⤴
    Different Doctrines
    Who is Saved?
    Irresistible Grace?
    Faith vs. Works
    Faith vs. Law
    What should we do (or believe)?
    What is most important?
    Alms
    How Satan fools us
    The Reformers new ideas examined
    Martin Luther's German Bible
    Quotes from New American Bible
    The doctrine of St. Paul
    Baptism linked to Salvation
    A glaring example of promoting an untruth
    Final Exhortation Please read this, if nothing else!
    My favorite references

DO CHRISTIANS HAVE A LICENSE TO SIN?
Gary Marmillion

Should we pray for our sins to be covered or for forgiveness?

    "Perhaps the most frequent, subtle and devastating attack that Satan makes upon a believer is to cause that Christian to doubt or disbelieve his salvation."
    This is a quote from a Minister who preaches that we are saved by our faith alone. He says also that this is one of the main issues that has divided Christians and their beliefs.
    One of his assertions is that those who are 'truly saved' will do good works because God will give them the grace to do so. (Here, he is correct) However, he also says that some will be saved that have no good works and that some will not be saved who have many good works. (Here, he is only partially correct as well as being misleading) This same Minister says further, that works have nothing to do with salvation. (Here, he is totally wrong as we shall see)

    If all good works are from the Lord (Ephesians 2:10 & James 1:17) in whose name are we to do good works if not God? And how can this doctrine be reconciled with:
(1 John 3:14-18 "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.")
The International Standard Version (ISV) renders verse 18 this way: "Little children, we must stop expressing love merely by our words and manner of speech; we must love also in action and in truth." from Bible Gateway

    Sola fide also invites questions: Who is truly saved? And when are they saved, since according to this doctrine, works are no proof of our salvation? Is our salvation merely a matter of personal interpretation or do we have hard and fast rules to determine how and when we are saved?

    "But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" that is, the word of faith that we preach, for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. For the scripture says, 'No one who believes in him will be put to shame.'" Romans 10:8-11.

    Scripture also shows that the only place you will find the phrase 'faith alone' in the bible is not in Romans 3:28, where Martin Luther wanted it to be, but in a place where it means something entirely different.
(James 2:24 "See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.")

    The preceding verse from Romans 10 is used by many evangelical Protestants to confirm their 'Faith Alone' doctrine. It says that if we state that Jesus is the risen Savior and believe it then we will be saved. But is it that simple? What we do afterward doesn't matter? It must be if good works of the Lord have absolutely nothing to do with our salvation as they claim. Martin Luther asserted this five hundred years ago and many Protestant Ministers preach it now.

    Additionally, we read in Romans 8:1 that, "now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
    Note that Romans 8:1 reads 'now' not 'from now on'. Clearly, if one is in Jesus there is no condemnation. But if one sins grievously he cannot still be 'in Jesus' unless and until he repents of his sins.
(Hebrews 10:26 "If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins.")
(Matthew 7:20-23 "So by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?' Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.")

    1 John 5:13 tells us that we may have confident expectation of salvation if we believe in Jesus (verse 1) and we know that we love God's children when we love God and keep his commandments (verse 2). And we must also possess the Son, meaning we must have the grace of the lord in us (verse 12).
    Just as John sets the initial conditions for salvation, our Savior, Jesus Christ sets the final condition, that we must persevere or endure to the end (to our death) in a state of grace. (Matthew 10:22, 24:13; Mark 13:13)
(Romans 8:24-25 "For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.")

    Some Evangelical Protestants who believe in Once Saved, Always Saved (Eternal security) read the following verses and find it hard to believe they all come from the same Christian New Testament.

(John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.")
(Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.")
(Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.")
(John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.")


Different Doctrines

    "We are saved by faith alone." (Sola Fide) This is the so-called iron-clad doctrine of Jesus Christ according to the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther was one of the main leaders of the Reformation and the acknowledged author of this doctrine. This same Doctrine was condemned by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent (1545-63). Well before that, Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in the year 1521 for his false claims. If his doctrine is correct, why would the only organized Christian church of the time oppose it so vigorously?

(1 John 2:4 "Whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.")
(1 John 3:10 "In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.")

    We have the scriptural statements of St. John, the Apostle on one hand and the new doctrine of Martin Luther on the other. Who is most likely to be correct?

At least three or four versions of Sola Fide?
    Actually, when you look closely into Protestant claims and teaching on salvation you can find different versions of 'Sola Fide' depending on the denomination you choose. The similarity is how they say you are saved:

    First you hear the Gospel of the Lord preached and respond positively to it by affirming that you believe. You then accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior. (You may or may not be baptized or it's possible you may even be re-baptized, even if you were baptized earlier in your life. This depends on the beliefs and requirements of that denomination.)

    The first version of Sola Fide is the original version that Martin Luther first proclaimed during the Protestant Reformation:
    If you believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ, you are saved by this faith alone, you are assured that you have the guarantee of salvation no matter what you do later on in life. Luther claimed that after you are saved, if you sin grievously it does not matter, no matter how many times you sin, since your sins will be either ignored or covered by God.

    Luther also made an equally novel claim for judgment after death. He assured us that since our sins have been covered by God we will be judged by Christ after our death only on the strength of our belief and faith in God while we were alive.

Repentance?
    Initially, Luther made no mention of the need for repentance for any sins committed after baptism. He taught that there is nothing a person must do after making an act of faith in Jesus in order to be saved. Only later did he add remarks about daily repentance, (Repentance is much more than a change of mind - 2 Chronicles 7:14) completely ignoring Christ's words in the Gospel which gives the priests of His Church authority to forgive sins in His name.
(John 20:21–23 "Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.' ”)
(In this way a sinner can know, without any doubt, that his sins have been forgiven by God)
See also: The Forgiveness of Sins and Confession From Catholic Answers

    The second version of Sola Fide is similar to the first, in the beginning:
    You are saved by faith alone, you are assured that you have the guarantee of salvation. However, this version has an exception which is, if you become what they call a "backslider"-, that is, if you accept Christ and then later turn away from Him by committing a deadly sin - you will not be saved. They say if you sin grievously you lose this faith and you are saved no longer. (There is little or no mention about whether, or how, a backslider can return to God. But, sincere repentance should always possible - until death.)

    The third version of Sola Fide is also similar in the beginning:
    You are saved by faith alone, you are assured that you have the guarantee of salvation. But in this case you have the assurance you will sin no more since no one who believes in God will be put to shame.

    However, there is a catch to this version also, which is, if you do happen to sin grievously after the event then you are saved no longer since it has become clear and apparent that either you did not believe strongly enough or you were not sincere enough when you made your commitment to God, therefore you were never a Christian in the first place.
    In this way, by denying that you ever became a Christian, the proponents are still able to say that a Christian cannot lose his salvation. But it is unclear whether this is for your benefit or theirs. That seems to be where the emphasis lies since it is also unclear whether a person can try again to become a Christian and for salvation at a later date. (Even though it should always be possible for a person to repent of their sins and come to Christ.)
    Whoever conceived this version must have either missed or misunderstood,
(1 John 1:8 "If we say, 'We are without sin,' we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.")

    Our savior, Jesus Christ, has already defined a Christian, we do not need the definitions of mere men.

(John 13:34-35 "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”)

(1 John 3:10 "In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.")

Wait. There is more!
    Then there are those who preach and profess to believe that if we accept Christ into our lives, our sins are forgiven (past, present and future). And that nothing more is required for a person to be assured of eternal salvation (guaranteed a place in Heaven with God.) Once Saved, Always Saved!

    Then they begin to equivocate, to explain that faith and repentance go hand in hand and that we should acknowledge and confess our sins (after we have been saved). The proponents of this new doctine ask (even require) that we be open to more than one interpretation.

    Please. Either we must repent of our sin every time we sin in order to be saved or we must not. (They can't have it both ways.) Yet just as they do in many other instances where there are differences of opinion, they say, in effect, "Heads, we win and tails, you lose." They want it their way or no way at all!

    Now, as we have seen and will see even more, Martin Luther's original version of Sola Fide (even before they started meddling with it) has always been unscriptural, first because it was based on choice rather than love, was boastful and presumptuous, and because Luther falsely assured sinners that God would ignore (cover) their sins simply because they professed a belief in, and had faith in, Jesus Christ.

This faulty doctrine ignores many scriptural verses, some of which are:
(1 Corinthians 10:12 "Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.")
(Hebrews 1:9 "You loved justice and hated wickedness")
(1 Corinthians 6:9f "Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.")
(Revelation 21:27 "but nothing unclean will enter it, nor any[one] who does abominable things or tells lies. Only those will enter whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.")

(1 Corinthians 15:50 "This I declare, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.")

(Romans 11:21-23 "For if God did not spare the natural branches, [perhaps] he will not spare you either. See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off. And they also, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.")

    Ever since the Reformation Protestants have been trying to salvage this unsalvageable sola fide doctrine by fiddling with it and saddling it with restrictions, conditions or additional scriptural verses. They are continually striving to make this ugly, false doctrine pretty by dressing it up. But once unscriptural, always unscriptural.

    In the first version of Sola Fide, it is claimed that our sins after Baptism are 'covered' or ignored by God and that we will be judged only by our faith in Him.

    However, Scripture states clearly that we will be judged by Jesus Christ for ALL of the things we do and/or fail to do (our works and deeds), not only for what we believe.
(John 5:28f "Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation."),
(Romans 2:6 "who will repay everyone according to his works:"),
(Romans 2:16 "on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people's hidden works through Christ Jesus.")

    The New Testament indicates clearly that both salvation and faith are things we can indeed lose! And, as we have seen, even two versions of Sola Fide allow the loss of salvation!

(2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless, of course, you fail the test.")
    When the apostle Paul instructs us to see whether we are living in faith, does not the phrase "living in faith" presuppose some type of action or works? If not then it means nothing at all! Did Paul take time to write to the Corinthians just to waste his words? Of course not!

(2 Peter 2:20f "For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of [our] Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them.")

(1 Timothy 1:18f "Through them may you fight a good fight by having faith and a good conscience. Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith"

(Hebrews 10:26 "If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries.")

Whose doctrine is correct?
    Most Christians, even the most devout Lutherans, know in their hearts that it is an offense against God to commit a grievous (deadly) sin (a willful violation of one or more of God's Ten Commandments), especially without feeling sorry for it and repenting of it. However, the pronouncements of Martin Luther may cause them to not be concerned, thinking that their sins are covered.

