Part II
RECOGNIZING APOSTASY
Chapter 4
Ecumenism
and the Roman Catholic Church
One of the early signs of apostasy is the
ecumenical movement. The only way to bring all the churches together is to
compromise the truth. It seeks to dismiss the importance of doctrine (and even
criticize it as divisive) and just emphasizes love and forgetting our
differences. Some of the liberal churches have already begun to move back into
the Catholic fold and many American charismatics have paid homage to the Pope as
the leader of the Christian faith. Just watch the rest of the evangelical
churches find commonality with Rome.
We need to take a close look at what the Roman
Catholic Church believes about itself. We look at the church in America and
think it is changing. It is not. It has not changed its official position on
any of the major issues: communion, transubstantiation, the deification of Mary,
the nature of salvation, purgatory, indulgences, or the fact that any one
outside the church is condemned.
Revelation 17 describes a religious beast, “I
saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven
heads and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and
adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, have in her hand a gold cup
full of abominations and full of the unclean things of her immorality, and upon
her forehead a name was written, a mystery, ‘BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS AND THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.’ And I saw the woman drunk with the
blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I
saw her, I wondered greatly. And the angel said to me, ‘Why do you wonder? I
shall tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which
has the seven heads and the ten horns... Here is the mind which has wisdom. The
seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. (Revelation 17:3-7,
9,14)
The Catholic Encyclopedia states:
The Roman Catholic Church“ is within the city of Rome, called the city of
seven hills, that the entire area of Vatican State proper is now confined.” There is only one church that so proudly traces its origins back to the
beginning and only one church that fits the description of Revelation - the
Roman Catholic Church. Historically, Bible scholars have agreed that this refers
to the Roman Catholic Church, a church that is a mixture of pagan religion,
which to this day holds to the same heretical teachings it has promulgated for
the last 1900 years. It has not changed. However, as we shall see, there are
some historical revisionists who would whitewash the image of the church whose
hands are stained with the blood of martyrs.
The Roman Catholic Church is described as the
Mother of Harlots, which includes those churches that split off from her and
will come back under her wing in the “last days.” There never was a doubt that
the liberal Protestant churches that belong to the World Council of Churches
would come back to the Catholic fold. But until recent years, there was
absolutely no thought that the conservative evangelical would ever consider a
rapprochement with the Catholic Church. Historically most conservative
evangelicals understood what Roman Catholicism practices and stands for. There
was no way a Bible believing Christian could ever condone what it believes and
does. Something would have to be done to clean up her image or history would
have to be rewritten and that is exactly what has happened. Today, we are told
the Reformation was just a misunderstanding and the Roman Catholic Church is
emerging as the leader of divided Christendom and evangelical churches. The
liberal churches are seen as morally bankrupt, the evangelical churches are
divided on issues, but the Catholic Church the moral high ground on questions
such as divorce, abortion, and homosexuality.
The softening of attitude is going so far that
Paul Crouch, president of Trinity Broadcast Network declared that he is "no
longer a Protestant because he has nothing to protest." Pat Robertson is sharing
the pulpit with archbishops and priests in various forums co-sponsored by the
Christian Coalition and the Catholic Church. Christianity Today came out
with a series of articles in the December 1994 written by such well-known
scholars as J.I. Packer and Charles Swindall. One article suggested that the
Reformation was just a semantic misunderstanding and that the Catholic Church
always believed in salvation by grace. What a travesty to twist history in such
a way!
On March 29, 1994 evangelicals and Catholics
signed a joint declaration titled Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The
Christian Mission in the Third Millennium. This paper is signed by forty
notable Christian leaders such as Chuck Colson, John Neuhaus, Dr. Richard Land
of the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Jesse Miranda of the Assemblies of God,
J.I. Packer, John White of the National Association of Evangelicals, Monsignor
William Murphy, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston, Archbishop Francis
Stafford and endorses such as Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, Pat
Robertson of CBN and many, many more. The purpose of the declaration is to
minimize the differences. In fact, some are calling the Reformation a semantic
misunderstanding. One of the most well-known Christian apologists says that
Catholics “believe in justification by grace” and that differences between
Catholics and evangelicals “are not as great as generally perceived and they are
not crucial...involve heresy...the whole theological core of historic
Christianity is held in common.” (The Southern Cross, January 13, 1994, p.
