About five centuries ago Martin Luther burned publically the papal bull which excommunicated him. Thus began the greatest schism of the Catholic Church, the Protestantism, which today has more than half a billion followers.

The first step of Protestantism was the revolt of Luther against the plenary indulgences. The Catholic Church was granting forgiveness to the sinners who made donations to the Church. It was selling heaven to the ones who made generous offerings. To the catholics it was not necessary to have faith or to avoid sinning anymore. The greater the donations the greater the chances of getting a permanent place in Paradise. Granted by the Pope!

To fight against the Catholic Church, Luther appealed to the Theory of Predestination. According to this theory, based on the Bible, salvation could be achieved not by good actions, but through a unilateral concession from God (Epistle to the Ephesians 2:8: "Because through grace thou art saved, through faith, and this does not come from thee, it is a gift from God"). Supporting the Theory of Predestination, Luther revealed the monstrous corruption which prevailed in the Catholic Church of his time.

Throughout the centuries, this theory had tremendous economic impact. While the catholic countries were still worried about sinning, with an eye on the eternal life, the protestants, for practical purposes, abolished sin, because the rich ones would be considered as someone protected by God. As the sociologist Max Weber demonstrated, this spirit of Protestantism was the spark which detonated capitalism and the boom of progress and scientific development which benefited the protestant countries.

This was the major difference between Catholics and Protestants, for about five centuries. Recently, though, the Roman Church capitulated. The catholic bishop Edward Cassidy signed a combined declaration with a protestant bishop Christian Krause, in Augsburg (the same town where Luther released the basis of protestantism), declaring that salvation comes from faith, not good actions. Fantastic! The Catholic Church also abolished the sin, with 500 years of delay.

The most surprising is that history turned radically. The catholics quietly keep on collecting money after the mass, as they have always done. The protestants, though, especially the evangelical sects, have started with aggressive campaigns to get the tithes. Some even have ticket-offices to receive the contribution of the churchgoers and they even ask for income attestation, to avoid the "Lord" to be cheated. As they say, not to contribute with the tithe is to steal from God.

Protestants are opening their chapels everywhere, occupying cinemas and night clubs. They even buy television channels and use mass persuasion techniques, creating the "tithe payers day", which are true money-asking orgies. They ask the tithe from all incomes of the churchgoers, even from the selling of a car, for instance. If the believer does not pay the tithe, the devil will pick on him and his life will be destroyed, as grant the priests.

In essence the Predestination Theory has been thrown away. Now, goes to heaven who makes the biggest donations to the sects which proliferate very rapidly. It is the triumphant return of the plenary indulgences, now from the protestant sects. It is time for a new Luther to emerge, but this time against the protestants.