Indulgence Catholic Church – symbol of the downfall of the Reformation

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In addition to the unchanged tradition, the use of indulgences also seems to be a valuable luxury item for the Roman Catholic Church. The church leaders distribute their indulgences with (voluptuous) pleasure, demonstrating their “limitless mercy” and enjoying to the fullest that they have razed the once Protestant churches to the ground. The indulgence, once a symbol of the Reformation. Today a symbol of their miserable demise and their changed followers.

The supposedly modern church of Rome

The Roman Catholic Church has long since adapted to reality and in many areas has turned away from its medieval teachings and traditions. Such statements are often heard or read by non-Catholics as a justification for their commitment to ecumenism. One such example of the “new zeitgeist” in the Roman Church is the abolition of limbo for unbaptized children by Pope Benedict XVI. In this case it is more evidence of the madness within this institution than an adaptation to “modern ways of life”.

One of the milestones of ecumenism in modern times is the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965.

After his election in 1958, Pope John XXIII set up an ecumenical council just a few months after the beginning of his pontificate. Representatives of other churches should have the opportunity to attend the Second Vatican Council as observers. At the opening of the Council on October 11, 1962, John XXIII declared that the Church should make every effort to promote unity among Christians. This should pave the way to the unity of humanity. Proof that ecumenism was at the center of this historically important council.

Selling indulgences – trigger of the Reformation

The central issue of the differences that ultimately led to the separation from the Church of Rome concerned the sale of indulgences. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted a letter with the so-called 95 theses on the gate of the castle church in Wittenberg. Luther had no intention of splitting off from the Roman Church. He sought a reformation within the church with the aim of eliminating errors against the gospel.

The Augustinian monk and professor of theology already had the opportunity to find out about the prevailing conditions among the clergy there during a (pilgrimage) trip to Rome. Prostitution, brothels run by the pontiff and moral decay as far as the eye can see. The simple Catholics from the people had to give cold hard cash in order to be allowed to crawl up “holy” stairs in order to get a reduction in their sentence.

The camel’s back overflowed with the appearance of the “chief indulgence dealer” John Tetzel in Martin Luther’s area. Papal scraps of paper promising an indulgence from the punishment of sin. For cash, of course. The final reason for Luther to contrast this lucrative immorality of the church with the statements of the Gospel using 95 theses.

Martin Luther remained stubborn

Martin Luther may have approached the matter with a certain naivety, perhaps assuming that people wanted to warmly embrace him out of sheer gratitude for the errors he had exposed. But he stabbed right into the hornet’s nest. Rome may have initially been of the opinion that a warning from the “little monk” from Saxony might be enough to clear up this matter. However, Luther remained true to his ever-increasing knowledge based on his research in the Bible. This coupled with a strong dose of stubbornness.

Luther burned the papal bull in public with the threat of his excommunication. This was followed in 1521 by a summons to the Reichstag in Worms. There, Luther refused the requested retraction of his writings and accusations, withdrew and came under the protective umbrella of Elector Frederick III of Saxony. The Reformation gained momentum and went in a direction that Luther had not planned at the beginning. There was a split from the Roman Catholic Church.

Doctrine of justification another central topic

In the course of the Reformation movements, another central theme emerged alongside the completely unbiblical principle of indulgences. The justification of man before God. The Gospel clearly states that man is justified (only) by the grace of Jesus Christ through faith. The Church of Rome, on the other hand, teaches that Jesus Christ opened the way for people to (self-)salvation through good works. According to the Church of Rome, Jesus Christ did this not through his own blood sacrifice, but because of the immeasurable weight of his good works.

Justification by grace based on faith, recognized by Martin Luther in the Gospel, is incompatible with the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. An insurmountable wall. Justification was therefore one of the central themes in the Second Vatican Council. The ecumenism that Rome strives for naturally requires compromises. In the “ideal case” there will be admissions from every party involved. It is therefore fundamentally impossible that ecumenism can ever represent the truth. For example, if two of three participants represent erroneous doctrines and the third party represents the truth, then the sum of the compromises can only be an error. But this untruth was then agreed upon.

Infallibility of the Roman Church

The Roman Catholic Church claims “infallibility” for itself. If the Pope speaks from his episcopal see (“ex cathedra”), he is in a state of “incapacity for error”. For this reason, this Church cannot change, let alone revise, one stroke of once established dogmas. By withdrawing or changing a teaching defined “ex cathedra”, this church would deprive itself of its credibility.

Only two options remain. Either all churches participating in ecumenism make compromises, while the Church of Rome does not compromise at all, or ecumenical agreements are formulated that correspond to a typical rubber-stamp paragraph. Reality shows a combination of both possibilities. While the Roman Catholic Church maintained its position absolutely unchanged, the once Protestant churches moved ever closer to their now recognized “mother organization”.

Explanation of the doctrine of justification – rubber paragraph

The core statement in the “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” of October 31, 1999 shows what such a “rubber paragraph” for justifying people can look like. A meeting between the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation:
“Together we confess: It is by grace alone through faith in the saving act of Christ, not on the basis of our merit, that we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts and enables and calls us to good works.“

This formulation offers more “placeholders” than clear statements. For the expression “by grace alone” the Evangelical can substitute Jesus Christ and the Catholic finds room for the Pope. For the Evangelical, the phrase “Saving Act of Christ” means the blood sacrifice of Jesus and for the Catholic, it means the many good deeds of Jesus. For the evangelical, “Christ” means Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The (“underlying”) Catholicism recognizes in “Christ” the “anointed” Mithras (alias Horus), the son of Helios (alias Osiris).

By renewing the heart through the Holy Spirit, the evangelical understands the rebirth of man and the enablement of true faith, which is expressed in the fruits of good works. The Catholic Church understands this as the believer’s knowledge that he must do good works to save himself.

Intent to deceive is obvious

A true “masterpiece” of universality from the pens of the “universal church”. Since one can certainly assume that those responsible for the former Protestant churches had advanced basic knowledge of theology – after all, there are also church lawyers – one can assume that the signatories knew exactly what they were doing. This is only possible if the evangelical institutions have already fallen and, together with the Church of Rome, were intent on deceiving the public.

This is particularly expressed in the joint letter “From Conflict to Community” dated October 31, 2017. There is already talk of a “reconciled difference” and the determination that the separation was a sin before God (more info).

EV churches are turning deaf and dumb

The “indulgence tariff” set by the Vatican on the occasion of the “Holy Year 2025” shows how dead (institutional) Protestantism actually is, in view of a Roman Catholic Church that has remained unchanged since the early Middle Ages until today.

As if there had never been a protest against such practices that misguided the Gospel, the protest remains silent, is shrouded in silence and those responsible for the churches that still call themselves Protestant are working all the more intensively with expanded explanations for the advancement of ecumenism . The tenor was that ecumenical coexistence must continue to be filled with life (Source).

Often misunderstood indulgence

Indulgence – an invention of the Roman Catholic Church – is clearly not properly understood by many Catholics. Indulgence is not about the forgiveness or reduction of sin. The indulgence only comes into play when the (self-authorized) priest has forgiven the person’s sin and granted absolution. According to Catholic teaching, God is obliged to submit to the priest’s judgment (Info). So much for the “self-confidence” of this traditional institution.

In addition to sin, there is also a penalty for sin – an invention of the Roman Catholic Church. A sin, even if it is (supposedly) forgiven, carries with it a punishment. In doing so, this church also reduces the commandment to forgive each other’s transgressions to absurdity. The priest determines how severe this punishment will be. This penalty of “atonement” can be reduced. And this is why the church invented indulgences. If the atonement is not enough to compensate for the sentence, the Catholic spends a certain amount of time in purgatory as compensation – another Catholic invention.

The decree or indulgence is a “grace” from the church, specifically from the Pope. Only the pontiff has access to the treasure trove of good works – another Catholic invention. This is filled with all the good deeds of Jesus, the saints and especially Mary. The Pope reaches into this box, takes out a certain “quantity” of good deeds and transfers them to the indulgence letters. In the past it was for cash, to finance pent-up desires, today it is an expression of the “extraordinary mercy” of the Pontifex Maximus.

