Unity after the Reformation
Publish date:
May 28, 2014
Summary:
The Reformation was a time of breaking away from the norm in order to return to Biblical truth. If we hold to the reformers' teachings, we will again have to separate from the majority, rather than join in experiential unity.
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The Protestant Reformation had based its separation from Rome on the Word of God, and had made the Gospel of Jesus Christ available to everyone seeking the truth.
This free availability of the Scriptures severely challenged the doctrines and supremacy of Rome, and restored the truths that had been lost through centuries of suppression of religious liberty.
The reformers had clearly identified the papal system as the Antichrist system. In the 12th century, the Waldenses gave clear witness of the Antichrist, who they claimed was reigning in the Church. Wycliffe, Jerome, Luther, Knox, Calvin, Baxter, and the other leaders of the Reformation were also united on the identity of the Antichrist.
H. Grattan Guinness says this:
And the views of the reformers were shared by thousands, by hundreds of thousands. They were adopted by princes and peoples. Under their influence nations abjured their allegiance to the false priest of Rome. In the reaction that followed, all the powers of hell seemed to be let loose...Yet the reformation stood undefeated and unconquerable. God's word upheld it.i
Concerning the Antichrist (anti means "in the place of"), the Bible says this:
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
Claims like those in 2 Thessalonians have been made by the Papacy:
The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God…He is likewise, the divine monarch and supreme emperor, and king of kings…So that if it were possible that angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope.ii
Pope claims to be God on Earth
i. Henry Grattan Guiness, Romanism and the Reformation (Hodder and Stoughton, 1887): 251.
ii. Ferraris Ecclesiastical Dictionary.
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This article is adapted from Truth Matters by Professor Walter J. Veith, an international speaker who has studied Biblical issues in-depth in his quest for truth. His popular series Genesis Conflict brings the debate between Creation and evolution to a new climax as he dissects the arguments with a scientific eye. His highly-acclaimed series Total Onslaught sheds light on the state of the world today as we move to a one-world government and an anticipated apocalypse.
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Disclaimer:
The contents of this article and website are not intended to accuse individuals. There are many priests and faithful believers in Roman Catholicism who serve God to the best of their ability and are seen by God as His children. The information contained herein is directed only towards the Roman Catholic religio-political system that has reigned in varying degrees of power for nearly two millennia. Under the influence of its successive popes, bishops, and cardinals, this system has established an increasing number of doctrines and statements that clearly go against Scripture.
It is our sincere desire to lay the clear Word of God before you, the truth-seeking reader, so you may decide for yourself what is truth and what is error. If you find herein anything contrary to the Word of God, you need not accept it. But if you desire to seek for Truth as for hidden treasure, and find herein something of that quality, we encourage you to make all haste to accept that Truth which is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.
It is our sincere desire to lay the clear Word of God before you, the truth-seeking reader, so you may decide for yourself what is truth and what is error. If you find herein anything contrary to the Word of God, you need not accept it. But if you desire to seek for Truth as for hidden treasure, and find herein something of that quality, we encourage you to make all haste to accept that Truth which is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.
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