We continue today with the excellent article by Dr. John Gerstner on Roman Catholocism
In a short primer of this kind, it is impossible to deal with the entire Roman system of doctrine. The new Catholic catechism contains over 700 pages of doctrinal teaching of the Catholic church. But perhaps this little primer has helped Protestants and Catholics alike to think through their beliefs. I shall conclude this brief examination of Roman Catholicism by asking three questions:
What is the fundamental defect of Roman Catholicism?
What are the consequent errors?
What should be our attitude towards the Roman Catholic church?
QUESTION 1. What is the fundamental defect of Roman Catholicism?
ANSWER. The fundamental error of Rome is two-fold. It consists in a denial of the authority of God, on the one hand, and a deification of human authority, on the other. Rome rejects the supremacy of God as He has spoken in the Bible. Rather than subject herself to His Word, she subjects His Word to her. Rather than criticize herself in its light, she construes it in her light. On the other hand, she exalts herself to infallibility and would have all men bow down and blindly worship her upon pain of bodily death in the world (if she has the power to enforce it) and spiritual death in the world to come. Not without reason has the Church of Rome been called the greatest tyrant the world has ever seen.
QUESTION 2. What are the consequent errors?
ANSWER. The consequent errors deriving from this original sin of unbounded arrogance are legion. Most important of all, Rome closes the divine way of salvation. She has taken Christ from us and we know not where she has laid Him. All His promises of being the Savior from our sins, the ransom for our souls, the refuge of our weariness, are gone. The just no longer live by faith. Our freedom is over, we are in bondage again, we are yet in our sins. In the place of His invitation, her sacraments; in the place of His mediation, her Virgin, saints, and endless priests; in the place of Him who was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, her righteousness that leaves us still in our sins. She may warn, threaten, and excommunicate us, but we reply with the inspired words of the Apostle Paul, “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be anathema,” Galatians 1:9.
QUESTION 3. But finally, what should be our attitude and policy toward Rome?
May I make a few suggestions? First, our attitude should be one of humility in judging Rome, not because of her arrogance but because of our sin. It must be confessed that Protestantism is greatly divided in organization, and more divided still in testimony. We have lost the salt of the Reformation to such a degree that we are almost good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of Rome. No longer does the Protestant church ring with the great themes of salvation by grace, the authority and genuine inspiration of the Bible, a divine Christ, and a final judgment. We must humbly confess that to a great degree we have been false to our true gospel and that Rome has been true to her false gospel. Let us, therefore, set our own house in order.
Second, Protestants should not intermarry with Romanists. The fact that there are many conscientious and well-meaning Protestants who have done this and appear to live happily ever afterwards does not make the policy right. The Catholic contract is inimical to Protestantism and cannot be signed by a Protestant without violating evangelical principles. For example, the contract requires the persons to be married by a priest with the understanding that such a marriage alone is valid; it requires the Protestant to promise not to endeavor to win his mate to his faith, which is a violation of his duty as a Christian. Again, it requires the Catholic training of the children, which is detrimental, of course, to the Protestant faith and witness; and it precludes the greatest marital bliss which is based on harmony of religious faith and practice.
Third, Rome should be opposed, but only spiritually. We repudiate the externalistic view of religion and should therefore repudiate all carnal opposition and persecution. Without being either complacent about her, or satisfied with her doctrine
Recently I was discussing Roman Catholicism with a friend. This person, who was raised in a biblical church and not well aquainted with the beliefs of Romanism, was appalled when they found out some of superstitions and mystical practices of Romanism. I was pleased when I immediately sensed that this Christian had a discerning spirit and saw through to the heresy and error of such practices. I fear many in our day do not see the false doctrine and heresy of the Roman church. I would like to share some blog articles by Dr. John Gerstner over the days to come that are informative and powerfully written on this subject. Dr. Gerstner is a world class theologian and is associated with Ligonier Ministries.
In a short primer of this kind, it is impossible to deal with the entire Roman system of doctrine. The new Catholic catechism contains over 700 pages of doctrinal teaching of the Catholic church. But perhaps this little primer has helped Protestants and Catholics alike to think through their beliefs. I shall conclude this brief examination of Roman Catholicism by asking three questions:
What is the fundamental defect of Roman Catholicism?
What are the consequent errors?
What should be our attitude towards the Roman Catholic church?
