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| Message to Henry Beras, Executive Secretary of Greater New York Conference |
Message # 26
September 3, 2014 |
| Dear Henry Beras: |
| A comment was posted on the E-ventist Network that was a real blessing to me and I am sharing it with you in the hope it will help you to make a decision regarding the problem at Ridgewood Church where two elders who serve communion told me that Communion is only for members. Below is the comment . . . and you can see other comments http://www.diggingfortruth.org/article/3460/ here. |
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“The day after my previous comment, I listened to one of J. Reynolds Hoffman’s sermons titled “This is My Body” on the subject of the Communion supper. Mario, it speaks clearly to what the elder did, not serving you, especially near the end of the sermon. I think you'll find it interesting - not a high quality recording but probably the most powerful I've heard on the subject. Here's the link:
Ken Davis
E-ventist Network Forum for Adventists on LINKEDin
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| This 40 minute sermon is very interesting indeed. I invite you to listen to it |
| Pastor Hoffman gives great significance to what Christ did and the importance of the Lord's Supper to the early church, and then he gives a history of the Lord’s Supper including the corruption that started in 831 AD with the trans-substantiation doctrine and he describes the steps that follow, Literal-ism, superstition, magic "hokus pokus", and idolatry with the Adoration of the Host. |
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| At the 33 minute mark this sermon really starts to apply to my appeal to you regarding Ridgewood Church; starting with "The church moved backward . . ." and comments about John 6: 50 – 58; but Pastor Hoffman read only verse 53 and 54 to make his point. |
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John 6: 53 - 54 “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
verse 54 > Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
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| According to Pastor Hoffman, the medieval Roman Catholic Church got ideas from this Scripture and they thought that by withholding the Lord's Supper from certain people, this was equal to sending them to hell. The people believed this, placing dictatorial power into the hands of the priests who serve communion and they could punish individuals or groups they disliked by not serving them ‘the body of Christ.’ He calls this the lowest point of church apostasy and reformation was indeed needed. In fact, 'The Protestant Reformation' included reform of the Lord’s Supper by the newly formed Protestant churches. |
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| I did not know that John Wycliffe said, "No man should be denied the privilege of the Lord's Supper" or that John Huss preached "It is unchristian to deny the Lord's Supper.” This is what was happening at that time. I did not know that Ulrich Zwingli was the first to restore the bread and wine to the communion service at his church in Zurich, Switzerland, and he preached, "The Bread is a symbol, we do not take our Lord's Body between our teeth." Pastor Hoffman's sermon on the Lord's Supper is well worth hearing. |
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| It is possible this Catholic thinking was in the mind of the elder who decided not to serve communion to me on July 19th – I don’t know - he refused to talk to me about it, and it is six weeks after the incident and he still has not spoken with me about it. If he was thinking to punish me by withholding ‘the body of Christ’ at the communion service this is indeed serious. Now many are wondering what will happen at the next communion service? |
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| Pastor Hoffman's sermon reminds us how Satan had corrupted 'the Lord's Supper' / communion service, and it taught me something new, that withholding the bread was a political instrument of punishment used by the Catholic priests who claimed to have the power to change ordinary bread into the actual 'body of Christ.' |
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| This information really encourages me to appeal to you again and to the higher levels of the church, if necessary. My appeals will be asking for church leaders to uphold the policy of open Communion found in Fundamental Belief # 16 and the Church Manual, page 122. It is a mistake to neglect any variance from established church policy, and variance from this Fundamental Belief means the church is practicing error. |
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| "Error is never harmless. It never sanctifies, but always brings confusion and dissension. It is always dangerous. The enemy has great power over minds that are not thoroughly fortified by prayer and established in Bible truth." {5T 292.2} |
| The Lord established communion as a memorial to Himself and it was intended to be open to all who want to participate. Pastor Hoffman says that Satan corrupted the practices of the Catholic Church regarding 'the Lord's Supper' which allowed the priest to deny communion to individuals or groups, but the Lord rose up reformers to correct this practice. I believe that Fundamental Belief # 16 describes a communion service that worships Christ in spirit and in truth. But Satan has introduced error again and he may have been successful to get his foot in the door of Ridgewood church. I urge you to deal with the issue I brought to you six weeks ago on July 23rd. |
| I will be calling you this week to discuss my request for a statement from the Greater New York Conference that upholds the Open Communion established in Fundamental Belief # 16. I hope the problem can be resolved easily by just a statement from you. I will bring your statement to the elders involved in serving communion and who have said that Communion is for members only. If that does not correct the situation then you have a problem that is more serious than you think. |
In God We Trust
Mario |
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