We cannot take the words of men for salvation, but we must TRUST Christ Himself. We cannot stop short at men, when Jesus says, “Come unto me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). It is not wise to believe men. Use this occasion of corruption in the “church” to seek after God. Don’t put your hope in an institution; put it in Christ alone, as a steward of the grace of God, knowing Christ yourself.
People are apt to be religious because of family ties and being born into a religion, but that is NO REASON to hold onto it. You and I must find the truth. The Lord says, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice”, so find the truth, and you’ll have God (John 18:37). Learn from men, but check them by the bible, and if they’re wrong, put them out.
Here are things the Catholic church teaches, which you must check and see if they’re true:
1. They forbid marriage for priests, when God says that marriage is honorable in all things, and the bed undefiled (1 Tim 4:1-5; Heb 13:4).
2. They preach man is saved by free will, but the bible says, “For he says unto Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy” (Rom 9:15-16).
3. They teach the Pope has authority on spiritual matters, but there is no apostolic succession, and Peter called himself “an apostle” and “an elder” (1 Pet 1:1; 5:1). He never set himself above the brothers, even being rebuked by Paul (Gal 2:11; 2 Pet 3:15-16).
4. They teach that a man isn’t justified by faith, but by faith and works, so that you must DO good, if you want to be saved. But, the bible says, “But to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom 4:5). Faith believes God to save you on His terms, and knows, that by faith alone, I have all things.
5. They preach the intercession of Mary, when there is “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”, and many other such like things (1 Tim 2:5).
Please, look into the gospel for yourself, and don’t perish in your parents religion or the “religion you’ve heard growing up”, if it is a lie. Mercifully, God saves duped sinners by exposing the error of their leaders. I was this way. I followed a man, until God revealed him foolish and replaced him by the truth.
thegospelchurch.com
