IS APPARITION OF HEAVENLY BEINGS BIBLICAL?

Our Lady of the Pillar 40 AD

For the month of May, I decided to write a series on the most public display of miracle in a reported apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima witnessed by more than 70,000 people at that time a number that is by today's standards considering the number of population in Portugal at that time and today's population would readily number to millions of people witnessing the said miracle.

I began with a research on the historical basis of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the years and I was astounded by what I discovered that she has appeared not just once, twice, dozens but thousands of apparitions through the 2,000 years of the history of the Catholic Church. And what is really astounding is the fact that all approved apparitions, which means proven to be true, have changed the lives of the visionaries to a life of holiness and unwavering faith to Jesus Christ and his Church.

The Blessed Virgin Mary would bilocate and make apparition to another place even if she is present in her home in Jerusalem and later Ephesus. She would visit the Apostles and give them the strength to carry on and move forward with their mission of Jesus Christ. She was with them and very much involved in the building of the Church behind the scene in complete silence and only recorded by the retelling of the stories and traditions held sacred by the Catholic Church that later were written down.

She is truly like a mother to his children, staying in the sidelines while her children work on the missions given by the Lord but she is ready to assist whenever they call for help. She is always ready to help even on her own just like what she did to Elizabeth when she came to hep her and stayed with for 6 months until she gave birth to John. Such is the way of the Mother of the Lord. She would come unannounced and ready to help. Such has been her loved of God and her apparent role in the salvation of mankind.

When I learned of her so many apparitions and the consistency of her messages and how her apparitions would strengthen the visionaries attain holiness and result in the conversions of many even nonbelievers I know it can only come from God. She is the silent worker and messenger of God. In the old Testament, God would send the angels as his messenger, then Jesus came to bring the Gospel of the Kingdom and after that instead of the angels alone, the Blessed Virgin Mary has taken her role in the interest of building the Church of the Living God that Jesus her son founded and built through the Apostles with her able help. That is why she the Help of Christians and Mother of Perpetual Help.

Considering the mindset of the Protestants with regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first question is on the Apparition. Is it biblical? Are there passages in the scriptures acknowledging some kind of apparitions of heavenly beings on earth. Well in my recollection alone I can name a few times that such can happen:

1. When God showed himself to Moses.
2. When Angels appeared to Abraham regarding the annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah
3. When the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary
4. When Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus at Transfiguration in the mountain witnessed by visionaries St. Peter and John.
5. In the Old Testament of the Book of Tobit, the Angel Raphael was seen as a human being who even lived with the household of Tobit for a while, eating together with them which he later explained as visions. 

But of course, the Lord's appearances to the Apostles and Disciples where he would just popped up or appear and popped out or disappear in their presence in a blink of an eye are apparitions. Because apparition is a mystical experience where the visionaries see a person or things that are not seen by others but only to those who are allowed to see yet their presence can be felt and they are followed by deep convictions and conversions to stronger faith held by the visionaries.

These are just a few but apparently, there are many more apparitions in the stories of the bible of Angels, heavenly beings, and the supposedly dead Prophets appearing on earth. Therefore, on the biblical sense, apparitions are indeed biblical meaning they have precedence of actual events that happened in the bible.

What happened in the Bible are what the visionaries of the Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary have experienced. Meaning that the same thing is happening for the past 2,000 years of Church history but this time in the age of the Catholic Church, its the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Lord appearing in visions and bringing messages for the church.

Bro. Manny OTFS Apologist

Copyright © 2016 by ONE TRUE FAITH SOCIETY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

FATIMA SERIES - INTRODUCTION

In remembrance of the biggest, powerful, and miraculous public display of God's power in modern times made through the Blessed Virgin Mary in October 13, 1917 at Cova de Ira in Portugal we are coming up the the series on the Apparition of Fatima and its importance to the Catholic Faith of Christian.

“The Most Holy Virgin is very sad because no one has paid any attention to Her message, neither the good nor the bad.”

