Tradition or Truth

By Vince Wall

Vince Wall was raised as a Roman Catholic and was educated in the Catholic School system in Australia. As a young man Vince travelled to Rome where he visited the Vatican and shortly after his return from Rome, Vince became a Christian.

In studying the Bible Vince discovered that the Catholic Church had added man-made traditions to God's Word. He also discovered that the Papacy, the priestly system, and even the Mass, were totally unscriptural.

This book examines Catholic traditions and compares them to the Bible and is useful and informative for both Protestants and Catholics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vince Wall
• Release date: Mar 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370443093

Book preview

TRADITION

OR

TRUTH

Vince Wall

Published by

The Herald of Hope Inc.

3rd Edition 2017

www.heraldofhope.org.au

Tradition or Truth

Copyright © 2017 Vince Wall

All rights reserved.

Published by Herald of Hope Inc, Marayong, NSW, Australia

No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James—Authorised Version.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: The Traditions of Men

Chapter 2: The Virgin Mary

Chapter 3: Sacred Images and Statues

Chapter 4: The Sacrament of Baptism

Chapter 5: The Sacrament of Confession or Reconciliation

Chapter 6: The Sacrament of the Eucharist

Chapter 7: The Sacrament of Confirmation

Chapter 8: The Sacrament of Holy Orders

Chapter 9: The Sacrament of the Last Rites

Chapter 10: The Papacy’s Future Foretold

About the Author

Preface

I was born into a Roman Catholic family that for generations have been loyal to their faith.

Growing up, I had the influence of a Catholic School education from Kindergarten till year 11 and throughout my life I experienced the encouragement and help of both Catholic laity and clergy. There were those in my family line that were priests and my aunty was a nun.

I saw many good works undertaken in the name of Christ by those committed to the Catholic Faith. Relatives were involved in the charity work of St Vincent De Paul Society and my aunt did Catholic missionary service in Africa.

I am thankful that through the Catholic Church I learned some basic tenants of Christianity. Through the Church I learnt that God was my Creator and that He was three persons, yet one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Church also taught me that the Bible was God’s Word and that Jesus was God who came to this earth and that He died upon a cross and three days later rose from the grave.

Growing up in the Catholic Church was a pleasant experience for me. My schooling in the Catholic Education system was for the most part an enjoyable time of my life. In my late teens I was involved in Catholic Youth group activities and I continued to attend Mass regularly.

One night while attending a Church of another denomination my life changed when I was shown a Gospel Tract which explained John chapter 3 and verse 16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

That night I found out that my sins could be forgiven through the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. I learned that He paid the full and final penalty for my sins and the sins of the world. All I had to do was to trust Christ for my salvation and I did.

I praise God that our salvation does not depend on our works, our church attendance, or even our own perceived goodness. Salvation is all of GRACE, provided freely in Christ for all those who would believe in Him and trust in His sacrifice.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph.2:8-9)

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7)

After my conversion to Christ I continued to attend the Catholic Church faithfully until the Lord showed me through a friend and through the Scriptures that Roman Catholicism had departed from Biblical Christianity.

I was confronted with a clear choice: Did I believe the words of God in the Bible to be the truth, or, did I believe the doctrines taught in the traditions of Roman Catholicism which had been added to the Bible? The choice that I made was to trust the revelation of God found in His Word above any teachings of the Catholic Church that were contrary to Scripture.

The Catholic Church obtains some of its teaching from the Apocrypha which is 14 books that have been added to the Old Testament. It was never part of the Hebrew Bible. See History of Christianity, Lion Publishing 1990, page 396. The first century Jewish historian Josephus, wrote that only the 39 books of the Hebrew Bible were inspired (Flavius Josephus, Against Apion 1:8).

Such recognised authorities as the Pharisees never included the Apocrypha in the Old Testament Canon and it was not officially included in the Catholic Bible until 1596 at the Council of Trent; it was never quoted by the Jews, by Jesus, or by any New Testament writer though the Hebrew Bible was quoted in the New Testament about 260 times. When Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate in AD405 he rejected the Apocrypha as uninspired, although he included it at the request of Pope Damasus. Some books of the Apocrypha contain historical and geographical errors as well as false doctrine like praying for the dead. See 2 Maccabees 12:39-46.

As I studied the Bible I could see that the Church in which I had grown up and had loved, had departed from the faith in many areas. I discovered that the priesthood in the Catholic Church was not ordained by God and that the Scriptures teach there is only one Priest that can take away my sins and His name is Jesus. I was challenged by the following verses:

And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. (Heb. 10:11)

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Tim. 2:5)

No longer could I attend the continual sacrifice of the Mass because I knew that the Bible spoke of the one sacrifice of Christ that finally and fully atoned for my sins forever.

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God. (Heb. 10:12)

I came to discover through the Word of God that participation in the Mass was idolatrous and even offensive to God Himself. As a result, to the great disappointment of my family I had to leave the Catholic Church.

Throughout the years God has helped me with the encouragement of His people and Bible-believing churches, to grow in Christ. He has also given me a desire to reach out in love to those that are trapped in Catholicism and other faiths that add extra-biblical teachings to the truths of the Bible. Their salvation is at stake and they need also to discover true freedom, found in Christ.

The Apostle Paul came to a crossroads in his life when He met Jesus. He discovered that all his good works and his religious achievements had amounted to nothing as far as his salvation was concerned (Phil 3:1 14). He came to the point in his life where he knew that he had to trust Christ alone in order to have eternal life. Paul too had to make a decision to depart from the faith of his fathers.

Paul’s decision to trust Christ alone put him into conflict with the religious authorities of his own people. With the love of Christ his ardent desire was to reach out to those that were zealous in the Jewish faith yet had not discovered true freedom in Christ. Paul reveals his heart’s desire for his people in Romans chapter 10.

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted