RE-ROMINISING PROTESTANTISM
The agenda of the New Age Movement for the
Next Millennium
We live in a generation that sees no
difference between the Roman Catholic faith and the Protestant belief. Many of
our youths do not know why they are Protestants or even what they are
protesting against.
Our Protestant heritage and beliefs have been
denigrated. We have long ago forsaken the old paths that brought the blessings
of God upon our people because of an eagerness to be tolerant and to avoid offence.
Martin Luther to some today was simply a rebel or might have been mistaken to
post those 95 these about the church for discussion in the Wittenberg
University community in the 16th Century, sometimes around October
31, 1517.
Evidently the Roman Catholics are more
knowledgeable about their faith than Protestants are about theirs and while
Rome systematically teaches it’s people the doctrines of error, I may be
criticized for trying to teach our people the real reasons why we are called Protestants.
Our faith is on the written word of
God, our message is the pure Gospel of the grace of God, but Roman Catholicism
is not a friend to the gospel, her ritualism and ceremonies are an abomination
to all who love Christ and His word.” “Scripture Sola.” (Alone).
The protestants reformation to me was
the means used by God to bring the light
of the gospel to many nations. It is a shame today if we would deny the
authority of the word of God just to obtain “peace at all cost” or “unity at all
cost.”
The Protestant reformers were not just
bigoted zealots or fools. Their eyes were opened, by the Holy Spirit- Luther,
Calvin, Knox, John Huss and all of them. But today we have a form of
evangelicalism which has discarded the principles and doctrines which were espoused
at the time of the reformation because
of a rush for unity with the harlot church. The authority of the Bible has been
totally rejected. God is no longer the object of our attention, but a mad rush
for unity.
Ecumenism believes that, if we are
going to win Roman Catholicism for Christ, we will have to forget about our
protestant heritage and embrace each other. That is why I believe we have a
people who are not only ignorant of the teachings of the Church of Rome, but
those devoid of knowledge regarding the real work of the 16th
century reformation.
We must be aware that the Church of
Rome has been for so long seeking to regain control over Protestantism. She has
tried many things and has resorted to different methods, not because the
leopard has changed its spots, but rather the papacy has discovered a loophole
in our current protestant set up and she has now exploited that to the full.
Bishop Charles Ryle said, “Unity
without truth is useless. When Rome has renounced image worship, Mary worship,
and transubstantiation as well as her other erroneous doctrines, then and not
until then, will it be time to talk of reunion with her. I call on all
Christians to resist to the point of death this idea of reunion of Rome.”
The high standards of God must be acclaimed daily.
There is a difference between tradition and Biblical Christianity. It cost the
early reformers their lives and it would be wickedness if todays’ protestants
allow the merging and mixing with the whore of Babylon to continue. Why should
the Scriptures be put aside just to maintain an air of friendship and
brotherliness that is unacceptable to God? We have lost track of what we once
claim to be, the cornerstone of protestant reformation. If we truly love the
Roman Catholics, we must be bold to still stand on those 95 theses, Luther
pasted at Wittenberg. Until the Roman Catholics Church has totally repented and
began doing what the Bible teaches, we would be compromising with wolves in
sheep clothings.
This article is aimed at emphasizing to our 21st
Century generation the blessings we possess in our protestant faith as well as
reviving Biblical Protestantism. It is geared at reminding ourselves of the
true nature of our faith, that true Protestantism was not a mere anti-Roman
Catholic religion, rather it is a positive affirmation of the doctrines of the
Holy Scriptures, which are able to make wise unto salvation.
Someone has said, “To not oppose Romanism is to not
oppose the very house of Satan.” The Roman Catholic Church may adopt a verbal
Evangelical terminology, but has that made it actually evangelical? Today some
leading Evangelical ministers believes that Evangelical Protestantism is too
narrow. No wonder we have heard of the “Evangelicals & Catholics: The
Christian Mission in the Third Millennium” agreement which was signed by 8
protestants, and 7 Roman Catholics endorsed by 12 protestants and 13 Roman
Catholics. Our 450 years old protestant faith is being slain on the altar of
compromise. A new Christian faith is being produced. Documents are being raised
describing Romanism as “Legitimate Diversity.” The question is; does not the
Church of Rome still believes:
1.
That the
Pope is infallible?
2. The Sacrifice
of the Mass is really the holy and
living representations and at the same time the unbloody and efficacious
oblation of the Lord’s passion and that blood-stained sacrifice which was
offered for us on the cross?[1]
3. In
Transubstantiation - Christ is made
present in the Sacrament (Holy Eucharist) by the change of the whole substance of the bread into
His body and of the whole substance of the wine into His blood?
4.
In purgatory - The state or condition in which those who’ve died in the state of
grace, but with some attachment to sin, suffer for a time before they are
admitted to the glory and happiness of heaven. In this state and period of
passive suffering they are purified of unrepented venial sins, satisfy the
demands of divine justice for temporal punishment due for sins, and are thus
converted to a state of worthiness of the beatific vision?[2]
5.
The Immaculate
Conception of Mary. That Christ’s
mother Mary was sinless that she was perfect in holiness, innocent, most pure
inviolate, undefiled, and immaculate. That finally the body and soul of the
mother of God was taken up into heaven after death. Pope Alexander
Do the Roman Catholics deserve our hand
of fellowship on wrong grounds? Must we not insist on Biblical standards and
teach our children the same? There is a generation coming that would know
nothing about the reformation if we do not stand today to insist on following
in the step the early reformers have left for us.
We need people who have burning zeal for
the absolute integrity of the Gospel, coupled with an open protest of evil; and hypocrisy. There
should be no compromise in our lives, just as there was none in the life of
Jesus.
Like the prophets of old, the latter day Protestants
have to relentlessly wage the warfare for righteousness. We must therefore
follow in the steps of early courageous reformers like, John Wycliffe, John
Huss, Martin Luther, Thomas Cranmer, Charles Spurgeon, John Knox, John Calvin,
William Tyndale and a host of others. Satan’s direct assault and invasion on
the Church of Christ must be averted. Protestants must sound the end-time alarm!
“The Evangelicals & Catholics
together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium”, was a document
produced from a collaboration between evangelicals, Chuck Colson and Dr. Kent
Hill (of Eastern Nazarene College) and
two Roman Catholic Priests, Richard John Neuhaus and Avery Dulles. It is the latest and most
definitive call for unity between Roman Catholics and evangelicals. According
to their press release dated 29th March 1994: The declaration
explain and celebrates “a pattern of convergence and cooperation between
Evangelicals and Catholics in shared Christian faith, common cultural and
social tasks, and evangelistic commitment.”
But why does the Roman Catholic Church
still promotes doctrines that nullify salvation by grace? The Roman Catholic mission
is not the same with that of true Biblical believers. Their concept of unity or
brotherly love after all is a common celebration of the mass. We are therefore
left with a choice; either we can have unity with Rome at the expense of the
truth, or we can have truth at the expense of unity with Rome. The Roman
Catholics insist that there is to be no winning of “converts” from Roman
Catholicism. But there must be a clear distinction between the evangelizing of
the Catholics and proselytisms or “sheep stealing.” If evangelism is for the
purposes of denominational or institutional aggrandizement, I condemn it.
May the Lord enable true Christian witness to prevail in spite of all the false waves of teaching everywhere today. The Evangelical sycophants for the Vatican are selling out the true brethren in Christ by persuading them that it is “unloving” to confront Roman Catholic error; but that is another strategy Satan is using to hinder true Evangelicals from standing on the reformation truths.
The Nigerian Compromise
In Nigeria there has been a formidable attack on the Christendom by Islam. Several Churches have
been burned and thousands of souls destroyed, property worth millions of Naira
lost as a consequence. In order to face this determined enemy of righteousness
(Islam), the rest of Nigerians have ganged up together to form a resistance
team under the name of an ecumenical body called CAN (Christian Association of
Nigeria) compromising everything just to fight against the force of Islam. The Catholics are using
politics to mobilize government support for their stand. Due to the compromise
of the Protestants, we have endangered the souls of many by condoning the Roman
Catholic Institution. You cannot support ecumenism and still be a protestant.
Ecumenism is based on compromise and harlotry, while Protestantism is based on
integrity and truth. The lies of ecumenism: “silence is golden”, “do not judge”, are so promoted that
protestants are dump and silent forsaking the true traditional Biblical
doctrines and turning left politically and liberal theologically.
The late Dr. W. C. Strandridge left the Pastorate in the Methodist
Church because of its apostasy. He wrote that, “with an ever increasing
momentum, Protestantism is ceasing to stand forth to be a witness to God and
the historical evangelical faith and is failing to expose the religious leaders
who not only deny the truth, but oppose the true gospel . . .”[4]
Let us therefore revive the true spirit of Protestantism. As
Protestants we are not just negative reactors to popery and tyranny, but a
positive assertion of the right of the freedom to preach God’s word, and to
assert the authority of Scripture over and above the traditions of men. The
light of Protestantism as Rev. S. Milligan of the Evangelical Protestant Society
in Belfast now retired puts it, was a light manifested to guide, to warn and to
comfort. It was a scriptural light and an important light. Let us unite
together and work so that our nation may not sink into the quagmire of idolatry
and superstition, but not at the expense of true Biblical Standards.
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