New Religion Appears: Roman Catholicism

Then, a new religion showed up: Roman Catholicism. They did many evil things that contradicted the Bible:

• They said they had a man, the Pope, who could speak for God with the infallibility of Jesus or prophets.
• They taught a version of salvation based on a mix of faith and works we did instead of trusting in what Jesus did. Sacraments are an example.
• They treated Mary and specific people like gods by praising them, praying to them, and venerating them.
• They restricted access to the Word of God. They burned alive Tyndale for trying to make an English Bible for the common people.
• During the Inquisitions, they tortured and murdered many people. Corrupt Protestants have committed similar atrocities, though.
• They charged money for indulgences. They claimed they could forgive your sins on behalf of God, wanted money for it, and even demanded the poor pay for forgiveness.
• They justified every change by putting what mere men said above the Word of God. They still do this today.

Like in the Bible, God sent a man to warn them to repent. Martin Luther was a Catholic priest. He protested selling indulgences for money. Reading the Word of God, he also re-discovered that we're saved by faith in Christ alone. He tried to reform the Catholic Church. Pope Leo X condemned and excommunicated him.

Luther and others formed Protestantism to return to the Word of God as sole authority on life. They said we're saved by faith in Christ. They also started putting the Word of God into the hands of common people. Protestants taught them theology, too. The Catholic Church tried to stop all of this but God made the real Gospel spread like a wildfire.

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