Why Did the Greco-Roman Catholics Change?
The Apostle Paul told Timothy:
3 The time is sure to come when people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; (2 Timothy 4:3, NJB)
This a prophetic warning that improper change was going to happen based on personal tastes, or as the EOB translates “lusts.”
The documented truth is that the Roman and Eastern Orthodox Catholic churches changed various doctrines that were held by original catholics that they consider to be saints.
Why?
There were different reasons at different times. Loss of love of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10; Revelation 2:4), fear (Revelation 21:8, cf. Matthew 21:26), false intellectualism (1 Timothy 6:20-21), worldly philosophy (Colossians 3:8), personal vanity (Romans 1:21-22, James 2:20), lusts (Jude 16-18), financial reasons (1 Timothy 6:10), accepting false documents (2 Thessalonians 2:2), signs & wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12), and political compromise (Revelation 17:1-3) were factors.
Part of the reasons for change, according to then Pope Benedict XVI, were innovations from the 2nd and 3rd century Alexandrian allegorists Clement and Origen:
Origen of Alexandria is one of the key people for the development of Christian thought. He draws on the teachings he inherited from Clement of Alexandria, whom we reflected upon last Wednesday, and brings them forward in a totally innovative way, creating an irreversible turn in Christian thought. He was a true teacher; … this “allegoristic” approach … (Benedict XVI. Homily On Origen of Alexandria. Vatican City. Zenit – April 25, 2007).
This “totally innovative way” means they were NOT beliefs of the original catholic church. Making “an irreversible turn in Christian thought” means to no longer contend for the original faith or the literal meaning of scripture. Like Origen, Satan preferred to misinterpret the word of God (see Genesis 3:1-5)—following Origen over scripture does not lead to true doctrine.
Consider that The Catholic Encyclopedia condemns Gnosticism and states that Clement of Alexandria was “infected with Gnosticism” (Arendzen, Marcus). Consider also that The Catholic Encyclopedia states, “St. Eustathius of Antioch … criticized his {Origen’s} allegorism … Origen, frankly recognizing the contradiction of the incompatible elements that he is trying to unify, recoils from the consequences, protests against the logical conclusions” (Ptar F, Origen). It is therefore not contradictory, to exalt Clement and Origen as reliable teachers for changing doctrine?
Jesus did prophesy that blasphemous “a synagogue of Satan” would become a problem during the time of Smyrna, and sadly we see that many in the 2nd and 3rd centuries accepted the allegorical method of biblical interpretation that seems to have had much of its origins in Alexandria.
Furthermore, notice an additional explanation for why there were changes to the original faith given by the late Roman Catholic Cardinal Newman:
Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon-worship to evangelical use, … the rulers of the Church from early times were prepared, should the occasion arise, to adopt, to imitate, or to sanctify the existing rites and customs of the population, as well as the philosophy of the educated class.
St. Gregory Thaumaturgus supplies the first instance of this economy. … The bodies of the Martyrs were distributed in different places, and the people assembled and made merry, as the year came round, holding festival in their honour. This indeed was a proof of his great wisdom … for, perceiving that the childish and untrained populace were retained in their idolatrous error by creature comforts, in order that what was of first importance should at any rate be secured to them, viz. that they should look to God in place of their vain rites, he allowed them to be merry, jovial, and gay at the monuments of the holy Martyrs, as if their behaviour would in time undergo a spontaneous change into greater seriousness and strictness, since faith would lead them to it; which has actually been the happy issue in that population, all carnal gratification having turned into a spiritual form of rejoicing.”
There is no reason to suppose that the licence here spoken of passed the limits of harmless though rude festivity; for it is observable that the same reason, the need of holydays for the multitude, is assigned by Origen, St. Gregory’s master, to explain the establishment of the Lord’s Day also, and the Paschal and the Pentecostal festivals, which have never been viewed as unlawful compliances; and, moreover, the people were in fact eventually reclaimed from their gross habits by his indulgent policy, a successful issue which could not have followed an accommodation to what was sinful. (Newman JH, Cardinal. An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. J. Toovey, 1845, p. 358).