QUESTION 1. What is the fundamental defect of Roman Catholicism?
ANSWER. The fundamental error of Rome is two-fold. It consists in a denial of the authority of God, on the one hand, and a deification of human authority, on the other. Rome rejects the supremacy of God as He has spoken in the Bible. Rather than subject herself to His Word, she subjects His Word to her. Rather than criticize herself in its light, she construes it in her light. On the other hand, she exalts herself to infallibility and would have all men bow down and blindly worship her upon pain of bodily death in the world (if she has the power to enforce it) and spiritual death in the world to come. Not without reason has the Church of Rome been called the greatest tyrant the world has ever seentheir superstitious beliefs and evident mystical practices.
What a blessing to celebrate 41 years of marriage this week. Truly I can say with the psalmist - "the lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places- I have a good heritage". God has blessed my life with a wonderful godly wife, three children who know Christ and are walking in righteousness and seven grandchildren. I well remember the night we were married on June 20, 1969. I was serving in the US Army at Fort Bragg, NC and got a 4 day pass to travel to Pennsylvania to get married. Since I had two more years of enlistment my dear wife would follow me many places in a loving and submissive manner. God has given me the woman who has become the exact counterpart to my life. She is my helpmeet in life as well as my ministry as a pastor. She is the cheerful voice you hear as you call our church office and serves at my side in the ministry. One of the greatest Puritan preachers who ever lived was John Owen. During our time of relaxation and get away this week I read a considerable biographical sketch of Owen's life. John Owen had 11 children and all of them died in youth and his wife preceded him in death by eight years. Obviously his ministry was marked by sorrow as he buried a child every three years, but never was there a spirit of gloom or despondency seen in his writings. He magnified the grace of God and spent his life mortifying the flesh and sin. As I meditate on the Lord's blessings and the beautiful setting of our 41st anniversary in Door County Wisconsin I pray that I can be as faithful to my Lord and has vigorous in fighting sin as the great John Owen was.
I have found myself battling with unbelief far too many times in my Christian journey. Perhaps this is the "sin that easily besets me" as the writer of Hebrews says. In recent months I found that battle raging in my soul. God led me to a choice pastor and expositor for counsel. I am eternally grateful for that meeting. His words of wisdom gave us a clear pathway for navigating through the season of adversity. Recently Pastor Colin Smith wrote in his blog about Faith and Unbelief. It is so excellent and helpful I want to share it with you for I know that every Christian has his own struggles with faith and unbelief. I trusts Pastor's Smiths insight on John Bunyan will be as helpful to you as they are to me
Faith and Unbelief
Date Posted: February 2nd, 2010
I’ve been thinking about what it means to live by faith. Saying that you believe in Jesus is one thing. Exercising faith in Christ through the challenges of life is another. It’s easy to confess faith but then to speak and act in unbelief. I’ve caught myself doing that a few times recently. What about you?
John Bunyan has some helpful and pithy insights in his book, Come andWelcome to Jesus Christ. In classic puritan style, he lists 25 contrasts between faith and unbelief. Here are the ten I’ve found most helpful. Some of them are rephrased or restated from Bunyan’s original for the sake of clarity:
1. Faith sees more in a promise of God to help than in all other things to hinder. Unbelief sees more in the things that hinder than in God’s promise to help.
2. Faith sees love in the heart of Christ when He speaks to reprove us. Unbelief sees anger in God’s heart when He says that He loves us.
3. Faith gives comfort in the midst of fear. Unbelief brings fear in the midst of comfort.
4. Faith helps the soul to wait, when God defers to give. Unbelief takes the huff if God makes us tarry.
5. Faith will suck sweetness even out of God’s rod, but unbelief finds no comfort even in His greatest mercies.
6. Faith makes great burdens light. Unbelief makes light burdens heavy.
7. Faith lifts us up when we are down, but unbelief throws us down when we are up.
8. Faith brings us near to God when we are far from Him. Unbelief puts us far from God when we are near to Him.
9. Faith purifies the heart. Unbelief keeps the heart impure.
10. Faith finds the ways of God pleasant and admirable. Unbelief makes them heavy and hard.
“Lord, I believe. Help me overcome my unbelief, (Mark 9:24).
(Adapted from John Bunyan: Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ (p. 202-205
Today- June 19th is the birthday of the greatest of Baptist preachers and one my true heroes in the faith.
Please read the following blog from DesiringGod.org for your blessing and in tribute of a great man of God
The Bible is God’s Bible; and when I see it, I seem to hear a voice springing up from it, saying, “I am the book of God; man, read me. I am God’s writing; open my leaf, for I was penned by God; read it, for he is my author, and you will see him visible and manifest everywhere. -Charles Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon was born on June 19th (today) in 1834, and was made by God to be a gift to the body of Christ. His preaching impacted tens of thousands of people in his own day and millions since that time.
He was a pastor who was unwaveringly committed to Jesus Christ, and therefore unwaveringly committed to the Bible. He preached in a manner worthy of the message he proclaimed, fervently and with great conviction, to audiences of more than 10,000 with no modern amplification.
This past April I was in Louisville for T4G, and in my free time I took a tour of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Perhaps the highlight of the tour was the viewing of Charles Spurgeon’s personal Bible in the James P. Boyce Centennial Library.
To see Spurgeon’s personal Bible, stained with the oil of his fingers and weathered by his times of private worship, moved me deeply. I was not moved because the man who turned the pages of this Bible was great. Rather, I was moved because a man caught such a glimpse of the almighty God in turning its pages.
How we need to pray for God to raise up a new generation of preachers like the greaat Spurgeon who have an unwavering commitment to preach the word of God in with passion and clarity and with the unction of the Holy Spirit
Well here we are at our topic of forgiveness again. A subject that is most needy among Christians but a subject most neglected in all of our lives. As we have tracked this topic in these brief blog entries I am sure you are realizing that this is not an easy battle and it does involve a life-long process. I am so thankful for Pastor James McDonald's transparency in this area and his excellent thoughts. We are going to look at the third and last of those today and I trust it will be eye popping and helpful
Are you serious about sin? Because God is. And the people of Harvest Bible Chapel did some serious soul-searching and sin confession to put unforgiveness to death. Take a look at this video of the funeral we held at the Elgin Campus for those sins.
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32
Here we are looking at this all-important topic of forgiveness again today. Once again we are going to see what Pastor James McDonald says in his recent timely messages on the subject at Harvest Bible Chapel. This post is very, very helpful and deserves our serious consideration as we pursue an understanding of biblical forgiveness
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about forgiveness. The past two weekends at Harvest, I preached a series on forgiveness that God used in a powerful way. Find below a summary of what we have been learning together. If you apply some of the things we have been teaching you can get your heart to a much better place very quickly.
Forgiveness comes in two parts. It begins with a decision, an act of my will. We call this the crisis of forgiveness. When I make the choice to release a person from the obligation that resulted when he or she injured me, I am completing the crisis of forgiveness. I am not looking for vengeance; I am not trying to get even; I am not wishing for bad things to happen to them; and I am not focused on their failure. In fact, I am not thinking about them at all. I’ve release them from all obligation that resulted when they hurt me.
Maybe you remember completing a crisis of forgiveness in the past, only to retract that act of grace and begin again to nurse and nurture the injury of someone else’s sin. Maybe you have responded publicly in a church service and committed yourself to forgiveness, or knelt alone and promised God that you would forgive but fell into your old patterns of hate or resentment when you crossed paths with the one you had chosen to forgive. If that is your experience, you need to understand the difference between the crisis and the process of forgiveness. Beyond the crisis is the process of forgiveness, without which you will never experience the healing that forgiveness can bring. In the crisis of forgiveness we say, “I choose to forgive,” but in the process we say, “I will treat you as though it never happened.” Here is how that process works:
1. I won’t bring the offense up to the person, except for his benefit;
2. I won’t bring the offense up to others; and (hardest of all)
3. I won’t bring the offense up to myself. I will not go over it and think about it and dwell upon it.
When you are doing that effectively, you are succeeding in the process of forgiveness. This is a lesson that I am learning little by little in my own life. I could share several acts of forgiveness that I have been working on for ten or fifteen years. I am still in the process. Praise God, I am doing a lot better than I was ten years ago. But here is the key: When I fail in the process, I have to go back to the crisis. If you do that faithfully, you will get free.