    A statement, attributed to Martin Luther, compares this covering of our sin to a manure pile covered by pristine white snow. (But, this manure, and the sin, is not eliminated, it remains, under the snow, along with its stink.)

    Either we are saved by faith alone or we are not. Either Martin Luther's novel doctrine was and is correct or it has always been wrong. If it is wrong the consequences could well be devastating for many of those who have depended on it.

    Our eternal salvation should never depend solely on the faulty teaching of troubled and imperfect man, Martin Luther, but on the words and promises of our God and savior, Jesus Christ, who speaks to us through the Gospels.

    Finally we have the teaching of the Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 1990-1995.
    The Catholic Church teaches
That we are all sinners in need of a savior (Rom 5:12-21).
That Jesus Christ is that Savior (Acts 4:12)
That we must have faith that Jesus Christ's sacrifice redeemed all of us from sin and that He is the one mediator between God the Father and mankind, (1 Tim 2:5-6).
That, after Baptism, we must always be repentant (Matt. 4:17) for any sins we may commit; (James 5:16)
That we must confess in 'good faith' with a contrite heart because God knows whether we are truly repentant or not; our faith demands that we not be unrepentant (harden our hearts) and offend Him.
(1 John 2:4 "Whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.)

(Romans 2:5-8 "By your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness.")

    We must always remain fit to meet our maker, because if we die in an unrepentant state we may not inherit eternal life,
(Matthew 10:22 That "we must persevere (endure) to the end (our lives).")
(Matthew 24:42 "Since we know neither the day nor the hour our Lord will come.")
(1 Thessalonians 5:2 "He will come like a thief in the night.")
    Finally and primarily, the Church teaches that no person can do any of this without help from God, but only with the assistance of God's grace. CCC 2008-2011

    Many Protestants accuse the Catholic Church of teaching "works righteousness", or the need to perform works to be saved. However the reality is that the Catholic Church has always taught that we are saved only by God's freely offered and freely given grace. All that remains for us is to accept God and his saving grace into our hearts and keep Him there until the end of our life here on earth.

    "Salvation through works" is an all-too-common caricature of Catholic teaching, which clearly insists that we are saved by the grace of God. Salvation is a free gift.
    At the same time, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, "God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God created man in his image by conferring on him…the power to know him and love him." And so we are called to repent of sin, trust in Christ, take up our cross and follow him in the obedience of faith.
    And why isn't this "works salvation"? Because the ability to persevere in faithful obedience is itself the result of God's grace working in us." (The Coming Home Network International)
(Ezekiel 36:26f "I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep them.")


Who is Saved?

    Being saved is not a one-time act, just as initial Justification does not come with a lifetime guarantee.
    Just because a person accepts Jesus as their savior at some point in their life does not guarantee the certainty of their eventual salvation (going to heaven). The New Testament says we are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God (or are deprived of the glory of God). But when recieve Baptism and/or repent & accept Jesus our past sins are forgiven. (Romans 3:23-25 & 2 Peter 1:9)

    Our Lord assures us: "You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:22)

(1 Corinthians 15:1-2 "Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.")

    Simply because we are being saved, while trying to hold fast to the word, as Saint Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15:2; does not mean that our former sinful nature has been eliminated. We are still sinners and we must still repent of any serious sin we may commit if we wish to continue along the path to salvation.

    But since we cannot do this on our own without help, we must always pray to God for that help. God's grace will lead us to sincere repentance and to salvation if we continue to cooperate with it and Him. This may sound complicated and hard to do. It is not meant to be easy. It simply means, that with God's help, it is possible.
(Matthew 19:26 "Jesus looked at them and said, 'For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.' ")

    Since we are not perfect like our Father in heaven, we will inevitably make mistakes and commit sin at times throughout our lives. God will never cease to be our Father because we commit sin nor will we cease to be His children unless we were to completely reject Him. But our love of God should always urge us to acknowledge our faults and humbly ask for forgiveness.

(Psalms 32:10 "Many are the sorrows of the wicked one, but mercy surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.")

    It is not possible to love God without also loving our fellow human beings (our neighbor).
    Loving our creator who is the God of Love may be seen as rather simple and easy compared to loving our obstreperous neighbors, which is neither easy nor simple, but is necessary if we wish to live forever in paradise with God our Father and all who have been obedient to Him, including His son Christ Jesus, Mary the mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Elect, who are identified as Saints. So, if we do not love our neighbor, our love for God is not complete.
(Matthew 5:43-48 Especially verse 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.") (Also Luke 6:31-36)

Jesus also tells us to:
(Matthew 7:13f "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.")

The apostle James tells us (James 4:7-8 "So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds.")

    "Salvation through works" is a caricature of Catholic teaching because:
"Salvation is a process that begins when a person first becomes a Christian, continues through the rest of his life, and is completed when he stands before God (Jesus Christ) in judgment." (Jimmy Akin, 'The Salvation Controversy', and also, The 'Drama of Salvation')

    Since our salvation is a process, it can be seen as analogous to a journey (Jesus calls it "the way" or "the road that leads to life" (Matthew 7:14).
    Our salvation process has a beginning and an end, just as any journey has a place of origin and a destination. Our salvation process begins when we are born. Our mother's womb is our place of origin, the journey is our life in Christ, from our baptism to our eventual death.
    Our final destination will be either heaven or hell depending upon how we have lived our life because our Lord will judge what we have done during our life (Romans 2:5-7) based on our desires (Matthew 6:21 & Luke 12:21) and as a result of what we have believed.

(Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.")

(John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.")

(Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.")

(Romans 2:16 "on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people's hidden works through Christ Jesus.")

(Romans 2:5-8 "By your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness.")

    Therefore, our salvation is not dependent upon how much we believe in God, and His son Jesus Christ, but upon how much we love God and His son Jesus Christ, and also upon how much we love and respect our fellow human beings.

    No one is saved by faith alone or because they are 'good' and deserve salvation. We are saved only by the Faith that works through love (Galatians 5:6) and since no one is good except God alone (Mark 10:18, Luke 18: 19), no one can do anything on his own to deserve eternal salvation.

    The grace of God is primary, it comes first, before even faith, hope, or love.

    We are saved by and because of God's freely given grace alone, which bestows upon us a living faith that works, not simply in faith (belief) and hope, but primarily in love and will continue to do so until our death, if we repent of any grievous sins we may commit before we die. Catholics are encouraged to pray to God for help to persevere until the end (our death), since it is only because of God's grace that anyone will be able to do so.

    "Indeed, a man who has been justified, that is, who from impious has been made pious, since he had no antecedent good merit, receives a gift, by which gift he may also acquire merit. Thus, what was begun in him by Christ's grace can also be augmented by the industry of his free choice, but never in the absence of God's help, without which no one is able either to progress or to continue in doing good" (Responses on Behalf of Augustine 6 c.431 Sechnall of Ireland & Matthew 19:26 "…for God all things are possible.")

(John 8:31f "Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.")

(Matthew 10:22 "You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.")

(Matthew 24:13 "But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.")

(Jude 21-23 "Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. On those who waver, have mercy; save others by snatching them out of the fire; on others have mercy with fear, abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.")

    If one truly loves God without reservation and has learned to love and respect his fellow man as he loves himself, he is really well along the path to his eternal salvation.


Irresistible Grace?

    Some proponents of the 'Faith Alone' doctrine claim that when God gives a person grace to come to salvation that this grace is irresistible, what they call intrinsically efficacious, so it always produces salvation. They also subscribe to the belief that God works through the Holy Spirit to bring about the salvation of an individual through spiritual regeneration, regardless of the individual's cooperation.
    However, Catholics or anyone who believes in the free will of man cannot agree with this restrictive doctrine. Since God is the only truly good being (Mark 10:18), He cannot act against His nature. It is impossible for God to be a selfish dictator, or a self-centered tyrant. However much God's freely given grace might urge or influence us it never compels us either to believe in God or to love Him.
    Anyone who believes in irresistible grace has it backwards. God does not need us, we need Him!

    Catholics believe that individual salvation is achieved through a combination of human will and divine grace.

    First of all, a person has to really want to be in union with God. The desire has to be there.
Jesus, our Savior, both informs and reminds us in:
(Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.")

    It is true that God wants us all to be saved but He does not try to forcefully change a person's mind if that person really does not want to be with Him.
    We display our desires every day by the things we do. For instance, if one is a confirmed sinner and always desires the things of the world - wealth, power, possessions, or sex. That person has already made his or her choice, a choice that does not include God.

    God (though His grace) may influence a person to walk into a Christian church and hear the message of salvation. He may also influence someone to truly believe it …. until he walks out of the doors of that church and sees all of the material things he might lose (be deprived of) if he chooses to remain with God. This revelation may not come all at once, but over time. So, if his desire for material or earthly rewards becomes greater than his desire for spiritual rewards, he will gradually lose his love for God and his faith in Him. He will, in effect, have rejected God.
(1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.")
    However, if that same person were to make the choice that the reward of eternal life with God is worth more than any temporary earthly reward or pleasure then God would never forsake that person. God's grace will enable him to overcome temptation to commit sin, or if he does sin, to immediately repent and resolve to amend his life.

(Galatians 5:13 "For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.")

    Jesus instructs us.
(Matthew 22:37-39 "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.")

    Love cannot be true love if it is forced!

(Ephesians 4:7 "But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.")
    God gives grace sufficient for salvation to all who hear, believe, and, live in His word. Even though God's grace may urge us strongly toward Him it never forces us toward Him.

    The saints in Heaven are not programmed robots who are there because they had no other choice. No one is ever dragged, kicking and screaming, into heaven. We always have a choice. God wants people in heaven who love Him and actually want to be there so He never denies us the option to accept or reject His freely given grace, depending on our own desires.

    God is eternal and all-knowing, He knows beforehand everything we will do, along with our deepest desires. So it is never necessary for God to coerce us or to force us to do anything.

(Psalms 44:21 "God who knows the secrets of the heart?")

"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." – St. Augustine

Are we predestined?
    John Calvin, who was a principal figure in the Protestant reformation, was also the proponent of a doctrine of predestination in which he avowed that only a relatively few persons would be saved and that it would have been better for most people if they had never been born since they are predestined for damnation. This was Calvin's own definition of predestination and it was at odds with what always was and still is, the position of the Catholic Church..

