Purgatory - Roman Catholic Heresy

As an example of the heretical and aberrational nature of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI has offered indulgences - reduction of time to spend in purgatory - for those who take a trip to the Marian shrine in Lourdes, France. This coincides with the 150th anniversary of the alleged appearance of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirious. This offer is good only until December 8, 2008, so make sure you have your plans in place!

If you are unable to go, you could have still received indulgences if you prayed at a specified place of worship dedicated to the "Madonna of Lourdes." But this one was a limited 10-day offer from February 2-11, so if you missed this chance, better get your plane or boat tickets!

The whole idea of purgatory is against the gospel of Christ. Christ died to purge our sins, so what is purgatory for? And just where is it found in the Bible? Here is what I DO find in the Bible:

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3

“But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” 2 Peter 1:9

Purgatory has always been a method Rome has used for controlling their people. It has also been a method by which the Roman church has enriched itself selling indulgences to shorten time spent in purgatory.

Our sins have been purged by Christ already. To say otherwise is no less than heresy.

Robert Schuller - Heretic

I've been quite busy with a project for work and haven't had an opportunity to do much apologetics lately, meaning no blog work.

This week I read the latest issue of Think On These Things, the monthly apologetics letter from Southern View Chapel, Springfield, IL. Featured this month was Robert Schuller, a first-class heretic who has one of the largest congregations (of course) and sells lots of his books in every so-called "Christian" book store in the nation. I've read lots about, and by, Robert Schuller over the years and he gets his followers only because he makes them feel good.

Rather than do a real thorough expose on Schuller, which could be quite time-consuming, I'm just going to give you a taste of his teachings from the TOTT article. If you need more evidence as to Schuller's heresy, feel free to e-mail me with that request. That said, here's Mr. Schuller's words:

"Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem." Gee, and I thought sin was rebellion against God and violating His commands.

"A person is in hell when he has lost his self-esteem." Seriously -this is Schuller's definition of hell! Has he read the New Testament at all?

"As we focus on Jesus Christ, we shall discover a new theology, one that offers salvation from shame to self-esteem." Oh, and the gospel we are to proclaim is to "tell people everywhere that God wants all of us to feel good about ourselves!" Can someone show me any of this from Scripture?

To be born again "means that we must be changed from a negative to a positive self-image - from inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust." Hmmmmmm.

We must have a "new reformation" according to Schuller: "It is precisely at this point that classical theology has erred in its insistence that theology be 'God-centered,' not 'man-centered.'" And here I thought theology, by definition, was the study of God! I always thought our Christian - and even Jewish - faith was centered on God, but I guess I've been wrong all this time. So do we worship man now?

Schuller has called a Muslim Grand Mufti "truly one of the great Christ-honoring leaders of faith." This leads me to wonder if Schuller knows anything at all about Islam, let alone Christianity.

Finally, according to Schuller those in the kingdom of God are "Everyone who does some act that builds self-esteem and self-respect in other persons."

I could go on and on from my many reference sources, but I think you get the point: Robert Schuller has no clue what the Christian faith is really about. If he truly believes what he teaches, then I can't see where he is a true Christian either. But hundreds of thousands, if not millions, follow him ardently because he makes them feel good.

Schuller's mentor was Norman Vincent Peale, who taught a lot of the same self-esteem gospel. Schuller is also the root of the whole market-driven, seeker-sensitive philosophies, and is a mentor of Rick Warren and many others in those churches. So why do we not hear him warned against by our local church leaders? I've gone into too many homes of friends and have seen Schuller's books on their coffee tables and book shelves. I usually do not fail to give them a gentle warning about him, but what about all those we share the pews with who have no such warnings?

Robert Schuller - another of those who will be told by Christ, "I never knew you."