Weakened Anglicans to face the pope

Benedict XVI will soon visit Great Britain and evangelicals are mobilizing in hopes of limiting the damage.

So why is the Anglican world so susceptible to the Pope and his Roman Catholic Church? The answer is: The Gospel and the Eucharist.

Despite the Anglican’s 39 Articles, which clearly outline the Gospel of Christ dying for those who believe in him—the elect—Anglicans have always been at odds among themselves as to whether Christ died for all or for the elect alone.

No agreement on the true Gospel means Anglicans are weak and susceptible to receiving the pope’s gospel of Christ dying for only the “possibility” of salvation for all—which is the gospel the pope preaches. Therefore, the pope convinces people that they need him and his church’s sacraments to help Jesus in his mediatorial work if they are to ever enjoy the possibility of getting to heaven.

You can know when a church believes and preaches such a false gospel because they will tell you there is no assurance of salvation or heaven for anyone, and that a person can lose their salvation at anytime. All of these contradict Jesus’ own promises, found throughout the Gospel of John, especially see John 5:24, 6:44, 6:47 and 10:28-30.

Many Anglican priests continue to preach a similar false gospel about Christ dying for the “possible salvation” of all people and are thus condemned in Gal. 1:8-9 unless they repent. They mislead many.

Similarly, when it comes to the Eucharist or Holy Communion, again—few Protestants (mainly, only Lutherans) believe that they truly receive Jesus’ body and blood as he promised at the Lord’s Supper—though they too are mislead in believing that Christ died only for the “possible salvation” of all—for Lutherans believe you can lose your salvation.

As for the Anglicans, this is a case where the wording of the article (Article 28) on the Lord’s Supper has proven to cause further division. Instead of being urged to simply believe Christ’s promise that we receive his body and blood, the article goes on to insist it is taken and eaten in a “heavenly and spiritual manner.”

In any case, the Protestant Truth Society has issued the following “Joint Protest agaistn the 2010 Papal Visit,” which will be published in The Times of London and presented to the Queen and the Government:

Joint Protest Against the 2010 Papal Visit to the United Kingdom

Remembering Martin Luther’s historic protest in 1517 against the errors of the Church of Rome, we the undersigned protest against the state visit of the Pope to the United Kingdom.

The Pope claims to be the supreme head of the universal church and that all governments should be subject to him. There is only one head of the universal church and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. No man can claim that title. In the United Kingdom, the Queen is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and is pledged to uphold the Church of Scotland. She is the head of state and, together with the British Parliament; we accept no other temporal authority.

We reject the Pope’s absurd pretensions to power over governments and churches. In particular, we reject his blasphemous claim to infallibility. God alone is infallible. We affirm that there is only one mediator between God and men – the man Christ Jesus. At Calvary, Jesus Christ died for the sins of His people. That sacrifice was made once for all and can never be repeated. Repentant sinners find forgiveness by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

The Bible, the inspired Word of God, is our supreme rule and contains no shred of evidence for the false and idolatrous doctrines of the Roman Church. Thanking God for the great outburst of spiritual light that shone during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century we declare: The Pope cannot mediate between man and God. Neither Mary nor the ‘Saints’ can make intersession for us. Jesus Christ is our only advocate with God the Father.

The so-called sacrifice of the mass is, as the Articles of the Church of England make plain, a ‘blasphemous fable’ and a ‘dangerous deceit’. God alone can absolve our sins and the confessional is a fraud. There is no biblical authority for the Roman doctrine of purgatory. There are only two possible destinations for men and women after death – heaven or hell.

The papal visit is a betrayal of our Protestant Constitution and of the Gospel that sustains it. Christ promised, ‘He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.’ He alone is King of kings.

For more on this, read Richard Bennett’s article, “Biblical Protest and Witness Await Pope’s UK Visit,” at his website http://www.bereanbeacon.org/.

Jesus's take on freewill

Roman Catholics, like many of their Protestant coutnerparts, claim Jesus died for all and all have the freewill to choose or reject him. That's not what Jesus says in John 6...
Jesus on freewill

43"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'[d] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

61Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit[e] and they are life. 64Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

Jesus refuses to pray for the world--much less die for it
 
In addition, just before Jesus, God the Son, goes to his death on the cross, he prays to God the Father for those the Father has given him--he flatly refuses to pray for everyone in the world...
 
"I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them." John 17:10
 
Jesus refuses to even pray for the world--much less die for it.
 
Freewill is simply a false teaching that comes with the false gospel, which claims Christ died for all.  

