YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THAT WHEN YOU DIE YOU WILL GO TO PURGATORY ….

 

 

 

Roman Catholics, the priests teach you that in the hereafter there is a place called purgatory, where ‘the souls of those people who have died in grace, but with imperfections or venial sins or temporal punishments to be discharged for the serious sins committed, expiate and purify themselves before going to heaven (Enciclopedia Cattolica [Catholic Encyclopaedia], vol. 10, 330). But what verses do the Catholic priests use to support purgatory? They principally use these verses, which we find in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). According to the catholic priests, the expression ‘he himself shall be saved: yet so as by fire” means that the just, after he has suffered in the purgatory for a certain period of time, will be brought safely to the Paradise of God because the purifying fire of Purgatory will purify him from all those debts of temporal punishment which remain to be discharged.

Concerning purgatory, you are also taught the suffrage of the living for the dead, for your Catechism says: ‘We can help and even deliver the souls from the torments of Purgatory through suffrages, that is, through prayers, indulgences, alms and other good works, and above all through the Holy Mass (….) the fruit of these works, applied to the souls in Purgatory is called suffrage because it suffrages, that is, it mitigates the torments suffered by the souls in Purgatory and hastens their deliverance’. In other words, you are told that through prayers, alms, indulgences, good works, and above all the Mass, you can help the souls of the dead to pay their debts, which they must discharge in Purgatory. To support this so called suffrage, the priests take the following passage in the book of Macabees, where it is said that Judas the Macabee took up a collection among all his soldiers, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice for the sins committed by some Jews who had died in battle (under the tunic of each of the dead they had found ‘amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia’): ‘Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin’ (2 Macabees 12:46).

In all probability, the teaching about purgatory reassures you, for you think that even after death you can be purified from your sins and after this purification you will be allowed to enter heaven. However, you Roman Catholics must understand that all the things the priests teach you about purgatory are UNTRUE, I say it again, they are UNTRUE, for Jesus Christ in His teaching never said that besides heaven and hell there is another place – a middle way between heaven and hell – where the souls of the dead go after death. For He stated: “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, after death there are only two places for the souls of men: destruction, that is, HELL; and life, that is, PARADISE. All those who die in their sins go to HELL for they are lost, while all those who die in Christ (in that they have repented of their sins and believed in Jesus Christ) go to PARADISE for they are saved, in that Jesus has purified them through His blood from all their sins.

Paradise is a wonderful heavenly place (which is called also the third heaven), whose beauty we human beings cannot describe adequately with our words; in it there is the throne of God and the throne of the Lamb at His right hand, and there is an innumerable company of angels, who – together with the souls of the just – worship God and the Lamb day and night.

Those who die in Christ, that is, who are at peace with God at their death, enter this marvellous place immediately after their death. In this place they will wait for the resurrection, which will take place at the second coming of Christ from heaven. And we are of those who – if they die in Christ - will enter Paradise. You will say: ‘How can you be so sure that when you die you will go immediately to heaven?’ Well, we are so sure because we are sprinkled by the blood of Jesus, as it is written that we were chosen “unto sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2) and we were purified from all our sins by the blood of Christ Jesus, as it is written that He “washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Revelation 1:5). And besides this, because – as John says – “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). This is why we are sure that when we die we will go immediately to heaven, without going to any purgatory, because our old sins were all cleanseth by the blood of Jesus and the sins we confess to the Lord are all cleanseth by the same blood. At this point you will say: ‘That means you are presumptuous!!’ Not at all, because there are various passages of the Scriptures which clearly state that those who die in Christ go immediately to heaven to be with Jesus.

The souls of those who had been killed because of the Word of God – and which were seen by John in vision – were under the altar in heaven before the throne of God. Here is what John says: “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held” (Revelation 6:9).

Paul said that to him to die was gain, for he had the desire to depart and be with Christ which was far better. Here are his words: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:21-23). For sure, if Paul had to go first to a place called purgatory to suffer terrible torments, he would not have considered his death a gain but rather a loss.

Paul said to the Corinthians that he and his fellow workers were confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Answer to this question of mine: ‘How could those men desire so much to depart from their body if they believed in the existence of a place called purgatory where they had to go to discharge some of their debts through terrible torments? Don’t you think that this shows that those men did not believe in the existence of purgatory at all?

In the Book of Revelation we read: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them” (Revelation 14:13). Therefore the Spirit of truth says that those who die in grace are blessed for they rest from their labors in heaven. That excludes the possibility they are in a purgatory paying some of their debts through some sufferings less inferior to those of hell; for if they were in purgatory they would be unhappy, because instead of resting from their labors they would suffer terrible torments for their sins. However, in this world there is also the spirit of error, which says that those who die in Christ go to purgatory.

But let me now speak about hell and those who go there. Hell is a place of torment which is in the heart of the earth, and where there is burning fire (Luke 16:23:31). It is a dark place where the souls of sinners go immediately after death and where they will remain - in the midst of terrible torments which produce a continuous weeping and gnashing of teeth – until the day of judgement (John 5:29; Daniel 12:2; Revelation 20:12-15), when they will rise again to be judged according to their works and to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the final place of torment where they will spend eternity. There is no hope of salvation to them after death, as it is written: “For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?” (Job 27:8) and also: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) and again: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17; Luke 16:22-31; Isaiah 5:14). And you, Roman Catholics, are among those who are going to this awful place of torment. I know that your were said that God is so merciful that He will bring you safely to His heavenly kingdom after you have spent a certain period of time in purgatory in order to discharge your debts of temporal punishment, but that’s untrue for God besides merciful is also righteous and in His Word He states that He will not leave the sinners unpunished but He will condemn them to everlasting contempt. You will say: ‘Are we then lost sinners, without no hope of salvation after death, even though we have committed only a few and ‘light sins’?’ Yes, definitely! For in the sight of God all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), no matter how many sins they have committed and what kind of sins they have committed. What is awaiting you, therefore, is first hell, then the judgement on that day and the eternal condemnation into the lake of fire and brimstone where you will be cast after the judgement. What is awaiting you is a terrible destiny, which human words cannot adequately describe.

Perhaps now you will say to me: ‘But we go regularly to confess our sins to the priest and he remits our ‘mortal sins’, why should God then send us to hell?’ Listen, the confession you do to the priest is of no value before God, because those sins you confess to the priest are still attached to your conscience for the priest has no divine authority to take them away from you. Only God, through the blood of Jesus Christ, can remit your sins. Therefore you have been deceived into believing a lie, and this lie will cost you eternity unless you reject it. Know this, therefore, that if you continue to believe the untrue words of the priest you will go to hell. Let me give you an illustration: it is as if Tom tells you that the rich man whom you owe a million of euro delegated him to remit entirely your debt, and after you trusted him one day you find out that you are still in debt to that rich man; but the worst of it is that you could have obtained the remission of that debt of yours if within a certain time you had gone to the one who was really able to remit your debt, that is, to the son of that rich man who had really the power to remit your debt. You just had to ask him to remit your debt and he would have remitted your debt.

Therefore, if you go to the Son, you will obtain the remission of your debt, but if you continue to trust your priests, you will continue to be in debt to God, and after death it will be too late for you to obtain the remission of it.

What must you do to receive the remission of your sins and thus escape the fire of hell? You must be born again, that is, you must experience the new birth Jesus spoke about when He said to Nicodemus: “You must be born again” (John 3:7 - NKJV) and also: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

A man experiences the new birth when he recognizes himself as a sinner before God and he repents of his sins with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and he believes in the name of the Son of God, that is, Jesus Christ. When he does these things he feels to be born again, for his sins are instantly blotted out from his conscience through the blood of Jesus Christ and he feels to be a new creature. In other words, he is spiritually regenerated and renewed and he can say together with Paul: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of [in] the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Then and only then will he be able to say that he is in Christ, that is, a Christian, for according to the Scripture: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). And there is no condemnation in Christ, for Paul said to the Romans: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Therefore, since there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ, don’t you think that to believe that after death Christians before entering the Paradise of God must go first to a place called purgatory to pay their debts they still have to the righteousness of God is a CONTRADICTION? Don’t you think that it is a contradiction since in purgatory, according to the Roman Catechism, Christians go to be condemned, even though for a certain period of time and not forever, to torments in order to pay their debts to God? As for these so called debts - which according to the priests need to be discharged in purgatory – we say: If according to the Scripture, when a man confesses his sins to God, God remits both his sins and the eternal punishment he deserves for his sins, is it not diabolical to affirm that after death that man must go to a place of torment to pay those debts? Of course it is; but not to the priests who, blinded by the devil, like to teach things contrary to the sound doctrine.

To say that a person justified by God, when he dies must go to purgatory to pay his debts is tantamount to saying that if a person sentenced to life imprisonment is granted a pardon and his punishment is blotted out, he must anyway continue to stay in prison for some years to pay for his misdeeds, and after those years he will be able to go out of prison!!! Your priests are greatly mistaken, for the Holy Scripture teaches that when God forgives a person all his debts, he forgives also the eternal punishment and the person must discharge no punishment either in this world or in the world to come, for Christ paid the full ransom price for our redemption.

