Halloween, Innocent Fun and Games or Ancient Satan Worship? By Pastor Steve Harmon Th.G., B.S., Th.M., Th.D.

History

The Celts and Druids:

The Celts lived more than 2,000 years ago in the area from Great Britain to Germany. The Celtic Vigil of Samhain, named after their God Samhain, the lord of the dead, is the source of the present day Halloween celebration. Their new year began on November 1. They believed that Samhain gathered all the souls of those who had died in the past year. These souls had been confined to the bodies of animals to atone for their sins. At the New Year, the sins of these departed souls were considered atoned, and they were freed to go to the Druid Heaven. Human beings and animals were sacrificed as part of the rites. The human sacrifices were usually criminals. They were locked in wicker and thatch cages which were set afire by priests to roast the victims alive. This practice continued until 61 A.D. when it was outlawed by the Roman government; the Romans had conquered the area in 43 A.D. After the outlawing of human sacrifice the Druids, Celtic priests, would put black cats into wicker cages and burned them. Cat sacrifices grew out of the conviction that these animals were the familiars of witches, perhaps even witches themselves. As late as 400 A.D. in Britain, horses were still being sacrificed at the feast of Samhain. Even after the Christians had taken over the pagan temples and consecrated them to the worship of the Christian God (in Britain), oxen continued to be sacrificed on Hallowmas, sometimes being led down the church aisle to the alter.

The Romans:

After Rome conquered Britain, two of their Roman festivals were combined with the Celtic Vigil of Samhain. The first of these is called Feralia, which was held in October to honor the dead. The other honored Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. Apples probably became associated with Halloween because of this goddess.

The Catholics:

All Saints' or All Hallows' Day is November 1, which according to Jewish tradition starts at sundown on the evening before. This is a festival for the dead, it was made into a celebration of all the known and unknown saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church by Pope Boniface IV in the seventh century. It was originally celebrated on May 13, but was moved to November 1, by Gregory lIl in the eight century. It would seem consistent that the Catholic celebration for the dead would coincide with the Witch's or Occult celebration for the dead. All Saints' Day was followed by All-Souls' Day, November 2, unless that was a Sunday then it was November 3, this was another Catholic adaptation of pagan festivals for the dead. Prayers for the dead are an integral part of the traditional All Saint's Day services, which are scheduled in Catholic churches on November 1, and on the next Sunday. Halloween gets its name from the Catholic holiday, it is a Hallowed evening, because it precedes All Hallows' Day. Thus: Hallow'en.

The Irish in America:

In Ireland people begged for food in a parade that honored Muck Olla, the sun god. The leader of the parade wore a white robe and a mask made out of the head of an animal. In the 1840's large numbers of immigrants arrived in the United States from Ireland and Scotland, the customs of Halloween were introduced to the general public at that time. Until the 1840's Halloween was not much celebrated because of the strict biblical views of the fundamentalists in the United States.

Modern Halloween:

There has arisen a grave danger to the "trick-or-treator's." There are many reports of candies, marshmallows, apples, etc., having razor blades embedded in them, dope, articles of filth, etc. why should we allow our children to be subjected to this type of horror? Some children have been enticed into dens of dope pushers and sex maniacs on this dark night of mischief.

The Witches:

Modem witches celebrate eight main holidays, the most important of these is Samhain (Halloween). These celebrations include: 1. Oimelc- February 2. 2. Ostara (spring equinox) - March 21. 3. Beltane - April 30. 4. Summer solstice (the longest day of the year) - June 22. 5. Lughnasadh - July 31. 6. Autumn equinox - September 21 7. Samhain (Halloween) - October 31. 8. Winter solstice (the longest night of the year) - December 22.

Samhain is considered the most important because the veil between the world's of the living and the dead is at its thinnest point in the year, making communication easier. The souls of the dead are reported to come to the land of the living. The Internal Revenue Service has given tax exempt status to the church of Wicca (the official church of Witchcraft). Their financial gifts are tax deductible just as your tithes would be to this church!

Anton LeVey, Satanist:

Anton LeVey head of the worshippers of Satan, said that he was glad the Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night out of the year. This is something to make us think; is it not?

Customs

Costumes and masks:

The Druids adorned themselves in frightening masks to scare the evil spirits away and protect them from being snatched into the world of the dead. Archbishop of Canterbury, England set punishments for "those who goeth about in the masque of a stag of bull-calf ... those who by their craft raise storms ... sacrifice to demons ... consulteth soothsayers who divine by birds." The Roman Catholic church, staged many pageants, with their participants dressing up as patron saints and guardians. Those who did not play a part of a 'holy one' played the parts of devils. Their dressing in these costumes are considered and alternative history for the costuming of the trick-or-treator's.

Jack-o'-lantems:

An Irish man named Jack who was notorious for drunkenness and for being stingy, one evening at the local pub, was faced with the Devil, come to claim his soul. Jack convinced the devil to have a drink with him, then when time came to pay he asked the devil to turn into a gold coin for the price, he could later turn back and the drinks would have cost nothing. Jack took the coin and placed it in his pocket with a silver cross which kept the Devil from turning back into himself. When the Devil promised to leave Jack for another year, Jack released him. At the end of the year, as the Devil returned, Jack tricked him into climbing an apple tree for an apple. He quickly carved a cross in the tree so the Devil could not climb down. Jack finally let the Devil down after promising never to return for Jack's soul. Jack's body finally wore out and he went to the gates of Heaven, where he was refused entrance because of his stingy and drunken life. Jack proceed then to go to Hell where he was again refused entrance. Jack was then forced to walk the earth until judgment day with his only light a burning ember from Hell's fire caught in a tumip. In the United States the use of pumpkins replaced the Irish use of turnips and beets.

Trick-or-Treating:

Groups of pheasants, wearing masks, went from house to house, led by Lair Bhan (which means white mare) a leader wearing a white robe and a horse head (the horse was sacred, a symbol of fertility, to Muck Olla), went begging for money for which to buy luxuries for a feast. Also demanding that fatted calves and black sheep be prepared for the feast. These contributions were requested in the name of Muck Olla, the sun god of the Druids. Prosperity was assured liberal givers, and threats were voiced against those who were stingy.

Apple Bobbing:

Apples have long been a token of love and fertility. Early Hebrew women who wanted children washed themselves in water mixed with the sap of an apple tree. "Etemal Youth" was said to come to the Norse gods by the eating of apples.

What does the Bible say?

God commanded those who practice witchcraft to die.
Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Micah 5:12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:

You are defiled if you try to communicate with spirits.
Leviticus 19:31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

God cuts you off from among the people if you turn to mediums for help.
Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

God commanded capital punishment for any who called up spirits.
Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them. 2 Kings 23:24 Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

God condemns witchcraft, fortune-telling, crystal reading, necromancy, astrology, and palmistry as part of spiritism.
Deuteronomy 18:10-11 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. Joshua 13:22 Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them.

God destroyed the Canaanites for their back magic related practices.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits. or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

Saul likened rebellion to witchcraft, to show how serious it was.
1 Samuel 15-23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

King Saul when, faithful to God cleared all the land of spiritual mediums.
1 Samuel 28:3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.

King Saul later sought a medium because his sin kept God from answering him.
1 Samuel 28:6-7 And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.

God judged and killed Saul for his dealings of spiritism.
1 Chronicle 10:13 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it;.

Wicked King Manasseh's sins Included consulting with spirits, mediums, fortune tellers and sorcerers.
2 Chronicles 33:6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

God rejected Israel because they practiced magic and communicated with evil spirits.
Isaiah 2:6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

It is insulting to God to consult the dead when you could Inquire of Him.
Isaiah 8:19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

A fortune teller may be possessed with devils.
Acts 16:18 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and Cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

True Christians have nothing to do with black magic and its related practices.
Acts 19:19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Sorcery is included in the works of the flesh listed in the Bible, and those who practice it cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatlana 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

There is no place in Heaven for the practice of sorcery.
Revelation 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Teachings of spiritism are doctrines of devils.
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

The devils are subject to God's greater power and tremble before Him.
James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

The increased following of this spiritism is a sign of the end times and God's coming judgement.

1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

The Use of enchantments and witchcraft anger the LORD.
Leviticus 19:26 Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.

Numbers 24:1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

2 Kings 17:17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

2 Kings 21:6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

2 Chronicles 33:6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

God's people are always better than the devils.
Daniel 1:20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.

Isaiah 47:12-15 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall bum them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.

There can be no peace as long as there is witchcrafts.
2 Kings 9:22 And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? Nahum 3:4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

Written in 1992
by: Steve Harmon 
Maineville Baptist Church 
57 East Foster-Maineville Road 
Maineville, Ohio 45039 
(513) 683-6708 
E-Mail: drsteve@iglou.com


Bibliography

Cavendish, Richard, Chief Editor. "Man, Myth & Magic." Freeport, Long
Island, New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1885.

Cohen, Hennig & Tristam Potter Coffin, Editors. "The Folklore of
American Holidays". Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1987.

Dobler, Lavinia. "Customs and Holidays Around the World". New York,
New York: Fleet Publishing Corporation, [nd].

Cosman, Madeleine Pelner. "Medieval Holidays and Festivals". New York,
New York: Charles Scribners Sons, [nd].

"Encyclopedia Americana", International Edition. Danbury, Connecticut:
Grolier Incorporated, 1992.

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. "The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft".
New York, New York: Facts of File, 1989.

Gwinn, Robert P., Chairman, Board of Directors. "The New Encyclopaedia
Britannica". Chicago, Illinois: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1991.

"Halloween & Witchcraft". Independent Baptist Voice September-October
1990.

Hatch, Jane M. "The American Book of Days". New York, New York: The H.
W. Wilson Company, 1978.

Krythe, Maymie R. "All About American Holidays". New York, New York:
Harper & Row, Publishers, 1962.

Larson, Bob. "Should Christians Celebrate Halloween". Denver,
Colorado: Bob Larson Ministries, [nd].

Mossman, Jennifer, Editor. "Holidays and Anniversaries of the World".
Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1990.

Myers, Robert J. "Celebrations - The Complete Book of American
Holidays". Chicago, Illinois: Doubleday & Company, 1972.

Phillips, Rob & Joan Hake Robie. "Halloween and Satanism". Lancaster,
Pennsylvania: Starburst Publishers, 1990.

