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Chicken Soup with Chopsticks (Excerpts from Chapter One)
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One Saturday morning I was sipping my coffee and reading the newspaper when the doorbell rang. This was an unusual occurrence as we lived in a somewhat isolated log cabin in the mountains outside Denver. At the door stood two attractive...
Fall of a Nation
Fall of a Nation by Anthony Smith Jeremiah 51:6-51:18 The Fall of a Nation, Babylon is Fallen. Is the United States , Spiritual Babylon ? Jer.51:6-18. I read an artical the other day, concerning the vast wealth of America and the massive...
Prioritize Your Life for Success
Today, it is hard to open an e-mail newsletter, a website, or an offline magazine and not see someone talking up the importance of time management. The time management gurus are going out of their way to teach us how to set priorities in our work...
Seek God
God dwells within us. If God reveals something to us, according to scripture, that makes us a god (Jn. 10:35). However, we are not God. If the Spirit speaks through us, it is truth and it is God. It is God living through us. Yet, because another...
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JOHN TETZEL "SCARING THE HELL" OUT OF CHRISTIANS
Johann Tetzel “Scaring The Hell” Out Of Christians”
by Doug Krieger
GRACE FOR SALE THROUGH INDULGENCES
“It happened in 1517 that a Dominican monk named Johann Tetzel, a braggart, caused a great stir. Maximilian once sentenced him to drowning in the River Inn - presumably because of his great virtue - but Duke Frederick rescued him in Innsbruck from the punishment of being drowned. Duke Frederick reminded him of this incident when he began to denounce us Wittenbergers. Actually, he admitted it quite openly. This same Tetzel now began to peddle indulgences. With might and main he sold grace for money as dearly or a cheaply as he could. At the time I was preacher here in the cloister and was filled as a new doctor with an ardent love for the scriptures.
“He had grace and power from the Pope to offer forgiveness even if someone had slept with the Holy Virgin Mother of God, as long as a contribution would be put into the coffer.
“Furthermore, the red Cross of indulgences and the papal coat of arms on the flag of the churches was as powerful as the Cross of Christ.
“Moreover, even if St. Peter were here now he would have no greater grace or power than he had.
“Furthermore, he would not want to trade places in heaven with St. Peter, for he had redeemed more souls with his indulgences than Peter with his sermons.
“Furthermore, if anyone put money into the coffer for a soul in purgatory, the soul would leave purgatory for heaven in the moment one could hear the penny hit the bottom.
“Also the grace of indulgences is the grace by which man is reconciled with God.
“Furthermore, it is not necessary to show remorse or sorrow or do penance for sins when purchasing indulgences or a letter of indulgence. He even sold indulgences for future sins. Such abominable things he did abundantly. He was merely interested in money. At the time I did not yet know who was to get the money. Then there appeared a booklet with the illustrious coat of arms of the Bishop of Magdeburg. In it the commissioners of indulgences were ordered to preach some of the propositions. Thus it came to light that Bishop Albert had employed Tetzel, because he was such a braggart.”
Source: Martin Luther, Wider Hans Worst, 1541. (WA 51, 538.)
“At the time a Dominican monk named Johann Tetzel was the great mouthpiece, commissioner, and preacher of indulgences in Germany. His preaching raised enormous amounts of money which were sent to Rome. This was particularly the case in the new mining town St. Annaberg, where I, Friedrich Myconius, listened to him for over two years. The claims of this uneducated and shameful monk were unbelievable. Thus he said that even if someone had slept with Christ's dear Mother, the Pope had power in heaven and on earth to forgive as long as the money was put into the indulgences coffer. And if the Pope would forgive, God also had to forgive. He furthermore said if they would put money quickly into the coffer to obtain grace and indulgence, all the mountains near St. Annaberg would turn into pure silver. He claimed that in the very moment the coin rang in the coffer, the soul rose up to heaven. Such a marvelous thing was his indulgence. In sum and substance: God was no longer God, as he had bestowed all divine power to the Pope: 'Tu es Petrus, tibi dabo claves, quodcunque.' And then there were the masters of the Inquisition, who banished and burned those saying conflicting words.”
Source: Friedrich Myconius, Historia reformationis, p. 14.
