A Heretic is Anyone Who Does Note Believe Every Article of Catholic Faith
“He is a heretic who does not believe what the Roman Hierarchy teaches.” The American Textbook of Popery, p 164 (quoting from the “Directory for the Inquisitors”).
"Heresy consists in a stubborn denial of truths which have been defined and proposed by the Church as divinely revealed doctrines.
"Any baptized person who...obstinately denies or doubts any of the truths proposed for belief by divine and Catholic faith, is a heretic." Canon 1324-1325 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/3543/heretic.htm
“He is a heretic who deviates from any article of faith.” The American Textbook of Popery, p 143, (quoting from the “Directory for the Inquisitors”).
"Whoever 'obstinately' denies these (Catholic) truths, the doctrinal commentary of Pope John Paul II says, falls under the censure of heresy." Our Sunday Visitor, Analysis, July 19, 1998.
A Heretic is Anyone Who is Not a Member of the Catholic Church
"For it has been delivered to us, that there is one God, and one Christ, and one hope, and one faith, and one (Catholic) Church, and one baptism ordained only in the one Church, from which unity whosoever will depart must needs be found with heretics." St. Cyprian, The Epistles of Cyprian, Epistle LXXIII, #11.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/PATRISTC/ANF5_8.TXT
"So the Christian is a Catholic as long as he lives in the body: cut off from it he becomes a heretic-the life of the spirit follows not the amputated member." St. Augustine, Sermon cclxvii., # 4 (Quoted by Pope Leo XIII in Satis Cognitum (On the Unity of the Church), Encyclical promulgated on June 29, 1896, #5.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_29061896_satis-cognitum_en.html
"Heretics bring sentence upon themselves since they by their own choice withdraw from the Church, a withdrawal which, since they are aware of it, constitutes damnation. Between heresy and schism there is this difference: that heresy involves perverse doctrine, while schism separates one from the Church on account of disagreement with the bishop. Nevertheless, there is no schism which does not trump up a heresy to justify its departure from the Church." St. Jerome: "Commentary on Titus 3:10–11."
http://www.catholic.com/library/Salvation_Outside_the_Church.asp
"Finally some of these misguided people attempt to persuade themselves and others that men are not saved only in the Catholic religion, but that even heretics may attain eternal life." Pope Gregory XVI, Summo Iugiter Studio (On Mixed Marriages), Encyclical promulgated on May 27, 1832, #2.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/G16SUMMO.HTM
Heretics Cannot Gain Eternal Life Unless They Give Up Their Faith and Be United With the Catholic Church
"It firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the catholic church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the catholic church before the end of their lives; that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only for those who abide in it do the church's sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the christian militia produce eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed his blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and the unity of the catholic church." Pope Eugenius IV, in "Bull of Union with the Copts", Council of Florence, Session 11, on February 4, 1442.
http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum17.htm
Heretics Do Not Worship the True God or Jesus Christ
"Heretics (those who are not members of the Catholic Church or who do not hold to Catholic doctrine) worship a God who is a liar, and a Christ who is a liar." St. Augustine, (quoted in "Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Graca", by Fr. J. P. Migne, Paris: 1866, 42:207).
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/3543/heretic.htm
"A manifest heretic is not a Christian, as is clearly taught by St. Cyprian, St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and others." St. Robert Bellarmine, "On the Church Militant".
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/3543/heretic.htm
Heretics Are to Be Condemned and Punished, Even Just on Suspecion Alone, and Are Denied Any Defense
“All sects of heretics are condemned and various punishments are appointed for them and their accomplices.” Pope Alexander IV, The American Textbook of Popery, p 135 (quoting from the “Directory for the Inquisitors”).
“For the suspicion alone of heresy, purgation is demanded.” The American Textbook of Popery, p 156 (quoting from the “Directory for the Inquisitors”).
“All defence is denied to heretics.” The American Textbook of Popery, p 153 (quoting from the “Directory for the Inquisitors”).
"Also, we decree and declare that all of the aforesaid persons have been and are schismatics and heretics, And that as such they are assuredly to be punished with suitable penalties over and above the penalties imposed at the aforesaid council of Ferrara*, together with all their supporters and abettors, of whatever ecclesiastical or secular status, condition or rank they may be, even cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops or abbots or those of any other dignity, so that they may receive their deserts with the aforesaid Korah, Dathan and Abiram..." Pope Eugenius IV, in Decree of the Council of Florence Against the Synod at Basel, Council of Florence, Session 7, on September 4, 1439.
http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum17.htm
(* The Penalties imposed at this Council of Ferrara were "excommunication, privation of dignities and disqualification from benefices and offices in the future....to leave the said city (Basel) within thirty days of the date of this decree...to expel the aforesaid persons who have not left the city within the said thirty days and really and effectively to eject them....and they should deny them all commerce and all articles needed for human use....If there are some who ignore these orders of ours, daring perhaps to convey goods after the time-limit to those at Basel persisting in contumacy, since it is written that the righteous plundered the ungodly, such persons may be despoiled without penalty by any of the faithful and their goods shall be ceded to the first takers."Pope Eugenius IV, in Ecclesiastical Penalties Against Members of the Basel Synod, Council of Ferrara, Session 31, February 15, 1438. http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum17.htm)
"...schismatics, blasphemers and as heretics, to be punished as traitors, and to have incurred the aforesaid censures and penalties, and others to be inflicted, according as it shall seem good and justice shall persuade..." Pope Eugenius IV, in Monition of the Council of Florence Against the Antipope Felix V, Session 9, on March 23, 1440.
http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum17.htm
"Heretics bring sentence upon themselves since they by their own choice withdraw from the Church, a withdrawal which, since they are aware of it, constitutes damnation." St. Jerome: "Commentary on Titus 3:10–11."
http://www.catholic.com/library/Salvation_Outside_the_Church.asp
"Every possible care must be taken to hold fast to that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by everyone. He is a genuine Catholic who continues steadfast in the faith, who resolves that he will believe those things - and only those things - which he is sure the Catholic Church has held universally and from ancient times. It is therefore an indispensable obligation for all Catholics to adhere to the faith of the Fathers, to preserve it, to die for it and, on the other hand, to detest the profane novelties of profane men, to dread them, to harass them, and to attack them." St. Vincent of Lerins, Commonitoria, PL 50:637, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic6chp4.html
All Laws and Statues of Any Country Which Prevent the Condemnation and Execution of Heretics Are Null and Void
“Statutes that impede the execution of the duties which appertain to the office of Inquisitors are null and void.” Pope Urban IV, The American Textbook of Popery, p. 106 (quoting from the “Directory for the Inquisitors”).
The Catholic Church Declares All Heretics Anathema
“Cardinal (Of Lorraine). Anathema to all heretics.
“Answer Anathema, anathema." The Council of Trent, "Acclamations of the Father at the Close of the Council", Edited and translated by J. Waterworth (London: Dolman, 1848).
http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/trentall.html
"This sacred council (of Vatican II) accepts loyally the venerable faith of our ancestors in the living communion which exists between us and our brothers who are in the glory of heaven or who are yet being purified after their death- and it proposes again the decrees of the Second Council of Nicea, of the Council of Florence, and of the Council of Trent." Pope Paul VI, in Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution of the Church),
Promulgated on November 21, 1964, #51.
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/v3.html
Heretics Are to Be Burned
"When confronted with heresy, she (Catholic Church) does not content herself with persuasion, arguments of an intellectual and moral order appear to her insufficient, and she has recourse to force, to corporal punishment, to torture." The Rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris, H.M.A. Baudrillart, quoted in The Catholic Church, The Renassance, and Protestantism, p 182-183.
"'The church,' says [Martin] Luther, 'has never burned a heretic.'...I reply that this argument proves not the opinion, but the ignorance or impudence of Luther. Since almost infinite numbers were either burned or otherwise killed, Luther either did not know it, and was therefore ignorant, or if he was not ignorant, he is convicted of impudence and falsehood,--for that heretics were often burned by the [Catholic Church may be proved from many examples." Jesuit Robert Bellarmine, in Disputationes de Controversiis, Tom. II, Lib. III, cap. XXII, 1628 edition.
"There are many unquestionable cases of Protestants punished as heretics in nearly all the lands where Roman Catholics have had power, right down to the French Revolution [of 1798]." Catholic author G.G. Coulton, in The Death-Penalty for Heresy, Medieval Studies, No. 18, pp. 62, 1924 edition.
“A heretic merits the pains of fire....By the Gospel, the canons, civil law, and custom, heretics must be burned.” The American Textbook of Popery, p 164 (quoting from the “Directory for the Inquisitors”).
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Saturday, 5 November 2011
GOD'S LOVE FOR YOU AND ME
Nature and revelation alike testify of God's love. Our Father in heaven is the source of life, of wisdom, and of joy. Look at the wonderful and beautiful things of nature. Think of their marvelous adaption to the needs and happiness, not only of man, but of all living creatures. The sunshine and the rain, that gladden and refresh the earth, the hills and seas and plains, all speak to us of the Creator's love. It is God who supplies the daily needs of all His creatures. In the beautiful words of the psalmist: "The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing" Psalm 145:15-16.
God made man perfectly holy and happy; and the fair earth, as it came from the Creator's hand, bore no blight of decay or shadow of the curse. It is transgression of God's law--the law of love--that has brought woe and death. Yet even amid the suffering that results from sin, God's love is revealed. It is written that God cursed the ground for man's sake (see Genesis 3:17). The thorn and the thistle--the difficulties and trials that make his life one of toil and care--were appointed for man's good as a part of the training needful in God's plan for our uplifting from the ruin and degradation that sin has wrought. The world, though fallen, is not all sorrow and misery. In nature itself are messages of hope and comfort. There are flowers upon the thistles, and the thorns are covered with roses.
"God is love" is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass. The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green--all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God to make His children happy.
The Word of God reveals His character. He Himself has declared His infinite love and pity. When Moses prayed, "Show me thy glory," the Lord answered, "I will make all my goodness to pass before thee" Exodus 33:18-19. This is His glory. The Lord passed before Moses, and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" Exodus 34:6-7. He is "slow to anger, and of great kindness," "because He delighteth in mercy" Jonah 4:2; Micah 7:18.
God Has Surrounded Us With Tokens of His Love
God has bound our hearts to Him by unnumbered tokens in heaven and in earth. Through the things of nature, and the deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He has sought to reveal Himself to us. Yet these but imperfectly represent His love. Though all these evidences have been given, the enemy of good blind the minds of men, so that they look upon God with fear; to think of Him as being severe and unforgiving. Satan leads men to conceive of God as a Being whose chief attribute is stern justice,--one who is a severe judge, a harsh, exacting creditor. He pictures the Creator as a Being who is watching with a jealous eye to discern the errors and mistakes of men, that He may visit judgements upon them. It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinite love of God, that Jesus came to live among men.
The Son of God came from heaven to make manifest the Father. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" John 1:18. "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" Matthew 11:27. When one of the disciples made the request, "Show us the Father," Jesus answered; "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?" John 14:8-9.
In describing His earthly mission, Jesus said, The Lord "hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised" Luke 4:18. This was His work. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by Satan. There were whole villages where there was not a moan of sickness in any house, for He had passed through them and healed all their sick. His work gave evidence of His divine anointing. Love, mercy, and compassion were revealed in every act of His life; His heart went out in tender sympathy to the children of men. He took man's nature, that He might reach our wants. The poorest and humblest were not afraid to approach Him. Even little children were attracted to Him. They loved to climb upon His knees and gaze into His kind face, filled with love.
Jesus did not suppress one word of truth, but love was always in His heart. He exercised the greatest tact and thoughtful, kind attention in His intercourse with the people. He was never rude, never needlessly spoke a severe word, never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul. He spoke the truth, at times delivering scathing rebukes to hardened hearts because He loved them too much to water down the truth or to remain silent. He denounced hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity. But yet He wept over Jerusalem, the city He loved, which refused to receive Him, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. They had rejected Him, their Saviour, but He regarded them with pitying tenderness. His life was one of self-denial and thoughtful care for others. Every soul was precious in His eyes. While He ever bore Himself with divine dignity, He bowed with the tenderest regard to every member of the family of God. In all men He saw the fallen souls whom it was His mission to save.
Jesus--A Revelation of the Father's Love
Such is the character of Christ as revealed in His life. This is the character of God. It is from the Father's heart that the streams of divine compassion, manifest in Christ, flow out to the children of men. Jesus, the tender, pitying Saviour, was God "manifest in the flesh" 1 Timothy 3:16.
It was to redeem us that Jesus lived and suffered and died. He became "a man of sorrows," that we might be made partakers of everlasting joy. God permitted His beloved Son, full of grace and truth, to come from a world of indescribable glory, to a world marred and blighted by sin, darkened with the shadow of death and the curse. He permitted Him to leave the bosom of His love, the adoration of the angels, to suffer shame, insult, humiliation, hatred, and death. "The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" Isaiah 53:5. Behold Him in the wilderness, in Gethsemane, upon the cross! The spotless Son of God took upon himself the burden of sin. He, who had been one with God, felt in His soul the awful separation that sin makes between God and man. This wrung from His lips the anguished cry, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. It was the burden of sin, the sense of it's terrible enormity, of it's separation of the soul from God--it was this that broke the heart of the Son of God.
But this great sacrifice was not made in order to create in the Father's heart a love for man, not to make Him willing to save. No, no! "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son" John 3:16. The Father shows His love for us by providing this great sacrifice of His Son to save you and I from eternal death. Christ was the medium through which the Father could pour out His infinite love upon a fallen world. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" 2 Corinthians 5:19. God suffered with His Son. In the agony of Gethsemane, the death of Calvary, the heart of Infinite Love paid the price of our redemption.
Jesus said, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again" John 10:17. That is, "My Father has so loved you that He even loves Me more for giving My life to redeem you. In becoming your Substitute and Surety, by surrendering My life, by taking your liabilities, your transgressions, I am endeared to My Father; for by My sacrifice, God can be just, and yet the Justifier of him who believeth in Me."
Only Jesus Could Fully Reveal God's Love
None but the Son of God could accomplish our redemption; for only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it manifest. Nothing less than the infinite sacrifice made by Christ in behalf of fallen man could express the Father's love to lost humanity.
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son." He gave Him not only to live among men, to bear their sins, and die their sacrifice, but He gave Him to the fallen race. Christ was to identify Himself with the interests and needs of humanity. He who was one with God has linked Himself with the children of men by ties that are never to be broken. Jesus is "not ashamed to call them brethren" (see Hebrews 2:11). He is our Sacrifice, our Advocate, our Brother, bearing our human form before the Father's throne, and through eternal ages one with the race He has redeemed--the Son of Man. And all this that we might be uplifted from the ruin and degradation of sin so that we might reflect to others the love of God and share the joy of holiness.
The price paid for our redemption, the infinite sacrifice of our heavenly Father in giving His Son to die for us, should give us exalted conceptions of what we may become through Christ. As the inspired apostle John beheld the height, the depth, the breadth of the Father's love toward the perishing race, he was filled with adoration and reverence; and, failing to find suitable language in which to express the greatness and tenderness of this love, he called upon the world to behold it. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" 1 John 3:1. What a value this places upon man!
Through transgression we became subjects of Satan. Through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ we may become the sons of God. By assuming human nature, Christ elevates humanity. Fallen men are placed where, through connection with Christ, they may indeed become worthy of the name "sons of God."
Such love is without a parallel. Children of the heavenly King! Precious promise! Theme for the most profound meditation! The matchless love of God for a world that did not love Him! The thought has a subduing power upon the soul and brings the mind into captivity to the will of God. The more we study the divine character in the light of the cross, the more we see mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness blended with equity and justice, and the more clearly we discern innumerable evidences of a love that is infinite and a tender pity surpassing a mother's yearning sympathy for her wayward child.
The Father has clearly revealed an everlasting love for you and me (see Jeremiah 31:3)! Shall we not allow our hearts to respond to this amazing love? By giving our hearts to Jesus we may escape from everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:8), and through Him obtain everlasting life (John 4:14, 6:27, 12:50). Then we can raise our eternal voices in praise and adoration to the everlasting God (Psalms 106:48) and the everlasting King (Psalms 2:2, 6-7, 29:10; John 1:49) with everlasting joy (Isaiah 35:10, 51:11) as we enter in through the everlasting doors (Psalms 24:7-10) into the everlasting kingdom (Psalms 145:13; Daniel 4:3, 7:27; 2 Peter 1:11) to walk forever with our God and Saviour in the everlasting light of heaven (Revelation 21:23-25; Isaiah 60:19-20).
God made man perfectly holy and happy; and the fair earth, as it came from the Creator's hand, bore no blight of decay or shadow of the curse. It is transgression of God's law--the law of love--that has brought woe and death. Yet even amid the suffering that results from sin, God's love is revealed. It is written that God cursed the ground for man's sake (see Genesis 3:17). The thorn and the thistle--the difficulties and trials that make his life one of toil and care--were appointed for man's good as a part of the training needful in God's plan for our uplifting from the ruin and degradation that sin has wrought. The world, though fallen, is not all sorrow and misery. In nature itself are messages of hope and comfort. There are flowers upon the thistles, and the thorns are covered with roses.
"God is love" is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass. The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green--all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God to make His children happy.
The Word of God reveals His character. He Himself has declared His infinite love and pity. When Moses prayed, "Show me thy glory," the Lord answered, "I will make all my goodness to pass before thee" Exodus 33:18-19. This is His glory. The Lord passed before Moses, and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" Exodus 34:6-7. He is "slow to anger, and of great kindness," "because He delighteth in mercy" Jonah 4:2; Micah 7:18.
God Has Surrounded Us With Tokens of His Love
God has bound our hearts to Him by unnumbered tokens in heaven and in earth. Through the things of nature, and the deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He has sought to reveal Himself to us. Yet these but imperfectly represent His love. Though all these evidences have been given, the enemy of good blind the minds of men, so that they look upon God with fear; to think of Him as being severe and unforgiving. Satan leads men to conceive of God as a Being whose chief attribute is stern justice,--one who is a severe judge, a harsh, exacting creditor. He pictures the Creator as a Being who is watching with a jealous eye to discern the errors and mistakes of men, that He may visit judgements upon them. It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinite love of God, that Jesus came to live among men.
The Son of God came from heaven to make manifest the Father. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" John 1:18. "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" Matthew 11:27. When one of the disciples made the request, "Show us the Father," Jesus answered; "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?" John 14:8-9.
In describing His earthly mission, Jesus said, The Lord "hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised" Luke 4:18. This was His work. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by Satan. There were whole villages where there was not a moan of sickness in any house, for He had passed through them and healed all their sick. His work gave evidence of His divine anointing. Love, mercy, and compassion were revealed in every act of His life; His heart went out in tender sympathy to the children of men. He took man's nature, that He might reach our wants. The poorest and humblest were not afraid to approach Him. Even little children were attracted to Him. They loved to climb upon His knees and gaze into His kind face, filled with love.
Jesus did not suppress one word of truth, but love was always in His heart. He exercised the greatest tact and thoughtful, kind attention in His intercourse with the people. He was never rude, never needlessly spoke a severe word, never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul. He spoke the truth, at times delivering scathing rebukes to hardened hearts because He loved them too much to water down the truth or to remain silent. He denounced hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity. But yet He wept over Jerusalem, the city He loved, which refused to receive Him, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. They had rejected Him, their Saviour, but He regarded them with pitying tenderness. His life was one of self-denial and thoughtful care for others. Every soul was precious in His eyes. While He ever bore Himself with divine dignity, He bowed with the tenderest regard to every member of the family of God. In all men He saw the fallen souls whom it was His mission to save.
Jesus--A Revelation of the Father's Love
Such is the character of Christ as revealed in His life. This is the character of God. It is from the Father's heart that the streams of divine compassion, manifest in Christ, flow out to the children of men. Jesus, the tender, pitying Saviour, was God "manifest in the flesh" 1 Timothy 3:16.
It was to redeem us that Jesus lived and suffered and died. He became "a man of sorrows," that we might be made partakers of everlasting joy. God permitted His beloved Son, full of grace and truth, to come from a world of indescribable glory, to a world marred and blighted by sin, darkened with the shadow of death and the curse. He permitted Him to leave the bosom of His love, the adoration of the angels, to suffer shame, insult, humiliation, hatred, and death. "The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" Isaiah 53:5. Behold Him in the wilderness, in Gethsemane, upon the cross! The spotless Son of God took upon himself the burden of sin. He, who had been one with God, felt in His soul the awful separation that sin makes between God and man. This wrung from His lips the anguished cry, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. It was the burden of sin, the sense of it's terrible enormity, of it's separation of the soul from God--it was this that broke the heart of the Son of God.
But this great sacrifice was not made in order to create in the Father's heart a love for man, not to make Him willing to save. No, no! "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son" John 3:16. The Father shows His love for us by providing this great sacrifice of His Son to save you and I from eternal death. Christ was the medium through which the Father could pour out His infinite love upon a fallen world. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" 2 Corinthians 5:19. God suffered with His Son. In the agony of Gethsemane, the death of Calvary, the heart of Infinite Love paid the price of our redemption.
Jesus said, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again" John 10:17. That is, "My Father has so loved you that He even loves Me more for giving My life to redeem you. In becoming your Substitute and Surety, by surrendering My life, by taking your liabilities, your transgressions, I am endeared to My Father; for by My sacrifice, God can be just, and yet the Justifier of him who believeth in Me."
Only Jesus Could Fully Reveal God's Love
None but the Son of God could accomplish our redemption; for only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it manifest. Nothing less than the infinite sacrifice made by Christ in behalf of fallen man could express the Father's love to lost humanity.
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son." He gave Him not only to live among men, to bear their sins, and die their sacrifice, but He gave Him to the fallen race. Christ was to identify Himself with the interests and needs of humanity. He who was one with God has linked Himself with the children of men by ties that are never to be broken. Jesus is "not ashamed to call them brethren" (see Hebrews 2:11). He is our Sacrifice, our Advocate, our Brother, bearing our human form before the Father's throne, and through eternal ages one with the race He has redeemed--the Son of Man. And all this that we might be uplifted from the ruin and degradation of sin so that we might reflect to others the love of God and share the joy of holiness.
The price paid for our redemption, the infinite sacrifice of our heavenly Father in giving His Son to die for us, should give us exalted conceptions of what we may become through Christ. As the inspired apostle John beheld the height, the depth, the breadth of the Father's love toward the perishing race, he was filled with adoration and reverence; and, failing to find suitable language in which to express the greatness and tenderness of this love, he called upon the world to behold it. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" 1 John 3:1. What a value this places upon man!
Through transgression we became subjects of Satan. Through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ we may become the sons of God. By assuming human nature, Christ elevates humanity. Fallen men are placed where, through connection with Christ, they may indeed become worthy of the name "sons of God."
Such love is without a parallel. Children of the heavenly King! Precious promise! Theme for the most profound meditation! The matchless love of God for a world that did not love Him! The thought has a subduing power upon the soul and brings the mind into captivity to the will of God. The more we study the divine character in the light of the cross, the more we see mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness blended with equity and justice, and the more clearly we discern innumerable evidences of a love that is infinite and a tender pity surpassing a mother's yearning sympathy for her wayward child.
The Father has clearly revealed an everlasting love for you and me (see Jeremiah 31:3)! Shall we not allow our hearts to respond to this amazing love? By giving our hearts to Jesus we may escape from everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:8), and through Him obtain everlasting life (John 4:14, 6:27, 12:50). Then we can raise our eternal voices in praise and adoration to the everlasting God (Psalms 106:48) and the everlasting King (Psalms 2:2, 6-7, 29:10; John 1:49) with everlasting joy (Isaiah 35:10, 51:11) as we enter in through the everlasting doors (Psalms 24:7-10) into the everlasting kingdom (Psalms 145:13; Daniel 4:3, 7:27; 2 Peter 1:11) to walk forever with our God and Saviour in the everlasting light of heaven (Revelation 21:23-25; Isaiah 60:19-20).
Friday, 4 November 2011
AMAZING CATHOLIC STATEMENTS REGARDING THE POPE
The Pope is God On This Earth
"Take care that we lose not that salvation, that life and breath which thou hast given us, for thou art our shepherd, thou art our physician, thou art our governor, thou art our husbandman, thou art finally another God on earth." Christopher Marcellus in Oration addressing Pope Julius II, in Fifth Lateran Council, Session IV (1512), Council Edition. Colm. Agrip. 1618, (Sacrorum Conciliorum, J.D. Mansi (ed.), Vol. 32, col. 761), (also quoted in History of the Councils, vol. XIV, col 109, by Labbe and Cossart).
"To believe that our Lord God the Pope has not the power to decree as he is decreed, is to be deemed heretical." The Gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII, Cum. Inter, title 14, chapter 4, "Ad Callem Sexti Decretalium", Column 140, Paris, 1685. (In an Antwerp edition of the Extravagantes, the words, "Dominum Deum Nostrum Papam" (“Our Lord God the Pope”) can be found in column 153).
"It is quite certain that Popes have never disapproved or rejected this title 'Lord God the Pope' for the passage in the gloss referred to appears in the edition of the Canon Law published in Rome by Gregory XIII." Statement from Fr. A. Pereira.
"Those whom the Pope of Rome doth separate, it is not a man that separates them but God. For the Pope holdeth place on earth, not simply of a man but of the true God....dissolves, not by human but rather by divine authority....I am in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the vicar of God, hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do...wherefore, if those things that I do be said not to be done of man, but of God, what do you make of me but God? Again, if prelates of the Church be called of Constantine for gods, I then being above all prelates, seem by this reason to be above all gods." Decretales Domini Gregori ix Translatione Episcoporum, (on the Transference of Bishops), title 7, chapter 3; Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; (Paris, 1612), tom. 2, Decretales, col. 205 (while Innocent III was Pope).
"The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth." Quoted in the New York Catechism.
"The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God...
"The Pope alone is called most holy...
"Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of hell.
"Moreover the superiority and the power of the Roman Pontiff by no means pertains only to heavenly things, but also earthly things, and to things under the earth, and even over the angels, whom he his greater than.
"So that if it were possible that the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope....
"...the Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power." Lucius Ferraris, in "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica", Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", #1, 5, 13-15, 18, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.
"[Pope] PIUS XI, Pontifex Maximus." Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (The Promotion of True Religious Unity), Encyclical promulgated on January 6, 1928.
http://www.catholicism.org/pages/mortal.htm
"The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth." Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, "Cities Petrus Bertanous".
“...We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty..." Pope Leo XIII, in Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae (The Reunion of Christendom), Encyclical promulgated on June 20, 1894.
http://www.users.qwest.net/~slrorer/ReunionOfChristendom.htm
The Pope is Immortal
“...Our immortal predecessor, Pope Leo XIII...” Pope Pius XI, in Quas Primas (On the Feast of Christ the King), Encyclical promulgated on December 11, 1925, #18.
http://www.newadvent.org/docs/pi11qp.htm
The Pope is Infallible
“The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as Supreme Pastor and teacher of all the faithful--who confirms his brethren in the faith--he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals....The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter’s successor, ‘they exercise the supreme Magisterium,’ above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magistrium proposes a doctrine ‘for belief as being divinely revealed,’ and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions ‘must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.’ This infallibility extends as far as the doposit of divine revelation itself.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, #891, 1994 edition.
"The Pope cannot make a mistake." Pope Gregory VII, (quoted by The Benedictine Network in a listing of notable items by the various popes throughout history).
http://www.whiterobedmonks.org/netsor1a.html
The Pope's Crown Bears This Inscription
Question. "What are the letters supposed to be in the Pope's crown, and what do they signify if anything?
Answer. "The letters inscribed in the Pope's mitre are these: Vicarius Filii Dei, which is the Latin for Vicar of the Son of God. Catholics hold that the Church which is a visible society must have a visible head. Christ, before His ascension into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as His representative. Upon the death of Peter the man who succeeded to the office of Peter as Bishop of Rome, was recognized as the head of the Church. Hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of the Church, was given the title 'Vicar of Christ.'
"Enemies of the Papacy denounce this title as a malicious assumption. But the Bible informs us that Christ did not only give His Church authority to teach, but also to rule. Laying claim to the authority to rule in Christ's spiritual kingdom, in Christ's stead, is not a whit more malicious than laying claim to the authority to teach in Christ's name. And this every Christian minister does." Our Sunday Visitor, (Catholic Weekly), April 18, 1915, thirteenth question under "Bureau of Information," p. 3, (on page 2 appears "sanctions for the editor" from Pope Pius X, dated May 17, 1914; from the Apostolic Delegate, John Bonzano, dated April 27, 1913; and from J. H. Alerding, Bishop of Fort Wayne, Ind., dated March 29, 1912).
"Ut sicut Beatus Petrus in terris vicarius Filii Dei fuit constitutus, ita et Pontifices eius successores in terris principatus potestatem amplius, quam terrenae imperialis nostrae seremitatis mansuetudo habere videtur." Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica, by Lucius Ferraris, Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", point #20, column 1828, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition. To see a copy of this document, please click here.
(Translated into English it reads: "As the blessed Peter was constituted Vicar of the Son of God on earth, so it is seen that the Pontiffs, his successors, hold from us and our empire the power of a supremacy on the earth greater than the clemency of our earthly imperial serenity.")
"Beatus Petrus in terris Vicarius filii Dei videtur esse constitutus." Decretum Gratiani, prima pars, dist. xcvi, col. 472, (first published at Bologna about 1148, and reprinted in 1555. Translation by Christopher B. Coleman, Ph. D., in "The Treatise of Lorenzo Vallo on the Donation of Constantine," p. 13. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922).
(Translated into the English this reads: "Blessed Peter is seen to have been constituted vicar of the son of God on the earth.")
"Beatus Petrus in terris Vicarius filii Dei esse videtur constitutus." Corpus Juris Canonici Emendatum et Notis Illustratum Gregorii XIII. Pont. Max., Lvgdvn., MDCXXII, col. 295.
"Beatus Petrus in terris vicarius Filii Dei esse videtur constitutus." Corpus Juris Canonici, Gregorii XIII, Pontif. Max., Auctoritate, Distinctio 96, Column 286, Canon Constantinus 14, Magdeburg, 1747.
The title given to the Pope is "Vicarius Filii Dei." Sacrosancta concilia ad regitionem exacta, by Philippe Labbe, SJ., Vol. I, p 1534: Paris, 1671.
"The temporal power in the hands of St. Gregory I was a fatherly and patriarchal rule over nations not as yet reduced to civil order. In the hands of St. Leo III it became a power of creating empires. In the hands of St. Gregory VII it was a scourge to chasten them. In the hands of Alexander III it was a dynasty, ruling supremely, in the name of God, over the powers of the world....So that I may say there never was a time when the temporal power of the Vicar of the Son of God, though assailed as we see it, was more firmly rooted throughout the whole unity of the Catholic Church.
"It was a dignified obedience to bow to the Vicar of the Son of God, and to remit the arbitration of their griefs to one whom all wills consented to obey." The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, by Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, pp. 231-232, second edition, London: Burns and Lambert, 1862.
The Pope Has All Power in Heaven and Earth and Can Change Divine Laws
"The Pope is of great authority and power, that he is able to modify, declare, or interpret even divine laws. The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth..." Lucius Ferraris, in "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica", Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", #30, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.
“Christ entrusted His office to the chief pontiff;... but all power in heaven and in earth has been given to Christ;... therefore the chief pontiff, who is His vicar, will have this power.” Corpus Juris, chap. 1, column 29, translated from a gloss on the words Porro Subesse Romano Pontiff.
“The Pope’s authority is unlimited, incalculable; it can strike, as Innocent III says, wherever sin is; it can punish every one; it allows no appeal and is itself Sovereign Caprice; for the Pope carries, according to the expression of Boniface VIII, all rights in the Shrine of his breast. As he has now become infallible, he can by the use of the little word, 'orbi,' (which means that he turns himself round to the whole Church) make every rule, every doctrine, every demand, into a certain and incontestable article of Faith. No right can stand against him, no personal or corporate liberty; or as the Canonists put it -- 'The tribunal of God and of the pope is one and the same.'” Ignaz von Dollinger, in “A Letter Addressed to the Archbishop of Munich”, 1871 (quoted in The Acton Newman Relations (Fordham University Press), by MacDougall, p 119-120).
"We may according to the fullness of our power, dispose of the law and dispense above the law. Those whom the Pope of Rome doth separate, it is not a man that separates them but God. For the Pope holdeth place on earth, not simply of a man but of the true God....dissolves, not by human but rather by divine authority....I am in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the vicar of God, hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do...Wherefore, no marvel, if it be in my power to dispense with all things, yea with the precepts of Christ." Decretales Domini Gregori ix Translatione Episcoporum, (on the Transference of Bishops), title 7, chapter 3; Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; (Paris, 1612), tom. 2, Decretales, col. 205 (while Innocent III was Pope).
"Therefore the decision of the Pope and the decision of God constitute one decision....Since, therefore, an appeal is always made from an inferior judge to a superior, just as no one is greater than himself, so no appeal holds when made from the Pope to God, because there is one consistory of the Pope himself and of God Himself." Augustinus Triumphus, in Summa de Potestate Ecclesiastica, 1483, questio 6. Latin.
The Pope Can Change, Add to, or Take Away From, and His Word is Greater than the Holy Scriptures
"We confess that the Pope has power of changing Scripture and of adding to it, and taking from it, according to his will." Roman Catholic Confessions for Protestants Oath, Article XI, (Confessio Romano-Catholica in Hungaria Evangelicis publice praescripta te proposita, editi a Streitwolf), as recorded in Congressional Record of the U.S.A., House Bill 1523, Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell, against Thos. S. Butler, Feb. 15, 1913.
http://www.geocities.com/visplace/godsmith20.htm
"We confess that whatever new thing the Pope ordains, rather it be in Scriptures or not in Scripture, and whatever he commands is true, divine and salvific; and therefore ought to be held by Lay People in greater esteem than the living God." Roman Catholic Confessions for Protestants Oath, Article IV, (Confessio Romano-Catholica in Hungaria Evangelicis publice praescripta te proposita, editi a Streitwolf), as recorded in Congressional Record of the U.S.A., House Bill 1523, Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell, against Thos. S. Butler, Feb. 15, 1913.
http://www.geocities.com/visplace/godsmith20.htm
All People Must Be Subject to the Authority of the Pope in Order to be in God's True Church
"It is absolutely necessary that the Christian community be subject in all things to the Sovereign Pontiff if it wishes to be a part of the divinely-established society founded by our Redeemer." Pope Pius XII, Orientalis Ecclesiae, quoted in "Acta Apostolicae Sedis", 36:129, Rome: Vatican Press, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"Where Peter (or his successor) is, there is the Church." St. Ambrose, Commentary on Twelve of David's Psalms, XL:30; JUR, vol. 2:1261, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"You above all, venerable brothers, have known how this dogma of our religion has been unanimously and unceasingly declared, defended and insisted upon in synods by the Fathers of the Church. Indeed, they have never stopped teaching that 'God is one, Christ is one, the Church established upon Peter by the voice of the Lord is one;' 'the massive foundation of the great Christian state has been divinely built upon, as it were, this rock, this very firm stone;' 'this Chair, which is unique and the first of gifts, has always been designated and considered as the Chair of Peter;' 'shining forth throughout the world it maintains its primacy;' 'it is also the root and matrix whence sacerdotal unity has sprung;' it is not only the head but also the mother and teacher of all the Churches...'the Roman Pontiff, who holds Primacy in the entire world, is the Successor of Blessed Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the true Vicar of Christ, the head of the whole Church, and is the visible Father and Teacher of all Christians.' There are other, almost countless, proofs drawn from the most trustworthy witnesses which clearly and openly testify with great faith, exactitude, respect and obedience that all who want to belong to the true and only Church of Christ must honor and obey this Apostolic See and Roman Pontiff." Pope Pius IX, Amantissimus (On The Care Of The Churches), Encyclical promulgated on April 8, 1862, # 3.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/P9AMANT2.HTM
"No one is found in the one Church of Christ, and no one perseveres in it, unless he acknowledges and accepts obediently the supreme authority of St. Peter and his legitimate successors." Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, PTC:873, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"It is an error to believe that a man is in the Church if he abandons the See of Peter, the foundation of the Church." St. Cyprian, UOC, CSL, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 207 (1868), (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"If, therefore, the Greeks or others say that they are not committed to Peter and to his successors, they necessarily say that they are not of the sheep of Christ, since the Lord says that there is only one fold and one shepherd (Jn.10:16). Whoever, therefore, resists this authority, resists the command of God Himself. " Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, DNZ:468, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
All Who Separate From the Control of the Pope are Without Christ
"Remember and understand well that where Peter is, there is the Church; that those who refuse to associate in communion with the Chair of Peter belong to Antichrist, not to Christ. He who would separate himself from the Roman Pontiff has no further bond with Christ." Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, quoted in "Acts of Leo XIII: Supreme Pontiff", Rome: Vatican Press, 1896, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
All People Must Be Subject to the Authority of the Pope in Order to be Saved
"Christ Jesus left you this sweet key of obedience; for He left His Vicar, whom you are all obliged to obey until death. And whoever is outside his obedience is in a state of damnation." St. Catherine of Siena, MCH, reference #374, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"Although the devil desired to sift all the disciples, the Lord testifies that He Himself asked for Peter alone, and wished that the others be confirmed by him (Lk. 22:32); and to Peter as well was committed the care of "feeding the sheep" (Jn. 21:15); and also to him did the Lord hand over the "keys to the kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 16:19). If, however, anyone believes contrary to this, let him know he is condemned and anathematized. Consider, therefore, that whoever has not been in the peace and unity of the Church cannot have the Lord. Those not willing to be at agreement in the Church of God cannot abide with God. For the Church of God is established among those known to preside over the Apostolic Sees, and whoever separates himself from these Sees is manifestly in schism." Pope Pelagius II, Quod Ad Dilectionem," DNZ:246; "Dilectionis Vestrae," DNZ:247, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"...our Divine Redeemer also governs His Mystical Body in a visible and normal way through His Vicar on earth....After His glorious Ascension into heaven this Church rested not on Him alone, but on Peter too, its visible foundation stone. That Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head is the solemn teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in the Apostolic Letter Unam Sanctam; and his successors have never ceased to repeat the same.
"They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it....
"As the Divine Redeemer sent the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, who in His name should govern the Church in an invisible way, so, in the same manner, He commissioned Peter and his successors to be His personal representatives on earth and to assume the visible government of the Christian community." Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi (On the Mystical Body of Christ), Encyclical promulgated on June 29, 1943, #41-42, 69.
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12MYSTI.HTM
"Those who are obstinate toward the authority of the Roman Pontiff cannot obtain eternal salvation." Pope Pius IX, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore, DNZ:1677, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"We teach,...We declare that the Roman Church by the Providence of God holds the primacy of ordinary power over all others, and that this power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is immediate. Toward it, the pastors and the faithful of whatever rite and dignity, both individually and collectively, are bound by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, not only in matters which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which concern the discipline and government of the Church spread throughout the whole world, in such a way that once the unity of communion and the profession of the same Faith has been preserved with the Roman Pontiff, there is one flock of the Church of Christ under one supreme shepherd. This is the teaching of the Catholic truth from which no one can depart without loss of faith and salvation." Pope Pius XII, Ad Apostolorum Principis (On Communism And The Church In China), Encyclical Promulgated on June 29, 1958, #46.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061958_ad-apostolorum-principis_en.html
"He who does not enter by the door of the fold shall not have salvation. The door of the fold is the Catholic Church and union with the Head who represents Jesus Christ." St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, "Travels", Chicago: 1944, p. 170, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins...There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed....Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff." Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, Bull promulgated on November 18, 1302.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/B7UNAM.HTM
"The Saviour Himself is the door of the sheepfold: 'I am the door of the sheep.' Into this fold of Jesus Christ, no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff; and only if they be united to him can men be saved, for the Roman Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ and His personal representative on earth." Pope John XXIII, in To the Bishops and Faithful Assisting at His Coronation, Homily given on November 4, 1958.
"O glorious St. Peter, obtain for us a sincere loyalty to our Holy Mother the Church; grant that we may ever remain most closely and sincerely united to the Roman Pontiff who is the heir of thy faith and authority: the one, true, visible head of the Catholic Church, that mystical Ark outside which there is no salvation." Pope Benedict XV, RAC:484, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Outside the One True Church").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic2chp1.html
"But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself. This obedience should, however, be perfect...(and) must consequently be accepted without wavering....
"Wherefore it belongs to the Pope to judge authoritatively what things the sacred oracles contain, as well as what doctrines are in harmony, and what in disagreement, with them; and also, for the same reason, to show forth what things are to be accepted as right, and what to be rejected as worthless; what it is necessary to do and what to avoid doing, in order to attain eternal salvation." Pope Leo XIII, in Sapientiae Christianae (On Christians As Citizens), Encyclical promulgated on January 10, 1890, #22-24.
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13sapie.htm
"To be subject to the Roman Pontiff is absolutely necessary for salvation." St. Thomas Aquinas, Against the Errors of the Greeks, Pt. 2, ch. 36; PTC:484, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"This is our last lesson to you: receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of you: by God's commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church; the strong and effective instrument of salvation is none other than the Roman Pontificate." Pope Leo XIII, in Allocution for the 25th Anniversary of His Election, given on February 20, 1903 (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 653).
"It is necessary for salvation that all the faithful of Christ be subject to the Roman Pontiff." Fifth Lateran Council, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"No man...outside the faith of the Church and obedience to the Roman Pontiff can finally be saved." Pope Clement VI, Epistle of September 29, 1351, (quoted in article "Is There Salvation Outside the Church?")
http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=964
Even if the Pope is in Error or Were Evil, He Still Holds Power Over All Christ's Faithful!
"...whether it be possible for him (the Pope) to err or not, is to be obeyed by all the faithful." St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice, pt. 5, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"It is error to believe that, if the Pope were a reprobate and an evil man and consequently a member of the devil, he has no power over the faithful." Council of Constance, Condemnation of Errors, against Wycliffe, Session VIII, and Hus: Session XV; DNZ:621, 617, 588, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom. He who rebels against our Father is condemned to death, for that which we do to him we do to Christ: we honor Christ if we honor the Pope; we dishonor Christ if we dishonor the Pope. I know very well that many defend themselves by boasting: "They are so corrupt, and work all manner of evil!" But God has commanded that, even if the priests, the pastors, and Christ-on-earth were incarnate devils, we be obedient and subject to them, not for their sakes, but for the sake of God, and out of obedience to Him." St. Catherine of Siena, SCS, p. 201-202, p. 222, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"It is error to believe that, if the Pope were wicked and reprobate, then he is of the devil and is not head of the Church Militant..." Pope Martin V, Inter Cunctas et in Eminentis, DNZ:646, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
The Pope is Christ's Replacement (Vicar or Vicegerent) on Earth
"The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land....He is the vicegerent of Christ, and is not only a priest forever, but also King of kings and Lord of lords." La Civilta Cattolica, March 18, 1871 (quoted in "An Inside View of the Vatican Council" by Leonard Woosely Bacaon, p 229, American Tract Society edition).
"We the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, prostrate at the feet of your Holiness, humbly offer you our warmest congratulations on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of your ordination to the priesthood...our thoughts go back to that great event fifty years ago by which your Holiness was taken from amongst men and appointed for men in the things that pertain to God, was made a minister of Christ and a dispenser of His mysteries, received power over the real and mystical body of our Saviour and became a mediator between God and man - another Christ." Address of Irish Archbishops and Bishops to Pope Pius Xll, in 1949.
"Receive the tiara adorned with three crowns and know that thou art Father of princes and kings, Ruler of the world, Vicar of our Savior Jesus Christ." Papal Coronation Ceremony.
“All the names which are attributed to Christ in Scripture, implying His supremacy over the church, are also attributed to the Pope.” Robert Bellarmine, in Disputationes de Controversiis, "On the Authority of Councils", book 2, Chapter 17.
"...we promulgate anew the definition of the ecumenical council of Florence, which must be believed by all faithful Christians, namely that the apostolic see and the Roman pontiff hold a world-wide primacy, and that the Roman pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, true vicar of Christ, head of the whole church and father and teacher of all christian people. To him, in blessed Peter, full power has been given by our lord Jesus Christ to tend, rule and govern the universal church....
"So, then, if anyone says that the Roman pontiff...has only the principal part, but not the absolute fullness, of this supreme power; or that this power of his is not ordinary and immediate both over all and each of the churches and over all and each of the pastors and faithful: let him be anathema." Pope Pius IX, in First Vatican Council, Session 4, First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, Chapter 3, #1, 9, July 18, 1870.
http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum20.htm
"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, he is Jesus Christ himself, hidden under the veil of flesh." Catholic National, July, 1895.
Supreme Papal Authority Comes From the Law of the Caesars
"...superior papal authority and dominion is derived from the law of the Caesars." Lucius Ferraris, in "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica", Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", #19, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.
"...the appellation of God had been confirmed by Constantine on the Pope, who being God, cannot be judged by man." Pope Nicholas I, quoted in History of the Councils, vol. IX, Dist.: 96, Can 7, "Satis Evidentur Decret Gratian Primer Para", by Labbe and Cossart.
"Take care that we lose not that salvation, that life and breath which thou hast given us, for thou art our shepherd, thou art our physician, thou art our governor, thou art our husbandman, thou art finally another God on earth." Christopher Marcellus in Oration addressing Pope Julius II, in Fifth Lateran Council, Session IV (1512), Council Edition. Colm. Agrip. 1618, (Sacrorum Conciliorum, J.D. Mansi (ed.), Vol. 32, col. 761), (also quoted in History of the Councils, vol. XIV, col 109, by Labbe and Cossart).
"To believe that our Lord God the Pope has not the power to decree as he is decreed, is to be deemed heretical." The Gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII, Cum. Inter, title 14, chapter 4, "Ad Callem Sexti Decretalium", Column 140, Paris, 1685. (In an Antwerp edition of the Extravagantes, the words, "Dominum Deum Nostrum Papam" (“Our Lord God the Pope”) can be found in column 153).
"It is quite certain that Popes have never disapproved or rejected this title 'Lord God the Pope' for the passage in the gloss referred to appears in the edition of the Canon Law published in Rome by Gregory XIII." Statement from Fr. A. Pereira.
"Those whom the Pope of Rome doth separate, it is not a man that separates them but God. For the Pope holdeth place on earth, not simply of a man but of the true God....dissolves, not by human but rather by divine authority....I am in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the vicar of God, hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do...wherefore, if those things that I do be said not to be done of man, but of God, what do you make of me but God? Again, if prelates of the Church be called of Constantine for gods, I then being above all prelates, seem by this reason to be above all gods." Decretales Domini Gregori ix Translatione Episcoporum, (on the Transference of Bishops), title 7, chapter 3; Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; (Paris, 1612), tom. 2, Decretales, col. 205 (while Innocent III was Pope).
"The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth." Quoted in the New York Catechism.
"The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God...
"The Pope alone is called most holy...
"Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of hell.
"Moreover the superiority and the power of the Roman Pontiff by no means pertains only to heavenly things, but also earthly things, and to things under the earth, and even over the angels, whom he his greater than.
"So that if it were possible that the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope....
"...the Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power." Lucius Ferraris, in "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica", Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", #1, 5, 13-15, 18, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.
"[Pope] PIUS XI, Pontifex Maximus." Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (The Promotion of True Religious Unity), Encyclical promulgated on January 6, 1928.
http://www.catholicism.org/pages/mortal.htm
"The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth." Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, "Cities Petrus Bertanous".
“...We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty..." Pope Leo XIII, in Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae (The Reunion of Christendom), Encyclical promulgated on June 20, 1894.
http://www.users.qwest.net/~slrorer/ReunionOfChristendom.htm
The Pope is Immortal
“...Our immortal predecessor, Pope Leo XIII...” Pope Pius XI, in Quas Primas (On the Feast of Christ the King), Encyclical promulgated on December 11, 1925, #18.
http://www.newadvent.org/docs/pi11qp.htm
The Pope is Infallible
“The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as Supreme Pastor and teacher of all the faithful--who confirms his brethren in the faith--he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals....The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter’s successor, ‘they exercise the supreme Magisterium,’ above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magistrium proposes a doctrine ‘for belief as being divinely revealed,’ and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions ‘must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.’ This infallibility extends as far as the doposit of divine revelation itself.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, #891, 1994 edition.
"The Pope cannot make a mistake." Pope Gregory VII, (quoted by The Benedictine Network in a listing of notable items by the various popes throughout history).
http://www.whiterobedmonks.org/netsor1a.html
The Pope's Crown Bears This Inscription
Question. "What are the letters supposed to be in the Pope's crown, and what do they signify if anything?
Answer. "The letters inscribed in the Pope's mitre are these: Vicarius Filii Dei, which is the Latin for Vicar of the Son of God. Catholics hold that the Church which is a visible society must have a visible head. Christ, before His ascension into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as His representative. Upon the death of Peter the man who succeeded to the office of Peter as Bishop of Rome, was recognized as the head of the Church. Hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of the Church, was given the title 'Vicar of Christ.'
"Enemies of the Papacy denounce this title as a malicious assumption. But the Bible informs us that Christ did not only give His Church authority to teach, but also to rule. Laying claim to the authority to rule in Christ's spiritual kingdom, in Christ's stead, is not a whit more malicious than laying claim to the authority to teach in Christ's name. And this every Christian minister does." Our Sunday Visitor, (Catholic Weekly), April 18, 1915, thirteenth question under "Bureau of Information," p. 3, (on page 2 appears "sanctions for the editor" from Pope Pius X, dated May 17, 1914; from the Apostolic Delegate, John Bonzano, dated April 27, 1913; and from J. H. Alerding, Bishop of Fort Wayne, Ind., dated March 29, 1912).
"Ut sicut Beatus Petrus in terris vicarius Filii Dei fuit constitutus, ita et Pontifices eius successores in terris principatus potestatem amplius, quam terrenae imperialis nostrae seremitatis mansuetudo habere videtur." Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica, by Lucius Ferraris, Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", point #20, column 1828, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition. To see a copy of this document, please click here.
(Translated into English it reads: "As the blessed Peter was constituted Vicar of the Son of God on earth, so it is seen that the Pontiffs, his successors, hold from us and our empire the power of a supremacy on the earth greater than the clemency of our earthly imperial serenity.")
"Beatus Petrus in terris Vicarius filii Dei videtur esse constitutus." Decretum Gratiani, prima pars, dist. xcvi, col. 472, (first published at Bologna about 1148, and reprinted in 1555. Translation by Christopher B. Coleman, Ph. D., in "The Treatise of Lorenzo Vallo on the Donation of Constantine," p. 13. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922).
(Translated into the English this reads: "Blessed Peter is seen to have been constituted vicar of the son of God on the earth.")
"Beatus Petrus in terris Vicarius filii Dei esse videtur constitutus." Corpus Juris Canonici Emendatum et Notis Illustratum Gregorii XIII. Pont. Max., Lvgdvn., MDCXXII, col. 295.
"Beatus Petrus in terris vicarius Filii Dei esse videtur constitutus." Corpus Juris Canonici, Gregorii XIII, Pontif. Max., Auctoritate, Distinctio 96, Column 286, Canon Constantinus 14, Magdeburg, 1747.
The title given to the Pope is "Vicarius Filii Dei." Sacrosancta concilia ad regitionem exacta, by Philippe Labbe, SJ., Vol. I, p 1534: Paris, 1671.
"The temporal power in the hands of St. Gregory I was a fatherly and patriarchal rule over nations not as yet reduced to civil order. In the hands of St. Leo III it became a power of creating empires. In the hands of St. Gregory VII it was a scourge to chasten them. In the hands of Alexander III it was a dynasty, ruling supremely, in the name of God, over the powers of the world....So that I may say there never was a time when the temporal power of the Vicar of the Son of God, though assailed as we see it, was more firmly rooted throughout the whole unity of the Catholic Church.
"It was a dignified obedience to bow to the Vicar of the Son of God, and to remit the arbitration of their griefs to one whom all wills consented to obey." The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, by Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, pp. 231-232, second edition, London: Burns and Lambert, 1862.
The Pope Has All Power in Heaven and Earth and Can Change Divine Laws
"The Pope is of great authority and power, that he is able to modify, declare, or interpret even divine laws. The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth..." Lucius Ferraris, in "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica", Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", #30, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.
“Christ entrusted His office to the chief pontiff;... but all power in heaven and in earth has been given to Christ;... therefore the chief pontiff, who is His vicar, will have this power.” Corpus Juris, chap. 1, column 29, translated from a gloss on the words Porro Subesse Romano Pontiff.
“The Pope’s authority is unlimited, incalculable; it can strike, as Innocent III says, wherever sin is; it can punish every one; it allows no appeal and is itself Sovereign Caprice; for the Pope carries, according to the expression of Boniface VIII, all rights in the Shrine of his breast. As he has now become infallible, he can by the use of the little word, 'orbi,' (which means that he turns himself round to the whole Church) make every rule, every doctrine, every demand, into a certain and incontestable article of Faith. No right can stand against him, no personal or corporate liberty; or as the Canonists put it -- 'The tribunal of God and of the pope is one and the same.'” Ignaz von Dollinger, in “A Letter Addressed to the Archbishop of Munich”, 1871 (quoted in The Acton Newman Relations (Fordham University Press), by MacDougall, p 119-120).
"We may according to the fullness of our power, dispose of the law and dispense above the law. Those whom the Pope of Rome doth separate, it is not a man that separates them but God. For the Pope holdeth place on earth, not simply of a man but of the true God....dissolves, not by human but rather by divine authority....I am in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the vicar of God, hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do...Wherefore, no marvel, if it be in my power to dispense with all things, yea with the precepts of Christ." Decretales Domini Gregori ix Translatione Episcoporum, (on the Transference of Bishops), title 7, chapter 3; Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; (Paris, 1612), tom. 2, Decretales, col. 205 (while Innocent III was Pope).
"Therefore the decision of the Pope and the decision of God constitute one decision....Since, therefore, an appeal is always made from an inferior judge to a superior, just as no one is greater than himself, so no appeal holds when made from the Pope to God, because there is one consistory of the Pope himself and of God Himself." Augustinus Triumphus, in Summa de Potestate Ecclesiastica, 1483, questio 6. Latin.
The Pope Can Change, Add to, or Take Away From, and His Word is Greater than the Holy Scriptures
"We confess that the Pope has power of changing Scripture and of adding to it, and taking from it, according to his will." Roman Catholic Confessions for Protestants Oath, Article XI, (Confessio Romano-Catholica in Hungaria Evangelicis publice praescripta te proposita, editi a Streitwolf), as recorded in Congressional Record of the U.S.A., House Bill 1523, Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell, against Thos. S. Butler, Feb. 15, 1913.
http://www.geocities.com/visplace/godsmith20.htm
"We confess that whatever new thing the Pope ordains, rather it be in Scriptures or not in Scripture, and whatever he commands is true, divine and salvific; and therefore ought to be held by Lay People in greater esteem than the living God." Roman Catholic Confessions for Protestants Oath, Article IV, (Confessio Romano-Catholica in Hungaria Evangelicis publice praescripta te proposita, editi a Streitwolf), as recorded in Congressional Record of the U.S.A., House Bill 1523, Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell, against Thos. S. Butler, Feb. 15, 1913.
http://www.geocities.com/visplace/godsmith20.htm
All People Must Be Subject to the Authority of the Pope in Order to be in God's True Church
"It is absolutely necessary that the Christian community be subject in all things to the Sovereign Pontiff if it wishes to be a part of the divinely-established society founded by our Redeemer." Pope Pius XII, Orientalis Ecclesiae, quoted in "Acta Apostolicae Sedis", 36:129, Rome: Vatican Press, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"Where Peter (or his successor) is, there is the Church." St. Ambrose, Commentary on Twelve of David's Psalms, XL:30; JUR, vol. 2:1261, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"You above all, venerable brothers, have known how this dogma of our religion has been unanimously and unceasingly declared, defended and insisted upon in synods by the Fathers of the Church. Indeed, they have never stopped teaching that 'God is one, Christ is one, the Church established upon Peter by the voice of the Lord is one;' 'the massive foundation of the great Christian state has been divinely built upon, as it were, this rock, this very firm stone;' 'this Chair, which is unique and the first of gifts, has always been designated and considered as the Chair of Peter;' 'shining forth throughout the world it maintains its primacy;' 'it is also the root and matrix whence sacerdotal unity has sprung;' it is not only the head but also the mother and teacher of all the Churches...'the Roman Pontiff, who holds Primacy in the entire world, is the Successor of Blessed Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the true Vicar of Christ, the head of the whole Church, and is the visible Father and Teacher of all Christians.' There are other, almost countless, proofs drawn from the most trustworthy witnesses which clearly and openly testify with great faith, exactitude, respect and obedience that all who want to belong to the true and only Church of Christ must honor and obey this Apostolic See and Roman Pontiff." Pope Pius IX, Amantissimus (On The Care Of The Churches), Encyclical promulgated on April 8, 1862, # 3.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/P9AMANT2.HTM
"No one is found in the one Church of Christ, and no one perseveres in it, unless he acknowledges and accepts obediently the supreme authority of St. Peter and his legitimate successors." Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, PTC:873, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"It is an error to believe that a man is in the Church if he abandons the See of Peter, the foundation of the Church." St. Cyprian, UOC, CSL, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 207 (1868), (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"If, therefore, the Greeks or others say that they are not committed to Peter and to his successors, they necessarily say that they are not of the sheep of Christ, since the Lord says that there is only one fold and one shepherd (Jn.10:16). Whoever, therefore, resists this authority, resists the command of God Himself. " Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, DNZ:468, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
All Who Separate From the Control of the Pope are Without Christ
"Remember and understand well that where Peter is, there is the Church; that those who refuse to associate in communion with the Chair of Peter belong to Antichrist, not to Christ. He who would separate himself from the Roman Pontiff has no further bond with Christ." Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, quoted in "Acts of Leo XIII: Supreme Pontiff", Rome: Vatican Press, 1896, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
All People Must Be Subject to the Authority of the Pope in Order to be Saved
"Christ Jesus left you this sweet key of obedience; for He left His Vicar, whom you are all obliged to obey until death. And whoever is outside his obedience is in a state of damnation." St. Catherine of Siena, MCH, reference #374, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"Although the devil desired to sift all the disciples, the Lord testifies that He Himself asked for Peter alone, and wished that the others be confirmed by him (Lk. 22:32); and to Peter as well was committed the care of "feeding the sheep" (Jn. 21:15); and also to him did the Lord hand over the "keys to the kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 16:19). If, however, anyone believes contrary to this, let him know he is condemned and anathematized. Consider, therefore, that whoever has not been in the peace and unity of the Church cannot have the Lord. Those not willing to be at agreement in the Church of God cannot abide with God. For the Church of God is established among those known to preside over the Apostolic Sees, and whoever separates himself from these Sees is manifestly in schism." Pope Pelagius II, Quod Ad Dilectionem," DNZ:246; "Dilectionis Vestrae," DNZ:247, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"...our Divine Redeemer also governs His Mystical Body in a visible and normal way through His Vicar on earth....After His glorious Ascension into heaven this Church rested not on Him alone, but on Peter too, its visible foundation stone. That Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head is the solemn teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in the Apostolic Letter Unam Sanctam; and his successors have never ceased to repeat the same.
"They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it....
"As the Divine Redeemer sent the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, who in His name should govern the Church in an invisible way, so, in the same manner, He commissioned Peter and his successors to be His personal representatives on earth and to assume the visible government of the Christian community." Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi (On the Mystical Body of Christ), Encyclical promulgated on June 29, 1943, #41-42, 69.
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12MYSTI.HTM
"Those who are obstinate toward the authority of the Roman Pontiff cannot obtain eternal salvation." Pope Pius IX, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore, DNZ:1677, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"We teach,...We declare that the Roman Church by the Providence of God holds the primacy of ordinary power over all others, and that this power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is immediate. Toward it, the pastors and the faithful of whatever rite and dignity, both individually and collectively, are bound by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, not only in matters which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which concern the discipline and government of the Church spread throughout the whole world, in such a way that once the unity of communion and the profession of the same Faith has been preserved with the Roman Pontiff, there is one flock of the Church of Christ under one supreme shepherd. This is the teaching of the Catholic truth from which no one can depart without loss of faith and salvation." Pope Pius XII, Ad Apostolorum Principis (On Communism And The Church In China), Encyclical Promulgated on June 29, 1958, #46.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061958_ad-apostolorum-principis_en.html
"He who does not enter by the door of the fold shall not have salvation. The door of the fold is the Catholic Church and union with the Head who represents Jesus Christ." St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, "Travels", Chicago: 1944, p. 170, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins...There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed....Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff." Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, Bull promulgated on November 18, 1302.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/B7UNAM.HTM
"The Saviour Himself is the door of the sheepfold: 'I am the door of the sheep.' Into this fold of Jesus Christ, no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff; and only if they be united to him can men be saved, for the Roman Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ and His personal representative on earth." Pope John XXIII, in To the Bishops and Faithful Assisting at His Coronation, Homily given on November 4, 1958.
"O glorious St. Peter, obtain for us a sincere loyalty to our Holy Mother the Church; grant that we may ever remain most closely and sincerely united to the Roman Pontiff who is the heir of thy faith and authority: the one, true, visible head of the Catholic Church, that mystical Ark outside which there is no salvation." Pope Benedict XV, RAC:484, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Outside the One True Church").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic2chp1.html
"But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself. This obedience should, however, be perfect...(and) must consequently be accepted without wavering....
"Wherefore it belongs to the Pope to judge authoritatively what things the sacred oracles contain, as well as what doctrines are in harmony, and what in disagreement, with them; and also, for the same reason, to show forth what things are to be accepted as right, and what to be rejected as worthless; what it is necessary to do and what to avoid doing, in order to attain eternal salvation." Pope Leo XIII, in Sapientiae Christianae (On Christians As Citizens), Encyclical promulgated on January 10, 1890, #22-24.
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13sapie.htm
"To be subject to the Roman Pontiff is absolutely necessary for salvation." St. Thomas Aquinas, Against the Errors of the Greeks, Pt. 2, ch. 36; PTC:484, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"This is our last lesson to you: receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of you: by God's commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church; the strong and effective instrument of salvation is none other than the Roman Pontificate." Pope Leo XIII, in Allocution for the 25th Anniversary of His Election, given on February 20, 1903 (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 653).
"It is necessary for salvation that all the faithful of Christ be subject to the Roman Pontiff." Fifth Lateran Council, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 4: "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic4chp4.html
"No man...outside the faith of the Church and obedience to the Roman Pontiff can finally be saved." Pope Clement VI, Epistle of September 29, 1351, (quoted in article "Is There Salvation Outside the Church?")
http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=964
Even if the Pope is in Error or Were Evil, He Still Holds Power Over All Christ's Faithful!
"...whether it be possible for him (the Pope) to err or not, is to be obeyed by all the faithful." St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice, pt. 5, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"It is error to believe that, if the Pope were a reprobate and an evil man and consequently a member of the devil, he has no power over the faithful." Council of Constance, Condemnation of Errors, against Wycliffe, Session VIII, and Hus: Session XV; DNZ:621, 617, 588, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom. He who rebels against our Father is condemned to death, for that which we do to him we do to Christ: we honor Christ if we honor the Pope; we dishonor Christ if we dishonor the Pope. I know very well that many defend themselves by boasting: "They are so corrupt, and work all manner of evil!" But God has commanded that, even if the priests, the pastors, and Christ-on-earth were incarnate devils, we be obedient and subject to them, not for their sakes, but for the sake of God, and out of obedience to Him." St. Catherine of Siena, SCS, p. 201-202, p. 222, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
"It is error to believe that, if the Pope were wicked and reprobate, then he is of the devil and is not head of the Church Militant..." Pope Martin V, Inter Cunctas et in Eminentis, DNZ:646, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 5: "The Book of Obedience", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Without Personal Submission to the Pope").
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6480/catholics/apostolic5chp1.html
The Pope is Christ's Replacement (Vicar or Vicegerent) on Earth
"The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land....He is the vicegerent of Christ, and is not only a priest forever, but also King of kings and Lord of lords." La Civilta Cattolica, March 18, 1871 (quoted in "An Inside View of the Vatican Council" by Leonard Woosely Bacaon, p 229, American Tract Society edition).
"We the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, prostrate at the feet of your Holiness, humbly offer you our warmest congratulations on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of your ordination to the priesthood...our thoughts go back to that great event fifty years ago by which your Holiness was taken from amongst men and appointed for men in the things that pertain to God, was made a minister of Christ and a dispenser of His mysteries, received power over the real and mystical body of our Saviour and became a mediator between God and man - another Christ." Address of Irish Archbishops and Bishops to Pope Pius Xll, in 1949.
"Receive the tiara adorned with three crowns and know that thou art Father of princes and kings, Ruler of the world, Vicar of our Savior Jesus Christ." Papal Coronation Ceremony.
“All the names which are attributed to Christ in Scripture, implying His supremacy over the church, are also attributed to the Pope.” Robert Bellarmine, in Disputationes de Controversiis, "On the Authority of Councils", book 2, Chapter 17.
"...we promulgate anew the definition of the ecumenical council of Florence, which must be believed by all faithful Christians, namely that the apostolic see and the Roman pontiff hold a world-wide primacy, and that the Roman pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, true vicar of Christ, head of the whole church and father and teacher of all christian people. To him, in blessed Peter, full power has been given by our lord Jesus Christ to tend, rule and govern the universal church....
"So, then, if anyone says that the Roman pontiff...has only the principal part, but not the absolute fullness, of this supreme power; or that this power of his is not ordinary and immediate both over all and each of the churches and over all and each of the pastors and faithful: let him be anathema." Pope Pius IX, in First Vatican Council, Session 4, First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, Chapter 3, #1, 9, July 18, 1870.
http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum20.htm
"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, he is Jesus Christ himself, hidden under the veil of flesh." Catholic National, July, 1895.
Supreme Papal Authority Comes From the Law of the Caesars
"...superior papal authority and dominion is derived from the law of the Caesars." Lucius Ferraris, in "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica", Volume V, article on "Papa, Article II", titled "Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility", #19, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.
"...the appellation of God had been confirmed by Constantine on the Pope, who being God, cannot be judged by man." Pope Nicholas I, quoted in History of the Councils, vol. IX, Dist.: 96, Can 7, "Satis Evidentur Decret Gratian Primer Para", by Labbe and Cossart.
GOD’S LAST MESSAGE OF MERCY
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17).
All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life. (see Isaiah 43:25)….
We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the typical service, while the high priest was making the atonement for Israel, all were required to afflict their souls by repentance of sin and humiliation before the Lord, lest they be cut off from among the people. In like manner, all who would have their names retained in the book of life, should now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow for sin and true repentance. There must be deep, faithful searching of heart...The work of preparation is an individual work. We are not saved in groups...Everyone must be tested and found without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. (1)
FALSE PROPHETS
While the false prophets are crying, “Peace and Safety,” and are seeking to soothe the consciences of men, saying to the sinner, “Don’t be alarmed. It shall be well with thee,” the voice of God’s servants must be heard to arouse them that are asleep, crying, “Sudden destruction cometh upon every soul of man who is not awake, watching and waiting for the appearance of their Lord in the clouds of heaven.” (2)
There is a great work to be done. The last message of mercy is being given to the world. Everything in the political world is stirred with agitation. There are wars and rumors of wars. The nations are angry...
A most solemn and important work is to be done in our world by God’s people. This work is represented by the third angel flying in the midst of heaven. The third angel’s message is preceded by the messages of the first and second angels. The first angel’s message proclaims the hour of God’s judgement. The second declares the fall of Babylon. (3)
THE FIRST ANGEL’S MESSAGE: (Rev 14:6-7)
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgement is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
THE SECOND ANGEL’S MESSAGE: (Rev 14:8)
“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
THE THIRD ANGEL’S MESSAGE: (Rev 14:9-12)
“And the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
John (the Revelator) beholds a people distinct and separate from the world, who refuse to worship the beast or his image, who bear God’s sign, keeping holy His Sabbath. Of them the apostle writes, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12).
THE FOURTH ANGEL’S MESSAGE: (Rev 18:1-5)
“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lighted with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich with the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her (all apostate churches), my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”
WHAT IS SIN?
What is sin?—“the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). God denounces Babylon, “because she made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Revelation 14:8). This means, that she [the churches] has disregarded the only commandment that points out the true God, and has torn down the Sabbath [Saturday], God’s memorial of creation.
God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh, sanctifying this day, and setting it apart from all the others as holy to Himself, to be observed by His people throughout their generations. But the man of sin, exalting himself above God, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself to be God, [has] thought to change times and laws. This power (Catholic church), thinking to prove that it was not only equal to God, but above God, changed the rest day, placing the first day of the week where the seventh should be. And the Protestant world has taken this child of the papacy to be regarded as sacred. This is called in the Word of God, her fornication.
GOD HAS A CONTROVERSY WITH THE CHURCHES!
God has a controversy with the churches today. They are fulfilling the prophecy of John: “All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” They have divorced themselves from God by refusing to receive His sign. They have not the spirit of God’s true commandment-keeping people. And the people of the world, in giving their sanction to a false sabbath, and in trampling under their feet the Sabbath of the Lord, have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
God set the seventh day apart as the day of His rest (see Exodus 20:8-11). But the man of sin has set up a false sabbath, which the kings and merchants of the earth have accepted and exalted above the Sabbath of the Bible. In doing this, they have chosen a religion like that of Cain’s, who slew his brother Abel. Cain and Abel both offered sacrifice to God. Abel’s offering was accepted because he complied with God’s requirements. Cain’s was rejected because he followed his own human inventions. Because of this he became very angry that he would not listen to Abel’s entreaties or God’s warning and reproofs, but slew his brother.
A SPURIOUS REST DAY
By accepting a spurious rest day the churches have dishonored God. The people of the world accept the falsehood, and are angry because God’s commandment-keeping people do not respect and reverence Sunday. God says, “Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her” (Revelation 18:5-8).
God declares, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:9-10). God will punish those who attempt to compel their fellow men to keep the first day of the week. They tempt them to deny their allegiance to God. They accept the fruit of the forbidden tree, and try to force others to eat of it. They will try to compel their fellow men to work on the seventh day of the week and rest the first. God says of them, “They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation” (verse 10).
“Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep,” the Lord says, “for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you” (Exodus 31:13). Some will seek to place obstacles in the way of the Sabbath observance, saying, “You do not know what day is the Sabbath;” but they seem to understand when Sunday comes, and have manifested great zeal in making laws for its observance, as though they could control the consciences of men.
GOD’S SABBATH: A SIGN AND TEST OF LOYALTY
God has given men the Sabbath as a sign between Him and them; as a test of their loyalty. Those who, after the light regarding God’s law comes to them, continue to disobey, and exalt human laws above the law of God in the great crisis before us, will receive the mark of the beast. The prosperity of God’s people is dependent on their obedience. The Lord declares: “And it shall come to pass, if ye hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish from off the good land which the Lord giveth you” (Deuteronomy 11:13-17).
In His dealings with ancient Israel God has given us an illustration of the result that will follow an unrighteous, disobedient course. He will punish all who make His glory to be reproached, even as He punished the children of Israel. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, even as Jerusalem, by her own course of action, was humiliated and brought low. Her people chose Barabbas, and God left them to their choice. They would not submit to God’s way, and He permitted them to have their own way, and to carry out the purposes of their unsanctified hearts.
Christ warned the Jews of their danger, and entreated them to return to God, and they were too proud to accept His overtures of mercy. They persisted in a course of rebellion, and as a result the protection of God’s heavenly intelligences was withdrawn from them…
Those who think they are pleasing God by obeying some other law than His, and by performing works other than those the gospel has enjoined, are mocking God. They are insulting the Holy One of Israel…
When Christ saw in the Jewish people a nation divorced from God, He saw also a professed Christian church united to the world and the papacy. And as He stood upon the Mount Olivet, weeping over Jerusalem till the sun sank behind the western hills, so He is watching over, and pleading with sinners in these last moments of time. Soon He will say to the angels who are holding the four winds, “Let the plagues loose. Let darkness, destruction, and death come upon the transgressors of My law.” Will He be obliged to say to those who had great light and great knowledge, as He said to the Jews, “O that thou hast known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.” (See Luke 19:42). (4)
CHRIST’S RETURN -- NEARER THAN MANY THINK
We have no time to lose. The powers of darkness are working with intense energy, and with stealthy tread Satan is advancing to take those who are now asleep, as a wolf taking his prey…
The coming of the Lord is nearer than we first believed. The great controversy is nearing its end. Every report of calamity by sea or land (or by air) is a testimony to the fact that the end of all things is at hand. (5)
A HEAVEN TO WIN AND A HELL TO SHUN
Let us be ready, alert, and faithful, in obeying the whole law, and be receptive of the Divine grace. Let us “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). We have a God who is loving and just, patient and long suffering, but let us not exhaust His patience by our stubborn, selfish, ease-loving behavior. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun, so let us “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22).
________________________
1. Great Controversy, p 483, 489-90.
2. Last Day Events, p 64 (Letter 34, October 12, 1875).
3. Last Day Events, p 126 (Letter 98, July 10, 1900).
4. Last Day Events, p 126-28 (Letter 98, July 10, 1900).
5. Review & Herald, November 12, 1914.
All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life. (see Isaiah 43:25)….
We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the typical service, while the high priest was making the atonement for Israel, all were required to afflict their souls by repentance of sin and humiliation before the Lord, lest they be cut off from among the people. In like manner, all who would have their names retained in the book of life, should now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow for sin and true repentance. There must be deep, faithful searching of heart...The work of preparation is an individual work. We are not saved in groups...Everyone must be tested and found without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. (1)
FALSE PROPHETS
While the false prophets are crying, “Peace and Safety,” and are seeking to soothe the consciences of men, saying to the sinner, “Don’t be alarmed. It shall be well with thee,” the voice of God’s servants must be heard to arouse them that are asleep, crying, “Sudden destruction cometh upon every soul of man who is not awake, watching and waiting for the appearance of their Lord in the clouds of heaven.” (2)
There is a great work to be done. The last message of mercy is being given to the world. Everything in the political world is stirred with agitation. There are wars and rumors of wars. The nations are angry...
A most solemn and important work is to be done in our world by God’s people. This work is represented by the third angel flying in the midst of heaven. The third angel’s message is preceded by the messages of the first and second angels. The first angel’s message proclaims the hour of God’s judgement. The second declares the fall of Babylon. (3)
THE FIRST ANGEL’S MESSAGE: (Rev 14:6-7)
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgement is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
THE SECOND ANGEL’S MESSAGE: (Rev 14:8)
“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
THE THIRD ANGEL’S MESSAGE: (Rev 14:9-12)
“And the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
John (the Revelator) beholds a people distinct and separate from the world, who refuse to worship the beast or his image, who bear God’s sign, keeping holy His Sabbath. Of them the apostle writes, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12).
THE FOURTH ANGEL’S MESSAGE: (Rev 18:1-5)
“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lighted with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich with the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her (all apostate churches), my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”
WHAT IS SIN?
What is sin?—“the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). God denounces Babylon, “because she made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Revelation 14:8). This means, that she [the churches] has disregarded the only commandment that points out the true God, and has torn down the Sabbath [Saturday], God’s memorial of creation.
God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh, sanctifying this day, and setting it apart from all the others as holy to Himself, to be observed by His people throughout their generations. But the man of sin, exalting himself above God, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself to be God, [has] thought to change times and laws. This power (Catholic church), thinking to prove that it was not only equal to God, but above God, changed the rest day, placing the first day of the week where the seventh should be. And the Protestant world has taken this child of the papacy to be regarded as sacred. This is called in the Word of God, her fornication.
GOD HAS A CONTROVERSY WITH THE CHURCHES!
God has a controversy with the churches today. They are fulfilling the prophecy of John: “All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” They have divorced themselves from God by refusing to receive His sign. They have not the spirit of God’s true commandment-keeping people. And the people of the world, in giving their sanction to a false sabbath, and in trampling under their feet the Sabbath of the Lord, have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
God set the seventh day apart as the day of His rest (see Exodus 20:8-11). But the man of sin has set up a false sabbath, which the kings and merchants of the earth have accepted and exalted above the Sabbath of the Bible. In doing this, they have chosen a religion like that of Cain’s, who slew his brother Abel. Cain and Abel both offered sacrifice to God. Abel’s offering was accepted because he complied with God’s requirements. Cain’s was rejected because he followed his own human inventions. Because of this he became very angry that he would not listen to Abel’s entreaties or God’s warning and reproofs, but slew his brother.
A SPURIOUS REST DAY
By accepting a spurious rest day the churches have dishonored God. The people of the world accept the falsehood, and are angry because God’s commandment-keeping people do not respect and reverence Sunday. God says, “Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her” (Revelation 18:5-8).
God declares, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:9-10). God will punish those who attempt to compel their fellow men to keep the first day of the week. They tempt them to deny their allegiance to God. They accept the fruit of the forbidden tree, and try to force others to eat of it. They will try to compel their fellow men to work on the seventh day of the week and rest the first. God says of them, “They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation” (verse 10).
“Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep,” the Lord says, “for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you” (Exodus 31:13). Some will seek to place obstacles in the way of the Sabbath observance, saying, “You do not know what day is the Sabbath;” but they seem to understand when Sunday comes, and have manifested great zeal in making laws for its observance, as though they could control the consciences of men.
GOD’S SABBATH: A SIGN AND TEST OF LOYALTY
God has given men the Sabbath as a sign between Him and them; as a test of their loyalty. Those who, after the light regarding God’s law comes to them, continue to disobey, and exalt human laws above the law of God in the great crisis before us, will receive the mark of the beast. The prosperity of God’s people is dependent on their obedience. The Lord declares: “And it shall come to pass, if ye hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish from off the good land which the Lord giveth you” (Deuteronomy 11:13-17).
In His dealings with ancient Israel God has given us an illustration of the result that will follow an unrighteous, disobedient course. He will punish all who make His glory to be reproached, even as He punished the children of Israel. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, even as Jerusalem, by her own course of action, was humiliated and brought low. Her people chose Barabbas, and God left them to their choice. They would not submit to God’s way, and He permitted them to have their own way, and to carry out the purposes of their unsanctified hearts.
Christ warned the Jews of their danger, and entreated them to return to God, and they were too proud to accept His overtures of mercy. They persisted in a course of rebellion, and as a result the protection of God’s heavenly intelligences was withdrawn from them…
Those who think they are pleasing God by obeying some other law than His, and by performing works other than those the gospel has enjoined, are mocking God. They are insulting the Holy One of Israel…
When Christ saw in the Jewish people a nation divorced from God, He saw also a professed Christian church united to the world and the papacy. And as He stood upon the Mount Olivet, weeping over Jerusalem till the sun sank behind the western hills, so He is watching over, and pleading with sinners in these last moments of time. Soon He will say to the angels who are holding the four winds, “Let the plagues loose. Let darkness, destruction, and death come upon the transgressors of My law.” Will He be obliged to say to those who had great light and great knowledge, as He said to the Jews, “O that thou hast known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.” (See Luke 19:42). (4)
CHRIST’S RETURN -- NEARER THAN MANY THINK
We have no time to lose. The powers of darkness are working with intense energy, and with stealthy tread Satan is advancing to take those who are now asleep, as a wolf taking his prey…
The coming of the Lord is nearer than we first believed. The great controversy is nearing its end. Every report of calamity by sea or land (or by air) is a testimony to the fact that the end of all things is at hand. (5)
A HEAVEN TO WIN AND A HELL TO SHUN
Let us be ready, alert, and faithful, in obeying the whole law, and be receptive of the Divine grace. Let us “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). We have a God who is loving and just, patient and long suffering, but let us not exhaust His patience by our stubborn, selfish, ease-loving behavior. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun, so let us “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22).
________________________
1. Great Controversy, p 483, 489-90.
2. Last Day Events, p 64 (Letter 34, October 12, 1875).
3. Last Day Events, p 126 (Letter 98, July 10, 1900).
4. Last Day Events, p 126-28 (Letter 98, July 10, 1900).
5. Review & Herald, November 12, 1914.
THE FINAL JUDGMENT
The culmination of the gospel is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Of this event the New Testament writers spoke over three hundred times! Connected with this event is the deliverance and vindication of the people of God. To this event Abraham and the other patriarchs looked forward to (see Hebrews 11:10, 13-16).
In viewing this scene, John sees the bride of Christ dressed in white. "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Revelation 19:8.
We know that this bride is the church, or saints of God (see 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:23-24). It has been Satan's great lie that salvation consists in our passive acceptance of the salvation Christ wrought out by His life and sacrifice; that all that is necessary for us to do is to accept the work He has done on Calvary. But we read that the white robe worn by the saints is the robe of their righteousness. "...let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." 1 John 3:7.
