The rosary (promotion of repetitiveness) engenders in adherents an emptiness of religious barrelled prayers, Matthew 6:7. Mariology (the studies of catholic Mary) inevitably led to Mariolatry (worship of Mary), Exodus 20:4-5; 1 Timothy 2:5 & Hebrews 9:15. Our worship is only to God be HE present in the holy of holies (the Holy Spirit), Jesus Christ, the Lamb in Revelation 5:8, 13, 14; the Eternal Father, Revelation 4:8-10. The Livio Dictionary gives the definition of indulgence as: ‘(Roman Catholicism) A pardon or a release from the expectation of punishment in purgatory after the sinner has been granted absolution’.

Luther nailing 95 theses

Remission of purgatorial punishment

No man dead, alive or yet to be born has the power, scripturally speaking, of Romish indulgence. Please read what Abraham could not do in my earlier post, titled, “Is ‘May His Soul R.I.P.’ A Prayer?” The only accepted way of averting hell is to agree with John 3:3 then a sincere performance of Romans 10:9-10, in a prayer. It all has to do with one Personage, Jesus Christ, to enter into a blissful, eternal heaven. What is the difference between the heathen use of amulets and various charms on one side and wearers of crucifixes and pendants of the images of Mary and dead saints? None! It is the depiction of lack of faith, and by the way how many Christians of the apostolic era engaged in those things (Hebrews 12:3)? Listen to Mary in Luke 1:47, “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour”, admitting that she needed a Saviour, a pointer to the fact of her sinful nature. Paul lamented in Romans 7:13-25 of his problematic, carnal nature, disproving infallibility. How could Peter, whose office the infallible popes occupy, be caught red handed, wallowing in carnality by a younger clergy in Galatians 2:8-20. So where art thy infallibility O! Ye that ne’er saw nor heard from Peter!? Peter was never a pope, the pope was traditionally a Bishop. A bishop was, in apostolic days, appointed by a pastor of a local assembly!
Imagine the sun going to purchase a moon to enable it see its way around the firmament and or for spiritual illumination? Quite absurd! Jesus told us (Christians) that we are the light of the world in Matthew 5:14-16. We are the missing link in the Old Testamental worship. The light they put up in the Jerusalem Temple and in the various synagogues were shadows of the brightness to expect these latter days. Every born again Christian is brighter, by far, than any religious lighted candles!

Candles aiding prayer

The first baptism, if you ask me, was performed on the terra firma, in Genesis 1:2; the earth, we understand was beneath the surface of the deep, ready to be called forth in verse nine. The Spirit of God, on top of the situation, brooded like mother hen on eggs, generating enough divine energy to sustain the lives of those who would conform to the image (i.e. Christ) of the Creator. In the great deluge of Genesis chapter seven, souls, eight of them were saved, proving that God does not enter into a business that will not be profitable: for the Spirit of God is God Himself! This is the reason why this earth will be renovated. How do I know? The word ‘new’ in Revelation 21:1, is the Greek kainos, meaning: ‘new (in its freshness) and not in contrast to age.’ The earth, having been baptized twice is now capable of generating faithful ones of God, who will go through regeneration. A mere proof of belonging to God is what baptism, really, is all about albeit that is not to mean it is a fruitless rite. Going by the gradation in Mark 16:15-18, preaching comes first followed by believing then baptism. Baptism comes once to show its less consequence to believing, which appears thrice, and which is the main element of salvation. Please, do confer: John 3:18, 36; Acts 2:38, 16:30-32; Romans 10:9 & Peter 3:21. Baptism is an act of identifying with His death, burial and resurrection as 1Peter 3:19-22 explains because like Jesus we will also ascend. Infant baptism cannot hold scriptural water. I remember once, when we Householders (the local assembly pastored by Rev. Chris Okotie) went on our customary Saturday evangelism and I asked a teenager whether he would like to get born again he said he was already born again. I asked, like I am wont to, “How do you know you are born again?” He answered, “When I was a newly born baby I was taken to the priest for my naming ceremony and the priest poured holy water on my head and I got born again.” I opened, and asked him to read Romans 10:8-10, and when he finished reading I asked him if he thought a new born baby was intelligent enough, as the scripture clearly states, to go through the spiritual regeneration process. The boy shook his head and said, “No.” I told him, “We can do it well now. Do you want to get born again?” He agreed and I led him in the prayer of salvation. Praise the Lord!

Martin Luther

Huldrych Zwingli

Martin Luther believed in infant baptism (still tied to the umbilical cord). The Catholics teach that the water of baptism is savific (quite erroneous). The student who could not attend the graduation ceremony of his institution because he was being confined in an intensive care unit hospital ward; is he qualified as, and can he perform the duties of a graduate with his first-class upper score or not? Our spirituality is no longer materially displayed in the true sense of it. Anabaptist’s position is that although infant baptism is unscriptural but baptism is a pledge to live without sin (as if the flesh does not make one to falter once in a while – that is not to say I condone its slightest form). I do agree with Zwingli that, ‘such a pledge brings back the hypocrisy of legalism.’ Pentecostal denominations of Deeper Life Bible Church, Apostolic Faith and Redeemed Christian Church of God, to mention a few, believe in Anabaptist’s idea of pledge.

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