But, Hebrews 6:6 also clearly forbids anyone from "holding Him up to contempt". The Crucifix, so prominently displayed, certainly holds Jesus up to public contempt.

Certainly, no form of execution devised in the annals of human history can compare to the Imperial Roman cross for both physical cruelty and emotional pain. Dying on a cross subjected the human body to the greatest physical pain possible, simply because it assaulted every part of the body.

But, the emotional anguish was nearly as great as the physical.

The victim was stripped naked [the artist's depiction of Jesus wearing a loin cloth is incorrect]. The condemned was routinely beaten, sometimes so severely that sometimes his internal organs were hanging out. His face usually was not recognizable because of the beating. Roman soldiers and onlookers usually taunted the dying victim, adding to the torment.

Our Beloved Jesus Christ was subjected to all these things, and more. He was subjected to being hung naked on the Cross in front of all the women who had loved Him so much in life. He was subjected to the taunts of His mortal enemies, the Pharisees, who had plotted to kill Him for so long. Jesus was subjected to the humiliation of the sign above His head, proclaiming this innocent man, as the "King of the Jews".

Finally, Jesus had been forced to wear His "kingly" crown, the Crown of Thorns. The shame and agony was so great that even the sun hid its face and Father God turned His back so He would not have to watch the spectacle. Jesus Christ was not only painfully executed on the Cross, He was thoroughly shamed as well. His shame was a significant part of His payment for our sin. The writer to the Hebrews, 12:2, thus stated, "...For the sake of the joy that lay before Him, He endured the cross, despising its shame..." In this Scripture, the Holy Spirit, speaking through the writer to the Hebrews, has revealed that the Godhead considered the cross to be shameful.

It is no wonder that this shameful spectacle was to be done only "once for all", never to be repeated again. And, it is no wonder that the Holy Spirit, speaking through the writer to the Hebrews, warned that no person can be brought to repentance and salvation as long as they are continually holding Jesus Christ up to public shame.

But, the Roman Catholic Church holds Jesus up to public shame daily in the Mass.

But, there is another fundamental theological reason we are not to continually "celebrate" Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. In Genesis 3, God gives the account of the seduction of Eve by Satan speaking through the Serpent.

Satan first persuades Eve that God did not really mean what He said, when He told Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge in the middle of the Garden (Genesis 3:1). Then, Satan told Eve she would not die if she ate the fruit (verse 4), and told her that she would become like a god if she did eat it (verse 5). Finally, Eve persuaded Adam to eat this fruit (verse 6-7).

When Eve told God that the serpent had persuaded her to eat this fruit, God pronounced a curse upon the serpent (verse 14), followed by the first Messianic Prophecy in the Bible. God foretold of the coming of Messiah and His battle with Satan [represented in this Garden of Eden account as the serpent]. God said, speaking to the serpent [Satan],

"Because you have done this [deceived Eve] ... I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you will strike at his heel." [Genesis 3:14-15; The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986].

We prefer the King James Version, simply because it offers the more correct rendition of "bruise" rather than the word "strike" above. But, the meaning is the same. When a human being receives a strike or a bruise on the heel, the resulting wound will be painful, but not deadly; however, when a snake receives a bruise in his head, he is dead.

In this instance, God is foretelling of a battle between Jesus Christ [offspring of the woman], and between Satan [offspring of the Serpent]. In this battle, Satan will be allowed to achieve a temporary victory over Jesus Christ [the bruise to His heel]. However, Jesus will recover from this wound and will strike a deadly blow to Satan.

Now, ask yourself, when did Satan achieve his temporary victory over Jesus Christ?

Satan achieved his prophetic temporary victory over Jesus Christ at the Cross of Calvary!! Jesus' death on the cross was the "bruise of the heel". This Scripture is also one of the greatest proofs that God's Word is to be taken literally. When a victim of crucifixion was nailed to the cross, the nail driven through his feet entered at the top of the instep and exited through his heal. Thus, the act of crucifixion caused massive bruising of the heel of the victim. Jesus' heal was most definitely bruised, thus literally fulfilling this Genesis prophecy.

When Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave just three days later, He delivered the bruise to the Serpent's head. When Jesus Christ returns for the second time, Satan will be totally defeated and banished to Hell. But, this final defeat will only be the inevitable outcome resulting from the bruise suffered at Jesus' glorious Resurrection. This is the reason the Apostle Paul stated that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was more important than the Cross (1 Corinthians 15:12-28). This is a shocking statement, since the Cross provided the Perfect Sacrifice that was acceptable to the Father for the sins of the world. Yet, the Resurrection is more important! This Biblical fact is the reason the Protestants show the Cross empty!

Therefore, the Sacrament of the Mass celebrates Satan's temporary victory over Jesus Christ at the Cross. Why would a church which calls itself the only true Church of Jesus Christ celebrate the temporary victory which Jesus' eternal enemy, Satan, enjoyed over our glorious Savior?

As the St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism clearly states, the Mass is not a bloody sacrifice. However, the Bible does not teach an unbloody sacrifice. The Roman Catholic Church claims that the following Scriptures teach the unbloody sacrifice.

