logic. Their theory is full of holes because it is false. Don’t you think Abraham would be closer to the Cornerstone than Peter? After all, Abraham is the Father of all who have faith!
“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all” Romans 4:16
Even God refers to Himself as the ‘God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob'. Would these not be joined to the Cornerstone before Peter? What about Moses or Job? It is just absurd for the Catholics to place Peter above these.
After Christ had called Peter, ‘Rock’, the very next verse is used to support their false claim. They say that only Peter was given the keys to heaven. This is why many Catholic pictures and statues depict Peter with a set of keys.
“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19
First of all, Christ says ‘keys’, and this was a clue. You only need one key to lock or unlock. The plural implies multiple keys which would indicate He was speaking to all the disciples. This is actually confirmed just two chapters later in Matthew 18. Here, Christ is addressing ALL His disciples,
“At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Matthew 18:1
At the start of the chapter, it is clear that ‘disciples’ is plural. This is not for Peter alone. Then Christ preaches to them and once again reiterates the following,
“Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 18:18
You see, the ‘keys of the kingdom of heaven” is referring to what happens when people hear the message of truth. They either accept it and change and so find freedom and life or they reject the truth and stay locked up as a prisoner of sin on death row. Each believer has a key to the kingdom of heaven because they each have the message of the truth.
“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.” Isaiah 42:6-7
The message of truth is freedom, this is the message of faithful obedience to the Father through His Son. This has nothing to do with a specific authority of only one Apostle. The Roman Catholic Church is doing what it has always done, and that is wrongly utilizing parts of the Jewish texts to further their own interests and their political organization. Their instituted doctrine stating the Pope is an infallible teacher is laughable. Peter would be disgusted at how they have slandered his name and God’s Word to continue their pagan ideologies and practices.
They also claim that Peter was ranked higher than the other Apostles.
“Thus, in the early Christian communities, as later throughout the Church, the image of Peter remained fixed as that of the Apostle who, despite his human weakness, was expressly assigned by Christ to the first place among the Twelve and was called to exercise a distinctive, specific task in the Church” Doctrinal symposium on The Primacy of the Successor of Peter, called on by Pope John Paul II
The Roman Catholic Church was using the ideology of supreme authority based on their claim that their Pope was a successor to Peter. In order to name the Pope a successor of Peter with unmatched authority, they had to elevate Peter among the Apostles. Otherwise, all manner of groups could pick an Apostle and claim equal authority. In addition to the previous verses, they use the following,
“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 16:15-17
They are claiming that Peter was the first person for God to reveal that Christ was the Son of God. This is highly unlikely. The reason is that in the very next chapter we see that Christ is on the mountain talking with Elijah and Moses.
“Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Matthew 17:1-4
This was not a ‘vision’ as in seeing something that was not there. They saw Christ, who was there, transform and then Moses and Elijah were suddenly there. They were probably already there waiting for Christ on the mountain or were brought down in the cloud. The bright light coming from Christ likely covered their approach. Both Elijah and Moses were alive in the same way that the Apostles were alive. Elijah had been taken up in his day to be with God and so was still alive. Moses had died and was brought back to life just as Christ had brought Lazarus back to life. If they had been waiting on the mountain then the light may have been their signal that this was the One they were to meet. Both began speaking with Christ. When the two left, they were probably taken up into the cloud as was done with Elijah before, and as would be done to Christ after the resurrection.
Upon Moses’ resurrection, he would probably have understood that all he had prophesied was happening. Both Elijah and Moses probably received the revelation about Christ being the Son of God before Peter. Another case can be made for John the Baptist. Remember also, it was not Peter but his brother Andrew who first claimed to have found the Christ. Therefore, a case can be made for Andrew as well.
"One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ).” John 1:40-41
But even if Peter was the first to understand that Christ was the Son of God, all other believers would receive this also. It’s similar to one man getting a sword but then all the men receive the same sword. How does this establish primacy over the others? It doesn’t. In fact, in just a few verses after Peter understands Christ to be the Son of God, Christ rebukes Peter harshly for being evil.
“But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Matthew 16:23
Does that sound like Christ was giving Peter a higher position than all the other Apostles? What about after the resurrection when Paul had to correct Peter? Peter's Aramaic name was Cephas which also means ‘rock’.