Our name is Mephibosheth

By Bill Parker

Mephibosheth is a great picture of how God saves His covenant children for Christ’s sake. Mephibosheth was the grandson of a fallen king, i.e. Saul, and so are we as we are by nature the fallen sons of Adam. (Romans 5:12)

Mephibosheth “was lame on both his feet” (II Samuel 9:13), because of a fall, and so are we. We were all born dead in sin with no ability or desire to seek God (John 6:44; Ephesians 2:1-3).

Mephibosheth was the object of a covenant made between David and Jonathan (I Samuel 20:11-17, II Samuel 9:1,7). WE who are saved by God’s grace in Christ were and are the objects of an everlasting covenant made between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:1-13; Hebrews 13:20)

Mephibosheth did not come to the king’s house of his own free will. He was “fetched.” (II Samuel 9:5) – “taken, laid hold of, seized, bought, and brought.” (John 6:37; 12:32)

King David did not ask Mephibosheth to come to him. He sent his servant to bring him to the palace. Christ saved us and brings us to Himself by the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. (John 1:12-13)

Mephibosheth feared the king’s wrath until he heard the king’s word. (II Samuel 9:6-7) We by nature fear God’s wrath and seek to hide behind false refuges, but Christ speaks words of mercy and love in the Gospel. He draws us to Himself as He tells us of His great sacrifice for our sins, the satisfaction and righteousness he established for us. (Romans 3:21-26; I John 4:10)

Mephibosheth expressed his own unworthiness – “And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?” (II Samuel 9:8)

When the Holy Spirit shows us our sin and brings us by faith to Christ, we, like Mephibosheth, whose name means “utterance of shame,” express our unworthiness and proclaim Christ alone as worthy. (Revelations 5)

Mephibosheth ate CONTINUALLY at the king’s table as one of the king’s sons. We who are saved by the blood of Christ are children of God, and we feast at His table forever even thought we are still lame on our feet. Even as saved sinners, born again by the Holy Spirit, we still have no power or ability of our own – “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

We are already complete and perfect IN CHRIST, but not yet in ourselves. We will one day be perfect within ourselves when we are glorified together with Christ. (Titus 2:13; I John 3:2)
http://testallthings.com/2009/11/15/bill-parker-our-name-is-mephibosheth/

Where the reformed often fall short... adding SEA to TULIP

Why Reductionist Five-point TULIP Calvinism is Bankrupt

by Robert R. Higby 6-2-2010

Five-point TULIP Calvinism was formulated in response to the 1610 five articles of the Remonstrants, who were followers of Jacob Arminius. At the time of its assembly, when the Synod of Dort formulated TULIP, the issue of counteracting the five articles was paramount to continuing ANY semblance of a Reformation.

The soteriology (salvation theology) of the 16th century Reformation in essence counteracted the great apostasy prophesied by Paul conceived by the late 1st and 2nd century Church Fathers. For 14 centuries men in popular religious institutions called ‘Christian’ had attempted to destroy the pristine apostolic gospel.

Though the Synod of Dort scored a huge victory for gospel truth at the time of its occurrence, the pertinence of what was achieved is mostly ignored today. The rise of evangelicalism under the immensely popular teaching of Andrew Fuller mostly destroyed the practical impact of the synod of Dort.

Though a tongue-in-cheek confession of the correctness of the 5 points still remains, for centuries Reformed Calvinists have shunned any doctrine of absolute, positive, double, and causative predestination of all events.

In reality the Reformed churches hate such teachings. They embrace Arminians as full brethren in Christ and fellow evangelicals. This is because there is a common teaching of passive, non-causative predestination of sin among both. Both strains of evangelicalism cherish and promote a doctrine of God’s general love, common grace, bare foreknowledge of rebellion that is permissive but not caused, and the free offer of the gospel to reprobates.

The 5 points deal with redemption as it occurs existentially within time. These confessional statements do not cover the broader issues of how salvation and reprobation are purposed and carried out from the Divine perspective. So we need an expansion of past fundamentals to include the greater reality of how God relates to all aspects of predestining redemptive history from the inception of time to eternity future.