    Calvin's definition of predestination appears to be a very cynical and pessimistic way of looking at the human condition. How can anyone who really believes this have any real faith in the God of Love, our Creator?

    Calvin was not alone in error concerning the denial of man's free will and predestination. Martin Luther's view pitted Satan against God for control of men's souls.
    Luther saw man as a mindless beast who acted according who was in control of (riding him) him at any given time. With God in control man could preform good works, but if Satan gained control man acted with evil.
    It was both ridiculous and sacreligious to suggest that a created being such as the devil could contest anything with Almighty God, who has no peer.

    But, in the Catholic Church there are no such restrictions, there is always hope as well as faith and love. Salvation is open to every person willing to reach for it. (John 3:16-21 & 6:35-37)
    Calvin evidently either did not read, did not believe, or did not truly understand (1 Timothy 2:3-4), or (2 Peter 3:9), or even (John 6:40).

    "When skeptics complain that the evidence for God is not clear or that a God who allows suffering and evil is Himself sadistic and evil, the Catholic responds, 'Our God has made us free men. True freedom always comes with costs and challenges. You see, ours is not a religion of make-believe where actions have no consequences. Ours is a religion of life as it really is. And life as it really is, is a life of original sin. Catholicism is a religion of pilgrimage, freely accepted, to grow in Christ, to overcome sin.' " (H. W. Crocker III, Ten Great Things About Catholicism)

Sin Boldly
    Whose doctrine will we believe? If our belief alone will save us then it matters little what we do after our initial sincere repentance or after we are baptized and "proclaim our faith". If we sin, no matter how great a sin or how many times we sin, then we are still saved because our sins are covered or ignored by God since He will not "put us to shame."

    This Sola Fide doctrine purports to give Christians a license to sin just as Martin Luther claimed when he wrote a letter to his friend Philip Melanchthon. In that letter he said, "Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong." At another time Luther also advised that we should "sin boldly" and even though he also advocated a strong faith nothing he said afterward could possibly justify using such language.

    Protestant theologians have been trying to ignore and forget or to apologize and/or rationalize for these wild utterances ever since the reformation, which, in essence, was nothing more than a rebellion against the moral teaching of the Catholic Church.
    Martin Luther taught his followers that God's Commandments are not binding on Christians and that if they sinned they could still go to heaven since God would 'cover' or 'discount their sins' if their faith in Jesus Christ is strong.
    In other words, as long as a person believes strongly enough nothing else is necessary! (Once saved, always saved).
Please see: Matthew 7:21, Matthew 19:17, Luke 6:46, 1 Corinthians 7:19

    It is said that Martin Luther was a powerful, influential, and persuasive preacher. He must have been if he was able to convince people to believe such nonsense!

Whose advice should we follow?
    Martin Luther who advises us to "be a sinner and let your sins be strong" and also to "sin boldly?".
    Or the Apostle Paul, who tells us to stop sinning?
(1 Corinthians 15:33-34 "Do not be led astray: Bad company corrupts good morals. Become sober as you ought and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God; I say this to your shame.")
    We also have the words of our savior, Jesus Christ, "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:17) And again in John "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15)
He also said,
(Luke 5:32 "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”)

    When we decide that Luther's original doctrine of sola fide was faulty and unscriptural we also have to reject it and any later doctrine(s) that are based upon it.

    "We know that no one begotten by God sins; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the evil one cannot touch him." (1 John 5:18) Does John speak of "the elect" in this verse? And does this verse mean that all who are saved sin no more? Or does it mean that if you commit sin you are not saved (not of the elect)? Perhaps it simply means that if you fail to act in righteousness, you cannot be begotten by God. (1 John 3:10)

    Acting in righteousness means that we either strive to avoid the occasions of sin or that we will always repent sincerely (As Jesus commands) if we do happen to fall to temptation.

    This is why we pray, "Deliver us from Evil. Amen"

(Proverbs 24:16 puts it this way: "Though the just fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble from only one mishap.")

(1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.")
    It is impossible to love God and have faith in him yet continue to be an unrepentant sinner. You cannot have it both ways. You are either for God or you are against Him. There is no middle ground.

St. Paul agrees in Romans 8:9-13

(Genesis 4:7 "If you act rightly, you will be accepted; but if not, sin lies in wait at the door: its urge is for you, yet you can rule over it.")
Some translations render this as "Sin is the demon lurking at the door." (Genesis 4:7) Buy sinning we become slaves of sin. (John 8:34) Our sins link us to Satan! (1 John 3:8)

    If anyone who sins is a slave of sin, which leads to death, (Romans 6:16) then anyone who commits grievous sin without being repentant (humbly asking God for forgiveness) will not be saved.

It would be well for us to heed the words and warning of John the Baptist. The man who was chosen to baptize our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Matthew 3:8-10 "Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.")

And John was not alone.

    In addition to what he said in (1 Corinthians 15:33f) the Apostle St. Paul presents a list of sins in Galatians that can and will prevent a person from being saved.

(Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.")

(Luke 13:3 & 5 "By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!")

(James 4:7-8 "So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds.")

(Proverbs 28:13 "Those who conceal their sins do not prosper, but those who confess and forsake them obtain mercy.")

    We must take Jesus at His word, that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).
    That it is possible to follow in the footsteps of Christ (1 Peter 2:21).
    That we can observe the Commandments (Matthew 19:25-26) successfully with God's help.
    Because if we have fallen so deeply into despair that we believe not even God's grace can help us we are truly doomed. Only suicide could or would be worse.




Faith vs. Works

    We cannot work our way into Heaven since works (actions) do not, in themselves, have redemptive value. Only the presence of God's freely given grace within us (in our souls) has redemptive value. However, the lack of good works which are expected of us by God can condemn us. This can easily be seen by God as a refusal to cooperate with His grace.

    In other words, Obedience to God leads to salvation (eternal life), while a refusal to obey is a sin that leads to eternal death.

    The novel doctrine of Sola Fide (Faith Only), promoted by the reformers in the 16th Century, opposed the long-held Roman Catholic teaching: "that faith devoid of charity and good works is a dead faith."

    There is a great difference between working to "earn your salvation" (which is not possible) and working to avoid the wages of sin (which is desirable)
Proverbs 10:16, Romans 6:23

John tells us, among other things in 1 John 3:10 that "no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God"
And James asserts that:
(James 2:17 "So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.")

(Galatians 5:6 "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.")

(1 Corinthians 13:2 "if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.")

(1 John 2:17 "Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever.")

(Matthew 7:20-23 "So by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?' Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.")

    This concept of works deemed necessary for salvation is explained in this article "The Catholic Church Has the Answer" by Paul Whitcomb

    Furthermore, this article by Sal Ciresi from EWTN explains why both faith and works are needed for salvation.

Jesus lays it out again in the 25th chapter of Matthew's gospel. Particularly verses 31 through 46.

     The apostle Saint Paul agrees and urges us to perform good works in,
(Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.")
and also in,
(Acts 26:20) "On the contrary, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout the whole country of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance.")

The reading is exactly the same in other New Testament versions.
(NIV Acts 26:20) " First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds."

(KJV Acts 26:20) "But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance."

James agrees
(James 1:17"all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.")

    Take heed of the words of a great Christian elder. "Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow." (Saint Augustine)

    Carl Olsen says in his article, 'Why Believe': "According to James and John, while faith is distinct from good works, it is never separate from them, for they display the reality of faith."
(James 2:18 "'Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my (good) works will show you my faith."),
and
(1 John 3:23 'this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.')

    Indeed, if we refuse or fail to perform any good works our Lord has placed before us it can easily be seen as a rejection of God and His grace.
(Matthew 25:45 "whatever you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.")
(1 John 3:17 "If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him?")

    This verse in 2 Corinthians makes it perfectly clear how (on what basis) we all will be judged by our Lord.

(2 Corinthians 5:10 (NAB) "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.")

2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV) "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."

2 Corinthians 5:10(NIV) "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

(Revelation 20:12 "I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life. The dead were judged according to their deeds, by what was written in the scrolls.")

    If the preceding is true then 'Faith Alone' cannot be true. 'Sola fide' attempts to give Christians a license to sin. It says our sins do not matter; it is only our faith that matters.
But God does not cover or forget about that which He hates See (Psalms 45:7 and Hebrews 1:9 - "You love justice and hate wrongdoing")
    As we have seen, God will punish unrepentant sinners by sending them to hell! It is certainly clear that the apostle, St. Paul does not believe we can go on sinning and still be saved, from what he said ...

(Romans 6:1-6 "What then shall we say? Shall we persist in sin that grace may abound? Of course not! How can we who died to sin yet live in it?")

    Which agrees with what Jesus said in John 3:36 ...
(John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.")

Jesus, who is both our savior and our ultimate judge, also asks us a very pertinent question which was recorded by Luke.
(Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' but not do what I command?")

    These clear and unambiguous statements of Jesus Christ completely disagree with both the spirit and the meaning of Sola Fide.

Will God ignore any of our sins?
    Contrary to what has been claimed, the Apostle Paul never said that any future sins would be covered by God because of Faith. What Paul actually said was that past sins (sins already committed) would be forgiven by grace.

(Romans 3:24-25 "They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed,")

(Romans 3:24-24 KJV "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;")

    Any Christian who believes that one's future sins are always covered because of faith in God and that one does not need to repent of any and all grievous sins committed is making a dangerous assumption.
Christians live by faith, hope and love, not by wishful thinking.

An unrepentant sinner defies God just as Satan did
(2 Peter 2:4 "For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but condemned them to the chains of Tartarus and handed them over to be kept for judgment")

Works-based Salvation?
    It must be noted that Protestants always criticize Catholics saying they have an unscriptural works-based salvation doctrine since Catholics must perform acts (do things) to be saved. These include: Repentance for sins, the performance of good works, participation in the Sacraments, and church attendance. All of these as well as belief in Jesus Christ can easily be considered 'acts of Faith'.
    But there seems to be little difference here since the Protestants also require their converts to do things to be saved (works). The first is an initial commitment to, and belief in, Jesus Christ, which Jesus says is a work. (John 6:28-29 "So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.")

    Protestants sometimes conveniently forget that Baptism, prayer, and church attendance are also works. In addition, following the logic of John 6:28-29 each of the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love are 'acts of Faith' or works.
    These are expected of each and every Christian by our God who expects us to cooperate with His grace. What good is our Christian faith if we do not participate in it?

    "All our good merits are wrought through grace, so that God, in crowning our merits, is crowning nothing but His gifts." (Saint Augustine)

    "For grace is given not because we have done good works; but in order that we may be able to do them." (Saint Augustine)

(James 4:17 "So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.")
(KJV James 4:17 "Therefore to him that knoweth how to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.")

    If one is primarily interested only in initial justification, one should read Jimmy Akin's explanation here. Akin also confirms that the Catholic Church does not teach, that anyone needs to do good works (or works of any kind) to come to God and be initially justified.

    The question of Good works vs. Faith is answered again by Paul Whitcomb in his excellent tract "The Catholic Church Has the Answer" presented by EWTN.

"The Catholic Church has never taught we "earn" our salvation. It is an inheritance (Galatians 5:21), freely given to anyone who becomes a child of God (1 John 3:1), so long as they remain that way (John 15:1-11). You can't earn it but you can lose the free gift given from the Father (James 1:17)." Sal Ciresi from EWTN


Faith vs. Law

    From the above it is easy to understand how someone could come to the conclusion that the Christian faith and initial justification is quite simple, but not that salvation is easily accomplished. Jesus did not come down to earth and die a horrible death for us so that we could have a quick and easy or a convenient and simple path to heaven. Christ did not change the salvation process that radically.

    Putting faith and trust in God was always necessary for anyone to gain eternal life. He didn't change that and He surely didn't abolish the (commandments) laws of God, He came to fulfill them!

    (Matthew 5:17-19 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.")

    Therefore it should not be a surprise to discover that Jesus says to us in the Gospel -
(Matthew 19:17 "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.")
- that we must obey the Commandments to be saved.
    (In Matthew 19:18 & 19) Jesus names each one he is talking about. In John 14:15 & 21 He repeats this requirement, and in 1 Corinthians 7:19, excluding circumcision, St. Paul agrees. Also, in 1 Peter 2:21 St. Peter says we should follow in Christ's footsteps, knowing that the footsteps of a sinless Christ are not easy to follow.

St. Paul tells us:
(1 Corinthians 7:19 "Circumcision means nothing, and uncircumcision means nothing; what matters is keeping God's commandments."),

St. John tells us:
(1 John 2:4 "Whoever says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.")

And Jesus reminds us who will be saved:
(Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.")

    (NIV) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

    (KJV) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

    The Apostle St. Paul never stated that moral laws like the ten commandments did not apply to Christians any longer.

    As quoted above in 1 Corinthians Paul said the exact opposite. And he did make it perfectly clear that adherence to the customs and traditions (including practices & rituals) in the Mosiac Law (Jewish Torah) such as circumcision and dietary restrictions would not be required for Gentile Christians. Paul was in opposition to the Judaizers who were saying that is was necessary to be circumcized and observe the Mosiac laws along with all of the dietary restrictions to be saved.

    Therefore, the Apostle Paul is reminding us that we do NOT need to observe Jewish law either to be justified before God or to be saved as was decided at the Council of Jerusalem, which is related in chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles .

(Galatians 5:6 "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.")
(See also: Jewish dietary restrictions abolished for Christians in chapter 10 of the Acts of the Apostles.)
And

    When a rich man asked Jesus how he could gain eternal life Jesus told him to keep the Commandments.
(Matthew 19:17 "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.")
The man replied that he had observed all of the Commandments and wanted to know what he lacked. Jesus told him if he wished to be perfect he should sell his belongings give them to the poor and follow Him. The man went away sad because he did not want to part with his possessions.
Jesus then said,
(Matthew 19:24 "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.")
    In Matthew 19:25 Jesus' disciples inquired.
"When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, "Who then can be saved?"
    Then Jesus answers them in
(Matthew 19:26 "Jesus looked at them and said, 'For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.'"

    Does this sound like a simple and easy-to-follow doctrine? Of course not!
And if God wanted unrepentant sinners in Heaven, why did He throw Satan out?
(Revelation 12:9 "The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.")
(Romans 8:5-6 "Only the spiritual things will save us, the earthly things of the flesh will condemn us.")
(1 Peter 4:18 "And if the righteous one is barely saved, where will the godless and the sinner appear?")

    Jesus appears to relent a bit from His hard line when He gives us the golden rule,
(Matthew 7:12 "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.")
    But then He reverts to the harder line immediately afterward by saying,
(Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.")

The Apostle Paul says that,
(1 Corinthians 6:9 "adulterers, fornicators, practicing homosexuals, thieves or the greedy will not inherit the kingdom of God.")
(echoed by Revelation 21:8)

Concerning our behavior
    Our consciences should be our guides, but if we do not educate our consciences we may not know if we have offended our Lord and jeopardized our inheritance of eternal life?


What should we do (or believe)?


    We should make it our business to discover what is pleasing to God and what is not because it is possible that ignorance of God's laws may condemn us.

(Ephesians 5:10 "Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.")

    If we say to Jesus on Judgment Day, "I'm sorry Lord, I didn't know that offended you, they assured me that all I needed to do was trust in you and believe you were up here," what will He say to us?

    We can all hope that Christ does not repeat to us what He has already said in:
(Matthew 15:8 "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.")

    Do we really want to take that chance with our salvation in the balance? Perhaps Paul should have added ignorance and gullibility to his list of sins considering what James said.
(James 2:19-20 "You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?")
(James 2:19-20 KJV "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?")

    Jesus is very specific about one thing He will say to the ignorant and why we should be certain we know what is required of us in,
    Matthew 25:31-46

    But we still have a problem, since we are all sinners…
(1 John 1:8 "If we say, 'We are without sin,' we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.")
…no one will be saved since we are all slaves to sin, how can we be sinners and yet still have the chance to be begotten by God?

    If we believe that God will forgive us - if we are truly repentant and confess our sins to Him - then, and only then, will God forgive us our sins.
(1 John 1:9 "If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.")
(James 5:16 "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.")
(2 Corinthians 5:20 "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.")
If we did not need to be reconciled to God why would St. Paul ask us to do so? If our faith alone will save us why does St. Paul speak of a ministry of reconciliation?
(2 Corinthians 5:18 "And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation")

    Evidently faith does not end with the assent that Jesus is the Redeemer. Much more is required of us. Repentance is also very important. This was one of the first things Jesus said to us in Matthew's Gospel.
(Matthew 4:17 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.")
and Simon Peter said to the Jews
(Acts 3:19 "Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.")

    Just as we know God's grace will lead us to salvation; we should also know God's grace will also lead us to repentance.

(Romans 2:4 "Or do you hold his priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience in low esteem, unaware that the kindness of God would lead you to repentance?")

    It is only because of God's freely given grace that bestows faith and trust in Him that we can do this. Salvation without faith is all but impossible, but faith is not all that is necessary.
(James 2:17 "So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.")
    Not works of the any law but works that are born of Christian love, made possible by His freely given grace.

    The Apostle James says a man without works is,
(James 1:22-24 "like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like.")

    Do we sometimes 'forget' our faith just as we sometimes forget what we look like? Jesus knows that we can never have enough faith. His words ring down through the centuries upon us, "O, you of little faith." (Matthew 6:30, Matthew 8:26, Matthew 14:31, Matthew 16:8, & Luke 12:28)

(Matthew 17:20 "He said to them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.")

    What does God require of us as Christians? What should we do? Basically we should act as we believe. If we truly love God and our fellow man it should be instantly evident to anyone who meets us. We should not attempt to hide our light under a basket since we have nothing to be ashamed of and much for us to be thankful.
    While it is not incumbent upon us to actively search out ways to be of service to others we, on the other hand, should never ignore an opportunity to perform a good work if such an opportunity presents itself.

(Matthew 5:16 "Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."

    God expects us to always cooperate with His grace.

(2 Corinthians 6:1 "Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.") God will provide any necessary miracles!

    We can never go wrong by repenting of our sins, praying for God's grace, and asking for His help to overcome evil.

Scripture assures us that God values repentance very highly.
(Luke 15:7 "I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.")
And,
(Luke 15:10 "In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.")
    At the end of the 15th chapter of Luke, in verses 31 & 32 we are assured that the faithful righteous will never be forgotten, but also that the sinner who was spiritually dead and lost has been found and has regained spiritual life because of his repentance. These verses emphasize God's love for the repentant sinner.

    What must we do to be saved?     "When the Day of Judgment comes, we shall not be asked what we have read or believed, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how well we have lived." (Catholic Apologetics Guide - Godwin Delali Adadzie)

    If you truly wish to know what Our Savior wants us to do, read the 5th Chapter of the Gospen of Matthew. Read the same chapter at Bible Gateway Matthew 5.

    Above all, never forget that our purpose for being here on Earth, for our life, is to know, love and serve God, and after our death to live with Him forever in paradise.


What is most important?

    Even the paltry bit of faith we can muster will ensure our eternal salvation if we recognize that God demands more of us than "lip service".
(Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.")
&
(1 John 3:18 "Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.")
    God does not demand that we move mountains to please Him. He only demands that we move our heart closer to His.

    It is our faith, which is bolstered by love that will save us.

(John 13:34-35 "Love one another... This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.")

(Romans 13:10 "Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.")

The so-called reformers biggest mistake
    The 16th Century reformers along with those who persist in promoting the false doctrine of faith alone (sola fide) would have you believe that faith is preeminent, the most important virtue a Christian can possess. However we know that this is not necessarily the truth. When we read the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, (especially verses 2 and 13), we realize that the Catholic Church was right all along. The Council of Trent was quite correct to condemn the faulty teachings of these later day false apostles. When we read the simple words of the scripture all becomes clear -

(1 Corinthians 13:2 "if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing")
(1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.")

    - and we realize that the teaching of the Gospel is primarily about love, (love God and love your neighbor) not primarily faith, and secondarily hope, as those dangerously misled and deluded reformers would have us believe.

    Read the 13th Chapter of 1 Corinthians Catholic version Here or Protestant version Here

    If the reformers were consistent in anything it was in misinterpreting the words of St. Paul in his epistles from which they took their doctrine of sola fide.

    They studiously ignored the warning of St. Peter in:
(2 Peter 3:15-17 "And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.")

