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Welcome
Enjoy... But remember
"Don't give in to winning the argument
and losing one of your eternal crowns..."
God bless you...
Enjoy... But remember
"Don't give in to winning the argument
and losing one of your eternal crowns..."
God bless you...
Beware of those who ADD to Jesus' Salvation Under the Pretense of Unity! 
Reconciliation, Towards Unity: JOINT STATEMENT BY POPE, ORTHODOX PRELATE (Matthew Tan Yew Hock)
PAPAL APOLOGY TO GREEK ORTHODOX (Matthew Tan Yew Hock)
"Enemy" Churches Praying Together: Pope and Orthodox Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (Matthew Tan Yew Hock)
Read What Christodoulos Says to John Paul II (Christopher Yip)
Papal Apology Boosts Ecumenical Dialogue (Matthew Tan Yew Hock)
Sure ... dream on, anti-Protestant Mr Tan! (Christopher Yip)
Cling on With Jesus, Or Pour Cold Water on Jesus' Prayer (John 17:21-23) (Matthew Tan Yew Hock)
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Anti-Protestant Mr Tan: Beware of those who pour cold water on Jesus, and on Jesus' prayer (John 17:21-23). They are the people who said: I AM JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD, BY FAITH ALONE.
By FAITH ALONE. BY FAITH ALONE. ME: Looks like anti-Protestant Mr Tan is becoming incoherent. John 17:21-23 says "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (KJV) What kind of unity does Jesus envisage for His Church? One with heretics? One with those who preach a different Gospel? Nope. Earlier, Jesus says, "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." (v 14) Yes, we are the ones with the Word Jesus has given which teaches salvation by faith alone in Christ alone and yes, the Church of Rome will hate us because she teaches differently. She says Christ's work is not enough, you need to add your own righteousness to it before you can be saved. "If any one saith, that men are just without the justice of Christ, whereby he merited for us to be justified; or that it is by that justice itself that they are formally just, let him be anathema" (The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent. Found in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1910), Decree on Justification, Chapter VII, Canons X, XXXII). Which is the truth? Jesus says in v 17, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Where is the truth? In Rome's infallible decrees? Nope. In God's Word alone - that alone sanctifies us in the truth. And what does the Word of God says about our salvation? THE BIBLE DECLARES SALVATION IS BY FAITH ALONE!!! "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." (Romans 4:4-8 KJV) Justification is strictly by faith alone, but not merely by faith alone, i.e. justification is by faith alone but not by the faith that is alone. The ground of our justification is solely (i.e. strictly) the imputed righteousness of Christ which is ours through faith alone (the instrumental cause) but it does not mean that the sinner is not changed inwardly. The fact is that righteousness is not imputed to unbelieving or unregenerate persons. Anti-Protestant Mr Tan: So, they can ignore, disobey, pour cold water on Jesus' prayer, and in so doing, they actually pour cold water on Jesus himself. Yet, they claim they are JUSTIFIED, by faith alone, once and for all, as if what they do and say and write does not matter any more. So, they pour cold water on Jesus' prayer. ME: So, according to anti-Protestant Mr Tan's logic, those of us who oppose unity with heretic Rome, because we believe in salvation by faith alone, nullify the doctrine of sola fide. And what would he have us do? Be one with those who preach a different Gospel, with those who say that Christ's work is insufficient, that you have to ADD on to that, that whereas Jesus says that by believing Him, you are already saved, "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 KJV) we must be one with those who say that unless you partake the sacraments, you cannot be saved, "If any one saith that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary unto salvation...and that without them, or without the desire thereof, men obtain from God, through faith alone, the grace of justification...let him be anathema" (The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent. Found in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1919), Canon IV, p. 119). Well, if anyone wishes to be one with anti-Protestant Mr Tan who preaches salvation by works through sacraments instead of the biblical Gospel of faith alone, be my guest. "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15 KJV) Christopher
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