Spurgeon Thursday - The Religion of Rome

The Religion of Rome

by C. H. Spurgeon
From the January 1873 Sword and Trowel

We welcome the publication of a volume entitled "The Religion of Rome." It consists of letters published in a Roman Journal, which have been translated from the Italian, by Mr. William Howitt. In these times, when liberality is the only popular virtue, and zeal for truth the cardinal sin, it is worth much to let the public know assuredly that Popery is not the angel of light it professes to be. "Distance lends enchantment to the view;" but, to the rightminded, to see Romanism is to abhor it. It is a system which is as dangerous to human society, as it is hostile to true religion. We would by no means abridge the civil rights of a Catholic, or a Mormonite, but whether in any community the confessional or polygamy ought to be endured is not a question with us. The system of confession to priests is the sum of all villanies. Murphy1 was martyred for speaking the truth about the confessional, and in his person the liberty of public speech received a serious blow.

The day will come in which that man's name and fate will be looked upon in a different light, and many will regret that he was given over as a victim to Romish bigotry, when they feel that bigotry burdening themselves. We have seen with our own eyes2 that which would make the blood of any decent man boil within him. In the confessional boxes in Germany and Italy, anybody may see for himself, exhibited in the compartment allotted to the priest, a list of the sins concerning which the confessor is to enquire; these include crimes which we will not pollute our paper by mentioning; he must be a hardened profligate who would dare allude to them in the presence of a young girl. Not in the pages of a folio reserved for studious eyes did we read the degrading memoranda of which we speak, but in the confessional itself, where every passer-by may see them if he will. True, the document is in Latin; but, unfortunately, such words as abortio, sodomia, and the like, need no translation. But we dare not trust our hand to write more,—the superstition of Rome is the worst of all the evils which have befallen our race; may the Lord arise, and sweep it down to the hell from whence it arose.

Spurgeon Thursday - Geese in their Hoods

Geese in Their Hoods

In the frequent quarrels between the priests and monks of the Church of Rome, the two parties of rogues were silly enough to expose each other's villainies. On the edifices belonging to monasteries, priests were caricatured in the stonework; and on the churches built by priests, the monks and friars were held up to ridicule. A great deal of real truth was thus brought out by their mutual recriminations. The ancient carving below [this is the actual illustration that Spurgeon used] is a specimen of a common caricature representing the clergy as foxes with geese in their hoods; a very admirable picture whether monks or priests were intended. Popery, with its secret confessional and priestly interference at dying beds, is essentially a fox. Puseyism, pretending to be Protestant, and gradually bringing in all the foolery of Rome, is a deep fox indeed. Yet there are geese silly enough to be deceived by priests in this nineteenth century; and so long as the supply of such geese is kept up, the foxes will never cease to prowl.

Reader, do you believe that men like yourself have priestly power? Do you think that they can regenerate infants by sprinkling them, and turn bread and wine into the very body and blood of Jesus Christ? Do you think that a bishop can bestow the Holy Ghost, and that a parish clergyman can forgive sins ? If so, your head can be seen in the picture peeping out from the cowl of the fox. You are the victim of crafty deceivers. Your soul will be their prey in life and in death. They cajole you with soft words, fine vestments, loud pretensions, and cunning smiles, but they will conduct you down to the chambers of death, and lead you to the gates of hell. Silly goose, may grace make thee wise!

Jesus Christ is the true Priest who can forgive all your sins; go to him at once, without the intervention of these pretenders. Make confession to him! Seek absolution from him! The Holy Ghost alone can cause you to be born again, and the grace of God alone can bring you to glory. Avoid Puseyite and Romish foxes, for they seek to make a gain of you, and lead you not to Jesus, but to their Church and all its mummeries. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and not in these deceivers.

No. 22. Sword and Trowel Tracts, by C. H. SPURGEON.
6d. per 100, Post free, 8 stamps.
Passmore & Alabaster, 23, Paternoster Row.

Spurgeon Thursday - Spurgeon Speaks His Mind

The Protestant Reformation is a term used to describe a series of events that happened in the 16th century in the Christian Church. Because of corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, Godly people saw a need to change the way it worked.

In the beginning of the 16th century, many events occurred that led to the protestant reformation. The split was over doctrine not corruption. Martin Luther began the Reformation by criticizing the sale of indulgences, insisting that the Pope had no authority over purgatory and that the Catholic doctrine of the merits of the saints had no foundation in the Bible. The Reformation incorporated doctrinal changes such as  a complete reliance on Scripture as a source of proper belief (sola scriptura) and the belief that faith in Jesus, and not good works, is the only way to obtain God's pardon for sin (sola fide).

The reformation was a schism, not a conquest, and the Roman Catholic Church preservered, yet many Christians called out to their Catholic brothers to come out of ideological slavery. Leading the call was Charles Spurgeon;

Roman Catholicism

If you and I had been about in our Lord's day, and could have had everything managed to our hand, we should have converted Caesar straight away by argument or by oratory; we should then have converted all his legions by every means within our reach; and, I warrant you, with Caesar and his legions at our back we would have Christianised the world in no time: would we not? Yes, but that is not God's way at all, nor the right and effectual way to set up a spiritual kingdom.

Bribes and threats are alike unlawful, eloquence and carnal reasoning are out of court, the power of divine love is the one weapon for this campaign. Long ago the prophet wrote, "Not by might, nor by power, but by Spirit, saith the Lord." The fact is that such conversions as could be brought about by physical force, or by mere mental energy, or by the prestige of rank and pomp, are not conversions at all. The kingdom of Christ is not a kingdom of this world, else would his servants fight; it rests on a spiritual basis, and is to be advanced by spiritual means.

WWUTT Wednesday - Can a Catholic Be Saved?

Can a Roman Catholic be saved? Look at this crucifix carefully - This crucifix has a skull and crossbones on it, The skull and crossbones is said to represent the bones of Adam who was supposedly buried directly beneath the cross. It was told to me once that it symbolizes Jesus' victory of life over death (my response was "Wouldn't an empty tomb show that better?) Another explanation is that  Christ was crucified at Calvary. Calvary = Golgotha, and Galgotha = the place of the skull. 

According to ETWN the answer is the combination of all the above. Personally I believe the best answer is that there's no real answer. Symbology and iconoclasm is deeply rooted in the Catholic church, yet the meaning of these symbols changes over the centuries to reflect the popular viewpoint. The faith of their faithful is placed in gimgaws, trinkets, pomp, ceremonial babble, and gilt without end that the saving power of Jesus' sacrifice is ignored in favor of the man with a triple crown on his head who claims to represent a man who never had a place to lay his own head 

Emergent Monday - The Immaculate Conception May Not Mean What You Think It Means

In the liturgy of the Catholic church December 8th is the feast  of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation. A holy day of obligation is a day which those faithful to the RCC are required to attend Mass. That is unless December 8 falls on a Sunday, then the feast is transferred to December 9th because the Second Sunday of Advent outranks the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Keep in mind that not all countries have the same Holy Days of Obligation. Italy for example has six, while the primarily Muslim country of Indonesia has ten, and the incredibly Catholic country of the Philippines has three. I suppose this is due to to the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has an advantage (they claim) over protestantism - that they have a pope to rule them and make sure that everything is standardized. (That wasn't meant to sound sarcastic, but how can it not?)

Here in the United States the average Protestant would recognize a few of the holy days of obligation: Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Solemnity of All Saints (All Saints' Day), Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas), then there's the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Notice that this is not the Immaculate Conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary, I can't find evidence that the romish church celebrates that actual miracle. Instead they invented one; the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrates the conception of Mary in her mother Anne's womb immaculate and free from all forms of sin.

The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was conceived by normal biological means, but God acted upon her soul keeping her "immaculate" at the time of her conception. In other words she was born without original sin. Therefore, being free from original sin from her conception Mary received the sanctifying grace that Catholics believe comes with infant baptism. Not only that but she remained sinless though the rest of her life. The biblical references for this are: 

Spurgeon Thursday - Is The Pope The Antichrist?

During Spurgeon's lifetime there were three popes, Gregory XVI, Pius IX, and Leo XIII. Pius IX was the last absolute theocratic monarch of the papal states, an area of Italy that was ruled by the popes for over one thousand years. Like the Byzantine Empire and World War I, the Papal States is one of those fascinating bits of world history that are ignored in American schools for some unknown reason. 

