Gospel Reflection For The 4th day of January in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
Mark 1:29-39
29 And immediately going out of the synagogue they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 And Simon's wife's mother lay in a fit of a fever: and forthwith they tell him of her.
31 And coming to her, he lifted her up, taking her by the hand; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. 32 And when it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all that were ill and that were possessed with devils. 33 And all the city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many that were troubled with divers diseases; and he cast out many devils, and he suffered them not to speak, because they knew him. 35 And rising very early, going out, he went into a desert place: and there he prayed.
36 And Simon, and they that were with him, followed after him. 37 And when they had found him, they said to him: All seek for thee. 38 And he saith to them: Let us go into the neighbouring towns and cities, that I may preach there also; for to this purpose am I come. 39 And he was preaching in their synagogues, and in all Galilee, and casting out devils.
An interesting fact that is often overlooked in the Gospels, is that while even Jesus’ own Disciples were not sure of who He was, fully, demons knew exactly who He was. Our Lord forbade the demons to call Him by name in several instances. It is worth pondering because many say that all that is necessary to be saved is to believe in Jesus as Lord. Yet, Jesus says that many will say to Him, “Lord, Lord” and even do great works in His name, but He will reply, “truly, I do not know you” and such persons will be denied Heaven.
For nearly 1500 years, no one denied that more than faith in Jesus is necessary. Then, Martin Luther changed the words of Jesus in his counterfeit Bible. Martin Luther purposefully changed the very Word of God to “faith alone,” allying himself with the Father of Lies who would glibly site scripture to our Lord in the desert, twisting it to his own purpose. Our Lord said that one was saved by faith and by works. As the apostate, Luther, himself stated:
You tell me what a great fuss the Papists are making because the word alone is not in the text of Paul…say right out to him: ‘Dr. Martin Luther will have it so,’…I will have it so, and I order it to be so, and my will is reason enough. I know very well that the word ‘alone’ is not in the Latin or the Greek text (Stoddard J. Rebuilding a Lost Faith. 1922, pp. 101-102; see also Luther M. Amic. Discussion, 1, 127 https://www.cogwriter.com/news/church-history/martin-luther-changed-andor-discounted-18-books-of-the-bible/).
Since the time of Luther, many have claimed that they had personal interpretations of the Bible, guided by the Holy Spirit. They founded their own apostate churches. Now, we have approximately 50,000 Protestant denominations, each of whom disagrees with each other and all of whom disagree with the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Yet, there is still only one, eternal and unchanging truth and one Church guaranteed by God against all error. While I do not doubt the sincerity of Protestant Christians, the simple truth is that they do not have the fullness of the Truth. We know that Satan is the father of lies…. Who but the devil could have could have led Martin Luther so astray that he would lead millions of Christians into division and error?
As Saint Jerome wrote, “A false interpretation of Scripture causes that the Gospel of the Lord becomes the Gospel of man, or, which is worse, of the devil.” ~ St. Jerome.
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.