That reformist rhetoric is based on the errors or one man, John Tezel, who was corrected by his bishop. The Council of Trent instituted severe reforms in the practice of granting indulgences, and,
because of prior abuses, “in 1567 Pope Pius V canceled all grants of indulgences involving any fees or other financial transactions” (
Catholic Encyclopedia). That was 457 years ago, and anti-Catholics have been complaining about
prior abuses ever since.
Wait a minute....you think that the abuses stopped there? What about the track record of abuses in Roman Catholic institutions all over the world for God knows how long until they were brought to light by victims of those despicable clergy? Both nuns and priests were guilty of the most heinous abuses (both in physical and emotional cruelty and sexual depravity) and the children who were their victims had no one to appeal to for help. Nothing even comes close to the level of abuse seen in these institutions. Supposedly ‘celebrate’ priests were even having sex with the nuns and babies were born who were either taken to orphanages or adopted by Catholic families unaware of their origins.
How do you excuse that?
That's a shallow excuse to start a new church.
Actually it wasn’t a new church at all.....it was a re-establishment of the original, lost in the mire of Christendom’s countless denominations. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not just another denomination but a complete departure from an apostate church system, centuries in the making, and completely lost, spiritually. They can’t seem to agree about anything except the foundational doctrines of the RCC which were never scriptural to begin with. The “weeds” that Jesus foretold flourished when the apostles died and their influence was lost.
Jesus came in the first century, not to establish a new religion.....but to re-establish true worship among his own people. But like the RCC the Pharisees wanted no part of that, so instead of humbly accepting his corrections they conspired against him and persecuted those who followed his teachings. They accused him of apostasy and blasphemy and yet they were the apostates and blasphemers.....history repeats, but not many can see that the devil has no new tricks.
Daniel 8: 23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.Who is the Prince of princes that this evil power stands against?
Dan. 2:44 But in the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people, and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever.
Daniel prophesies an earthly kingdom that will never be destroyed. Either this is a false prophecy, or the earthly kingdom requires succession. Today's prophets of doom need to re-think Daniel.
Or your own church needs to rethink everything it teaches....
Daniel ch 2 reveals the details of a dream given to Nebuchadnezzar by God himself.
In it was depicted a huge image made of different metals in descending order...a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of copper and legs of iron, with feet being a mixture of iron and clay. A huge stone was seen, not of human origin, to strike the image on its feet so that the entire image fell and was smashed into pieces and the wind came and blew them all away......it’s an interesting picture but one that the king could not recall....only that it disturbed him greatly.
He demanded that his priests reveal the dream and its meaning under threat of death.....Daniel was also included in this death threat, so He asked God to reveal the dream and its meaning, which he did. Daniel was brought before the king and explained the dream to him....as a reward , Daniel was made Prime Minister of the Babylonian kingdom.
So what did Daniel say was the meaning of the dream......this was a march of world powers...not just any world powers but those who were directly involved with God’s people down through time.
Babylon was identified as the head of gold....followed by Medo Persia, who conquered Babylon in one night with hardly any resistance given, as they were completely unprepared for an invasion. They imagined that their city was impregnable but God was behind this act and Babylon fell as it was prophesied......God even named the conquerer and his methods way before the event.
MedoPeria was in turn conquered by Alexander the Great so the copper represented Greece. In turn after the untimely death of Alexander, Rome entered the world scene as a force to be reckoned with....the legs of iron, crushing all in their wake. But who conquered Rome? No one....Rome fell due to its own decadence, weaken from its own moral decay......however, out of the ashes of Rome emerged Britannia....another world conquerer, but she had children that she left behind in all her territories. One of whom she became allied with as the superpower of the 20th century....Anglo-America.....now we are in the time of the feet of iron and clay.
What is it in this mixture that creates weakness in this global giant? It’s called democracy....a government supposedly “of the people, by the people and for the people”....but this apparently only worked in theory like all the other kinds of human rulership mankind has tried down through the ages.
Even Britain with her monarchy had to put them aside as a mere tourist attraction in order to implement democratic rule. Democracy creates factions of dissent that undermine the rule and power of governments. The will of the people undermine the government’s power to implement its will. Don’t we see this more and more as time goes on? Isn’t this why we are being prepared for the final rulership of this world in a totalitarian “one world government” under which we will see the entire human race subjugated to what amounts to enforced slavery.....the Bible foretells this very thing....are you all awake as to what is coming?
This is the time for Daniel 2:44 to see its fulfilment. In the time of these final kings.....
“The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people, and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever.”
Do we understand what that means...? I don’t think you even have a clue...
All failed human rulership under the influence of the devil, will be eliminated and replaced with the rulership we should have had from the beginning......God’s Kingdom will restore God’s rightful Sovereignty over the whole earth, having destroyed all the things that the devil set up to lead mankind astray......political, commercial and religious empires will crash....smashed to a million pieces by the power of our God.
We will be found either on God’s side or on the other side with satan and his hordes. How we live and what we believe will determine our position.
More historical falsehoods. The Bible has been read out loud for all to hear in LITURGY (public worship) since the 1st century.
Find me a single mention of liturgy, a pope, adoration of Mary, an immaculate conception, the use of images in worship, an earthly priesthood, saints dictated by church criteria, distinctive garments denoting an office of service, repetitive prayers, absolution by a priest, holy water, the use of incense, monasticism, vows of silence, and heaven or a hell of eternal damnation, as opposite destinations for all souls....please, I invite you to show us any of these things in any passage of Christian Scripture. There is a longer list if you’d like one....
History is an interesting read.....
With the invention of the printing press, more people could now possess their own Bible, a development the Catholic Church did not endorse. In 1559 Pope Paul IV ruled that no Bible could be printed in the vernacular without church approval, and this the church refused to grant. In fact, in 1564 Pope Pius IV stated: “Experience has shown that if reading of the Bible in the vulgar tongue is permitted indiscriminately, . . . more harm than good arises therefrom.”
What did they have to fear? I think we know....if people could read the Bible for themselves they would not find what the RCC teaches.
The Reformation was a religious revolution, but it produced a new kind of “Christianity”, not based on the Bible, but on the foundation of unbiblical Catholic doctrine.
It replaced the authority of the papacy with individual free choice. Catholic Mass was replaced by the Protestant liturgy, and awesome Catholic cathedrals by normally less pretentious Protestant churches.
Yet, all of this is a complete departure from the beliefs and practices of the first Christians......instead of remaining humble preachers, men took power and became exactly what what the Pharisees were....”blind guides” to equally blinded people. (Matt 23:13-15, 24, 33)
Oh dear God......I don't know what to say.
