The reward for such as continue to do this despite very very many rebuttals, rebukes and opening of the Scripture to these people is evident to any who even casually read their Bible, perhaps it may even be evident to those concerned.

Excuse a brief post from someone whose schedule permits only sporadic and then brief visits to these columns.

On the topic of indwelling sin in the believer a short but effective (to the saved) treatment of this can be found in AW Pink's booklet "The Christian In Romans 7".
Personally I have profited from this little work, as have those I know who have also read it (who are saved). Of course there are weightier texts that are most valuable and indeed more valuable but this is brief, pithy and searching as AWP tends to be.

"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7 v 24)

It's not a popular message in this day of "feeling good about yourself".
This is probably not a popular post to put up on Christmas Day....

As western church leaders hold debates on "gay rights" etc etc, our Chinese brethren increasingly have the Scriptures available to them.
The Words of life to the sinner like me.

About five years ago in a country adjacent to China,an American pastor friend commented to me "Patrick, the torch has passed on" in reference to the decadence of much of the western church compared to the hunger for God's word that is so apparent in many parts of Asia.

This can only be extremely disappointing for the BBC, who carried out the survey. They must be questioning the effectiveness or otherwise of their decades of neo- marxist atheistic propaganda. I almost feel sorry for them

Of course if you have been led by this man and other RC "teachers" to bow down to a piece of bread as to the God of the universe, to venerate images, to worship Allah etc etc, then there must be a certain apprehension of "fiery indignation". So how reassuring it is to know about purgatory, and that a visit to the shrine of the Godess will even clear you from this.

Lance Eccles wrote:
Patrick, regarding the word "saint", it's used in the RCC in two slightly different senses.
1. Members of the Communion of Saints: (a) those who have died and been saved + (b) those faithful members of the Church who are still on earth. Unlike the Reformed view, the RCC view is that (b) can lose their status through their sins.
2. In a special sense, those to whom the title "Saint" has been given by the Church to indicate their great virtue when they were alive.

Your definition, which I vaguely remember from having been brought up in the RCC, sounds good but as you and everyone else knows has some very serious problems in practice.

God says He will not give His glory to another, yet the RCC encourages a system of what are virtually demigods to which RC's pray and have devotion. There is even a Godess who is able to influence or even cause salvation. In some places, just the statues of these "saints" are venerated. In this respect the RCC differs little from Hinduism.

I asked you the questions because of a necessity of having an appropriate fear of Him, as this is the beginning of wisdom. Also please refer to Mt 12 v 37 about words.

I appreciate your sentiments about people having "exemplary lives" and do not wish to denigrate that laudable ethic.
However, can the RCC be certain that people really did live such lives?
To "know" that a particular person is definitely in heaven? Is this not to pretend to have the Mind of God?

Lance Eccles wrote:
Well, at least, of people acting in the name of the Roman Catholic Church -- or else of people ignoring its teachings.
Being a church for sinners, naturally you'll find sinners in it.
As for me, while the big sinners are interesting, the countless saints that the Catholic Church has produced (beginning with Mary and the Apostles) are more relevant.