I. INSPIRED AND UNINSPIRED WRITINGS
1. The reason why sixty-six books of the Bible harmonize is that the same divine mind inspired each writer. If, for example, John had written something that did not agree with the works of Moses, we would be obliged to reject the Gospel and epistles of John and the Revelation.
2. The first five books of the Bible are criterion for all other works claiming inspiration. If the doctrines of the Apocrypha do not in every instance agree with what Moses wrote, they should find no place in the canon of the Inspired Word.
3. The Apocryphal books teach doctrines contrary to what Moses and other prophets have written. For this reason they were not placed among the other books of the Old Testament when canonicity took place in the days of Ezra.
4. Neither Christ nor His apostles quoted from books of the Apocrypha. Saint Jerome rejected them from his Latin Bible because they were not written in the Hebrew language.
5. The Catholic Church at the Council of Trent placed the Apocrypha on an equal base with other inspired books of the Bible. All who do not accept the Apocrypha as of equal authority with the Scriptures are anathematized (cursed) by the Catholic Church.
II. THE APOCRYPHA NOT INSPIRED
Why does the Catholic Church continue to hold on to these uninspired writings? Because their fictitious teachings endorse false doctrines of the church, such as prayer for the dead, false cures, virtue in burning the heart of a fish to drive devils away, alms deeds delivering from death and sin, and salvation by works. The following are reasons why the Apocrypha is rejected.
1. Magical Art Taught. Tobias 6:5-8: "Then the angel said to him: 'Take out the entrails of this fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for thee. For these are necessary for useful medicines....' Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: 'I beseech thee, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the fish?' And the angel, answering, said to him: 'If thou put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kinds of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them.' "
Such teaching is no where taught in the rest of the Holy Scriptures. The heart of a fish does not possess such magical, supernatural power as to drive away "all kind of devils." It is incredible to believe that God would have any of His angels give Tobias or any other man advice to practice such bewitching art.
Satan cannot be expelled by any conjuror's trick. Anyone who pretends to use some alleged art in performing things supernatural is not in accord with the 66 books of inspired writings.
Mark 16:17: Christ said it was in His name that Satan would be cast out. Acts 16:18: Paul commanded the devil in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of a woman. She was delivered from the evil power. All this does not harmonize with the writings of Tobias.
2. Giving of Alms Cleanses Sin. Tobias 12:8,9: "Prayer is good with fasting and alms: more than to lay up treasures of gold: for alms delivereth from death: and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting."
If charitable offerings could purge our sins, we would have no need for the blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1:18,19: We are redeemed, not with corruptible things as silver and gold or alms, but with the precious blood of Christ. Doctrine of the Catholic Church "Works of Satisfaction." Ecclesiasticus 3:33: "Alms resisteth sins." Not the keeping power of Christ here advocated, but works (Jude 24).
3. Sins Pardoned by Prayer. Ecclesiasticus 3:4: "He that loveth God shall obtain pardon for his sins by prayer." Sins are not pardoned by prayer. If that were true, we would not have need of Jesus. All heathen people pray, but sins are not pardoned by prayer alone. Prov. 28:13; 1 John 1:19: Confession and forsaking of sin through Jesus Christ is what the true Word teaches. 1 John 2:1, 2: Christ our advocate can pardon sin.
4. Prayers for the Dead. 2 Maccabees 12:43-36: "And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (for if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead). And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins."
5. Destiny Sealed at Death. Acts 2:34: According to the Word of God, the dead do not go to their place of reward. David, a man after God's own heart, has not yet ascended to heaven. Isa. 38:18: Those who go into grave "cannot hope for the truth." When a person dies, his destiny is sealed for time and eternity. All prayers and suffrage of the living will not benefit him. Luke 16:26: "There is a great gulf fixed." No passing or graduation from a place of suffering to the bliss of heaven. Isa. 8:20: Because book of Maccabees teaches contrary to other parts of the Bible, it is rejected. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
6. Purgatory Taught. Wisdom 3:1-4: "But the souls of the just are in the hand of God: and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery. And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality."
The Catholic Church bases its belief for the doctrine of purgatory on these texts. "Though in the sight of men they suffer torments, their hope is full of immortality." The "torments" which the "just" are in, the church says, refer to fires of purgatory, where their sins are burned out. "Their hope is full of immortality," the church declares to mean that after suffering sufficient time in the fires, they then pass into heaven.