Walsh, William S. "Curiosities of Popular Customs and of Rites,
Ceremonies, Observances, and Miscellaneous Antiquities". Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania: J. B. Lippincott Company, [nd].

"World Book Encyclopedia". Chicago, lilinois: World Book, Inc., 1991.

Dr. Steve Harmon, Pastor drsteve@iglou.com Maineville Baptist Church
57 E. Foster-Maineville Road Maineville, OH  45039 (513) 683-6708

HELL

R.C. Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House, 1992), pp. 285-287.

HELL by R.C. Sproul

We have often heard statements such as “War is hell” or “I went through hell.” These expressions are, of course, not taken literally. Rather, they reflect our tendency to use the word hell as a descriptive term for the most ghastly human experience possible. Yet no human experience in this world is actually comparable to hell. If we try to imagine the worst of all possible suffering in the here and now we have not yet stretched our imaginations to reach the dreadful reality of hell.

Hell is trivialized when it is used as a common curse word. To use the word lightly may be a halfhearted human attempt to take the concept lightly or to treat it in an amusing way. We tend to joke about things most frightening to us in a futile effort to declaw and defang them, reducing their threatening power.

There is no biblical concept more grim or terror-invoking than the idea of hell. It is so unpopular with us that few would give credence to it at all except that it comes to us from the teaching of Christ Himself.
Almost all the biblical teaching about hell comes from the lips of Jesus. It is this doctrine, perhaps more than any other, that strains even the Christian’s loyalty to the teaching of Christ. Modern Christians have pushed the limits of minimizing hell in an effort to sidestep or soften Jesus’ own teaching. The Bible describes hell as a place of outer darkness, a lake of fire, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place of eternal separation from the blessings of God, a prison, a place of torment where the worm doesn’t turn or die. These graphic images of eternal punishment provoke the question, should we take these descriptions literally or are they merely symbols?

I suspect they are symbols, but I find no relief in that. We must not think of them as being merely symbols. It is probable that the sinner in hell would prefer a literal lake of fire as his eternal abode to the reality of hell represented in the lake of fire image. If these images are indeed symbols, then we must conclude that the reality is worse than the symbol suggests. The function of symbols is to point beyond themselves to a higher or more intense state of actuality than the symbol itself can contain. That Jesus used the most awful symbols imaginable to describe hell is no comfort to those who see them simply as symbols.

A breath of relief is usually heard when someone declares, “Hell is a symbol for separation from God.” To be separated from God for eternity is no great threat to the impenitent person. The ungodly want nothing more than to be separated from God. Their problem in hell will not be separation from God, it will be the presence of God that will torment them. In hell, God will be present in the fullness of His divine wrath. He will be there to exercise His just punishment of the damned. They will know Him as an all-consuming fire.

No matter how we analyze the concept of hell it often sounds to us as a place of cruel and unusual punishment. If, however, we can take any comfort in the concept of hell, we can take it in the full assurance that there will be no cruelty there. It is impossible for God to be cruel. Cruelty involves inflicting a punishment that is more severe or harsh than the crime. Cruelty in this sense is unjust. God is incapable of inflicting an unjust punishment. The Judge of all the earth will surely do what is right. No innocent person will ever suffer at His hand.

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of hell is its eternality. People can endure the greatest agony if they know it will ultimately stop. In hell there is no such hope. The Bible clearly teaches that the punishment is eternal. The same word is used for both eternal life and eternal death. Punishment implies pain. Mere annihilation, which some have lobbied for, involves no pain. Jonathan Edwards, in preaching on Revelation 6:15-16 said, “Wicked men will hereafter earnestly wish to be turned to nothing and forever cease to be that they may escape the wrath of God.” (John H. Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell [Orlando: Ligonier Ministries, 1991], 75.)

Hell, then, is an eternity before the righteous, ever-burning wrath of God, a suffering torment from which there is no escape and no relief. Understanding this is crucial to our drive to appreciate the work of Christ and to preach His gospel.
Summary

1.The suffering of hell is beyond any experience of misery found in this world.
2.Hell is clearly included in the teaching of Jesus.
3.If the biblical descriptions of hell are symbols, then the reality will be worse than the symbols.
4.Hell is the presence of God in His wrath and judgment.
5.There is no cruelty in hell. Hell will be a place of perfect justice.
6.Hell is eternal. There is no escape through either repentance or annihilation.

Biblical passages for reflection: Matthew 8:11-12, Mark 9:42-48, Luke 16:19-31, Jude 1:3-13, Revelation 20:11-15.

Dr. R.C. Sproul, theologian, minister and teacher, is chairman of the board for Ligonier Ministries. He is widely known for his videocassette series on topics of theology, apologetics, and the Christian life. A graduate of Westminster College, Pittsburgh Theological seminary, and the Free University of Amsterdam, Dr. Sproul is professor of systematic theology and apologetics at Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida.

Purgatory, Indulgences, the Treasury of Merit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Originally posted in /www.reformationtheology.com by  John Samson on July 21, 2013 08:51 PM

As you may have heard in the news this week, the new Pope (Francis), wishing to make use of the new social media announced that indulgences would be granted not only to those who attend the upcoming Roman Catholic Youth Day celebration in Brazil (a week-long event which starts tomorrow, July 22), but also to those who follow the event online, and especially follow his tweets on twitter. Some people seem very surprised by this announcement and yet the only thing new about it is the twitter component. The doctrine of Indulgences remains a central teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

PURGATORY: (Latin: purgatorium; from purgare, “to purge”) - the condition, process, or place of purification. This is a place of PURGING or temporary punishment in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven.