Cardinal Newman explained pagan items were considered to be an evangelical tool (ibid, p. 358). Please understand that the appeal to “the philosophy of the educated class” means that pagan philosophy (as taught by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and expanded by people like Clement and Origen) was to be accepted.
Furthermore, we see that Gregory Thaumaturgus decided that it would be a good evangelizing tool to be a friend of the world allow pagan and other demonic worship practices. Gregory was a major compromiser whose actions later provided support for others to compromise and change even more from the original catholic faith.
The Apostles James and Paul warned against such:
4 Adulterers, know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think that the scripture saith in vain: To envy doth the spirit covet which dwelleth in you? (James 4:4-5, DRB)
20 But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God. And I would not that you should be made partakers with devils. 21 You cannot drink the chalice of the Lord, and the chalice of devils: you cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord, and of the table of devils. (1 Corinthians 10:20-21, DRB)
20 [No], but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and also from the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons as well. (1 Corinthians 10:20-21, EOB)
Should you heed the Apostles James and Paul or someone who took steps in opposition to the Bible’s teachings?
Gregory of Neocæsarea was a student of Origen. He also claimed that it was an angel who had been with him since his youth and had him study under Origen (Gregory of Neocæsarea. Oration and Panegyric Addressed to Origen. Translated by S.D.F. Salmond. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886).
Gregory promoted many changed doctrines. He did not stand for the original faith, nor the teachings of the many of the faithful that the Greco-Romans have called “church fathers.” His was NOT the true “Holy Mother Church.”
If those who promulgated the Council of Trent, as well as those who claim to believe it to this day would accept the teachings of the early faithful church leaders, which they call “fathers,” they would be supporting the original catholic faith, such as is taught by the Continuing Church of God. The group that best represents the true Holy Mother Church.
Signs and Lying Wonders
Gregory of Neocæsarea was also known as Gregory Thaumaturgus (thaumaturgus means “wonder-worker”).
Around 238-244 A.D., Gregory (died roughly 270 A.D.) seems to have been the first to have claimed to have seen an apparition of Mary (the possible apparition associated with the Protoevangelicum of James, also called the Gospel of James, is not considered to have really happened according to most Roman Catholic scholars).
This Marian and another apparition (supposedly the Apostle John) allegedly appeared to Gregory before he became a bishop.
Related to Gregory, Roberts and Donaldson reported:
He was believed to have been gifted with a power of working miracles, which he was constantly exercising … the demons were subject to him … he could cast his cloak over a man, and cause his death … he could bring the presiding demons back to their shrine. (Roberts A, Donaldson J. Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325. Edited by Alexander Roberts, and James Donaldson. Volume 20: The Works of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius of Alexandria, and Archelaus. Syriac documents attribute. Originally 1871, modern printing by Elibron.com, 2006, p. 3)
Because Gregory’s power over demons and other “wonders” were improperly accepted by many as divine, he had a lot of influence. It seems that Gregory’s enchantments and/or sorceries (cf. Isaiah 47:5-12; Nahum 3:4), along with Imperial persecutions, may have greatly assisted the Greco-Roman faction essentially eliminating the organized faithful dominating in Asia Minor.
Gregory was also a factor in the Marian cults that began to rise up around that time. His writings teach praise and excessive devotion to the “Holy Virgin,” including the blasphemous teaching that Mary “blotted out” Eve’s “transgressions.” He was amongst the earliest Greco-Roman Catholics to promote the expression the “Holy Trinity” and the pagan idea that humans had an immortal soul.
Here are some comments from a Sabbatarian publication in the 19th century about him:
Gregory Thaumaturgus … proclaimed that the queen of heaven had appeared to him and miraculously instructed him to go forth and preach her worship. He did so with all signs, lying wonders, and magical performances. He used reserve, he spake mysteriously and eloquently; this plan succeeded, all the world went after him; (Babylonianism. Hope of Israel, August 25, 1868, p. 42)
Notice the following from Gregory:
Here, where the mystery of the Holy Trinity was revealed by the archangel to the Holy Virgin according to the gospel (Gregory Thaumaturgus, Homily concerning the Holy Mother of God, Section 35. Translated from the Armenian by F. C. CONYBEARE. The Expositor 5th series vol.3, 1896, p. 173).
We prove, then, that the soul is simple … that what is simple is immortal … If, therefore, the soul is not corrupted by the evil proper to itself, and the evil of the soul is cowardice, intemperance, envy, and the like, and all these things do not despoil it of its powers of life and action, it follows that it is immortal. (Gregory Thaumaturgus. On the Soul, Chapters 5, 6. In. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886)
The gospel never uses the expression trinity, much less “Holy Trinity” nor does it teach that the soul is immortal. To the contrary, in Ezekiel 18:4 the Roman Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible teaches “the soul that sinneth, the same shall die” and again, in Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die.” Yet, Gregory put his own interpretation on scripture (in the trinity case, he was referring to Luke 1:35 which was not proof; and for the immortality of the soul case, he did not cite scripture).
Although Tertullian of Carthage and Origen of Alexandria were promoting some type of trinity in the early 3rd century, Gregory was a major reason that the trinity started to get accepted much outside of Valentian and Montanist circles (Tertullian was a Montanist).
Gregory claimed he was given the following from an apparition of the Apostle John:
There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor estranged. … the same Trinity abideth ever. (St. Gregory of Pontus, the Wonder-Worker: A DECLARATION OF FAITH. Translated by S. Salmond, 1871, p. 6)
Understand that the Apostle John penned five books of the Bible. If GOD wanted him to teach the trinity, would it not have made sense for that to be in any of those writings? The fact that it is not, should cast immediate doubt that this apostle gave the trinitarian message to Gregory.
Additionally, claiming that the Trinity abides forever is a false gospel—a closed Godhead is in conflict with God’s plan according to what early men like Ignatius and Theophilus of Antioch wrote. Additionally, neither the Apostle John nor his successors in Asia Minor had been trinitarians. Furthermore, at the time that Gregory wrote this statement, even most of the Greco-Romans did NOT hold to a trinitarian view of the Godhead.
Now consider that this type of change differs with the original teachings. Such changes were condemned by the Apostle Paul:
8 But even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven preaches to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let God’s curse be on him. (Galatians 1:8, NJB)
Just because Gregory claimed to have been guided by an angel to see Origen, plus claimed to have seen and heard Jesus’ mother Mary and the Apostle John, that is not a reason to accept something in conflict with the original faith. Gregory seems to have led a demonically-influenced and/or demonically-possessed life. Many “changes” that the Greco-Romans endorsed allegedly came from angels and apparitions—and most certainly NOT from sacred scripture.
Here is something Gregory wrote related to Mary:
O holy virgin … She is the ever-blooming paradise of incorruptibility, wherein is planted the tree that giveth life, and that furnisheth to all the fruits of immortality … Thus the holy Virgin, while still in the flesh, maintained the incorruptible life … the holy Virgin has surpassed even the perfection of the patriarchs. (Gregory Thaumaturgus. The Second Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary)
The claim Mary “maintained the incorruptible life” is in conflct with sacred scripture. The Bible teaches that all, except Jesus (Hebrews 4:15), sinned (Romans 3:23).
Gregory Thaumaturgus greatly influenced theological thought and several widely accepted false doctrines were originated and/or promoted by him. The fact that he reportedly caused the death of enemies by throwing his cloak upon them has not sufficiently diminished his influence–but should have. …
Sadly, many do not realize that some of their cherished, and false, religious doctrines came from one who was either demon possessed or at least influenced by demons. As well as compromises with various pagan beliefs.
Such deception builds upon itself, becomes persecuting, and will worsen:
1 Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. 2 Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, … 12 And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse: erring, and driving into error. (2 Timothy 3:1-2,12-13, DRB)
Gregory erred and led others to err with his false teachings, signs, and lying wonders.