“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?” Galatians 2:11-14
Peter was an Apostle and therefore an elder but there is no evidence that he was placed above the other 11 first Apostles or above any other apostles like Paul. Paul made it clear, that all children of Christ are equal, and he even specifically mentions Peter (Cephus). See the following verses,
“Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” 1Corinthians 1:12-13
“Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” 1Corinthians 3:5-7
“Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours.” 1Corinthians 3:21-22
Clearly, Peter was not given a higher position among Apostles. The Roman Catholic Church is trying to hold up their church doctrine by using many fraudulent biblical references. Another reference they use is that Peter is spoken of first in the bible when listing the 12 apostles.
“Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.” Matthew 10:2-4
By this logic, it would mean that the list is given in order of levels of authority. Yet, in the Gospel of Mark, the order is different. Why was Andrew second and then suddenly changed to fourth? Why would Thomas and Matthew change positions?
“And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.” Mark 3:16-19
Then in Luke, you have another change. Thaddaeus who appears to be called Judas changes spots with Simon the Cananite.
“Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.” Luke 6:14-16
Were Christ’s disciples being given levels of authority over one another and then being promoted and demoted along the way? If Christ had already determined in Luke 6 that Peter was number 1, then why would the following happen in Luke 22?
“A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Luke 22:24-30
Christ tells them that they aren’t to exercise authority over people in that way. Their job is to serve, as He demonstrated. They wouldn’t be over each other but would ALL sit on thrones to judge.
So the biblical lists of the 12 Apostles do not seem to be listings by authority at all. These Catholic references do not offer clarity in any way, it’s just an imaginary support for their Primacy doctrine.
They also use Matthew 14:28-31 because Peter walked on water but they leave out the part that Peter sank and would have died if Christ had not grabbed him, not exactly a good example. Additionally, they quote Matthew 19:27-29 where Peter asks about the reward of giving up everything for Christ. Here Christ tells him that the 12 apostles will sit on 12 thrones, so where is the primacy? They use Matthew 26:33-35 which makes no sense because its where Christ is telling Peter he will deny Christ 3 times. It seems like they are blindly throwing as many verses around as they can in order to discourage people from checking. There is also Luke 22:32 because Christ said that Peter would strengthen his brothers, but this is referring to after Peter completely fails by denying Him three times. In John 6:67-70, at least there is an instance where Peter seems to be speaking for the group but this could also be because he was the oldest in the group or even just more outgoing, or maybe Christ was looking at him and he felt he needed to speak, there could be so many reasons. Even here, Peter says 'we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God' so Peter is not the only one who understands this. Considering there is no reasonable evidence for Christ putting one apostle over another, but in fact evidence of the contrary, you just cannot make that assumption.
Another fraudulent biblical reference is where Christ tells Peter three times to feed His sheep. The same symposium mentioned above makes this statement of Peter based on that verse.
“…he is the Shepherd who will lead the whole community of the Lord's disciples.” Doctrinal symposium on The Primacy of the Successor of Peter, called on by Pope John Paul II
Here are the verses they cite that they are referencing,
“So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.” John 21:15-17
Any believer who has received understanding of the Bible is able to feed other believers who are Christ’s sheep. Christ doesn’t say feed ‘your’ sheep, He says feed ‘My’ sheep. These sheep are the children of Christ. I’m pointing out that these verses are not designating Peter to be the head shepherd. He is receiving instructions but so do many others, like Paul. There are many shepherds that Christ designates as ‘teachers’ or ‘prophets’ to feed His sheep.
The verses also give us insight into something else that is happening here. Peter is being told things three times. Just as his vision in Acts 10 was given three times. This is a punishment because Peter denied Christ three times.
“And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.” Matthew 26:75
So we are not seeing Christ placing Peter in a position of authority but instead it is an act of humbling Peter by reminding him of his act of betrayal where he did not feed the sheep but instead rejected everything Christ taught him. Once again, we see clearly that the Bible does not support the Catholic claim of superiority.
Even Paul is clear that he is an equal to 12.
“For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles.” 2Corinthians 11:5
After all, what does Peter say about his position?
“The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:” 1Peter 5:1
Peter, himself, claims absolutely no authority over other elders but equality.
The #3 Reason that the Roman Catholic Church is a pagan counterfeit is that they slander Peter by their false claim that Peter alone had an authority that was somehow given to their church. So, they say that as Peter’s successor, they are granted power to make their doctrines and authority uncontestable. Their pagan high priest, the Pope, claims that this authority has made him infallible (incapable of being wrong) in his teaching of Catholic morality which they created from their church’s version of Judaism and which they try to pass off as truth. The Catholic organization has been preying on the public who doesn’t have time to research the church’s ‘facts’ which are so confidently stated by their representatives, a public who is trusting these as community leaders to tell them the truth.
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