Spurgeon really didn't like the popes and everything the popes stood for. I'm sure that the popes being theocratic monarchs of a sizeable chunk of european real estate that covered a good portion of Italy and even a chunk of France (Avignon ) didn't help much either. 

The political climate of Europe at the time was tumultuous, one could safely say that there was a state of warfare in europe from the start of the French revolution (1789) until the end of WWII. In 1848 Pope Pius IX actually fled Rome in disguise (some said in a woman's dress) and requested political asylum in England while the Italian Army reclaimed Rome and the Papal states. He returned to Rome in 1850. The Italian government made peaceful overtures to Pius IX but Pius responded with anger and insults. I'm sure none of that escaped Spurgeon's notice. 

Spurgeon Thursday - The Reason for the Reformation

We are one year from the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and with ecumenical-mania going on, a modern day counter reformation, one can only wonder if this will be the last anniversary of the Protestant Reformation to be celebrated.

Reunification with the Roman church is a movement that is quietly gaining steam. The biblically unqualified leader of a Lutheran denomination has declared:

"Though we have not yet arrived, we have claimed that we are, in fact, on the way to unity... This 'Declaration on the Way' helps us to realize more fully our unity in Christ with our Catholic partners, but it also serves to embolden our commitment to unity with all Christians

Charles Haddon Spurgeon probably wouldn't agree with Mrs. Eaton, and by "probably wouldn't agree" I actually mean "raging with the very fires of hell in disagreement" 

Charles was a loving man of God who was blessed with an incorrigible sense of humor, but the institution of the Roman Catholic Church and its papist heresies tested his patience, and when he spoke, he let his passion be known: 

It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against Antichrist, and as to what Antichrist is no sane man ought to raise a question. If it be not the popery in the Church of Rome there is nothing in the world that can be called by that name. If there were to be issued a hue and cry for Antichrist, we should certainly take up this church on suspicion, and it would certainly not be let loose again, for it so exactly answers the description. 

Eccumenical Monday - IHOP and Their Adoration of the Papist Church

Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what
partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or
what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14)

Sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone) is the foundational doctrinal principle of the Protestant Reformation. It is held by we Reformers, who know that Scripture is self-authenticating, clear to the rational reader, is its own interpreter, and sufficient of itself to be the final authority of Christian doctrine. However some denominations prefer Prima Scriptura which states that scripture is pretty good, but needs man's help through revelation and Tradition. Denominations that encourage this kind of thing are Anglican, Wesleyan Methodists, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Quakers, Pentecostals, Charismatics and Roman Catholics

The International House of Prayer (IHOP) claims to be all about Prima Scriptura, but may be Secundum Scriptura (Scripture is Secondary), but probably Alia Scriptura (Another Scripture). Regardless of what they are, what they are not is evangelical Christian. At the very best what they are is a Christian flavored cult. With much more focus on mysticism and contemplative spirituality than on worshipping the Lord in prayer and interceding for others through prayer, and the expectation that healings, visions, dreams, prophecies, tongues, words of knowledge, signs, wonders, etc become commonplace, IHOP sets itself apart from biblical Christianity. Which is probably why IHOP simply adores the Roman Catholic Church. Consider this quote from the Franciscan University of Steubenville: 

“The International House of Prayer (IHOP) was founded in 1999 by Mike Bickle, who says that many IHOP teachings draw upon the works of St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, as well as contemporary Catholics including Father Henri Nouwen and Father Thomas Dubay, SM. The IHOP 24 hour prayer room, he says, was inspired by the spiritual practices of  Catholic European monks, such as St. Bernard of Clairvaux. 

‘I’ve always had a passion for Catholic-Christian unity, and enthusiastically welcome this years Catholic track,’ says Bickle. ‘We may have different religious traditions, but we focus on fellowship, and unity and Jesus being glorified in prayer, worship, and teaching.’”

Spurgeon Thursday - Rubbish

"The church of Rome and her teachings are
a vast mountain of rubbish covering the truth."