Further understand that the Bible warns that in the end times, the loosening of restraints against false signs and lying wonders will deceive all who fail to have the proper love of the truth:
1 The Spirit clearly says that in the last times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons 2 through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron. (1 Timothy 4:1, EOB)
7 For the mystery of iniquity already worketh; only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then that wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, him, 9 Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, 10 And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying: 11 That all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-11, DRB)
Yes, there will be worse deception and lying wonders.
The Great Monarch, Books, & the King of the North Beast
Before going further, it should be pointed out that Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox private prophecies (which neither faith says needs to be believed) look forward to a time when a leader (sometimes called the “king” or the “Great Monarch”) that sounds eerily like the above “wicked one” will arrive with signs and wonders. Here is one example of each, from writers in their churches, respectively:
St. Thomas a’Becket (12th century). St. Thomas says: “A knight shall come from the West. He shall capture Milan, Lombardy, and the three Crowns. He shall then sail to Cyprus and Famagoste and land at Jaffa, and reach Christ’s grave where he will fight. Wars and wonders shall befall till the people believe in Christ toward the end of the world.” (Birch, DA. Trial, Tribulation & Triumph: Before During and After Antichrist. Queenship Publishing Company, Goleta (CA), 1996, p. 255)
Anonymou Paraphrasis (10th century): The one true King … is destined to become manifest [be revealed] … by means … of signs … The King will hear the voice and instructions by an Angel appearing to him … (Tzima Otto H. The Great Monarch and WWIII in Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Scriptural Prophecies, H. The Great Monarch and WWIII in Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Scriptural Prophecies. Verenika Press, Rock City (SC), 2000, pp. 30- 32)
The Great Monarch … will be made manifest through Signs and Wonders from Heaven. (Tzima Otto H. They’ll have no King but Caesar: King Henry of the Cross: the prophesied royal messiah from the tribe of Judah. Veronikia Press, 2005, p. 119)
The Bible warns about lying signs and wonders associated with false leaders in the end time. Do not let them or apparitions or doctrines of demons deceive you.
Roman Catholic prophecy indicates that a pontiff who does miracles will crown the “Great King” as the final ‘Holy Roman Emperor’:
Bl. Anna-Maria Taigi (19th century) … St. Peter and St. Paul, having come down from Heaven, will preach in the whole world and designate a new Pope … At the end, he will have the gift of miracles …. (Birch, pp. 362-363)
… there will be a latter restoration of the Holy Roman Empire and that there will be at least one last Holy Roman Emperor … The Great King will be crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the reigning Pope. (Birch, pp. 281, 555)
The Bible tells of one Beast who is supported by a miracle-performing Beast:
11 Then I saw a second beast, emerging from the ground; it had two horns like a lamb, but made a noise like a dragon. 12 This second beast exercised all the power of the first beast, on its behalf making the world and all its people worship the first beast, whose deadly injury had healed. 13 And it worked great miracles, even to calling down fire from heaven onto the earth while people watched. 14 Through the miracles which it was allowed to do on behalf of the first beast, it was able to lead astray the people of the world and persuade them to put up a statue in honour of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and still lived. (Revelation 13:11-14, NJB)
Signs and lying wonders will affect many. A religious leader doing miracles (the “second beast” above) who supports a political leader (called the “first beast” above) is warned against in the Bible. Yet one sounding just like him is looked forward to in several Greco-Roman private prophecies.
Paganism continues to be utilized by the Church of Rome as an evangelical and interfaith tool.
Archbishop Viganò is correct that it is wrong.
He is also correct that the Vatican is pushing things that the Freemasons and the globalists are also pushing.
Despite warnings from him and others, the Babylonian/pagan ecumenical and interfaith agenda will move forward.
Particularly, when there are various signs and lying wonders.
As far as Archbishop Viganò’s claim that he has apostolic succession, that is not something we in the CCOG accept. Nor did the old Radio or Worldwide Church of God or the ancient people the Roman Catholics called Paulicians. Notice:
That said, we are getting closer to the reign of the Beast of Revelation 13:1-10 and the False Prophet Antichrist of 1 John 4:1-3 & Revelation 13:11-15.
Vigano is right about that.
It will take the return of Jesus to destroy that rising power. But that, too, will also happen:
