MARTIN LUTHER

BANNER

LETTER 55:
LUTHER AGAINST CHRIST

Mr. James ----------. FRIEND:---The letter from the pen of Rev. William R. Morgan, Pastor of the Lutheran Church of Annison, Alabama, you culled from "Look Magazine," evidences the fact that the Protestant mind is confusion---confounded when dealing with the Catholic Church. For instance, his assumption that the "differences between Protestants and Catholics are political and social rather than religious" is contrary to historic fact and right reasoning. The differences I have found to be basically religious. They stem from the historic fact that the Catholic Church is the one and the only Christ-instituted governing, teaching and shriving spiritual society; whereas the various Lutheran churches, like all the other Protestant churches, are man-made spiritual societies.

To appreciate the falsity, aye inanity, of the Lutheran Minister's concept, one must bear in mind the historic fact that Christ established a VISIBLE CHURCH, a Church that stands out in the world like "a city on a mountain" (St. Matt. 5:14). It was not an "INVISIBLE," an abstract Church made up of 22 different kinds of Lutheran churches, and the hundreds of other Protestant churches, who are one in one thing only, profession of belief in Christ, while they are at logger-heads with each other as to the teachings of Christ. The Church that Christ established was to be one universally, doctrinally, and worshipfully, as is the Catholic Church, and she only. It was foretold by Christ to be an authoritative Church, which was to endure from the first to the last Christian century.

That Church of Christ's making was composed in the beginning of the Apostles, the Twelve, of whom one, Simon-Peter, was to exercise supreme Christ-delegated authority. That Church can be traced historically, as we Catholics know, from the present occupant of the Chair of Peter, Pope Pius XII, back through over nineteen centuries to its original occupant, Peter.

If the mentality of that Alabama Lutheran Minister were not darkened by his inherited and acquired anti-Catholicity, he and his fellow-Lutherans, would realize that our Catholic Church, the Church under the universal direction of the occupant of the Chair of Peter, is the Christ-established teaching body whenever they and their congregation recite the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds; which were formulated and proclaimed by the bishops of the Catholic Church, after being submitted and confirmed by the occupants of the Chair of Peter. If it were not for the Lutheran anti-Catholic spirit, they would have realized that when they changed the Apostles Creed to read "I believe in the Holy Christian (in place of the Holy Catholic) church."

The declaration of the "Look Magazine" writer that the "power of the (Catholic) hierarchy being religious" enables it "to compel blind obedience in other areas of life," is somewhat analogous to designating as "blind obedience" our submission, as Americans, to the power of our political hierarchy, the U. S. Supreme Court, in matters of a Constitutional nature as related to almost all areas of our life. The power of the Catholic hierarchy stems from the Christ-delegated authority in matters of faith and morals, recorded in the New Testament; while the power of our political hierarchy stems from the Founding Fathers, as recorded in the Constitution. In neither case can submission to supreme authority be rightly designated "blind obedience."
 
The Anti-Catholic ministerial gentleman rightly declared, that "if the religious power were destroyed the entire Roman Catholic system would fall apart at the seams." BUT, and it is a big But, the destruction of that power is impossible; as it is Christ Jesus functioning through His Mystical Body, the Catholic Church. Surely the failure of Martin Luther, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and Protestant ministerial attempts to destroy that "religious power," evidences its indestructibility. The failure to cause the "Roman Catholic system to fall apart at the seams" is due to the promise of Christ, that "the gates of Hell" would not succeed in their endeavors to prevail against His Church.

Surely it is not within the province of any Lutheran to charge the "persecution of Protestants" to Catholics, as does Rev. Morgan, considering that Protestantism stemmed from persecution. The story of the "Peasants' War"; and the vicious assault upon the Jews of Germany, are sufficient to prove that persecution and Luther, the father of the 16th century Deformation, are historically synonymous.
Luther threw his lot in with the German princes. He counseled them to "slaughter the peasants like dogs," whom he had incited to revolt. The result was the death of about a hundred thousand of those peasants who desired social justice. Finding that the Jews did not line up with him, Luther called for the burning of Jewish synagogues, schools and homes, declaring "what will not burn, bury with earth, that neither stone or rubbish remain, ... forbid their rabbis to teach on pain of life and limb."

That a Church claiming to be Christian should function under the name of Luther amazes me, considering the vulgarity, unmercifulness, and immorality he personified. Here is a hair-raising blasphemy, which emanated from the pen of Luther, recorded in his "Table Talk" which is enough to make a discerning Christian classify him with Lucifer, viz:---"Christ committed adultery first of all with the woman at the well about whom St. John tells us. Was not everybody about Him saying 'Whatever has He been doing with her?' Secondly, with Mary Magdalen, and thirdly with the woman taken in adultery whom He dismissed so lightly. Thus even Christ, Who was so righteous, must have been guilty of fornication before He died."
 
Luther's vulgarity, which he personified, was expressed in the declaration that one can no more "escape unchastity, than he can remove mountains ..."; that "they are fools who attempt to overcome temptations by fasting, prayer, and chastisement. For such temptations and immoral attacks are easily overcome when there are plenty of maidens and women." I beg pardon for quoting such viciousness and immorality. My excuse for so doing is the desire to furnish you with some of the requested evidence, and arguments, I have used to counteract such bigotry as was expressed in "Look Magazine" by the Alabama ministerial enemy of our Church.


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