A prayer of gratefulness for the Reformation!

The post below was first published on October 31st, 2017 and I present it again today (only slightly revised) in commemoration of Reformation Day, 2023!

Today marks the 506th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, when a 33-year-old Augustinian friar, Martin Luther, nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, in Saxony, Germany on October 31st, 1517. The Holy Spirit would use Luther and the other Reformers in a mighty way to recover the Good News! Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone that was preached by the New Testament church, but had been buried beneath layers of religious legalism, ritual, tradition, and ceremony created by the institutional church of Rome.

I’m so grateful for the early Reformers. It took great courage and faith for Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and the others to oppose Rome at a time when such opposition should have meant certain death. Over the ages, many believers were persecuted and even martyred for their faith in Christ. I can pick up my Bible and read it any time of the day. I can also gather with other believers and worship the Lord according to His Word without restriction. I’m mindful of the many Christians who gave their lives rather than deny their faith.

I was baptized into the Roman Catholic church as an infant and educated at a Catholic grammar school and high school. In my 27 years as a Roman Catholic, I never heard the Good News! Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Not once. What I was taught was a complicated, legalistic religious system that was ultimately based on sacramental grace, works, and merit. I’m so grateful for the legacy of the Reformers that’s been handed down for over 500 years and is alive in the mission of believing churches and their members. Jose, Ray, and Mike witnessed to me back in the early 1980s because someone had witnessed to them, because someone had witnessed to them, and back and back.

Lord, I am so grateful You raised up the early Reformers and used them to recover the Gospel of grace. Thank You for the generations of believers who have faithfully spread your Good News! throughout the world. Help us to continue that mission. Help us also to defend the Gospel of grace and fight for its purity at a time when many who claim to be Christian compromise and betray the Gospel for the sake of popularity and false unity with those who teach “another gospel.”

This past Sunday, no mention was made at our church of the upcoming 506th anniversary of the Reformation. I’m guessing that was the case in many “Protestant” evangelical churches. So the Reformation continues. Semper reformanda! Always reforming!

For an excellent primer on the history of the Reformation, see my review of The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation here.

Reformanda Initiative Podcast #53: I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Welcome to this week’s installment of our Reformanda Initiative podcast series! I’m excited to present the ministry of Dr. Leonardo De Chirico and his associates at Reformanda Initiative as they examine Roman Catholic theology in order to inform and equip evangelicals.

Episode #53: I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Show Notes

In this episode we talk with pastor Robbie Bellis (RSLN contributor and European church planter) about the Roman Catholic position regarding the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement. What does Roman Catholicism teach about the atonement and about redemption accomplished and applied? Do evangelicals agree? Why is this important?

Robbie Bellis is a pastor of the Eglise Protestante Evangélique de Louvain-la-Neuve, a church he helped plant in 2020. He obtained a ThM from Westminster Seminary Philadelphia. His Masters Thesis was on the decline of the belief of penal substitution in the Roman Catholic Church during the 20th Century. Additionally, Robbie teaches one day a week at the Institut Biblique de Bruxelles helping train future pastors and church workers in Belgium.

My Comments

“Penal substitutionary atonement” sounds like a complex term for a complicated theological concept, but it’s actually shorthand for what’s described in Isaiah 53 and elsewhere in Scripture. Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate, was our Substitute on the cross, bearing our sins and receiving our just penalty, God the Father’s righteous wrath. The Roman Catholic church does not believe in penal substitutionary atonement, but rather disparages it as “divine child abuse.” The RCC cannot accept penal substitutionary atonement (and its corollaries, justification and salvation through faith alone) because it contradicts the Catholic doctrines of works-justification and salvation by merit. Why do Catholics think Jesus died on the cross? Catholics believe that by His sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus merely opened the gates of Heaven¹ and that it’s then up to each Catholic to avail themselves of the sacraments supposedly instituted by Jesus to help them successfully obey the Ten Commandments and church precepts and thereby be allowed to pass through the gates (aka merit).²

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 1026 ↩︎
2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 2010 ↩︎

Episode #53: I Can’t Get No Satisfaction
Featuring Robbie Bellis, Reid Karr, and Clay Kannard
June 20, 2022 – 28 minutes
https://reformandainitiative.buzzsprout.com/663850/10821430-53-i-can-t-get-no-satisfaction

There is no YouTube video version of this podcast. The RI guys discontinued posting episodes on YouTube following Episode #38.