To those who have been justified by the blood of Christ, there are no more debts to pay, for Christ on the cross paid all their debts and we are by the grace of God among those who have been justified. We know very well that the Council of Trent cast an anathema on those who say that ‘after the reception of the grace of justification the guilt is so remitted and the debt of eternal punishment so blotted out to every repentant sinner, that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be discharged either in this world or in purgatory before the gates of heaven can be opened’ (Council of Trent, VI, canon 30). But that curse will return upon the head of all those who proclaimed and still proclaim it.

We know whom we believed and we are persuaded that it is impossible for Christ - the One who washed us from our sins in His own blood and promised us eternal life - to lie. We will continue to glory in the Lord for we have been washed from all our old sins in the blood of Christ, and by His mercy we have received from Him eternal life: let the roman catholic councils curse the true believers, we believe in the Word of God which states that when the righteous (that is those who are justified by the grace of God) die they will go immediately to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ for their robes have been completely washed by the blood of the Lamb. To Christ Jesus be the glory now and forever. Amen.

 

Let me explain the words of Paul

 

Paul said to the saints who were at Corinth: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). Now, as we saw before, according to the priests the expression “he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire” means that the righteous who die in Christ’s grace, after having been tormented by the fire of purgatory for a certain period of time, he will be brought safely to the Paradise of God for the purifying fire will purify him from all his debts of temporal punishment. However, those words of Paul concerning the fire do not refer at all to a purifying fire in some place of the invisible world where the souls of men go in order to be purified from their sins, but they refer to the fire in the day of Christ, which is another thing. Let me expound briefly those words of Paul.

The apostle had preached the Christ in Corinth and many had believed in the Lord through his preaching and they had been baptized. It was Paul then who laid the foundation (Jesus Christ) of that spiritual house (the Church) at Corinth. But after Paul departed from Corinth, others came to Corinth and preached and taught, that is to say, others built some materials on the foundation which Paul had laid. And Paul, in relation to that, says that each one should be careful how he builds on the foundation, because first of all no one can take away the foundation, which is Jesus Christ, to replace it with another one, and then because in the day of Christ believers will be rewarded only for the gold, silver and precious stones (true doctrines) which they have built on the foundation, for the fire will not be able to consume them; whereas they will not be rewarded for the wood, hay and stubble (strange doctrines) because all those things will be burned up by fire; however those who have built those vain things will be saved, yet so as by fire.

So in the day of Christ the fire will test the quality of each believer’s work, and all the good and right things he said and did, will survive and he will receive his reward, while all the things of no value that he built on the foundation will be burned up and he will suffer loss for he will not be rewarded for those things. He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

 

The suffrage

 

Obviously, since the Scripture denies the existence of Purgatory it denies also all suffrages on behalf of those who – according to what the priests say – are there to discharge their debts, therefore the suffrage must be rejected. Even if we grant for the sake of argument that purgatory exists, have the priests never read that “every man shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:5) and that nobody “can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psalm 49:7)? How can then the priests teach that the living can somehow offer to God a propitiatory sacrifice for the dead who are in purgatory? And what is that propitiatory sacrifice? The Mass!! Listen, the only propitiatory sacrifice which is of value is the one made by Jesus Christ when He gave himself on the cross for our sins, and it was made once for all, thus it is UNREPEATABLE. And furthermore, the sacrifice of Christ can benefit only the living, for those who accept it receive remission of sins forever. But as for those who have died in their sins, His sacrifice can by no means be useful to them since the time during which they could believe on it and be forgiven IS EXPIRED. They died in their sins and with their sins attached to their conscience and for those sins they will have to suffer greatly forever and ever. No so called propitiatory sacrifice (the mass, alms, etc.) offered for the dead by the living will be useful to the dead, for before God it is of no value.

What shall we say then about the words taken by the priests from the book of Macabees to support the suffrage? We shall say these things. First of all, the books of Macabees (even though they are included in the canon of the Catholic Bible) are not inspired by God and therefore are not part of the Holy Scriptures, and so it is a mistake to mention those books to support the suffrage on behalf of the dead. Secondly, as for the expiatory sacrifice offered by Judas the Macabee, in the law of Moses there were no expiatory sacrifices to be offered for the sins of the dead, so Judas did not follow the law of his forefathers. That means that his act was of no value for it was not prescribed by the Law of Moses given by God to His people. Therefore, the priests, in order to support their suffrage, mention an act of no value done by a Jew.

In conclusion I say that this suffrage is able to do only one thing, that is, it enriches the priests and the Papal Court for you must pay for the masses (or rather you must give an offering) to be offered on behalf of the dead.

 

 

 

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