The former Pope Benedict XVI passed away at his residence in Vatican city early this morning. He was 95.
The Vatican said in a statement “With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible.”
Benedict XVI famously resigned the papacy in 2013, the first pope since Gregory XII in 1415 to do so. Sadly, there is no purgatory that awaits Benedict, but unless he had a death-bed confession where he renounced the false gospel of the Roman Catholic Church he has spent his whole life in, and led for a decade, he is lost and going to hell.
Canon IX of the Council of Trent, on justification, in which is still the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church today says:
If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema. 1
However, we can see from Scripture that this is doctrine is diametrically opposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in Ephesians 2:8-10.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
God’s word says that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and that our faith results in good works. However, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that both faith and works are necessary for salvation. Both of these cannot be true, so either Scripture is wrong, or the Roman Catholic Church is wrong.
Further, the Roman Catholic Church says that grace is not the free gift of God:
If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favor of God; let him be anathema. 2
But Romans 3:24 says, “…Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Roman Catholicism consistently denies many of the “fundamental doctrines of the faith as revealed in Holy Scripture” in preference of their traditions. Many of their doctrines, such as sacramental, or works-based salvation, idolatrous forms of Mary and Saint veneration, Purgatory, Papal infallibility, and transubstantiation of the Eucharist, just to name a few, are extremely dangerous doctrines that turn people away from the truth of the Scriptures.
The Scriptures clearly and consistently tell us to have nothing at all to do with these false doctrines, rather expose them (Eph 5:11). These false religions are the works of darkness. They are designed by the ultimate deceiver to counterfeit the true Christian faith, and they lead people to Hell.
If Benedict did not recant and repent of them, then only fear, terror and endless suffering awaits him.
We now await to see which SBC leaders and Christian pastors and teachers say otherwise.