Next week: Episode #54: Robert Bellarmine: Who he is and why he is important.

Sunday video short #19: False Unity with Roman Catholics

In this 2-minute video-short, Costi Hinn (forthegospel.org) and apologist-evangelist, Mike Gendron, discuss the dangers of false unity with Roman Catholics.

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Below is a link to Mike Gendron’s Gospel outreach ministry to Roman Catholics, Proclaiming the Gospel.

Proclaiming the Gospel
https://www.proclaimingthegospel.org/

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 10/28/23

Above photo: Pope Francis poses with Sister Jeannine Gramick and other leaders of pro-S&G “New Ways Ministry”

• Pope Francis meets with U.S. pro-S&G group previously denounced by Vatican
• Pope Francis’ Vatican chat with S&G Catholics shows his “acceptance,” S&G group says
• Popesplaining and New Ways Ministry

On October 17th, pope Francis met with Sister Jeannine Gramick and other leaders of the Catholic S&G-affirming “New Ways Ministry” at the Vatican. In 1999, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office and the future pope Benedict XVI, prohibited Gramick and others connected with NWM from any pastoral work with S&G persons, due to alleged “errors and ambiguities” in their work. Pope Francis’ hour-long meeting with Gramick and the other leaders of NWM is another indication of his strategy to move the RCC towards full acceptance/affirmation of practicing S&G-uals.

• Representatives from Catholic and Pentecostal Churches Meet for Ecumenical Dialogue

Delegations representing the Catholic Church and the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement met September 27-29 at Notre Dame Catholic University in Indiana for ecumenical dialogue. Many in the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement regard the RCC with its 160-million-member Catholic Charismatic Movement as a legitimate Christian entity because of shared beliefs and practices regarding the Pentecostal-experiential “gifts of the spirit” despite the RCC’s unabashed promulgation of its false gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit.

• New York State Catholics gather for Eucharistic Congress

Thousands of Catholics from across New York State gathered October 20-22 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville for the New York State Eucharistic Congress. The three-day event was organized by the eight Catholic Dioceses of New York as part of the three-year national Eucharistic Revival sponsored by the Catholic bishops of the United States. The revival was prompted by surveys, which revealed the vast majority of Roman Catholics don’t believe that the consecrated eucharist wafer is the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ as the RCC teaches.

• Oklahoma AG files lawsuit to overturn Catholic charter school approval

Public taxpayer dollars should not be used to support the indoctrination of children with the RCC’s false gospel.

• Understanding veneration in Catholicism

The RCC is quite aware that the Bible forbids the worship of anyone or anything other than God, and therefore qualifies its worship of Mary and the saints as merely “hyper-dulia” and “dulia” veneration respectively. This is jesuitical sophistry. Catholics worship Mary in the full sense of the word.

• Polish city calls for end to municipal funding of Catholic catechism classes in public schools

Poland is one of the few countries left in “Catholic Europe” where the government and the RCC still walk together hand-in-hand as exemplified by taxpayer-funded Catholic religious instruction in public schools. Italy is another. Some conservative U.S. Bible-belt-ers still clamor for conscripted Bible-reading and prayer to be reinstated in American public schools. This is naive and a remnant of wrong-headed Christian nationalism. Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and even Satanist U.S. taxpayers would also demand their “holy books” be given equal time.

“Meeting the Protestant Response,” #68: “Paul is speaking of a corporate salvation of the Philippian community, a salvation that’s temporal and experiential.”

Thanks for joining us today as we continue to examine and respond to Catholic apologist, Karlo Broussard’s book, “Meeting the Protestant Response” (2022). This week, Broussard begins a three-part chapter in which he defends the Catholic doctrine of merited salvation using Philippians 2:12 as his proof-text.

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

Roman Catholics emphatically claim that they also believe in salvation “by God’s grace through faith,” BUT what they actually believe by that statement is that grace from the Catholic sacraments enables them to avoid sin and to do good works (i.e., “cooperate with grace”) so that they might merit salvation at the moment of death.

Protestant response #68: “Paul is speaking of a corporate salvation of the Philippian community, a salvation that’s temporal and experiential.”

Broussard begins, “(Evangelical apologist) Ron Rhodes writes, ‘This church as a unit was in need of ‘salvation’ (that is, salvation in the temporal, experiential sense, not in the eternal sense). It is critical to recognize that salvation in this context is referring to the community of believers in Philippi and not to individual believers. Salvation is spoken of in a corporate sense in this verse. The Philippians were called by the apostle Paul to ‘keep on working out’ (continuously) the ‘deliverance of the church into a state of Christian maturity.'”

Continues Broussard, “For Rhodes, since ‘salvation’ in Philippians 2:12 is not referring to an individual’s salvation in the eternal sense, surely a Catholic can’t appeal to this verse for support of its belief that works play an essential role in attaining eternal life.”

Broussard’s response

Broussard devotes four pages to his counter-argument, but I will summarize it as briefly as possible.

Broussard writes, “It goes against the grain in the New Testament to read salvation in a temporal sense. Throughout the New Testament . . . the Greek word translated here as ‘salvation,’ sōtēría, is normally used in reference to eternal salvation. So a natural reading of Philippians 2:12 would be as such.”

Broussard then anticipates the four conditions Protestants cite as existing within the church at Philippi that needed to be “worked out”:

1. Rivalries and personal ambitions – Philippians 2:3,4; 4:2
2. The teachings of the Judaizers – Philippians 3:1-3
3. Perfectionism – Philippians 3:12-14
4. Antinomianism (pleading God’s grace while ignoring God’s law) – Philippians 3:18, 19

Responding to these four conditions cited by Paul, Broussard writes, “That Paul exhorts the Philippians to refrain from sinful behavior doesn’t mean they’re actually guilty of it. It’s simply a part of Paul’s general moral exhortation.”

Broussard then presents two passages that he believes demonstrate that Paul is speaking of “salvation” in an individual-eternal sense in Philippians 2:12 rather than in a corporate, church-temporal sense:

Philippians 1:27-28 – ²⁷ Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸ and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

Philippians 2:14-16 – ¹⁴ Do all things without grumbling or disputing, ¹⁵ that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Broussard concludes, “Catholics are justified in appealing to (Philippians 2:12) for support of their belief that good works do play a role in our final salvation and that it’s possible to lose it in the end.”

My response

I tend to lean towards an individual-eternal interpretation of Philippians 2:12 rather than a corporate church-temporal interpretation, although Ron Rhodes’ evaluation is plausible. But does “work out your own salvation” mean salvation by works as Catholics profess? The Greek verb, katergázomai, rendered “work out,” means “to continually work to bring something to fulfillment or completion.” John MacArthur writes, “It cannot refer to salvation by works (cf. Rom. 3:21-24; Eph. 2:8-9), but it does refer to the believer’s responsibility for active pursuit of obedience in the process of sanctification.”¹ As for “with fear and trembling,” MacArthur writes, “The attitude with which Christians are to pursue their sanctification. It involves a healthy fear of offending God and a righteous awe and respect for Him (cf. Prov. 1:7; 9:10; Is. 66:1,2).”²

See the article below for an excellent examination of Philippians 2:12.

Got Questions – What does it mean to work out salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)?
https://www.gotquestions.org/fear-and-trembling.html

1. The MacArthur Bible Commentary, Thomas Nelson, 2005, p.1717 ↩︎
2. Ibid, p.1718 ↩︎

Next week: Protestant response #69: “The salvation that Paul speaks of is successful endurance of persecution, not salvation from eternal damnation.”

Throwback Thursday: Come home! Rome calls out to her daughters

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on May 17, 2017 and has been revised.

Catholics and Protestants: What We Can Learn From Each Other
By Peter Kreeft
Ignatius Press, 2017, 204 pages

Peter Kreeft is one of Roman Catholicism’s most prolific apologists. When the new, young pastor of the Southern Baptist church we used to attend several years ago cited Kreeft from the pulpit as his favorite philosopher, I knew it was time for us to leave.

In this new book, Kreeft makes an appeal in simple, everyday language to non-academic evangelicals to unite with Rome. In Catholic parlance, “unity” always means returning to the authority of the Vatican and to the Catholic sacraments and liturgical worship.

