I was first introduced to the work of John O’Brien when former Roman Catholic priest Richard Bennett gave a lecture on the Mass and quoted a small sample of O’Brien’s blasphemies as found in The Faith of Millions.[1] Since that time I have come across similar quotes attributed to O’Brien along with some folks arguing that the quotes are not legitimate. Surely, the degree of blasphemy spewing forth from this servant of antichrist is so great that it is quite understandable why one would want to pretend that his blasphemies have been exaggerated, or worse, that they are the invention of sinister “Catholic bashing” Protestants.
The assertion that the O’Brien quotes are exaggerated prompted me to obtain a copy of O’Brien’s book in order to verify them for accuracy. Sickeningly, but not surprisingly (since the statements are in accordance with Trent’s teaching on the “sacrifice of the Mass”), this book bearing the Imprimatur[2] does indeed contain the blasphemous statements as cited by Bennett and others. I will reprint a few brief passages here pertaining to the Mass, that most idolatrous of all Rome’s satanic sorceries.
For those who continue to insist that Protestants are being dishonest when we accuse Romanists of re-sacrificing Christ, the following is excerpted from chapter 22 titled, “The Mass: A reenactment of Calvary (Christ is sacrificed again)”:
“The Mass is the unbloody reenactment of the sacrifice of Calvary. Through the consecration of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, the Mass perpetuates the sacrifice of the Cross by offering to God the same Victim that was immolated on Calvary for the redemption of man. In the Mass the priest speaks not in his own name, but as the ambassador of Jesus Christ, speaking the very words which Christ uttered at the Last Supper. Thus Jesus Christ is both the High Priest and the Victim in the sacrifice of the Mass and in the sacrifice of the Cross, and the ends for which both sacrifices were offered are identical.”[3]
“The sacrifice of the Mass is offered up for the same ends for which Christ died on the Cross, namely, to propitiate Almighty God for the sins of man, to render homage, praise and thanksgiving for His benefits, and to supplicate Him for graces and blessings. We should therefore assist at Mass with the same devotion with which we would have knelt at the foot of the Cross and have offered up the dying Christ as the Victim for the sins of the world; for Christ is offered up on the altar as truly as He was on Calvary’s Cross.”[4]
From chapter 17, “The Priesthood: A Divine Institution (The Priest is Christ’s Ambassador to Men)”:
“The supreme power of the priestly office is the power of consecrating. “No act is greater,” says St. Thomas, “than the consecration of the body of Christ.” In this essential phase of the sacred ministry, the power of the priest is not surpassed by that of the bishop, the archbishop, the cardinal or the pope. Indeed it is equal to that of Jesus Christ. For in this role the priest speaks with the voice and the authority of God Himself.
When the priest pronounces the tremendous words of consecration, he reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man. It is a power greater than that of monarchs and emperors: it is greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of Seraphim and Cherubim.
Indeed it is greater even than the power of the Virgin Mary. While the Blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man—not once but a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.
Of what sublime dignity is the office of the Christian priest who is thus privileged to act as the ambassador and the vicegerent of Christ on earth! He continues the essential ministry of Christ: he teaches the faithful with the authority of Christ, he pardons the penitent sinner with the power of Christ, he offers up again the same sacrifice of adoration and atonement which Christ offered on Calvary. No wonder that the name which spiritual writers are especially fond of applying to the priest is that of ‘alter Christus.’ For the priest is and should be another Christ.“[5]
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand” (Matthew 24:23-24).
[1] O’Brien, J.A., The Faith of Millions: The Credentials of the Catholic Religion (new and revised edition), Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., Huntington, Indiana, 1974.
[2] As the copyright page reads: “The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat or Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions or statements expressed” [emphasis added].
[3] p. 304.
[4] p. 306.
[5] pp. 255—256.
[Photo by Nils Huber on Unsplash]
Not surprising since the Roman Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon. The church is ignorant today as to the history of Romanism and the slaughter of millions of true Christians by her hand. Christians need to read their Bible and realize who the prophet Daniel and John were pointing to regarding Antichrist. It is none other than the Papacy!
I think a return to the concept of ‘history unveiling prophecy’ (H.G. Guinness) would eliminate the wild speculations of futurism and remind us of the exceedingly blasphemous claims of the Scarlet Harlot who is clearly drunk with the blood of the saints. I think the Reformers had it right to identify the papacy as the antichrist.
Nick and Matt, you’re right about Rome. But Rome has an appearance of good and many Christians are deceived by this and because of their embrace of futurism. The Lord is exposing her evils, for example, in Guam right now. Pray for her demise as Spurgeon counseled.
Ultimately all ethics depends on individual consideration, mandated in Leviticus 19:18 “Love your neighbor as yourself,” also found in Confucius Analects 12:2, Buddhist Udana Vagna 5:1 and Matthew 7:1. Consistency is the hobgoblin of limited minds as God and Truth are incomprehensible Isaiah (40:25) and dogma and ideology are idolatry which detracts from evidence based realism. This is why the only answer can be a question. Jesus opposed the traditionalist Sadducees and the fundamentalist Pharisees but embraced the syncretic Samaritans. Jesus was nothing if not anticlerical “Do as they say, not as they do” (Mt 23:1). Isn’t it odd the fundamentalists of today quote scripture by number as if lawyers? Better to worship your fellow man created in the divine image than ideas in human likeness. Meekness is devoid of the passion of just war which divides and obfuscates. (Jer 17:9, Eph 2:3)
Hades (Sheol) was a holding place from which Jesus freed us, not a banishment. “gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn”. (Matthew 3:12 ) There is no purgatory, burning is into oblivion. “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43 ) Today! If Jesus told us to be like the children (Mt 18:3) how could he believe them to have Original Sin? Mary CHOSE, by Free Will, to be sinless and surrendered herself to the service of God, something God long awaited. Luther said “Mary is rightly called not only the mother of the man, but also the Mother of God” (24:107) and “There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know.” (10:268). God lived in the Temple (Exodus 36:8) so as Mary bore God she replaced the Temple which was destroyed when she rose exactly on Tisha B’Av, the original lent of eating only fish because fish survived Noah’s flood.
God is beyond time, not being limited by the physical laws and dimensions that govern our world (Isaiah 57:15). God’s perspective on time is far different from mankind’s (Psalm 102:12, 24-27). He is above and outside of the sphere of time. God sees all of eternity’s past and eternity’s future, hence free will and predestination do not contradict. Since He is the Alpha AND the Omega, there can be no historical progression which is satanic anthropolatry. Parable of Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) confirms the glory of capitalism over slothful envy of socialism. All creativity and science is divine (1 Cor 3:5-9). The Parable of the Warehouse is about being obsessed with what we have so we stop living. Superachievers aren’t concerned with accumulation but with constant achievement, seeking to ever use their gifts to the fullest. Half the planet worships to the Psalms of David so stop renaming them as your own hymnals. A Republic of Judges was preferred by God over the Reign of Kings. (1 Samuel 8:6-18) The clothing and responsibilities of the Cohens (chief priests) resembles the early bishops (overseers) and of rabbis with the pastors (presbyters, elders). Paul’s word for fornication meant prostitution instead. Paul’s word for masturbation meant malady. Paul’s word for sycophant meant slander. Magog is cognate with Mongol. Jesus came to fulfill not overthrow the law (Matt 5:17) as the Pharisees were condemned because they syncretized vindictive Roman natural law over Jubilee redemptory Deuteronomy law. Moneychangers were racist about Roman coins. Redemptory confession is from 2 Chron 7:14 and resurrection from Dan 12:2, Ezek 37:12-17, and Isaiah 26:19. Forgiveness is found in Isaiah 33:24, Isaiah 55:7, Jeremiah 3:22, Numbers 14,15, Leviticus 6,19,2 Samuel 14:14. Meek means tranquil, not humble. Oligarch casuistry tries to change the meaning of words, redefine the rules.
You lost me at “consistency is the hobgoblin of limited minds”.
The doctrine of incomprehensibility does not undo the laws of logic. But based on the rest of what you wrote, you obviously value incomprehensibility very highly.
[…] Christ is called a “Victim”. See John O’Brien’s use of the word in The sacrifice of the Mass and the blasphemous claims of of the Roman Catholic priesthood […]
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