The 5 Pillars of the Reformation ~ Christ Alone
Soul Snack 23/14 ... Robbing a Thief.
The Reformation (circa 1500AD) adjusted the flow of daily Christian religion. It breached the strongholds, and tore at the stranglehold of the Roman Church.
Across the previous twelve centuries a purer Christian truth had been diluted. The accumulation of power had morphed into self-serving heresies.
Martin Luther challenged the authority of the Pope in the sixth of the Ninety-Five Theses he nailed to the Wittenberg church door:
The Pope can remit no guilt, but only declare and confirm that is has been remitted by God.
Truth decay continues yet again to this very day.
Jesus the Christ is the only mediator between God and man. Salvation is found in Christ alone.
Christian denominations still split over disputable matters. Theology now claims falsely to deliver all truth. Christ's correct call to exclusivity is now washed by an amalgam of seer-soaked deceits, for the scholars have become the new popes.
Therefore God exalted him (Jesus) to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. (Philippians 2:9)
Christ still does not entertain that He has competitors in the salvation stakes, for there are none.
BUT - in the contemporary protestant church, it is now Christ plus:
- sound denominational doctrine,
- tradition once fought against is now to be fought for,
- exclusive adherence to discipleship our way and
- belittle those who don't worship our way.
I am oft alerted to a humble sinner suspended by rope alongside a nail hung messiah. The sinner knew no rules or education, he claimed no fidelity, and he spoke frankly of his wickedness - yet he became Jesus' friend. Now this thief dwells eternally in paradise.
Has the reformation been truly lost upon the altar of correct theology, fresher man-made rules, and the sanitising of a Catholic ritual that must be repeated upon reformed lines?
Where is there room for celebration when all that is offered to Jesus is ceremony?
(Reformation of worship without reformation of the heart is no worship at all).
The protestant church still (usually) bellows Christ alone, but lives to its own rules multiplied across another six centuries.
The last Reformation is becoming the lost Reformation.
The thief on the cross knew life upon a cross. He also defended a Jesus who was without religion or reformation; oh that we may all become a robber too of the crucified thief.
Today's Soul Snippet:
Theology has become the arbiter of truth when it cannot be the guarantor of truth.
READ the INTRODUCTION to The 5 PIllars of the Reformation
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