Guest Op-Ed: 500th anniversary of the excommunication of arch-heretic, Martin Luther

This Sunday, January 3, 2021, is the 500^th anniversary of the excommunication of Martin Luther as a heretic and schismatic – the greatest damage ever done to the Holy Catholic Church. He died unrepentant, without the sacraments and outside the One True Church.

In this writer's view, these documents are two of the most formidable, necessary and courageous decrees emanating from the Chair of Peter, defending the Holy Roman Catholic Church from doctrinal attack. They were subsequently, fully upheld by the Council of Trent – also one of the greatest Councils in Church history – to which we owe very much, especially on the Eucharist!

We still face great danger. With Luther, there was no warning, just 95 absurd theses appearing out of thin air.

Here today, we had a warning in 1917 at Fatima. “Russia will spread her errors throughout the world,” did Our Lady alert the three children and us Catholics.

We feel these effects today – a far more serious warning than Luther. In full deference to Our Lady and the Most Holy Trinity – it is extremely doubtful (despite assertions to the contrary) that the full, correct Consecration to Russia was done; or that the decisive 3^rd Secret text was totally revealed.

The errors, it is said, will lead to “The Great Apostasy.” There seems no appetite in the Vatican, at any level, to humbly accept and remedy those grave errors. Rather, a desire to hurtle into the future with Pachamama; Amazon Culture; ecology; and global secular solutions – as moral virtue is completely ignored and vocations and faithful Catholics disappear at record speeds.

Will the Church (and our Country) continue its decline? Will we still continue to receive God’s Divine Mercy and Graces? Are we due for a severe Divine Chastisement?

I am not going to advance an opinion here – only to charitably say, we would all do well to place our own souls in a state of grace, and urge our families, friends and others to do the same.

But, no way Christ would stoop to Satan’s level by pronouncing an abusive judgment...slander, etc...

HMMMmm...

Matthew 15:16
"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.

Matthew 23

1. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
2. "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
3. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
4. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5. "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;
6. they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
7. they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them `Rabbi.'
8. "But you are not to be called `Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
9. And do not call anyone on earth `father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
10. Nor are you to be called `teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
11. The greatest among you will be your servant.
12. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15.   "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
16. "Woe to you, blind guides! You say, `If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
17. You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18. You also say, `If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.'
19.  You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20. Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.
23. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24.  You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26.  Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
28. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
30. And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
31. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
33. "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
34. Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
37. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
38. Look, your house is left to you desolate.
39. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' "

Mark 7:26-27
26. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27. "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

Your comment: “ADSUM thank you for making this easy to prove that your cult is not Scriptural and does indeed worship a dead mortal that has absolutely no place being named near GOD as being worshipped or served.”

So your lies and vitriol towards God’s Truth and the Catholic Church. May you find God’s Truth and repent before you die.

Apparently if you don’t know or cannot find anything, then you assume that you are right.

In the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19–31), the rich man shows concern for his family on earth, even though he is in hell.

In a dream, God commanded King Abimelech to ask Abraham to intercede for him: “For [Abraham] is a prophet and he will pray for you, so you shall live” (Gen. 20:7). When the Lord is angry with Job’s friends because they did not speak rightly about God, he tells them, “Let my servant Job pray for you because I will accept his [prayer], lest I make a terror on you” (Job 42:8).

“Let my prayer be incense before you.” Ps141

“and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints” rev 8

A good catholic bible would help without all th anti-catholic bias.

Your logic and understanding of Scripture fail you. Your own words acknowledge the Catholic Church in Revelations.

Your comment: “No; that is ROME’s claim; and you KNOW it!

What I’ve shown; over and over and over; from SCRIPTURE; is that Catholic teachings didn’t take hold very good in the early church.”

You acknowledged in post 201 “Ahem: Every one of those churches were Catholic; according to what I read posted by Catholics on FR.

They sure went off the rails quickly! “

So you are judging the Catholic Church based on man made heretic interpretation of Scripture. There is nothing that you or any protestant has proved wrong in the teaching of faith and morals. On the contrary, you rely on man made false truths and not all of God’s revealed truths.

The Catholic Church has followed the authority of Jesus to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” Mt 28:19-20

Your own baptism has benefited from the Catholic Church exercising this authority for 1500 years before the protests of heretics in 1500’s.

I hope you don’t tell Jesus your comments when you die and face judgement.

Your comments:”Your ORG is ferrying people into hell with your works based lying. Perhaps satan’s greatest accomplishment is the Catholic ORG. And your purposed deceit of conflating the Catholic ORG with the one true Body of Believers EKKLESIA is more evidence that you are a supporter of the lies and father os same.”

I will agree with you in part that some Catholics (including clergy) by their sinful ways are leading many to perdition, just like Luther and others have led many away from God. Yet the Catholic Church and Catholic faith remains strong and Jesus is with us always.

In your confusion and attitude you may not understand the Catholic Church or God’s revealed truth, so like the Apostles that followed Christ (it took time and many mistakes), continue to seek the Truth so that you can follow Jesus and His Truth.

God gave you free will to choose Heaven or Hell. To reject the Catholic Church that Jesus founded may lead you to the latter.

Your delusions are revealing. You think Jesus doesn't know what I'm saying about your ORG? If you are that blind, why do you believe the Mother of Jesus hears your and ten million other Catholic voices? Your ORG promotes magic thinking. It is a hook used to strangle faith into striving to obtain that which is ONLY by faith alone in Christ alone.

You cannot help but deviate from The Body of Christ Believers (the real one True EKKLESIA / Church) to your man-made ORG, empowered by lies and deviants. Every time you try to conflate your Org with The Church made up of ALL BELIVERS since the Day of Pentecost preaching by Peter, you practice to deceive.

here's a clue for you, ADSUM, your ORG does not have nor does it promote The Truth. I have God's Truth and consult it every day. I have committed much of His Truth to memory so that if your ORG does a repeat of the past I can have it neigh me, even in my mind and in my mouth.

Your ORG's sacramental trail, your worship of the Catholic Mary, your prayers to dead people, your idools and icons, all of that is not Christianity. Your eating what you imagine is the physical body of Jesus and consuming His blood, well that blasphemy does not get the deity of Christ into your spirit via your alimentary tract. Hence the accusation of Magic Thinking. Your pedophile homosexual priest cannot absolve sin, only GOD can do that and He has assured us sexual deviants are an abomination in His eyes, hence the delusional thinking. You are already possessed of STRONG DELUSION. You are pushing an 'other religion' as Paul identified your ORG.

Did you thank the Catholic Church today for the written Scriptures that you have with the exception of some deletions by heretics?

Too bad that you don’t accept that Jesus gave authority to the Catholic Church to continue His mission to spread the Good News and help us on our road to salvation.

Your fascination with delusions continues your belief in an invisible church with no leader on earth instead of His visible Church on the Hill that commenced with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Perhaps you didn’t understand what Jesus said in Mt 18:17 when one sins, but doesn’t listen, then “tell it to THE Church; and if refuses to listen even to THE Church”.... So Jesus formed one Catholic Church, not multiple protestant EKKLESIA churches (with multiple opinions of God’s Truth) after 1500.

It is a shame that you reject the Catholic faith (that if I remember correctly you were baptized in the Catholic faith) and I hope and pray that you repent and change your understanding and accept God’s Truth for your salvation.

Uou asked, foolishly, "Did you thank the Catholic Church today for the written Scriptures that you have with the exception of some deletions by heretics?" I thank GOD for His Word. I attribute the heretical changes to the ORG. It is typical deceit to try and take credit for what God does. I wonder, does Baalem's donkey congratulate itself for being used by God to turn Baalem away from his sinful direction?

Wow, you are sooo confused! "It is a shame that you reject the Catholic faith (that if I remember correctly you were baptized in the Catholic faith) and I hope and pray that you repent and change your understanding and accept God’s Truth for your salvation." Thanks be to GOG, I never made that mistake. You really should try dis-conflating your ORG with the One True Church / Body of all Believers making up the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ. There is so much truth you could learn if you would put your faith in Christ alone, not in the striving for salvation by works.

It is to GOD's glory that I have rejected the Catholic Other Religion. ... And your practiced ability to misconstrue the Word of God to support the heretical religion of Catholicism is not un noticed. Twisting the words of Jesus to make a lie is a most grave sin, ADSUM.

I wonder, sometimes, perhaps you do not know Who is the One True Church founded by The Holy Spirit the day Peter ptrached the Gospel. Nut them I recall I and others have explained it to you so many times and in so many loving ways. Jesus established a SPIRITUAL Body of Christ made up of ALL believers, even Catholic believers. To be among the Redeemed one need only Believer and call upon the Christ to be your redeemer. When He redeems you, His Word says God then abides in your born again spirit. You can work all you want AFTER being born again, even work at the sacramental trail, it will not remove your Born Again membership in His family, the Body of Christ Believers. BUT if you try to work your way to salvation, well, God does not honor works with His Gift.

So you didn’t thank the Catholic Church that you have access to the written Scriptures! Perhaps you should also thank God for giving the Catholic Church the authority to teach and Baptize and interpret the Scriptures!

Perhaps if you could support your false opinions and rantings about God’s Word, instead flailing about the Catholic Church teachings, then you might be taken seriously rather than a rambling protestant. Sorry if I took you for a baptized Catholic (as there are many here).

Yes I do know the true Jesus Christ, Son of God, and Our Lord and Savior and follow His Truth and teaching through His Catholic Church (the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC Church) and I receive Him often in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. I do not accept a man made Church or follow man made theories of God’s Truth.

An article about Catholic faith. https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/what-true-faith-requires

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