{"id":424,"date":"2013-03-24T17:45:23","date_gmt":"2013-03-24T17:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ntmu.net\/?p=424"},"modified":"2013-05-17T14:58:47","modified_gmt":"2013-05-17T14:58:47","slug":"thou-art-peter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ntmu.net\/?p=424","title":{"rendered":"“Thou Art Peter…”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jim van Heiningen<\/strong><\/p>\n

The conditioned mind<\/strong><\/p>\n

This saying of our Lord in Matthew\u2019s Gospel (16:18) is the rock on which Roman Catholicism is built. What would our RC friends do without it? There would be no Holy See, no Holy Father, no Vatican, no encyclicals, no white smoke, no cardinals, no \u201cspokesman for Christianity\u201d, no \u201csymbol of unity\u201d as Joseph Ratzinger has called the pope in the past.<\/p>\n

Without these three words of Jesus, the RC church would be just another \u201cdenomination\u201d, seeking to navigate the storms of time. Having a pope is what truly sets them apart from all the others who go by the name of \u201cChristian\u201d. The world is more convinced of that now than ever before \u2013 what other denomination, or religion, can match the unsurpassed pageantry of one pope going and another one coming.<\/p>\n

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\"peter.8\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\nProbe an RC mind and these are the rhetorical questions that will pop out:
\nIs not the pope \u201cthe Bishop of Rome…\u201d? Was not Saint Peter the very first Bishop of Rome and thus the very first pope? Are not Saint Peter\u2019s bones buried right there underneath the basilica that bears his name? And does not the pope have the authority and voice, of the \u201cVicar of Christ\u201d, i.e. the same authority that Peter received directly from the Lord? Didn\u2019t Jesus give Peter (and his successors!) \u201cthe keys of the kingdom\u201d and the power to \u201cbind and loose\u201d?<\/td>\n		\n
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These are the kinds of unquestioned assumptions that condition the RC mind.., from Ratzinger on down. True, the present pope\u2019s intellect may be something else; it may be of the highest human order, but that doesn\u2019t stop it also being totally conditioned. His upbringing has conditioned him, and his RC tradition, and his training, and his surroundings, and what not… A pope entertains no doubt about the propriety of his office. Ratzinger is no exception.<\/p>\n

One meaning for \u201cconditioning\u201d given by Merriam-Webster\u2019s Dictionary is: \u201cto adapt, modify, or mold to respond in a particular way.\u201d Can this cast iron mold of a conditioned RC mind be broken? Catholics do often become atheists, agnostics or members of some cult – in staggering numbers! However, that is no more than a reconditioning of the mind, the mold is recast. Only God\u2019s Word can break the mold – and smash the hold it has on heart and mind!! There are many examples of this. One interesting testimony to the power of God\u2019s Word is Luis Forero\u2019s story \u2013 you’ll find it in \u201cFrom Monastery to Christ\u201d under AMAZING GRACE!<\/p>\n

\u201cIs not my word like fire,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cand like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?\u201d- Jer. 23:29.<\/p>\n

The conditioning of the RC mind, generation after generation, has everything to do with the hierarchy\u2019s specious interpretation of the Scriptures. Characteristically (and inevitably), when one set of Scriptures is \u201cwrested\u201d, another set is wiped off the table, i.e. those Scriptures to which the faithful had better not be exposed. Though obviously still in the Bible, they must be overlooked or perceived to be \u201cirrelevant\u201d. Anything to stop the \u201cfire\u201d and the \u201chammer\u201d smashing the mold of the RC\u2019s mind…<\/p>\n

\u201cFire and hammer\u201d examples can be given from our Lord\u2019s ministry. Even his prayer life is revealing – He thanked his Father for hiding things from the one group (the wise and prudent, which, of course, includes the Vatican variety), and for revealing them to the other group (the babes): \u201cI thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight\u201d (Mt. 11:25-26).<\/p>\n