Continuing from Monday's posting of Mike Gendron's expose of false teaching in the Roman Catholic Church, let's step back in time about 140 years and see what the Prince of Preachers has to say about the Roman Catholic Church. You'll see that C.H.Spurgeon is a bit more direct in his assessment. Although a bit more brash, Spurgeon does base his criticisms in love, love for God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, those poor folk who have based their salvation on false teachings. But love for those false teachings and false teachers is tough love:

GENERAL

I question if hell can find a more fitting instrument within its infernal lake than the Church of Rome is for the cause of mischief. - MTP Vol 11 pg. 510. 

If your heart be not right with God, you shall perish with the sacramental bread in your mouth, and go from the baptismal waters to the fires of hell. Beware of the peace which is drawn from the stagnant pool of superstition. It will carry death into your soul. - MTP Vol 36 pg. 426.

I have seen, to my horror, a picture of God the Father represented as an old man, whereas the Lord has declared that we should make no image of him or represent him in any way. The attempt is blasphemous. (Exodus 20:4) - MTP Vol 55 pg. 526.

You cannot make a sinner into a saint by killing him. He who does not live as a saint here will never live as a saint hereafter. - MTP Vol 30 pg. 459

I do not think I should care to go on worshipping a Madonna even if she did wink. One cannot make much out of a wink. We want something more than that from the object of our adoration. - MTP Vol 40 pg. 505 .

Galatians 2:20 - The Roman Catholic hangs the cross on his bosom; the true Christian carries the cross in his heart. And a cross inside the heart is one of the sweetest cures for a cross on the back. If you have a cross in your heart - Christ crucified in you - all the cross of this world's troubles will seem to you light enough, and you will easily be able to sustain it. - NPSP Vol 4 pg. 428-429 . 

"Ignorance is the mother of devotion," according to the Church of Rome. "Ignorance is the mother of error," according to the Word of God. What we want our fellowmen to possess is spiritual knowledge. Especially do we desire that they may have knowledge with regard to God's righteousness, for men do not know what that righteousness is which God requires. - MTP Vol 37 pg. 387 

Three Common Errors of False Teachers

Mike Gendron

Being a recovering Roman Catholic I have a great affinity to Mike Gendron. For 34 years Evangelist Mike Gendron was a devout Roman Catholic and a strong defender of the "one true church." In 1981, at an evangelistic seminar, Mike heard for the first time that salvation is not by works or sacraments but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. He also discovered the Bible must become his authority in all matters of faith. After graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1991, Mike began this ministry to reach the many Catholics who currently are where he was for most of his life - believing he was heaven-bound but, in reality, destined for a Christ-less eternity. Mike is recognized internationally as being gifted at lovingly explaining the false teaching of the Church of Rome and why their doctrines are wrong according to the Word of God. Thanks and a hat tip to Defending. Contending. for finding this important article by Mike Gendron. ( I will be back with my series on the NAR soon)

Three Common Errors of False Teachers

by Mike Gendron

Since we are now living in the age of religious tolerance and ecumenical unity, there are some people who will immediately call this article unloving and divisive. Others will ask, "What right do you have to judge another religion?" The answer is given in Scripture. All God-fearing people are called to make right judgments, judgments that have already been established by the objective principles of God's Word (John 7:24). There may be nothing more important than warning people who are being deceived about their eternal destiny. If we do not lovingly confront them with God's Gospel, they may never know how to escape the eternal fire of God's punishment. Clearly, the most unloving thing we can do is to ignore them and let them continue down the road to destruction. For this reason, I am always willing to offend people with the offense and exclusivity of the Gospel in the hopes that God may grant some of them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 2: 25). Let us look at three fatal errors of false prophets and how to handle them: 

Guest Columnist - Protestants Don’t Celebrate Ash Wednesday, or Lent. We Are Protestant For a Reason.

Article by Timothy J, Hammons

I’m truly saddened by the number of my friends on Facebook who are celebrating Ash Wednesday and Lenten this year. The common denominator of course is that they were all educated theologically at Dallas Theological Seminary.  I have other friends who did not attend DTS who are celebrating. I give them a pass. But the ones that did attend DTS, should repent of this heinous revelry immediately.