It is true that their righteousness is obtained through Jesus, but the saints do not just give lip service to the fact that God's law is holy and just and good (see Romans 7:12), but they exemplify this law in their lives (see Revelation 14:12). Through an active and living faith they have become partakers of the divine nature and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust (see 2 Peter 1:4). By faith in Jesus working in and through them they have been cleansed from all sin, and from all defects of character.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20.
To many, the passing of time without the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus' second coming is a source of perplexity. But the Bible tells us the reason for this apparent delay. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Revelation 19:7. The delay has been due to the fact that the wife, or the church of Christ, has not prepared, or made herself ready, to meet Him. And the way Christ's church makes herself ready is by removing all spots and stains of sin from their character (see Ephesians 5:23-27).
Our character is revealed by the things we do, not by occasional good deeds or occasional misdeeds, but by the habits we have developed. The little incidents of everyday life that so often pass without our notice are the things that shape our character. Every event of life has great consequences--either for good or for evil. The longer a given course of conduct is pursued, the greater the probability of continuing the same course throughout the life.
The character we cultivate, the attitudes we assume today, are fixing our destiny for time and eternity. The choices we make and the deeds that result are all faithfully chronicled in the heavenly books of record (see Revelation 20:11-15). It is there shown whether our characters are after the order of obedience, or of lawlessness which originated as rebellion in Lucifer. We are deciding today, by our attitudes and character, whether we will be found wearing the white robe of righteousness or will be lost when Jesus returns.
Indecision soon becomes decision in the wrong direction. Many will fail of entering into heaven and eternal life because they failed to make determined efforts, through Jesus, to overcome their defects of character here on earth. Many, while expecting to overcome the problems in their lives at some future time, are deciding today for eternal loss.
Jesus came to earth the first time as the Saviour of mankind. He brought to the world words of life (see John 6:63), that by receiving them all who would might obtain salvation. Jesus warned, however, that those who refused to receive these words would be judged by them. "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John 12:48. When Jesus comes the second time, it is not as a Saviour but as a Judge. "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Revelation 22:12.
When Jesus returns, all of the righteous dead are resurrected, and with the living righteous are taken to meet Jesus in the air (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The secret to being a part of this first resurrection is by overcoming all sin; for those only who have overcome by the power that Jesus has made available to all will be found written in the Lamb's book of life, and only those whose names are found written in this book have a part in this resurrection.
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." Revelation 3:5.
At the appearing of Jesus, the righteous rejoice at the sight (see Isaiah 25:9). The wicked are terrified and seek to flee from His presence (see Revelation 6:16), and are slain by the brightness of His appearing (see Revelation 19:21; 2 Thessalonians 2:8). It is at this time that Satan is bound for a thousand years, after which he will once again be loosed for a little while (see Revelation 20:1-3).
No Future Opportunity To Change
Many have been mislead to expect a future opportunity of making a decision for salvation at the time when Satan is to be bound; but we can plainly see that Satan is not bound until the time that Jesus returns, at which time the righteous are taken to heaven and the wicked are destroyed. (For more information on this, please write for our tract on the Secret Rapture.)
The binding of Satan is the confinement of circumstances. We have all heard the expression: "my hands are tied." We understand this to mean that the person is speaking of the fact that because of circumstances beyond his control, he is prevented from doing that which he would otherwise choose to do. In this situation, Satan is confined to this earth. The wicked are dead, the righteous are removed, and after six thousand years of intense activity, this fallen angel is forced to contemplate his impending judgement. Isaiah also speaks of this time:
"Yet thou (Lucifer) shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms...But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned." Isaiah 14:15-16, 19-20.
While the judgement began with the preaching of the gospel (see Revelation 14:6-7), it is still not finished; for we read that judgement will be given to the saints (see Revelation 20:4). Paul tells us that the saints will judge, not only the earth, but angels (see 1 Corinthians 6:2-3).
In every trial there are three phases of judgement--investigative, sentencing, and execution of the sentence. The first is the investigative judgement. At this time, the evidence is reviewed and weighed and a decision made as to whether guilt exists or not. If it is determined that the accused party is innocent, his trial is then ended with an acquittal. Paul speaks of this to Timothy:
"Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgement; and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid." 1 Timothy 5:24-25.
Some men, by their confession and forsaking of sin, have sent their sins beforehand to judgement and have been forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus. But others have refused to do so, and any unconfessed or unforsaken sins which have not gone beforehand to judgement will remain unforgiven to condemn them in the last day. They will be weighed in the balance and found wanting. This investigative judgement must be completed before Jesus comes, because when He comes all decisions have already been made as to who are the saved and who are the lost. It will then be too late to get ready! We must be ready now, with our sins confessed, forsaken, and forgiven, before Christ comes! After Christ comes all decisions are made, and the second phase of judgement takes place--the sentencing.
In every trial, when the guilt of the defendant has been determined, there is a date set for sentencing. During this period of time, the evidence that has been produced in the trial is evaluated and the sentence determined. It is in this second phase that the righteous saints participate.
Just as there was a resurrection to life of the saints at the second coming of Jesus, there is yet one more resurrection to be experienced--the resurrection of damnation (see John 5:29). The lost, those who were not taken to heaven at the first resurrection, come forth from their graves at the end of the thousand years (see Revelation 20:5). At this time, Satan is released for a little while and immediately begins again his work of deception (see Revelation 20:5,7-9).
Determined to the end in their hatred of righteousness, the wicked under Satan's leadership try to capture the saints and take the holy city. It is at this time that the third and last phase of judgment occurs.
Stopped from carrying out their purposes, the wicked suffer the executive judgement determined against them in the sentencing phase. Fire comes down from heaven which completely burns up all the wicked--including Satan or Lucifer himself--and all become nothing but ashes (see Ezekiel 28:18; Malachi 4:3). In this lake of fire all sin and sinners are forever removed from the universe, and all traces of rebellion are eternally eliminated.
With this vivid picture of the judgment before you, the great question which needs to concern you is: How can I save myself from such a fiery and terrible destiny? God mercifully tells you how:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life....that the world through him might be saved....and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:16-17, 36.
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; an purify your hearts, ye double-minded....Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." James 4:7-8, 10.
"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ...Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:1,4-8.
"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteousness: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." 1 John 2:1-6.
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.
In viewing this scene, John sees the bride of Christ dressed in white. "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Revelation 19:8.
We know that this bride is the church, or saints of God (see 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:23-24). It has been Satan's great lie that salvation consists in our passive acceptance of the salvation Christ wrought out by His life and sacrifice; that all that is necessary for us to do is to accept the work He has done on Calvary. But we read that the white robe worn by the saints is the robe of their righteousness. "...let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." 1 John 3:7.
It is true that their righteousness is obtained through Jesus, but the saints do not just give lip service to the fact that God's law is holy and just and good (see Romans 7:12), but they exemplify this law in their lives (see Revelation 14:12). Through an active and living faith they have become partakers of the divine nature and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust (see 2 Peter 1:4). By faith in Jesus working in and through them they have been cleansed from all sin, and from all defects of character.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20.
To many, the passing of time without the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus' second coming is a source of perplexity. But the Bible tells us the reason for this apparent delay. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Revelation 19:7. The delay has been due to the fact that the wife, or the church of Christ, has not prepared, or made herself ready, to meet Him. And the way Christ's church makes herself ready is by removing all spots and stains of sin from their character (see Ephesians 5:23-27).
Our character is revealed by the things we do, not by occasional good deeds or occasional misdeeds, but by the habits we have developed. The little incidents of everyday life that so often pass without our notice are the things that shape our character. Every event of life has great consequences--either for good or for evil. The longer a given course of conduct is pursued, the greater the probability of continuing the same course throughout the life.
The character we cultivate, the attitudes we assume today, are fixing our destiny for time and eternity. The choices we make and the deeds that result are all faithfully chronicled in the heavenly books of record (see Revelation 20:11-15). It is there shown whether our characters are after the order of obedience, or of lawlessness which originated as rebellion in Lucifer. We are deciding today, by our attitudes and character, whether we will be found wearing the white robe of righteousness or will be lost when Jesus returns.
Indecision soon becomes decision in the wrong direction. Many will fail of entering into heaven and eternal life because they failed to make determined efforts, through Jesus, to overcome their defects of character here on earth. Many, while expecting to overcome the problems in their lives at some future time, are deciding today for eternal loss.
Jesus came to earth the first time as the Saviour of mankind. He brought to the world words of life (see John 6:63), that by receiving them all who would might obtain salvation. Jesus warned, however, that those who refused to receive these words would be judged by them. "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John 12:48. When Jesus comes the second time, it is not as a Saviour but as a Judge. "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Revelation 22:12.
When Jesus returns, all of the righteous dead are resurrected, and with the living righteous are taken to meet Jesus in the air (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The secret to being a part of this first resurrection is by overcoming all sin; for those only who have overcome by the power that Jesus has made available to all will be found written in the Lamb's book of life, and only those whose names are found written in this book have a part in this resurrection.
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." Revelation 3:5.
At the appearing of Jesus, the righteous rejoice at the sight (see Isaiah 25:9). The wicked are terrified and seek to flee from His presence (see Revelation 6:16), and are slain by the brightness of His appearing (see Revelation 19:21; 2 Thessalonians 2:8). It is at this time that Satan is bound for a thousand years, after which he will once again be loosed for a little while (see Revelation 20:1-3).
No Future Opportunity To Change
Many have been mislead to expect a future opportunity of making a decision for salvation at the time when Satan is to be bound; but we can plainly see that Satan is not bound until the time that Jesus returns, at which time the righteous are taken to heaven and the wicked are destroyed. (For more information on this, please write for our tract on the Secret Rapture.)
The binding of Satan is the confinement of circumstances. We have all heard the expression: "my hands are tied." We understand this to mean that the person is speaking of the fact that because of circumstances beyond his control, he is prevented from doing that which he would otherwise choose to do. In this situation, Satan is confined to this earth. The wicked are dead, the righteous are removed, and after six thousand years of intense activity, this fallen angel is forced to contemplate his impending judgement. Isaiah also speaks of this time:
"Yet thou (Lucifer) shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms...But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned." Isaiah 14:15-16, 19-20.
While the judgement began with the preaching of the gospel (see Revelation 14:6-7), it is still not finished; for we read that judgement will be given to the saints (see Revelation 20:4). Paul tells us that the saints will judge, not only the earth, but angels (see 1 Corinthians 6:2-3).
In every trial there are three phases of judgement--investigative, sentencing, and execution of the sentence. The first is the investigative judgement. At this time, the evidence is reviewed and weighed and a decision made as to whether guilt exists or not. If it is determined that the accused party is innocent, his trial is then ended with an acquittal. Paul speaks of this to Timothy:
"Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgement; and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid." 1 Timothy 5:24-25.
Some men, by their confession and forsaking of sin, have sent their sins beforehand to judgement and have been forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus. But others have refused to do so, and any unconfessed or unforsaken sins which have not gone beforehand to judgement will remain unforgiven to condemn them in the last day. They will be weighed in the balance and found wanting. This investigative judgement must be completed before Jesus comes, because when He comes all decisions have already been made as to who are the saved and who are the lost. It will then be too late to get ready! We must be ready now, with our sins confessed, forsaken, and forgiven, before Christ comes! After Christ comes all decisions are made, and the second phase of judgement takes place--the sentencing.
In every trial, when the guilt of the defendant has been determined, there is a date set for sentencing. During this period of time, the evidence that has been produced in the trial is evaluated and the sentence determined. It is in this second phase that the righteous saints participate.
Just as there was a resurrection to life of the saints at the second coming of Jesus, there is yet one more resurrection to be experienced--the resurrection of damnation (see John 5:29). The lost, those who were not taken to heaven at the first resurrection, come forth from their graves at the end of the thousand years (see Revelation 20:5). At this time, Satan is released for a little while and immediately begins again his work of deception (see Revelation 20:5,7-9).
Determined to the end in their hatred of righteousness, the wicked under Satan's leadership try to capture the saints and take the holy city. It is at this time that the third and last phase of judgment occurs.
Stopped from carrying out their purposes, the wicked suffer the executive judgement determined against them in the sentencing phase. Fire comes down from heaven which completely burns up all the wicked--including Satan or Lucifer himself--and all become nothing but ashes (see Ezekiel 28:18; Malachi 4:3). In this lake of fire all sin and sinners are forever removed from the universe, and all traces of rebellion are eternally eliminated.
With this vivid picture of the judgment before you, the great question which needs to concern you is: How can I save myself from such a fiery and terrible destiny? God mercifully tells you how:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life....that the world through him might be saved....and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:16-17, 36.
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; an purify your hearts, ye double-minded....Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." James 4:7-8, 10.
"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ...Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:1,4-8.
"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteousness: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." 1 John 2:1-6.
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.
IS DEATH TO BE FEARED?
There are so many conflicting beliefs about death and what it is like beyond the grave, that it becomes difficult to know which beliefs are true. But God has not left His people to wonder about this important subject without giving them insights into the truth on this issue.
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
As all scripture is inspired by God, then these sacred pages are where we can safely find the sure foundation for doctrine, and for reproof and correction of our errors, and thus obtain the pure knowledge of righteousness. So what does God declare through His word about death?
First of all, what is death? The Bible refers over and over again that death is likened to sleep. In Old Testament times, when someone died it was declared that he "slept with his fathers" (see 1 Kings 2:10, 11:43, 14:20,31, 15:8,24). In New Testament times, death was also likened to sleep (see 1 Corinthians 11:30, 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:14). Jesus plainly states this same idea when referring to the death of his friend Lazarus.
"Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." John 11:11-14.
