Dear Readers,
My
name is Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, Independent Old Catholic Church
(IOCC) of Africa, operating in South Africa, and also creator of this blog.
My background was that of a Liberal Catholic
Priest, and a Traditional Catholic Priest in South Africa, and at times an
independent Priest in the Catholic tradition. I was incardinated into the
IOCC by Archbishop-Primate Emeritus Maurice McCormick founder of the IOCC of
America.
Primate Archbishop George Le Mesurier, IOCC of
America
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
+++
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
+++
Bishop George OtienoOdhiambo, IOCC of Africa
+++
Father. Franz Devantier, IOCC South Africa
Invocatio:
P.
In nomine Patris, et + Filii et Spiritus
Sancti. Amen.(In the name of the father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. )
Confiteor:
A. O Lord, Thou hast created man to be immortal and made
him to be an image of Thine own eternity; yet often we forget the glory of our
heritage and wander from the path which leads to righteousness. But Thou, O Lord, hast made us for Thyself
and our hearts are ever restless till they find their rest in Thee. Look with the eyes of Thy love upon our
manifold imperfections and pardon all our shortcomings, that we may be filled
with the brightness of the everlasting light and become the unspotted mirror of
Thy power and the image of Thy goodness;
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Absolutio:
P. God the Father, God the + Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless,
preserve and sanctify you; the Lord in His lovingkindness look down upon you
and be gracious unto you; the Lord +
absolve you from all your sins and grant you the grace and comfort of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Forth
Sunday in Lent –30th March
2014 (Colour of Celebration –
Rose or Violet / Purple)
“Laetare, Rejoice,” says the Introit. Laetare Sunday offers us a break in the midst
of Lenten observance. We are soon to
rise again with Jesus through confession and Easter Communion.
Intent: Spiritual Refreshment.
Almighty God, who art unto thy people a
fountain of wisdom, a tower of strength and an ever-shining sun of beauty and
harmony, grant that we may so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred
mysteries of the passion and the resurrection that we may ever be refreshed by
the continual outpouring of thy power from on high; through Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Announcements:
We are actively recruiting members for Saint Titus,
Ordinary members, members who need baptism and confirmation, members who would
like a conditional baptism and confirmation certificate, Lay Preachers, Lay
Pastors, and candidate Priests. Full
practical training will be provided for the Candidate Priests, and a Diploma
issued on the successful completion of the training. If you are interested, then please contact Fr.
Franz devantierf@gmail.com
Special Prayer Requests:
=>
Let’s pray that our Church’s / Temple’s / Religious places, will be havens of
love, harmony, peace, and safety.
=>
Let’s pray for the continued safety and wellbeing of all of God’s creatures
whom we love so much.
=>
Let’s pray for the Salvation of all the souls on earth, and the return of Jesus
Christ to earth.
News:
Join
the Saint Titus
Newsletter and get all the latest news.
Sacred References:
Old Testament: I Samuel, chapter 16, verses 1-13
Epistle: Philippians,
chapter 4, verse 11 onwards
Galatians, chapter 4, verses 22-31
Gospel: John,
chapter 6, verse 3 onwards
John, chapter 6, verse 1-15
Homily / Sermon:
Firstly I will discuss the feeding of the multitude on the
mountain.
Then I will discuss the rights of inheritance, and finally
I will speak about a theme by Father Mc Khruisium “Winds of Change”.
Feeding of the
Multitude on the mountain:
In order to be a great leader, one has to sometimes do
things that do not make sense to other human beings. They do make sense to God and that is all
that matters. For example we look back
at the Old Testament, and see how the prophet of God Samuel was led to anoint
the most unlikely of people as the future King.
We had seen all the brothers of David parading before the prophet in all
their splendour, until eventually the prophet chose to anoint David, who was the
son who was a bit short of stature, and a shepherd. People must have questioned the sanity of
Samuel, but Samuel followed the instructions of God, regardless of how it must
have looked to others.
We move forward a great many years to Jesus Christ, who has
retired to the mountain with his disciples.
However they were followed by a multitude of people, because these
people had started to become aware that there was something special about Jesus
Christ. They wanted Jesus Christ to
teach them, to heal them.
Jesus Christ was aware that they should feed all these
people, after they had followed then up the mountain. He started asking the disciples about the
possibilities of feeding all these people.
The disciples pointed out how difficult it was going to be. Even if they were to go now and buy 200
pennies worth of food, it would not be enough to feed all these people. Obviously this would have represented a large
sum of money, and huge quantities of food.