...Sister Lucia of Fatima

Many don't know that the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima capped the series of thousands of reported and recorded apparitions worldwide since she started appearing in 40 AD to St. James the Greater, one of the Apostles while the former was in Spain preaching the gospel and trying build the church there. Through the years from the 1st century to the 20th century, the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared privately to simple people who mostly became saints and blessed. Her appearances have caused conversions worldwide converting even the most stubborn atheists or pagans to Christianity and the Catholic Church. With thousands of apparitions to thousands of simple people like children who have no means of communicating with one another much less be influenced by each others own experiences because while there are similarities on how the apparitions happened each had unique situation and that made each apparition a miracle in itself.

Although there are indeed fake apparitions especially in modern times many apparitions that had prophetic messages supported by real miracles can not just be ignored or dispelled as a lie even by Church authorities. A test of true prophesy is when the prophesies have come true. Only true Prophetic messages that came true can only come from God and miracles coupled with conversions to God must be coming from the same God because miracles that convert the non-believers like atheists and pagans to the faith in Jesus Christ is grace that can only come from God. Jesus said it very clearly, kingdom divided against itself can't stand thus Satan can't fight against itself by helping convert people to the Christian faith. Conversion to faith in Jesus Christ can only come from God's grace acting through his messengers from Heaven or through evangelizing works of the Catholic faithful. So for people to think that because an apparition is a supernatural experience, it must come from the devil. The devil of course can mislead and deceived people but the result of his deception is to take people away from the faith not convert them. Using the fruit of Apparition as a yardstick, we can discern if the apparition is true or not.

For the 100th year remembrance of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima to the three innocent children who came from Catholic family we will once look at the messages and see if they are still relevant to the situation the world has today. We consider Our Lady's apparition in Fatima as the most important one because its the biggest and its accompanied by mass miracles that we will discussed later in the series. It answers many questions regarding the Prophecies made in the past on what will happen to the Catholic Church in the modern times.

The Fatima held 3 secrets that were given to the 3 Children, the first two were allowed by Our Lady to be revealed much earlier while the 3rd was withheld until the time set for it to be revealed to the world. It has something to do with  what will happen to the Catholic Church in the 20th century and forward. It also holds the answers to the problems, the solutions that come from God as delivered by the Blessed Virgin Mary to the 3 seers who are now dead. Unfortunately the 3rd secret was not revealed by Pope John XXIII after reading it. For reason he alone deemed necessary, he resealed it back in 1960 only saying its not for his time. Such act of the Pope was in defiance of the wishes of our Lady of Fatima who made it clear to Sister Lucia, the only surviving seer of Fatima at that time that she wanted the 3rd secret be revealed by 1960 because by that time it will be clear to the world what it is all about.. In fact we will try to find out in this series the events leading to the suppression of the truth and why.

Today non-Catholics calling themselves as Bible Only Believing Christians are the most active groups in attacking the Blessed Virgin Mary treating her as any ordinary sinful individual. Blaspheming the Blessed Virgin Mary and rejecting her role in the salvation works of God and using her as the reason why the Catholic Church is false church. They falsely claim that the Catholics have worship the Blessed Virgin Mary as God and has even put her above the Lord Jesus Christ as if she is the savior and not her son Jesus Christ. Using false interpretations of the bible and black propaganda against Our Lady even without clear reference in the bible against their allegations. No one knows 100% who the Blessed Virgin Mary really is because by all accounts in the scriptures she was protected by God. Her true identity is not known to the public much less the modern day Christians except what little we know about her in the bible. It appears though the she was always present in Jesus ministry but she is not written about except for a few in Luke and Matthew. Isn't it any wonder why? It appears that she has been preserved, protected, and safeguarded by the Lord that in his dying breath while hanging on the cross, he still has her in his mind and heart, she was entrusted under the care of St. John

Who is the Blessed Virgin Mary? We know that she is the mother of the Lord and we know in the scripture so little about her so from the start of this Fatima series we will try to know Our Lady based on the scriptures, the prophecies on her, and the traditional stories surrounding her life and how relationship to the Apostles and disciples. To understand Fatima we must know Our Lady First in the works of Salvation of Jesus Christ.

By Bro. Manny OTFS Apologist

Copyright © 2016 by ONE TRUE FAITH SOCIETY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

ARE YOU SAVED?

This is the favorite question that Protestants and non-Catholics loved to ask, Are you saved? The question is really asked to solicit a non-committal answer like - "Well I guess so", or "I don't know". Then they will assure you that they are already saved and because their salvation is already assured by their faith in Jesus Christ no matter how sinful they may be. This is partially true but not totally true. And so a half-truth is not true but still false when taken at their entire context.

The truth that is mixed with a lie is false. So they claim that once saved, always saved, even if you sin big time, is totally false. They will then leave you with the question "How about you do you want to be saved too?", then get out of your Catholic Church and become a true Christian by relying only on in the Bible, not in rituals and worships that have no meaning and are not found in the Bible. Really?

The problem with the Protestants and non-Catholics pseudo-Christians is that they have been deceived and continue to live in the lies perpetrated by Satan who in fact wants us to believe in the heresy of the Reformation and join the Rebellious House of the Protestant churches. Any Protestant church will do so long as its not the Catholic Church. The Rebellious House is the federation of all those who rebel against the Catholic Church their aim is nothing more than to topple the Throne and Altar of the Almighty and scatter the people of God, the Holy Ones out of the Kingdom of God and outside where they will be easily taken into their numbers. The agents of the Rebellious House is everywhere including those who remain in the Catholic Church but are rebels themselves against the unchangeable doctrines passed on by the Apostles to the succeeding generations.

Instead of relying on the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth which is the Catholic Church, they rely more on their own readings of the Bible and because of that, they are deceived. Will reading the Bible Alone without the assistance of the Church be sufficient to understand the mysteries of the living words of God that are not confined within the ink and letters written on the paper of the Bible but in the life of the Church? It is written "You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God." (Matthew 22:29). But is reading the Bible alone means we already know the scripture? Notice in the preceding verse of Matthew the Scripture must be understood on the power of God. And so John further clarified this:


You search and investigate and pore over the Scriptures diligently, because you suppose and trust that you have eternal life through them. And these very Scriptures testify about Me! And still you are not willing but refuse to come to Me, so that you might have life. (John 5:39-40) So the Scripture only testify to the truth which is Jesus Christ but there is no life in them unless we come to Jesus that we may have life. And how do we come to Jesus? Not through the Scripture or Bible alone but by following his lead, his commandments, which is given in the Church of the Living God that he founded and built up through the Apostles, that is the Catholic Church. Jesus did not write a book, he founded and built a Church. 

What is the Church if we all can just read the Bible and believe in the Lord and presto we are saved? If this is what Jesus wanted, he could have just asked scribes to write all his teachings and have them distributed. But he did not write at all in his time. Instead, he chose 12 Apostles from his Disciples and Followers, then appointed Peter as their leader, and gave them instruction on the mountain before he ascended to heaven in Matthew 28:16-19 :

"Meanwhile, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Lord promised, "I am with you always, to the very end of the age". Yet the Lord knew the Apostles would die ahead of the end of the age. And so does it mean, after they die everything stopped? Of course not! We knew from the very beginning, the Apostles organized the church by appointing deacons, presbyters, elders, and bishop. The Acts written by Luke and the Letters and Epistles of the Apostles attest to them. Their acts made it clear that the promise of the Lord of being with them unto the end of age is not limited to them, the Apostles, but to the entire church.  The Great Commission of the Apostles such as going to the nations, making disciples, baptizing, and teaching "them" to obey his commandments are handed over by the same Apostles to their successors, the Bishops they appointed in every church. The successors of the Apostles ensured the continuity of building the church worldwide. Teaching is not by reading alone but by handing down the traditions of the Apostles whether by oral or written form as told by Apostle Paul. Not just by any preacher who read the bible because here the teaching will not come from reading the bible but by the Apostles and their successors which they appointed in every church and in every place under the Church of the Living God which before the turn of the 1st century already called the Catholic Church. Thus the promise of "I am with you always until the very end of the age, is for the Catholic Church."

