A God Whom His Fathers Knew Not

Grace and peace, brethren.

Today, in the German state of Bavaria, is a public holiday, the name of which is fronleichnam, which is the German equivalent of Corpus Christi day.  When I was a child, I used to see that day on the calendar all the time, but I had not idea what it meant.  You may be interested to know that, besides being a city in Texas, Corpus Christi is a very important Roman Catholic holiday.  But more than this, the celebration of Corpus Christi is actually a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Corpus Christi is Latin for “body of Christ.”  The website, timeanddate.com, says this about Corpus Christi:

“Corpus Christi (fronleichnam) falls on a Thursday 60 days after Easter Sunday.  The day honors the Eucharist (Holy Communion, Lord’s Supper), which is important in the Catholic church.  Corpus Christi is a public holiday in some parts of Germany and is marked by parades for the blessed sacrament [Eucharist] (in form of bread or wafers).”

So, according to this website, Corpus Christi is a holiday honoring the Eucharist, which is the consecrated wafer used in the Roman Catholic mass.  Note that the word Eucharist is capitalized, as one would do for a deity.  This is important, because, according to the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence, the Eucharist contains the actual body, blood, and divinity of Jesus Christ.  This is why Roman Catholics actually worship the Eucharist as Jesus Christ, as this screenshot from a Roman Catholic website clearly demonstrates:

It should be added that this particular Catholic church calls itself a “Eucharistic Community.”  It is a safe bet, therefore, that its worship activities center around the Eucharist.  Though they refer to adoration as “the simple act of…spending some time with Jesus,” it must be noted that, according to this website, “Eucharistic Adoration” falls under “Liturgy.”  Wikipedia defines liturgy as “the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions.”  Adoration, then, is worship. 

In that the Eucharist is what is being adored, it is clear that “spending time with Jesus” actually means worshipping the Eucharist.  This makes total sense, if one believes that the Eucharist contains the body, blood, and divinity of Jesus Christ.  For if one considers the Eucharist Jesus, then one can worship the Eucharist.  In that Roman Catholics celebrate several days in the life of Jesus Christ (such as His birth, resurrection, ascension into heaven, etc.),  it only makes sense that there would be a day to honor the Eucharist, since Roman Catholics consider it Jesus. 

It must be noted that, according to Wikipedia, liturgical worship is “based on traditions.”  That means it is not based on the Bible.  Eucharistic worship, then, is not Scriptural, meaning that Jesus never ordained it.  (Of course, every born-again, Bible-believing Christian already knows this.)  Jesus addressed such traditions in the Bible, when He said that the Pharisees substituted their traditions for doctrine, and, in so doing, made the Word of God of none effect.

In that the Eucharist, or the wafer that Roman Catholics believe is Jesus, is not Scriptural, it would qualify as “another Jesus”:

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

“For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4).

Why is this important?  Because the Antichrist will worship this “Jesus.”  Recall this verse from the book of Daniel concerning the Antichrist:

“In his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things” (Daniel 11:38).

If you’ve read our article, The Identity of the Antichrist, then you know that the God of forces is none other than Nimrod, the first king of ancient Babylon.  The goddess of forces is Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis, whom the Roman Catholic church calls the Virgin Mary and the Bible calls the Abomination of Desolation.  I believed that the phrase “a god whom his fathers knew not” also referred to the Abomination of Desolation, and I believed that when the Bible says that this god would be honored with gold, silver, and precious things, it was referring to the precious metals that adorn this idol. 

But Alexander Hislop, in The Two Babylons, adds something interesting to this dialogue:

 “The host, or consecrated wafer, is the great god of the Romish Church. That host is enshrined in a box adorned with gold and silver and precious stones. And thus it is manifest that ‘a god’ whom even the Pope’s pagan ‘fathers knew not,’ he at this day honors in the very way that the terms of the predication imply that he would” (Hislop, 255).

The consecrated wafer, or Eucharist, is the flat piece of bread that Roman Catholics eat and believe to be the body, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.  The box, in which the Eucharist is enshrined, is called a ciborium.

The Catholic Dictionary, defines a ciborium as

 “A chalice-like vessel used to contain the Blessed Sacrament (Eucharist)… The material should be gold or silver (base metals are sometimes allowed), but the interior of the cup must be always lined with gold… While containing the Sacred Species it should be covered with small white veil of silk or cloth of gold. In Eastern Churches…the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in gold or silver boxes covered with silk and suspended from the altar-canopy in accordance with ancient custom.” (Parentheses mine).

 

This above photo of the ciborium (at left) accompanied by a chalice and other instruments, perfectly describes how the god whom the Antichrist’s fathers knew not would be honored with “gold and silver and precious stones.” For it is adorned with “Genuine jade, mother of pearl and rhodocrosite stones.”  It sells for $4800.

Moreover, the monstrance, a sunburst usually made of gold, and used to house the Eucharist for “adoration” (worship), solemn processions, and other occasions, is also made of gold and silver, and adorned with precious stones, as one can see from the image below:

So the Roman Catholic church has ordained a special day in which they honor a piece of bread, which Roman Catholics believe is really Jesus.  In so doing, they blaspheme the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  

In Corpus Christi Day, or fronleichnam, the celebration of the Eucharist, the Roman Catholic church honors “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4), a god whom the Antichrist’s fathers knew not.  This is a literal fulfillment of Bible prophecy.  

The audio version of this discussion is available on iTunes for playback on your favorite listening device.  For your convenience, it is also available below.

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Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.  

The Still Man