However the important point to recognize here is that the amount of
money mentioned was 200 pennies. In
Spiritual terms, zeroes added behind a number serve to emphasize the importance
of the number. So the number 200 really
means 2 or duality, very important, very important.
The important thing for us to recognize two thousand years
later, is what aspects of duality we are being taught about. Well if you think about the purpose of the
work that Jesus Christ was doing, we see that atonement for sin seemed to be
the central and most important aspect. Mark, chapter 16, verse 16; “Whoever believes
and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” So there is your duality, you need to believe
in Jesus Christ. This is a position with
no grey areas. It is either be saved or
not. It is for everybody on earth
regardless of race, creed or religion, sexual persuasion or anything else for
that matter. “Whoever” means anybody
with no exceptions. See the prayer of
redemption below.
Next we look at the amount of people
involved, and we see that there were 5000 people there that day. Again this is a spiritual number. Five is important times three, because there
are three zeros. Then we see the young
boy that the disciples found who had a small basket with five barley loaves and
2 fishes in it. So here we see again the
number five been emphasized, and the number two again. So what is the significance of the number five. Well you see, it is the five spiritual
aspects that is being emphasized. These
five spiritual aspects are so important that we find them symbolized
everywhere. You have five fingers on
each hand, and five toes on each foot.
This five is wired into your anatomy, into your makeup. Look around at motor cars, and notice how
often cars have mag-wheels that have five spokes or multiples of five. If you are a child and you have done
something good, your teacher may give you a star, a five pointed star. So we have the duality, follow Jesus or not,
with your five spiritual aspects. I am
not going to explain these five aspects here, because it can get quite complex,
but just know that the five aspects represent you.
If we look at the five loaves we see
the bread of life that Jesus Christ offers.
If we look at the two fishes we see the age of Pisces that was just
beginning at the time. So we know that
all of this teaching was given under the controlling influence of the age of
Pisces. So it makes sense that if you
want to understand things a lot better, you can first study the underlying
philosophies that made up the age of Pisces.
Now we are getting closer to the age of Aquarius, and the energies and
underlying philosophies have started to change; as a result it has started to
become more difficult to understand teachings that were more obvious to people
living under the full influence of Pisces.
As we move into the age of Aquarius, it will become more and more
difficult to present things in a fundamental way. You can still give the same truths to people,
but you have to be open, honest, and transparent, and completely non
fundamentalist. If you were to feed five
thousand people on the mountain in this day and age, how would you approach it?
Rights of
Inheritance:
We see Saint Paul in jail, trying to make the best of his
existence, before going to Rome to present his case about Jesus Christ. Surely here was a man who had done so much to
promote the Kingdom of God on earth, and yet he was in jail. Paul probably deserved to receive generous
inheritances because of his work. Yet he
had nothing. From Jail Paul gives us
some very encouraging words. He points
out that when he is hungry he has learnt to thank God for the experience that
he is able to enjoy. When he has
abundance he can thank God for the abundance that he is experiencing.
This is a profound lesson for all of us, because we are all
sons and daughter of God, and therefore co-heirs with Jesus Christ. In other words we stand to inherit a portion
of the Kingdom of Heaven. You see when
mankind is ready, then Jesus Christ can return to earth, and establish the
Kingdom of God on earth.
Now let’s step back a bit in History, to long before Jesus
Christ came to earth to give us all atonement for sin. Let’s go all the way back to Abraham. You see Abraham had two son’s. The one son was the son that God had promised
him, and long after he thought that it would be possible, God gave Abraham this
son. This son of Abrahams was the son
that god gave as a result of the promise.
Before this son could be given to Abraham, Abraham and his
wife had grown tired and desperate, and did no longer believe that it would be
possible to get a son. They decided that
Abraham should have relations with one of their slave girl’s, in order to get a
son. So this son was born, the son that
came as a result of the flesh, the son that was born in bondage, because his
mother was a slave.
On a higher level, the son of the promise could be seen as
the son of the Spirit, the son that would inherit everything from Abraham. The son of the slave girl, would not be part
of the inheritance of Abraham, and so the son and the mother were cast out of
Abrahams household.
The son of the flesh fathered the Arab nations, and the son
of the spirit fathered the Jewish nation.
So all these thousands of years later we still find the offspring of the
sons of the flesh and the sons of the spirit at loggerheads with each other. Having come from the same father, it seemed
that they could never reconcile to each other.
