What a tragedy that more than 1 billion of the world’s population follow the accursed traditions of a man who is just as totally depraved as his followers.
The link to the article Pope Says Can Absolve Sins from Fox News indicates that this is a special year of Jubilee, and in his own power has granted ALL priests the ability to “absolve faithful of the sin of abortion.” This has been perfectly timed by the Vatican with all the world’s attention being focused on the horrors of what has taken place with Planned Parenthood. History speaks for itself of the debauchery of the Catholic system that has produced many illegitimate babies and many abortions induced in order to cover up the wickedness and vulgarity of her priests.
How convenient that the declaration from the Vatican does not speak of just those women who have had an abortion! It covers the faithful of the sin of abortion. This means if you are a faithful Catholic priest, you can absolve yourself of demanding a woman get an abortion to protect what you have done in the dark. If you are a faithful Catholic doctor who murders infants, then this coming Jubilee year, you can be absolved of ALL your wicked murders. If you are a faithful Catholic man who has encouraged his wife, lover, or girlfriend to get a baby aborted, then you also can sleep easier tonight knowing your guilt will be gone as soon as you do your penance and offer your coins to the blood-bathed coffers of the Vatican.
The word absolve means set or declare (someone) free from blame, guilt, or responsibility. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word to mean, “to set free from an obligation or the consequences of guilt.”
This is heresy of the highest order. It is blasphemy to think that a sinful man can remove the guilt of sin and the stain that envelops the heart of every man, woman, and child, and that separates them from the holiness of God. Neither the pope, nor any of his cardinals, bishops, or priests have the ability to free anybody from any guilt or responsibility for their sins. This declaration, while only for those faithfully following the pope are included, means the pope has again tried to take away from God what rightfully belongs to God alone.
My friend, if you are reading this and you are a Roman Catholic follower, please know that we share with you in love that believing a mere mortal can free you from the consequences of your sin or your guilt will only damn your soul to an eternal torment in the lake of fire when you die.
Not one pope since the first pope, Constantine, died for your sins. Not one pope can free you from the wrath of God that is to come. Not one pope can absolve you of any sin, whether it is the sin of adultery, abortion, cheating, lies, homosexuality, lesbianism, hatred, murder, or even taking the name of the Lord in vain.
There is only one who can forgive sins and even the religious leaders of Jesus’ day knew this. Mark 2:7 and Luke 5:21 note that the scribes and Pharisees both asked aloud, “Who is this that is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
We, who know the Lord Jesus Christ, know that Jesus Christ is God and thus had the ability, the right, and the privilege of being able to forgive the sins of any and all who come to Him by grace through faith alone. Sadly, many who have hidden their guilt and sin of murdering the infant in their womb will go to a priest, seek to do some penance, say a few prayers in vainless repetition, and walk away with their conscience being seared a little more into thinking they have been made right with God.
Christ Alone Wyoming 
Didn’t Christ tell the Apostles that if they forgave the sins of people, the sins would be forgiven;
if they did not forgive the sins, then the sins would not be forgiven? How, then, is this practice in the Catholic Church a blasphemy? The current priesthood is descended from the twelve apostles. Therefore, it is not blasphemy for them to forgive sins, if we are to take Christ at his word. The problem with too many “mouthers” today is that they do not take Christ at his word. These “so-called” Christians will be joining the goats on judgment day.
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Grr…This man! It’s amazing to see history repeating itself. The only difference is there’s no fear of God with the so called church-goers. At one point in time, even the hardest of criminals would have had some fer of God. Rip a page out of a Bible back then and he would have told you that you are in trouble, now? You can take a Bible into any church, rip the pages out of it and people will just accept it.
Society is…so cold now and unemotional. Anything goes, and it seems we have hit the point of no return.
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Stephen, you lack the knowledge of history if you think the depraved system of Catholicism comes from the 12 apostles. The RCC did not begin until the merging of paganism and small parts of Christianity by the emperor Constantine. The RCC has instigated more heresy within true biblical Christianity than any other religion that claims evangelical roots.
Any system that is built on the blood of true martyrs is a blasphemous system. The RCC has consistently stood against the truth of Scripture since its inception and the depraved man at the top rules an empire than has nothing to do with the God of the Bible.
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This passage (John 20. 23) does not give authority to Christians to forgive sins. Jesus was saying that the believer can boldly declare the certainty of a sinner’s forgiveness by the Father because of the work of His Son if that sinner has repented and believed the Gospel. The believer, with certainty can also tell those who do not respond to the message of God’s forgiveness through faith in Christ that their sins, as a result, are not forgiven.
We need to understand the grammar of the Bible. We need to also be able to ascertain when figures of speech, similes and other grammatical tools are being used.
If we take some scripture at face value, we will definitely be led into error, as the RCC has been found.
