"Holy Father"

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said....Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.  —John:17:1These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
See All...,11

The word "holy" is always used one way in Scripture concerning God, who is holy in and of Himself; and in another way for created mankind, creatures and things which can only be called "holy" when set apart by God for His use.

Israel was called to be "an holy people unto the Lord" (Deut 7:6; 14:2; 21, etc.), different from all others. God commanded them (and us today), "be holy; for I am holy" (Lev:11:44For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
See All...,45; 1 Pt 1:16, etc.). The Aaronic priesthood was a holy priesthood (even their garments were said to be holy - Ex 35:21; Lev:16:4He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.
See All...). In contrast, all Christians are "a holy priesthood" who offer "spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Pt 2:5), "the sacrifice of praise to God continually...." (Heb:13:15By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
See All...).

The children of Israel were called "saints." That this designation was given to them while they were still alive on earth and not after their death is clear: "But to the saints that are in the earth...." "O God, the heathen...have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given...unto the fowls...the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth..." (Ps:16:3But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
See All...; 79:1-2, etc.).

Israel broke its covenant with God before Moses came down from the mount, and that is why he smashed the tables of stone (Ex 32:15-19). Graciously, God promised to make a "new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah" whereby His law would be written not in stone but in their hearts (Jer:31:31-33 [31] Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: [32] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: [33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
See All...). Christ will rescue Israel from her enemies at Armageddon (Zec:12:10-13 [10] And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. [11] In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. [12] And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; [13] The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
See All...:1); "all Israel shall be saved" (Rom:11:26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
See All...) and never disobey or displease God again (Eze:39:7So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
See All...,22,29; Zec:14:9-11 [9] And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. [10] All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. [11] And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
See All...,20-21). These promises will be fulfilled when Christ returns to rule the world from David's throne in Jerusalem.

In the meantime, both Jews and Gentiles are called by the gospel of Jesus Christ into the church, which He has "purchased with his own blood" (Acts:20:28Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
See All...) "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Rev:5:9And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
See All...), Jew and Gentile having been made "one new man" (Eph:2:15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
See All...). Where there once were two divisions of mankind (Jew and Gentile) there now are three: Jews, Gentiles, and the church of God (1 Cor:10:32Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
See All...). These "Christians" (Acts:11:26And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
See All...) are so called because they have been bought with Christ's blood: "...ye are bought with a price" (1 Cor:6:19-20 [19] What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? [20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
See All...; 7:23), even"the precious blood of Christ" (1 Pt 1:19).

That all Christians are saints is declared in the clearest terms. Ananias said, "Lord, I have heard...how much evil he [Saul of Tarsus] hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem" (Acts:9:13Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
See All...). Later Paul admits, "many of the saints did I shut up in prison" (26:10). We are told that Peter visited "the saints which dwelt at Lydda" (9:32). Paul declares that Christians should be hospitable and generously provide for "the necessity of the saints" (Rom:12:13Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
See All...). He refers to "the poor saints which are at Jerusalem" (15:25-26), and to "all the saints which are in all Achaia" (2 Cor:1:1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
See All...), and writes his epistles "to the saints" at Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, etc.

Christians are saints because they are "born of the [Holy] Spirit" (Jn:3:8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
See All...; Gal:4:29But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
See All...) and sealed with that Holy Spirit (Eph:1:13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
See All...; 4:30). Each Christian's body is a "temple of God" and "temple of the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor:3:16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
See All...; 6:19). Christians are called to live as saints who are empowered for holy living by the Holy Spirit dwelling within. Anyone who is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit is not a Christian (Rom:8:1-9 [1] There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [2] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. [3] For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: [4] That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [5] For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. [6] For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. [7] Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. [8] So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. [9] But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
See All...).

Contrarily, Roman Catholicism insists that only the dead can be saints. The Pocket Catholic Dictionary says that all Christians were once called saints, but that this was "early restricted to persons who were eminent in holiness...and whom the Church honors as saints...by a solemn definition called canonization...[and] that they may be publicly invoked [prayed to] everywhere." "Early restricted" by whom?

