According to the data published on the website of the Council of Europe (Doc. 11576, Access to safe and legal abortion in Europe [Link, Table 2]), 4.3 million abortions were performed in Europe in 2003. That is staggering. In European countries alone, more than 11 thousand unborn children were killed every day during that year. There is no reason to believe that the situation is any better today.

We should be proud that the Maltese delegation to the Council of Europe, representing both sides of the House, strongly opposed and voted against the motion for the decriminalisation of abortion.

It is now the opportune time for our representatives to amend the Constitution to safeguard the right to life to the unborn child from conception.

April 2008

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CHURCH UNITY

Protestants as well as Catholics confess their belief in one church. But the two groups understand church unity differently.

According to a recent document published by the Vatican, the church of Jesus Christ is identified with the church “governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him”. Christian unity is conceived as a world-wide organized society under the leadership of Catholic bishops and headed by the bishop of Rome.

According to this theory, the Orthodox and Protestant churches “suffer from defects”; the latter are merely “ecclesial Communities” and not “churches in the proper sense” -- primarily because they do not submit to the headship of the Pope, the bishop of Rome.

However there is no convincing biblical evidence that Peter was appointed supreme pastor and ruler of the whole church. We know from the New Testament that Peter was considered a pillar in the early church, but he shared this reputation with two other apostles. “James, Peter and John [were] reputed to be pillars” (Galatians 2:9). Peter had no supreme authority over the other apostles or the universal church.

Nor is there historical proof that the bishop of Rome ever exercised universal jurisdiction over the catholic church. The sixth canon of the Council of Nicea indicates the very opposite:

“The ancient customs of Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis shall be maintained, according to which the bishop of Alexandria has authority over all these places since a similar custom exists with reference to the bishop of Rome. Similarly in Antioch and the other provinces the prerogatives of the churches are to be preserved.”

The Council recognized the authority of the bishop of Alexandria over certain territories in North Africa, just as Rome and Antioch exercised similar power in their regions. By this time in church history, the bishops of important cities were ruling over the churches in their geographical areas. Rome’s authority, like Alexandria and Antioch, was regional and not universal.

The bishops of the Council of Nicea believed in one church, as the Nicean Creed asserts, but they did not recognize the bishop of Rome as supreme head over them.

Protestants regard the church as the spiritual body of Christ, made up of every true believer, born by the Spirit of God and redeemed by the blood of Christ. Christians are united in Christ despite the diversity and differences between individual believers and their local congregations. Since we are spiritually united, Christians are called to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

We should pray and work towards the unity and peace of the church without compromising the truth of the Gospel. But we cannot accept the papal claim to universal jurisdiction. That claim is neither biblical nor historical; it is one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of unity.

September 2007

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QURAN CURSES CHRISTIANS

Muslims are very zealous. They arise in protest whenever they perceive that their religion is dishonoured.

On the other hand, most Christians are totally apathetic. We have learned, perhaps, that there is no place for violence and coercion in religion. But we have gone to the opposite extreme. We decided not to speak the truth anymore lest we offend someone’s religious sentiments.

How should we react to Islam’s denial of our blessed Saviour? The Quran states: “The Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them” (Sura 9:30), or, in another translation, “Allah’s curse be on them.”

If you call yourself a Christian, aren’t you offended by those words? Should we respond by assuring the Muslims that they worship the same God that we worship? Isn’t that a lie? God the Father blesses, while Allah curses us, for our faith in the Son.

We should listen to our Master’s command and bless those who curse us. We must speak the truth in love. Muslims need to hear that Jesus is not merely a prophet. He is the eternal Son of God, the only Saviour of the world.

August 2007

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THE FIRST MALTESE SAINT

Everyone is gripped with enthusiasm: finally Malta will have its first native-born saint. Among the thousands of Catholics who lived and are now living in Malta, finally one of us will be declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

I find this fact very disturbing. It is a sign that Catholicism has drifted far from the doctrine and practice of the apostolic church.

What do we find in the New Testament? Do we find the title "saint" restricted to a tiny minority of God’s people, or were all Christians called saints by the apostles? Were the "saints" canonized after death or were Christians called saints during their lifetime despite their warts and all? Were the saints declared as such by some ecclesiastic tribunal or the bishop of a particular city, or did God’s people freely recognize each other as saints? Were they declared saints on account of their works and virtues or because of their faith in Jesus Christ?

I hope that some are enthusiastic enough to read the New Testament and compare the Catholic religion with the apostolic church.

God calls all those who believe in his Son "saints" because they are sanctified by the blood of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their heart. First God calls his children saints; then he sends them out to live saintly lives. Tragically Catholicism has reversed the biblical pattern.

June 2007

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APPARITIONS

Much has been said recently about apparitions and other strange phenomena.

While we must distinguish between natural causes (such as fraud and psychiatric disorders) and supernatural ones, we must also keep in mind that the latter may be of divine or demonic origin.

The Bible warns that 'Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light' (2 Corinthians 11:14). The word 'angel' simply means a messenger; 'light' is symbolic of truth, righteousness and God himself. Therefore, Satan, whom Jesus calls the father of lies, changes his form into the likeness of a messenger of God! He can certainly appear in the form of Mary and deceptively claim to come from heaven.

So at least we should admit that some, if not all, of the supposedly Marian apparitions, could be deceptive apparitions of the Devil. Even the Roman Catholic Church does not officially acknowledge all apparitions as authentic. The Catholic Church endorses some apparitions, but not others. Often there is no official directive from the Church, leaving many Catholics in danger of demonic deceit.

Many devout Catholics give great importance to apparitions. It is all the more important that they should exercise great caution and discernment so that they would not be lead astray. Since the Devil's purpose is to deceive us, he would cleverly word his messages to sound authentic. It is not surprising that he would include appeals to convert our lives and turn to her Son. The old serpent speaks enough truth to sound credible; enough lies to poison his victims.

We need a message from heaven. We need God to answer our most important question: What must I do to be saved? Praise God, he has spoken. His answer is neither far away nor is it hidden. We have his inspired Word written in the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation which is by faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15).

Since the Bible is sufficient for the purpose of showing us the way of salvation, we do not need any additional messages (not to mention the Bible's warning about Satan's deceptions). We would do well to hold on to what is written in the Scriptures. It alone is a sure and safe guide to heaven.

June 2007

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THE DA VINCI CODE

The identity of Jesus of Nazareth is at the heart of the controversy created by The Da Vinci Code.

Once Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" Just as it was back then, there are also many people today who, like Dan Brown, say that Jesus was just one of the prophets, a mere man.

Jesus turned to the disciples and asked, "But who do you say that I am?" That is the crucial question we must answer.

In his "fiction based on fact," Dan Brown claims that the Deity of Christ was a new doctrine invented at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. "Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet … a great and powerful man, but man nonetheless … Jesus' establishment as 'the Son of God' was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicea … A relatively close vote at that."

Is that true? Let's take a look at the facts. I give a short sample of quotations from the writings of the early Christians, all of whom lived at least 100 years before the Council of Nicea. This is what they believed:

• "For our God, Jesus Christ, was conceived by Mary in accord with God's plan." (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians. A.D. 110).

• "[Christ] we worship as the Son of God." (The Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp. A.D. 155/157).

• "He that came down from heaven in the Holy Spirit for the salvation of men is confessed to be the Son of the Most High God." (Aristides of Athens, Apology. A.D. 140).

• "We will prove that we worship Him reasonably; for we have learned that He is the Son of the True God Himself." (St Justin Martyr, First Apology. A.D. 148-155).

• "We are not playing the fool, you Greeks, nor do we talk nonsense, when we report that God was born in the form of a man." (Tatian the Syrian, Address to the Greeks. A.D. 165/175).

• "For Christ is the God over all; who has arranged to wash away sin from mankind, rendering the old man new." (Hippolytus of Rome, Refutation of All Heresies. A.D. 222).

• "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became flesh for our salvation." (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies. A.D. 189/199).

• "God alone is without sin. The only man without sin is Christ; for Christ is also God." (Tertullian, The Soul. A.D. 208/212).

• "He alone is both God and man, and the source of all our good things." (Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks. A.D. 200).

These early Christians witnessed to the faith of the universal church before Nicea: with one mouth they confessed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!

The Council was convoked because Arius begun to teach that the Son was a created being. The bishops reaffirmed the faith embraced by the church from the very beginning because it was the clear teaching of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Only two out of about 300 bishops failed to sign the creed. Hardly a cliffhanger!

To Jesus' question, the apostle Peter replied for the whole church, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." That is our confession too. Dan Brown novel is fiction based on falsehood; it will not shake the Rock on which our faith is securely built!

May 2006

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Joe Mizzi. [Email]