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 Flock of the Divine Mercy Retreat House at Sibaguan Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines

Starts 8:00 am on Mar 13

Ends 12:30 am on Mar 14

Be empowered by the Holy Spirit, accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and renew your covenant with God here with us in the Flock of the Divine Mercy, Sibaguan Roxas City

Now Christ entrusted all His doctrine to a certain body of living teachers, to be spread by them throughout the world. These teachers were the twelve Apostles, the first Bishops of the Christian Church. They were first instructed by Christ in the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:11), and in all that He had heard from the Father (John 15:15); the Holy Ghost was promised them to make them remember it all (John 16:26); and lastly, they were commanded to teach that doctrine, Christianity, or Christian religion, to all the nations (Matthew 28:19, 20).

Now in order to provide a written record of the founding of the Church, and of the glorious promises made to it, and of its constitution and organization, and some of the very words of Christ and His Apostles, certain of the Apostles and their disciples were inspired by the Holy Ghost to write the Books of the New Testament. The New Testament, therefore, is the inspired Word of God.

The New Testament, however nowhere says or implies that it contains "All the counsel of God." It nowhere tells us what books form a part of it, nor even how many books there are. It prescribes no system of public worship; it does not give in full the rite for administering any Sacrament. It makes allusion merely to many things, in which the reader is supposed to have been already instructed (Hebrews 6:1,2). Thus the Bible shows that the Bible alone was never intended to teach the whole religion of Christ.

On the contrary, it points to a body of living men who were the ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God (I Corinthians 4:1,2). Moreover, it describes them as forming a Kingdom or Church, and as having one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism (Ephesians 4:6). And it speaks of the Church as a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle Ephesians 5:27); as the pillar and ground of the truth (I Timothy 3:15); as founded on Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being its chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20); as a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44); against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail (Matthew 16:18); and to which from the beginning the Lord increased daily together such as should be saved (Act 2:47).

In other words, if I want true Christianity, I must seek it in the true Christian Church; and the true Christian Church must be the original Christian Church; and the original Christian Church is that which is Roman and Catholic. Roman, because its chief pastor has always been Bishop of Rome, since the day when Saint Peter on whom Christ built His Church (Matthew 16:18), first fixed his See in that city; and Catholic, because it is universal or world-wide in its extent, teaching all nations to observe all things commanded by Christ. Here, then is a consideration which alone would suffice to make me a Catholic. It destroys whole volumes of Protestant objections. You tell me, for instance, that the Church of Rome, pure in the beginning, in course of time corrupted its doctrine, introduced practices unwarranted by Scripture, and so ceased to be the true Church of Jesus Christ; and hence the need of the "glorious Reformation" as you call it.

But observe, the original Church, having Christ with it all days, even to the end of the world (Matthew 28:20), and the Holy Ghost abiding with it forever (John 14:16), and leading it in all truth (John 16:13), could never lose the purity of its faith. Whoever else might fall, the Church could not apostatize. We have God’s promise that it shall stand forever (Daniel 2:44), and that the gates, or power, of Hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

And again, when Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII, and their followers were starting in their mad career, either the true religion was then in the world, or it was not. If it was, they committed grievous crimes in making new religions to oppose it. If it was not, they were powerless to create it. It takes a Christ, not a Luther, to create a Christianity. On either supposition, therefore, Protestantism is not the true religion of Jesus Christ.

From the various statements contained in the New Testament, we may gather with some probability that evangelists were travelling missionaries, occasionally solemnly set apart, as seems to have been the case with Sts. Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3), to go about and preach the Gospel, yet sometimes with a settled place of abode, as Philip at Cæsarea, and Timothy at Ephesus. They were endowed with a special charisma to preach to those unacquainted with the Christian Faith and pave the way for the more thorough and systematic work of the pastors and teachers. But their office, as such, seems to have extended no further, so, for instance, we understand from Acts, viii, 4 sqq., that Philip, who preached successfully in Samaria and baptized many, was not qualified to impart the Holy Ghost to the converts (verse 14). Accordingly, St. Paul, in his list of the gifts bestowed by Christ for the edification of the Church, Eph., iv, 11 (in I Cor., xii, 28, they are omitted), mentions the evangelists in the third place, only after the Apostles and the Prophets. In the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, no reference is made to evangelists; travelling missionaries are sometimes called "apostles", sometimes also, as in the Didache, they are styled "teachers".

In the later ecclesiastical literature the word evangelist, perhaps sporadically still used for some time in its old sense (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., V, x), received in most parts of the Church, another meaning. Applied occasionally to the reader in the Liturgy (Apost. Const., III), even to the deacon (Lit. of St. John Chrysost., P.G., LXIII, 910), it became gradually confined to the writers of the Four Gospels (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., III, xxxix, etc.). It is exclusively in this sense that common modern parlance employs it.

