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The Catholic Church makes tradition above or equal to Scripture, but in actuality many of its traditions actually stem from pagan sun worship. Its teachings, beliefs and practices come from Mithraism—a form of paganism that existed in Babylonian times.
These pagan practices are symbols of apostasy against God. Of this, the Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism says the following:
The missionary history of the [Catholic] Church clearly shows her adaptability to all races, all continents, all nations. In her liturgy and her art, in her tradition and the forming of her doctrine, naturally enough she includes Jewish elements, but also elements that are of pagan origin. In certain respects, she has copied her organization from that of the Roman Empire, has preserved and made fruitful the philosophical intuitions of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, borrowed from both Barbarians and the Byzantine Roman Empire—but always remains herself, thoroughly digesting all elements drawn from external sources...In her laws, her ceremonies, her festivals and her devotions, she makes use of local customs after purifying them and "baptizing" them.
In the Antichrist Identified section, we discussed how the four beasts of Daniel 7, representing the four successive world powers, took the religious rites and ceremonies from each preceding kingdom as it fell, so that Babylonian traditions continued through the ages. Rome, the final kingdom, still clings to these pagan traditions today.
The Papacy claims that its system of worship has been handed down through tradition. They are absolutely correct. But these are not the teachings of Jesus, but rather the traditions of Babylon.
Roman Catholic doctrines such as infant baptism, sprinkling during baptism, teachings on death and immortality, tonsured and celibate priests with power over the dead, prayers to the dead and to relics, repetitive prayers with the use of beads, doctrines on forgiveness of sins, teachings on hell, the mass, and Sunday worship are doctrines actually derived directly from ancient Babylon, not the Bible.
When Constantine married paganism and Christianity, the door was opened for false doctrines to creep into the early Christian Church, and they were gradually introduced into the system. The Church became divided into the Catholic Church who accepted the pagan doctrines, and the true Christian Church who resisted Constantine’s indoctrination.
Like the successive strata of the earth covering one another, so layer after layer of forgeries and fabrications was piled up in the Church.i
The church historian Philip Schaff says, "No church or sect in Christendom ever sank so low as the Latin church in the tenth century."ii
Many of Rome's documents used to validate its authority and origin have been established as fakes. These unusable sources include The Donation of Constantine, which claim to establish the papal domain and jurisdiction, and The Decretals of Isidore, which were touted as establishing pontifical supremacy. According to J. A. Wylie's book The History of Protestantism, the Greeks reproachfully named the fledgling Roman Church as "the native home of inventions and falsifications of documents."iii These forgeries, nevertheless, succeeded in establishing Catholic doctrines.
Read about paganism within Catholic doctrine:
i. Janus, The Pope and the Council (London: Rivingtons, 1869): 117.
iii. James Aitken Wylie, The History of Protestantism Volume 1 (Hartland Publications, 2002): 12-13.
This article is adapted from Truth Matters by Professor Walter J. Veith, an international speaker who has studied Biblical issues in-depth in his quest for truth. His popular series Genesis Conflict brings the debate between Creation and evolution to a new climax as he dissects the arguments with a scientific eye. His highly-acclaimed series Total Onslaught sheds light on the state of the world today as we move to a one-world government and an anticipated apocalypse.
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