Once again, the seminary where I was trained is showing it’s bad fruit in that they really don’t teach theology well, unless it is Dispensationalism, or church history well. (Not the fault of the historical theology department. They do an excellent job, but are not given enough courses to make a long-term impact).

But that is not the point. The point is that for some reason, students can come out of that seminary and think it’s perfectly fine to celebrate Ash Wednesday and Lenten. Do they not realize that we are Protestant? Do they not realize that this is a tradition of men and condemned in Scripture? Do they not realize that these holy days are not prescribed by God, but by fallen men? Do they not realize that their participation in Ash Wednesday and Lent strikes at the gospel itself?

Why does it matter?

Ecumenical Monday: Reformation? What Reformation?

I know of a fellow who says he loves God and Jesus but worships a dead woman. This fellow is full of all sorts of unique beliefs: he believes that folks who believe in justification though grace alone are crazy and should be damned, he believes that Christ's work was left incomplete on the cross, he believes that God isn't good enough to confess your sins to - you need to talk to a person instead. He also believes that the bible isn't enough and must be amended with tradition,  that you're not smart enough to read the bible, that God and Allah are the same, that Christ is not the only mediator between us and God, and even dead people can intercede for us. He even insists that salvation through grace is just crazy talk and that justification rests in specific measured works that must be accomplished before death. He also believes that when we die, we become Gods.

Oh, and he calls himself a Christian. 

The fellow is Mr. Pope Francis and not only unrepentant, he's set his sights once again on Christians. Years ago Mr. Pope's political ancestors took it upon themselves to wipe out biblical Christianity and insure that papistry ruled western theology. Starting in 12th century the Roman Catholic Church took it upon themselves to slaughter the Arnoldists, the Cathars, the Waldensians, the Fraticelli, the Husites the Beguines, and the Lollardists. Following the Reformation the Catholic Church declared war on Protestants, we were denounced as heretics and subject to persecution by the inquisition. The Roman Catholic Church's abject hatred of bible believing Christians caused eruptions of sectarian hatred such as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572 where up to 30,000 Protestants were slaughtered.

Oddly enough, 30,000 is the same number of Protestants that were persecuted in Catholic Spain between 1936 and 1975. Even though the Spanish Bill of Rights granted freedom of private worship, Protestants suffered legal discrimination and were not allowed to hold worship service in buildings which had exterior signs stating that it was a house of worship.

Ecumenical Emergent Monday: The Purpose Driven Pope

The World Meeting of Families is a week-long international event of prayer, catechesis, and celebration that draws participants from around the globe. It seeks to strengthen the bonds between families and to witness to the crucial importance of marriage and the family to all of society.

I had to look up what a catechesis is, it turns out that when you remove all the extra syllables organized religions like to inject into a concept you find that a catechesis is training on a catechism, and a catechism is a tutorial of beliefs of a church written in Q&A form. Since the World Meeting of Families is a Roman Catholic organization, it is probably safe to say that the catechesis will not be based on the 95 Thesis. No, the Roman Catholic catechism is a summary of the official teachings of Catholic beliefs including creeds, sacraments, commandments, and prayers and not written in Q&A form, more in the form of a series of commandments.

And Rick Warren is going to be in the thick of it. Appearing live with Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley at 10:30 Am on September 25th, Rick Warren will be giving a keynote address  "The Joy of the Gospel of Life"

So what's a nice protestant minister doing at an all catholic get-together? Could it be making Pope Puppets? Bowling with the Bishops? Maybe the Swing with the Sisters dance party? Having gone to a strict Catholic school, that last one sounds explicitly terrifying, and yes, these are all real events planned for the World Meeting of Families. Each event has supporting references from the Roman Catholic catechism, not the bible. Surprised? Don't be.

Ecumenical Monday - The Most Disturbing Thing I've Ever Read

I believe I have mentioned before, I'm inspired by good and bad teachers, meaning I'm uninspired by so-so teachers. I'm highly inspired by good teachers because they inspire me to dig deeper and find out more about the subject matter at hand so I can go back and discuss the subject matter with them on a higher level. Lars Brownworth is one, Pastor Paratus is very much another. But the I'm also inspired by really bad teachers because they inspire me to dig deeper and find out more about the subject matter at hand so I can go back and discuss the subject matter with them on a higher (louder) level. Rob Bell is one, Eugene Peterson is another.