Right off the bat, Kreeft contends that the Reformation’s main debate over the issue of justification was resolved with the 1999 “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” between Rome and the liberal Lutheran World Federation, so therefore evangelicals have no good reason for remaining outside of Catholicism. Not so fast, Professor! Mainline liberal Lutherans and Methodists may have signed this purposely ambiguous accord, but Catholicism still teaches the same false gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit that it taught in 1517. Nothing has changed. Catholicism teaches good works/sanctification merit justification/salvation. In contrast, Bible Christianity teaches good works/sanctification are the fruit of genuine justification/salvation through faith in Christ alone. The two approaches are diametrically opposed. For an excellent evangelical response to the Joint Declaration, see here.

After quickly dismissing the rhubarb over justification as yesterday’s news, Kreeft then looks at a few other Protestant objections to Catholicism including the “real presence” of Jesus in the eucharist and Mary’s role in salvation. Regarding the former, he simply advises Protestants to visit the nearest Catholic church and pray to the Jesus wafer in the tabernacle and ask if it’s really Him or not. For the latter, he uses the typical Catholic sophistry that all of the veneration/worship accorded to Mary is, at the bottom line, actually devotion to Jesus.

Kreeft strongly compliments evangelicals for their passion for Christ and roundly criticizes cultural Catholics for their apathy and begs evangelicals to return to Rome because the only proper place for the “flame” is the “authentic fireplace.” Kreeft drops the names of Rome-friendly ecumenist, C.S. Lewis, and Mother Teresa throughout the text because he’s certainly aware these two religious celebrities are highly recognizable to undiscerning, doctrine-lite evangelicals and are possible bridges to interest in Rome.

Kreeft gently chides Protestants for basing their identity on a negative, i.e., “protesting” Catholicism, rather than joining Catholics and positively proclaiming the (g)ospel. He also defends Rome’s unscriptural interfaith approach to non-Christian religions, repeating the Vatican line that goodness and truth can be found in all faiths and that they can be Christ-sanctioned paths to redemption.

There’s no logical flow to this book; each short chapter encompasses an individual thought about Catholic-Protestant reunion so you can put it down and pick it up two days later without missing a falsity…er…I mean, a beat. This book is aimed at “Protestants” who have scanty knowledge of Catholic theology and church history and are eager to embrace every person as a fellow Christian who says they “love Jesus too” (à la Rick Warren). Please note that prominent evangelicals, Timothy George (always a Judas cheerleader for Catholicism) and Eric Metaxas, contribute glowing recommendations on the back cover. There’s already plenty of accommodation, cooperation, compromise, and betrayal within evangelicalism. With this book, Kreeft is hoping many will take the next “logical” step.

Be on guard for the genuine Gospel of grace, my brothers and sisters in Christ! False teachers come knocking at the front door and via enticing books.

Postscript: To read how Bible Christians came to be called “Protestants,” see here.

Postscript II: Imagine Spurgeon or Lloyd-Jones’s response if someone asked them what they could learn from Catholicism?

Note from 2023: See here for the index to my serial examination of Kreeft’s book, “Forty Reasons I am a Catholic.”

The Beatles and India – One last look

Three weeks ago, I reviewed “Across the Universe: The Beatles in India” (2018) by Ajoy Bose, a thorough and informative account of the Beatles’ 1968 visit to India to see Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. See that review here. Because I’m somewhat of an obsessive completist, I had also borrowed the resources below from our local library, which I’ll comment on only briefly.

By 1968, the Beatles were jaded by their worldwide celebrity and were searching for the meaning of life. However, they were looking in the wrong places. George Harrison had become intrigued with Hinduism and introduced his bandmates. The boys were looking for peace and “spirituality” within themselves in accordance with Hinduism. Lasting peace and genuine spirituality are only found in Jesus Christ.

⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ – John 3:5-7

The Beatles’ trip to India in search of truth was ultimately futile and disappointing. The Maharishi (d. 2008) had no real answers. It’s sad that Harrison’s involvement with “Eastern spirituality” influenced millions.

The Beatles in India
By Paul Saltzman
Insight Editions, 2018, 100 pp.

Paul Saltzman was a 25YO budding photographer/filmaker when he entreated associates of the Maharishi to allow him to enter the Rishikesh ashram at the time the Beatles were in residence. This book presents 40 large-scale color photos of the Beatles and their wives and other celebrity residents of the ashram who were present at the time, Donovan Leitch, Mike Love, Mia Farrow.

