With all the revisionist history going on today and “Protestant” evangelicalism’s sordid lust affair with Roman Catholic mystics and their Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism this short post here at Apprising Ministries is to draw to your attention to the fact that Martin Luther himself considered Roman Catholicism apostate.

And, um, to put it that way is actually being kind. Here’s an example of what Luther said:

Since the papal church not only neglects the command of Christ but even compels the people to ignore it and to act against it, it is certain that it is not Christ’s church but the synagogue of Satan which prescribes sin and prohibits righteousness. It clearly and indisputably follows that it must be the abomination of Antichrist and the furious harlot of the devil. (What Luther Says, II: 1019)

What kind of a church is the pope’s church? It is an uncertain, vacillating and tottering church. Indeed, it is a deceitful, lying church, doubting and unbelieving, without God’s Word. For the pope with his wrong keys teaches his church to doubt and to be uncertain. If it is a vacillating church, then it is not the church of faith, for the latter is founded upon a rock, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it (Matt.16:18). If it is not the church of faith, then it is not the Christian church, but it must be an unchristian, anti-Christian, and faithless church which destroys and ruins the real, holy, Christian church. (Luther’s Works, vol. 40, Church and Ministry II, The Keys, p.348)

You can read more of what Martin Luther had to say about the Roman Catholic Church over at A Christian Witness To Roman Catholics. And in contradistinction to the sappy sentimentality passing as preaching in the Christian Church today consider the following from John MacArthur at Pulpit Magazine:

It is interesting to speculate what the church would be like today if Martin Luther had been prone to compromise. The pressure was heavy on him to tone down his teaching, soften his message, stop poking his finger in the eye of the papacy. Even many of his friends and supporters urged Luther to come to terms with Rome for the sake of harmony in the church. Luther himself prayed earnestly that the effect of his teaching would not be divisive.

When he nailed his 95 Theses to the door, the last thing he wanted to do was split the church.

Yet sometimes division is fitting, even healthy, for the church. Especially in times like Luther’s—and like ours—when the visible church seems full of counterfeit Christians, it is right for the true people of God to declare themselves. Compromise is sometimes a worse evil than division… (Online source) 

See also:

THE DECEIVERS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM

HAS THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH REALLY CHANGED?

ROMAN CATHOLICISM: A FALSE HOPE IS NO HOPE AT ALL

CHARLES SPURGEON ON ROMAN CATHOLICISM: “A VAST MOUNTAIN OF RUBBISH COVERING THE TRUTH.”

DR. WALTER MARTIN SPEAKS ON THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH