THE FIVE SOLAS OF PROTESTANTISM – (2) SOLA FIDE
Commentary by Charles Sulka
.
.
Protestantism, which self-identifies as a Bible-based Christian belief system, denies the central role of holy tradition, ignoring Church history and downplaying the influence of the Holy Spirit in the formative Church. Protestants are dismissive of the centuries of study by countless religious scholars and Church leaders and the holy tradition that forms the basis of the faith.
Protestants can rightfully be called “the people of the book” — the book being the Bible … although historically this term also has been used (by Islamacists) in reference to Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and the Jews. In any case, the Bible plays an important role, even a central role, in the Christian faith today, even though the early Christians never saw a Bible, as it did not exist.
The Bible as we know it would not exist for centuries, and the scriptures that were in circulation at the time were far different than ‘the written word’ found in modern-day Bibles. Printed books would not be available for another thousand years … and besides, the people were illiterate. The congregants could not have read the Bible even if somehow they had gotten their hands on one.
Christianity is a religion based on Holy Tradition, the foundation of the faith. The compilation known as the Bible was an afterthought, a measure the Church fathers hoped would put an end to the contention within the formative early Church. The problem was the explosion of spurious gospels pretending to be holy writ. Deceiving spirits led men to concoct convoluted, even absurd, religious nonsense. We see the same process at work today — lying spirits inducing dishonest men to fabricate spurious texts promulgating false doctrines to lead the people astray.
Just look at the subtle lies at the core of the teachings of America’s TV preachers: the prosperity gospel, the dispensationalist ‘Rapture’ nonsense and the spiritual abomination of Christian Zionism. The widely used Scofield Reference Bible, financed by the Rothschilds (Jewish bankers) is based on the demon inspired musings of occult practitioner (spiritualist and Satanist) John Nelson Darby, a man who would today be regarded as a New Age huckster. The derivative works show how evil spirits influence people in the never-ending battle between good and evil. The human race is on the verge of subjugation by demons from Hell, while deluded fools lavish praise and adulation upon those who hate God with all of their being — the Synagogue of Satan.
This nonsense had led countless people astray. These Satanic verses (The Scofield Bible) are widely embraced by the American Corporate Church ™. The end result will be a tragedy of Biblical proportions: tens of millions of Americans suffering eternal damnation after being rejected by Jesus Christ at the Last Judgment for their lack of discernment. Sadly, it looks like a deranged United States of America will lead the Zionists to their eventual destruction, bringing down the wrath of God upon our heads. In the end this will lead to the destruction of the Anglo-Zionist empire. It goes without saying that Zionist Israel — the cause of all the troubles — will not come out unscathed.
As to the assertion that “all scripture is useful for teaching” — a claim made by those who insist the Bible is inerrant and infallible — it just isn’t so. 90% of the ‘scriptures’ in circulation in the early Church were discarded by the committee that passed judgment on the various religious writings under consideration for inclusion in the Bible.
Protestants deny the central message of Christ’s teaching: that being that we are here to help one another, that we serve God through service to our fellow man. Traditional Christian doctrine is clear on this point: Christians are to be “in the world, but not of the world.” For many Protestants — at least American Protestants — Christianity is not seen as a community-based religion; it is, instead, seen as a highly individualized experience. The Protestant vision of the Christian faith is a selfish and self-centered religion where the individual is saved by having a ‘personal relationship with Jesus’ (and everyone else be damned.)
Protestants insist on the right to a personal interpretation of the Scriptures, even though they themselves are often totally unqualified for such a challenging undertaking. The Protestants’ claim that the Bible is inerrant and infallible, and that the Bible interprets itself (religious mumbo-jumbo), is obviously nonsense … else we would not have more than four thousand Protestant denominations in America, all promulgating different interpretations of the Bible. Many (OK, most) churches lay claim to being the one true faith — the only church with the correct interpretation of Scripture, anyway. This is a dubious proposition, for if there is one true faith, there can, by definition, be only one. Something is wrong with this picture.
In truth, Protestants are in disagreement on just about every point of doctrine. In the past, they have even put their fellow Christians to death because of disputes over minor points of doctrine, many suffering excruciating torture and horrific deaths in the Inquisition. (The Protestant Inquisition.) This is enlightenment? It is ironic — and tragic — that reading the Good Book could result in such cruelty, animosity, and bestiality … and all in the name of The Prince of Peace.
Most Protestants know little or nothing of the history of the early Church. Protestants do read their Bibles, though, even if they fail to grasp its meaning. Some Protestants have read little else. Ironically, it seems that none are more certain of their own position with regard to religious truth than those who have read only parts of the Bible, understand little of what they have read, and know nothing of the history of the Church or the works of the disciples of Christ. [This probably has something to do with the fact that America has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, ranking 125th. (!) Surveys show that Americans read, on average, fewer than ONE book(s) per year. (Note 1)] It is unrealistic to expect sound doctrines to emerge in a culture that is functionally illiterate.
Protestants foolishly believe that they are (usually without any training or education) better qualified to interpret the Bible than those who have dedicated their entire lives to religious study down through the ages. Such arrogance and presumptiveness can only be attributed to vanity — pride. Pride is a grievous sin, admonished in traditional Christian doctrine. Traditional Christian doctrine is clear: there is no place for pride in the heart of the believer. In traditional Christian religions — the Orthodox and Eastern rites, as well as Roman Catholicism — the sin of pride is at the top of the list of the seven deadly sins.
America’s TV preachers and mega-church celebrities somehow didn’t get the message..
.
Protestant theology, such that it is, is based on what are known as the five “solas” of Protestantism:
1. SOLA SCRIPTURA: SCRIPTURE ALONE (‘scripture’ refers to the canon of the Bible without apocrypha, and includes no other ancient texts)
2. SOLA FIDE: FAITH ALONE (not ‘works’ ….)
3. SOLA GRATIA: GRACE ALONE.
4. SOLA CHRISTUS: CHRIST ALONE.
5. SOLA DEO GLORIA: TO THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE.
Here we will examine the second of the five solas, Sola Fide (faith alone)….
In one sense, Sola Fide can be thought of as a repudiation of the primitive concept that God (or the gods) are immensely powerful, capricious, ruthless beings or forces that need to be appeased lest they unleash their wrath upon the unworthy (the unworthy being whomsoever they choose.) In primitive religions, supplicants earn the favor of divine beings through religious rituals and observances … and sacrifice. In primitive religions it is believed that the gods can be mollified by sacrifice (especially human or animal sacrifice), obeisance, and donations or tithes in support of the religious functionaries — the witch doctor, shaman, medicine man, prophet, or priest. (And, in the Jewish religion, at least, payment for the services of the temple prostitutes. The Jews have always seen religion as one of the best ways to profit from men’s weaknesses by capitalizing on those seven deadly sins.)
The Bible makes it clear that in the pre-Christian era in what is today called the Holy Land, sacrifice — including human sacrifice — was widely practiced. The proto-Jews, Pagans and Hindus from Asia, especially India, who migrated to the Middle East (or were brought in as slaves), brought their religions with them. This included worship of Moloch and Baal, with blood sacrifice, including the hideous practice of sacrificing their own children (The Bible refers to this as “putting their children through the fire.”)
Most primitive religions — like modern day Protestantism, at least in America — are formulated around materialism. The core beliefs of the amalgam of ancient religions which formed the religious understanding of the Hebrew people has been carried forward in the Jewish religion: that is, if God finds favor with you, you will be blessed with material rewards in this life, and if God is displeased with you, you will be accursed and suffer from any number of afflictions.
This could be thought of as an expression of the law of karma — instant karma, one could say. This is how the predatory Jews of the day supported themselves, much like America’s TV preachers, the false prophets of the airwaves. Promising superstitious people celestial rewards, or material rewards in this life, in exchange for financial support works for modern day false prophets just as it worked for the false prophets of antiquity.
This primitive notion undergirds the concept of ‘works-based salvation.’ It may be primitive, even prehistoric … but it still is an effective way for religious con artists to deceive the masses.
Consider the Protestant concept of “Sola Fide” (salvation through faith alone, and not works)….
Protestants looking for cheap grace think the reference to ‘works’ refers to Christian good works, which are expected of, even required of, all Christians. More thoughtful Protestants and traditional Christians realize the reference to ‘works’ in certain Bible passages refers to works of the Law (the Law of Moses.) In their primitive thinking, Jews were (and many modern day Jews still are) obsessed with rituals and ceremonies. These ‘works’ include Old Testament rituals and observances, and ordinances such as dietary laws, fasting, and feasting on special holy days. Feasting was always popular with the Hebrews, as were bacchanalian orgies … usually held when Moses wasn’t around to catch the people misbehaving.
None of these observances, rituals, and practices are of any benefit for salvation, as Jesus makes clear: “There is no salvation in Moses,” referring to the Jews’ religious practices. The Jews’ primitive religion was a false religion; the Jews’ modern day religion (Talmudic secular humanism) is even worse in many ways. It is a total rejection of God’s message of salvation. Jesus’ mission was to set man free from the Jews’ ethno-centric works-based religion.
Works-based religions are based on the idea that people can buy their way into heaven through rituals and practices (or cash.) The was the belief of the Pharisaic Jews — self-righteous Jews who were obsessed with ritual observances. The Pharisees are still with us today, although these days most are nominally Christian. The belief that one can achieve righteousness and meet with God’s approval through rituals, observances, dietary practices, etc., is nonsense. Jesus, the truth-teller, made this perfectly clear. The Jewish people then responded the same way people do today when faced with the truth: utter rejection. Then, to underscore their hatred for God and all that is good, the Jews had Jesus crucified. What they did not know at the time was that the Galilean, the object of their scorn, would come back to haunt them.
Religious rituals are not necessarily bad. Some rituals can be helpful in bringing one’s faith into focus, in putting the practitioner into a mental state free of worldly distractions and life’s problems … where a closer connection to God can be achieved. Such religious rituals are not to be confused with Christian good works, traditionally known as the corporal works of mercy. (It’s in the Bible.)
Confusing ritualistic ‘works of the Law’ with Christian good works (evidence of the Spirit of God at work in an individual) is a common mistake. In fact, this doctrinal error is central to the message of the American corporate church (founded by Protestants and demonstrating the danger of private interpretation of scriptures.) This is how today’s false prophets — America’s TV preachers, sham faith healers, and so-called evangelicals — lead their followers astray. (And make obscene profits doing it.)
The distorted doctrine is widely embraced by the misguided, intellectually lazy television audience. The televangelist hucksters depend on it, as it gives them a product — ersatz Christianity and cheap grace — that is easy to sell to an audience of lazy simpletons mesmerized by the television set. The TV preachers’ deluded followers are smug in their belief that they are earning plaudits in Heaven by giving money to these religious con artists. It will probably come as a shock when the suckers learn that supporting false teachers and enabling religious con artists does not earn one favor in God’s eyes. Just the opposite, in fact….
Even a novice understands from reading the Bible, especially the Epistle of James in the New Testament, that good works are central to the Christian life. Martin Luther himself, the founder of the Protestant movement, who was knocked off his horse by a bolt of lightning — likely suffering brain damage, as can be adduced from stories of his later life — recognized this inherent contradiction in the Protestant belief system. Luther’s muddle-headed solution was to simply rewrite the Bible … by deleting the Epistle of James.
Luther called the Epistle of James the ‘Epistle of Straw’, and proceeded to delete this inspired work from his Bible. It takes a lot of nerve to refute scripture that is central to the New Testament. Many Christians — including the Bishops who compiled the Bible in the fourth century — believe it to be an inspired work, written by James, the brother of Jesus. James was a leader of the early Church in Jerusalem after the crucifixion of Jesus.
How can one claim that the Bible is inerrant and divinely inspired while at the same time denouncing one of the Bible’s core principles? To reinterpret the Bible is permissible, if dangerous. People do it all the time, although almost never to anyone’s lasting benefit. To edit the Bible is ill-advised, to say the least. It only confuses people, often resulting in heresy, sometimes even blasphemy. But to simply throw out whole books of the Bible because the message does not comport with one’s own theological speculation can only be seen as the act of one who is mentally deranged.
This is understandable, as most people who are struck by lightning never fully recover (if they recover at all.) Victims of lightning strikes often suffer brain damage and have neurological problems that leave them impaired for the rest of their lives.
That Martin Luther suffered from mental problems throughout his life is well documented. Even the man’s hagiographers point to idiosyncrasies (quirks) in Luther’s behavior that suggest serious mental problems. For example, his confessor in the monastery reported that Luther suffered from ‘scrupulosity’ — obsessive concern with one’s sins, real or imagined. Martin Luther labored the priest hearing his confessions with details of his sins that were completely out of proportion. Luther was reported to have spent as much as SIX HOURS in the confessional. (Pity the poor priest who had to hear the man’s confession.) It’s hard to imagine that the good monk had the time to actually commit so many sins. (Assuming reports of Luther’s life are credible; hagiography is usually highly embellished fiction.) But by all accounts, Luther was a pious, bookish monk, not a hooligan or carouser.
Tearing books from the Bible and throwing them on the bonfires of the Inquisition is a rather unusual path to sainthood. And yes, the worst horrors of the Inquisition — unspeakable crimes against humanity and a refutation of the Protestants’ much vaunted right to individual interpretation of scripture — were committed by zealous Protestants inflamed with a passion to show sinners God’s love and mercy … by burning them at the stake for trivial, or even imaginary, sins. As the Grand Inquisitor might have said, “Kill them all. The Lord will know His own.” Indeed.
With regard to the works-based Jewish religion we need only take a look at an article by Ron Unz, a Jew himself (although not a Zionist.) See: “American Pravda – the Oddities of the Jewish Religion.” (Note 2)
“On the most basic level, the religion of most traditional Jews is actually not at all monotheistic, but instead contains a wide variety of different male and female gods…. The traditional Jewish religious cry “The Lord Is One” has … been interpreted by most people to be an monotheistic affirmation … but large numbers of Jews believe this declaration instead refers to achievement of sexual union between the primary male and female divine entities. And most bizarrely, Jews having such radically different views see absolutely no difficulty in praying side by side, and merely interpreting their identical chants in very different fashion.
Furthermore, religious Jews apparently pray to Satan almost as readily as they pray to God, and depending upon the various rabbinical schools, the particular rituals and sacrifices they practice may be aimed at enlisting the support of the one or the other. Once again, so long as the rituals are properly followed, the Satan-worshipers and the God-worshipers get along perfectly well and consider each other equally pious Jews….”
For emphasis:
“Jews pray to Satan almost as readily as they pray to God … and so long as the rituals are properly followed, the Satan-worshipers and the God-worshipers get along perfectly well and consider each other equally pious Jews….”
Thus the Jews’ religious practices were the basis of the Biblical warning against ‘works’ or observances (rituals). When the New Testament admonishes the faithful not to embrace ‘works’ as the path to salvation, the Scriptures are referring to works of the Law — to Jewish rituals and observances (such as dietary rules.) The reference is not to Christian good works but to the religious practices of the Jews, especially the Pharisees — whose hypocrisy was especially offensive to our Lord.
As the article points out, Jews worship Satan interchangeably with God. When Jesus referred to the Jews as the Synagogue of Satan, he was speaking literally. Jesus had a lot more to say on the subject when He was speaking figuratively, much of which was lost on His audience…. But this goes beyond the scope of this discussion.
Jews do not worship God; Jews worship Satan. Jesus said so in no uncertain language. The only people who are confused on this point are so-called Christian Zionists. These poor deluded fools are not Christians. Sadly, most are Zionists — rabid anti-Semites who live for the day that the Jewish people, who they pretend to love with all their hearts, will all be annihilated at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
[Or the Rapture…. Whichever comes first. It’s best not to ask. Protestants are confused on this point, too, in what might be called the Great Divide (the dispensationalist divide.) Just listening to this talk will make your head spin.]
[By the way, Zionist ‘Israelis’ are Anti-Semites to the core. Never forget that the Palestinians are a Semitic people; the invading Ashkenazi ‘Jews’ are not. The murderous Ashkenazis are “those who pretend to be Jews, but are not” — the counterfeit Jews that Jesus warned would afflict mankind in the last days. (It’s in the Bible.)]
This is all relevant, for Luther’s main complaint about the Catholic Church was the medieval Church’s sale of indulgences. The sale of indulgences was perhaps the quintessential example of ‘works-based’ salvation — the erroneous belief that one can buy one’s place in Heaven. It’s really hard to see much difference between the Medieval Church’s sale of indulgences and America’s TV preachers’ pandering to their audience, promising cheap grace — God’s favor and eternal salvation — in exchange for financial support and the adulation of their followers.
Who ever thought it would come to this — Christians sucking up to the Synagogue of Satan, groveling at the feet of the Father of Lies and his minions, doing all the things that Jesus told us not to do, as these things are offensive to God.
Lord, have mercy on us all.
.
(Do I have a witness? Who will be a witness?)
(Let the Church say “Amen!”)
.
Notes
(1) The State of Global Literacy (And Where the United States Stands)
URL: https://journal.imse.com/the-state-of-global-literacy-and-where-the-united-states-stands/#_ednref2
(2) AMERICAN PRAVDA – ODDITIES OF THE JEWISH RELIGION by Ron Unz
URL: http://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-oddities-of-the-jewish-religion/
.
UPDT: 04-14-2024 1710 -0500
…