Courage to Stand By Paul Chappell Tuesday, Jul 8, 2014 “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” 2 Timothy 4:16–18 In the early 1500s, Pope Leo X launched a fund-raising effort to build the massive St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome by selling indulgences. The people were told that by buying these they could obtain forgiveness for their own sins or for the sins of others. A special emphasis on freeing the departed from purgatory was promoted by John Tetzel who proclaimed: “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, The soul from purgatory springs.” When Martin Luther, one of the Reformers who was not Baptist, but nonetheless stood against some of the heresies of the Roman Catholic Church, began writing and speaking against both purgatory and indulgences, it raised the ire of Rome. When he refused to recant, the pope issued a decree—a papal bull—excommunicating Luther. Convinced of the Scriptural basis for his position, Luther stood firm. He wrote, “It is better that I should die a thousand times than that I should retract one syllable of the condemned articles. And as they excommunicated me for the sacrilege of heresy, so I excommunicate them in the name of the sacred truth of God. Christ will judge whose excommunication will stand.” We need more people today who will not bow to popular opinion or to pressure from others to retract their commitment to what God has declared in His Word. The devil has learned that through intimidation he can silence many. We must, instead, trust God to deal with any consequences that follow taking a clear and public stand...
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 12:15:59 +0000
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