Did you know that in 2005, the pope (the leader of the so-called “catholic” church, the church of Rome) claimed that Eternal Salvation can be by those who lack Biblical faith? Quoting from Zenit:

“Whoever seeks peace and the good of the community with a pure
conscience, and keeps alive the desire for the transcendent, will
be saved even if he lacks biblical faith, says Benedict XVI.”

You can read the full article here:
“Pope Says Non-Believers Can Be Saved“

So, essentially, the pope (erroneously) tells his unfortunate followers that just being a “good person” will Save someone, even if they lack the Faith described in the Holy Scriptures. Anyone with even a small amount of Scriptural study knows that this position is patently false, and is another of the dangerous teachings of a man-made religion that keeps people AWAY from Christ rather than lead them to Him.

I will rely on the Holy Scripture for the definitive answer to this issue, and respectfully refer the pope to this:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

- John 14:6

I think that’s about clear as it can get. So what do you think? Do you think that a pure conscience and a desire for peace and good things in the community are enough to Save someone for all eternity? If you do, perhaps you’re reading a different Bible than I am. Maybe the pope doesn’t believe that the Word of God is is the final say-so on matters such as these.

The catholic church says that that tradition is just as important as the Holy Scripture. In fact, you can confirm that for yourself in the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” from which I quote:

“As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”

Further:

“Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed. In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church’s Magisterium.”

(Link: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s1c2a2.htm)

So the catholic church insists that tradition and Holy Scripture should be accepted as EQUAL when it comes to Spiritual Truth. It also says that the church can decide which traditions are worth keeping and which can be abandoned. The church of Rome gives itself much power here, to decide for millions of followers what they should believe, even if the tradition runs counter to the Holy Scripture. However…

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”

- 2 Timothy 3:16

There are many debates about the importance of tradition, and many verses of Scripture which can be cited both in favor of and against tradition. But despite all of the debate over whether or not tradition should be integral to Spiritual Truth, we can turn directly to the Words of Jesus Christ Himself to settle the issue about which is more important, Scripture or tradition:

“Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.”

- Matthew 15:1-6

The commandment of God was made “of none effect” by tradition. Very, very powerful words.

Regardless of whether you believe tradition is important in religion or not, no matter which side of the “tradition” debate you might be on, whatever you might say about this passage of Holy Scripture, at least one enduring truth must be observed: the traditions of the religious leaders were subject to the Word of God, not equal to it as the catholic church insists.

I’ve added a link to a very good page which helps those who are laboring under false interpretations of Scripture to better understand one of the key foundations of Roman catholic religion. It is this incorrect (or possibly intentionally misleading) interpretation which the church of Rome has built its authority upon. Please visit this link for a very good explanation of the language and the translation:

Is Peter the rock on which the Church is built?

Of course it benefits the Roman church to provide an incorrect interpretation, and since the Roman church claims sole authority to provide definitive interpretations of Holy Scripture, it prevents the people of its religion from questioning their interpretation, and thus the authority the “church” falsely claims.

Study the information provided in the page above as you explore the catholic Christian discussion. An explanation of the original context of the Greek text makes it much easier to understand exactly what is being said in Matthew 16. Remember that God calls you to be a part of His Church, the Body of Christ, and not a man-made organized religion, a Christian catholic paradox that is a blend of paganism and self-serving Scriptural interpretations.

Just like a government which claims to fairly govern its people but sets up its own laws based on traditions and false historical documents interpreted to provide the necessary power to the malicious government, so has the catholic church set up its own corrupt power base built on falsehoods, misinformation, and possibly outright deception. And because of this, like a malicious government, anyone who dares to question the validity of the authority it has is subjected to the whim of the leadership.

The catholic church only has power over its followers because it gave itself that power, not because Jesus Christ did.