God's Word says that all Christians are a holy priesthood with access to the throne of God (Heb:10:19-22 [19] Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, [20] By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; [21] And having an high priest over the house of God; [22] Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
See All...) through Christ who alone is the "one mediator between God and men" (1 Tim:2:5For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
See All...). But Rome claims that only a special class of celibates are priests who mediate between God and men. The same Dictionary describes a "priest" as "An authorized mediator who offers a true sacrifice...in expiation for...sins...men who are specially ordained as priests to consecrate and offer the body and blood of Christ in the Mass." "Authorized" by whom? Not by God! By what authority is God's Word set aside?

God's Word is "for ever...settled in heaven" (Ps:119:89(LAMED.) For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
See All...). Jesus said that not "one jot or one tittle" could change in His Word (Mat:5:17-19 [17] Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. [18] For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. [19] Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
See All...). What shall we say, then, of a Church which casts aside Christ's holy words and revises the clear teaching of the Bible by its tradition and forces this error upon one billion souls?

Moreover, it is claimed that these unbiblical priests turn wafers into the body and blood of Christ to offer Him in a perpetual sacrifice on their altars for the sins of the world. Thereby they deny the completeness of Christ's sacrifice and His own triumphant words on the cross, "It [the sacrifice for the sins of the world] is finished" (Jn:19:30When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
See All...)!

This Roman priesthood has created a distance between its followers and God which it claims it alone can bridge. The salvation the Bible offers through simple faith in Christ, and a personal relationship with Him, are denied to Catholics. They are kept in bondage to the priesthood from whom they must continually receive another portion of grace to move them a step closer to heaven. This unbiblical religious system is a tragedy which ought to break the heart and consume every true Christian with a passion to tell these deceived people the good news of the gospel.

Christ rebuked the rabbis of His day for loving "the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi" (Mat:23:6-7 [6] And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, [7] And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
See All...). In contrast, He told His own, "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth [with the obvious exception of one's father by birth, who is to be honored (Ex 20:12; Eph:6:2Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;
See All...)]; for one is your Father, which is in heaven" (Mat 23: 8-11).

Only Christians may call God their Father—and He alone is to be so addressed.

The biblical truth that God is the Father only of Christians, all of whom are saints, derives directly from the fact that Christians are "born...of God" (Jn:1:13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
See All...); have been "born again" (Jn:3:3-8 [3] Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. [4] Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? [5] Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. [8] The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
See All...) into the family of God, and are "all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal:3:26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
See All...). God's Spirit confirms this fact to every Christian: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God...heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom:8:16-17 [16] The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: [17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
See All...).

Again, in flagrant disobedience to Christ's clear command, Rome dares to insist that its unbiblical priests be called "father." He who said we are to call no man on earth our father declared that to disobey His Word was to reject Him: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words...the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" (Jn:12:48He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
See All...).

Those deceived by this false priesthood are robbed of salvation as the free gift of God's grace, which can only be received in faith and can neither be earned nor dispensed through men or a Church. They are robbed of the relationship they could have with God through Jesus Christ, and of the priesthood of all believers which Peter and Paul and Christ himself taught.

Furthermore, the popes have usurped the title that belongs to God alone, "Holy Father." We tremble for their souls! That phrase is found only once in the entire Bible, in the verse beginning this article. It is the way Christ addressed His Father: "Holy Father." What motive could drive mere man to take this title to himself? Tragically, through honoring the Pope with this title and looking to Catholicism's false gospel Roman Catholics are kept from knowing the only true "Holy Father" in heaven.

Christ's prayer in John 17 to His "Holy Father" was that Christians might all be one. That prayer was answered. All who are the children of God by being born again into God's family through faith in Christ and in whom the Holy Spirit dwells are united on that basis. Jesus prayed to the Holy Father that His own would be "one in us...I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one..." (vv 21-23). That family relationship is the only basis for Christian unity. We are exhorted by Paul to "keep the unity of the [Holy] Spirit in the bond of peace" (i.e., to express in our lives the unity which God has established). Never are we told to make or to work towards unity, for those who are Christ's are already united in Him and with His Holy Father.

Again, in rejection of the clear teaching of Scripture, we find appeals such as the following in Roman Catholic periodicals: "Our Holy Father asks that we pray for Christian Unity. 'It is essential...to be more committed to prayer for Christian unity....' John Paul II."