PREYING ON THE FEAR OF THE FAITHFUL
I suppose that the Reformation had as much to do about the excesses of religious money grubbing as the major doctrines of the faith, viz., grace, Scripture (I mean, building St. Peter’s Basilica—a monument to the Majesty of the Almighty—surely, any price was worth it!) Fear mongering is NOT a new twist in religious fund raising—sorry to say. Reading Michael Clark and George Davis’ article on “And They Will Make Merchandise of You,” though shocking, scarcely (sad to say), scratches the surface of the Way of Cain or “Balaam the Braggart.”
How is it that the insidious nature of the Prosperity Gospel has infected even the “pure of heart?” Consider: Don’t give away your music CDs—otherwise, people will despise them and won’t value your work—same with all your “Christian literature” – ad nausea, ad infinitum! After all, “freely have you received, freely give”—isn’t that what Jesus said somewhere
(try Matthew 10:8). And, consider this little ditty: Jan and Paul Crouch and their telethon reruns—all the while they hold nearly $238 Million in US Treasury Bonds! Ah, “What price prosperity!”
I used to think that selling “prayer clothes” was the height of carnal “Christian” entrepreneurship—now, I’ve changed my mind. It’s the “Swaggart Syndrome” –they (be it Jim Jones, David Koresh, Johann Tetzel or Paul Crouch) condemn the commitment of others for not contributing to their “gospel of the kingdom.” They excoriate your lack of fidelity, morality, faith—you know, all the “positive” things missing from your wretched and compromised life, because you won’t “cough up” the coin for their “ministry” and “utopian schemes”—all the while they secretly imbibe in a deplorable live-style full of the very corruption they allegedly detest in you!
Worst yet—their name calling of us NarDoWells who do not contribute to their largess (e.g., “dolts, idiots, simpletons, naïf, sniveling cowards, turncoats, traitors”—whatever scorn they wish to heap upon us)—bespeaks of their own spiritual poverty whose deficit grows each day you and you and I are dumb enough to keep giving them the “blood money” they suck out of us!
Now, what really gets nauseating here are the guys (although “guilt by association” with the likes of Tetzel and the Crouches is bad enough company) who damn your soul to hell, while you, like Daniel the Prophet, find yourself in the midst of Babylon laboring under Babylon’s watchful eye—meanwhile they plead for you to give them your Babylonian resources!
That’s right—sort of a “Tribulation Tithe” or, worse yet, TAX. It’s a Jim Jones—Yasser Arafat number. Why is it that these guys are so beloved—all the while heaping up mucho dinero (big bucks) for themselves? Why is it that their lackeys drink Kool Aide and suffer impoverishment in the camps? I’ve always warned—and still do—FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL. They condemn you until you give; they’ll frighten you until you can’t sleep at night; they’ll twist the Scriptures until you pop for all the coin they can squeeze out of you (all the while they feed off of Babylon’s social security, pension plans, foundations, and property acquisitions). Height of hypocrisy, you say—that doesn’t come near the condemnation it deserves.
Still, the likes of Tetzel, Jim Jones, Paul Crouch, Yasser Arafat, et. al, have quite a rap—and such a worthwhile cause—so, cough it up you lackeys and let ‘um pile up their riches, estates, compounds, basilicas, Swiss accounts; all at your expense. And, remember, they’ve got the message you adore, you fear, you loathe, or somehow affects your pocketbook—again, all the while the poor (they say they care about) go begging!
THEY BEAR THE GREATER CONDEMNATION
I tell you—brothers and sisters—the Almighty will hold those who PREY UPON THE FAITHFUL the greater condemnation; for they have corrupted the Gospel of the Grace of God and their conscience is that described in Jude’s denunciation of their contrivance:
“But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally. Like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 10-13).
Now for the “cheerful” or “hilarious” givers among us—don’t stop—remember, the Lord loves such (II Cor. 9:7)—but, if you’re giving is out
of “condemnation” or somebody’s trying to “scare the hell out of you”—STOP! Incidentally, if you try to give to this ministry, it won’t work—we’re not for sale—give to the poor; the genuine poor, not the “internet poor.” Sorry, I just can’t help it (P.S. There are still some good internet ministries worthy of your support.).
About the Author
Doug is a member of the lastdaysnetwork.com . . . a group of evangelical Christians committed to being a prophetic voice in the Church. Analysis of Church/State or Religion and Politics, and alerting Christians to the latter days' "Great Apostasy" afflicting the Body of Christ, is there concern.
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