There is no life in the scripture alone but only by coming to Jesus but how do we come to Jesus? Is it by accepting him as our personal savior only or by being in his true church and following all his commandments? The answer is obvious since Jesus is no longer visible on earth, he left us a church, his visible body to which the keys of the Kingdom of God is given to its head, the See of Peter. So unless we come to Jesus which is his church, the Catholic Church, there is no life in us. In fact, if anyone persecutes the church, he persecutes the Lord because Jesus said to Saul when he was persecuting the church, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting". We come to Jesus through his Church. Not just any church lest we are deceived but by his true church marked by the rock who is Simon Peter. "ON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH". The Catholic Church today is symbolized on top of the tomb where Peter, the rock is laid. The St. Peter basilica the symbol of where we find the true church, which is the Temple of God, that mark or symbol is where we find the true Church of the Lord. Nowhere can one find a church built on top of the grave of St. Peter but the Catholic Church alone.

Where we have life eternal, there is our salvation. There we will be saved in the truest sense of the word save. Where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church according to St. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch of the 1st century. We come to Jesus Christ literally through his true church, the Catholic Church nowhere else. You can't come to Jesus by you alone. No, you come to Jesus through the Catholic Church where you will be baptized and live the Sacraments, commanded by the Lord. Our salvation is not by believing in the Bible Alone or by Faith Alone of the pseudo-Christians but by coming to Jesus and staying with him, that is in his true church. There we will be truly saved.

Bro. Manny OTFS Apologist

Copyright © 2016 by ONE TRUE FAITH SOCIETY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

WHAT TIME ARE WE LIVING IN?

The world is in danger because there are people who work in secret. These people are the agents of Satan.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

Copyright © 2016 by ONE TRUE FAITH SOCIETY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

HERESIES AND THE GATES OF HELL

What we see today in our society and the world is division, fighting, and endless debate of what is and what is not. What was, in the beginning, a simple expression, profession, the practice of faith of one united community of Christians under one authoritative body of the Apostles in one church, the body of Christ has through the years been raided by the enemies which planted viruses to corrupt the faith. Said viruses have spread out and mutated into various diseases to those that have not been immunized of the true faith and orthodoxy and they themselves have gone out of the one true church which alone holds the keys to the Kingdom of God.

Since their churches have been the product of the diseases coming from the viruses of heresies they continue to live out of the kingdom of God. Such corrupted and diseased prone churches have resulted in the mushrooming of many different churches that have the viruses of corrupted faith in them. Each of them believes in the lies of the enemy of Christ, the anti-Christ who is yet to be fully revealed but whose spirit has infiltrated the true church. Many have gone out but still many remained in the church bearing with them the viruses of heresies. They are in the church but they are in truth no longer a member of the church because they have by their actions and beliefs ex-communicated themselves from the true church in truth and in spirit.

To them the parable of the Lord about the Kingdom of God which is also a form of prophecy has been fulfilled, they are the weeds that will continue to be in the kingdom but will be bundled together on judgment day to be burned to eternal fire.

WHAT THEN IS HERESY?

Heresy is understood today to mean the denial of revealed truth as taught by the Church. It has all the appearance of Christianity yet it is contradictory to the essence and true spirit of its teachings. It lacks the orthodoxy or obedience to the teaching authority that is the Church and instead deviates to it by human reasons and understanding. Heresy is a contradiction of the truth. It is a lie buried in some truth. A half-truth or partial truth is still a lie. It has all the appearance of Christianity but it is, in reality, oppose to it opposing the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth that is the Church. Once left unchecked and uncorrected it will then produce more lies until the truth is no longer seen but the lies the covered the truth. That is heresy. It leads us to sin and sin big, the unforgivable sin of the Holy Spirit that makes man hardened his heart and man refusing to see and hear the truth even if it is already so obvious. St. Paul in his 2nd Epistle said "even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them"Heresy, therefore, leads to the denial of the Lord. And there are many ways to deny the Lord while professing to follow him. For this reason the Lord said "Not all who call on me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of God"

How can one deny the Lord and still be in his church? Either one will stay and still deny the Lord or one will get out the Church to found their own community, their own man-made churches. But even those who stay that embrace heresies deny the Lord because they are agents of the anti-Christ that is planted by the enemy to destroy the Church from within and open the gates of hell for those that will follow them. The Church, therefore, is attack from the inside and from the outside. Heresies are the gates of hell that open up for those that will follow them. But the Lord has decreed it from the moment he said he will build his Church that "even the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". It is for this reason that one can understand why the Catholic Church has withstood the attacks of the enemy from within and from the outside throughout its existence. It is the true church and only the true church can last this long and still continue to stand strong.

HOW DESTRUCTIVE IS HERESY?

One of the most destructive heresy which has hounded the Church for centuries and has led many to sin is Arianism which not only split the Church for some time until it was finally defeated and banished from the Church but it has even to the two main religions that to this day vigorously and consistently opposed the Catholic Church without end with only one objective to totally destroy it.

Arianism gave birth to more heresies and false doctrines that in time gave birth to other religions that is directly in opposition to the true Christian religion of the Catholic Church. 

Arianism gave birth to the Ebionite Christians which gave birth to Islam through the cousin of the wife of Muhammad who was an Ebionite monk that converted to Islam in the course of Muhammad so-called revelation while in trance. Quran or Koran the holy book of Islam was written using the scriptures written by the Ebionites. The Ebionite bible. Ebionites is a patristic term referring to a Jewish Christian movement that existed during the early centuries of the Christian Era. According to Ebionites belief, Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah but reject his divinity and his virgin birth and insisted on the necessity of following Jewish law and rites. In time they have dispersed to other nations in the Middle East. Then it gave birth to Monothelitism that in turn gave birth to Unitarianism which gave birth to many religions and churches that follow similar Doctrines. Later on, the convergence of various thoughts and heresies gave rise to Reformation that gave birth to Protestant churches of divergent doctrines. One can easily see that in spite of all of these religions and churches that supposedly believe in Jesus Christ they could not agree on many aspects of Christology. Meanwhile, many more sects, religions, and preachers and they could hardly agree on anything. Is this what the Lord planned his church to be? That anyone who can read the bible and can come up with his own interpretation and is able to preach will be able to start new church using the name of the Lord and proclaim it to be the Church of Christ. 

With the abundance of heresies and heretical churches and religions, followers now fight over the meaning of the word of God in the bible. The debate is never-ending over verses in the bible which is applied to their convoluted doctrines weaved from the biblical verses that will apply to their beliefs but don't mind if their logic and conclusions to which their doctrines are based are contradicted by the same bible in other verses.

Once the Christian believers threw out their obedience to the teaching authority the true Church, all things break loose. Its anybody's theology and anybody's church. But the problem is more serious if the Church itself from the Pope and bishops would subtly changing dogmas and doctrines of the Catholic Church without anyone of the Catholics noticing it or they may have noticed it but choose to keep silent about it. That in itself is the danger the Church and the faithful are facing. The loss of many souls. In its close to 2,000 years of existence the Church has survived, Arianism, Protestantism, Anglicanism, and many many more. It will continue to survive yes but many Catholics will be lost to heresy and endanger their souls.

-TO BE CONTINUED...-

Copyright © 2016 by ONE TRUE FAITH SOCIETY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

THE REBELLIOUS HOUSE

Martin Luther from One Error to Another due his Rebellion

"Son of man, you live in the midst of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 12:2) 
 
Ezekiel, a great prophet has rightly and correctly labeled that people who have eyes to see but don’t see and ears to hear but don’t hear are those in a Rebellious house. But what is the meaning of the house in the scripture? 

There are generally two meanings of the house in the scripture. The house in Ezekiel time is the Kingdom of Israel. The House therefore is a kingdom but the kingdom is also known as the church as written in the scripture. So the house is either a kingdom or a church.

Apostle Paul calls the church as the house and edifice of God. He said to Timothy, “I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. The Church is called a house, because it is, as it were, one family governed by one father of the family, and enjoying a community of all spiritual goods.

