According to Rome, grace is works and works are grace. Rome, the NPP, and the FV teach that “the works of the law” refers to keeping the Mosaic laws. Nonsense. Paul makes it clear in Rom 11:6 that regarding acceptance with God grace and works are competing principles. When Paul says “works of the law” here he’s referring to a competing principle. That’s why he goes to faith.

The UK Guardian reported yesterday that Rome has reached a new low in reaching out to the Romanist equivalent of low-information voters. Low-sanctity penitents perhaps? Rome is now offering plenary indulgences to Romanists who follow Pope Francis’ tweets from Catholic Youth Day in Rio beginning July 22. This offer is a concession to those who cannot afford to fly to Rio. According to the Guardian, the Vatican says, “…you must be following the events live. It is not as if you can get an indulgence by chatting on the internet.”

What are “indulgences”? you ask. Roman canon law (church order) defines them thus:

An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.

There is more on the history of indulgences here.

The very existence of indulgences depends on the prior notion that the church has power to assign acts of penance. The great difficulty with this notion is that the Apostle Peter did not say, “do penance” but “repent” (Acts 2:38). Rome, however, teaches confession, contrition, and satisfaction. Penance is not the same as the biblical doctrine of “repentance,” i.e., the acknowledging of sin for what it is, turning from it, and turning to Christ in faith. No, an act of penance (i.e, an act of satisfaction) is said by Rome to have “propitiatory” value. Worse, according to John Paul II, one’s whole life must be an act of penance. By “propitiatory” Rome is claiming that our acts have the power to turn away divine wrath and to bring acceptance with God.

Ordinarily, Romanists don’t complete all their acts of penance. In that case they are piling up years in purgatory, i.e., temporal punishments.

A “plenary indulgence” is a complete release of all the “temporal punishments” accumulated to date. It’s an opportunity to start over and, in this instance, all one has to do is to follow every one of the Holy Father’s tweets from Rio. Order to take advantage of this one-time only offer (call now before midnight! Don’t wait. The clock is running. Operators are standing by.)

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