Please allow me to share with you a heartfelt letter from a most sincere Catholic young man, who has a strong desire to learn and share the Truth of God:

"I was baptized, given first communion, confirmed, and raised Roman Catholic. I am now 21 years old and am sad and angry that I have been lied to by our Mother Church. I grieve that the Church has caused a wedge to be placed between me and my mother, who is sincerely devoted to the Church. My whole family takes comfort in being Catholic instead of being found in Christ without blemish—solely resting on the Gospel of God through Christ instead of their own good works.

My mother believes I am just trying to "make her mad," when I speak of my discomfort with the Church. Her blindness grieves me deeply; I wish we could be as close in the Truth of God as we are emotionally. I have given her ten years to show me "Why Catholic?" now it is my turn to respectfully ask her, "Why Catholic?" Her only answer is, "That's how I {Mom} was raised."

I want to, and in the fear of God need to say, I hate the Catholic Church because of how It has polluted our minds with error and self-righteousness. I will continue to love and honor my poor Catholic mom, but will also continue to entreat her with the true confession of faith given through Martin Luther—monk, priest, and prophet of the living God. He was Catholic, but was excommunicated because of his defense of the very Word of God. He zealously and humbly tried to reform the Church, but it would not be reformed in heart, soul, and spirit. It was and is afraid of the Truth of God and fights against It, as does my mother.

Never in my life have I even been so afraid and humbled by God the way I am now. Never in all my years of being Catholic have I ever had all my questions answered until I was introduced to Martin Luther. I never would have believed how blind and how deprived I was of God's Word until I read Martin Luther.

I once was a proud Catholic; had all the "PRIDE" and "ARROGANCE" that went along with it, such as having all eyes on me as I walked up to the altar—I was most impressed with myself! I am now ashamed of myself for taking such pleasure in serving God. How stupid and foolish I was for believing that serving my Catholic Church would be a pass into heaven. May God have mercy one me, for I repent from my heart and now seek to have my faith founded only on Christ and the true meaning of His Word as taught by Martin Luther."

Brian

May 3, 2001

There are many things I could say, but could not speak to your heart more effectively than Brian has just done. I will only leave you with this quote from Martin Luther: "They themselves know that our doctrine is correct, and yet they want to exterminate it. Thus a great Nicholas bishop, Matthew Lang, archbishop of Salzburg, declared in Augsburg that he could tolerate it if everyone believed as they do in Wittenberg with Luther; but what he could not tolerate was that such a doctrine should originate in and emanate from such a remote nook and corner. What do you think? Are those not fine episcopal words? The papal legate, Cardinal Campeggio, confessed similarly that he could easily accept such a teaching. However, this would establish a bad precedent, and one would then have to accord other nations and kingdoms the same privilege, which would be out of the question. Another important bishop declared of their scholars: "Our scholars do a fine job of defending us. They themselves concede that our cause is not based on Scripture." Thus they are well aware that our doctrine is not wrong, but that it is founded on the Scriptures. Yet they condemn us arbitrarily and try to exterminate this doctrine in contravention of divine law and truth.

O all you unfortunate people who sided with the pope at Augsburg! All your descendants will forever have to be ashamed of you." (Luther's Works, Volume 47, p. 20-21)

Even Brian has had to bear this shame 500 years later. How long will you continue to give birth to this same shame?

Timothy Vance
www.askluther.com

May 3, 2001