And they also ignored St. Paul's own words in:
(Acts 26:20 "On the contrary, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout the whole country of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance.")

    These, along with many other statements of the Apostles and of our Savior, Jesus Christ, which are recorded in the New Testament were either ignored or overlooked. (See the bible quotes below)

    A Christian is defined by his or her faith in God, however the most important attribute a Christian must possess is Love.

See also:
Colossians 3:12-17

Matthew 22:34-40 "When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, 'Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?' He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.'”

John 13:34-35 "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Romans 13:10 "Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law."

1 Corinthians Chapter 13

1 John 3:10 "In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother."

1 John 3:14-18 "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth."

1 John 4:7-8 "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love."

1 John 4:21 "This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother."

Also Read: Romans Chapter 12

    What does an early father of the Church say? "For when the heathen hear from our mouth the oracles of God, they wonder at their beauty and greatness; afterwards, when they find out that our deeds are unworthy of the words which we speak, they turn from their wonder to blasphemy, saying that it is a myth and delusion.
    For when they (the godless) hear from us that God says: 'It is no credit to you, if you love them that love you, but it is a credit to you, if you love your enemies, and those that hate you'; -- when they hear this they wonder at this extraordinary goodness; but when they see that we not only do not love those that hate us, but not even those who love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the name is (of God) blasphemed." (Clement of Alexandria about AD190)

    John, Paul, and Peter all remind us that God wants everyone to be saved.
(John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."
(1 Timothy 2:3-4 "This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth."
and
(2 Peter 3-9 "The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard 'delay,' but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.")

    This is why Jesus ordered that the Good News (Repentance and Love) be preached to all nations.

    The Catholic Church teaches (has always taught) that our Salvation is made possible only by God's grace, which we receive gratuitously, through no merit of our own. Initially this grace is known as Sanctifying or Habitual Grace which infuses our soul and transforms us into children of God. Assuming we commit no willful grievous (mortal) sin, we will, at times, receive another type of grace called Actual Grace, which will enable us to perform acts pleasing to God. Actual grace includes, but is not limited to, the grace we receive from sacraments, which are outward signs of inward grace, such as:

Baptism - (Matthew 28:19, Ephesians 4:5, Mark 16:16, John 3:5)
Confirmation - (Acts 8:17, 2 Peter 1:10)
Holy Eucharist - (Communion, John 6:48-58, 1 Corinthians 10:16f & 11:23-26, Matthew 26:26-28)
Penance - (Confession, John 20:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20)
Holy Matrimony - (Marriage, Romans 7:2, Luke 16:18, Ephesians 5:31)
Anointing of the Sick - (Last Rites, James 5:14-15 and Mark 6:13)
Holy Orders - (The laying on of hands, 1 Timothy 4:14 and Luke 10:16)

    God's Actual grace will help us to love God and others as we love ourselves, to forgive others as we ask to be forgiven, and to do unto others as we would have them do to us. We may feel we are saved only when God's grace has made His love and good works habitual with us.

    Each and every time we repeat the Lord's Prayer (the Our Father) we should be reminded that we pray for this. ("Forgive us our trespasses (debts) as we forgive those who trespass against (who are in debt to) us")

    God, our Father, loves us so much that he pours his everlasting grace and love out upon the world's masses, his children. All that remains for us is to accept his love and grace, rather than ignoring or rejecting it. We must also strive to return God's love by keeping his commandments and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves as he has insisted we do.

    Since we have free will we can choose to either accept God's freely given grace or reject it. God’s grace can only work in our lives if we are open to receiving it.

    Our faith demands that we put complete trust in God and strive always to put Him above all else. Therefore, our grace induced faith is not merely intellectual assent, but an act of the whole person, involving the mind, the will, and the affections, resulting in a changed life.

    As we have seen, Love is preeminent, more important to God than anything else. As a result, it should be more important to us in our lives also.
See John 13:34-35


Alms

    Even though we cannot work our way into Heaven Jesus places high value on the concept of alms. (Matthew 6:1-4 "[But] take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.")

(Luke 11:41 "But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.") &
(Luke 12:33 "Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.")

    If we help our fellow man unselfishly or if we forgive a wrong someone has done us, these works are considered alms. Why would He want us to give alms if faith was all that was necessary? "St. Paul also instructs us to devote ourselves to good works.

(Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them."),

(Titus 3:14 "But let our people, too, learn to devote themselves to good works to supply urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.",

(2 Timothy 3:17 "so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.")

    "Life must be changed for the better, and good works should be offered as propitiation to God for our past sins. But He is not somehow to be bought off, as if we always had a license to commit crimes with impunity. For He has given no man a license to sin. Although, in His mercy, He does blot out sins already committed, if due satisfaction for them is not neglected. (Matthew 6:14f 'If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.') He who is not awakened by such great thundering is not asleep, but dead! And yet such words have power to awaken even the dead.!" (St. Augustine, Enchiridion 423 A.D.)


How Satan fools us

    The opening quote from the Minister states that it is Satan who causes a believer to doubt his salvation. The truth is that no one should be so certain of his salvation so that it makes him think he can do no wrong or that if he commits sins they will be "covered" simply because he believes in Jesus Christ. Rather, Satan, the deceiver, has convinced many to believe that their salvation is assured when it may not yet be and not to repent of their sins when they should have.

    God has reserved no place in Heaven for the boastful, the presumptuous, or for unrepentant sinners.

    Satan has also deceived many otherwise upright ministers to falsely claim that God's laws (Commandments) have no meaning for Christians any longer. But, even those who do not wish to believe the moral teaching of the Catholic Church will have to admit the scriptures are in agreement.

(Matthew 19:17 "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.")
(Matthew 5:18 "Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.")
(Luke 16:17 "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter of the law to become invalid.")

    Satan is always attempting to steal Hope and Love from us. It is only when we have both Faith and Love that we can have Hope. If our faith alone saves us why would we bother to hope for salvation?

(Romans 8:24f "For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?")
and why would God want us to love?
(1 John 3:23 "And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.")
(1 John 4:21 "This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother."
(Matthew 22:36-39 "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.")

    In this age of moral relativism when many Christians do not educate their consciences properly and when some rationalize that God's laws (commandments) no longer apply to them, they should be told the truth about what it is that God requires of us.
    If people are offended and reject this preaching then they will have rejected sound doctrine.
    A good indicator of our faith is whether we will listen to sound moral teaching or not. The 'little flock' (Luke 12:32) of Jesus must know the truth. If we remain in Jesus' word the truth will set us free! (John 8:31-32)

    Remember, we do not judge ourselves, Jesus Christ will!
(Romans 2:5-11 "By your stubbornness and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness. Yes, affliction and distress will come upon every human being who does evil, Jew first and then Greek. But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, Jew first and then Greek. There is no partiality with God.")

    We only 'hope' for eternal life, God does not grant eternal life with Him solely because of what we believe or disbelieve. What living person has seen God's book of life (Revelation 20:12&14), which is a list of the Elect? Our faith will be judged along with our deeds (our actions); everything we have done during our life will be examined and judged. Any sins we have committed for which we have not sincerely repented (asked forgiveness) during our lives will be held against us. God sees all. We cannot hide anything from Him.

    So we know that Jesus will not judge us for how we feel or for what we have believed, but for the things we have done (our works).

(2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.")

(2 Peter 2:4&9-10 "For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but condemned them to the chains of Tartarus and handed them over to be kept for judgment; ---- then the Lord knows how to rescue the devout from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who follow the flesh with its depraved desire and show contempt for lordship.")

We have neither the right nor the power to judge ourselves
    We also will not be the one who will decide if we are saved or not. Jesus will judge us and make that decision. He says,
(Revelation 3:5 "The victor will thus be dressed in white, and I will never erase his name from the book of life...)
    The intimation here is that it is possible for our name to be erased if we are not victorious! God has appointed Jesus Christ to be our judge.
(Acts 10:42 "he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.")
(Romans 2:6 "who will repay everyone according to his works")
(Romans 2:16 "--on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people's hidden works through Christ Jesus.")

What does this mean?
    It means that Jesus Christ, our Lord will not simply decide which cloud in heaven we will reside upon throughout eternity, but He will truly decide if we will join Him and His all-loving Father and all the angels and saints in heaven for eternity or if we will spend our eternity in Hell with Satan, the hateful deceiver and his wicked demons and other fallen angels.
    Jesus is our true judge who will decide if we are worthy or unworthy. Whether we really love God and our neighbor or not and whether we have truly repented of all of our sins we have committed during our life.

(Hebrews 10:30-31 "We know the one who said: 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay,' and again: 'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.")

(Revelation 14:12-13 "Here is what sustains the holy ones who keep God’s commandments and their faith in Jesus. I heard a voice from heaven say, 'Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'
'Yes,' said the Spirit, 'let them find rest from their labors, for their works accompany them.'")

    Speaking of the Gospel, St. Paul warns:
(1 Corinthians 15:2 "Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.")
And
(2 Corinthians 6:1 "Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.")

    What does this mean? It means that even for those who have faith, it is possible to believe in vain and die estranged from the grace of the Lord. Love is the key factor here because it is much easier to do God's will out of love rather than fear of the loss of heaven and terror of eternal punishment in hell. Divine love working in us gives us the promise of everlasting life and eternal reward with God our Father. When God's grace is present in us we are truly God's children who are destined for salvation. However if we knowingly reject that grace by sinning willfully our share of eternal salvation is in jeopardy. This is when sincere repentance in the form of Confession is most appropriate.

(1 John 3:14-15 "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.")

    And, how can we know when we truly love God? The Apostle John provides us with a truly simple answer.
(John 14:20-21 "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."

    The instructions St. Paul gave to Timothy are just as valid today as they always were. After saying that the scriptures were useful for training in righteousness, he said this about religious doctrine.
(2 Timothy 4:1-4 "I charge you ... proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.")

    We must have faith in Jesus to be saved and we should perform works of love which display our faith. God requires more of us than our belief in him. St. Paul says that our faith should be examined and tested. And we should realize that it is possible to fail the test of faith and that we can lose our salvation and be cut off from God.
(2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless, of course, you fail the test.")
(2 Corinthians 13:11 "Finally, brothers, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.")

    Always remember God's promise to us as transmitted by the Apostle Paul.
(Romans 11:22-23 "See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off. And they also, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.")