1) Luke 22:17-19

"Then He [Jesus] took a cup, gave thanks, and said, 'Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you that from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes'. Then He took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body, which will be given to you; do this in memory of me'. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which will be shed for you'." [The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986)

This Scripture cannot be the foundation for either the Eucharist or the Mass, because of two very significant reasons:

a. Jesus never said, "Re-crucify Me"; rather, he said, "Do this in memory of Me". What had Jesus just done that we were to do in memory of Him? He and His disciples had just drank wine and eaten bread. They were symbolic of His shed blood and His broken body, respectively. We are to drink juice and eat bread until He returns, in "memory" of His death. We are not instructed to recrucify Him.

b. Jesus never stated that the bread actually turns into His flesh, or that the juice [wine] turns into His blood. As the original wine and bread which Jesus and His disciples consumed at the Last Supper were only representative of His blood and His body, so are these elements only representative. If the juice were to actually turn into Jesus' blood, then God will have contradicted Himself, when He forbade human beings from drinking blood (Deuteronomy 12:16-23). God has always forbidden the drinking of blood. Further, God has always forbidden the eating of human flesh, for this is cannibalism.

Jesus would never have instituted a Sacrament which violated His earlier prohibitions.

2). 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 "...the Lord Jesus, on the night He was handed over, took bread ... broke it, and said, 'This is My body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me'. In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me'. [Then Paul concludes] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes." [The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986]

Roman Catholic Church focuses on Paul's word, "proclaim" as their basis for teaching that the two elements of the Lord's Supper actually turn into Jesus' body and blood, ignoring Jesus' more concrete words, used twice, "in remembrance of Me". Further, St. Paul's word, "proclaim", is the Greek word, "Kataggellw" [Strong's Word # 2605], which means, "Preach, show, declare, teach, speak of, announce, make known, proclaim publicly". All these meanings speak of the practice of verbally teaching or pronouncing, and do not refer to any mystical act of physically changing the elements into the Lord's body and blood. To teach otherwise is to twist Scripture.

3). John 6:51-58 -- Since this Scripture is quoted often as the fundamental basis for the Unbloody Sacrifice and transubstantiation, we need to examine this Scripture carefully.

"'I am the living bread that came down from Heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I give is My flesh for the life of the world.' The Jews quarreled among themselves saying, 'How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?' Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will have life because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.'"

To read this Scripture out of context, one might conclude that Jesus is talking about a physical transubstantiation, just as the Catholic Church teaches, for Jesus did seem to suggest this. However, we must read on in this Scripture text, because Jesus explains His meaning perfectly. In verse 60, we see that the disciples were confused as to Jesus' meaning. In verse 61, we see that Jesus knew what the disciples were thinking, because of His Omniscience. Therefore, He explained His meaning in verse 63:

"It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." [The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986]

His statements in verses 51-58 were speaking of eating His flesh and blood in a spiritual sense. Thus, Jesus put to rest once and for all the erroneous concept that He had been talking about a mystical transubstantiation of the elements into His actual blood and flesh. But the Roman Catholic Church conveniently ignores this verse 63, this verse of explanation for Jesus' shocking words in verses 60-61.

Finally, while the Bible never teaches the concept of an unbloody sacrifice, the Pagan religions of the world certainly teach it. This Sacrament of the Unbloody Sacrifice originated in the Satanic Babylonian Mysteries and spread throughout the world, from Sicily to China, from Greece to India. Why would a Christian Church adopt such a Pagan concept and ceremony, changing just the names of the Deities?

PURPOSES OF THE MASS

1. To adore God as our Creator and Lord

2. To thank God for His many favors

3. To ask God to bestow His blessings on all men

4. To satisfy the justice of God for the sins committed against Him

Since the Mass is a man-made institution with no standing in the Bible, and since it accomplishes the holding up of Jesus Christ continually to public shame, which is expressly forbidden, we know that the Mass cannot accomplish any of these objectives above. While we do not quarrel with the first three objectives, we certainly do quarrel with Objective Number Four. The idea that man must daily, through the Mass, satisfy the Justice of God for sins committed against Him is totally against Scripture. Just as Jesus' death on the cross paid for the sins of the world once and for all, so God's Justice was only satisfied by that death once and for all. Jesus' death on the Cross was the only event in world history that could "satisfy the justice of God for the sins committed against" God the Father! It is blasphemy to think that man could do anything at all to satisfy God's Justice!!

Scriptures are many which show this Truth, but we will limit our discussion to only a few.

a) Romans 1:17 -- "... The one who is righteous by faith will live". [The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986) The King James Version is a little more clear. "... The just shall live by faith."