11 as quoted in Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast, Harvest House
Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, p. 406) Recently, they made an attempt to define
salvation, but even those who developed the statement said it meant different
things to each group. Mormons, Catholics and Evangelicals use many of the same
terms but they mean something completely different to each. Now either we have a
huge misunderstanding on our hands or there is a titanic effort at historical
revisionism and a cover-up of massive proportions. There are only three
possibilities: 1) the Reformation was a mistake, 2) the Roman Catholic Church
has changed or 3) our foremost “evangelical” leaders have fallen further into
apostasy than anyone ever expected and are leading the church into apostasy. We
need to examine the facts.
Evangelicals are so eager to accept Rome’s
revisionism that they don’t bother to check the facts. It seems that no
sacrifice is too great for evangelicals to further the “unity”. The fact is
Vatican II reconfirmed all of the basic teachings evangelicals should abhor: the
Eucharist, Mary worship, papal infallibility, purgatory, etc. “This sacred
council accepts loyally the venerable faith of our ancestors...and it proposes
again the decrees of the Second Council of Nicea, of the Council of Florence and
of the Council of Trent. (Vatican Council II as quoted by Dave Hunt,
op.cit., p. 351) This means they haven’t changed! Here is another example,
“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind ‘that all the faithful ought to show
to this most holy sacrament (i.e. the wafer which they believe has been
transformed into Christ’s body) the worship which is due to the true God, as has
always been the custom of the Catholic Church... through that conversion of
bread and wine which, as the Council of Trent tells us, is most aptly named
transubstantiation.” (Vatican Council II as quoted by Dave Hunt,
op.cit. p. 368). This teaching of the mass or Eucharist is one of the most
onerous anti-Christian teachings of the church and we will get back to this
later. When it comes to ecumenism, it is a one-way street. We are the ones that
have to change. According to Vatican I and II, the Reformation and we
evangelicals are still anathema (condemned) on over 100 points, including
believing in salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jack Hayford, writes in Seven Promises
of a Promise Keeper, “Redeeming worship centers on the Lord’s table.
Whether your tradition celebrates it as communion, the Eucharist, the Mass or
the Lord’s Supper, we are all called to this centerpiece on Christian worship.” A statement such as this should raise a cry from every Bible believing
evangelical in the country. Yet, there is silence from leaders across the land.
(Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper, p. 19) Instead, we have the head of
the Vineyard movement lending his support to Catholics: “Wimber is as
comfortable with Roman Catholic dogma as he is with evangelicalism. As we have
noted, Wimber defends the Catholic claims of healing through relics. He
advocates the reunification of Protestants and Catholics. A former associate
says, ‘During a Vineyard pastors’ conference, {he} went so far as to ‘apologize’
to the Catholic church on behalf of all Protestants.” In his seminar on church
planting, Wimber stated, “the pope by the way is very responsive to the
charismatic movement, and is himself a born-again evangelical. If you’ve read
any of his texts concerning salvation, you’d know he is preaching the gospel as
clear as anybody is preaching it in the world today.” (Phil Arms, Promise
Keepers: Another Trojan Horse, p.265 quoting John MacArthur, Charismatic
Chaos, p. 148)
These are both ridiculous and blasphemous
statements from the highest leadership of evangelical circles! Let’s look at
what the Roman Catholic Church is and stands for and see if these statements can
be justified.
What Does the
Roman Catholic Church Believe?
Although there may be some "born again"
Catholics, the question is, has the Roman Catholic Church officially changed any
of its historic positions? The answer is no! In fact, Vatican II and
every council and edict since confirmed these positions. Exactly what does the
Roman Catholic Church believe? Unfortunately, because of the vastness of this
subject, I will only highlight a few. All of these points can be fully
documented. The following are just a few of the historic and present day
positions of the church, which are absolutely opposed to historic Bible,
centered Christianity:
- The Catholic Church teaching and tradition are
equal to the Scripture even though traditions are often inconsistent and
contradictory.
- An infant is saved through the sacrament of
baptism, which removes "original sin."