Getting by the definition of the “house” in the scripture as either referring to the Kingdom or the Church then it follows that a Rebellious house is a Rebellious kingdom or Rebellious Church that is in direct opposition and open resistance to the established Kingdom of God or Church of God. The Rebellious house by itself has set up and established their own governance or rulers in an act of defiance or disobedience to the established authority of the original Kingdom of God or Church. By doing so they separated themselves from the kingdom or church and established authority by themselves according to their own desire. They are therefore once part of the assembly and subjects of the kingdom or members of the church that rebelled, opposed, resisted, and disobeyed the instituted authority of the kingdom or the church. This Rebellious House is the Protestant Church and all churches that followed and continue to follow its act of disobedience are part of that Rebellious House. 

St. John warned us of this rebellious house, those "who have gone out from us" in 1 John 2:18-19 "Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us." So then those who depart from the true church of the Living God they are the antichrist. The antichrist can't come while still inside the church but will come from those who have gone out because they really don't belong to the church, that is the Catholic Church.

The Protestant churches started with the act of protest of their main proponent and founder of one of their churches that go with his name, Martin Luther. It started with his 95 Thesis which he posted on the door of the church in Germany against the selling of indulgences that was ordered by the then reigning Pope to raise money for the re-building of St. Peter’s Basilica. Luther who was himself an ordained Priest of the Roman Catholic Church was right. Even today such action of the former Pope at that point is not supported by almost all Catholics. But the Pope acted not in his capacity as Shepherd of the sheep but in his capacity as the administrator of the Catholic Church facilities which is part of his function. Such action that does not pertain to the Profession of Faith and Morals is not at all infallible and the Pope can go wrong with his decision being human being. In fact the Pope sins and often goes to confession too. The Pope merely acted on what he thought was the way to facilitate the re-building of the Basilica.Yes it was wrong and many Popes in their personal capacity may be wrong in many ways that is why they too go to confession because they are still human after all. But the church can't go wrong because it is united with Jesus Christ. It is his church not anyone's church.

What Luther did however after his initial protestation and excommunication was instead of fighting for what is right and help correct the error in the Catholic Church by its leaders the Pope, Bishop, or priests who are tasked to shepherd the sheep and administer the building of the church, he ended up rebelling against the entire Catholic Church and establishing his own separated Protestant Church and worst he established his own rebellious house, the Rebel Churches.

As Catholic Priest himself, Luther certainly knew what Indulgence means which is solidly founded on the scriptures. Yet he did not protest against it for many years in spite of him being Catholic. It was only when there was seemingly an act of selling indulgences that he protested. Let us repeat it again. Luther was not against the doctrine of indulgences, he protested against the sale of indulgences which is similar to Simony. And in fact many Catholics would agree with him.

What is an indulgence?

For both the non-Catholic and Catholics alike who are not well versed to the Catechism of the Catholic Church here is the meaning of indulgence.

1471 The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance.

"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints." 

While we have been forgiven, there is something as restitution which we must pay to the last penny to compensate for the injustice we have done for our sins. That may not be in the act of restoring the loss we have caused for those we have done wrong directly to the person but in what God's justice require of us. Something given and something taken from us. For non Christians they call this the law of karma which is a natural law of what you sow so shall you reap. It goes back to you as a recompense of your debts or sins, in the Catholic teaching that is called the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.

"An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin." Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead.

In a nutshell:

There are two layers of punishment for sins, one is eternal for sins that have not been forgiven and the other is temporal for sins that have already been forgiven that we still have to pay even after our guilt was forgiven.  In the Old Testament, King David, committed very grave sins by taking another man's wife, Bathsheba which is adultery, and arranging for her husband's death which is murder, two very grave sins (2 Sam. 11 & 12). But God forgave David when he repented yet the child born of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba died as a punishment for his sin. That is restitution or recompense for what David has done. By repenting he was forgiven but he still suffer the fruit of his sin. What you sow, you shall reap.

