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Calvin on the True Church and its Marks

 

"Just as a body without a soul is but a carcass, so the church deprived of the Word of God is but a chaos...Since our Lord has chosen us as his flock, we must take care to have what is shown to us in this passage, namely that we are persevering in the apostles' teaching, that we are united with one another in love and brotherly affection, and that we employ the sacraments rightly, and invoke God with one heart and one mind. When those features are present, we can confidently say we have a church such as God requires. So then, let people think what they will of us. Let them call us 'heretics.' Let the pope anathematize us to his heart's content as being separated from the church. We must nonetheless truly acknowledge that the church of God is none other than the one I have described, and that God is pleased with it and approves of it. Let them say what they will about us. It is enough that we have what God commands and that we know the church consists of those things. The more we are obliged to be deeply engaged in finding strength in the teaching of God and profiting from it day by day, in continuing in fellowship with one another in genuine love, in invoking the name of the Lord, and celebrating the sacraments truly and rightly, the more we realize that this is God's church. It is true the pope's church looks like the church, but if you take a good look at it, you will find nothing founded on the Word of God." 


What was and largely remains true of the Roman Catholic Church today, has become equally true of a lot of our Evangelical and so-called Protestant Churches, who now protest almost nothing except those who stand for righteousness, come what may. Our fog machines and light shows are our new sacraments to our God of entertainment, which is just the new black magic of the Devil that the old black magic of the Roman Catholic Church's mysteries have long deceived the masses, with their popish masses.  

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