“Baptismal regeneration--the belief that one becomes a member of the body of Christ through baptism rather than through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ--is a false gospel embraced by many of the major ‘Christian’ denominations. Pope Francis recently stated that Christian baptism not only brings salvation to the sinner, but it is the key to unity with all Christians--Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. In his general audience during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the pope declared that ‘the mercy of God, which works in baptism, is stronger than our divisions’ (Catholic News Agency, ‘Pope Francis: For Christians, Baptism Is Stronger Than Differences,’ Jan. 20, 2016). According to the pope, baptism creates ‘an indissoluble bond between us Christians, such that, by virtue of baptism, we can consider ourselves truly brothers.’ The CNA report described how the pope pointed to a 12th century baptismal font in the Lutheran Cathedral of Riga in Latvia and said the font signals the origin of faith recognized by all Christians which ‘is our common baptism.’ The culprit for disunity, according to the pope, is ‘egoism, which plants seeds of division, closure, and contempt in our minds and hearts.’ Christians today need to understand--especially as evangelicals continue to laud the pope and strive for unity with Rome--that the false gospel of baptismal regeneration embraced and propagated by the Roman Catholic Church is truly a damnable heresy. Baptism is simply an ordinance to be practiced by those who have already trusted in Christ as Savior--an outward testimony of one’s relationship with God. And it should be noted that ‘egoism’ does not create division in the church--false doctrine does! God’s Word commands believers to not only separate from false doctrine and those who practice it, but it commands Christians to ‘earnestly contend’ for the faith and warn about the ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ who attempt to destroy the flock and draw away disciples after themselves.” Matt Costella, Fundamental Evangelistic Association, Jan. 26, 2016 Comments are closed.
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