This is the Scripture that changed religious history, for the Holy Spirit used this verse to reveal the truth of Scripture, versus the falsity of Roman Catholicism concerning the salvation of man, to Martin Luther. We humans are justified by faith in God through the blood sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. Penance and Indulgences are absolutely worthless.

b) Romans 5:1 -- "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access [by faith] to this grace..." [The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986]

Notice the past tense of the words, "justified", "have peace with God", , and "have gained access" to God. Just as Jesus death paid for sin once for all, so God's Justice has been satisfied once for all.

c) Romans 5:10 -- "Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by His life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." [The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986]

Again, notice that we have achieved reconciliation with God through the sacrifice of Jesus. We human beings no longer have to daily plead for God's Mercy and Grace once we have become saved through the Born-Again process, because God's Justice has been satisfied once for all by the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Just as it is wrong for us to daily re-crucify Jesus, so it is equally wrong for us to daily plead for God's Justice to be satisfied when it already has been satisfied.

d) 1 John 2:1 -- "My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But, if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous One. He is the expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for those of the whole world." [The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986]

The key word here is the word, "expiation" which is also translated, "propitiation", which simply means the satisfaction of the penalty. Another way of understanding this concept is that the penalty which God's Justice demands for sin has been satisfied once for all by the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus revealed this wonderful Truth to us by the very words He uttered as He was dying. He said, 'It is finished'. [John 19:30, The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986]. The word, "finished" is Strong's Concordance, # 5056, "teleo, tel-eh'-o" a Greek banking term which literally means, "discharge a debt". In other words, Jesus was announcing to the world that His death was discharging the sin debt of the entire world, once for all, and for every individual!! The Ryrenias Bible Notes makes this observation of Jesus' use of this Greek word, translated here as 'finished'. "Receipts for taxes found in the papyri have written across them this single Greek word, which means 'paid in full'. "

God's perfect attribute of demanding Justice for sin through the shedding of blood was completely satisfied once for all by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. No person, once they have become Born-Again, has to plead with God that His Justice be extended to them. Further, we do not need the advocacy of Mary or any supposed saint, to satisfy God's Justice and keep His anger off us. It has been extended, once for all, to them through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Since this is the case, how does one receive forgiveness from sin committed after they have become Born-Again? The answer is found in the Scripture just quoted, above, "...if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ..." Jesus Christ is our only advocate with the Father, who pleads on our behalf when we do sin after becoming Born-Again.

But, the Apostle John makes this forgiveness of sin for a Born-Again Believer even more clear, when he states, in verse 9 of chapter 1, "If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrong-doing". [The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986]

All we need to do, once we realize we have sinned, is to simply pray directly to Jesus Christ for forgiveness, and He will forgive us. In this way, a Born-Again Christian can never be out of justification with God the Father. And, no one needs a ceremony which continually asks to "satisfy the justice of God for the sins committed against Him".

Now that we have come to the understanding that the Justice of God the Father has been satisfied once and for all, let us now address another falsehood of the Roman Catholic Church, their teaching about the role of God the Father in the supposed continual sacrificing of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

THE ROLE OF GOD THE FATHER IN THE MASS

"The Mass continues the Sacrifice of the Cross. Each time Mass is offered the Sacrifice of Christ is repeated... In the Mass Christ supposedly continues to offer Himself to the Father as He did on the Cross. And in the Mass the Father continues to accept His Son's gift..."

To illustrate this concept that God the Father is continually pleased and satisfied by His Son's continual sacrifice on the cross, the artists of the St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism drew the picture reproduced at the left. Notice, starting at the bottom, the priest is holding up the round wafer, which is the unbloody representative of Jesus' body. This initiates the activity whereby Jesus is re-crucified, as shown in the middle.

Directly above this re-crucifixion, the head of God the Father is positioned. Notice that God's head is placed within the equilateral triangle, which is representative of the Holy Trinity. However, the Bible does not represent the Holy Trinity by the equilateral triangle; only the Pagans use the equilateral triangle for this purpose.

God the Father is pictured as receiving Jesus as He arose from the grave on the day of Resurrection, and on the day of Ascension. We do not dispute the depiction that Jesus went to the Father these two times.

Finally, note that God the Father is pictured as continually, daily, standing above Jesus who is being continually crucified on the cross. However, this teaching is totally refuted by Scripture, as we again demonstrate below:

"Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But this One [Christ] offered one sacrifice for sins, and took His seat forever at the right hand of God...For by one offering He has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated." (Hebrews 10:11-14; The New American Bible, Catholic Bible Press, 1986)

Thus, Jesus Christ is sitting at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, and has been so sitting since His Ascension. This is the picture: God is sitting on His Holy, Omnipotent Throne in Heaven, with His Son, Jesus Christ, seated at His right hand side. This is hardly the picture depicted above. In fact, the picture above constitutes blasphemy against the person and doctrine of Jesus Christ.

Notice, also, that the priest, who is supposedly initiating this continual re-crucifixion scenario during Mass, is holding up a round wafer as the symbol of the body of Jesus. Protestant Churches carefully avoid using this wafer, preferring to exactly copy the broken bread of the Last Supper feast. Since the Roman Catholic Church has tried to be so very literal in their interpretation of Jesus' words in John 6:51 to try to justify Transubstantiation, why does it not also literally copy the broken bread of the Last Supper? The answer may be that they have again copied the Pagans at this point, since their symbol which they used in their religious ceremonies was that of a round wafer, imprinted with a religious symbol. This wafer was round to symbolize the sun god, Horus.