The Beatles and India: An Enduring Love Affair
Directed by Ajoy Bose
Abacus Media Rights, 2021, 1h 36m

Bose authored the previously-reviewed “Across the Universe: The Beatles in India” and also directed this companion documentary of the Beatles’ residency at Rishikesh. “The Beatles and India” is well done with plenty of film and audio snippets of the Beatles and the other principals of Rishikesh 1968. The only “criticism” is that a large number of the interviewees are Indian who speak English as a second language and are sometimes difficult to understand. I should have turned on the sub-titles.

The Byrds: Every album, every song

The Byrds: Every album, every song
By Andy McArthur
Sonicbond Publishing, 2023, 142 pp.

While perusing through Amazon a few months ago, I stumbled across this new Byrds-related book in which author Andy McArthur reviews all 130 songs recorded for the band’s 12 studio albums as part of Sonicbond Publishing’s “On Track” series.

I pre-ordered the book several weeks prior to the 9/29 publication date and prepared myself by re-listening to all of the Byrds’ LPs.

This is a good, not great, summary analysis of the band’s studio output. McArthur culls most of his information from Johnny Rogan’s massive (1216 pp.) “Byrds: Requiem for the Timeless: Vol. 1” (2011), which I’m already quite familiar with. I did learn a few facts about the band I wasn’t aware of, although McArthur’s bibliography cites only three Byrds-specific printed sources. The author is a Byrds fan, not a Byrds scholar.

The Byrds’ discography is basically divided into two sections, the stellar first six albums, recorded by founding members of the band, and the subsequent five albums recorded by sole remaining founder, Roger McGuinn, backed by a collection of ersatz-Byrds hired hands, including notable country guitarist, Clarence White. The final reunion album is a stand-alone anomaly. Many undiscerning Byrds fans will argue that the McGuinn-White albums measure up to the first six albums from the founding members (visit Amazon and see the inflated accolades), which is delusional. I was pleased to read McArthur’s objective take regarding the steep drop in quality following “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” (1968).

There’s plenty of redundancy and clumsy composition in this book, but this is retired teacher McArthur’s first published work so we’ll give him an overall “B” for best effort.

My updated Byrds bibliography can be found here.

As to why I occasionally post on “secular” topics, see my explanatory post here.

Reformanda Initiative Podcast #52: The Historical Trajectory of the Nature/Grace Interdependence

Welcome to this week’s installment of our Reformanda Initiative podcast series! I’m excited to present the ministry of Dr. Leonardo De Chirico and his associates at Reformanda Initiative as they examine Roman Catholic theology in order to inform and equip evangelicals.

Episode #52: The Historical Trajectory of the Nature/Grace Interdependence

Show Notes

In this episode we discuss Leonardo’s latest Vatican File that presents a historical trajectory of the nature/grace interdependence, which represents one of the pillars of the Roman Catholic theological system. In our discussion we also briefly recap the nature/grace interdependence.

My Comments

Don’t be intimidated by the title. This is a very interesting discussion about how early church “fathers” and Roman Catholic scholastic theologians of the medieval period such as Aquinas and Bonaventure steered the RCC toward the elevation of nature as the alleged conduit of grace.

Episode #52: The Historical Trajectory of the Nature/Grace Interdependence
Featuring Leonardo De Chirico, Reid Karr, and Clay Kannard
May 2, 2022 – 32 minutes
https://reformandainitiative.buzzsprout.com/663850/10541764-52-the-historical-trajectory-of-the-nature-grace-interdependence

There is no YouTube video version of this podcast. The RI guys discontinued posting episodes on YouTube following Episode #38.

Next week: Episode #53: I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Sunday video short #18: Roman Catholic Justification vs Protestant Justification

In this 3.5 minute video-short, Costi Hinn (forthegospel.org) and apologist-evangelist, Mike Gendron, discuss the distinct difference between Roman Catholicism’s teaching on justification and Biblical justification.

This video-short is timely because we’re currently examining the Roman Catholic views on justification and salvation in our Fridays apologetics series.

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Below is a link to Mike Gendron’s Gospel outreach ministry to Roman Catholics, Proclaiming the Gospel.

Proclaiming the Gospel
https://www.proclaimingthegospel.org/