So being dead is like being asleep (see also Matt 27:52; 1 Corin 15:51; Dan 12:2). But when we die or fall asleep, what happens? "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Psalms 146:4.
God stated that when we die, we no longer have any thoughts or mental processes. Thus there is no consciousness in the grave. So will God show us any of His wonders, whether past, present or future, in the grave? No.
"Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee?...Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" Psalms 88:10-12.
Will we praise the Lord in the grave? No.
"The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Psalms 115:17.
Will we even remember the Lord in the grave? No.
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Psalms 6:5.
Will we see anyone else while we are dead? No.
"I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave...I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world." Isaiah 38:10-11.
But don't we see our loved ones and friends coming to our grave to pay us respect? No.
"But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost...His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not..." Job 14:10, 21.
So those who have died really do not know anything!
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." Ecclesiastes 9:5.
Truly, being dead is like being asleep--just as Jesus stated. Yet many have been taught that at death some go straight to heaven. But does God teach that we go to heaven and see the Lord when we die?
"...I shall go to the gates of the grave...I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living..." Isaiah 38:10-11.
Others have been taught that their dead relatives are in heaven who are watching over them and working for their good through various means. But is this what the Bible teaches? No.
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Ecclesiastes 9:10.
What about those who believe that they have actually seen or even talked to their dead loved ones apparently raised from the dead?
"So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job 14:12.
Then what about those who believe in, or who have seen, ghosts or the spirits of the dead haunting houses or graveyards or even helping people?
"...the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." Ecclesiastes 9:5-6.
Thus the dead have no memory at all of when they were alive. So they can not remember anyone or anything that they either loved or hated, cherished or envied during their lifetime. Hence, even if they could come back as a ghost or a spirit, they could not even remember who they were to haunt or help!
Yet many people have actually seen ghosts or spirits and various apparitions. Others have heard unexplained noises and seen supernatural phenomena. But since the Bible of truth teaches that ghosts cannot be the actual dead person's spirit raised to life, then who are these apparitions?
"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him....For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world..." Revelation 12:7-9, 16:14.
So there are indeed ghosts or spirits today, yet not one of these are dead people come back from the grave. They are only the evil angels or spirits of devils whom were cast out of heaven. These evil beings are only pretending to be the dead come back to life. And it does not matter whom they impersonate--even the dead Apostle Paul or other followers of Christ. In fact, the more widely known the dead individual, the better to impersonate them.
But why do these evil angels impersonate the dead and sometimes even communicate information to those whom they contact? Their whole purpose for doing so is to deceive people and try to get them to believe that the information given them is really the truth. But does the Devil, along with his evil angels, tell the truth?
"He...abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8:44.
So we are not to believe any of the information relayed by these apparitions or so-called spirits of the dead because it is nothing but lies! The biggest lie which the Devil and his evil spirits have tried to pawn off as being true is the belief that when we die our soul continues to live on. This falsehood is also known as the immortality of the soul, and multitudes have been duped into really believing it is true. But is humanity immortal?
The Bible teaches that all human beings are "mortal", not immortal (see Job 4:17; Romans 6:12). In fact, God alone "only hath immortality" 1 Timothy 6:16.
So the holy Scriptures declare that at death, we do not go on living for eternity. We do not go to heaven or to hell at death, but rest in the grave. Nor do we reincarnate into some other creature as in the pagan belief of the endless circle of life--a continual rebirth only to die again. For God mercifully states that human beings die once--not many times. "...it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement..." Hebrews 9:27.
But the big question which needs to be asked is: What causes humanity to die in the first place?
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die....And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat....And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him...In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Genesis 2:16-17, 3:6,9,19.
So death began when God's command or law was disobeyed and broken. But what actually occurs when we disobey or transgress the law of God?
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.
Thus in breaking God's law, we commit sin, and what happens because of our choice to sin? "For the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23.
Who is the author and originator of all sin and death? "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee." "He (the Devil) was a murderer from the beginning..." Ezekiel 28:15; John 8:44.
So God cannot be blamed for either sin or death because the Devil or Satan or Lucifer is the originator and creator of all sin and death and thus is alone responsible for all the horror, pain, and suffering caused because of it. And since sin entered the world with its penalty of death, humanity has ever since tried to find a way to circumvent death and continue to live on, and the Devil has been very successful in helping us believe this with his lies.
Multitudes believe the theory that sin only causes the penalty of death to our fleshly body, but our soul continues to live on forever. But does the Bible teach this? No. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18:20.
The soul that sins does not live on forever, but it dies! And as "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), then the soul of no dead human being has ever continued to live on after death! This belief, that we are made up of a body and a separate soul, is another lie directly from the Devil and his evil spirits. God tells us the truth about how we were created.
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7.
God clearly states that a body, plus the breath of life, equals a living soul (see also Job 33:4; Ezekiel 37:6). Thus a body, without breath, cannot equal a living soul--but a dead one! So there is no truth to the doctrine of our soul continuing to go on living after we die. Neither does humanity have a spirit which goes on living after death.
Our breath, which comes from God and allows us to have life, can also be translated in the scriptures as "spirit" (see also Job 27:3). So a body, plus the breath or spirit of life, equals a living soul. But a body, without spirit, cannot equal a living soul. So there is no truth to the belief that at death, our spirit continues to go on living. When we die, our breath or spirit of life goes back to God who gave it to us at birth (see Ecclesiastes 12:7; Psalms 31:5), but there is no separate life or consciousness in this breath--no more than there would be when we exhale.
Is the lot of humanity to face death without any hope of ever escaping from it's eternal grasp? Has anyone delivered us from this hopeless destiny?
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man...Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Hebrews 2:9, 14-15.
Jesus has mercifully provided a way that all humanity can be delivered from this hopeless destiny of eternal death in order to have life again!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 John 5:11-12.
All humanity can now have hope that there is indeed life after death--but only in Jesus Christ. No other human being: be he president or pope, evangelist or guru, shaman or priest, can offer anyone eternal life in truth. Life after death is only found in Jesus Christ because it is only Jesus that has been given "power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many" as are His (see John 17:2). And Jesus Christ is available to all humanity--even those considered to be in the lowest scale of human worth or in the deepest pit of sin.
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:15-16.
"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." 1 Timothy 1:15.
So all humanity can now rest in the hope that there is indeed life after death--but only in Christ Jesus. No longer need anyone be afraid of death--unless you have not accepted Jesus as your Saviour and are not connected with Him.
Please do not allow another moment to go by without getting on your knees, repenting of your sins, and asking Jesus to forgive you and then plead for Him to take control of your life. "Now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2)--not tomorrow, because tomorrow may be too late.
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
As all scripture is inspired by God, then these sacred pages are where we can safely find the sure foundation for doctrine, and for reproof and correction of our errors, and thus obtain the pure knowledge of righteousness. So what does God declare through His word about death?
First of all, what is death? The Bible refers over and over again that death is likened to sleep. In Old Testament times, when someone died it was declared that he "slept with his fathers" (see 1 Kings 2:10, 11:43, 14:20,31, 15:8,24). In New Testament times, death was also likened to sleep (see 1 Corinthians 11:30, 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:14). Jesus plainly states this same idea when referring to the death of his friend Lazarus.
"Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." John 11:11-14.
So being dead is like being asleep (see also Matt 27:52; 1 Corin 15:51; Dan 12:2). But when we die or fall asleep, what happens? "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Psalms 146:4.
God stated that when we die, we no longer have any thoughts or mental processes. Thus there is no consciousness in the grave. So will God show us any of His wonders, whether past, present or future, in the grave? No.
"Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee?...Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" Psalms 88:10-12.
Will we praise the Lord in the grave? No.
"The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Psalms 115:17.
Will we even remember the Lord in the grave? No.
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Psalms 6:5.
Will we see anyone else while we are dead? No.
"I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave...I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world." Isaiah 38:10-11.
But don't we see our loved ones and friends coming to our grave to pay us respect? No.
"But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost...His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not..." Job 14:10, 21.
So those who have died really do not know anything!
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." Ecclesiastes 9:5.
Truly, being dead is like being asleep--just as Jesus stated. Yet many have been taught that at death some go straight to heaven. But does God teach that we go to heaven and see the Lord when we die?
"...I shall go to the gates of the grave...I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living..." Isaiah 38:10-11.
Others have been taught that their dead relatives are in heaven who are watching over them and working for their good through various means. But is this what the Bible teaches? No.
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Ecclesiastes 9:10.
What about those who believe that they have actually seen or even talked to their dead loved ones apparently raised from the dead?
"So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job 14:12.
Then what about those who believe in, or who have seen, ghosts or the spirits of the dead haunting houses or graveyards or even helping people?
"...the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." Ecclesiastes 9:5-6.
Thus the dead have no memory at all of when they were alive. So they can not remember anyone or anything that they either loved or hated, cherished or envied during their lifetime. Hence, even if they could come back as a ghost or a spirit, they could not even remember who they were to haunt or help!
Yet many people have actually seen ghosts or spirits and various apparitions. Others have heard unexplained noises and seen supernatural phenomena. But since the Bible of truth teaches that ghosts cannot be the actual dead person's spirit raised to life, then who are these apparitions?
"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him....For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world..." Revelation 12:7-9, 16:14.
So there are indeed ghosts or spirits today, yet not one of these are dead people come back from the grave. They are only the evil angels or spirits of devils whom were cast out of heaven. These evil beings are only pretending to be the dead come back to life. And it does not matter whom they impersonate--even the dead Apostle Paul or other followers of Christ. In fact, the more widely known the dead individual, the better to impersonate them.
But why do these evil angels impersonate the dead and sometimes even communicate information to those whom they contact? Their whole purpose for doing so is to deceive people and try to get them to believe that the information given them is really the truth. But does the Devil, along with his evil angels, tell the truth?
"He...abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8:44.
So we are not to believe any of the information relayed by these apparitions or so-called spirits of the dead because it is nothing but lies! The biggest lie which the Devil and his evil spirits have tried to pawn off as being true is the belief that when we die our soul continues to live on. This falsehood is also known as the immortality of the soul, and multitudes have been duped into really believing it is true. But is humanity immortal?
The Bible teaches that all human beings are "mortal", not immortal (see Job 4:17; Romans 6:12). In fact, God alone "only hath immortality" 1 Timothy 6:16.
So the holy Scriptures declare that at death, we do not go on living for eternity. We do not go to heaven or to hell at death, but rest in the grave. Nor do we reincarnate into some other creature as in the pagan belief of the endless circle of life--a continual rebirth only to die again. For God mercifully states that human beings die once--not many times. "...it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement..." Hebrews 9:27.
But the big question which needs to be asked is: What causes humanity to die in the first place?
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die....And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat....And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him...In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Genesis 2:16-17, 3:6,9,19.
So death began when God's command or law was disobeyed and broken. But what actually occurs when we disobey or transgress the law of God?
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.
Thus in breaking God's law, we commit sin, and what happens because of our choice to sin? "For the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23.
Who is the author and originator of all sin and death? "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee." "He (the Devil) was a murderer from the beginning..." Ezekiel 28:15; John 8:44.
So God cannot be blamed for either sin or death because the Devil or Satan or Lucifer is the originator and creator of all sin and death and thus is alone responsible for all the horror, pain, and suffering caused because of it. And since sin entered the world with its penalty of death, humanity has ever since tried to find a way to circumvent death and continue to live on, and the Devil has been very successful in helping us believe this with his lies.
Multitudes believe the theory that sin only causes the penalty of death to our fleshly body, but our soul continues to live on forever. But does the Bible teach this? No. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18:20.
The soul that sins does not live on forever, but it dies! And as "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), then the soul of no dead human being has ever continued to live on after death! This belief, that we are made up of a body and a separate soul, is another lie directly from the Devil and his evil spirits. God tells us the truth about how we were created.
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7.
God clearly states that a body, plus the breath of life, equals a living soul (see also Job 33:4; Ezekiel 37:6). Thus a body, without breath, cannot equal a living soul--but a dead one! So there is no truth to the doctrine of our soul continuing to go on living after we die. Neither does humanity have a spirit which goes on living after death.
Our breath, which comes from God and allows us to have life, can also be translated in the scriptures as "spirit" (see also Job 27:3). So a body, plus the breath or spirit of life, equals a living soul. But a body, without spirit, cannot equal a living soul. So there is no truth to the belief that at death, our spirit continues to go on living. When we die, our breath or spirit of life goes back to God who gave it to us at birth (see Ecclesiastes 12:7; Psalms 31:5), but there is no separate life or consciousness in this breath--no more than there would be when we exhale.
Is the lot of humanity to face death without any hope of ever escaping from it's eternal grasp? Has anyone delivered us from this hopeless destiny?
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man...Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Hebrews 2:9, 14-15.
Jesus has mercifully provided a way that all humanity can be delivered from this hopeless destiny of eternal death in order to have life again!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 John 5:11-12.
All humanity can now have hope that there is indeed life after death--but only in Jesus Christ. No other human being: be he president or pope, evangelist or guru, shaman or priest, can offer anyone eternal life in truth. Life after death is only found in Jesus Christ because it is only Jesus that has been given "power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many" as are His (see John 17:2). And Jesus Christ is available to all humanity--even those considered to be in the lowest scale of human worth or in the deepest pit of sin.
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:15-16.
"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." 1 Timothy 1:15.
So all humanity can now rest in the hope that there is indeed life after death--but only in Christ Jesus. No longer need anyone be afraid of death--unless you have not accepted Jesus as your Saviour and are not connected with Him.
Please do not allow another moment to go by without getting on your knees, repenting of your sins, and asking Jesus to forgive you and then plead for Him to take control of your life. "Now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2)--not tomorrow, because tomorrow may be too late.
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