Some Jesus Things: Unholy Holy Water?

Unholy Holy Water?

What comes to your mind when you think of holy water? Is it water to be truly reverenced as Holy? Is it water that is consecrated or set apart that has been infused with power from God? Or is it water that has been blessed to be used as a tool thrown on the demonically possessed for exorcism?

Ponder this as you read the rest of this article…. “Is there really any such thing as Holy Water today?”

There is only one place in the entire bible where water is referenced as being Holy.קָדוֹש Strongs H6918 Transliteration: qadosh Phonetic Spelling: (kaw-doshe’) Defined as: Sacred, Holy.

The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. (Numbers 5:17)

This verse informs and teaches us that this water came from within the Holy Tabernacle of God. This water was Holy because it was in the presence of God. This was God’s water in God’s house.

And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:34)

This was a Holy dwelling place for God before God became flesh as Jesus the Christ.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

This was God’s water from the bronze laver in His house used for ceremonial cleansing and purification as instructed by the Lord.

Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin. (Numbers 19:9)

“You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, lest they die. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.” (Exodus 30:18-21)

Take note: Not only is this the one and only verse where Holy Water is mentioned; it is also Holy Water that was made into the Bitter Water of a curse! (Numbers 5:17-31)

This water was made into bitter water for a jealous husband and a wife suspected of adultery. The Holy Water, dust from the floor of the tabernacle, and the wife’s words scraped from a page, “Amen, so be it” were all mixed together and drank by the wife. If she was guilty her thigh would rot and her belly would swell.

Satan’s Perversion

Satan has the world convinced that there are supernatural powers in ‘holy’ water. The power is not in the water, the power is in the prayer!!

Go throw some water on ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and see if they quit killing and shedding innocent blood.

Satan does not want you, me, or the whole world to know what the real Holy Water is!

The use of ‘holy’ water in the some churches stems from a long Mediterranean, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Catholic History concerning pagan rituals. Mass held in the sixth century adopted and emerged from pagan rituals. Often using pagan temples for ‘christian’ use.

Pagan priests throughout the region used aromatic burning incense, ‘holy water’, colorful waxed candle lights, and fancy ringing bells in their rituals of worship. Sound familiar?

Roman Law and its hierarchy was essentially the backbone of Canonical law. There was no separation between church and state and the same men held office in both arenas. The same men who were elected public officials could and did serve as augurs and pontiffs. Julius Caesar became Pontifex in 73 BC and Pontifex Maximus in 63 BC. Caesar was subsequently elected consul in 59 BC and later dictator from 49-44 BC.

Pontifex Maximus was the title for the chief bishop which is also what we know as the Pope today. Roman architecture has been the standard patterned blueprint for stately cathedrals vested with royal accouterments. This is famously evidenced in the St. John Lateran Basilica which is the cathedral church of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Roman Pontiff.

Cardinals started off as the priests and deacons of Rome. Later, they became powerful medieval princes, owning castles and lands and ruling much of Europe.

This is Satan’s perversion of all that is Holy and his influence to make religion ritualistic. All of this royal pomp and circumstance was never exhibited, taught, or encouraged by Jesus.

So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (John 13:12-17)

The Catholic Encyclopedia Volume 2 page 44 records:

Gregory the Great (540-604) was the first to prescribe the use of holy water (and Christian relics) to purify pagan temples for Christian use.

The Catholic Encyclopedia Volume 14 page 376 and Volume 15 page 564 records:

A man named Balsamon a canonist writes that in the Greek Church holy water was made according to the cycles of the new moon to replace and combat the Pagan religions which celebrated the feast of the new moon.

This came about because of Christian Council held at Constantinople in 691. At this council it is recorded in canon 65 to be a common practice to keep holy water at the vestibule entrances of churches. There clergy was to sprinkle the people as they came in called hydrokometes meaning introducer by water.

There were Eight councils of the Christian church, held at Constantinople. There were only four of these councils recognized by all denominations (ecumenical). These were the first three and the sixth.

Hincmar the archbishop of Reims in 845 gave directions as follows: “Every Sunday, before the celebration of Mass, the priest shall bless water in his church, and, for this holy purpose, he shall use a clean and suitable vessel. The people, when entering the church, are to be sprinkled with this water, and those who so desire may carry some away in clean vessels so as to sprinkle their houses, fields, vineyards, and cattle, and the provender with which these last are fed, as also to throw over their own food” (“Capitula synodalia”, cap. v, in P.L., CXXV, col, 774).

Pope Leo IV was pope from 847 to his death in 855. Leo ordered that each priest bless water every Sunday in his own church and sprinkle the people with it: “Omni die Dominico, ante missam, aquam benedictam facite, unde populus et loca fidelium aspergantur” English translation: “Give to every Lord’s day, before mass, the holy water should do: Let them be sprinkled, whence the people and places of the faithful” (P.L., CXV, col. 679).

This permanent practice adopted by the Catholics and similar denominations did not come from the bible. The Council of Constantinople in 691 is where Satan successfully perverted the use of holy water in the Church. This is where several denominations adopted these practices including western Catholics.

While we are at it lets throw in the sign of the cross used in conjunction with so-called ‘holy’ water. The Catholic Encyclopedia Volume 7 page 443 records:

St. Epiphanius (Contra haeres., lib. I, haer. xxx) recorded that at Tiberias a man named Joseph poured water on a madman, having first made the sign of the cross and pronounced these words over the water: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, crucified, depart from this unhappy one, thou infernal spirit, and let him be healed!”

Joseph was converted and subsequently used the same proceeding to overcome witchcraft; yet, he was neither a bishop nor a cleric. Theodoret (Church History V.21) relates that Marcellus, Bishop of Apamea, sanctified water by the sign of the cross and that Aphraates cured one of the emperor’s horses by making it drink water blessed by the sign of the cross (“Hist. relig.”, c. viii, in P.G., LXXXII, col. 124 4, 137 5)

Jesus “never ever” used or taught others to use water with the sign of the cross or water to cast out demons. Jesus cast out demons by the authority of His spoken word. (Matthew 4:10, Luke 11:14, Matthew 8:16, Mark 1:27, Mark 1:34, Luke 4:35, Matthew 8:32, Mark 9:25, and several more.)

Jesus passed this same authority on to Christian Believers. (John 14:12, John 20:21, Mark 13:34, Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19, Matthew 16:15-19, and several more.)

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; (Mark 16:17)

Could there ever be a more extremely drastic difference between what Jesus did and taught before the first apostolic worshipers of the upper room (Acts 1:13) to the actions and teachings of denominations using Pompous Stately Cathedrals, Mosques, Synagogues, and Church Buildings of today.

Living Water

Jesus is the one who gives the real Holy Water. This is the Holy Spirit the Holy Water of God. Jesus gives this Living water to dwell within His Believers after Salvation.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Matthew 3:11)

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)

Jesus came to fulfill the requirements of the tabernacle and now tabernacles in the hearts of man. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, crucified on a Wooden Cross that replaced the sacrificial Brazen Alter of the Tabernacle. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit that replaces the Tabernacle’s water of the Bronze Laver.

Pool of Bethesda

There are those who might point to the water in the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15). This pool of water was stirred by an angel. The angel had to keep going back into the water to stir it up again and again. Jesus went to the pool and healed a man who had been fighting to get into the healing water. This man had suffered from his infirmity for thirty-eight years.

This story shows us that Jesus came by His divine authority to give us an everlasting solution to replace the waters power. If the water had been Holy water it would not have needed an angel to empower it with a first come first serve healing.

The pool had a limited power to heal the multitude of people vying for a healing. Jesus shows His unlimited power to heal multitudes completely.

Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. (Matthew 15:30)

River Jordan

What about the Jordan River? Elisha healed a man named Naaman of leprosy. Naaman was the powerful commander of the army of the king of Syria. Elisha was a man of God who told Naaman to go dip himself in the Jordan River seven times.

Naaman was furious that Elisha chose the Jordan River in Israel. It took Naaman’s servants to spell it out clearly to him; they explained to him that what all Elisha was really saying was, “Wash, and be clean.”

This story teaches us that the power is not in the water. The power comes from obedience. Obedience in the authority of God empowering a man of God with the authority to enact God’s will.

So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. (2 Kings 5:14)

Water of Life

In the book of revelation John has a vision of pure pristine crystal clear Holy river of water of life. In this vision we learn that it flows from the very throne of God and of the Lamb which is Jesus that was slain.

This water we know to be the Holy Spirit is given freely to all who are saved by believing in the finished work of Jesus as the lamb of God crucified for our sins and resurrected to be the only way to eternal salvation in heaven.

Did you ponder the question asked in the second paragraph? Has the Holy Spirit revealed the answer today?

The Holy Spirit streaming out from the Father and the Son is the working power that applies this salvation to all souls by His redemptive power. Just as the trees of life are fed by this eternally flowing water, so are all Believers fed health, peace, love, and joy.

This is the revealed promise of eternal life, in our redeemed bodies, filled with love and service; where we worship in the very presence of the glory radiating like sunlight shining before the very face of God.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)

Pray Now!! Pray this simple prayer to trust Jesus as your Savior:

“Lord Jesus, I am a sinner and I need a Savior. Right now I will turn away and repent from my sin and accept you as my Lord and Savior. I trust and believe that You are the Son of God, my Lord and Savior for my salvation, I know and believe that You died on the Cross and rose again from the grave to pay for my sins. I thank you for saving me. Amen.”