Adding the points of Supralapsarianism, Eternal Justification, and Active Decree to the historic five points of TULIP will provide a new and comprehensive basis for defending the truth of the gospel in future generations. Therefore I am convinced we need to pursue this formulation in earnest. The SEA-TULIP articles will provide an 8-Point confession of Gospel Predestination that will permanently reject and stand against evangelical Fullerism and its anti-Reformation heresies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_tulip
Supralapsarian

Eternal Justification

Apermissive Decree

Total Inability

Unconditional Election

Limited Atonement

Irresistible Grace

Preservation of the Saints

Why not?...



btw, look for this original to be plagiarized elsewhere on the internet (but watered down immensely) as soon as it is posted!

CARM vs Roman Catholicism

Before July gets by without a post, here was something I found interesting...

Matt Slick at CARM.org took on Roman Catholic convert apologist Dr. Robert Sungenis on three radio shows this month. He found that Sungenis wanted to change the subject much of the time. The event also prompted the following from Slick:

Roman Catholicism teaches salvation by faith and works -- works, they say, that are done under God's grace. You cannot be saved without those works, so they are necessary, but at the same time don't "earn" salvation...even though salvation is merited by your works! Make sense? Well, when I was preparing for a class I'm teaching on Mormonism, I found some interesting quotes. Check out this comparison.


"If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema" (Roman Catholic, Council of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 9).

"All that we can do for ourselves we are required to do. We must do our own repenting; we are required to obey every commandment and live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. If we will do this, then we are freed from the consequences of our own sins. The plan of salvation is based on this foundation. No man can be saved without complying with these laws" (Mormon President Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection, p.172).

"If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema." (Roman Catholic, Council of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 14)

“One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation," (Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 206, Spencer W. Kimball who was the 12th President of the Mormon Church).

Released new articles - In light of my discussions with Dr. Sungenis, I have released three articles on Tradition (http://www.carm.org/new). Also, to my utter delight, I found on my computer an electronic file of the Anti-Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. It is public domain so I have been converting some of the files to articles on CARM for linking. Yes! This will come in very handy when dealing with Roman Catholic Tradition and, later, with Eastern Orthodox Tradition. Lots more articles on Roman Catholicism are now in the works including the Assumption of Mary, The Church Fathers and Tradition, The Church Fathers and Sola Scriptura, and more.

Luther on the gospel and those who seek their own sacrifice...

Martin Luther relates the gospel as he prepares to point out ways that the “silent mass” of those days departed from that gospel. …


First, I want to remind each one of the ground on which our faith and all our preaching rests. I shall repeat it briefly. But I preach now only to those who accept the gospel as the Word of God and nothing else, for those who still do not know that or are in doubt about it will not accept this ground of our faith. Well, you have heard in the gospel and learned from it that the problem of our salvation from sin, death, the devil and an evil conscience, the problem of attaining true righteousness before God and eternal life, is by no means solved or helped with works or laws, no matter what they may be or may be called. For God will accept no other mediation and no other mediator than his only Son, whom the Father sent into the world and whom he caused to shed his blood for the sole purpose that he might thereby obtain for us the treasure of faith.

That, briefly, is the sum total of the gospel that we preach. And if anyone seeks another way to be freed from his sins and stand before God, he blasphemes and insults God and accuses him of lying, as if he had let his Son shed his blood in vain and his death had accomplished nothing and was of no importance. For this is what God insists on and nothing else, that on one shall stand before him except by that innocent blood alone. And if anyone undertakes some other method, such as his works or order or station in life, he shall belong to the devil much more than anyone else. For it is a very serious matter with God and he will have no jest made of it, because for this purpose he gave his Son to die. For that reason we know and have no other sacrifice that that which he made on the cross, on which he died once for all as the Epistle to the Hebrews (9:12, 20) says, and thereby put away the sins of all men and also made us holy for eternity.

That, I say, is our gospel, that Christ has made us righteous and holy through that sacrifice and has redeemed us from sin, death and the devil and has brought us into his heavenly kingdom. We have to grasp this and hold it fast through faith alone. We have preached this and reiterated it so often that everyone can know it well and can conclude from it that all our own works undertaken to expiate sin and escape from death are necessarily blasphemous. They deny God and insult the sacrifice that Christ has made and disgrace his blood, because they try thereby to do what only Christ’s blood can do.

–Luther, April 1525 as found in “The Abomination of the Secret (or Silent) Mass”

Jesus' body and blood

When this Jesus, who has won heaven for those who believe in him, tells us that he gives us his body and blood—we should indeed believe it.

Do we need to believe in the Roman Catholic teaching of transubstantiation? No. We need to believe Jesus. We need to believe that he gives us what he promises us.

He has promised all who believe in him receive his body and blood at his Supper in this life, and they receive everlasting life with him in the next life.