Founder of the Reformation of the Church, Martin Luther was correct and right that indulgences in the old Catholic system--by which paying for dead loved one's salvations endabled those souls to spend less time in purgatorial torments and enter heaven sooner--was utterly wrong and wholly unscriptural. Such indulgences did no good whatsoever, except relieve the worry and fear of survivors about their loved ones suffering in purgatory, which does not exist, scripturally, but which they were taught existed by untrained priests who did not even know the Bible or have the Bible. It is true the Devil creates nothing new, but can only counterfeit God's things. So it is that he counterfeited the very means by which we can bless our loved ones after they have passed into heaven (not purgatory) by the grace alone of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for them, which they had gained while alive by exercising faith in Jesus and choosing him to live in their hearts as Lord and Savior.
God repeatedly commanded His people to set up memorials (whether stones, or shrines, or altars with sacrifices on them) so that the coming generation would know the great things that God had done in the past for them (and by inference, would continue faithfully to do in the future provided they the younger generation would keep the faith of their fathers alive in their own lives and conduct). We cannot read the Old Testament without encountering the numerous times God commanded these memorials, and the people obeyed, yet they did not continue telling about them, and the younger generations evenually knew nothing and then abandoned God and turned heathen, to suffer the terrible consequences God warned them about from the very time they left Egypt under Moses's leadership.
Creating memorials is always a godly and necessary thing to the people of God, Jewish or Gentile. Hebrews 11:21-22: "By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel [from Egypt], and gave instruction concerning his bones."
These blessings did not end with the Patriarchs, nor did they end with their sons and children, but they continued on, as we know from the Bible history, to the later generations, extending thousands of years, and Israel was blessed so much it grew to become the greatest nation on earth under David and Solomon. When the Jewish people turned forgetful of God and turned to heathen gods, they lost all that
greatness and became enslaved, beaten and oppressed by their many enemies. But that was their choice, not God's, for them. If they had only heeded their memorials, heeded the Word of God they had written down for them, heeded the calls of the prophets, they could have been spared all those tribulations and continued to enjoy God's great blessings, first pronounced by their patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and confirmed by God Almighty himself in holy covenant with the Patriarchs.
A grateful receiver is a generous giver. Here is a way to express your
thankfulness to
God for his grace and salvation, and his gift of life eternal in Heaven with Him and all the saints of God--the Heritage Center on Plain View Farm. Not one memorial will be wasted. It will have an eternal consequence, and its fruit will be visible, both now and in heaven. Know that God will mark it down with a golden pen on a tablet of gold, and your loved ones will receive the blessing along with yourself. That is trulysomething to rejoice in! God
is truly such a good God. The Lord God commanded memorials, not for His sake, but for ours. WE NEEDED THEM. God never forgets, but we frail human beings and sheep of His flock are always tending to forget God's mighty deeds and his innumerable acts of goodness toward us. That forgetfulness leads to dire consequences eventually for us. So memorials are chiefly for our sake and the honor of God's Holy Name in the midst of His people, and he instituted them for that very reason and purpose. So, brethren, friends of God, descendants by faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let us offer up our gifts for His work with grateful hearts, full of joy!
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