The doctrine of purgatory is an integral doctrine to the Roman Catholic understanding of redemption. It is the place where the vast majority of even professing Christians go upon their death.

As recently as the Roman Catholic Catechism, the Church declares that if a person dies with any spot or blemish or stain on their soul – any impurity – instead of going directly to heaven they must first go to this place of purging which is this intermediate state between earth and heaven. Rome makes clear that purgatory is not hell. It is not a place of the punitive wrath of God, but it is a place for the corrective wrath of God, as it were, where the sanctifying process is continued through the crucible of fire.

A person may be there for two weeks or they may be there for two hundred million years – as long as it takes for a person to become truly righteous – inherently righteous, and once that process is completed, they can be declared justified by God and released into heaven.

I’d now like to go through all the Bible verses that teach the doctrine of purgatory ________________________.



Ok.. well that did not take long, because there are none! That’s right, we do not find either the word or the concept of “purgatory” in the Bible. It is a tradition of the Roman Catholic Church that developed over a long period of time.

In 1095 Pope Urban II declared that the Crusades were God's will for His people to free the Holy Land from the Muslims. He granted a special dispensation to those who would take up the cross (an emblem placed on the soldier’s robes and shields) in the Crusades. Their sins would be forgiven though a penance (a non-Biblical word) being carried out called an INDULGENCE (again a non-Biblical word). For those who died in the Crusades, eternal life was assured. Purgatory would be shortened and heaven would be accessed a whole lot earlier.

THE TREASURY OF MERIT (Latin: Thesaurus Meritorum) According to Rome, just a drop of Christ’s blood would contain enough merit to save the whole world. Obviously Christ shed a vast amount of blood as He was crucified. What happened to all this excess merit? God stored this merit in a treasury (think of a treasure chest) in heaven.

Mary (according to Rome) was sinless. She gained far more merit than what was needed for heaven, and so the extra merit she acquired was added to the treasury, along with the merits of saints (who again had more than enough merit to enter heaven for themselves). All excess merit was stored in the treasury. Because of this, the more sinful believers could benefit from the merit of their more saintly brethren. (Mary was a wonderful sister in Christ, yet she herself was aware of her need for salvation. Luke 1: 46 And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior’…” Mary was saved by believing in her Son, the Lord Jesus Christ the same way anyone else is saved).

According to Rome, the Treasury of Merit is placed under the charge of the Pope, who alone possesses the keys , and he can dispense merit at his discretion in what is called INDULGENCES.

INDULGENCES - The Pope grants indulgences to those who fulfill certain conditions. These indulgences grant relief from the temporal punishments of purgatory and are measured in terms of time: hours, days, weeks, months and years in purgatory. Strictly speaking, indulgencies are not sold, but still the granting of a pardon was timed to coincide with a contribution of money by the sinner or the family.

THE SABBATINE PRIVILEGE - The privilege states that those souls who keep the necessary requirements of the privilege will be released from purgatory by Our Lady the Saturday after they die. The privilege was approved by Pope John XXII, and was later confirmed by Pope Gregory XIII, Pope Clement VII, and Pope St. Pius V. In the case of the scapular (worn like a necklace around the neck), the sacred sign is the scapular itself and the spiritual effect is the protection of one’s souls through the prayers of Mary, as she promised in the vision to St. Simon Stock.

The requirements are: 1. The scapular must be worn and the wearer must be enrolled in the scapular. 2. Chastity to one's state in life must be observed. 3. One must fast from meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays. 4. You must recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin or the rosary every day.

Blessed Claude De La Colombiere said, “I wanted to know if Mary really and truly interested herself in me. And in the scapular she has given me the most tangible assurance; I have only to open my eyes. She has attached her protection to this Scapular: ‘whoever dies clothed in this shall not suffer eternal fire?’” (Sermon Pour Les Fete du Scapuliare: Oevers. Lyon, 1701)

R.P. Laselve, O.F.M also stated, “In the same way that Jesus wished that something visible would reveal in the Sacraments the invisible effects of His grace, so also has Mary wished that the more particular protection which she accords to all those who serve Her with fidelity would be marked by an exterior sign, the Scapular.” (Haeffert, John Mathias. Mary in her Scapular Promise. Sea Isle City, N.J. 1942).

In my personal correspondence with Dr. James White, he made the following comment:

"Like so many other things, the Sabbatine Privilege is an embarrassment to some portions of the RCC today, just as Fatima is to others. But the proof is in the pudding: how many Popes preached it, practiced it, and profited by it? I have never taken the time to go back and put a list together, but it is self-evident that for literally centuries it was part of the 'sensus' of the church, practiced and accepted at the highest levels and across broad spectrums. It isn't a dogma, of course---but neither was the bodily assumption until 1950. It is still practiced, and, by all demands of logic, if you can gain indulgences from it, that requires the power of the keys."

BACK TO INDULGENCES - By Luther's time, the early 16th century, indulgences had become one of the most lucrative money raising schemes within the Roman Church. It was on the basis of the sales of Indulgences that St. Peter’s Basilica was built in Rome.