I get lots of beautiful e-mails from people who read my site and share my witness with others in need of help to find their way into God’s wonderful light. As you can imagine, I get a lot of e-mail from catholics, members of the church of Rome, who attempt to defend their organized religion despite the overwhelming amount of Holy Scripture which plainly shows that their church does not behave in the way Christ’s One True Church would behave. Those of us who have placed our Trust in Christ Alone for our Eternal Salvation read the Holy Scripture with the counsel of the Holy Spirit and so we are completely enlightened to the meaning of God’s Word.

Sometimes the meaning of His Word is harder to grasp for those, like practicing catholics, who are probably not Saved.

One of the e-mails I received from a catholic who professes to be a Christian made reference to the catholic practice of confession and communion, explaining that he knows he has received Salvation after receiving the communion wafer (a coin-shaped piece of unleavened bread, nothing more) on Sunday. Confession on Saturday, communion on Sunday, and he has his Salvation. Of course he also believes that if he should fall into sin on Monday his Salvation is then lost, he has fallen away, and he can then “repent” again and renew his salvation through another round of confession and communion.

Saved on Sunday, lost on Monday. Saved again on Sunday, lost again on Monday.

Is this the inevitable cycle that a so-called catholic Christian must endure under God’s Salvation plan? Obviously not. First, it doesn’t even make sense that God would give us a Gift only to take it away from us again, then give it back and take it away, over and over again. That action alone destroys the entire concept of the “Gift” of Eternal Salvation. A true Christian ignores the phony teachings of a false man-made church and understands that a free “gift” is something that is given without conditions — if you must “do” something to earn a gift or keep a gift, then it isn’t a “free gift” at all, is it?

Romans 5:16
And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

God’s free Gift is Christ’s Sacrifice for our sins… ALL of our sins!

But here’s the part that catholics generally don’t like to hear when they talk about gaining and losing, gaining and losing, gaining and losing Salvation. To do so is impossible, and the Holy Scripture tells us that in complete clarity:

Hebrews 6:4
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Even if you believe, as catholics usually do, that Salvation can be gained and then lost, Hebrews 6 should tell you in no uncertain terms that it is IMPOSSIBLE to renew yourself unto Salvation because you would be attempting to crucify the Son of God again, unto yourself, which — as the Holy Scripture states — means you would be trying to publicly disgrace Christ Himself.

Christians who have Trusted in Christ Alone for their Salvation and put aside the false teachings of man-made religions further understand the full meaning of Hebrews 6:4, which is that is that man cannot lose his Salvation because he could never, ever, crucify the Son of God again.

In a previous post I talked about the correct meaning behind the message James was sharing with the Saved regarding how to behave and to display their faith so that it is not separated and set apart. To read the entire post, visit “Faith without Works is Dead“.

Now how can we be SURE that James is NOT saying that works are required for Salvation? Very simply (and this is the beauty of Holy Scripture) we know, FOR SURE, that James is NOT saying that works are necessary for Salvation because he specifically references Abraham. And, since Scripture is always read in light of Scripture, we can easily see the reference that James is making…

Romans 4:
“WHAT shall we say then that Abraham hath found, who is our father according to the flesh. For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt. But to him that worketh not, yet believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reputed to justice, according to the purpose of the grace of God. As David also termeth the blessedness of a man, to whom God reputeth justice without works: Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin.”

Holy Scripture is not meant to be interpreted. That’s why all Bible translations are flawed (even the King James Version which is my preferred version) and why the Lord sends to us who are Saved the Holy Spirit to help us understand His Word. Since there are so many out there reading my site who need a more “plain English” version of Scripture to help them until they have received the Gift of Eternal Salvation, I’ll share the NIV version of Romans 4, which should make it VERY clear…

“Abraham Justified by Faith: What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’

‘Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.’”

Had James intended to say that works are required for Salvation, he would have never referenced Scripture which says exactly the opposite.

Isn’t Faith amazing?

