Posted on 05/22/2025 4:33:56 PM PDT by ebb tide
In our previous post on Luther we cited his famous colloquy with Satan, since these conversations were the genesis of the Protestant Reformation. The same would also give birth to Luther’s doctrine on justification, which the Vatican today dignifies. Through this infernal colloquy, the devil convinced Luther that we must accept our sinful lives as they are, and he instilled in him a false security about the sins we commit.
Hence was born Luther’s crackpot idea that Jesus died on the cross so that we may sin freely without the fear of eternal punishment. Consider Luther’s own words to his close associate Philip Melanchthon:
“Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly…. No sin will separate us from the Christ, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day.” (From Luther’s letter to Philip Melanchthon, August 1, 1521, LW, Vol. 48, pp. 281-282)
Let us not forget that Luther was a master at twisting Holy Scripture. In planning his strategy, he had his pet verses marked out, which in their twisted form became ammunition against the Faith. His plan was to induce a licentious, worry-free attitude about sin, and knowing the temptation of human nature to shun responsibility for sin, the seducer invented the idea that we can “sin and be saved” and then he used the Bible to try to substantiate this lunacy. The following verse is perhaps his favorite argument for advancing his doctrine:
“By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before him… For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law.” (Romans 3:20, 28)
The law mentioned here has nothing to do with the Law of Christ and the performance of good works, but refers specifically to the Old Jewish Law where they practiced circumcision and offered animals in sacrifice, and observed certain feast days, etc. Christ came to do away with these former works so that we are no longer under the Law of Moses, but under the Law of Christ. And this is all the Bible is saying: that we are not justified by being a Jew, but are justified by being Christian.
Naturally, it is Christ Himself Who justifies and saves, but He doesn’t save anyone unless they obey His laws and commandments. “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” (Romans 2:13) The Savior reminds us that “he will render to every man according to his works.” (Matthew 16:27)
It is enough to say that the Church committed no fault in its response to the Reformation five centuries ago, which means no apologies must be made today. The papal condemnation of Luther in 1521 was truly the work of the Holy Spirit, and remains binding to this day, so why has the Church since the Council been dignifying one who is officially judged to be an enemy of the Christain Faith?
Every one of Luther’s charges against the Catholic Church were false. For instance, he accused the priests of “selling indulgences” in the confessional, which is not true. When penitents came to confession it was common at that time for priests to administer a penance in the form of having them place money in the Church’s treasury, because funds were needed to complete the Basilica of St. Peters in Rome. We might say a Peter’s pence was being raised, which should have excited praise, but this infuriated Luther because he couldn’t tolerate the idea of funding the “papal pig” and his palace.
It was for reason that Pope Leo X, in league with the holy cardinals, undertook to carefully deliberate the matter of Luther’s “Reformation” which had ruptured the Church and led a good part of Europe away from the Faith. Under the lamp of the Holy Spirit the Holy Pontiff on June 15, 1520, issued his superlative papal bull Exsurge Domini, whereby he condemned the works, writings, and sermons of Martin Luther, on the grounds that “these errors or theses are not Catholic… and are not to be taught, as such; but rather are against the doctrine and tradition of the Catholic Church, and against the true interpretation of the sacred Scriptures received from the Church.”
After mercifully granting Luther the chance to recant his errors so that the Church could “receive him kindly as the prodigal son returning to the embrace of the Church,” Pope Leo was left with no recourse but to excommunicate Martin Luther on Jan. 3, 1521, seeing that the clemency extended to him had only hardened his heart and fueled his rampage.
Moreover, the Council of Trent convened from 1545-1563 to address Protestant errors in general, including the Church’s teachings in refutation of Luther’s errors, so that there would remain no mistake as to the Church’s position on Luther.
Hence the matter of Martin Luther is a closed book. Once the Church has decreed infallibly on a given theological issue and the pope has spoken as Supreme Teacher of the Universal Church, the bishops and even the pope are not at liberty to question or reevaluate the decree. They have no recourse but to either embrace the decree, or place themselves outside the Church as Luther did.
Yet, Pope Francis discounts the Church’s ruling on Luther. Speaking to members of an Ecumenical Delegation from Finland on January 19, 2017, he said, “The intention of Martin Luther five hundred years ago was to renew the Church, not divide her.”
This is perfidious for two reasons. First of all, there was nothing of the Church that needed renewing in the sixteenth century other than to purge out the errors of Protestantism, including Luther and his rebellion. Secondly, to say that Luther was an instrument to “renew” the Church is to say that all the popes and bishops of history had been in error and in need of Luther’s correction. Francis thus unfortunately places Luther’s judgment above that of Leo X and the Council of Trent.
Luther sought not a renewal of the Church, but its abolition, which is why St. Padre Pio said that Martin Luther “is in Hell.” Yet in Pope Francis’ January 2016 address to the Ecumenical Delegation of the Lutheran Church of Finland, he spoke of the “common witness to faith” shared by Lutherans and Catholics, and said that “as Christians we are no longer divided, but rather united on the journey towards full communion.”
Unfortunately, the full communion he speaks of is with Protestantism, not with Catholicism, but it was the Second Vatican Council that set into motion this journey toward union with other religions.
True ecclesial union means being united with the Catholic Church only, which can only come about by conversion. Separated brethren must renounce the Lutheran religion and convert to the Catholic religion in such a way that they unconditionally accept all of its teachings and decrees, including the 16th-century condemnation of Martin Luther.
However, before the Church can be an effective tool to convert non-Catholics, it must first renew itself by rejecting post-conciliar change and returning to sacred tradition. As Christ said, “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.” (Matthew 15:14)
Let us pray that the Church can come to grips with the reality that it will only be able to resume fulfilling its divine mission to convert the nations when she can finally cast off modernism and return to the tradition of the Faith as it was practiced before the Second Vatican Council. Let the hierarchy ponder the words of Pope Benedict XVI, when he said on April 30, 2011:
“What was sacred and great for prior generations, remains sacred and great for us as well.” (Universae Ecclesiae)
Ping
It seems to be hallmark of argumentation to paint the opposition’s with caricatures.
Seventh day Advenist Protestants just love Luther. As they do all of the courageous Reformers.
Ellen White, one of the pioneers of the Adventist church devotes 2 whole chapters to her classic writing on the Protestant Reformation and how God raised up men like Luther to retore the gospel truths that the Papacy had almost extinguished.
God used Luther, the baptists, Calvin, Wesley, Knox, Huss, and so many others to challenge that false system, that counterfeit that is of the Papacy.
Here are the opening words of Ellen White about Luther....and I will post many more from this book. Thank you....
Quote:
Foremost among those who were called to lead the church from the darkness of popery into the light of a purer faith, stood Martin Luther. Zealous, ardent, and devoted, knowing no fear but the fear of God, and acknowledging no foundation for religious faith but the Holy Scriptures, Luther was the man for his time; through him God accomplished a great work for the reformation of the church and the enlightenment of the world. .........
Luther was still a true son of the papal church and had no thought that he would ever be anything else. In the providence of God he was led to visit Rome. He pursued his journey on foot, lodging at the monasteries on the way. At a convent in Italy he was filled with wonder at the wealth, magnificence, and luxury that he witnessed. Endowed with a princely revenue, the monks dwelt in splendid apartments, attired themselves in the richest and most costly robes, and feasted at a sumptuous table. With painful misgivings Luther contrasted this scene with the self-denial and hardship of his own life. His mind was becoming perplexed.
Who is the opposition?
She continues about Luther about his trip to Rome:
Quote:
At last he beheld in the distance the seven-hilled city. With deep emotion he prostrated himself upon the earth, exclaiming: “Holy Rome, I salute thee!”—Ibid., b. 2, ch. 6. He entered the city, visited the churches, listened to the marvelous tales repeated by priests and monks, and performed all the ceremonies required. Everywhere he looked upon scenes that filled him with astonishment and horror. He saw that iniquity existed among all classes of the clergy. He heard indecent jokes from prelates, and was filled with horror at their awful profanity, even during mass. As he mingled with the monks and citizens he met dissipation, debauchery. Turn where he would, in the place of sanctity he found profanation. “No one can imagine,” he wrote, “what sins and infamous actions are committed in Rome; they must be seen and heard to be believed. Thus they are in the habit of saying, ‘If there is a hell, Rome is built over it: it is an abyss whence issues every kind of sin.’”—Ibi
Adventists aren’t protestants. They aren’t even christians.
They worship a false Jesus.
In other words, when Luther visited Rome, instead of holy righteous faith and humility..he might as well have been visiting Las Vegas. Sin city. He witnessed nothing but professed clergy living a life of profane vulgar vile sin.
Indulging in the sins of the flesh, such shame and horror he witnessed. He couldn’t believe what he saw.
Here is what Ellen White writes:
Quote:
By a recent decretal an indulgence had been promised by the pope to all who should ascend upon their knees “Pilate’s staircase,” said to have been descended by our Saviour on leaving the Roman judgment hall and to have been miraculously conveyed from Jerusalem to Rome. Luther was one day devoutly climbing these steps, when suddenly a voice like thunder seemed to say to him: “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17. He sprang to his feet and hastened from the place in shame and horror. That text never lost its power upon his soul. From that time he saw more clearly than ever before the fallacy of trusting to human works for salvation, and the necessity of constant faith in the merits of Christ. His eyes had been opened, and were never again to be closed, to the delusions of the papacy. When he turned his face from Rome he had turned away also in heart, and from that time the separation grew wider, until he severed all connection with the papal church.
Yeah, but what a quote about this hero Luther huh?
quote:
From that time he saw more clearly than ever before the fallacy of trusting to human works for salvation, and the necessity of constant faith in the merits of Christ. His eyes had been opened, and were never again to be closed, to the delusions of the papacy. When he turned his face from Rome he had turned away also in heart, and from that time the separation grew wider, until he severed all connection with the papal church.
I’ve noticed, a lot of red-haired people are Catholic.
People with red hair are gingers, who have no souls.
Therefore, Catholics aren’t going to Heaven. qed
were not the right man on our side, our striving would be losing; dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is He, and He must win the battle.
Seems like Ellen White is your goddess.
Good luck with that!
Yowsers
Here’s an idea. Let’s all we Christians insult and divide each other while the Muslim hordes push on.
It’ll be just like the Muslim siege of Christian Constantinople. In 1453 Christian nations were stupidly fussing at each other while the Ottomans were breaching Constantinople’s walls and capturing that great city.
(No disrespect meant to you, ebb tide. Disrespect meant to whomever wrote that article’s title.)
What Jesus or god do you worship ebbie? One that punishes a person for an eternity? That's a hateful god and the same as the Muslim god. The punishment is forever, not the punishing. But you parse the Bible as you see fit.
____Seems like Ellen White is your goddess.
Good luck with that!___
Well, she did call the Papacy a “mammoth deception.” She did write that Rome is in fact the counterfeit system of religion that the world marvels at again. The whore of babylon, the beast power that had the prophecied power for 1260 years till she suffered a wound. A wound that the Bible says heals in the end to once again assume her position of global influence and power. She who sits on a city of seven hills, Who causes the world to drink from the cup of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Etc etc etc.
I don’t know bro....you say she’s not a Protestant....that all sounds pretty Protestanty to me.....she and the Protestant Reformers were all on the same page about just who and what the papacy is....IMHO of course.
No, but you have the cognition ability of a Biden and the hatred of a Satan with your slurs.
Thanks for posting this—important discussion. Here is my understanding of this matter.
Luther didn’t invent justification by faith; he rediscovered what Scripture plainly teaches: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28). Quoting “sin boldly” without context to paint him as promoting immorality is misleading.
That line comes from a 1521 letter to Philip Melanchthon, who was deeply anxious about sin. Luther wasn’t encouraging sin, but reminding him to place his trust in Christ’s finished work—not in his own perfection. As Luther wrote, “Believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly... For He is victorious over sin, death, and the world.”
Paul repeatedly rejects the idea that salvation can be earned: “If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2:21). This article misrepresents both Luther and Scripture, replacing grace with legalism.
True holiness flows from salvation—not toward it. In other words, we don’t live holy lives in order to be saved; we live holy lives because we are saved. Obedience and good works are the fruit of a transformed heart, not the price of entry into God’s favor. As Jesus said, “A good tree bears good fruit” (Matthew 7:17)—the fruit doesn’t make the tree good; the tree must be made good first. The gospel changes the root, and the fruit follows.
If you don't post stupid stuff, people won't know of your condition.
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