As early as the second century, Christian writers sought in Ezechiel's vision (i, 5 sqq.) and in Apoc. (iv, 6-10) symbolical representations of the Four Evangelists. The system which finally prevailed in the Latin Church, consisted in symbolizing St. Matthew by a man, St. Mark by a lion, St. Luke by an ox, and St. John by an eagle (see SYMBOLISM). It is fully explained by St. Jerome (In Ezech., i, 7) and had been adopted by St. Ambrose (Expos. Ev. S. Luc., Proœ;m.), St. Gregory the Great (In Ezech., Hom. I, iv, 1), and others. St. Irenæus, on the one hand, and Augustine, followed by the Venerable Bede, on the other, had devised different combinations. Christian artists followed in the footsteps of the ecclesiastical writers, and made use, in different manners, of the four traditional figures to represent the Evangelists. Among the most remarkable works of this description it will suffice here to mention only the old mosaics of the churches of S. Pudentiana, S. Sabina, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Paolo fuori le Mura, at Rome.

The Divine Mercy Preachers is Philippines Evangelist.

From the various statements contained in the New Testament, we may gather with some probability that evangelists were travelling missionaries, occasionally solemnly set apart, as seems to have been the case with Sts. Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3), to go about and preach the Gospel, yet sometimes with a settled place of abode, as Philip at Cæsarea, and Timothy at Ephesus. They were endowed with a special charisma to preach to those unacquainted with the Christian Faith and pave the way for the more thorough and systematic work of the pastors and teachers. But their office, as such, seems to have extended no further, so, for instance, we understand from Acts, viii, 4 sqq., that Philip, who preached successfully in Samaria and baptized many, was not qualified to impart the Holy Ghost to the converts (verse 14). Accordingly, St. Paul, in his list of the gifts bestowed by Christ for the edification of the Church, Eph., iv, 11 (in I Cor., xii, 28, they are omitted), mentions the evangelists in the third place, only after the Apostles and the Prophets. In the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, no reference is made to evangelists; travelling missionaries are sometimes called "apostles", sometimes also, as in the Didache, they are styled "teachers".

In the later ecclesiastical literature the word evangelist, perhaps sporadically still used for some time in its old sense (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., V, x), received in most parts of the Church, another meaning. Applied occasionally to the reader in the Liturgy (Apost. Const., III), even to the deacon (Lit. of St. John Chrysost., P.G., LXIII, 910), it became gradually confined to the writers of the Four Gospels (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., III, xxxix, etc.). It is exclusively in this sense that common modern parlance employs it.

As early as the second century, Christian writers sought in Ezechiel's vision (i, 5 sqq.) and in Apoc. (iv, 6-10) symbolical representations of the Four Evangelists. The system which finally prevailed in the Latin Church, consisted in symbolizing St. Matthew by a man, St. Mark by a lion, St. Luke by an ox, and St. John by an eagle (see SYMBOLISM). It is fully explained by St. Jerome (In Ezech., i, 7) and had been adopted by St. Ambrose (Expos. Ev. S. Luc., Proœ;m.), St. Gregory the Great (In Ezech., Hom. I, iv, 1), and others. St. Irenæus, on the one hand, and Augustine, followed by the Venerable Bede, on the other, had devised different combinations. Christian artists followed in the footsteps of the ecclesiastical writers, and made use, in different manners, of the four traditional figures to represent the Evangelists. Among the most remarkable works of this description it will suffice here to mention only the old mosaics of the churches of S. Pudentiana, S. Sabina, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Paolo fuori le Mura, at Rome.

The Divine Mercy Preachers is Philippines Evangelist.

From the various statements contained in the New Testament, we may gather with some probability that evangelists were travelling missionaries, occasionally solemnly set apart, as seems to have been the case with Sts. Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3), to go about and preach the Gospel, yet sometimes with a settled place of abode, as Philip at Cæsarea, and Timothy at Ephesus. They were endowed with a special charisma to preach to those unacquainted with the Christian Faith and pave the way for the more thorough and systematic work of the pastors and teachers. But their office, as such, seems to have extended no further, so, for instance, we understand from Acts, viii, 4 sqq., that Philip, who preached successfully in Samaria and baptized many, was not qualified to impart the Holy Ghost to the converts (verse 14). Accordingly, St. Paul, in his list of the gifts bestowed by Christ for the edification of the Church, Eph., iv, 11 (in I Cor., xii, 28, they are omitted), mentions the evangelists in the third place, only after the Apostles and the Prophets. In the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, no reference is made to evangelists; travelling missionaries are sometimes called "apostles", sometimes also, as in the Didache, they are styled "teachers".