In fact if you look at the situation these days, you will find the Jews
and the Arabs living under a strained relationship. Both keeping a careful eye on each other, and
making sure that they are ready to protect their territory. The Jews enjoyed the inheritance of Abraham,
and became the chosen people of God. Their
brothers, the Arabs were excluded from this inheritance.
Now let’s move to a time in History, about two thousand
years ago. We find that we are
instructed to take the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven to all the world,
first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. First to the Jews, because that was their
inheritance. Then to the Gentiles, which
really meant everybody else that was not a Jew.
The gentiles could now for the first time receive the inheritance from
God, that up till now had to a certain extent been reserved for the Jews.
With the work of Jesus Christ, we see that everybody on
earth can now partake of the inheritance of Jesus Christ, and share in the
Kingdom of God. However this was not
going to just happen for the Jews or the Gentiles. This was not going to automatically happen
for anybody on earth, because “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God.” So now we are faced with the
problem that everybody on earth can partake of the inheritance of God, and
claim their place in the Kingdom of God / Heaven; however there are none that
are worthy.
Jesus Christ provides the solution for every human inhabitant
on this earth, regardless of race, colour, creed, sexual orientation or
anything else. Jesus Christ provides
redemption or atonement for sin. All we
have to do is to accept the gift of eternal life, the gift of salvation, the
gift of atonement for sin, and we can inherit the Kingdom of Heaven with our
brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
This is what the thousands of years of life, and the intervention of God
in our lives has resulted in. We are all
as members of the human race ready to receive our rightful Inheritance as
children of God, as the chosen Children of God, because we have now all been
chosen. See the prayer of redemption
below.
Now you may ask, so what then is the purpose of all the different
religions in the world, if none of them matter anymore? If all that is important is to accept the atonement
for sin from Jesus Christ, why bother with all the different religions? Yes you are right, since Jesus Christ came to
this earth there is no longer the need for all the religions. Christianity itself was only formed after
Jesus Christ had already left this planet, in his physical form. You could point out that all the religions
should have joined together two thousand years ago, put their differences aside
and just focussed on Jesus Christ. Of
course you would be right.
There is another dynamic that is still playing a very
powerful role in organized religion. This
dynamic is power. Having power of potentially
millions of people; is not something that religious organizations will want to
easily give up. Very often the only way
to keep things going is to say that their specific religion is the only right
one, and everybody else is going to hell.
I have seen this amongst Christian groups. I have seen this amongst my Muslim friends. I have seen this amongst my Hindu
friends. When you get to know a
religious group fairly well, sooner or later they will express to you, that
their group is the only group that is going to Heaven. Every religious group will try to prove that
they are right. By doing this, the
leadership of the religious groups maintain their power. Sometimes this is very subtle, sometimes this
is violent and disruptive, as in the Christian crusades to the Holy Land; or
the Muslim extremist groups who are terrorizing the people living in their
territory; or the more enlightened new age groups, who point out with love,
that their brothers lost the way somewhere.
The truth is that all of them including the Christians are
wrong. Nobody on this earth has
exclusive rights to Jesus Christ. No one
group on this earth, has the right to claim that they are the only ones going
to heaven. That is not what God said;
God never said anything like that to anyone, so where does it come from? Jesus Christ came to this earth for
everybody, regardless of affiliation to religious groups. Jesus Christ does not care if you are a Buddhist,
a Hindu, a Wicca, a Christian, a Muslim, or anything else. Jesus Christ cares that you should say the
prayer of redemption, and accept your atonement for sin, so that you can claim
your inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Do you agree with me, that it is all about the good news of Jesus Christ,
and nothing to do with anything else?
Let me put it this way.
Let us say that you are a Jehovah’s Witness or a Hindu, or a Liberal Catholic,
or etc. The most important thing for you
to do during your available life on this earth is to accept your atonement for
sin from Jesus Christ, so that you can claim your inheritance in the Kingdom of
Heaven. After this you get baptized, and
take regular communion, but the details of your life after receiving Jesus
Christ as your personnel saviour is not mapped out according to the doctrines as
set forth by the Baptists, or the Catholics, or the Hindus, or any other group. All you need to do, regardless of any other
consideration is: Accept your redemption, get baptized, and take regular
communion. That is all. You don’t need to change who you are, you don’t
need to try to change your culture, your tongue, or anything else.
The great commission:
We are not charged to spread the philosophy of the teachings of Jesus
Christ, and the correct way of living to all the world. We are charged to spread the good news of
Jesus Christ, of his dying for our sins on the cross, to all the world. That is where our responsibility stops. In the past countless Christian leaders have
gone on, and tried to form those that accepted Jesus Christ, into replicas of
the members of the group that they had joined.
