The Simple Man with Knowledge of Scripture Is Better than the Pope or Any Council!
Reading through the history of the Papacy, one can see how often one Pope contradicts the other. One Pope says differently and the next Pope says something differently. The events of Roman Catholicism's change of doctrine disproves the heresy that the Pope has been guided by the Holy Spirit that he does not make any error when it comes to doctrine. Current events involving Pope Francis' errors like saying Christians cannot be manufacturing weapons for self-defense, that having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is dangerous and now he says Jews may get saved without Jesus Christ. Please, do not give me the excuse that the Pope can be in error for all he pleases when he is not seated on the papal throne because many errors were made by previous Popes and this Pope seated on the papal throne.
The Bible was banned from the public and anybody who was caught sharing the Scriptures with commoners was declared a heretic with many of them becoming martyrs for Christ. Many great Bible scholars before the Reformation, during the Reformation and after the Reformation were crushed by the Inquisition. Whether it was a picture of impaled heads on spikes, the Inquisition's inhuman methods of torture or being burned alive all because they translated the Bible for common man. When William Tyndale translated the Bible, he had more authority than the Pope or the councils thus he had to be burned. When Martin Luther triggered the first part of the Protestant Reformation, the Reformers had become a threat to the Pope's authority proving he was no successor of Peter but of Caiaphas. When the Bible became more and more read by the common people, the more the authority of the Pope has the so-called "Vicar of Christ" got threatened because more and more people began to call him "Antichrist" because he is an Antichrist.
While I was still a Roman Catholic, I was just simply afraid to read the Bible for myself. When I started having Bible studies, I soon protested saying, "Pastor, what about priests?" or "Pastor, why do we have to study the Bible?" The more I studied the Bible, the more I found out why I was afraid to read it. The great Martin Luther revealed the very nature of God's Law is a hammer that shatters the very self-righteous being of man, it is a mirror that reveals all our iniquity and imperfections, and it is the same whip that drives us to the cross. Galatians 3:24 describes that the Law is our schoolmaster that brings us to Christ. I could not imagine myself ever receiving Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior if it was not for the Law that first convicted me of my sinfulness. It was the same Law that made me receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. If I was not led to repentance of sin as imperfect as it was, I would have not gone to Jesus Christ to be saved from my sins and never in my sins. It was that Bible that showed me the way outside of manmade tradition to Scriptural truth.
The same goes for any so-called Christian organization that relies on its council members than the Word of God. The very testimony of former cultists who came from so-called Christian organizations also revealed how they got saved after they studied the Bible for themselves. If one took the Bible into context, any of the cult's misuse and abuse of Scripture will be put to the light. Any so-called prophecies they make about themselves with a verse taken out of context gets exposed to be a sham. When people do not read and study the Bible for themselves, they are susceptible to being controlled and manipulated by any cult leader like the Pope or the executive ministers of any religion. When they study the Bible for themselves in context, they become stronger than any Pope or council. That is why it is very important to reach out the youth with the Word of God.
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