Apostasy
Eastern Orthodoxy Is NOT The Scriptural Church Of The Living God
by Jon Kragen of FaithfulServantsOfChristKJV
Eastern Orthodoxy is a branch of sacramental paganized Christianity that broke off from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054 A.D. The source of the contention between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism was the Catholic papacy. While the Eastern Orthodox rejected the Catholic Pope, they still to this day hold on to much of the unscriptural heathen customs, doctrines, and idolatry of Roman Catholicism.
The contention between the Eastern and Western branches of Catholicism date as far back as 330 A.D. The Catholic Roman emperor Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople. Church leaders claimed authority over large regions and began vying for supremacy over those regions. The contention was centered around political power and control and not so much about doctrine (as seen by the fact that the Eastern Orthodox still share much in common with Roman Catholicism in terms of doctrine and customs, with only minor differences between the two).
Both Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism amalgamated pagan doctrines and heathen practices with New Testament truth to form an impure form of Christianity that is alien to the apostolic faith preached by the apostles. Pagan customs such as infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, idolatry toward Mary (i.e. mother goddess worship), prayers to dead Saints, prayers for dead people, and rosaries (i.e. vain repetitions condemned in Matthew 6:7).
Like Roman Catholicism, the Eastern Orthodox hold to the pagan custom of baptismal regeneration.
“First place among the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church is occupied by Holy Baptism, by which a man, who has come to believe in Christ, by being immersed three times in water in the Name of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), is cleansed through Divine Grace of all sins (Original Sin and personal sins) and is reborn into a new holy, and spiritual life. This Baptism serves as the door through which man enters into the House of Eternal Wisdom the Church for, without it, a man cannot be united completely with the Savior, become a member of His Church, receive the other Sacraments, and be the heir to Eternal Life.” (These Truths We Hold – The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings, St. Tikhon’s Monastery, copyright 1986 by the St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, South Canaan, Pennsylvania).
“Baptism is a new birth. It is being born to the life made new by our Lord Jesus Christ. It means to be alive in Christ. … Through Holy Baptism all become Christ’s. We become Christians and have the opportunity to inherit God’s Kingdom. Why in the world would any parents who claim to be Christians want to put off making their offspring Christians as soon as possible? Don’t they want their infants to share in the Kingdom of God? The baptized one becomes a member of Christ’s body–His Church.” (One Church, Russian Orthodox Church, 1981).
Baptismal regeneration is wrong, heresy, and unscriptural!
One becomes a disciple BEFORE he qualifies for water baptism (Matt. 28:19-20, cf. Acts 19:4-5). Disciples are saved people (Matt. 12:48-50) and then water baptized (Matt. 28:19).
Water Baptism happens AFTER salvation, it’s NOT for salvation!
The Gentiles received the Holy Ghost before they were baptized (Acts 10:44-48). The thief on the cross was never baptized but still went to paradise (Luke 23:42-43). The Philippian jailer was never told to get baptized when he asked Paul what he had to do to be saved (Acts 16:30-31).
Christ was sinless while on earth (1 Jn. 3:5; 2 Cor. 5:21). He didn’t need remission of sins or salvation, but yet he was still water baptized (Matt. 3:13-17).
The Ephesian twelve were ALREADY disciples when Paul found them (Acts 19:1), meaning they were ALREADY saved (Matt. 12:48-50; Luke 14:33). Paul’s first words were a question, further showing they were ALREADY saved believers (Acts 19:2). They were saved disciples BEFORE being baptized in Acts 19:4-5!
Immersion in water is associated with PHYSICAL purification of the FLESH (see Lev. 16:24-26; Lev. 14:4-9; Lev. 15:1-13; Nun. 8:5-7; Num. 19:16-22, 2 Kin. 5:10-14) but never spiritual purification.
Atonement from sin is through the shedding of blood (Heb. 9:22, cf. Lev. 17:11) even under the Old Testament (see Lev. 16:11-22; Lev. 16:27; Lev. 4:20-26; Lev. 4:31-35; Lev. 5:5-13; Lev. 8:14-19; Heb. 13:11-12).
It’s the BLOOD OF CHRIST that washes away sins (1 Jn. 1:7; Rev. 1:5, cf. Heb. 9:22) and redeems the sinner (1 Pet. 1:18-19; Col. 1:14; Rev. 5:9; Eph. 1:7), NOT immersion in water.
Eastern Orthodoxy offers prayers for the dead.
“At every Divine Service, the Holy Orthodox Church offers up prayers for her departed children.” (St. Nektarios Church, Charlotte, North Carolina).
“But the soul of the deceased is aided by the prayers of the Church, of all those who knew and loved him, and also by acts of charity carried out for his sake. By doing good works for the sake of those who are dead, we are, as it were, completing what they left undone, paying their debts and offering our own sacrifice to the Merciful Lord on their behalf.” (The Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, No. 10, 1976).
In Eastern Orthodoxy, traditions are exalted as equal in authority with the holy scriptures.
“To an Orthodox Christian, Tradition means the Holy Bible; it means the Creed; it means the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils and the writings of the Fathers; it means the Canons, the Service Books, the Holy Icons, etc. In essence, it means the whole system of doctrine, ecclesiastical government, worship and art which Orthodoxy has articulated over the ages.” (Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church, p. 204).
“We take special note that for the Orthodox, the Holy Bible forms apart of Holy Tradition, but does not lie outside of it. One would be in error to suppose that Scripture and Tradition are two separate and distinct sources of Christian Faith, as some do, since there is, in reality, only one source; and the Holy Bible exists and found its formulation within Tradition.” (These Truths We Hold – The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings, St. Tikhon’s Monastery).
The Eastern Orthodox also engage in the same paganized mother goddess worship of Mary as Roman Catholicism does.
“In the theology and piety of the Orthodox Church, a special place of honor is given to the Mother of God the Most-Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, who is reverenced by the Orthodox as being more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious, beyond compare, than the Seraphim. … If Mary is honored as Theotokos, so too, she is honored because she is Panagia All-Holy. …Thus Mary is seen by the Church as the New Eve (as Christ is the New Adam) whose perfect obedience contrasted the disobedience of the First Mother, Eve, in Paradise. As St. Irenaeus says, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed through the obedience of Mary; for what Eve, a virgin, bound by her unbelief, that Mary, a virgin, unloosed by her faith [Against the Heresies, III, xxii, 4]. … As All-Holy and Most-Pure, Mary was free from actual sin, but, in the opinion of most Orthodox theologians, although not dogmatized by the Church, she did fall under the curse of Original Sin as does all mankind. For this reason by virtue of her solidarity with all humanity the Theotokos died a bodily death. Yet, in her case, the resurrection of the body had been anticipated; and she was assumed body and soul into Heaven; and her tomb was found empty an event celebrated in the Feast of the Falling-Asleep (or Dormition) of the Most-Holy Theotokos (Aug. 15). Thus, as the hymns of that Feast proclaim, she has passed from earth to heaven, beyond death and judgment, living already in the age to come. She enjoys now the same bodily glory all of us hope to share one day.” (These Truths We Hold – The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings, St. Tikhon’s Monastery).
It is clear that Eastern Orthodoxy is just another daughter of the harlot of Revelation 17-18!
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