It was the preaching of this horrific doctrine that was responsible for sparking into flame the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. When John Tetzel, a Dominican monk, came into Germany selling indulgences, he so incensed Martin Luther, a devout Roman Catholic monk, that Luther lifted his voice in protest. When Tetzel would enter into a town, he would erect a cross bearing the Pope's own insignia, enter into the pulpit, and begin to harangue the congregation concerning indulgences. Here is a portion of the speech he would customarily make:

"Indulgences are the most precious and sublime of God's gifts. This cross (pointing to the emblem) has as much efficacy as the cross of Jesus Christ. Draw, near, and I will give you letters duly sealed by which even the sins which you shall hereafter desire to commit shall all be forgiven. I would not exchange my privileges for those of St. Peter! I have saved more souls with my indulgences than he has with his servants. There is no sin so great that indulgences cannot remit. And even if one should, which is doubtless impossible, ravish (rape) the holy Virgin, Mother of God, let him pay, only let his pay well for an indulgence, and all shall be forgiven him! Ye priests, ye nobles, ye wives, ye maidens, and you young men, hearken to your departed parents and friends who cry to you from the bottomless depths. 'We are enduring a horrible torment', they scream, 'a small alms from you would deliver us. You can give it now if you will'. Thus they cry to you from purgatory. The very moment that the money clinks against the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purgatory and flies free to heaven. Now just pay off, 0 senseless people! Almost like the beasts who do not comprehend the grace so richly offered. This day heaven is on all sides of you. Do you now refuse to enter? When do you intend to come in? This day you may redeem many souls."

Again that was a distortion, but what was not a distortion was that the Roman Catholic Church then and now still has the concept of indulgences, where the Church (and specifically the Pope) has the power of the keys, TO OPEN THE TREASURY OF MERIT to shorten a person’s sentence or duration in purgatory and getting them into heaven sooner.

The more Luther heard of Tetzel’s preaching, the more he saw the evil of the practice. The famous “Ninety-Five Theses” Luther nailed to the Wittenberg church door opened got to the heart of the indulgences issue. His words still thunder through the centuries: “Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers” [Thesis 32]. “Any truly repentant Christian has a rich right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without indulgence letters” [Thesis 36].

Luther tacked his 95 objections in Latin hoping to initiate theological debate with his scholarly peers in the Roman Church. Some of his zealous students though (without Luther’s permission), took the words, translated them into the German vernacular and through the use of the newly invented Guttenberg printing press, these 95 theses became the talk of all Germany within two weeks.

Again, if you’ve been to Rome in our day, if you’ve been to the Lateran Church where the sacred stairs are, besides that staircase (which was supposedly the stairs Christ would have climbed as he appeared before Pontius Pilate) there is a bulletin on the wall that tells you exactly how many indulgences you can gain today by going up that set of stairs on your knees and reciting the our Father, the hail Mary, and so on. The doctrine of purgatory is still integral to the Roman Catholic Church.

In the Scriptures, we are told that it is appointed for man to die once and then the judgment (Heb 9:27). The Protestant view is that there is no intermediate state whereby somebody can improve their condition after this life. If someone is not ready to go to heaven at the time of death they won’t ever be. Again the whole difference between the doctrine of justification is that the Protestant view which was recovered by Luther is that the moment a person puts their faith in Jesus Christ, at that moment they have passed from death to life and their passing into heaven is a matter of certainty. They still go through the whole process of sanctification in this world, but when they die they will receive the benefits of the justification that they experience the moment they put their trust in Christ. Those who are justified (right now) have peace with God and access into His presence.

Later, Luther was to decry the “shameful outrage and idolatry of indulgences,” which he had come to see as a slander to the atoning work of Christ and a denial of justification by faith. The Reformation revealed the great divide between the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church on issues as central as grace, law, justification, faith, and authority in the church, but it was the practice of granting indulgences which sparked the explosion.

Against the background of a Europe filled with the traditions of men, including priestly absolution, penances, indulgences, pilgrimages, prayer to the saints, etc., Luther and the Reformers made the bold cry of "Faith alone." This did not mean faith in isolation, or a dead faith that produced no works. This referred to a vibrant, living faith, for only a living and not a dead faith would result in justification. Faith without works is dead, and a dead faith will not save anyone (James 2:17). Sola fide (Faith alone) then was the belief that faith alone is the instrument of justification without any meritorious works of man added to it.

Rome believed (then as it does now) that justification is by grace, through faith and because of Christ. What Rome does not believe is that justification is by faith alone, or by grace alone, or by Christ alone. For Rome, justification is by grace plus merit, through faith plus works; by Christ plus the sinner's contribution of inherent righteousness. In contrast, the Reformers called the Church back to the one true Biblical Gospel: Salvation is by God's grace alone, received through faith alone, because of Christ alone, based on the Scriptures alone, to the Glory of God alone.

Source: http://www.reformationtheology.com/2013/07/purgatory_indulgences_the_trea.php

Purgatory: The Money Making Lie Of The Catholic Church

Catholics who believe a purifying fire will purge away their sins are deluded victims of a fatal fabrication. The invention of a place for purification of sins called Purgatory is one of the most seductive attractions of the Roman Catholic religion. Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church described this deceptive hoax brilliantly. He said: "Purgatory is what makes the whole system work. Take out Purgatory and it's a hard sell to be a Catholic. Purgatory is the safety net, when you die, you don't go to hell. You go [to Purgatory] and get things sorted out and finally get to heaven if you've been a good Catholic. In the Catholic system you can never know you're going to heaven. You just keep trying and trying...in a long journey toward perfection. Well, it's pretty discouraging. People in that system are guilt-ridden, fear-ridden and have no knowledge of whether or not they're going to get into the Kingdom. If there's no Purgatory, there's no safety net to catch me and give me some opportunity to get into heaven. It's a second chance, it's another chance after death" (from "The Pope and the Papacy").


The Origin of Purgatory
There was no mention of Purgatory during the first two centuries of the church. However, when Roman Emperor Theodosius (379-395) decreed that Christianity was to be the official religion of the empire, thousands of pagans flooded into the Church and brought their pagan beliefs and traditions with them. One of those ancient pagan beliefs was a place of purification where souls went to make satisfaction for their sins. 

The concept became much more widespread around 600 A.D. due to the fanaticism of Pope Gregory the Great. He developed the doctrine through visions and revelations of a Purgatorial fire. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (CE), Pope Gregory said Catholics "will expiate their faults by purgatorial flames," and "the pain [is] more intolerable than any one can suffer in this life." Centuries later, at the Council of Florence (1431), it was pronounced an infallible dogma. It was later reaffirmed by the Council of Trent (1564). The dogma is based largely on Catholic tradition from extra-biblical writings and oral history. "So deep was this belief ingrained in our common humanity that it was accepted by the Jews, and in at least a shadowy way by the pagans, long before the coming of Christianity" (CE). It seems incomprehensible that Rome would admit to using a pagan tradition for the defense of one of its most esteemed "Christian" doctrines. 

The Deception of Purgatory
Purgatory comes from the Latin word "purgare," which means to make clean or to purify. The Catholic Encyclopedia defines purgatory as "a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace, are not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions." They must be purified of these "venial" sins before they can be allowed into heaven. Here we see Catholicism perpetuating the seductive lie of Satan by declaring "you will not surely die" when you commit venial sins (Gen. 3:4). The Council of Trent dares to declare that "God does not always remit the whole punishment due to sin together with the guilt. God requires satisfaction and will punish sin...The sinner, failing to do penance in this life, may be punished in another world, and so not be cast off eternally from God." (Session 15, Can. XI). Those Catholic Bishops had the audacity to declare that the suffering and death of God's perfect man and man's perfect substitute was not sufficient to satisfy divine justice for sin. 

The Motivation for Purgatory
Over the centuries billions of dollars have been paid to Roman Catholic priests to obtain relief from imaginary sufferings in Purgatory's fire. The Catholic clergy has always taught that the period of suffering in Purgatory can be shortened by purchasing indulgences and novenas, buying Mass cards and providing gifts of money. When a Catholic dies, money is extracted from mourning loved ones to shorten the deceased's punishment in Purgatory. When my dear old dad passed away as a devout Catholic of 79 years, I was amazed at the hundreds of Mass cards purchased for him by well-meaning friends. We have heard of other Catholics who have willed their entire estates to their religion so that perpetual masses could be offered for them after they die. It is no wonder that the Catholic religion has become the richest institution in the world. The buying and selling of God's grace has been a very lucrative business for the Vatican.

HELL EXTREME

DID YOU KNOW THAT ONE OF THE EXTREMES OF GOD IS A PLACE CALLED HELL ?

       The place called HELL described in the Bible mostly found in the book of the New Covenant is a very extreme God's will for those who are not saved. Many people are offended by this Christian doctrine of punishment in Hell, but the words of Jesus has confirmed that there is indeed a place of torment and fire.

       In Matthew 25:46 we read;  "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Those who are unkind and who has no compassion to people who are suffering shall receive their punishment and shall be partaker of a place prepared by GOD, or in other words made by God Himself for the Devil and his angels. A place of everlasting fire or HELL fire for those people who the Lord said are cursed!

Bible Translations

       Many will argue that they have not translated the Bible correctly and that the word HELL has been misinterpreted. They argue that there is no HELL and we should look at the original Hebrew or Greek word to understand the context. Many believed Hell is not a literal place but only symbolic. Many cultist adhere to this belief that there is no place called HELL. Many cultist will say they are only symbolic and not a literal place hence, Hell is not true because God is love and will not allow people to suffer eternally. 

"The word Hell is translated from several different words

Hebrew: sheol
Translated “pit” (3 times)
Numbers 16:33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

Job 17:16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

Translated “grave” (31 times)
Genesis 37:34-35 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

1 Samuel 2:6 The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

Translated “Hell” (31 times)
2 Samuel 22:5-6 “For the waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me;6  the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

Proverbs 23:13-14 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.14 If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

Hebrew: Valley of Hinnom
A picture of Hell; misery and punishment
2 Chronicles 28:1-3 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

Jeremiah 7:31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

Greek: hades (translated from the Hebrew sheol)
Translated “Hell” ten times and “grave” one time
1 Corinthians 15:55 (KJV) O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Greek: tartaros

Translated “hell” meaning eternal torment”
2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

Greek: gehenna (from the Hebrew Valley of Hinnom)
Translated “hell” meaning place of everlasting torment
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."1

Jesus Descended into HELL.
       In the words of Ra McLaughlins, Vice President of Creative Delivery Systems at Third Millennium Ministries. He said;

 "In the ancient world, the universe was often described in the language of a vertical structure. The earth, where human beings lived, was in the middle. Heaven, the realm of God and his angels, was spoken of as being in the sky. And beneath the earth was a shadowy underworld where all the souls of the dead resided. In the Hebrew Old Testament, it was most commonly called sheol; in the Greek New Testament and in Greek translations of the Old Testament, it was normally called hades.

