Exposing the synthesis: Sola Scriptura versus Sola Ecclesia (Solidarity, Subsidiarity and The Common Good)

Exposing the synthesis: Sola Scriptura versus Sola Ecclesia (Solidarity, Subsidiarity and The Common Good)

Tuesday 29 September 2020

Article by Tarisai P Ziyambi

" Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" Matthew 10:16.

The recent nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Badar Ginsberg has brought to attention the Roman Church-State which the nominee is devoted to. According to Breitbart news " President Donald Trump criticized the media and Democrats at a press conference on Sunday for anti-Catholic bias demonstrated in their coverage of his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett". The same article continues to say " The president specifically referred to an opinion article in the New York Times claiming that critics had a point when they questioned Barrett’s Catholic faith as a problem with the “national ethos” of American democracy...“The Catholic Church is very well united on this,” he said. “They are so thrilled that Amy was chosen.” Was it only a political statement when Senator Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein when she said to Justice Amy Coney Barrett that " the dogma lives loudly within you"? Is this Church-State religion and it's agents now dominating the supreme court not dangerous to the future of "democracy", civil rights and the constitution itself? Can this religion be now more tolerable than it's foundational principles that caused the dark ages and the rein of terror to descendants of the "heretics" who fled persecution in Europe and founded the United States of America? The Catholic church-state religion views the constitution of the US as "dangerous" just like the " protestants" that are now foolishly embracing this leopard like Beast that never changes and will devour anyone who opposes the usurper to the 'seat of Peter'. The movement to regain the long lost power by this beast from the bottomless pit is stealthy and before we blink their hidden synthesis to seat on the throne and be worshipped as God will be the new world order. All roads do lead to Rome and but the lamb will prevail against this gigantic system of false religion. The battle lines have been already and historical crimes are being re-enacted without notice.

"Sometimes "Evangelicals" in the United States assert that on many if not on most points of doctrine the Roman Church- State teaches the same things that Protestants teach, by which they mean: The Roman Church-State agrees with the Bible. They are quite mistaken. Here is what the Pastoral statement on Biblical Fundamentalism (1987) said about the Bible : " Biblical fundamentalists are those who present the Bible, God's inspired Word,as the only necessary source for teaching about Christ and Christian living". " A further characteristic of Biblical Fundamentalism is that it tends to interpret the Bible as being always without error, or as literally true bin a way quite different from Catholic Church's teaching on the inerrancy of the Bible. For some Biblical Fundamentalists, inerrancy extends even to scientific and historical matters. The Bible is represented without regard for its historical context development". " With Vatican ii we believe that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted to put into sacred writings for the sake of our salvation' ( Constitution on Divine Revelation, no 11). We do not look upon the Bible as an authority for science or history.We see truth in the Bible as not to be reduced solely to literal truth, but also to include salvation truths expressed in varied literary forms"."We observed in Biblical Fundamentalism an effort to try to find in the Bible all the direct answers for living- though the Bible itself nowhere claims such an authority". Another official Vatican document, " The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, told us that " The fundamentalist approach [to Biblical interpretation] is dangerous..."(19). In these statements, the Roman Church-State denied the sufficiency, the infallibility, the inerrancy, the historical and scientific accuracy, and the literal truth of the Bible.Add to this the Roman doctrines that there are 73 books of Scripture, that the Church-State wrote, canonised, approved, and authenticates Scripture, and that the Church-State is the only authentic and authoritative interpreter of Scripture, and it is clear that Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have nothing in common on the doctrine of Scripture. In Christianity it is the Scriptures that have a systematic monopoly on truth. In Romanism, it is the Church. The issue remains : sola Scriptura versus sola Ecclesia..." Ecclesiastical Megalomania Pg 157-158 [ John W. Robbins. 

The separation of church and state should be a safeguard against the tyranny of a man who exalts himself as God, this is a blasphemy of the highest order. "The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of the papal power. He declared that the day of Christ should not come, “except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” [2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7.] And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that “the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” [2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7.] Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy" GC888 49.1.

"The Principle of Solidarity" says the Catechism of the Catholic church, "is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood". That, of course, is not a definition of the word. Sometimes the principle of Solidarity is called "friendship" or "social charity", and it is a major aspect of "social justice". Nor is that a definition. Not given clear definitions, or in this case, any definition at all, Catechism continues: " Solidarity is manifested for work. It also presupposes the effort for a more just social order where tensions are better able to be reduced and conflicts more readily by negotiation... Such vague collectivist notions are very useful to the Roman Church-State in building its arguments for domestic interventionism and world government. 

When certain Roman Catholics have run for political office in the United States, they have asserted the principle of Subsidiary during their campaigns as the reason why they, as good sons of the Roman Church-State,can oppose some federal intervention in state matters, or some state intervention in local matters. They assert that the Roman Church-State endorses some sort of federal or decentralised system.

According to the Roman Church-State, Subsidiarity ... is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, unshaken and unchangeable... The state should leave to these smaller groups the settlement of business of minor importance. It will thus carry out with greater freedom, power, and success the tasks belonging to it, because it alone can effectively accomplish these, directing, watching, stimulating and restraining...

Thus Subsidiarity is not a restriction on the power of government at all, but merely a principle of efficient management designed to make the most effective use of the government's power and resources".

"The teaching of the Roman Church-State has elaborated the principle of Subsidiary, according to which "a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate it's activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good" John W. Robbins [ Ecclesiastical Megalomania] page 151- 153

So what is the "Common Good"? " First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities that is, civil governments] are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person... In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable to the development of the human vocation, such as the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard... privacy, and rightful also in matters of religion".

Lest anyone mistake the Pope for, say, Thomas Jefferson, the Roman Church-State qualifies it's apparent endorsement of freedom by noting that the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of natural freedoms. In other places, the Roman Church-State explains that without such conditions, freedom is meaningless. Therefore, the common good is prior to, more important than, and more fundamental than freedom.

Even this statement from the Catechism seems to say much more about freedom than it actually says. For example, it is not freedom of conscience that the Roman Church-State wants to protect, but "the right of acting according to a sound norm of conscience". Who decides what a "sound norm of conscience" is? The infallible Church-State. Many Church-State pronouncements are worded in this ambiguous way, so that the casual reader, not familiar with the whole political and economic thought of the Roman Church-State, reads them carelessly, not realising that every word, phrase, and sentence are carefully weighed and measured in order to disclose and to conceal exactly what the Church-State intends... Equivocation has always been an indispensable tool of those who wish to conceal their intentions or their ideas" ibid page 156.

" And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries... Daniel 11:32

Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of the minds of men, the mystery of iniquity carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous work. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church. The spirit of compromise and conformity was restrained for a time by the fierce persecutions which the church endured under paganism. But as persecution ceased, and Christianity entered the courts and palaces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ and his apostles for the pomp and pride of pagan priests and rulers; and in place of the requirements of God, she substituted human theories and traditions. The nominal conversion of Constantine, in the early part of the fourth century, caused great rejoicing; and the world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ. - GC88 49.2

This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of the “man of sin” foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of Satan’s power,—a monument of his efforts to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will. - GC88 50.1

Satan once endeavored to form a compromise with Christ. He came to the Son of God in the wilderness of temptation, and, showing him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, offered to give all into his hands if he would but acknowledge the supremacy of the prince of darkness. Christ rebuked the presumptuous tempter, and forced him to depart. But Satan meets with greater success in presenting the same temptations to man. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth, and having thus rejected Christ, she was induced to yield allegiance to the representative of Satan,—the bishop of Rome. - GC88 50.2

It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world. More than this, the pope has arrogated the very titles of Deity. He styles himself “Lord God the Pope,” assumes infallibility, and demands that all men pay him homage. Thus the same claim urged by Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield him homage. - GC88 50.3

But those who fear and reverence God meet this Heaven-daring assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the wily foe: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” [Luke 4:8.] God has never given a hint in his Word that he has appointed any man to be the head of the church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ’s church except by usurpation. - GC88 51.1

To be continued...