The hope of establishing this unbiblical unity under the Pope has captured the minds of the entire religious world. The ecumenical movement daily gathers momentum. Even evangelicals have been caught up in this delusion, as we have documented. An elite priesthood of mediators between God and man, and a pope who claims to be the Vicar of Christ and is called "Holy Father," are allegedly justified by the claim that Christ founded the church upon Peter and that the popes are his successors through "apostolic succession." But, sadly, calling the popes "Holy Father" or "His Holiness" hardly fits the unholy lives lived by most of them.

Consider a few examples. Pope John XII (955-64) had numerous mistresses, ran a harem in the papal palace, raped women visiting St. Peter's, blinded and murdered friend and foe alike, toasted Satan at St. Peter's altar and was killed by a husband who found him in bed with his wife—a fate suffered by more than one pope. Pope Gregory XII's (1406-15) first pontifical act was to pawn his tiara for 6,000 florins to pay his gambling debts. Upon purchasing the papacy, Alexander VI (1492-1503), who had committed his first murder at age 12, shouted, "I am Pope, Pontiff, Vicar of Christ!" Though he scarcely pretended to be a Christian, he was, like all the popes, deeply devoted to Mary. The crimes of this Borgia pope are beyond calculation. Sixtus IV (1471-84) licensed Rome's brothels for an annual fee and taxed the clergy for their mistresses. He invented the idea of applying indulgences to the dead. Catholic historian Von Dollinger said of Popes Paul II, Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII and Alexander VI that each tried "to exceed the vices of his predecessor."

In contrast to Christ, who was homeless, whose kingdom was not of this world, and whose followers didn't fight (Mat:8:20And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
See All...; Jn:18:36Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
See All...), the popes have long lived in palaces of more than 1,000 rooms each and fought with their own armies and navies to build a worldwide empire of unparalleled wealth and power. Michelangelo wrote, "Of chalices they [the popes] make helmet and sword and sell by the bucket the blood of the Lord." Pope Innocent III killed more Christians in one afternoon than all Roman emperors combined. Millions were tortured and killed by the popes.

How did such power arise? In the winter of 755 Pope Stephen III, desperate for protection from the besieging Lombards, crossed the Alps to seek help from Pepin, king of the Franks. The Pope showed Pepin the Donation of Constantine, a newly created fraudulent document (as Catholic historians admit). It claimed that Constantine, the Roman Emperor, had given his "palaces, the City of Rome, and all the provinces, places, and cities of Italy and the regions of the West" to the popes.

Deceived by this lie, Pepin routed the Lombards and gave the papacy about 20 cities and much land along the Adriatic coast. It was the beginning of the papal states over which the popes would rule for centuries as tyrants.

With prosperous cities in its possession from which huge revenues came by heavy taxation, the papacy was a prize over which rival factions fought. Powerful families (Colonna, Orsini, Annibaldi, Conti, Caetini, et al.) fought to place one of their own on the alleged "throne of Peter." (See A Woman Rides the Beast.) Popes fought and killed one another for "Peter's Chair," excommunicated and even exhumed one another to do so. Yet each one is called the "Holy Father, His Holiness, Vicar of Christ" and is considered to be a link in the long chain of apostolic succession supposedly going back to Peter.

Six popes were put in office by a mother-daughter pair of prostitutes: Theodora (wife of a powerful Roman Senator) and her daughter, Marozia. In Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon writes, "The bastard son, the grandson, and the great grandson of Marozia—a rare genealogy—were seated in the Chair of St. Peter." This is "apostolic succession"?

For decades the papacy was under the control of a powerful family of warlords, the Alberics of Tusculum, who would eventually boast of 40 cardinals and 13 popes issuing from that one family. It would be a mockery to say that the wealth and power that produced this remarkable familial network of popes had anything to do with apostolic succession; yet there they are on that official Vatican list of Vicars of Christ today.

The foregoing is only part of the appalling heritage by which John Paul II today claims God's title, "Holy Father." For his own salvation, he needs to renounce such pretense and "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" who died for his sins. May we lovingly bring the true gospel to those whom Rome has deceived. And may we, who are His rejoicing children through faith in Christ, love, serve and obey the only "Holy Father." TBC