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The darkness grows because so many love the darkness. Yet the light WILL continue to shine forth as YHWH’s redeemed proclaim His gospel. Not the gospel of man doing good to earn a place in the Kingdom of God, but the gospel of God Who became Man and did GOOD so He could take our place and suffer the wrath due us so we could be granted His righteousness.
Mark and paul – ya’ll are spot-on! From works-based Roman Catholicism to works-based free-will Baptists, proof texting and narrow focus leads many astray.
Oh – and I am SHOCKED!!! that a pope would blaspheme the Lord Jesus; Not! “Vicar of Christ”, indeed. What an absolute work of satan.
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After Constantine merged paganism and small parts of Christianity to create the Catholic Church, there must have been quite a reaction by the true Christians denouncing this minority heresy. Mark, can you point us to any writings of these true Christians denouncing this false Church? Anything before AD 1000 would be fine.
or you can just delete my comment to and thereby confess your own lack of knowledge of history.
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Damien, the issue is not that you are looking for truth, but that you are looking to support the RCC system of false teaching. If you were looking for truth, you would not be concerned about trying to find writings from the time of Constantine in the 4th century until the 11th century written to denounce the RCC. The answer to your question though can be found in the pages of Scripture. If you study the Scriptures, you will find that the truth and it will set you free.
As to writings of others, versus the Scripture. I would much rather take God’s Word for the truth than to search and produce the writings of those who stood for the truth, many at the expense of their own lives. By the way, there is testimony against the RCC that has been written, but it would not change your mind because you would probably have an excuse as to why you could not accept their charges against RCC.
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Damien – Read Miller’s Church History to find credible evidence of the remnant YHWH has always had from the time of the Apostles up to the mid 19th century. Freely available on the wed, including here: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/miller/history
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There you go! Mark hit the nail on the head with most religious people today. How many times have I been reamed out for leaning in scripture instead of man’s quotes, witticisms and anecdotes?
Just recently, I was rebuked for ALWAYS RELYING ON SCRIPTURE! Heavens…think of it?
Scripture is quite clear that we serve Christ Jesus alone, follow Scripture alone and are warned that straying from this standard lands us in hot water (or fire, if you please).
It seems people have fallen into the trap of making the Bible agree with their theologies rather than changing their theologies to fit Scripture. This is rebellion in all its sickening glory.
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I’m good with relying on Scripture and in this case the passages that Stephen pointed out where Jesus founded a Church and gave it authority to forgive sins. That Church still exists today and still forgives sins. You muddied the waters by suggesting that it was a invention of Constantine but you have no Christian writings from that time to back up that claim – you can’t even name one non-Catholic Christian that lived in the first thousand years of the Church. A Church that doesn’t forgive sins is a recent development and an invention of man.
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From D’Aubigne’s History of the Reformation, Volume I, chapter 10, quoting Martin Luther (1517 or early 1518):
“The remission of the sin is in the power neither of the pope, nor of the bishop, nor of the priest, nor of any other man, but reposes solely on the Word of Christ, and on your own faith. For Christ designed not to build our consolation, our salvation, on the word or on the work of man, but solely on himself, on His work and on His Word……Thy repentance and thy works may deceive thee, but Christ, thy God, will not deceive thee, he will not falter, and the devil shall not overthrow his words. f476
“A pope or a bishop has no more power than the lowliest priest, as regards remission of sins. And even were there no priest, each Christian, even a woman or a child, f477 can do the same thing. For if a simple Christian says to you, ‘God pardons sin in the name of 334 Jesus Christ,’ and you receive this word with a firm faith, and as if God himself were addressing you, you are absolved……
“If you do not believe your sins are forgiven, you make God a liar, and you put more confidence in your own vain thoughts, than in God and his Word……
“Under the Old Testament, neither prophet, priest, nor king had the power of proclaiming remission of sins. But under the New, each believer has this power. The Church is overflowing with remission of sins! f478 If a pious Christian consoles thy conscience with the word of the cross, let it be man or woman, young or old, receive this consolation with such faith as rather to die many deaths than to doubt that it will be so before God……Repent, do all the works in thy power; but let the faith thou hast in pardon through Jesus Christ be in the foremost rank, and command alone on the field of battle.” f479 Thus spoke Luther to his astonished and enraptured hearers. All the scaffolding that impudent priests had raised to their profit between God and the soul of man, was thrown down, and man was brought face to face with his God. The word of forgiveness descended pure from on high, without passing through a thousand corrupting channels. In order that the testimony of God should be efficacious, it was no longer necessary for men to set their delusive seal to it. The monopoly of the sacerdotal caste was abolished; the Church was emancipated.
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The Roman Catholic Church did not begin to exist until the 6th century. Early errors practiced by the “Church Fathers” and others in the 2nd and following centuries were assimilated into what was forming up to be the cult on the 7 hills. God’s true church has never been a part of the cult of Rome.
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“The Roman Catholic Church did not begin to exist until the 6th century.”
So give me the names of some 5th century Christians.
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I can do better than that, Damien. 2nd century includes Clement of Rome, Irenaeus of Gaul, and Polycarp who was a direct disciple of the apostle John. If you have any questions about the horrors that have been perpetrated by the RCC upon the true church of Jesus Christ, then I would recommend a good reading of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
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And Justin Martyr and scores more. Read historical records and see the faithfulness of YHWH to keep His own!
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OK, now we’re getting somewhere. So you’ll endorse the writings of Clement, Irenaeus, Polycarp, and Justin Martyr as being representative of authentic Christianity, right?
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Damien, why are you here? Are you here to learn or do you already have your mind made up that the harlot church of Rome is the only legitimate religious establishment? If you are only here to argue in favor of Rome, you have wasted your time here.
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Mark – It’s never a waste of time to share the truth of Jesus Christ and his Church. You claim to prefer Scripture above all other writings but ironically your post uses Scripture to quote (and apparently agree with) the thinking of the Pharisees who ask “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Stephen answers by quoting Jesus clearly giving authority to his Church to forgive, to bind and loose. Even Luther understands the need for a sacrament of forgiveness delivered by means of the Church.
Some might be offended by the tone of your post and your comments but I see it as the wrenching struggle of a man who is dedicated to the pursuit of truth but is resisting the cost of where the truth may lead. Instead of deleting comments you should be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks about your faith.
If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, please consider embracing this Year of Mercy by setting aside your 19th century American individualism and surrendering to the call of his one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church – the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ who gave us the Scriptures and has the wisdom and authority to interpret them with the mind of Christ. The Church that has lived and chronicled the reality of the human drama every day since Pentecost. The Church that can forgive your sins through the power of Christ.
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No thanks, Damien. I will stick with what millions have died for and that is the reality of Christ alone by grace through faith alone. The RCC does not hold the truth and never has. It is a religious organization that seeks to entrap men and women and make them into followers of the evil one. The “call” of the RCC is one that leads straight to hell.
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1 Kings 13 is a massive lesson concerning the dangers of believing blind guides and failing to practice discernment. A certain prophet was commission by God for a task. The task had a list of things to do and things not to do. The prophet carried out the to do list as commanded. The prophet was tempted by the evil king to disobey God concerning the do not do list. He looked at the source and said no. Then another prophet acting outside of Gods authority likewise also tempts him to disobey the command of God. Foolishly he looked at the source rather than his lying words and listened to this alleged new and contrary revelation and disobeyed God. God slew him for allowing himself to be deceived into acting contrary to God’s word.
This severe warning is every bit as sobering as the warnings given by our Lord and savior Jesus in Matt. 7: 21. We are required to test all things and trust God not man. If any of us puts our faith into a denomination rather than in God we are in danger of eternal damnation. We also will be without an excuse. This agrees with Paul who wrote that by believing in a false gospel you will accursed by God.
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Damien- It is an assumption to say that the authority in John 20: 23 was to be transmitted to future church leadership. Even if it was to be transferred to future church leadership its a VERY large leap to call the Church of ROME the true church. Im sure the untold thousands or millions of Christians burnt to death by The Church of Rome would agree.
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I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake; and I will not remember thy sins. Isaiah 43:25
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. Micah 7:18
Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? Mark 2:7
The word of God is clear, only God has the power and authority to forgive sinners. Since we know the Bible doesn’t contradict, then John 20:23 cannot mean mortal men have power to forgive sinners. There are no verses anywhere in the Bible that show the Apostles exercising this authority at all – none. This commentary from John Gill brings to light the meaning of John 20:23, “God only can forgive sins, and Christ being God, has a power to do so likewise; but he never communicated any such power to his apostles; nor did they ever assume any such power to themselves, or pretend to exercise it; it is the mark of antichrist, to attempt anything of the kind; who, in so doing, usurps the divine prerogative, places himself in his seat, and shows himself as if he was God: but this is to be understood only in a doctrinal, or ministerial way, by preaching the full and free remission of sins, through the blood of Christ, according to the riches of God’s grace, to such as repent of their sins, and believe in Christ; declaring, that all such persons as do so repent and believe, all their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake: and accordingly.
‘they are remitted unto them’; in agreement with Christ’s own words, in his declaration and commission to his disciples; {see Mark 16:16 ” He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”} On the other hand he signifies, that ‘whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained’: that is, that whatsoever sins ye declare are not forgiven, they are not forgiven; which is the case of all final unbelievers, and impenitent sinners; who dying without repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel declaration, shall be damned, and are damned; for God stands by, and will stand by and confirm the Gospel of his Son, faithfully preached by his ministering servants; and all the world will sooner or later be convinced of the validity, truth, and certainty, of the declarations on each of these heads, made by them.”
lyn
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It takes a reprobate or delusional mind to believe that Rome, history full of murder, covering up pedophilia, is the ‘one true church’… the one true church of satan perhaps.
Flee from babylon.
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