    If we are saved by anything alone it is by the grace of God alone which imparts into us an urge to repent, along with the divine virtues of faith, hope and love.

(1 Corinthians 13:2 "if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.")

    "What merits of his own has the saved to boast of when, if he were dealt with according to his merits, he would be nothing if not damned? Have the just then no merits at all? Of course they do, for they are the just. But they had no merits by which they were made just" (c.412 St. Augustine)

    "The mere notion of a Christian 'taking his chances on Judgment Day' frankly makes me tremble. When after death a soul is called to judgment (Hebrews 9:27), the soul is not being invited to negotiate. There will be no 'explaining' to God why one has preferred one sin over another. We are called to repentance, not to dickering. We are called to holiness (Romans 1:7), not to shopping among sins. 'Your holiness forbids this' " (Ephesians 5:13 "everything exposed by the light becomes visible"). (Father Mateo, CIN)

(Matthew 23:12 "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.")
(1 Corinthians 10:12 "Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.")

    So, to the preacher who made the opening statement I say, please do not be so sure of your eternal salvation that you consider it a "done deal". Consider that you are not yet saved, but simply in the process of being saved. Continue to pray to God for grace of final perseverance and continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And always sincerely repent of any sin you may commit.

    Scripture tells us that the only way we can be assured of our salvation is if we keep God's commandments.
(1 John 3:21-23 "Beloved, if [our] hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.")

(Philippians 2:12 "Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.")


The Reformers new ideas examined

    The Protestant's slogan began with a simple truth, but then fell abruptly into the depths of deceit and falsehood when they instituted their non-scriptural protestant traditions of men when they proclaimed not only Grace Alone, but also Faith Alone, & Bible Alone!

    Beginning with Martin Luther in Germany in 1517, who has since been elevated to the equivalent of protestant prophet, and ending with King Henry the 8th of England in 1533 who wanted to divorce a wife who he did not believe could bear him a son, these so-called reformers claimed they had discovered the previously suppressed, true doctrine of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures.
    These protestants purported to have uncovered in the New Testament of the Christian Holy Bible the accurate truth of salvation that had not been proclaimed since the Jesus and the Apostles walked the earth.
    In doing this they ignored Christ's own words in that same scripture when He said He would always be with His church and that it would never fall into error, this same church, which the Apostle Paul called the pillar and foundation of truth.
    For another counterpoint see: The Reformers’ Distorted View of Salvation by Tom Nash from Catholic Answers

    Ever since the time of Luther and Calvin a dismayingly high percentage of these protesting Christians have promoted their beliefs partly by viciously attacking Catholic assertions and history and also by criticizing and mischaracterizing Catholic beliefs.
    Quite a few Protestants claim, and continue to claim that Catholics are not even Christians.
    Furthermore, some extremist protestants have never missed any opportunity to assert that the Pope and his fellow priests, along with the devout lay members of the Catholic Church are nothing more or less than hellbound spawns of Satan.
    These religious extremists use and misuse holy scripture as a bludgeon, rather than as a learning tool, to 'prove' their assertions. They use both facts and falsehoods to make their points. Many of them make no effort to shy away from any trick or mistruth that serves their purpose, however outrageous. See specific examples here.

    The claims of these 'protestants' eerily resembled those of heretic Gnostics who advocated hidden (concealed) knowledge that they said had been repressed. These conspiracy theorists also dredged up the ideas of the heretic iconoclasts of the 7th and 8th centuries.
    Some of them came up with regurgitated ideas from the extremist Jewish Sect the Essenes, who denied the free will of man, which was also promoted in the doctrine of predestination as advocated by John Calvin, which was at least partially copied by the later 17th century heretic bishop Jansenius in France, who took it to its logical conclusion and denied that Christ died for all men, but only for those who will be finally saved (the elect).

    Against this is the great Doctor and Father of the Church, Augustine of Hippo, bishop of Hippo Regius and Saint, who stated a thousand years earlier: "God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us."

    It is extremely probable that the insidious doctrine of sola fide along with all of the other challenges made to the doctrines of the Catholic Church have been responsible for the loss of many souls to eternal damnation. The faulty new doctrines of Martin Luther and the other reformers should be condemned just as vigorously now as they were 500 years ago when, in 1521 Luther was excommunicated from the Church. And later, at the Council of Trent, which ran from 1545 to 1563 the protestant's novel doctrines were condemned as heresies and the council clarified and reaffirmed many Church doctrines which had been contested by the Protestants.

    When Luther was excommunicated it was not claimed that he was evil or even that he was damned. He was excommunicated because of his false claims and false doctrines from which he refused to repent. So the church of that time treated him as if he were a Gentile or a tax collector and cast him out. (Matthew 18:16-17)

    It was claimed that the early sixteenth-century Catholic Church was in need of reform of some sort. It was also claimed that some of the church's leaders were worldly and corrupt and too many of the faithful were living in laxity or ignorance.
    It was also apparent that the Monk, Martin Luther, became incensed by the manner in which the Church was raising money by soliciting donations for alms and granting indulgences at that time, since he claimed it had the appearance of a poor practice.

    However, these were not Luther's reasons for his actions, they were his excuses, because no matter how bad the abuses were or how the princes turned cleric were misusing their offices, Luther had no power nor any right to change the books and wording of the Scriptures and amend Christian doctrines to suit his novel beliefs.

    The state of the Church in those times is recorded in the Roots of the Reformation from EWTN.

    But, improprieties aside, no matter how low the piety of the church hierarchy may have fallen, these church leaders made no attempt to alter the Traditions handed down from the Fathers nor had they changed or instituted any new Christian doctrines.

    When Luther's attempts to protest were rebuffed he then overreacted and overreached grievously (secretly aided and abetted by disgruntled princes) when he attempted to overturn and nullify Apostolic Tradition, Church Doctrine and change Holy Scripture, all of which had remained unchanged for over one thousand five hundred years as our Savior promised it would.

    It was a terrible tragedy that Luther's acts of protest brought revolution and ever-deepening division to Christendom rather than the promised reform and unity that men of good will either expected or desired.

    Jesus promised that we would always be able to depend on His Church's doctrine,
(Matthew 16:18 "... and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.")
But He did not promise that His Church members or even its leaders would always be upright and sinless.

    The Catholic Church is not a hotel for saints (as the common criticism goes), but instead is a hospital for sinners.

    (Luke 5:32 "I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.")

    Never forget that the Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth rather than the scriptures alone. (1 Timothy 3:15)

    Also remember the promise of Jesus Christ, (Matthew 10:22 & 24:13 "the one who endures (or perseveres) to the end will be saved.")

    And the Greatest Commandment: "Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:30-31)

The Vine and the Branches
    It was a further tragedy that Martin Luther and his compatriots either passed over, ignored or misunderstood many of the words of Our Savior in the Gospels.
    In the Gospel of John chapter 15 verses 1 thru 17, Jesus describes God the Father as the vine grower and Himself as the vine. We are the branches of Jesus' vine and He enjoins us to remain in Him.
    Jesus further admonishes us that if we do not remain in Him and bear fruit we will be discarded. We (verse 6) "will be thrown out like a branch and wither," then "people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned."
    This is both a promise and a warning that both our faith and our eternal salvation could be forfeit if we lose our love for God and/or fail to obey Him.

    The reformers simply could not get it through their heads that Jesus' promises of salvation were always conditional - requiring us to love God and our neighbor and to obey God's commandments.

    Our salvation is not a one-time deal or ordeal where we make a promise to God at one point in our lives. Life is a process and so is our salvation. Our God does not ask for our promises, He demands our obedience!


Martin Luther's German Bible

Who was more wrong?
    the rebellious German Monk Martin Luther or Mohammed? Both of whom saw themselves, first and foremost, as reformers.
    At least Martin Luther continued to accept the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the Christian New Testament, while Mohammad ultimately rejected them both.

    However, Martin Luther displayed his arrogance by making additions, deletions, and changes when he translated the bible from the original Greek into German. No other translators have been so reckless as to change the wording of the bible or the order of books to suit their theology as did Luther.

    Luther added the word "alone" (allein in German) to Romans 3:28 controversially so that it read: "So now we hold, that man is justified without the help of the works of the law, alone through faith." He and his followers tried to justify this addition by making numerous spurious claims throughout the early years, with his followers defiantly proclaiming "this was the way Luther wanted it". (Here and Here and again Here.)

    In Martin Luther's writings he mentions, what he calls, "The consistent message of scripture." However, the consistent message of Scripture cited by Luther as Romans 3:28; Galatians 3:11; Titus 3:5-6 ignores and leaves out all of the following pertinent verses: Matthew 3:8-10, Matthew 7:21, Matthew 16:27, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 6:46, John 3:16-21, John 3:36, John 5:28-29, John 15:1-17, Acts 26:20, Romans 2:6, Romans 2:16, 1 Corinthians Chapter 13, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Ephesians 2:10, Titus 3:14, James 2:17, James 2:24, and 1 John 3:18. That is the consistent message of Scripture!

    Initially Luther had a low view of the Old Testament book of Esther and of the New Testament books of Hebrews, James, Jude, and the Revelation of John. He called the Letter of James 'an epistle of straw,' saying that he found little in it that pointed to Christ and His saving work. He also had harsh words for the Revelation of John, saying that he could "in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it."

    Luther had a failing for condemning those scriptural writers whose words contradicted his novel ideas. Ideas that really weren't all his own but (some of which), were copied from earlier heretics such as John Wycliffe in England and John (Jan) Hus in Bohemia. At the Council of Constance in 1415, the Catholic Church exposed and condemned the teachings and ideas of both Wycliffe and Hus as false and heretical.

    In his translation of the New Testament, Luther moved Hebrews and James out of the usual order, to join Jude and the Revelation at the end, and differentiated these from the other books which he considered 'the true and certain' chief books of the New Testament. "The four which follow have from ancient times had a different reputation."
    Even though Luther's views on some of these books changed in later years, and became more positive this did not eliminate the problems he caused. Indeed, if Luther was wrong about these things, as history has borne out, about what other things was he wrong?

    Luther also took it upon himself to place, what he chose to call the biblical apocrypha, (the deuterocanonical books) between the Old and New Testaments. These books and addenda to Biblical canon of the Old Testament are found in the ancient Greek Septuagint which was in wide use during the time of Jesus and the Apostles, but not in the Hebrew Masoretic text, which some have claimed was proposed during the time of the early Catholic Church but, in fact, was not fully compiled until the 10th century AD.