- God forgives sin through the Church,
specifically the judicial act of the priest following confession and
contrition.
- The atonement of Christ is not sufficient -
the sacrament of the Eucharist converts the bread and wine into the body and
blood of Christ through a process called "transubstantiation. The bread and
wine are worshipped as God.
- Only a priest can administer these sacraments.
- Mary is the sinless Mother of God, the Queen
of Heaven and co-Redeemer, sitting at the right hand of God mediating for us.
People worship and pray to Mary as well as saints.
- The Roman Pontiff is the head of the church
and the representative and authority of God on the earth.
- The Pope is infallible and the infallible
interpreter of Scripture.
- From an eschatological or "last days" point of
view, the Roman Catholic Church sees itself exercising dominion over the
earth. The Vatican is a country with embassies in most countries throughout
the world.
- Indulgences, purgatory, praying to the dead,
etc.
When it comes to salvation, semantics are subtle
but important. They say they believe in Jesus Christ as their savior. They
believe Christ died for their sins but that salvation comes through the Roman
church. There is a one-time salvation through infant baptism, which is imparted
by the church. But salvation is literally imparted by the priests as a member
partakes in the mass. The Scripture says that “Christ entered in once into
the holy place to obtain our salvation” (Hebrews 9:12). To say that “the
priest is indispensable, since he alone by his powers can change the elements of
bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ” is an abomination (John A.
Hardon, Picket Catholic Dictionary, Doubleday, 1966, p. 249). The
more Masses they attend the better because they are physically eating and
drinking Jesus Christ. The true gospel of grace is denied by the teaching that
‘merits and graces” won by Christ are dispensed by installment each time they
participate in the mass. To turn a wafer and wine into Christ’s flesh and blood
through transubstantiation is not only blasphemous but also ridiculous!
Please notice that the laity only has a “relationship with God” through the
mediation of the priests and the Church.
To acknowledge the priesthood of Rome is to deny
the priesthood of Christ and the believer. To accept the mass and the Eucharist
is to deny the efficacy of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Many
Catholics may not be fully aware of what the church teaches and others may not
agree with them. Of course there are some saved Catholics, but one would have to
think that anyone who fully understands, could not continue in the way of the
Roman Catholic Church. Catholicism and true Christianity are diametrically
opposed. The path to unity is to overlook their positions on essential
truths. We can have unity with the Roman Catholic Church at the
expense of the truth or we can have truth.
We could spend a lot of time on the Roman
Catholic Church. There is so much that can be said. But here are just a few
examples. Their claim that there is an unbroken succession of Pope’s is
historically inaccurate. There are huge gaps. There are times when there was no
Pope and others with more than one Pope. Further, many of the Popes down through
the ages as confirmed by many solid historical accounts were involved in the
most heinous sin, immorality, and crimes against humanity. There is a lot of
documentation, so if you are interested, please check it out. There are so many
inconsistencies as to be laughable. Priests married for a thousand years but
once it was forbidden, the only sin was marriage - not fornication. The Vatican
became the home of one of the biggest brothels the world has ever known. Rome -
the mother of harlots. “Popes had mistresses of fifteen years of age, were
guilty of incest and sexual perversions of every sort, had innumerable children,
were murdered in the very act of adultery....In the old Catholic phrase, why be
holier than the Pope?” (Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of
the Papacy, Crown Publishers, 1988, pp.396-397)
I will only deal in depth with one other topic
and that is Mary worship. Many deny that this takes place, but just listen to
the Rosary - Mary is more prominent than Jesus Christ Himself. I have been in
and out of churches all over Europe and Latin America, and it is obvious who is
at center stage -Mary! The current Pope goes to Mexico and venerates Our Lady of
Guadalupe. He is convinced that the Fatima visions will restore Mary to her
rightful place. The Immaculate Conception is Mary - the Co-Redeemer. Mary is
venerated far above God or Jesus. This is blasphemous and superstitious at best,
and Satanic at worst.