In the later ecclesiastical literature the word evangelist, perhaps sporadically still used for some time in its old sense (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., V, x), received in most parts of the Church, another meaning. Applied occasionally to the reader in the Liturgy (Apost. Const., III), even to the deacon (Lit. of St. John Chrysost., P.G., LXIII, 910), it became gradually confined to the writers of the Four Gospels (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., III, xxxix, etc.). It is exclusively in this sense that common modern parlance employs it.

As early as the second century, Christian writers sought in Ezechiel's vision (i, 5 sqq.) and in Apoc. (iv, 6-10) symbolical representations of the Four Evangelists. The system which finally prevailed in the Latin Church, consisted in symbolizing St. Matthew by a man, St. Mark by a lion, St. Luke by an ox, and St. John by an eagle (see SYMBOLISM). It is fully explained by St. Jerome (In Ezech., i, 7) and had been adopted by St. Ambrose (Expos. Ev. S. Luc., Proœ;m.), St. Gregory the Great (In Ezech., Hom. I, iv, 1), and others. St. Irenæus, on the one hand, and Augustine, followed by the Venerable Bede, on the other, had devised different combinations. Christian artists followed in the footsteps of the ecclesiastical writers, and made use, in different manners, of the four traditional figures to represent the Evangelists. Among the most remarkable works of this description it will suffice here to mention only the old mosaics of the churches of S. Pudentiana, S. Sabina, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Paolo fuori le Mura, at Rome.

The Divine Mercy Preachers is Philippines Evangelist.

"The Septuagint and the "Apocrypha" books were never accepted or used by the first Century Jews in Judea."

Portions of the LXX were found in Judea among the Dead Sea Scrolls... which dated to before 70 A.D. Some examples are those found in Cave 4, 119LXXLev. 120papLXX Lev. 121LXXNum. 122LXXDuet. And then there is Q9 [a unidentified Greek LXX text], found in Cave Nine.

In addition to these fragments, is the Greek papyrus fragment found in Cave 7, LXXExod. Qumran cave 7 has also produced many smaller Greek [LXX] fragments, the identifications of which are still debated or unclassified. Dr Emanuel Tov suggests the following  identifications for some of these First  century B.C. Greek fragments:

7Q4 Numbers 14.23-24
7Q5 Exodus 36.10-11; Numbers 22.38
7Q6.1 Psalm 34.28; Proverbs 7.12-13
7Q6.2 Isaiah 18.2
7Q8 Zechariah 8.8; Isaiah 1.29-30; Psalm 18.14-15; Daniel 2.43; Qohelet 6.3 

Among these portions of the LXX were found partial scrolls of what some term the "Apocrapha" books:

4Q478 [Tobit] 4Q383 7QLXXEpJer. [Epistle Jeremiah] to list a few.

It is important to note that in the caves of the Qumran [the "Dead sea scrolls" findings] was found copy [scroll 2QSir] a of the book of Ecclesiasticus (The Wisdom of ben Sira) in the Hebrew . Also A fragment [scroll 4Q551] The Story of Susanna [ch. 13 of the book of Dan.] in the Hebrew. And in cave four of the Qumran. fragments of the "apocrypha" book of Tobit were  found in Cave four. These fragments of the book of Tobit are in Aramaic [scrolls 4Q196-9] as well as Hebrew [scroll 4Q200].

It should be noted that the Qumran caves are not the only place in Judea were some of the "Apocrypha" books have been found. Another example is the copy of the book of Ecclesiasticus (The Wisdom of ben Sira) in the Hebrew was also found in the ruins of Masada. This scroll fragment dates from the early first century BC.

There are some who will try to argue That:

"The Essenes or Quaran sect were a strange group anyway and not really a part of main stream Judaism."

Through the Dead Sea Scrolls we are learning of 'Essene and the impact of Qumran's beliefs and practices on the early Church. Many scholars suggest that the Essenes influenced the preaching of John the Baptizer and the ministry of. Jesus himself. There are also several significant features of organization and structure common to Qumran and the early Church, especially the community's Overseer and the Council of the Twelve. The more we learn of the life and worship of the Essene community at Qumran, the more we will understand and appreciate the origins of Christianity.

If we read the New Testament we find that there was really no "main stream Judaism" as we think of it today, As the Protestant Scholar Dr Martin Abegg explains:

 "In modern Judaism and Christianity, a ‘sect’ is usually an offshoot of a larger religion and is frequently viewed as eccentric or deviant with respect to beliefs. But both scholars and laypeople would do well to remember that during the entire Qumran period, the Pharisees and Sadducees were as much ‘sects’ as the Essenes were! It was only from the second century CE [AD] onward that one type of Judaism— that of the Pharisees, the Rabbis---- became the standard for the Jewish People as a whole.