In the Old Testament, the souls of both the good and the wicked were said to reside there as they awaited the final judgment. In the New Testament, however, hades usually refers to the abode of the wicked souls, as in Luke chapter 10 verse 15. But sometimes the New Testament gives us a fuller picture that looks a lot more like the Old Testament. For instance, Jesus' parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, found in Luke chapter 16 verses 19 through 31, indicates that a great gulf divided the souls of the wicked from the souls of the righteous in hades. And while the wicked suffered in torment, the righteous were comforted. In this parable, Abraham resided in the place of comfort. For this reason, theologians have often called this part of hades "Abraham's Side" or more literally "Abraham's Bosom."

The church father Tertullian, who wrote in the early third century, expressed the common belief in this division of hades: "That souls are even now susceptible of torment and of blessing in Hades ... is proved by the case of Lazarus" (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, ch. 17). 

The church father Ignatius, writing in A.D. 107, said something similar in his Epistle to the Trallians:
By those under the earth, [I mean] the multitude that arose along with the Lord. For says the Scripture, "Many bodies of the saints that slept arose," their graves being opened. He descended, indeed, into Hades alone, but He arose accompanied by a multitude; and rent asunder that means of separation which had existed from the beginning of the world.

So, when the creed says that Jesus descended into hell, the most likely meaning is that his human soul descended to the place of the departed spirits. Specifically, he descended to the region reserved for the souls of the righteous, and not to the region where the wicked are tormented. Jesus' stay in this part of hell was a necessary part of his work because it subjected his soul to the judicial punishment of true human death."2


Jesus is the LORD of HELL.
       God is love but He is also a God who justifies, a God of judgement. He literally subjected Satan's power in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. The Holy Scripture says in Phil. 2:10,11 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

       Jesus is not only our Saviour but He is our Lord. He is the LORD of Lords and even Hell has become His dominion. Jesus is the LORD of Hell. Yes, He has the authority and power in Hell and whatever He pleases it will be done. Many Christians today thinks Satan is the Lord of Hell but if we read the Scriptures you will understand that Satan has become subjected to the Son and literally under the control of Jesus Christ the King of Kings.

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life." - Romans 5:6-10

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  - Romans 6:23


Footnotes:
1-Extracted from http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-hell-21-eye-opening-scriptures/
2- Extracted from http://reformedanswers.org/answer.asp/file/40273

Worse Than Idolatry?

 Repost from http://concerningjesus.blogspot.com/2014/04/worse-than-idolatry.html

Last time we looked at the tug of war between the Pharisees and Jesus for the soul of the Jewish nation. We saw the Pharisees advance the theory that the indisputable works of Jesus were done because He was possessed essentially by Satan. And that was utterly unforgivable. This time we find ourselves a bit further advanced in the exact same conversation (Matthew 12.38-45).

          I find it mind-boggling that immediately after telling the people that Jesus does miracles in the power of Satan they immediately ask Him to do another one. Talk about adding insult to injury! And if they really believed in what they proposed they were actually asking to see Satan at work.

          Jesus rightly and angrily refuses, and tells them the only sign or miracle that He will now furnish them is one similar to the Jonah of the Old Testament, a resurrection when all hope was gone. Then, following up on the thought of Jonah, He informs them that Ninevah repented under Jonah's preaching, and He Himself is greater than Jonah. Speaking of greater than, the Queen of Sheba was eager to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and He is greater than Solomon. In other words, if the people of Ninevah and the Queen of Sheba could speak at the moment they would condemn the Pharisees and Israel for her complete lack of response to her actual Messiah.

          Jesus then proceeds to give them a powerful illustration of just exactly what is wrong with the Pharisees' approach. To me, this illustration is both enlightening and convicting.

          Jesus likens a man to an empty house, one in which an unclean spirit lives. The unclean spirit is kicked out, and rightly so. The house is then cleaned, fixed up, and prepared with care to be occupied again. The problem is that it remains empty, and now it is actually more attractive to that unclean spirit than ever. It finds some unclean spirit friends, and comes back and takes over the now fixed up empty house in which it used to live. The culmination of the story is that the house's condition, and thus the man's in Jesus' story, is worse now than it was at the beginning.

          This is precisely what Israel, under the influence of the Pharisees, had done.
          Think of Israel in the Old Testament, and how she continually struggled with one particular sin, that of idolatry, the worship of other gods. The proscription against this is the very first of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20.3). Yet before Moses gets down off the mountain with the tablets in which that commandment is inscribed they've built a golden calf and are worshipping it.

They failed at obeying this commandment repeatedly in the Old Testament. They failed under the leadership of Aaron. They failed in the time of Joshua, and after him during the judges. They failed at this under so many of the kings. Ezekiel said it had gotten so bad toward the end that secret rooms had been hollowed out underneath Solomon's Temple, and Israel's leaders worshipped idols right there below the Temple. The prophets repeatedly railed against the violations of the first commandment, and promised that God's judgment would fall on His people if they continued (Jeremiah 1.16). It was precisely for this disobedience specifically that Solomon's kingdom was divided in two after he died (I Kings 11.32-33). It was precisely for this disobedience specifically that the northern kingdom of Israel was carried away into Assyrian captivity (II Kings 17.6-12).

          God's judgment was poured out in fiery indignation, first splitting the nation in half, subjecting her to the will of her enemies, and then consecutively swallowing up each half thus causing the nation to effectively cease to exist.

          This finally seemed to make an impact, and we can see, in the five centuries between the return from the Babylonian Captivity under Ezra and the time of Jesus, that Israel never did return to idol worship. In fact, she became, if anything, more secure and stable in her monotheistic worship of only one God, Jehovah, than she had ever been.

          Well, what could possibly be wrong with that? At first, under the wise and godly leadership of Ezra and the last of the Old Testament prophets, and then later under the originally sincere though unscriptural Pharisees, and now finally under the insincere and wicked rabbis she had rejected idolatry firmly – but she had replaced that idolatry with a system of unscriptural, highly complex, extra-biblical, vain traditions. The Pharisees and their rabbis, slowly, over centuries, tore the heart out of Israel's religion, and even though she wasn't in idolatry she was so wicked as to reject and put to death her own Messiah. And instead of ceasing to exist as a nation for 70 years, as happened during the Babylonian Captivity, this time she would cease to exist as a nation for 1900 years. 'Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation' (Matthew 12.45).

          At the risk of boring you to tears with Edersheim again, here is my favorite author on the life of Christ in reference to this story:

The folly of Israel lay in this, that they thought of only one demon – him of idolatry – Beel-Zibbul, with all his foulness. That was all very repulsive, and they had carefully removed it…But this house, swept of the foulness of heathenism and adorned with all the self-righteousness of Pharisaism, but empty of God, would only become a more suitable and more secure habitation of Satan; because, from its cleanness and beauty, his presence and rule there as an evil spirit would not be suspected…and thus the last state – Israel without the foulness of gross idolatry and garnished with all the adornments of Pharisaic devotion to the study and practice of the Law – was really worse than had been the first with all its open repulsiveness.

 I see several lessons here. First, nations and people are both harder to reach when they are self-righteous than when they are exceedingly sinful and admit it. The Israel of Jesus' day was open with egregious sin. There is little record of any rampant homosexuality, or child sacrifice, or idolatry. It was outwardly buttoned up, and inwardly hypocritical. 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness' (Matthew 23.37). Jesus, with all of His powerful preaching and jaw-dropping miracles, couldn't reach that generation. They thought they were good, and refused to see that they weren't. On the other hand, you give me a man or a nation that is living openly in the full squalor of sin and I will show you a man fully conscious of his own deep need for salvation. The mind runs immediately to the recently discussed story contrasting Simon the Pharisee and the prostitute, doesn't it?

          Secondly, we must never lose sight of the importance of the heart. I've preached so about the heart recently in our church that I often feel like I'm beating a dead horse when I bring it up again, but I have to continue to bring it up for I keep finding it again and again in the Word of God. The vast majority of the problems that Jesus dealt with concerned a people outwardly following Jehovah to the letter and yet inwardly bankrupt. We must take great care, to the extent that we can, that such does not happen on our watch to our children, to our church, or to ourselves.

          Thirdly, a religion that is full of rules and empty of a relationship with God is an open door to the devil. I do not believe rules are wrong. I believe unscriptural rules are wrong, and I believe rules without a warm relationship with God are wrong. Don't tell me how many i's you dot and t's you cross if you also can't tell me that you are spending large chunks of alone time loving on Jesus. Don't tell me how many Christians notice and approve of what you are doing if you and God aren't living together moment by moment throughout the day. Don't tell me what position you occupy in the kingdom of God if you aren't yielded to Him in private and alone. Don't tell me all that you do and don't do if your heart isn't holy.

          One of the most fearful examples of this in Scripture is Judas Iscariot. Outwardly, he had it all together. Inwardly, he was rotten to the core, and the devil targeted him like a heat seeking missile. 'And after the sop Satan entered into him' (John 13.27). You can chase out of your life all the worldly pollution of wrong music, wrong friends, wrong entertainment, and wrong fun, and that is good. You can then fence yourself and your loved ones off from those things, and that is also good, in my opinion. But I beg of you not to leave the inside empty. Rot draws flies, but inward rot draws devils.

          If you ever get to the place where you think you are pretty good you are in deep trouble. Self-righteousness is such a terribly subtle and yet awfully damaging temptation to which to succumb. On the other hand, when you stay close to the Lord and the cross you stay constantly reminded of your own sinful condition and the great grace of God, and that is a wondrous protection to genuine spirituality.


          …and if you don't your last state will be worse than the first.

If you would like to listen to the audio version of this blog you may find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 37, 'The Last State Worse Than the First'.