Purgatory: The Soul Merchandise of the Roman Catholic Church
Persecutors of the Church of Christ mostly Catholics told me that the Church of Christ is not really a religion but a group posing as a religion of Christ aiming to earn money by collecting money from its members.
However, when I joined the Church and actively participated its activities, I learned that this church (Church of Christ) is really the Church founded by Christ and is always doing its best to bring its members to the state worthy to receive the promised Salvation on the day of judgment.
And after learning the truth recorded on the Bible, I realized that the religion of most of the persecutors of the Church of Christ, that is the Roman Catholic Church, is actually the one earning money from its religious businesses which are not taught by Christ and His Apostles. One of these businesses is the "Soul Merchandise" of the Roman Catholic Church which is based on its invented doctrine of Purgatory.
We know that the doctrine of Purgatory is not a biblical dotrine as revealed by Allan Sckreck on his book, "Catholic and Christian", p. 195:
"Scriptures and Christian tradition undoubtedly affirm that heaven and hell exist, but what about that mysterious 'third state' that Catholics and some other Christians call 'Purgatory'. The term itself is not found in the Bible but the same way he said of other important Christian doctrines, such as the terms 'Trinity' and 'Incarnation'.
Since it is not found in the Bible, it is not Christ nor the Apostles taught this doctrine. Then, who introduced this doctrine to the Church? According to Paul Witcomb, this doctrine was received from the early Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church:
"... The primitive Church Fathers regarded the doctrine of Purgatory as one of the basic tenets of the Christian FAith. St. Augustine, one of the greatest doctors of the Church, said the doctrine of Purgatory 'has been received from the Fathers and it is observed by the Universal Church'. True, the word 'Purgatory' does not appear in the Bible..." (Catholic Church Has The Answer, pp. 32-33)
However, it was not immediately made into an official doctrine. It was first proclaimed on 1438. That was hundreds (perhaps thousand) of years after the death of the Apostles. And then after several years, it was confirmed by the Roman Catholic Church as revealed by Loraine Boettner:
"The doctrine was proclaimed an article of faith in 1438, by the Council of Florence and was later confirmed by the Council of Trent, in 1548." (Roman Catholism, p. 229)
Learning this truth made me ask this: For what reason that the Roman Catholic Church invented the doctrine of Purgatory? Is it for the good of the souls of men or for the treasury of the Roman Catholic Church? And another author of the book answered this questions:
"Now the real reason why the Roman Catholic Church borrowed the imaginary purification system from the pagans rested entirely upon a mercenary, money-making scheme that would (and did) enrich the Church. This was one of the things that enraged Martin Luther to the point of nailing his famous '95 Theses' to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg." (My Deliverance From The Heresies of Rome, By Harry Hampel, p. 83)
The very reason is money-making. The doctrine of Purgatory is just for the treasury of the Roman Catholic church.
Of course, Purgatory itself couldn't bring money to the Church. It is done by teaming up the doctrine of Purgatory with another invented doctrine of "Indulgence", which is defined as:
"The practice by which a person could pay money to the church or do a good deed and obtain remission of the temporal punishment due to sin. After the Protestant Reformation, cash no longer became an acceptable way to obtain an indulgence." (religioustolerance.org)
And how does the Bible call this kind of business? Apostle John's book of Revelation call it the "Merchandise of men's soul":