A fictional example from everyday life

If a person steals the apples from the trees of their neighbors on the left, then that is theft and therefore a sin. According to Catholic understanding, the dog of the neighbor on the right now has the right to forgive the thief for this sin. In addition, the neighbor’s dog barks an appropriate punishment for the forgiven sin, e.g. mowing the lawn for a whole season.

But who made theft a sin by law? God. The thief has thus violated a law given by God, but the right neighbor “Buddy” claims to be able to forgive this sin. This arrogance is based on the idea that the church represents the body of Christ and the pope represents its representative.

Does the Pope still bear the title “Pontifex Maximus” today? Yes.
Does the pontiff still claim to be “vicarius christi”? Yes.
Until modern times, did the Pope court with the title “vicarius filii dei?” Yes (Info).
Does the Church of Rome still give indulgences? Yes.

Indulgence – especially now!

The Roman Catholic Church has changed nothing, absolutely nothing, from its dogmas. On the subject of indulgences, the actual trigger of the Reformation, the “Vatican expert” Ulrich Nersinger explained how indulgences still work today. This explains (Source):
“Basically it is like this: If we have sinned, we go to confession and then receive the so-called absolution from the priest. This actually pays off the debt.
But to put it somewhat casually: I have to make up for what I’ve done in some way. And this reparation is the actual punishment for sin.“

Nersinger is clearly a “Vatican expert”, undisputed. Whether he is also an expert on the gospel remains to be seen. He describes the practices of the Roman Catholic Church and makes no direct reference to Christianity.
The “expert” further explains that the punishment for sins is nothing other than an effort, after sins have been forgiven, to “get the relationship back on track” with God and fellow human beings.

In doing so, Nersinger contradicted himself. At the beginning, the “expert” talks about the priest who absolves the sinner from his sin (absolution), thereby erasing the guilt. Just a few breaths later, the same “expert” tells us that the punishment for sins is necessary in order to seek the forgiveness of sins. What now?

Two big mistakes combined

Nonsense can only be explained by more nonsense. The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, reaffirmed by Nersinger, denies the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the sinner’s exclusive dependence on the grace of Jesus Christ. A sin committed leads to death, according to the clear statement of the Word of God. No amount of good deeds can compensate or undo a sin. The Church of Rome declares God to be an arbitrary ruler who, at his own discretion, uses “good works” to compensate for sins committed. The same philosophy as is represented in Islam.

Human beings are threatened with two main dangers due to error. The belief that one can be saved from one’s own sins and the belief that one can compensate for sins committed through works. The Roman Catholic Church has actually managed to convincingly combine both major errors within a Christian guise. Belief in the “good works” of Jesus Christ without acknowledgment of his blood sacrifice leads to sins remaining in man, with no prospect of the grace of Jesus Christ.

To do this, the Catholic is taught to entrust his own sins to the priest, who has absolutely no authority to forgive these sins committed against God. Afterwards, the believer should be able to show “good deeds” in order to be able to compensate for sins (Info). Diabolical through and through.

The Church of Rome enjoys its faithful prophetess

The Church of Rome, the “mother of all churches”, celebrates the traditions it has retained unchanged, clearly and with a demonstrated desire. Indulgence, the initial spark for the Reformation, appears here to be particularly suitable for rubbing the defeat of Protestantism, which has long since collapsed:
“Protestantism is already wearing out and sinking into decay. Yes, we are destined to insult its final torments, and to march over its broken skeleton and scattered bones. Let us overcome this decay by our strong and united efforts accelerate.”
(Eric John Phelps, Vatican Assassins)

The “heads” of the Protestant churches and umbrella organizations, their media mouthpieces and a whole squad of ecumenical-minded preachers who are let loose on the flock have long since become accomplices of the organization that is described in the Bible as “abominations of the earth”, “man of sin”. ” and “son of perdition”. The persecuted woman in Revelation 12 has now become the whore on the scarlet beast in Revelation 17, and the churches that have fallen silent in protest are loyal to her as zealous false prophets (Info).

Bible verses from King James Version