A Letter To Mr. Cogdill
Dear Sir:
2 Thessalonians 2:3
This revolt or falling off is understood by the ancient fathers as a revolt against the Roman Empire, which was first to be destroyed before the coming of Christ: It is also understood by many to mean a revolt against the Catholic Church which has already happened, because of Mahomet, Luther, and all these so-called but misnamed "reformers," including yourself, that have followed these two guys: It agrees to the wicked and great "anti-Christ:" Verse 4, "in the temple' means either in Jerusalem or in some Christian Church which he will pervert to his own worship as Mahomet has done by the churches in the East.
1 Timothy, Chapter 4
This is a warning against heretics. Where have you ever read in the official teachings of the Catholic Church where the Holy Father the Pope sets himself up as God, or calls himself God? That thought is found only in the perverted minds of haters of the Holy Father and everything Catholic.
So, my friend, if you are not one of those haters yourself, you are repeating in your writings what many haters of everything Catholic have written long before you were born:
Verse 3
In this verse he speaks of the Gnostics, the Marcionites, the Encratites, the Mancheans, and other ancient heretics who absolutely condemned marriage and the use of all kinds of meat because they taught all flesh was from an evil spirit.
All Christians believe that Christ established a church. He gave that church power to bind and loose: He gave St: Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and told Peter to feed his lambs and his sheep: Christ gave all his apostles the power to forgive sins, when he breathed on them, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, those whose sins you forgive will be forgiven them; those whose sins you retain will be retained."
St: Mark 2:9-11
"Which is easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, Arise take up thy bed and walk? But that you may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (He saith to the sick of the palsy), I say to thee, Arise take up thy bed and go into thy house:
2 Corinthians 5:18-20
"But all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. For God was indeed in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their sins; and he hath placed in us the word of reconciliation: For Christ therefore we are ambassadors; God, as it were, exhorting by us. For Christ we beseech you, be reconciled to God."
Holy Sacrifice Of The Mass
"Who is there among you that will shut the doors and will kindle the fire on my altar gratis? I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will not receive a gift from your hand. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name clean oblations; for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Mal: 1:10-11)
That, my friend, is the Holy Mass that is offered on our altars daily by all our priests. The Holy Mass was instituted by Christ himself when at the last supper:
I could go on and tear your book (Origin and Claims of Roman Catholicism) into shreds but what is the use. It is a tissue of lies from cover to cover. Christ established his church to lead all men to heaven: It is to last till the end of time: He promised to be with it all days, even to the consummation of the world: He promised to send the Holy Ghost to dwell in the church and lead and guide it in all truth to the end of time. And our Lord did just that on Pentecost Sunday.
We Catholics know St. Peter was married: We get more Bible on each of the fifty-two Sundays of the year, as well as six other Holy Days, than any Protestant gets in any three months of the year!
You say you don't believe anything that Catholics believe which is distinctively Catholic: That is probably true. No Protestant has any religious belief. All you have is an opinion, which you change from time to time, just like you change socks.
In practice you fellows follow our Sunday, our Easter and our Christmas. You use a Catholic calendar in business, just as the Jew does. The Catholic Church will be here and going strong with a Pope at the head of it long after your bones have turned to dust and your tiny misguided sect has disappeared from the pages of history.
Whenever any of you so-called but misnamed "reformers' make the statement that the Church of Christ (which is none other than the Catholic Church) went wrong, fell into error, or disappeared, as some of you do, you only make Christ a liar:
One more thought about the Holy Father: They have always spoken of themselves as "the servant of the servants of God.'
Oh, by the way, I have one question to ask you: Is your tiny sect the one from Texas that sent a couple of guys to Rome to convert the Holy Father, but instead they went down to his summer home and insulted him before the people that love him (everyone that really knows him loves him), and it made those people so mad they shagged those guys out of town?
My, my, what a lot of peculiar people some of these so-called preachers are that they think it strange people should resent being insulted by them.
Harvey Fenno 6817 Agnes St.
Kansas City 5, Missouri