For example they tried to make them into devout Baptists, or Catholics,
or Mormons etc. Can you understand that
this is not only very wrong, but not what Jesus Christ asked us to do?
We need to start doing things in the way that they are
supposed to be done, so that the Kingdom of God can come a bit closer, so that
the return of Jesus Christ can come closer.
We need to ask the whole world, to accept Jesus Christ, as their Lord
and Saviour.
Winds of Change:
If we think about the greenhouse gases
that are going into the atmosphere, and the global warming, and climate changes
that are starting to take effect. Think
about the way we are destroying our drinking water, our life supporting
environment. We have started to reach
planetary limits; we are approaching critical mass points, from which there may
be no return.
Raw sewage is still being pumped into
the oceans in incredible quantities, power stations are releasing unthinkable
quantities of green house gases into the atmosphere every day. Genetic scientists continue to modify and
destroy our natural foodstuffs, and scientists are developing pesticides and
herbicides which will get into our food-chain, and ultimately into us. Cancer has reached epidemic proportions, even
although cancer was almost completely unknown of, a century ago. It is not that something is wrong; it is that
too many environmental things have gone wrong, and are continuing to go from
bad to worse, on all levels of human existence.
The world urgently needs alternatives,
because the dispensation’s that are currently in power are not adequately addressing
these very serious problems. The sound
of the wind has been howling in our ears for years, but we have chosen to
ignore it; or maybe up till now we could not do anything about it, because
there were no alternatives. There is
thankfully at last an alternative for all of us. Father Mc Khruisium is busy describing these world
changing alternatives in the form of a book, which should be available
soon. I will let you know immediately
when it becomes available. I believe it
will be available for free in e-book format, as well as the usual paperback and
hardcover format, which one has to pay for.
The Prayer of Redemption
Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for dying
on the cross for my sins.
Please forgive my sins and give me the
gift of eternal life.
I ask you into my life and heart to be
my Lord and Saviour.
I undertake to be baptized as called
for in the scriptures, Mark 16, verse 16.
I undertake to regularly partake of
Holy Communion, as in Mathew 26, verses 26-28.
Amen.
Mark, chapter 16, verse 16
Whoever believes and is baptized will
be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Mathew 26:26-28
And as they were eating, Jesus took
bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said,
Take, eat; this is my body. And he took
the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For
this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins.
Prayer:
Our
Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name: Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. And forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
For
Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
A Baptist Catechism – Part 1:
What is a
Catechism?
In
1 Corinthians 14:19 Paul says, “In the church I would rather speak five words
with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a
tongue.”
Unfortunately
there are only a few people who can understand the thoughts of others, and they
are usually discredited by religious groups, especially fundamentalist groups,
for various reasons. As a result we have
no choice but to go with the words in a tongue.
In Galatians 6:6 Paul says, “Let him who is
taught the word share all good things with him who teaches.” In other words, the teacher is deserving of
many good things, because of the value of what he teaches.
Acts
18:25 says that Apollos “has been instructed in the way of the Lord.”
In
each of these verses we see the Greek word for “instruct” or “teach” is katecheo.
From this word we derive the English word “catechize.”
So
a catechism is a method of teaching biblical truth in an orderly way. Sometimes this is addressed in the format of
questions and answers. The Anglican
Catechism is in this format, however the Catholic Catechism is not in the
format of questions and answers, and is a very comprehensive, deep and
instructive Catechism. The Anglican
Catechism is probably one of the most balanced and instructive Catechisms that
I have seen, and certainly worth while reading.
So we can take out of this, that the format of questions and answers is
not essential for a good catechism; but that it is simply one way of
transferring the essentials of a large body of knowledge. The Baptist Catechism is in the form of
questions and answers.
History of the
Baptist Catechism
The
Baptist catechism was first proposed by Baptists in Great Britain, in 1689. Currently it survives in a form that is very
close to the original. In 1784 the
Baptist Catechism was adopted by the Philadelphia Baptist Association. The Baptist Catechism has been patterned on
the earlier and well-known Catechism of the “reformed Westminster Catechism”. Among the first questions in the Baptist
Catechism, there are some comments, which are meant to help parents to explain
things to their children. This also
gives you an idea of how the Baptist Catechism is meant to be used.
Biblical Pattern
of Doctrine in the Baptist Catechism
Some
assumptions are drawn from several passages in the bible:
Romans
6:17; “you have become obedient from the
heart to the pattern of teaching to
which you were committed.”
