Before we proceed into a discussion on the Seven Bowls of Revelation, we will need to spend a few moments with Francis of Assisi. Aside from Mother Teresa, there is hardly a more sympathetic figure in Roman Catholicism. Modern Protestants and evangelicals often hail him as “one of ours” and for this reason prayers and quotes—rightly or wrongly attributed to him—find their way into Protestant sermons, into church bulletins and onto church marquises. Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Familywrote favorably of “our man” Francis, and Mark Galli of Christianity Today compiled a biography of him, entitled Francis of Assisi and His World. In the book he explains that Francis was
“a complex and contentious man who combined an irradiated mysticism with a very practical Christian commitment and, above all, sought to glorify God as Creator.”
The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.
This week we conclude our series on Baptismal Regeneration in the Early Church. The purpose of this series has been to evaluate Called to Communion‘s attempts to find Baptismal Regeneration in the Early Church Fathers, and we have limited our discussion to a critique of their analysis. We encourage our readers to read the full text of Called to Communion‘s arguments at the link above. Each week in this series we have provided hyperlinks to the Church Fathers where we cite them, so that our readers may read them in their context. We have thus far covered Ignatius of Antioch, Barnabas of Alexandria, the Shepherd of Hermas, Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage, Gregory Thaumaturgus and Pamphilus of Caesarea. Continue reading That He Might Purify the Water, part 6→
The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.
We are now in our fifth week of analyzing Called to Communion‘s efforts to find Baptismal Regeneration in the Early Church Fathers. Thus far, we have covered Ignatius of Antioch, Barnabas of Alexandria, the Shepherd of Hermas, Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus and Origen. We have found in many cases that the Church Father saw the Word, the Holy Spirit, Christ, His Passion or the preaching ministry of the Church as the “laver” of washing, illumination, regeneration, repentance and knowledge, but Called to Communion simply interpreted “the laver” to be the Roman baptismal font, and concluded that the Church Father supported Baptismal Regeneration. We have also seen in several cases that a Church Father was writing or speaking metaphorically about baptism, or in some cases he was talking about something entirely different from baptism, and Called to Communion simply separated the father from his context and placed him in the Baptismal Regeneration column. Continue reading That He Might Purify the Water, part 5→
Ian Paisley (April 6, 1926 – September 12, 2014) understood the truth about Roman Catholicism.
In honor of Ian Paisley, departed but not dead, we here publish his precis of Scottish Presbyterian James Aitken Wylie’s classic, The Papacy is the Antichrist. This was once common knowledge among Protestants, but the passage of time has turned the Church’s opposition to Antichrist into complacency, and in some cases, into complicity. But we stand with Paisley and Wylie in their insistence that “the Papacy … is the perfect CONVERSE of Christ as seen in His life.” Continue reading Ian Paisley is Alive, and at Rest→
The Early Church did not teach Baptismal Regeneration.
We are now in our 4th week of evaluating Called to Communion‘s analysis of the Church Fathers on Baptismal Regeneration. We originally planned to limit this to a four-week series, but we will continue beyond four weeks due to the volume of material.
Thus far, we have seen Called to Communion read Baptismal Regeneration into Ignatius of Antioch and the Shepherd of Hermas, and we have seen them read regenerate baptism out of Barnabas of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian.
To this litany of interpretive errors, Called to Communion adds its mishandling of both Hippolytus and Origen. The former refers to Christ’s Passion as “the laver of washing,” and the latter refers to the Holy Spirit as “the laver of regeneration.” True to form, Called to Communion can only see Baptismal Regeneration whenever the laver is mentioned by a Church Father. But context tells a different story. Continue reading That He Might Purify the Water, part 4→
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