The Council of Trent (Latin: Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento, in northern Italy), was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation.
— Wikipedia
The Council of Trent denied the elemental truth that it’s sin for man’s soul to possess an innate propensity for evil (e.g. lust). The council specified that sin becomes sin when man chooses to give in to the aforementioned evil (e.g., to give into lust). In other words, the low watermark for sin was distinctly and purposely raised to a level above where God demands His creatures recognize it to be (where it actually is). This one lie gave birth to a multitude of false doctrines that have plagued so-called “Christianity” for centuries (I place quotes around the term Christianity here because false religion, such as Catholicism, and Biblical religion are fundamentally different).
In effect, what the Council of Trent accomplished was the undermining of the very substance by which God the Holy Spirit uses to convict man with the Gospel. For example, the Gospel call requires repentance. But what is there to repent from if a person can, with this false presupposition about sin, by their own means and power, at any time, choose to stop being sinful? In other words, if the power to rectify enmity rests in the creature, what cause is there to reach out in humility to the Creator for grace/mercy? This is precisely why almost every practicing Catholic I’ve ever met believes that they can be “good enough” to please God and “make it to Heaven.” The genesis of this perverted hope is the inevitable result of the great error the Council of Trent held up as truth.
We are born sinful. We do not become sinful as a result of choosing to follow the evil tendencies that we are born with. To believe otherwise is to destroy the impetus of the Gospel call. If we believe that our personal sinning is the only reason we need a Savior, then we must also include the balance statement that follows logically; that is, if we stop sinning, as a function of our free will, we cease needing His salvation, being able to provide it for ourselves.
The Bible is essentially one big Gospel call. Every historical account, every feature, every doctrine conveyed points to one thing - man’s utter depravity and God’s salvation plan. Everything written in the Bible supports and directs our attention to this one end. So, it makes perfect sense that the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) subverts knowledge of fallen man’s plight, which is to say that “the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:11). Undermine the basic truth about man’s sinful nature and the Gospel becomes a “different gospel” calling for “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4). Here’s the simple truth:
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
— Psalm 51:5
Jesus has taught us to judge a tree by its fruit. Setting aside for a moment all the nuances of discerning good and bad fruit, the principle is very simple. If the fruit is sinful, then so is the tree (e.g., if sin is sinful, then so is the sinner).
Beware of the false prophets [those who teach false doctrines, like the aforementioned one established at the Council of Trent], who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
So then, you will know them by their fruits.
— Matthew 7:15-20
Jesus established this truth through examples recorded in the Bible. “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). The Apostle John wrote, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). The Bible clearly states that it is what comes forth from the heart that defiles man. “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9)? How does one honestly, objectively propose that God is pleased with such a condition??? The fact is that He isn’t, at all; and this condition exists prior to personal sin being accounted for in the life of a person.
And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
— Mark 7:20-23
Sin is self-preserving; therefore, sinners seek to preserve the condition in which they were born, lusting after things that elevate the flesh. Being predisposed this way to sinfulness, being blind, being wholly incapable of seeing the Truth about themselves means that they will invent ways of saving themselves from whatever watered-down version of human depravity it is they cling to. The fruit of their bad tree is a watered-down gospel. Such is the gospel of contemporary Catholicism and any other false religion that supposes man isn’t quite as depraved as God says he is. In fact, it’s often the case that false religions are the most vocal in their disregard for God, though they propose themselves spiritual benefactors, appealing to the collective flesh of the world to gain approval/momentum. They are deceivers who hate the Biblical precepts of God, yet propound goodness and love.
He who hates disguises it with his lips,
But he lays up deceit in his heart.
— Proverbs 26:24
You might be saying, “Geesh, Ed, aren’t you splitting hairs and taking this a little far here? Aren’t we supposed to be advocating love and forgiveness and such?” The absolute answer is, “No," I am not taking this too far. In fact, I lament in my prayer life that I don’t do enough to fight the good fight. In what relatively little impact I feel I’ve had as a pastor I feel like a relic, an old warrior from ancient times, a man desperately clinging to Biblical truth that has all but been defecated on by mainstream “Christianity.” I ache whenever the Spirit instructs me to communicate about this stuff because it forces me to stand in front of something vile that is being upheld on a grand scale, and - I cringe having to write this - in the name of Jesus Christ.
If a man has one hundred lusts in a day and consents or yields to none of them, it doesn’t mean he isn’t a sinner. Lust is the result of man being polluted by sin. The ever-popular, though intrinsically evil, doctrine that sin is only sin when it bears overt fruit would confound Jesus, Himself, for He is the One who stated that a sinful tree is the root cause for sinful fruit.
The tree isn’t saved from its fruit; rather, it is the tree that requires saving.
Every false religion has this wrong, thus sabotaging the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are to fulfill the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20), we mustn’t be deceived by the lies so prominently propagated by today’s “Christianity.” “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
— Ephesians 4:20-24
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins
