A website reader wrote to Victor:
I’m talking with a Catholic young man in his early twenties and you have helped me withn your testimony. Fortunately I was a stranger to Roman heresy. I already knew a verse to tell him, but the rest of your testimony helped me see where the young man in front of me is at.
I love you brother, take care.
-John
Victor’s response:
Hi John,
I am thankful I can be a signpost leading in the right direction as people learn where I came from and how good the change has been for me.
As for your unfamiliarity with Roman heresy, that would be a rare spectacle. Perhaps you aren’t aware of its unidentified prevalence.
For examples, do you celebrate “Christ’s Mass” (Christmas)?
Do you celebrate “Ishtar/Ashtoreth” (Easter), substituted for Passover?
Do you believe in the trinity, which was brought forth by pagans into the nominal Christian identity?
Do you believe in eternal torment?
Do you believe in infant baptism, sacraments, praying the “Our Father,” spiritual promotion through catechism and confirmation, and several other such doctrines and practices?
Do you believe in buildings called “churches,” particularly with steeples and arched entrances, which are considered holy places?
Do you believe in pictures of Jesus?
Do you believe in any kind of clerical privilege versus that of laity?
If your answer is “yes” to any of these questions, you are not a stranger to Roman heresy, much of which preceded the Roman Catholic Church, only a stranger to your familiarity with it (see our Statement of Doctrine for more information on all of these subjects, and much more).
I am thankful to be able to share these things with you now. I am so very thankful to be free, not only from the primary bondage of sin and the works of darkness men have devised and fashioned, but also from the subtle vestiges of these.
Victor
Daphne asks Victor:
Why is praying the “Our Father” wrong? Does it have to do with the repetition of prayer?
Victor’s reply:
Hi Daphne!
Yes, it does have to do with repetition of prayer, but not only repetition (which is the worse). Jesus never meant for those words to even have been recited once as personal prayer. When He said, “Pray like this,” or, “Pray after this manner,” or, “Pray in this way,” He was giving an example of the attitude and understanding of, and in, true prayer. In the sample words of the “Our Father” or the “Lord’s Prayer,” He addresses our hearts and expresses how we should be at all times, not only when we make specific prayers. It is this attitude to which Paul referred when he said, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 MKJV).
While there is no harm in repeating those words in and of themselves, the great error lies in thinking that God is so removed and base that He would listen to a mere creature repeating him or herself over and over in their own righteousness. What is He supposed to get out of that, except an upset stomach and sore eyes from rolling them? The very thought is contemptible. Even saying those same words once and assuming He is going to hear or be pleased, simply because they are the “Lord’s prayer” (which is a sycophantic attitude) or because they are in the Bible (which is Bibliolatry) is unacceptable to God.
An exception might be if a child (whether a physical or a spiritual one), not knowing any better, sincerely speaks that sample prayer, believing (the Lord knows and judges by the heart), but even there, He cannot approve the ways of the heathen and is limited by unbelief in general.
The Lord’s message is, “Be reasonable, be respectful, understand what He is like and what He desires; understand your duty before Him, and know that He is running the show. Have knowledge of, and faith in, your Father (for He IS your Father), recognizing all your sustenance comes from Him. As you treat others, so will you be treated. And remember that you and this world are not where it’s at. It is all about God and the Kingdom of God over all. Focus there, always.”
Victor Hafichuk
– July 13, 2010