    These books, which had always been included in the Christian Old Testament, were not listed in the table of contents of Luther's 1532 Old Testament, and in the 1534 Bible. Instead, Luther gave them the title that became well-known in Protestant circles: "Apocrypha: These Books Are Not Held Equal to the Scriptures, but Are Useful and Good to Read." These books were not held equal by whom? By the self-proclaimed authority of Martin Luther alone, at that time.

The Bible warns against such practices.
(Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach [to you] a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed!)
(Deuteronomy 4:2 "you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.")
(Proverbs 30:6 "Add nothing to his words")
(Revelation 22:18-19 "if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues…and if anyone takes away…God will take away his share in the tree of life")

    Because of this Luther was seen as accepting the word of the Jews concerning which books should be included in the Christian Old Testament. Those Jews of whom he was otherwise highly critical (he became very anti-semitic), those same Jews who had rejected Jesus and have never accepted His divinity.

    Luther could have simply accepted the books that had already been chosen over a thousand years earlier by the Catholic Church at the Council of Rome in AD 382.
    But Luther's rejection of the community of saints (Luke 20:38 & Mark 12:27) and, specifically, the doctrine of Purgatory Here and again Here and also the practice of praying for the dead (2 Maccabees 12:42-46) prevented this, so as far as Luther and the protestants were concerned, those books had to go. Protestants have always claimed that prayers for the dead were not proper since prayers for the saved are unnecessary and prayers for the damned are for naught. But Protestants have always had a problem where that is concerned:

    "If there is no Purgatory, but only Heaven for the perfect and Hell for the imperfect, then the vast majority of us are hoping in vain for life eternal in Heaven." - Paul Whitcomb

    "If Catholics added the deuterocanonical books in 1546, then Martin Luther beat us to the punch: He included them in his first German translation, published the Council of Trent. They can also be found in the first King James Version (1611) and in the first Bible ever printed, the Gutenberg Bible (a century before Trent). In fact, these books were included in almost every Bible until the Edinburgh Committee of the British Foreign Bible Society excised them in 1825. Until then, they had been included at least in an appendix of Protestant Bibles. It is historically demonstrable that Catholics did not add the books, Protestants took them out." (from "How to Defend the Deuterocanonicals" at Catholic Answers)

    This Roman Catholic Church was the same Church that had, throughout the years, guarded and preserved the collection of sacred scriptures we call the bible. The same Latin Vulgate bible Luther had in his possession at the same time he was attempting to make changes to it. Luther took it upon himself to make these momentous unilateral decisions without any other authority even while admitting that he and his followers received the scriptures from the Catholic Church.

    It was this same Martin Luther, who certainly cannot be accused of Catholic favoritism, who stated in his so-called "Commentary of St. John": "We are compelled to concede to the Papists that they have the Word of God, that we received it from them, and that without them we should have no knowledge of it at all."

    And those Protestants who claim that Luther had never said such a thing, since they also reject Catholicism and all its works and history, what reason do they have to believe that the bible is truly the "Word of God"? Can they claim anything more than private judgment, that each individual is to interpret Scripture for himself? How are they any better than the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses?

    "The Bible alone is inadequate! The "Bible only" approach as a rule of faith is nowhere to be found in the Bible. In fact, the "Chosen People" of the Old Testament lived without the Hebrew Scriptures for centuries. The "Bible only" approach was an invention primarily of the 14th century heretic John Wycliffe, -a prototype of Protestantism-and the sixteenth century monk Martin Luther, the first Protestant. It was an invention that was radically contrary to the history and nature of Christianity and Judaism." (Fr. John J. Pasquini, Ecce Fides - Pillar of Truth)

    In the fifteenth century the Catholic Latin Vulgate, the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible, was the only Christian bible in existence.

    The much-repeated lie, that the Catholic Church added books to the bible, can easily be disproven if one cares to view the Gutenberg Bible and its 73 book Latin text (from the University of Texas at Austin) and/or compare two copies (from the British Library in London). The Latin Vulgate bible, in use since Jerome translated it into common Latin from Greek and Hebrew in the 4th century AD, was one of the first products of Gutenberg's printing press about 1455, well before Martin Luther's birth. Thus, it becomes quite clear that Luther and the Protestants removed books from the bible since their versions, even now, contain only 66 books.

    "One of the two “pillars” of the Protestant Reformation, (sola scriptura or “the Bible alone”) in part, states that nothing can be added to or taken away from God’s Word. History shows therefore that Protestants are guilty of violating their own doctrine." (Catholic Answers)

    It is quite possible Luther allowed his hatred for the Church to blind him and influence him about the canon of the Old Testament as it had about so many other things (Sola Scriptura, Rejection of Sacred Tradition, and Sola Fide, Rejection of the process of Salvation and the moral teaching of the Catholic Church).

    "In summary, the doctrine of sola fide is an anti-Scriptural invention of one man, Martin Luther, who threw out the teachings of the Apostles and the Catholic Church that Jesus Christ founded because of his personal confusion - his personal demons. This man went so far as to preach 'sin boldly' to his followers, assuring them that none of their sins mattered - a teaching so grotesque and at odds with Scripture it is almost impossible to find greater madness or greater evil." (from A Catholic Thinker)

(Galatians 1:8-9 "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach [to you] a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you received, let that one be accursed!")

    Criticisms aside, even though Luther's bible translation was not the most faulty, or the first, translation into a common language it was beneficial in that it prompted others to translate the bible into other languages. The Bible ceased to be a foreign book in a foreign tongue, and became naturalized, and hence far more clear and dear to the common people. Primarily because of the invention of the printing press Luther's version was followed by Protestant versions in other languages, especially the French, Dutch, English, as were many Roman Catholic translations.

What's wrong with Sola Scriptura?
    The false doctrine of Sola Scriptura, sometimes referred to as private judgment and also as biblical perspicuity, has resulted in doctrinal chaos among Christians, which has had a massive negative impact upon Christian worship. It has resulted in the splintering of Christianity, from one Christian Church, into thousands of different Christian denominations and quasi-Christian groups and sects since its inception.

    If the teaching of the Holy Bible was as clear and as easy to understand as Martin Luther claimed there would be only one Christian church instead of thousands.

    If the Holy Spirit is helping "guide individual believers to the truth" as the Protestants claim, it is not evident, since the different denominations and sects can agree on very few of these "truths". Only the Roman Catholic Church has maintained its doctrines and teachings intact since the beginning of the Christian era.


Quotes from New American Bible
In the Bible there are no throw-away verses.
"If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like,
it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself." - St. Augustine

    If Faith Alone (per Martin Luther) is correct most of these quotes from the bible are either meaningless or beside the point. But we know that is not the case since all Scripture in the Bible is true, inspired by God, and contains no contradictions when interpreted correctly.

(Genesis 4:7 "If you act rightly, you will be accepted; but if not, sin lies in wait at the door: its urge is for you, yet you can rule over it.")

(Psalms 32:10 "Many are the sorrows of the wicked one, but mercy surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.")

(Psalms 44:21 "God who knows the secrets of the heart?")

(Psalms 45:7 "You love justice and hate wrongdoing")

(Proverbs 24:16 "Though the just fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble from only one mishap.")

(Proverbs 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.")

(Proverbs 28:13 "Those who conceal their sins do not prosper, but those who confess and forsake them obtain mercy.")

(Ezekiel 36:26-27 "I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep them.")

(2 Maccabees 12:42-46 "Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen.
    He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection in mind; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead.
    But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin.")

(Matthew 3:8-10 "Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.")

(Matthew 4:17 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.")

(Matthew 5:18-20 "Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.")

(Matthew 5:44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,")

(Matthew 5:48 "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.")

(Matthew 6:1-4 "[But] take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.")

Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be."

(Matthew 7:12 "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.")

(Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.")

(Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.")

(Matthew 10:22 "You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.")

(Matthew 12:33-37 "Either declare the tree good and its fruit is good, or declare the tree rotten and its fruit is rotten, for a tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you say good things when you are evil? For from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. A good person brings forth good out of a store of goodness, but an evil person brings forth evil out of a store of evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will render an account for every careless word they speak. By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.")

(Matthew 15:8 "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.")

(Matthew 16:18 "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.")

(Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.")

(Matthew 17:20 "He said to them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.")

(Matthew 18:3-4 "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.")

(Matthew 19:17 "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.")

(Matthew 19:18-19 "He asked him, 'Which ones?' And Jesus replied, " 'You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother'; and 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself.'")

(Matthew 19:24 "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.")

(Matthew 23:12 "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.")

(Matthew 24:13 "But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.")

(Matthew 24:42 "Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.")

(Matthew 25:31-46 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
    Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
    Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.")

(Matthew 25:45 "what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.")

(Matthew 28:19-20 "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.")

(Mark 10:18 "No one is good but God alone.")

(Luke 5:32 "I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.")

(Luke 6:31-34 "Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit [is] that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.")

(Luke 6:36 "Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful.")

(Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' but not do what I command?")

(Luke 11:41 "But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.")

(Luke 12:33 "Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.")

(Luke 13:3 & 5 "By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!")

(Luke 14:11 "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.")

(Luke 16:17 "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter of the law to become invalid.")

(Luke 18:13-14 "But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.")

(Luke 18:19 "Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.")

(John 3:16-21 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.")

(John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.")

(John 5:28-29 "Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.")

(John 13:34-35 "Love one another... This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.")

John 14:15-21 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."

(John:15:1-17 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love."
    "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another.")

(Acts 3:19 "Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.")

(Acts 10:42 "He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.")

(Acts 26:20 "On the contrary, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout the whole country of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance."

(Romans 2:4 "Or do you hold his priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience in low esteem, unaware that the kindness of God would lead you to repentance?")

(Romans 2:5-8 "By your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness.")

(Romans 2:6 "who will repay everyone according to his works")

(Romans 2:16 "on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people's hidden works through Christ Jesus.")

(Romans 3:24-25 "They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed,")

(Romans 6:1-2 "What then shall we say? Shall we persist in sin that grace may abound? Of course not! How can we who died to sin yet live in it?")

(Romans 8:5-6 "Only the spiritual things will save us, the earthly things of the flesh will condemn us.")

(Romans 8:24-25 "For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?")

