[Only God Can Condemn and Save Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries] "On October 31, we celebrated the 499th Anniversary of the Reformation. When Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, it began a movement that would set thousands of captives free from the bondage of religious deception. The Catholic Church attempted to thwart the mass exodus of its people by condemning anyone who left the church. During the Counter Reformation, the Council of Trent threatened hostile action on Catholics and former Catholics who would not remain loyal to their religion. They attempted to control people with the threat of over 100 anathemas.
One of the anathemas forced people to believe the dogma of indulgences which Luther had soundly rebuked with his 95 Theses. The Council "condemns with anathema those who say that indulgences are useless or that the Church does not have the power to grant them." An indulgence is "a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian...gains under certain defined conditions." They can be applied to the dead by way of prayer, the Rosary, or the sacrifice of the Mass.
When the pope pronounces an anathema, he uses a formula which ends with these words: "We deprive [him/her] of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized, and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of the demon, do penance, and satisfy the Church; we deliver him to Satan to mortify his body, that his soul may be saved on the day of judgment."
Anathemas are said to condemn former Catholics to the torments of everlasting hell unless they do penance and return home to Rome. They also condemn current Catholics if they do not believe every infallible dogma of their church.
Former Catholics who are now born-again Christians need not worry! "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us" (Rom. 8:31-34). Only God has the power to save and condemn.
We must use this information to educate others. More than ever, we must contend earnestly for the faith and resist the growing pressure to unite with the Roman Catholic Church as a valid expression of Christianity. Evangelicals need to know that we can never have unity with a religion that condemned the Reformers for believing that sinners are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, for the glory of God alone. Let us all endeavor to defend the glory and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, the sanctity of His Church, and the purity of His Gospel."
linger: Pro-Gospel.org
One of the anathemas forced people to believe the dogma of indulgences which Luther had soundly rebuked with his 95 Theses. The Council "condemns with anathema those who say that indulgences are useless or that the Church does not have the power to grant them." An indulgence is "a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian...gains under certain defined conditions." They can be applied to the dead by way of prayer, the Rosary, or the sacrifice of the Mass.
When the pope pronounces an anathema, he uses a formula which ends with these words: "We deprive [him/her] of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized, and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of the demon, do penance, and satisfy the Church; we deliver him to Satan to mortify his body, that his soul may be saved on the day of judgment."
Anathemas are said to condemn former Catholics to the torments of everlasting hell unless they do penance and return home to Rome. They also condemn current Catholics if they do not believe every infallible dogma of their church.
Former Catholics who are now born-again Christians need not worry! "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us" (Rom. 8:31-34). Only God has the power to save and condemn.
We must use this information to educate others. More than ever, we must contend earnestly for the faith and resist the growing pressure to unite with the Roman Catholic Church as a valid expression of Christianity. Evangelicals need to know that we can never have unity with a religion that condemned the Reformers for believing that sinners are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, for the glory of God alone. Let us all endeavor to defend the glory and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, the sanctity of His Church, and the purity of His Gospel."
linger: Pro-Gospel.org
