Lucas Banzoli is a very active Brazilian anti-Catholic polemicist, who holds to basically a Seventh-day Adventist theology, whereby there is no such thing as a soul that consciously exists outside of a body, and no hell (soul sleep and annihilationism). He has a Master’s degree in theology, a degree and postgraduate work in history, a license in letters, and is a history teacher, author of 27 self-published books, as well as blogmaster for six blogs. He has many videos on YouTube.
This is my 67th refutation of Banzoli’s writings. From 25 May until 12 November 2022 he wrote not one single word in reply, claiming that my articles were “without exception poor, superficial and weak” and that “only a severely cognitively impaired person” would take them “seriously.” Nevertheless, he found them so “entertaining” that after almost six months of inaction he resolved to “make a point of rebutting” them “one by one”; this effort being his “new favorite sport.” But apparently he changed his mind again, since he has replied to me only 16 times (the last one dated 2-20-23).
Google Translate is utilized to render Lucas’ Portugese into English. His words will be in blue.
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I received notice that someone made a comment in a Banzoli thread underneath one of his last replies to me. One of his followers (anonymous, of course), wrote on 1-20-24:
Luke, I was recently accused of heresy by a person who came to me with the following quote from “Luther”: “Whoever does not believe as I do is destined for hell. My doctrine and God’s doctrine are the same. My judgment is the judgment of God.” I couldn’t respond because I couldn’t even find where this citizen got that line from; I think it came from the head of some priest out there. Anyway, I would like to know if it is true (I highly doubt it) and where it came from.
[Portugese: Lucas, recentemente fui acusada de heresia por uma pessoa que me veio com a seguinte citação de “Lutero”: “Quem não crê como eu é destinado ao inferno. Minha doutrina e a doutrina de Deus são a mesma. Meu juízo é o juízo de Deus.” Não consegui rebater pois não pude nem encontrar de onde esse cidadão tirou essa fala; acho que foi da cabeça de algum padre por aí. Enfim, gostaria de saber se ela é verdadeira mesmo (duvido muito) e de onde saiu.]
And this was Banzoli’s reply (1-22-24):
I asked three AI’s (Chat GPT, Bard and Copilot) about the veracity of this quote and all three said the quote is false. On Google, this quote only exists on Catholic blogs, so it must be false. In any case, regarding Catholic accusations against Luther, I recommend the table at the end of the article below, with an index of refutations to the papist slanders against Luther: [then he linked to articles from James Swan, the Great Luther Defender, whom I have refuted innumerable times since 2003: see his entry on my Anti-Catholicism page]
[Portugese: Eu perguntei sobre a veracidade dessa citação a três IA (Chat GPT, Bard e Copilot) e os três disseram que a citação é falsa. No Google essa citação só existe em blogs católicos, então deve ser falsa mesmo. De todo modo, sobre acusações católicas contra Lutero eu recomendo a tabela presente ao final do artigo abaixo, com um índice de refutações às calúnias papistas contra Lutero:]
Now I shall document that all three sentences were indeed written by Martin Luther, and that the quotation is absolutely authentic (the portion in question is highlighted in green and bolded, and similarly outrageous statements highlighted in purple and bolded):
I now let you know that from now on I shall no longer do you the honor of allowing you – or even an angel from heaven – to judge my teaching or to examine it. For there has been enough foolish humility now for the third time at Worms, and it has not helped. Instead, I shall let myself be heard and, as St. Peter teaches, give an explanation and defense of my teaching to all the world – I Pet. 3:15. I shall not have it judged by any man, not even by any angel. For since I am certain of it, I shall be your judge and even the angels’ judge through this teaching (as St. Paul says [I Cor. 6:3 ]) so that whoever does not accept my teaching may not be saved – for it is God’s and not mine. Therefore, my judgment is also not mine but God’s. (Against the Spiritual Estate of the Pope and the Bishops Falsely So-Called [July 1522]. From: Luther’s Works, edited by Jaroslav Pelikan [vols. 1-30] and Helmut T. Lehmann [vols. 31-55], St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House [vols. 1-30]; Philadelphia: Fortress Press [vols. 31-55], 1955. This work is from Vol. 39: Church and Ministry I [edited by J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, and H. T. Lehmann]; pages 239-299; translated by Eric W. and Ruth C. Gritsch; citation above from pp. 248-249)
This is, of course, the standard edition of Luther’s writings in English, and of impeccable authority. If this is not an authentic Luther quotation, then nothing is. I have the entire 55-volume set in hardcover on a shelf in my living room. If Banzoli wishes to challenge the citation (which would be foolish, but what else is new from him?), I would note that his hero James Swan cited the same words from the same source in a long article about it (dated 9-14-11).
As always, he put his usual ultra-biased slant on it and made out that it’s perfectly fine and dandy that Luther wrote this and Catholics are unregenerate dumbbells, etc. ad nauseam. It’s all in the noble cause against Rome, you see, so anything goes. One can also observe a snippet online of the very citation in question from Google Books. Seeing is believing!
What is great fun and hilarious, however (who said apologetics was boring and humorless!?), is how Banzoli’s lackey casually assumes that Luther couldn’t possibly have expressed such sentiments. He pretended that they weren’t from Luther at all (even putting “Luther” in quotation marks, as if the whole thing were entirely imaginary). He opined and pontificated that “it came from the head of some priest” and “highly doubt[s]” that it is “true.” Is this not delightfully and deliciously entertaining? I love it!
Even funnier (and highly revealing) is Banzoli’s response (the big “expert”). Not realizing that there are always various translations from works 500 years old, originally in Latin or German, and translated many times, he does a stupid AI search (probably lasting a minute) and concludes that the “quote only exists on Catholic blogs, so it must be false.” Then he strongly insinuates that it is but one of many false “Catholic accusations” and “papist slanders against Luther.” He cites James Swan for a catalogue of these things, but the ultimate irony and belly laugh in all this is that Swan himself (hardly a “Catholic blog”) verifies that Luther did write these words, and he cites them at length.
The undeniable conclusion that we must necessarily arrive at is that as a result of this farce is that Lucas Banzoli was 1) blissfully ignorant, 2) ultra-biased and prejudiced against Catholics, and 3) unable to properly run down a purported citation (now proven to be authentic) of Martin Luther. It’s pathetic and pitiful; a disgrace, coming from someone with his education (Master’s degree in theology, a degree and postgraduate work in history!). I, on the other hand, knew of this quotation at least twenty years ago, and possibly over thirty years ago, because the first thing I did as a Catholic convert was extensive research on Martin Luther from a Catholic perspective (an “other side” view that Protestants — like I used to be –, virtually never see).
My own article that I grabbed the above lengthy quotation from was originally uploaded on 13 November 2002. The last revision was made on 18 June 2006, so even if the quotation in question was added in its current form then, I have had it online on my blog, including extensive context, for at least seventeen years.
Banzoli should have come to me for the answer . . . But now he has embarrassed himself for the 59th time. Live and learn, huh? But one must be willing to learn.
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Photo credit: Portrait of Martin Luther (1528), by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
Summary: Brazilian anti-Catholic polemicist Lucas Banzoli stated that a quotation from Luther was “false” & a “papist slander.” I proved its authenticity from a standard source.
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