Let's now talk about John O'Brien. John was born on January 20th in 1893 in Peoria, Illinois. He attended St. Patrick School, the Spalding Institute, Holy Cross College (Worcester, MA), and St. Viator's College (Bourbonnais, Il). He was ordained a Catholic priest on June 18, 1916 and served as chaplain for the Catholic students at the University of Illinois and earned a Ph.D. in psychology there. In 1938 he published a book about Catholicism called The Faith of Millions which became a best seller (200,000 copies by 1945), was reprinted in 27 editions, and was translated into 10 languages.

John never actually entered the "real world" instead chose to remain cloistered in academia, he remained at the University of Illinois for twenty-two years. In 1939 he spent a year at Oxford University, then for the rest of his life he taught and wrote at the University of Notre Dame. In his free time he became a Catholic evangelist, not preaching the joys of serving the Lord, but the joys of kowtowing to the Catholic church. John's seminal work is "The Faith of Millions" and is a study in unrepentant blasphemy, heresy, and historical inaccuracy. 

Ash Wednesday

Another ash Wednesday has come and gone and once again my forehead remains ash free. As a child growing up in the RCC Ash Wednesday meant more that just the start of lent, to us it meant a half day off from school! We would hop on the "parochial bus" and be carted off to the local RCC building of our parents choice where the priest would hold mass and apply the ashes to our foreheads. We were told that the ashes were from burnt palm branches left over from last Palm Sunday, but we in our 6th grade wisdom knew it was mostly ashes from Monsignor Logal's White Owl cigars. (If that were actually true Monsignor Logal could probably keep the entire Buffalo Diocese supplied in enough ash to make Ash Wednesday a monthly occurrence)

Of course we weren't totally sure of why we were carrying around a blob of ashes on our foreheads other than "it's the beginning of lent", we didn't have Sunday School, and what religious education we did receive was indoctrination in the Catholic catechism, which unless you're an overexcited theology student was a slow method of torture for meat eating 12 year olds. As for bible education - there was none. 

Flash forward a few decades and several prayerful readings of the Bible later and I'm now a member of a biblically centered Christian church, and we don't do ashes, fasting before communion, or fish frys. I really miss western New York fish frys. But why do we not do Ashes and fasting during lent? (Then again we also don't do a Bacchanalia on the Tuesday before lent either) I mean, we are much more biblically oriented than the RCC by a very long shot, so why not the ashes... and sackcloth?

What Should a Christian Do On Halloween?

First of all, taking your kids trick-or-treating door to door will not condemn you to hell. Nor will gathering with your friends in costume on October 31. BUT... are you doing it for the Glory of God?

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

I really like the autumn, the changing leaves, the smells, fresh apple cider, harvest time... and I like Jack O' Lanterns. Well, maybe I like the candle light from inside the Jack O' Lantern the most, (I love candle light, it's my primary house decoration around Christmas) followed by the roasted pumpkin seeds and my (so far unsuccessful) attempts to make pie from the giant fruit (yes, a pumpkin is a fruit). But other than hacking up a pumpkin (if I carve anything into it, it's an Ichthys)  and pouring an ice cold glass of apple cider or two and a powder sugar covered donut (which I don't like, but it's traditional) that's pretty much my revelry, I don't celebrate Halloween. 

I'm not going to sit here and tell you not to celebrate Halloween or you'll roast in hell, that's legalism, and I get enough of that in tribulation 'discussions'. But since it's my blog, I'm going to explain why I don't celebrate Halloween and invite you along for the ride. To begin with, Halloween has always been and always will be a pagan festival: 

What is the Apocrypha and what's it doing in my Bible?

The Apocrypha is a set of books written between 400 BC and the time of Jesus' ministry on Earth. These books consist of 1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (also known as Sirach), Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, The Additions to Daniel, The Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees.

Protestants reject the apocrypha as being inspired for one very good reason - the creators of the Old Testament, the Jewish community, rejects the apocrypha. So why does it exist in some bibles?