These issues are of less importance with respect to the biblical scrolls. For one thing, all scholars agree that none of the biblical texts ( such as Genesis or Isaiah) was actually composed at Qumran; on the contrary, they all originated before the Qumran period. It is also widely held that many or most of theses manuscripts were brought to Qumran from outside and were thus copied elsewhere. This means that the value of most biblical scrolls lies not in establishing precisely where they were written or copied, but rather in studying the textual forms they contain.[The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, (C) 1999, pg. XVI]

We find a good example of the use of the LXX [which contained the "Apocrypha"] among the mainstream  Judean Jew's when we read in the Acts chapters 6,7. we read were St Stephen having been filled with the spirit [Acts 6:10] is dragged in before the Sanhedrin by a mob [Acts 6:12]. In the middle of his spirit filled address to the Jews St Stephen tells how Jacob brought his 75 descendants in to Egypt.

Acts 7:14-15 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. [seventy-five in all] So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers.

But, the Hebrew Manuscripts tell us Jacob brought his 70 descendants in to Egypt [Genesis 46:26-27 The Hebrew text also records "70" in   Deu.10:22 as well as Ex.1:5]. The Jewish Sanhedrin and Priests knew that Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32; Psalm 12:6-7 and Proverbs 30:6 all forbid adding and subtracting from God's Word. So why were not the Jewish Sanhedrin and Priests outraged at St. Stephen claim of 75 descendants of Jacob? Why did they not look upon him as a "have looked upon him as a perverter of Scripture"? Yet when we read these verses we notice the Jews don’t even seem to blink at it. Never in any of these verse are there any suggestion whatever that their rage against St. Stephen in any way resulted from consternation over Stephen's having "perverted the Scriptures". They slew Stephen for confronting them with the person of the Lord Jesus - that He as Christ indeed and, rather than receive Him as such, they had murdered Him as their fathers had done to His predecessors, the prophets (Acts 7:51-53)!

The answer to this is simple, St Stephen quotes from a Greek LXX version of Genesis [46:26-27] in which five more names are listed [total of 75 names] than the Hebrew MT. The 5  names missing in the Hebrew text are preserved in the LXX at Genesis 46:20 where Machir, the son of Manasseh, and Machir's son Galaad (Hebrew = Gilead) are recorded along with Ephraim's two son's Taam (Hebrew = Tahan) and Sutalaam (Hebrew = Shuthelah) and his son Edom (Hebrew = Eran).

The Sanhedrin would not have contested Stephen’s statement if the LXX were in use and accepted among the Jews of Judea. The fact that the LXX was found among the dead sea scrolls shows this to be the case.

Do to the fact that both versions [LXX and the Hebrew] were in common use in the first century Judea, the Sanhedrin would not have been surprised or startled by Stephan’s statement. The question of "70" or "75" was not a point of major doctrine among the Jews, and apparently there were many Jews on either side of the issue.

If these books were gaining beginning to a wide acceptance by the Jew in Judea at the time of Christ, than why is it that the Jewish Rabbi at the counsel of Jamnia (90 A.D.) Rejected them?

We must Remember that much had changed in Judaism between the time of Christ and Jamnia in 90 A.D. Changes such as the spread of Christianity, the siege of Jerusalem, The decimation of the Essenes sect, the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, and end of the Jewish priesthood.

The dominate Jewish sect at the counsel of Jamnia were the Pharisees. The Pharisees were fanatically and vehemently opposed to ALL Hellenistic (Greek) influence on the Jewish  religion. Many of these books Protestants call "Apocrypha" were originally written in Greek, they were a accepted part of the Greek translation of the scriptures (LXX), and it was through the influence of this Alexandrian Greek translation that these books were achieving acceptance among the Jews in Judea.

Second the Pharisees apposed any canonical variations the Alexandrian LXX may have had with the older accepted listing of books. These variations include the "Apocrypha" books we are discussing.

The above scan is of Colossians 2: 3, from the  Alfred Marshall  interlinear.

It is useful to have these critics read Colossians 2:3:

"That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are HID all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3)

After they have read the text point out to them that the Greek term used for hid in these verse is "apo'kry'phos" (in the Romanized Greek), so we see that St Paul was calling the wisdom and knowledge of God, and of the Father, and of Christ as "Apocrypha". 

Was St. Paul calling God's wisdom and knowledge "spurious and of  doubtful authenticity" ? The answer is NO, for in the first century A.D. the term was applied to those thing that were for a select group and to special to before the general public, hence "concealed" from others.