The Catholic Secret – Hidden From Their Faithful For Years
I attended Catholic schools all my life from grades 1 -12 .. and as a member of Catholic family .. went to Mass every Sunday .. and all the Holy Days etc. etc. – but find it most interesting how the Catholic Church .. and Catholic Schools all left off some very important issues related to the History of Catholicism .. as a grown man doing my own searching of God’s Word .. and some study of the past .. I have come to know some things that are still not taliked about much in the Catholic Church … or was not ever discussed in any I attended untill I quit going about 4 years ago ..
As I have had conversations with my own “elderly” parents over the years .. and I was able to asked questions because I was a grown man .. I discovered some really disturbing things about the so-called “Universal Church” ..
Whe I asked why we never opened .. never read from the big table Bible that sat on our living room table all the years of my life at home … my Mom clearly answered – “we can’t interpret the Bible, we would need a priest for that” .. it is no wonder so many baptized Catholics have become so dissillusioned with the catholic Church today. Then if you couple that with all the bad press about abusive priests – It Is Sickening! AQll I remember about hearing the name of Luther .. it was associated with “Lutherans” .. and we even had some of those churces down the street from my house – and I heard very “clearly” … the professed statements that made it very clear that if you are not Catholic – then you are going to die and go to Hell .. the “protestants” included all the Baptists .. Lutherans, Episcopaleans etc. etc.
The Protestant Reformation began when one man by the name of Martin Luther (1483–1546), rediscovered the doctrine of faith. The Catholic church in medieval times had wandered so far from God’s Word that it actually taught that people could escape God’s
punishment for sin through good works, including the performance of rites and rituals of the church. ( sounds a lot like today too ) .. The church even taught that full or partial remission of sin could be purchased for cash through so-called “indulgences”—a kind of spiritual Ponzi scheme the church hierarchy used to finance the construction of elaborate cathedrals.
Martin Luther, a German monk and a brilliant Bible scholar, was reading in Romans 1 when he was struck by these words of the apostle Paul: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17). Luther had read those words many times before, but this time, the meaning of those words jumped out at him in a fresh and powerful way: “The righteous shall live by faith”! In Romans, and also in Galatians 3:11, Paul echoed the Old Testament prophecy of Habakkuk 2:4: “but the righteous shall live by his faith.” Luther also realized that this emphasis on faith dovetailed with the words of Jesus to Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, emphasis added). It must have come as an incredible shock for Martin Luther to realize that the teachings he had lived by and taught to others were at odds with the teachings of God’s Word in Scripture. Suddenly he understood why, even as a scholar in the church, he had never had any assurance that his sins were forgiven. Suddenly he understood that the sale of indulgences, which permitted the rich to buy absolution while condemning the poor to purgatory or hell, made absolutely no sense according to Scripture.
The moment he realized that the righteous shall live by faith, the light of the gospel broke through the clouds of his confusion and illuminated his soul. The rediscovery of faith as the mechanism of salvation was the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation. Six centuries have come and gone since Martin Luther made his world-changing rediscovery of faith. Yet even today, many still teach the erroneous doctrine that salvation is a matter of human works – take a look at today’s Religons and look into what they teach as the Doctrine of Salavtion? Which God do they proclaim as The Most High God? (El Elyon) .. Jesus Christ, The Son of God .. or some other .. like NO GOD AT ALL in Atheism or what about – Baha’i, Black Muslim, Buddhism, Christian Science, Eastern Cults, Freemasonry, Greek Orthodox, Hinduism, Humanism, illuminati, Islam, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witness, Kabbalah, Moonies, Unification Church, Mormons, New Age, Yin Yang, Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Scientology, Seventh-Day Adventist, Unitarian, Universalism, Witchcraft, Wicca, Satanism .. and then as we look at God’s Words in Romans 10:3-4 what do we find .. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
In James 2, the apostle demolishes that false doctrine and explains the delicate balance between faith and works. Actions Speak Louder than Words Here we come to one of the most famous passages in the epistle of James. It’s a passage that has often been misinterpreted over the years, even though its meaning is not difficult or obscure in any way. James writes: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You alone, but James teaches salvation by works.” The only way you can claim that James and Paul contradict each other is by interpreting both writers either carelessly or dishonestly. The key words in James 2 are: “if someone says he has faith.” James is saying, in other words, “Watch out for those who claim to be believers, yet whose lifestyle does not match up with the Christian faith.” Another way to paraphrase James is the old adage, “Actions speak louder than words.”
In our modern era .. The Christian gospel is often presented as a matter of simple “believism” .. saying in effect .. If you believe in a certain RELIGION .. or practice a certain “religion” .. or listen to so-and-so … then your Faith saves you .. Sometimes, Christian preachers and evangelists present the gospel in a way that suggests that all you have to do is “receive Jesus as your Savior,” and you are saved.
I am no man’s judge .. so please do not take this as a “judgement” .. but I am convinced that many of us have “head-knowledge” and accept Jesus as Our Savior … we “know” and believe in our minds that Jesus Christ died on the Cross at Calvary on what we practiced and learned as Good Friday ( as Good Catholic boys and girls ) … but ( and I am speaking for myself ) .. we do a poor job of living with Jesus as Our Lord. We all need to ask ourselves, “If Jesus is not the Lord of my life, then is he truly my Savior?”
PLEASE DO NOT GET THE IDEA … that if Jesus is your Lord – YOU WILL NOT SIN OR STUMBLE – you most certainly will! I’m saying that if Jesus is truly the Lord of Our Life .. we will always repent of our sins … and return to him … trusting that His Blood paid the price for our sins .. Once .. and that once — was for all our sins – past, present and future. This is quite a contrast to the teaching of “going to confession” … and saying some special words to a priest sitting in a little closet .. Authentic faith will make a difference in your life – a difference that people will be able to see.
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