1 John 1:7: Such teaching does away with the complete atonement of Christ. If sin can be burned out, then we have no need for our Savior.
A statement taken from Catholic works: "Could we see these dear souls in purgatory we could not forget them. They cry out in thirst while we sit and drink. They are weary with restlessness while we do be sleeping. They are sore with grievous pain while we are playing. They are eaten up with burning fire while we are feasting. They cry out for help from those who once held them dear. They plead that you have the pity, the prayers, the sacrifices that you promised.
"By prayer we temper the agonies of the souls in purgatory. We hasten their liberation by sacrifice. What are we as individuals doing for our dead? It is one of the mysteries of life that we forget so easily those who have gone before us, when to remember them where remembrance is most efficacious is at the disposal, of us all. In the words of the Council of Trent, 'there is a purgatory and the souls there detained are assisted by the most acceptable sacrifice of the alter.' Let us remember our dead at mass. Let us have masses said for them." Jesuit Seminary News, vol. 3, no. 9 (Nov. 15, 1928), 70.
7. Angel Tells a Falsehood. Tobias 5:15-19: "The angel said to him [Tobias]: I will conduct him [son of Tobias] thither, and bring him back to thee. And Tobias said to him [the angel]: I pray thee, Tell me, of what family, or what tribe art thou? And Raphael the angel answered:... I am Azarias, the son of the great Ananias. And Tobias answered: Thou art of a great family."
Should an angel of God lie about his identity, he would be guilty of violating the ninth commandment. Luke 1:19: Contrasting this statement with what is recorded in the book of Tobias, we can readily understand why Christ never quoted from the apocryphal books.
8. Woman Fasting All Her Life. Judith 8:5, 6: "And she made herself a private chamber in the upper part of her house, in which she abode shut up with her maids. And she wore haircloth upon her loins, and fasted all the days of her life, except the sabbaths, and new moons, and the feasts of the house of Israel."
This is like some other Roman Catholic legends regarding their canonized saints. A woman would hardly be fasting all her life with exception of once a week, and a few other times during the year. Christ fasted forty days, but not all His life.
9. Another Bible Contradiction. Judith 9:2: "O Lord God of my father Simeon, who gavest him a sword to execute vengeance against strangers." God had nothing to do with giving a "sword into the hand of Simeon to execute vengeance" upon the people of Shechem.
Gen. 34:30: Not what Jacob his father said as recorded in Genesis. "Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land."
Gen. 49: 5-7: Jacob, in his dying blessing, pronounced a curse upon both Simeon and Levi for their cruel deed. He said their "anger" was "fierce," their "wrath" cruel. Because of this they were to be divided and scattered in Israel. Rom. 12:19: Vengeance belongs to God. He is the one that will repay. Rom. 12:17: Do not recompense evil for evil. Simeon was doing just the opposite. Judith must be placed with the uninspired works. It should have no place in the canon.
10. Immaculate Conception. Wisdom 8:19,10: "And I was a witty child and had received a good soul. And whereas I was more good, I came to a body undefiled." Catholics use this text to support their doctrine that Mary was born sinless.
Luke 1:30-35: There was only one whom the Holy Word states was immaculately conceived, and that one was our Savior. See Ps. 51:5; Rom. 3:23: Here again is a doctrine that other books of Bible do not support.
11. Cruelty and Selfishness Taught. Ecclesiasticus 12:6: "Give not to the ungodly: hold back thy bread, and give it not to him." Can anyone feature that the Lord would inspire any man to write such counsel? Here is what is written:
Prov. 25: 21, 22: "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, gve him water to drink: for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee."
Rom. 12:20: Apostle Paul, who suffered much at the hands of his enemies, quoted these texts from Proverbs in book of Romans.
John 6:5: No doubt many of Christ's enemies were fed while here on earth.
Matt 6:44-48: In His sermon on the mount, the Christian's rule to follow, He definitely told us to love, bless, and pray for our enemies.
III. TEST APPLIED TO APOCRYPHA FAILS
There are many more references in the Apocrypha that prove their origin is not of God. But enough has been covered in this study to vindicate expulsion of these books from the canon of our Bible.
ooks from the canon of our Bible. Isa. 8:20: "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
Mary E. Walsh was a Bible instructor in the Columbia Union Conference.