Addressing the religious respectability syndrome (Mt. 23), He said: \u201cWoe to you… hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men\u2019s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the particular craving for the title of \u201c(Holy) Father\u201d, He said: \u201cDo not call anyone on earth your father; for one is your Father, He who is in heaven\u201d (Mt. 23:9).<\/p>\n

Or, addressing the perceived need for exalted hierarchy: \u201cWoe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets\u201d (Lk. 6:26). \u201cYou are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God\u201d(Lk. 16:15). \u201cThe kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called \u2018benefactors.\u2019 But not so among you…\u201d (Lk. 22:25-26).<\/p>\n

And so we could go on, but let me just remind you of the epistle to the Hebrews. In the New Testament it is probably the most devastating document to the time-honored RC concepts of \u201cpriesthood\u201d (from pope to parish priest), of \u201csanctuaries\u201d (basilicas, cathedrals, churches, chapels and all the other shrines), and of \u201csacrifices\u201d (the daily \u201cmass\u201d with the \u201chost\u201d).<\/p>\n

The RC who allows God to set aside his preconceived ideas, as he starts to read and meditate in the Scriptures, that RC is a true candidate for \u201cbabe\u201d classification. His conditioned mind is changing into a converted mind as God\u2019s mighty revelation falls upon it. Soon he will be an RC no more, rather an \u201cNC\u201d, a \u201cnew creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back to Matthew 16<\/p>\n

That is where we started and it is important to find out what was really said.<\/p>\n

Peter clearly expressed who Jesus was: \u201cYou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.\u201d Jesus replied: \u201cBlessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

1) The Lord spoke to Peter about the rock. He did not say that Peter was the rock. Peter\u2019s testimony about Jesus\u2019 identity made him not only \u201cblessed\u201d, it also made him \u201cPeter\u201d (\u201cpetros\u201d in Greek – i.e. a simple \u201cstone\u201d or \u201crock fragment\u201d). Then Jesus goes on to point out that on this \u201crock\u201d, i.e. on this \u201cpetra\u201d (notice the difference between petros and petra), He would build his church (ekklesia). For a foundation a solid petra is needed, not an unstable petros. Only Christ Himself can be that petra, witness what Peter had just confessed in verse 16 (see also 1 Cor. 3:11!).<\/p>\n

2) What did Peter understand? Did he take the Lord\u2019s words to mean: \u201cYou are going to be the Bishop of Rome, the pope, the Holy Father, the vicar of Christ, the visible head of the Church\u201d? That is what the millions of RCs are indoctrinated to believe.<\/p>\n

Not Peter. Not a shred of such thinking can be found either in his addresses (Acts 1-5, 10-11, 15) or in his two epistles (see also Galatians 2).<\/p>\n

We find Peter exclusively exalting Christ as the \u201cchief cornerstone,\u201d (1 Peter 2) admitting about himself that he is no more than \u201ca bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,\u201d (2 Peter 1) that \u201csilver and gold I do not have…\u201d; (Acts 3) and that no reverence must be given him (telling Cornelius in Acts 10: \u201cStand up; I myself am also a man\u201d).<\/p>\n

3) What about the \u201ckeys of the kingdom\u201d given to him? The 3 main groupings of mankind at the time (Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles), mentioned by Jesus in Acts 1:8, must have the \u201cdoor of faith\u201d opened to them. It was Peter\u2019s privilege to use the \u201ckeys\u201d for that. He did so, respectively, in Acts 2, 8 and 10. Of course, it was the Holy Spirit doing this through Peter, that is, opening the \u201cdoor of faith\u201d to all people groups, once-and-for-all – no successors needed!<\/p>\n

And the \u201cbinding and loosing\u201d? In Matthew 18:15-20 Jesus went on to refer to this as a ministry, not of a pope or a hierarchy, but of the local congregation of his children, i.e. when finding themselves in the circumstances that would demand such action.<\/p>\n

\"Romans12-3-16\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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