- The Pope has amended a Vatican pronouncement that the
Roman Catholic Church was the "only way to salvation", saying
that Heaven is open to all as long as they are good.
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- He said at an audience that "all of the just on
Earth, including those who ignore Christ and his Church" were "called
upon to build the kingdom of God". His words repeated what was pronounced
at the Second Vatican Council 40 years ago, but were clearly intended to
repair harm to religious dialogue caused by a document issued in September.
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- The document, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the
Pope's chief of doctrine, said that the way of salvation was "only
in the unique and universal Catholic Apostolic Church". The amendment
follows criticism of the pronouncement, which called other faiths "gravely
deficient" as a means to salvation.
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- Comment
- Calvin
12-7-00
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- Once again, the great polish pontiff opens his mouth
and out comes something truly bizarre. While most Protestants and independents
regard with a justified shrug the pronouncement that they are "gravely
deficient" according to Rome, this latest announcement only further
demonstrates the absolute apostasy, and immense inefficacy, of the eldest
element of the Christian religion. Already steeped in syncretic doctrines
and dogmas far flung from the simplicity of the Gospel and faith of Christ
as first put forth by His Apostles through Holy Scripture, now the Roman
church fails the final and ultimate test of its already dubious role as
Shepherd. If heaven in open to all "as long as they are good ",
Christ has suffered and died in vain! The very pivotal moment of human
spiritual history, when God-made-flesh took upon Himself the sins of the
world... suddenly becomes meaningless!
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- The Word of God states plainly a very simple foundational
principle: "There is none good, no, not even one. There is none righteous,
not one" (Romans 3:10).
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- By the condemning merits of the human heart, which is
sinful in fallen man and given to self (the antithesis of godliness and
holiness), the veil of death through sin has separated the perfect
and Holy God from man. But through Christ and his sacrifice, and only through
Christ, is that separation bridged, even in his very flesh (which is the
veil, Hebrews 10:20), "by the power of an endless life."
For though there have been many wise men, and great men, and those who
achieved great heights in their seeking of the truth, and many masters
and many teachers, only Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh free from
all sin, an holy conception in the womb ("a body thou hast prepared
for me" Hebrews 10:5), tempted in all things yet without sin, that
he might offer Himself as the necessary sacrifice for sins ("for without
the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins" Hebrews 9:22),
once for all .
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- Salvation is therefore not by reason of human will, nor
design, or method, or decision or religion or race or creed or endeavor...
but rather by the Grace of God, through faith. For God has sealed
all men under sin, that all men should enter eternal life by repentance
and salvation in Christ, the Savior: "For you are saved by grace through
faith; and that is not of yourself, but is a gift of God; not of works,
lest any many should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them" (Ephesians 2:6). It is by and through the sanctification
of Christ that our "good works" are made worthy to eternal value;
for nothing of this temporal universe, which is passing away, is of value
to the eternal which is to come, the New Heaven and New Earth (2 Peter
3:5-18, Revelation 21:1).
Those outside the knowledge of faith in Christ are judged by God's moral
law written on every human heart, "their conscience also bearing witness,
and their thoughts at the same time either accusing or else defending them;
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ"
(Romans 2:15). It is not by any individual or corporate "goodness"
that any man is made acceptable to eternal life, for no one is truly "good"
but God (Matthew 19:17), and Christ came to show us that we must be born-again,
born of the Spirit , by grace through faith, to attain eternal life
(contrary to the pagan supposition of the Roman and most Protestant churches,
which already believe men to be imbued with eternal life by nature, and
regards salvation as a means of works, contrary to the teachings of Jesus).
This announcement by John Paul II defies the Holy Scriptures (and the Holy
Spirit Himself) and its intent to enlighten the world to the truth of Jesus
Christ as Messiah, Savior and Creator. "Who is the liar but he that
denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denies the Father
and the Son. Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father: he
that acknowledges the Son has the Father also" (1 John 2:22). Jesus
said, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I
confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny
me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven"
(Matthew 10:32). "For the time is coming when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but according to their own desires they will gather to
themselves special teachers, having ears itching for something new; And
they will turn away their ears from the truth, and shall listen to instead
to lies" (2 Timothy 4:3).
The apostasy of the Roman church has been evident for centuries, but these
'last days' pronouncements only serve to further demonstrate it's diametrically
opposed position to the teachings of Christ and scripture. Jesus said,
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes unto The Father
but by me" (John 14:6). Yes, the providence of God extends to all
men everywhere, according to the light they have been given; but to deny
that men need Jesus Christ for salvation is grave heresy and blasphemy.
John Paul II says, "all of the just on Earth, including those who
ignore Christ and his Church" were "called upon to build the
kingdom of God." If John Paul is addressing the non-believer, he tramples
underfoot the blood of the Son of God, by which the faithful are sanctified!
If he is speaking to Protestants, he is saying that by protesting the syncretisms
of the Roman heresy is to ingore Christ himself.
Every element of this statement by John Paul II is a lie and is far from
inspired. No man is JUST, apart from the imparted righteousness
and justification of Jesus Christ! Those who IGNORE Christ (assuming they
have a knowledge of Him) are condemned to eternal death. The KINGDOM OF
GOD is not built by MEN...! but is presented in the person of Jesus
Christ Himself, the Rock of Ages, who is the foundation and cornerstone
and the great stone cut out of the mountain of God, destroying all principalities
and authorities in both heaven and earth, to be revealed at his second
coming in glory, to the revelation of the Kingdom of God, where he will
"Rule the nations with a rod of iron."
As stated in the Revelation of John pertaining to those in the false church,
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her,
my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not
of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered
her iniquities" (Rev.18:4)
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