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32
After pastoring five churches for almost thirty-eight years I am deeply convinced that one of the greatest needs of Christian families and churches is the matter of biblical forgiveness. Our personal lives are suffering greatly because of a lack of forgiveness and we are losing our children to the world. Sadly, many of our churches are languishing because of a lack of forgiveness. So often Christians leave churches with a litany of unresolved conflicts and lack of forgiveness and sadly take that down the road to the next church. Consequently our churches have become little more than revolving doors for people with unresolved conflicts and much bitterness. I have been greatly blessed to read James McDonald's blog in recent days as he dealt with the matter of forgiveness in his church. Since many readers of my blog will most likely not read his then I am including his comments in my blog for a few days. Read this carefully and prayerfullly
We’ve covered some powerful ground on the subject of forgiveness, but I don’t want to leave without saying this. The bottom line for you and your family is: There are no enduring relationships without forgiveness. I’m sure that you have a lot of dreams for your family. You will never see those dreams realized without forgiveness. There’s no way around it. If you want to make it to your golden wedding anniversary, it’s going to require several major forgivenesses and a truckload of minor ones. If you can’t deal in the forgiveness environment, then you will have a lot of pain in your family’s future. But here’s the good news: You can forgive. And God wants to help you. Never are we more like Christ than when we choose to forgive.
The time to forgive is now, and it starts with a decision. You can’t succeed in the process of forgiveness until you come to the crisis. Who is the person whose face has been in your mind’s eye as you’ve been reading this today? Is it a parent? A brother or sister? Maybe your child has hurt you and hardly knows it. Make a choice to forgive. Maybe you need to write a letter this week. Maybe you need to make a phone call.
Make a choice to forgive. Tell the person, “I choose to release you from the pain that resulted when you injured me. You don’t owe me anything. I forgive you.”
One of the things that I’ve learned in more than twenty years of ministering to people (and I have seen it in my own life as well) is that my capacity for forgiveness is directly related to my comprehension of how much God loves me. When my concept of God’s love is very small, my capacity to love others is very small as well. Paul said, “Christ’s love compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14 NIV). So often I see that the Lord’s people need to have a breakthrough in their understanding. God doesn’t love like our parents. God doesn’t love according to our human experiences. God loves fully and unconditionally. That’s what we’re after.
In just a few hours our special meetings with the Steve Pettit team will be history. It has been a fabulous Spirit anointed week thus far. We have experienced great music and worship and passionate biblical preaching. Every message has been right on target for our church's needs and concerns. Many hearts have been convicted about being a better witness for Christ. We have been challenged to be discerning Christians in an age of ever increasing departure from the true gospel. Our hearts were challenged last night to see our trials through the sufferings of Christ and embrace them so that we can in our weakness receive His power and strength. We truly praise God for this enriching and edifying four days of spiritual blessing. Tonight we wrap it up with the Irish Saced Concert and a special opportunity for outreach. What a blessing to be part of a church that is biblical and has passion for truth and reality Christian living.
As we study church history and revival we find that in all true revivals there was a clear outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We need to seek this fresh presence of the Spirit as we prepare our hearts for our special meetings in a few days. As God's Spirit is poured out in a fresh manner it will change our lives as Christian believers. There will be a sense of the nearness and presence of Christ in our midst as never before. We will have a longing for holiness and purity. There will be a fresh burden for the souls of men. All these are the marks of true revival.
We love the hymns of Keith and Krystyn Getty and sing them often in our worship. Here is one on the Holy Spirit that deserves our attention and meditation.
You can access this beautiful hymn and hear it sung by Krystan at the following link:
Holy Spirit, living Breath of God,
Breathe new life into my willing soul.
Bring the presence of the risen Lord
To renew my heart and make me whole.
Cause Your Word to come alive in me;
Give me faith for what I cannot see;
Give me passion for Your purity.
Holy Spirit, breathe new life in me.
Holy Spirit, come abide within;
May Your joy be seen in all I do—
Love enough to cover ev'ry sin
In each thought and deed and attitude,
Kindness to the greatest and the least,
Gentleness that sows the path of peace.
Turn my striving into works of grace.
Breath of God, show Christ in all I do.
Holy Spirit, from creation's birth,
Giving life to all that God has made,
Show your power once again on earth;
Cause Your church to hunger for Your ways.
Let the fragrance of our prayers arise.
Lead us on the road of sacrifice
That in unity the face of Christ
Will be clear for all the world to see
Charles Spurgeon was born on June 19th (today) in 1834, and was made by God to be a gift to the body of Christ. His preaching impacted tens of thousands of people in his own day and millions since that time.