Many people attempt to promote the notion that a person’s actions contribute to their Salvation. Those people are either simply misguided or intentionally misleading others. It is ONLY through Christ’s sacrifice that we are Saved. So what does James mean, then, when he says that “faith without works is dead”?

First, we’ve got to read the entire chapter before we can fully understand the meaning. If you like, you can read it here.

To begin with, we see that James starts by writing: “My brethren…” which means, we know, that this particular passage is addressed to those who are SAVED. Those who already have the Gift of Eternal Salvation. We know this because James refers to “brethren” and of course to be a Brother in Christ to James, one must be Saved. Therefore, the people to whom James is speaking here clearly DO have faith, since they have Eternal Life.

So now that we know that James is speaking to the Saved, let’s take a close look at what he’s saying.

Death in the Bible always is used to mean “separation”.  To that end, physical death is the separation of the spirit and soul from the body.  The “second death” is the separation of the spirit and soul from God, in hell forever (”And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Revelation 20:14).  Now that we fully understand this definition of death, we can better examine the phrase “faith without works is dead” with fuller insight.

Since we now know that death speaks of separation and not of the end of existence, we see that illustrated definitively in James 2:26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Obviously James knew that the spirit lives on without the body — so he would not use this analogy to illustrate “death” in this context to mean that something doesn’t exist at all. He knew, as we know, that if anyone who has Eternal Salvation should physically die, then their body would cease to function but their spirit would go on to be with the Lord.  They would still be alive, of course, because they have Eternal Life. Eternal Life = being alive, forever. But their body would cease to function and would not display any signs of life, and thus this “death” is a separation — a setting aside — the action of this body being alone.

In the same way, James says, “faith without works is dead.” The meaning here is now quite easily understood: works are to faith what the body is to the spirit.  The body, through its functions of breathing and walking and moving, outwardly displays life. Works, as James clearly tells us here, are an outward display of faith. Note here that James never, ever says that faith without works does not exist. In fact, James is saying exactly the opposite. James clearly tells his brethren that someone who has faith (as do his brethren) should, through their actions, display their faith.

If a person has no works, does that mean that they have no faith? Or course not. Common sense tells us that. It would be like saying that if I die physically, I would no longer exist. We know that if we have Eternal Life, then once our body dies our spirit continues to live on. If a person has faith but no works, he simply is not actively demonstrating to others that he has faith.  It now becomes very clear that is the point James is making when he says:

“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

A vine may become “dead” because it bears no fruit, but the vine continues to live because it grows and remains green and vital. It is “dead” because is does not show outward signs of its life by bearing fruit. So James tells the Saved that “faith without works is dead” not because their faith doesn’t exist (the fact that they’ve received the Gift of Eternal Salvation proves otherwise), but simply that their faith is “dead” (alone) because it is not on display, it is not being fruitful.

I hear from a lot of people, some who have received the Gift of Eternal Salvation and some who have not. Some who are a part of Christ’s Body and others who are stuck in the false church, the so-called “roman catholic church”. Those who have been Saved realize exactly how simple God’s plan for Salvation is. Those who are trapped, who have been misled, who have placed their trust in men and not Christ are usually very confused.

All I have to do is Trust in Christ Alone and I will have the Gift of Eternal Salvation? It can’t possibly be that simple.

And yet, it is. But as humans, we’ve been trained to believe that nothing can be gained without hard work. That we can receive no “reward” without putting in some sort of effort. We forget that Salvation is a GIFT and not a reward. A gift is something that we do NOT need to earn, rather it is freely given. And God gives us Eternal Life because He sent His Son to die for our sins, all of our sins, once and forever.

Here in my catholic Christian blog and Web site I relate my story and try to help those who are confused and misled. I try to explain that man-made churches like the church of rome can do nothing but twist and tarnish God’s Word. The Holy Scripture is pure, there is no explanation or interpretation needed. Instead of relying on man-made churches to tell you what the Holy Scripture means, set aside everything you’ve been taught by men and place all of your Trust in Christ Alone.