In honor of the indulgence seller Johann Tetzel whose famous jingle “When the coin in the coffer clings a soul from purgatory springs” angered Martin Luther and helped to ignite the Reformation, here is a N Y Times article which demonstrates that buying salvation never went away, it just went Protestant. My friend and student Jeremy Bouma emailed it to me as an example of fideism, but it’s almost too extreme–or it would be if so many weren’t falling for it.
protestant tetzels
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7 responses to “protestant tetzels”
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Apparently Laurie Goodstein and Jonathan Walton haven’t read The Prayer of Jabez or The Life God Blesses. Too bad – they are missing out on their best life now.
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I guess I should have known it was Copeland from that picture on the left. The one shot from behind where you can see those big ole ears of his.
Tragic stuff fleecing the flock like that.
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this infuriates me, not only because it’s being preached, but also because people believe this rubbish!!!!!
Lord come quickly!!
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I think of Tetzel every time I shop at Aldi, when my quarter frees a grocery cart.
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Pam, that is really really funny! 🙂
It just occurred to me on reflection, can we really call these folks “Protestant” in a proper sense of the word? I certainly wouldn’t call them “evangelical” even though the media often do. But do they fit within the Protestant tradition?
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Thanks, Tim! 🙂
I agree… these predatory charlatans have so twisted scripture to make it about material wealth that they have completely missed the real gospel.
How can they be called “protestant” or “evangelical” if they believe the great human need is for salvation from poverty or disease, rather than from sin? And if that’s where they start from, they’re bound to make the wrong conclusions about who Jesus is and why He came.
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Just ridiculous. Some days I throw the remote at them. Other days I don’t even bother.
Mike Wittmer 
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