Cardinal Bellarmine

Cardinal

Bellarmine

Had the Answer in

the 17th Century

  

            Many believe Robert Cardinal Bellarmine (1542-1621) was the best of all the Jesuit theologians. He was declared a Doctor of the Roman Catholic faith in 1931. In this article, I do not want to misrepresent him for he was a dedicated Roman Catholic to the day he died. Bellarmine made some strong statements about the doctrines of Intention and Good Works.

            When a priest administers a sacrament, that priest must have the right intention or the person has not received the sacrament. (He can’t be daydreaming or worried about some sporting event.) The priest has to be 100% focused with pure motives.  (Council of Trent, Sess. VII, Can. 11)

            Bellarmine said this: “No one can be certain, with the certainty of Faith, that he has received a true sacrament, since no sacrament is performed without the intention of the ministers, and no one can see the intention of another.” (Bellarmine’s Works, Vol. 1, p. 488)

No One Knows for Sure

            This teaching implies that no person could know for sure if they have been truly baptized, received penance, etc. Furthermore, and after a series of arguments on being saved by works, he makes this remarkable statement. “Nevertheless, although the way of acceptance with God is by our own works there is a danger that men may so trust in their own works as to grow proud, which would quite spoil their works; and, therefore, upon the whole, it is safest for them to rely upon the blood and merits of Jesus Christ alone.” (Quoted from a March 29, 1874 sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon.) Over 100 years earlier in 1765, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, quoted Bellarmine in a sermon. Wesley stated that, when Bellarmine was dying, he was asked which saint he would trust in. The cardinal replied, “It is safest to trust in the merits of Christ.”

            On July the 4th in 1969, I was employed as a religion teacher at a catholic high school in Michigan. On that day, I transferred my faith from religious teaching and works, that I could never be assured would get me to heaven, and placed my faith exclusively and completely in Jesus Christ alone as my Savior and only hope of Heaven. I trusted in the blood and merits of Jesus Christ alone.

            The Bible teaches that salvation is of God. God decreed from the foundation of the world that Christ would die for our sins, and in time, He orchestrated His plan. (1 Peter 1:18-20; Revelation 13:8)

Our Sin Deserves

Eternal Punishment

            Our sin is extremely grave and deserves an eternal punishment. 

            uI have a friend who was an officer in the army. He was washing up in a restroom at his base when five private first class soldiers began to make fun of him because of his small stature. My friend picked up his coat from a nearby chair and put it on. When they saw that they were insulting an officer, they each stood at attention, saluted my friend, and apologized.

            Many people think that sin is no big thing. Some think it's a joke. If you believe the above, you don't know who you have sinned against. Jesus Christ's office and divinity is worthy of your highest respect. He is the Supreme Commander of the entire Universe. Everyone will bow their knee in recognition of this fact at the judgment.

            Romans 14:11 says, "For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

            No one will have religions’ trump cards to veto their sin and save them on the Day of Judgment. All our sin carries an eternal punishment.

            Matthew 25:41 describes the sinner’s fate as “into everlasting punishment." That's forever!

            Revelation 14:11 declares, "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever."

            (See also Matthew 3:12; 13:41-42; Mark 9:48; Luke 16:23-24) Good works on our part will not eliminate the fact of eternal punishment.

            Scripture says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”

(Ephesians 2:8-9) (See also Titus 3:5a)

Christ Paid Our Sin Debt

            Jesus, the eternal Son of God, paid for our sins on the cross. Isaiah 53:6 says, “…and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” 1 Peter 2:24 says "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree."

            On the cross He said, “It is finished,” and died. (John 19:30) Scripture declares this sacrifice complete and never to be repeated again.

 

One Offering for Sin Forever

            The Bible says in Hebrews 10:11, “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” And then speaking of Christ in verse 12, “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” The effects of Christ’s one sacrifice is forever. There is no need to repeat it. (See also Hebrews 7:27; 9:26, 28; 10:10, 14; I Peter 3:18)

The Battle was Christ’s

            The battle to get us to heaven was Christ’s. It’s not ours and it’s not religion’s battle either! You and I and the church throughout history cannot add anything to or take anything from the victory of Jesus’ death on the cross.

            Our faith in Christ and His great victory on the cross allows us entrance into heaven.

            He became our sin and paid our sin debt in full—the eternal debt of punish-ment we all owe a righteous eternal God for our sins.

Is It Any Wonder?

            Is it any wonder that Cardinal Bellarmine, aware of the fact that the best of men can have their works marred  by sin, said in the 17^th Century, “Rely upon the blood and merits of Jesus Christ alone?” 

            Trust in the death of Christ on the cross for your sins. You have no hope in human religious inventions presented by fallible men of whose teachings and intentions you could never be certain! But you can be certain of Christ’s infallible work on the cross that was recorded in the Bible. First Peter 2:24 says, “who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree.” That was all the sins you committed in the past, present, and future. He paid it all.

Take Christ as Your Savior

            This very second, ask God’s forgiveness and receive Jesus Christ alone as your only hope of heaven. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

            “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” (1 John 5:12-13a)

            Receive Christ now. Would you read and then sincerely pray the following?

“Father in Heaven, I realize my utter helplessness of getting to heaven on my own goodness and merit. Forgive me for my sin and, as best as I can, I turn from it and receive Jesus Christ alone as my Lord, Savior, and only hope of Heaven. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.”

If you have made this decision, please contact me at:

Norm Sharbaugh Ministries

P.O. Box 215

Brownsburg, IN 46112

Or e-mail me at:

evangelistnorm@juno.com

I will send you free Bible studies to help you grow in your Christian faith. 

Share This With An Open Catholic

(You may have to duck!)

This spring I sat in a restaurant and shared the following material with a Roman Catholic man. He looked at me as if I was sharing that his mother had just died. When I was finished he said, "It's impossible," referring to the Roman Catholic doctrine of Mary defined by his church. I had succeeded in putting a large crack in his Mariolotry indoctrination which brought him a step closer to trusting Christ as his Savior.

Here is what I shared.

Could you explain the following doctrine of the Catholic Church to me? The Roman Catholic Church teaches that "Every grace granted to men has three successive steps: By god it is communicated to Christ, from Christ it passes to the Virgin, and from the Virgin it descends to us." (Pope Leo XII, Jucunda Semper)

Speaking of the Virgin Mary, Pope Leo XIII also said, "None receives a gift from the throne of mercy except through thee."

Pope Pius XI in his encyclical, Ingravescentibus Malis, says, "Every blessing that comes from Almighty God comes to us through the hand of our Lady."

How can Mary distribute every blessing and grace of Almighty God to mankind?

The form of devotion given to Mary in the Catholic Church is called "Hyperdulia." This is the highest devotion that can be given a "created being." The Catholic Church acknowledges that Mary is a created and finite being. Yet they attribute a divine task to her. Let's think about what is involved in this task.

It is claimed there are 945,000, 000 Catholics in the world. Simple math will show that if Mary ministers grace just to the catholic population, giving each catholic one opportunity in a year to receive grace, each catholic will receive .03 (3/100) of a second of her time. (Thank God that in actuality we receive thousands and thousands of times more grace from the "Father of Lights" every year.) That means that Mary has to know their need, plead with Jesus on their behalf (the premise of the Roman Catholic Church is that Jesus could not refuse the pleas of His mother) and then distribute the grace God the Father gives to Jesus for them. She has to do this in .03 of a second for each person in the Catholic Church. Since it is also taught that she ministers grace to the entire world (all created human beings) we now have to add four more billion people to her care. This means that each person on planet earth will have .0063 (6/1000) of a second of her time to minister grace to them one time in a year.

Now here is another problem. The Catechism of the Catholic Church in doctrinal Statement #2677 says this. "By asking Mary to pray for us, [in the Hail Mary Prayer these words are used '...pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.'] We acknowledge ourselves be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the 'Mother of Mercy,' the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives. And our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender 'the hour of our death' wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son's death on the cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing to lead us to her son, Jesus in paradise."

Now consider this. There are 945,000,000 Catholics in the world. It is part of the training of every catholic to pray the "Hail Mary Prayer." They all ask Mary to be at their side in the hour of their death. According to population death statistics 24 Catholics die every minute. This means that, on the average, Mary has to be at the bedside of 24 Catholics in 24 different parts of the world 24 times every minute to pray for them. She must also at the same time continue to disperse grace to each person in the world. (And I thought my mother was busy.) Yet official catholic teaching is that she is a human being. (Some of the best Scriptures for this are I Timothy 2:5; John 4:13-14; I Peter 5:7; James 1:17.)

The gentleman that I had dinner with has heard the Gospel a number of times. It makes no sense to him because he is so bound by Catholicism. I presented this material to break up the fallow ground of his heart.

Perfect tactfulness may not keep your catholic friend from getting angry. If your catholic friend gets angry that is not necessarily a bad response. Pray much for him or her, asking God to bind Satan so your friend can be set free.

The Holy Spirit labored with me in the Word for ten months, setting me free from Roman Catholicism so that I could be saved. There were also at that time things shared with me that made me angry. But it was necessary to crack loose the enormous Roman Catholic indoctrination that had bound me and separated me from simple salvation in Christ. I have had many Catholics through the years get angry, who later received Christ and were gloriously saved. Believe me -- God the Holy Spirit is not going to stop working because they get angry. They will bounce back like a rubber ball with less Roman Catholicism on them, and in them. Many of them will follow through and get saved.