(Romans 11:22-23 "See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off. And they also, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.")

(Romans 13:10 "Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.")

(1 Corinthians 4:5 "Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God.")

(1 Corinthians 6:9 "adulterers, fornicators, practicing homosexuals, thieves or the greedy will not inherit the kingdom of God.")

(1 Corinthians 7:19 "Circumcision means nothing, and uncircumcision means nothing; what matters is keeping God's commandments.")

(1 Corinthians 10:12 "Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.")

(1 Corinthians 13 "If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

(1 Corinthians 15:2 "Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.")

(1 Corinthians 15:33-34 "Do not be led astray: Bad company corrupts good morals." Become sober as you ought and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God; I say this to your shame.")

(2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.")

(2 Corinthians 5:18 "And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation")

(2 Corinthians 5:20 "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.")

(2 Corinthians 6:1 "Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.")

(2 Corinthians 10:17-18 "Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord." For it is not the one who recommends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord recommends. )

(2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless, of course, you fail the test.")

(2 Corinthians 13:11 "Finally, brothers, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.")

(Galatians 1:8-9 "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach [to you] a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you received, let that one be accursed!")

(Galatians 5:6 "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.")

(Galatians 5:13 "For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.")

(Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.")

(Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.")

(Ephesians 5:10 "Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.")

(Philippians 2:12 "So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.")

(Colossians 3:12-17 "Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.")

(1 Thessalonians 5:2 "For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.")

(2 Thessalonians 2:15 "Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.")

(1 Timothy 1:18-19 "I entrust this charge to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophetic words once spoken about you. Through them may you fight a good fight by having faith and a good conscience. Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith")

(2 Timothy 2:11-13 This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.) See Also: Matthew 7:21, Luke 15:1-7 & 11-32

(1 Timothy 3:15 "But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.")

(2 Timothy 3:17 "so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.")

(1 Timothy 5:8 "And whoever does not provide for relatives and especially family members has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.")

(1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.")

(Titus 3:14 "But let our people, too, learn to devote themselves to good works to supply urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.")

(Hebrews 1:9 "You loved justice and hated wickedness")

(Hebrews 6:10 "For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones.")

(Hebrews 10:26-31 "If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries. Anyone who rejects the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses. We know the one who said: 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay,' and again: 'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.")

(Hebrews 10:38 "But my just one shall live by faith, and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him.”)

Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us"

(James 1:17 "all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.")

(James 1:22-24 "Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like.")

(James 2:17 "So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.")

(James 2:19-20 "You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?")

(James 2:22 "You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works,")

(James 2:24 "See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.")

(James 4:7-8 "So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds.")

(James 5:16 "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.")

(James 5:19-20 "My brothers, if anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone bring him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.")

(1 Peter 1:16 "for it is written, "Be holy because I [am] holy.")

(1 Peter 2:21 "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.")

(1 Peter 3:19-20 "In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water.")

(1 Peter 4:6 "For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead that, though condemned in the flesh in human estimation, they might live in the spirit in the estimation of God.")

(1 Peter 4:18 "And if the righteous one is barely saved, where will the godless and the sinner appear?")

(2 Peter 1:10-11 "Therefore, brothers, be all the more eager to make your call and election firm, for, in doing so, you will never stumble. For, in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.")

(2 Peter 2:20-21 "For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of [our] Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first.")

(2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard "delay," but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.")

(2 Peter 3:15-17 "And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures."

(1 John 1:6-9 "If we say, "We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin. If we say, 'We are without sin,' we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.")

(1 John 2:4 "Whoever says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.")

(1 John 2:17 "Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever.")

(1 John 3:10 "In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.")

(1 John 3:14-18 "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.")

(1 John 3:18 "Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.")

(1 John 3:18-23 "Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. [Now] this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Beloved, if [our] hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.")

(1 John 4:8 Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.)

(1 John 4-7-21 "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.
    This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
    God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.")

(1 John 4:21 "This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.")

(Jude 21-23 "Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. On those who waver, have mercy; save others by snatching them out of the fire; on others have mercy with fear, abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.")

(Revelation 12:9 "The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.")

(Revelation 14:12-13 "Here is what sustains the holy ones who keep God’s commandments and their faith in Jesus. I heard a voice from heaven say, 'Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'
'Yes,' said the Spirit, 'let them find rest from their labors, for their works accompany them.'")

(Revelation 20:12 "I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life. The dead were judged according to their deeds, by what was written in the scrolls.")

    Now that we have seen what is lacking in Protestants beliefs, perhaps we should read about what Catholics believe about the Scriptures, What Do Catholics Believe about the Bible?


The doctrine of St. Paul

The following verses, probably more than any others, show the true doctrine of Paul the Apostle, beloved brother of Peter.

The entire Second Letter of Peter, but especially these two verses:

(2 Peter 1:20-21 "Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God")

(2 Peter 3:15-17 "And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.")

And in St. Paul's own words: There are also some things very easy to understand.

(Acts 26:20 "On the contrary, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout the whole country of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance.")

(1 Corinthians 7:19 "Circumcision means nothing, and uncircumcision means nothing; what matters is keeping God's commandments.")

(Galatians 5:6 "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.")

(Philippians 2:12-16 "So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.
Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life, so that my boast for the day of Christ may be that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.")

(Romans 12:9-21 "Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality. Bless those who persecute [you], bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, on your part, live at peace with all. Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' Rather, 'if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.' Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.")

Note: None of this agrees with the preaching or new doctrines Martin Luther and the other so-called reformers presented.


Baptism linked to salvation. See:

(Matthew 28:19-20 "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.")

(John 3:3-7 Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."
"How can someone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'")

(Acts 2:38 "Peter [said] to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit.")

(Acts 22:16 "Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.")

(Romans 6:3-4 "Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.")

(1 Peter 3:21 "This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,")

(Colossians 2:11-12 "In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ. You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.")


A glaring example of promoting an untruth:

    Some people quote Pope Leo X (1513-1521) as saying, "How profitable that fable of Christ has been to us and our company," in an attempt to show that a medieval pope was the Antichrist because he thought Jesus was a myth created to justify the existence of a power-hungry Church.
    But the problem with this quote is that, while it does come from the sixteenth century, Pope Leo X never said it. This quote actually comes from the Protestant dissenter John Bale's satirical book The Pageant of Popes, and was an amateur attempt to smear the Roman pontiff's character.
(You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.)

    Another false and much-overused criticism of the Church is explained and refuted in this tract by Fr. William Saunders entitled: Why Do We Call Priests 'Father'?

    Catholics are accused of worshipping the Blessed Virgin Mary. Paul Whitcomb's tract denies this and Articles from Catholic Answers explain the teachings concering Mary.

    In order to quickly discover what the Catholic Church really teaches go to the source - ask a Catholic priest or read Paul Whitcomb's tract: "The Catholic Church Has The Answer"

    Satan must rejoice at the lack of brotherly love when one group of Christians launches unwarranted attacks and false criticisms against another group of Christians. (Telling the truth is one thing but purposefully perpetuating lies and falsehoods is quite another.)

    Our Savior made no exceptions when He told us to love one another.
    You who call yourself a Christian, do you live according to His word?

See Romans 14:10-13

(2 Corinthians 13:11 "Finally, brothers, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.")


Final Exhortation

    I have written this tract not because I wish to recruit Evangelical Protestants to Catholicism (even though that would be ideal) but because I am truly concerned that many professing Christians may end up spending eternity in the wrong place because they follow the mistaken and unscriptural doctrines of the so-called reformers of the 16th century.
I hope only that I have followed St. Peter the Apostle's admonition in:
(1 Peter 3:15f "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence")

Are You Saved?
    When an Evangelical Christian asks if we have been saved he is normally understood as only expressing his concern for us. But is he not also proclaiming his superiority to us by telling us he has something we will never have if we continue in our unbelief in his Protestant traditions? Perhaps he is simply boasting in the Lord as it says in 2 Corinthians 10:17. But did he also fail to read and fully understand the following verse:
(2 Corinthians 10:18 "For it is not the one who recommends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord recommends.")
See all possible versions of this verse at the Bible Gateway

See also:
(1 Corinthians 4:5 "Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God.")

    Because self-commendation is a premature and unwarranted anticipation of the final judgment, which our Lord Jesus Christ alone will pass.

Remember James' Warning against Presumption
    Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit"- you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears. Instead you should say, "If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that." But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.
(James 4:13-17)

    Live according to the principle the Lord taught in Luke 18:9-14! and also in verse 17.

    If a person were to concede that unrepentant sinners will not be saved. (Hebrews 10:26-27, Luke 13:3-5)
    If they were to understand that our salvation is not a one-time event but a process, (1 Corinthians 15:2)
    If we were to profess sorrow for any sins we might commit and always confess our sins, asking God for forgiveness with a contrite heart, (1 John 1:9)
    If we were to accept that the virtue of Love is greater and more important than any other virtue, (1 Corinthians 13:13)
    If we truly believe that our actions can have eternal consequences, (John 3:36)
    If we would truly try our best to love God and our brothers (our fellow human beings) as much as we love ourselves, (Matthew 22:37-40)
    If we were to realize that our main task in this life is not to be good people or to be liked but to do the will of the Lord our God, (Matthew 6:9-15 & 1 Peter 4:2)
    Remember, Jesus Christ assured us that even though this world would revile and hate us for following Him,
    If we follow Him to the end of our lives we would be saved, (Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:12-13; Mark 13:13)

    If we do these things, it is certain that we will spend our eternity in paradise with God and the saints and angels. Can we really have the same assurance if we follow the Johnny-come-lately and faulty doctrines of Martin Luther and his compatriots?

Heed the warnings from the Old and New Testaments
    Proverbs 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."

    Matthew 23:12 "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted."

    1 Corinthians 10:12 "Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall."

    May the blessing of Almighty God descend upon us and remain with us always. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

    Remember the Beatitudes
    See: Matthew 5:3-12

Above all, DO NOT be like the one Jesus describes
in Matthew 7:21-23 & 26f!

Please remember always.
"We were born to know, love and serve God in this world and afterward to live with Him forever in Eternity."


References

    This work consists primarily of quotes from others, including verses taken from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), The King James Version (KJV) and other versions at the Bible Gateway. Otherwise, I have tried to indicate the source, whenever possible. Ed.

Quotes and citations also taken (or inferred) from these publications: