Eschatology
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All those who die in God’s grace will go to a place called Purgatory
to undergo purification |
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The
Roman Catholic Church teaches that all those who die in Christ do not enter
heaven immediately because they need to undergo a process of purification in
a place called Purgatory. Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms: ‘All who die in God's
grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of
their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to
achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives
the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely
different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her
doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and
Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of
Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: As for certain lesser faults, we must
believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is
truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be
pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand
that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the
age to come. This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the
dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore Judas Maccabeus]
made atonement for the dead, that they might be
delivered from their sin." From the beginning the Church has honored the
memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the
Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific
vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of
penance undertaken on behalf of the dead’ (CCC 1030-1032) |
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Confutation |
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Jesus
Christ said: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad
is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Therefore there
are only two ways, that is, the way which leads to perdition and the way
which leads to salvation. |
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Those
who walk in the former way, being full of sins, when they die, will go to
Hades (that is, hell), as it is written: “The wicked shall be turned into
hell” (Psalm 9:17: cf. Luke 16:22-31; Isaiah 5:14), where they will be
tormented by an unfanned fire, as it is written: “An unfanned fire will
consume him [the wicked]” (Job 20:26 – NKJV), and where they will wait for
the day of judgement on which they will rise again to be judged according to
their works and cast into the lake of fire (cf. John 5:29; Daniel 12:2;
Revelation 20:12-15). So they have no hope, as it is written: “What hope has
the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?” (Job 27:8 –
NIV). |
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Instead,
those who walk in the latter way, that is, the way which leads to salvation,
when they die, will go immediately to be with the Lord in heaven. And we are
among them by the grace of God. The Roman Catholics will say then: ‘How can
you be sure that when you die you will go immediately to heaven?’ Well, we have
this assurance because we have been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, as it
is written: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification
of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1
Peter 1:2 – NKJV), which blood has cleansed us from all our sins, as it is
written that Jesus “washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5
– NKJV). And also because John says that “if we walk in the light as He is in
the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 – NKJV). This is why we are
sure we are saved and we have eternal life, and when we die we will
immediately go to heaven, because all our old sins were blotted out by the
blood of Christ, and the sins we now confess to the Lord are blotted out by
the same blood. At this point, it is most likely that the Roman Catholics
will say to me: ‘You are presumptuous!’ Not at all, for there are several
verses of the Scriptures which clearly state that those who die in Christ go
immediately to be with the Lord Jesus. |
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The
souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God, which were seen by
John in a vision, were under the altar which is in heaven before the throne
of God. Here is what John wrote: “I saw under the altar the souls of those
who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held”
(Revelation 6:9 – NKJV). |
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Paul
said that to him to die was gain, and in fact he had a desire to depart and
be with Christ for it was far better. Here are his words: “For to me, to live
is Christ, and to die is gain ….I am hard-pressed
between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better” (Philippians |
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Paul
said to the Corinthians that he and his fellow workers were always confident
and well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the
Lord: “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and
at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8 – NIV). I ask you this question:
‘How could those men desire so much to be absent from the body if they had
believed in the existence of a place called purgatory where they had to
expiate some debts through terrible sufferings? So, on the basis of the above
mentioned words of Paul we affirm that the apostles did not believe in the
existence of purgatory. |
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In
the book of Revelation it is written: “Then I heard a voice from heaven say,
‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on’. ‘Yes’ says the
Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them”
(Revelation |
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Let
me go on refuting purgatory. Jesus said: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He
that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto
life” (John 5:24), and Paul said to the Romans: “There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus ….” (Romans 8:1). Therefore,
if there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ and they will not come
into condemnation, the belief that after death they must go to a place called
purgatory to expiate certain debts is inconsistent with the teaching of Jesus
as well as with the teaching of Paul. Why? Because according to the Roman
Catholic Catechism purgatory is a place of torment where Christians are
condemned – even though for a certain period of time and not for ever – to
suffer awful pains in order to expiate their debts. By the way, let me say
something about these so called debts which according to the Catholic priests
must be expiated in purgatory: ‘If God, according to the Scripture, forgives
those who confess their sins to Him both their sins and the everlasting
punishment due to their sins, is it not diabolical to declare that after
death they must go to a place of torment to expiate their sins?’ Of course,
it is. But not in the eyes of the roman catholic theologians who, having been
blinded by the devil, take pleasure in teaching things which are contrary to
the sound doctrine. To affirm that a person who has been justified by God,
when he dies, must go to a place of torment to expiate his debts is
tantamount to saying that if a life convict receives the President’s or
King’s pardon, and thus his punishment is blotted out, he must continue to
stay in prison for several years to suffer in order to expiate his faults,
and after these years he will be allowed to come out of prison!! |
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On
the basis of what the Scripture teaches, we proclaim that when a person is
forgiven his eternal punishment is blotted out and he doesn’t have to
discharge any debt of temporal punishment either in this world or in the
world to come, for Christ paid all the ransom. Those who have been justified
by the blood of Christ have no debt of temporal punishment which they must
discharge for Christ on the cross expiated all their debts. We know very well
that the Council of Trent has cursed those who affirm this, saying: “If any
one saith, that, after the grace of Justification has been received, to every
penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is
blotted out in such wise, that there remains not any debt of temporal
punishment to be discharged either in this world, or in the next in
Purgatory, before the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened (to
him); let him be anathema’ (Council of Trent, Session VI, canon XXX), but we
do not care about what that Council stated. We know in whom we have believed
and we are convinced that he who cleansed us from all our sins and has
promised us eternal life cannot lie. So we will keep boasting in the Lord,
for the blood of Christ has purified us from all our sins, and He has given
us eternal life by His grace. Let the Roman Catholic Councils continue to launch
their curses upon those who know the truth; we believe in the Word of God
which states that when the righteous (that is, those who have been justified
freely by the grace of God) die they go immediately to heaven to be with the
Lord, for their robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. To Christ
Jesus be the glory now and forevermore. Amen. |