2
Timothy 1:13; “Follow the pattern of
sound words which you heard from me.”
Acts
2:42; “They devoted themselves to the
apostles’ teaching.”
2
Thessalonians 2:15; “Stand firm and hold
to the traditions which you
were taught by us.”
Acts
20:27; “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”
From
the above passages it is assumed that there was a body of instruction and a
certain way of teaching it in the early church.
This is then considered to be proof, for a biblical pattern of doctrine,
as in the Baptist Catechism for example.
The Biblical
Pattern of Doctrine is considered to be important because:
1.)
“continue in the faith, stable and steadfast” (Col. 1:23)
2.)
“attain to the unity of the... knowledge of the Son of God...so that we may no
longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of
doctrine” (Eph. 4:13-14).
3.)
“There are many deceivers” (1 John 2:26).
4.)
“which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction” (2 Peter
3:16), referring to doctrines of course.
5.)
“give instruction in sound doctrine and also confute those who contradict it”
(Titus 1:9).
The
above five reasons are given as the reason why the Biblical pattern of Doctrine
is considered to be important, and why we should adhere to it. You can draw your own conclusions, from the
five points given. You will notice how
the Biblical pattern of doctrine, has become a central part of the teachings
presented in the Baptist Catechism.
Please keep in mind here, that Doctrine as such, is not something that
is written in the sacred scriptures, but is mainly indirectly derived from the
sacred scriptures in some way. Doctrine is
also formed by historical pressures, and philosophies that were abundant at the
time of formation. Sometimes doctrines
tend to develop, to prove or satisfy the desires of a powerful individual, such
as the leader of a church or movement, for example Martin Luther.
I
always find it interesting that after Father Martin Luther pointed out the
shortcomings in the Catholic Church, that the Catholic Church also underwent a
reformation. In fact after ten years,
many of the mentioned points had been addressed already to some extent. However by then, there was no turning back
for Martin Luther, and so he continued with the reformation, creating the Lutheran
church. There was a second phase or push
to the reformation, in which the more radical Protestant elements developed,
such as the Anabaptists, who tried to go back to the original method of worship
by the first Christians. Over time the
Anabaptists radical belief system was formalized, and made more palatable. One of the offshoots of the Anabaptists, was
the Baptists, as we know them today.
Therefore
when you study the doctrines out of the historical context, and without the
knowledge of the popular philosophies of the day, and the influence of the main
spiritual leaders, it may not make sense.
This
more or less sums up the introduction to the Baptist Catechism, which is a slightly
modified form of the original Baptist Catechism of 1689. If you are familiar with the Anglican or
Catholic Catechism, you will notice that this catechism seems rather peculiar
at first. If you give it a fair chance,
you will see that there is value in the catechism. Getting a better understanding of the period
of history in which the original was produced, will help to put the Baptist
Catechism into perspective. Getting the
Baptist Catechism into perspective; helps to understand the strange way of describing
things, like for example the need to define the “first and best of beings”, and
we all know that the answer is going to be “God.”
Next
week we will continue with: Question 1: Who is the first and best of
Beings?
A Meditation for all Humanity, The Great Invocation:
This meditation or prayer refers to the Kingdom of God,
establishing itself on Earth, or the return of Jesus Christ.
(In place of the word “Christ” below, you may be more
comfortable with the term “Lord Maitreya”, “the Imam Mahdi”, “the Bodhisattva”,
“the Messiah”, or etc.)
1.) From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let Light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
2.) From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let Love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ
return to Earth.
3.) From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
4.) From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
5.) Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on
Earth.
By using the Invocation and encouraging others to use it,
no particular group, organisation, or religion is sponsored. It belongs to all
humanity, it belongs to you. Say this
prayer every day, when you wake up in the morning.
Benedictio:
P. The peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and
of his Son, Christ our Lord; and the Blessing of God Almighty, the Father, + the Son and the Holy Ghost, be
amongst you and remain with you always.
Amen.
Love,
Rev. Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, IOCC, South Africa,
devantierf@gmail.com
Financial support for Saint Titus IOCC
(win-win alternative)
Join the carefully
selected and tested cash-flow generating program below to support Saint Titus,
and at the same time potentially create a residual or annuity type income for
yourself.
Traffic Wave - Free Report: You can maintain unlimited lists, with
unlimited members. No extra
costs. Email marketing or newsletters
on steroids. Nice residual income
program built in.
|
