“The faithful ought to be instructed, not ruled by fear.”
Martin Bucer
Ravi Zacharias was a gifted speaker and evangelist who was exposed a number of years ago as a sexual abuser. He was one of the world's most respected Christian apologists, a man able to debate almost anyone on the truths of the Bible and win. Yet, despite being an incredibly gifted pastor, he led a double life. Reports now made public show that he told his victims that they were his 'reward' for serving God faithfully. In doing so, Ravi intertwined his personal lusts and desires with spiritual legitimacy. In effect, Ravi invoked the idea of salvation or divine favor to coerce compliance with his personal desires. One victim recounted how Ravi would make her pray with him to thank God for the 'opportunity' they both received. Ravi further warned his victims that if they spoke out against him, they would be responsible for the 'millions of souls' whose salvation would be lost if his reputation was damaged. He would reference the 'godly men' in the Bible who had more than one wife to justify his behavior.
Similar to Ravi, Mike Bickle used his charisma, 'perceived' gift of prophecy, and his spiritual authority to manipulate and control his victims. Mike would leverage the 'Bridal Paradigm' teaching to foster inappropriate sexual connections. Reports indicate that Bickle used promises or threats concerning salvation to manipulate his victims into believing that somehow his desires were aligned with God's necessary will or for the victims' own spiritual journey. Like Ravi, Mike believed his manipulation was merited because of his own value to God's eternal Kingdom purposes. Today, victims await several independent investigations to finally see the beginnings of justice in what has been a messy and heartbreaking failure of leadership.
I wish these two leaders were the only ones… but alas, that is not the case! There have been a number of other failures recently, as we have all seen, even as Christian television conglomerate Daystar is seeing its attempts at manipulation and message control exposed through numerous public reports.
One thing that is consistent in most of these cases of obvious abuse is the use of the keys of salvation in controlling and manipulating a specific response. An incorrect response that opposes the authority of the 'organization' is opposed in such a way that challenges the very salvation of those who dare to question the leadership. Of course, this isn’t something Protestants alone struggle with…
In May of 2024, the Vatican issued a decree listing the ways in which Catholic Christians can acquire a Plenary Indulgence during the Jubilee year 2025. Link here.
What is a plenary indulgence? Below is a quote from the Vaticans website:
“a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin.
The indulgence applies to sins already forgiven. A plenary indulgence cleanses the soul as if the person had just been baptized. Plenary indulgences obtained during the Jubilee Year can also be applied to souls in purgatory”
One would think based on current Vatican announcement and RC church culture that indulgences were instituted by the apostle Peter himself. In reality however the first “indulgence” was issued in 1095 by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, where he announced the First Crusade. Prior to this the Church did have practices centred around penance and commutation, but no formal practice of leveraging works or finances to acquire salvation.
With charisma and fire, in a well documented speech from several sources, Pope Urban II launched the Church into the business of selling salvation. Here is a partial quote I found:
“All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested.”
It is documented that upon hearing Pope Urban's rousing speech, the crowd responded enthusiastically with chants of 'God wills it! God wills it!' The resulting military attack on Jerusalem was brutal; the crusaders lost many lives. The brutality of their attacks on even women and children still reverberates through generations in the Middle East today. It is estimated that up to 70,000 Jerusalem inhabitants—both civilians and soldiers—were violently killed and that at least 3,000 crusaders died in this bloody massacre, which was done in the name of Christ. The inhabitants in the area in 1099 had only this one 'good thing' to say of the cross-bearing intruders: at least these intruders do not rape our women.
The Era of Indulgences had begun, and now the Papal office had a means with which to ensure unwavering support for Rome and the office of the Pope whenever it was needed. Biblical illiteracy created a powerful vacuum that the RC Church leadership, heavily influenced by political interests, was ready to abuse.
There were indulgences for pilgrimage to holy sites, works of service to the local church, for the dead, and for building projects. If someone you loved died without salvation, you could physically 'purchase' forgiveness of sins! For hundreds of years, the people were abused and led to believe that they could financially purchase heaven through the 'authority' of the Church.
There was opposition! Like today's opponents of spiritual abuse in the previously mentioned Mike Bickle and Ravi Zacharias abuse scandals, there were godly men and women who stood against the heretical practice and saw the abuse and utter spiritual bankruptcy of the Church leadership. These reformers experienced varying degrees of opposition, some lost their lives in their efforts to remind the Church that salvation was not 'managed' by the Church. The truth is that there has always been corrupted leaders who love the “idea” of Christianity more than Christ himself, and there has also always been a true “church” who has called out for holiness, godliness, grace and relationship with Christ that results in forgiveness of sins on Christ alone.
Peter Damian (1007-1072):
Leading up to the first indulgence, Peter wrote in his “De divina omnipotentia” (On Divine Omnipotence) work which discusses the limits of divine power by clergy:
“For who in fact seeks the salvation of souls through indulgences, and not instead money for his coffers? This is evident from the way indulgences are preached.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153):
In his sermon entitled “In Conversione S. Pauli, Sermon 1, sect. 3”, Bernard states ““Non est jam dicere, ‘Ut populus, sic sacerdos’; quia nec si populus, ut sacerdos.” (One cannot now say, “As the people, so the priest”; for the truth is that the people are not so bad as the priest.)”
Arnold of Brescia (1090-1155):
Arnold was known for his opposition to the Church wealth and Corruption and believed that the Church should be poor, as was Christ, and that it should not amass wealth or sell spiritual benefits.
Peter Waldo (1140–1205 or 1218):
“The Bible should be available to all in their own language, for it is the true source of faith and not the decrees of men.”
Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498):
From a sermon he stated “The Church is in need of a reform, not of riches but of morals, not of indulgences but of virtue.”
John Wycliffe (1328-1384):
John stated “It is plain to me that our prelates, in granting indulgences, do commonly blaspheme the wisdom of God.”
William of Ockham (1287-1347):
“The authority of the Pope is not absolute but is limited by the law of God and the natural law.”
Jan Hus (1372-1415):
Jan was put to death for his opposition to Church authority. We have numerous quotes by him but here is one.
“The indulgences of the Church are an invention of covetous Priests.”
Then came Martin Luther, often considered the man who started the reformation said this: “The pope does well when he grants remission to souls in purgatory, not by the power of the keys (which he does not possess), but by way of intercession.” (Thesis 26).
“The whole business of indulgences is a swindle, by which the priests defraud the people both of money and salvation.”
John Calvin
Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 5
The history of indulgences is a long, sordid story with high body counts and many lives destroyed. RC Church defenders say that there has been an uninterrupted line of authorized representatives of God in the Papal chair, but in doing so, they endorse the obvious heresy and utter moral failings of that 'Godly' representation.
This idea that somehow the 'pastor', 'bishop', or 'pope' owns keys to salvation comes from an obscure understanding of Matthew 16:18-19, where Jesus told his disciples, 'And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
I've mentioned this several times in past posts - whenever you see something in scripture that looks out of place, ask questions. Here as well we see 'you are Peter, and upon this rock'... what rock? Peter? Was Christ establishing a papal foundation? If this were true, then Jesus would be lying - though he cannot lie. We know from history (even looking at the previous paragraphs here) that some of the papal leaders were apostate.
So what was Jesus referring to?
Which rock?
Let’s look earlier where this piece of the conversation is revealed:
“Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Upon what rock? Upon the confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of the Living God!!
These leaders, whether they are Popes, Bishops, Pastors, Parachurch Ministry Leaders, TV Preachers, or Prayer Warriors have ZERO authority over your salvation. ZERO.
They are men and women just like you - awaiting the day that the Son reappears and judges the living and the dead. They cannot control your eternal destiny; the church cannot grant you a plenary indulgence for any activity. You cannot gain forgiveness of ANY sins by money, action, or sacrifice of any kind!
Such beliefs open the door to the worst abuse cultures. In John 4:6, Jesus says “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”. In Acts 4:12 we are told “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”. In Romans 10:9 we hear “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”. In Ephesians 2:8-9 we read “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.”. 1 Timothy 2:5 reminds us “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”. Again and again, we are reminded in scripture that our salvation rests not in our capacity to obey church elders, any elders, but in our faith and confession of Christ!
Jesus warned leaders like the ones we discussed earlier including those who add pathways to salvation for their personal gratification… “woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”
It is time for the Church to reject leaders who add pathways to salvation. We must live our lives submitted to Christ alone. He will not lead us nor ask us to act immorally, abuse others, or be unfaithful to our married partners. If your church teaches that its leadership has some kind of authority over your salvation - LEAVE. It is Christ who holds the keys to heaven - not the gatekeepers, and Hebrews 10 says we can come boldly before the throne of grace directly.
Rise up, Church!
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