The Heresy
Of Last Rights!
by David J. Stewart | November
2003 | Updated December 2015
The following article appeared in the November 24, 2003
Chicago Sun-Times newspaper:
|
Man dies in fall from scaffold at
Wabash Avenue building site
November 24, 2003
BY MAUREEN
O'DONNELL, Staff Reporter
Worshippers at St. James Cathedral were
leaving Sunday services when they heard a sound like a car crash.
Cathedral officials ushered them out a side door to
help prevent them from seeing what caused the noise: A man had plummeted to
his death from scaffolding across the street as the 10:30 a.m. mass was
dispersing about noon, authorities said.
The Rev. Ralph Blackman tried to help the man, who
had not been identified as of Sunday evening.
"I just grabbed some holy water with me and gave
him the last rites,'' said Blackman, dean of the Episcopal cathedral at 65
E. Huron. He said two physicians at the service attended the man, but they
could not get a pulse.
The man plunged from sixth-floor scaffolding at 672
N. Wabash, said Officer Matt Jackson of Chicago Police News Affairs.
Blackman said it is the site of new residential construction.
Wabash was temporarily closed between Erie and
Huron, Blackman said.
Police and Blackman said no one was working on the
building Sunday and that no foul play was suspected.
SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times; November 23, 2003.
|
I was saddened as I
read this article. Here's a man who suffered a tragic fall and died. Death is sudden for many people, we just never know what will happen next. There was an article in yesterday's paper about an elderly couple who was killed
when high winds blew over a large tree onto their car as they were driving by. Death was sudden for them. The man killed in the article above fell six
stories to his death. You could be next. I could be next. There is no guarantee of tomorrow. We do not know whether he was a
Christian or not. We do not know whether he is is heaven or not.
Even more sad to me
was the fact that so many people have been blinded by the heresy (false
teaching) of Last rights. What is Last Rights? It is the
unbiblical teaching that a minister has the power to forgive a person's sins on
their death bed. It is one of the Seven Sacraments of Catholicism. The "Reverend" Blackman of the church in the article above said...
"I
just grabbed some holy water with me and gave him the last rites.''
Of course, there is
NO such foolishness taught in the Bible. No priest or minister has the
power to forgive anyone's sins. There is NO SUCH thing as "Holy Water!" Holy water is a superstition manufactured by the Catholic religion. The Pope has no power to forgive. Holy water will just get you wet. Those priests are in dyer need of forgiveness themselves! It's hard to imagine
people so blinded by religion that they would actually stoop to confess their
sins to another sinful human being (priest, minister, et cetera). The Bible
teaches that ALL people have sinned (Romans 3:23). The Pope is a sinner. Every minister is a sinner. You are a sinner. I am a sinner. There is ONLY one way to get our sins forgiven, through the blood of Jesus
Christ (Colossians 1:14). We are taught in the Word of God to confess our
sins to God alone (1st John 1:9).
The teaching of "Last
Rights" (also called "Extreme Unction") is NOT found in the Scriptures, but prayer for the sick certainly is:
"Is
any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray
over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And
the prayer of faith shall save the sick,
and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be
forgiven him." -James 5:14-15
We
are advised in the Holy Scriptures to call for the elders of the church when we
are sick. It is the "prayer of faith" which heals the sick. Notice that the
Catholics and Lutherans observe the Last Rights only in death. The Bible speaks
of healing, not death. The prayer of faith was intended for physical healing,
not to prepare you for death. ONLY by being born-again through faith in the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, can anyone be guaranteed admission into Heaven;
all else leads to destruction in Hell. You get saved by admitting to God that
you are a guilty, dirty, rotten, hell-deserving, sinner, and then turn in faith
to the Lord Jesus for forgiveness. Believe that Christ died on the cross for
your sins, and that He was buried, and bodily resurrected three days later. This
is “THE GOSPEL” according to 1st Corinthians 15:1-4. Jesus died on the cross for
you and me, He paid the total price for our sins. ONLY Jesus has the scars in
His hands and feet, so ONLY Jesus can save us!
EXTREME
UNCTION is one of the sacraments of Rome, and as such, is held to "confer grace
on the receiver;" it is therefore placed on the same level with the Sacrament of
the Lord's Supper, Baptism, and Confirmation. Such is its position in the
standards of Papal doctrine. The Council of Trent has pronounced its
ever-ready anathema on every soul of man who shall deny that it is "truly and
properly a sacrament instituted by Christ our Lord," so that every Papist is
shut up to the faith of the dogma on peril of damnation! Let the
Protestant reader ponder this! Popery is as profuse in its curses, as it is
parsimonious in its blessings; it never blesses but for money, while its curses
are dispersed gratuitously! In this case, as usual, it builds upon a single
portion of the Word of God, that of James v. 14, 15, which has thus been made
instrumental of working a world of misery, and of extorting incalculable
treasure from the human family. It is a sight to make an angel weep, to
see a creature who has been duped, deceived, and plundered through life, on
having reached the end of his journey, and lying on the brink of eternity,
attended by the priest, for the purpose of administering the said Extreme
Unction!
SOURCE:
Dr. Ian
Paisley (Read the complete article here)
When my mother was
in the hospital dying, she was in horrible pain; her leg had just been
amputated, then a heart attack, then kidney shutdown, and several other medical
problems. There was no doubt that it was soon her time to die. Thankfully, she was a born-again Christian. While she lay dying, a foolish
Lutheran minister came to perform Last Rights on her (as if that could make any
difference). Evidently, he didn't
know that once you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, all your
sins are forgiven forever. She didn't need Last Rights, that minister needed to
humble himself, realizing that man cannot forgive sins. She did die a week later,
and went to be with the Lord in Heaven. 2nd Corinthians 5:8, “We are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be
present with the Lord.” I'm confident that she's in Heaven. Hopefully that minister will come to repentance before it's too late.