So while the sin was forgiven and that spared David of the eternal punishment, he still he had to suffer the temporal punishment of his sin which was the death of his child. Why? Because although God is merciful he is also just and justice demands recompense for the things we have done. This example shows that the temporal punishment remains on which the Church asserts that by the power given to it by the Lord, it has the authority to take this punishment away either totally or in partially.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18) This is the scriptural basis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which states:

“An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity.(CCC 1478)

Considering therefore that as a priest, the doctrine of indulgence has been known and practiced by Luther in his life as Catholic he never resisted it only when there was an abuse made such as the “selling” of the indulgence. He could have fought it out and debated about and with reasons, the Church would have listened as always it listened to the Church Fathers in the past who were given the gift of reasons. It was not enough reasons for Luther to rebel and breakaway from the Kingdom of God that is the Catholic Church and established his man-made kingdom and rebel church which opened up the floodgates of thousands of rebel churches following his example. Some will argue that Luther was forced when he was ex-communicated but in the same way, St. Athanasius was ex-communicated but he remained steadfast in faith. St. Athanasius fought his way with reasons and obedience till in the end his ex-communication was lifted and he is in full communion with the Church of the Living God again even coming out with his famous Athanasian Creed that says only in the bosom of the Catholic Church do we find salvation in Jesus Christ outside of which there is none. 

Athanasius and Luther were both Catholics and both fought the errors committed by Popes in their respective era but the difference is that the former remained with the Catholic Church while the latter went out and put up his own rebel church.

Rebellion and Its Effects

The Lord God hates and despises rebellion which produces the attitude of lawlessness. It is a poison tree that produces wicked fruits poisoning the minds of many. Here Rebellion means disobedience to the words and plans of God.

“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.” (Samuel 15:23)

Satan is known from tradition as the prince of rebellion, the Devil who is the “sum of all moral impurities” The Influence of his rebellion against God continues to this day and permeates our society, even among the Catholics. In society we see the results of rebellion from the break-up of families and homes as children rebel against their parents. Rebellion is a personification of Satan who was formerly called Lucifer for being the son of Morning. A perfect being but the one who rebelled against God because he wanted his own kingdom and be like God. He became Satan which means, adversary. He is always in opposition to God.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God [angels]; I will also sit [rule] on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north [God's government]; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.(Isiah 14:12-15) In that from being Lucifer, son of the morning he became Satan, the rebel, the Father of all Lies who is the murderer from the beginning.

The Spiritual Head therefore of the Rebellious House is Satan

True to his name as the adversary, he has put up false Christian churches in opposition to the Catholic Church which is the true Church of the Living God founded by Jesus Christ and built up through the Apostles. He has cause rebellion inside the Kingdom of God on earth which is the Catholic Church in the same way that he stirred up opposition to God in the Kingdom of Heaven bringing with him the fallen angels in his error. On earth he is bringing with him in his final destination to hell those who follow the false Christian churches whose members are truly members of the church of Satan but using the word Christian to deceive the people even the elect who are already in the Catholic Church. 

The Rebellious house which is the house of Satan, has even came up with their own versions of the Bible and their own man-made doctrines which are heresies that open the gates of hell for those who will believe in their churches. Said churches now as many as 44,000 denominations of the Protestant Churches are really the gates of hell and entering those gates will cause many to be damned into hell for all eternity as it is written in the scripture “Many will be led to sin”. The deception is so great that even the elect will be deceived. 

The Rebellious house is the House of the Damned whose members think they are saved but in truth they are damned. The damned are the stiff-necked believers who think they are following Jesus Christ but in truth they are following Satan to their damnation. They have become like Scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees who closed their eyes to the truth and to whom Jesus said  "You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God" (Matthew 22:29) This is the paradox of the so called Bible alone believing Christians by relying on their own interpretation of the scripture they instead fall into errors that drove them further away from the Church of the Living God, which is the the Catholic Church, the body of Jesus Christ so that the words of the Lord now apply to them:

"You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life." (John 5:39-40)

See that reading the scriptures and presuming you already have life in it is wrong, it is only by coming to Jesus who is in his Church, the Catholic Church that one will have life. There is no life in the rebellious church, there is only death awaiting those who persist to continue in the life of rebellion against the commandments of God who dwells in the Pillar and Foundation of Truth, the Catholic Church. 

By Bro. Manny OTFS Chief Apologist

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