There are doubtless very many Christians in the Catholic Church.
Those Christians do not follow the many Catholic, man made, teachings that are contrary to God's Word.
This has been the case from time immemorial. Genuine Christians were being told to be circumcised to be saved. Paul confronted Peter and said this, namely their needing to be circumcised, was contrary to the Gospel. Peter and the others relented.
Christians have had to follow Paul's example and fight for the true Gospel every since.
Augustine, Gottschalk of Orbais, the Paulicians, the Waldensians, John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Girolamo Savonarola, John of Goch, John Wessel, Johannes Oecolampadius, Martin Luther (all the other reformers) and very many others have had to fight the institutional religious establishment for the true Gospel in every generation. They with millions more knew that the actual Church are the people of God and not those rulers and institution who claim to hold the keys (authority) and power of Christ as His supreme earthly representative.
No matter how the Catholic Church attempts to justify and downplay their official teachings and beliefs, they have not abandoned them. Their ecumenical efforts are in stark contrast to their official teachings. They try to interpret their dogmas to be more in accordance with God's Word but they refuse to admit that they are often at sharp odds with God's Word.
Remember, we are spiritually transformed when we repent and believe in what Jesus has done for us. When we place our hope in Jesus' work on the cross. His dying for us and taking the punishment we deserve, we are moved from spiritual Death to spiritual Life. We are born again of God's Spirit. God's Spirit unites with our Spirit to make us new creatures. We can never be separated from God. At that point we are Sealed by God's Spirit and we pass from Death to Life. It is an irrevocable work of God. (That is completely contrary to Catholic teaching. Instead Catholic teaching holds that if you commit a mortal sin, you will go to hell unless you confess, repent and are purged. In other words, you can lose your salvation if you do not follow the Catholic means of obtaining futher grace.)
Whether or not God has saved us is evident in the fruit that we produce. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control..." (Galatians 5). None of these will save us. They simply evidence God's Spirit at work in us.
However Catholicism teaches that we must be baptised, that we must partake in the Lord's Supper, that we must attend Mass, that we must confess to a priest. These and many other requirements, such as penance and saying set prayers, form a key part of the Catholic faith and understanding of what is necessary to be saved.
However, the Word of God teaches clearly that salvation is by Faith alone, in Christ alone and by Grace alone. Good works flow from genuine Faith but it is Faith that saves, not works.
The Word of God is to be our only guide in all matters pertaining to life and salvation, yet in Catholicism it is taught that the traditions of the Roman Catholic church are of equal weight to God's Word. However, God's Word says that anyone who adds or takes away from God's Word will be cursed.
The Bible warns in the first chapter of the Book of Galatians that those who teach another Gospel are cursed by God:
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!"
It was this false Roman Catholic "church" that burned the first Bibles translated into English and has persecuted genuine Christians through the Ages past (even burning them at the stake). Throughout time, the genuine Christians, those that are saved by Faith alone, were kept as a faithful remnant.
The people of God, the called out ones, the elect (chosen) in every generation are the true Church, the ones that God has imparted His Spirit to. That true Church, consisting of all those who trust to God alone for forgiveness, without relying on anything they have done, has existed from the very first man, Adam.
The Bible teaches that Abraham believed God and his faith was counted as righteousness. The Bible teaches that we have to have the same faith. The faith that trusts to God (and all He has done in the person of His Son) and not to ourselves.
For insight on the many other problems that characterise Catholicism see https://archive.org/details/boettner_romancatholocism_202307
No comments:
Post a Comment