I'm
saddened to realize that so many people are blinded about this thing of Last Rights. Folks, no one can forgive your sins except Jesus Christ. You
had better go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to forgive your sins and take
you to Heaven when you die. Relying upon the priest or minister is a sure
road to hell-fire. Holy Unction (i.e., Last Rights) is of the Devil,
because no minister
can save your soul. YOU must come for salvation through Christ Jesus!
I would like to quote Dr. Paisley
(I'm not a Dr. Paisley fan by the way) once more:
It is a
sight to make an angel weep, to see a creature who has been duped, deceived, and
plundered through life, on having reached the end of his journey, and lying on
the brink of eternity, attended by the priest, for the purpose of administering
the said Extreme Unction!
SOURCE:
Dr. Ian
Paisley (Read the complete article here)
So many billions of
people have gone to Hell because of false religion. Religion wants to fit
us with glasses, but the Lord wants to open our eyes! So many people have
placed their soul's eternal fate into the hands of a heathen priest. By
the way, any minister or priest who claims to have the power to forgive sin in
an imposter, a phony, a big liar! Any minister who administers Last Rights (Extreme
Unction) is an imposter, a counterfeit, a fraud. “Let God be true, but every man a
liar” (Romans 3:4). Last Rights of of the Devil, a false teaching not
taught in the Scriptures. If you or a loved one is about to die, all that
matters is this, “Have you been born-again?” Is you faith in the Gospel?
“Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” —John 3:3
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” —John 3:5
There is NO OTHER
WAY TO HEAVEN! You MUST be BORN-AGAIN! You get born-again by
having the Spirit of Christ born in you. The physical birth was of water. Now you need the spiritual birth, which is of God's Spirit. he moment you
confess that you are a heathen sinner to God and believe the Gospel, you are
saved!!! The moment that you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior (John
1:12), God the Father and God the Son move into your heart
in the form of God the Holy Spirit (John 14:23).
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” —Revelation
3:20
Every human being makes the decision either to accept or to reject the knowledge
of the truth of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, most men and women reject
Christ (Matthew 7:14). Most people are hellbound in their sins (Luke 13:23-24).
Although some people are sincerely blinded by Satan (2nd Corinthians 4:3-4),
most people reject Christ because of their love for sin (John 3:20). Where do
you stand?
It
is sad concerning the man who died in the scaffolding accident in the article
above. It is even more sad that he more than likely is burning in Hell right
now. I am saddened when I think about the TV series, Star Trek. It's producer
Gene Roddenberry was an avowed atheist. Star cast members, Leonard Nimoy (Spock)
and William Shatner (Captain Kirk) are both avowed Christ-rejecting Jews.
It
is saddening for me to know that foolish and stiff-necked ministers are teaching
damnable heresies to the masses—the blind leading the blind—offering false hope
to families. For someone to put their faith in Last Rights or Holy Water is a
sure road to Hell. I say "stiff-necked" because they know the truth, but reject
it (just like the religious Pharisees of Jesus' day). The Pharisees were Jesus'
worst enemies—the religious people. Should it be a surprise to us then, that it
is religion itself that the Devil uses to send billions of unconverted souls to
hell? I think, not at all. Jesus warned the foolish ministers of His day:
"And
he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God,
that ye may keep
your own tradition." -Mark 7:9
That's what the
Catholic and Lutheran religions are all about—TRADITION. Billions of men
and women are burning in Hell now because of manmade tradition. Listen friend, you
had better OBEY God's commandments! The Bible is God's Holy Word, it is
your responsibility for yourself to search out the truth. Where will you spend
eternity? Jesus wants to save you! Do you want to be saved? Would you like to be saved now? If so, admit your sinful condition to
Jesus Christ (God) right now. Believing that Jesus died upon the cross by
the shedding of His blood, that He was buried and rose again three days later.
That's it! Whatever changes God wants to see happen in your life is His
department, and you can be assured He will attend to that.
I
cannot think of anything more tragic than when a person gets hit by a car, or is
involved in a horrific car crash, and they are laying in the street dying, and
some wicked Catholic priest runs over and performs Last Rites on them, assuring
the dying person that their sins are now forgiven and Jesus will receive them
into Heaven. NO, THEY'LL GO STRAIGHT TO HELL TO BURN FOREVER!!!
What a true Christian would do is run over and share the Gospel with them,
letting the person know that we are all sinners, deserving of the penalty of the
Lake of Fire for all eternity. Ah, but the good news is that God the Father sent
His only begotten Son into the world to die for men's sins. His name is Jesus,
the Christ. I'd tell the person that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, was
buried, and raised up bodily three days later. And then I'd simply tell them,
that if they admit they are a sinner, and choose now to BELIEVE that Christ died
on the cross for their sins and was raised up, they will be saved immediately,
and go to Heaven.
That's “THE SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST” (2nd Corinthians 11:3). It is simple
to be saved, but it has absolutely NOTHING to do with a Catholic priest,
Lutheran minister, or Last Rites. The demonic doctrine of Last Rites will take
you to Hell forever, by giving you a false hope, convincing you that some evil
priest can substitute in the place of the dear Savior!!! 1st Timothy 2:5
plainly declares, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus.” Mother Mary is NOT a mediator. The Catholic
priest is NOT a mediator. The Lutheran minister is NOT a mediator. The Bible
says that ONLY JESUS is the Mediator between God the Father and men.
“For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” —Romans 10:13
How To
Be Saved