Let us be clear, the Roman Catholic Church
believes it is the only true Church, that it alone provides the
sacraments which lead to salvation and that it can never share that distinction
with others. So where does that leave Paul Crouch, Benni Hinn, Bill McCartney
(founder of Promise Keepers), J.I. Packer, Charles Swindall and even Billy
Graham and many others who believe they hold to the fundamentals of the
historic Christian faith and are “brothers and sisters in Christ?” I am
ashamed and embarrassed to say it but one day history will show that people like
Billy Graham and Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade) have done more for the
ecumenical movement than anyone. Graham has always worked with the Catholic
Church and sent people “saved” in his crusades back to the Catholic Church -
back to what? - back to an apostate cult! Bright and a number of other
ministries agreed to not try and proselytize Catholics in Colorado Springs
because “we are all Christians.”
Brothers and sisters, I could go on and on and
on, but don’t you see something wrong? Thirty years ago we evangelicals expected
the liberal World Council of Churches members to end up in the Catholic fold,
but one would have never expected a fundamental church such as the Baptists to
ever even consider it. Yet today, we see a quantum shift. Today evangelicals are
leading the bandwagon to celebrate a Jubilee 2000 and a Papal Mass for as many
as 5 billion! Evangelical leaders are flocking to Rome to kiss the Papal ring!
So where does this leave their flocks?
If there were only one sign of the Apostate
Church that should make every true Christian sit up and take note, it is this
rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church. Yet, although there are a number
of voices crying in the wilderness, few take note. Dave Hunt, whose excellent
book, A Woman Rides the Beast, brought nothing but ridicule from the
establishment. Where are the watchmen? Where are the spiritual leaders? Where is
the cry of protest from today’s spiritual giants at this travesty? Our
so-called evangelical leaders are strangely silent. Many of the leaders of the
New Revival - the Vineyards, Kansas City Prophets, and most dominionists have
pilgrimaged to Rome. The Promise Keepers and similar men and women’s
organizations promote an ecumenical agenda, as do most para-church organizations
such as YWAM, Campus Crusade, Youth for Christ, etc. There are very few left who
haven’t jumped on the bandwagon.
This just came out on the Internet on May 1,
1998. “Kampen, The Netherlands, 28 April (ENI)--Dr. Konrad Raiser, general
secretary of the World Council of Churches, has renewed his call for the main
Christian churches to start, in the year 2000, a process to lead to a universal
Christian council uniting all churches and Christians.
Speaking at the opening of the Dutch
Kerkendag (church day) on Saturday, 25 April, Dr. Raiser said that in the year
2000, leaders of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and
Pentecostal churches should make a solemn promise not to rest until such a
council had been achieved.”
I used to think, hey just think of all the “born
again” charismatic Catholics! They must be Christians. Now I realize that
speaking in tongues is not necessarily evidence of being “born again.” Mormons,
Buddhists and Hindus, and most other religions have this phenomena. If all of
these people were truly saved, I doubt the Lord would allow them to stay in such
an idolatrous institution. The Lord doesn’t say stay and evangelize, he says get
out of that apostate church lest you partake of her plagues! I know too many
Catholics that are truly “born again” and the last thing they would do is to
back to the Roman Catholic Church. Those of us who are “evangelicals” are the
naive ones who fail to recognize the utter evil of the Harlot church.
Why has this happened? Why have we drifted so
far? First, I think it is because we are in the last days. It was
prophesied to happen and it is. Second, Christians are Bible illiterates, and
are not grounded in the faith. But third, you have to lay the blame squarely on
the leadership. There isn’t a single Bible School or Seminary in the country
that is untouched by this apostasy. The pastors and professionals are leading
the trusting flock - a good argument for not being a dumb sheep.
Anyone who would question is considered to be
rebellious, not under authority, a troublemaker, negative, unloving, divisive, a
heresy hunter. People who resist the rush to unity are ridiculed, and marked. It
is incredibly frustrating because people will not discuss the issues. They
attack the person. I used to ask my pastor, have you ever read this book or
that, and he would reply, “oh no, that is too negative.” These people are afraid
to be informed about the issues! And they are our leaders! Dear readers, if you
remember nothing else, please don’t forget this. There is a move that calls for
unity at any cost. Instead of being a protection for the believer, doctrine is
considered divisive. The whole Word of God is no longer the standard, but the
five essentials (e.g. as defined by the Promise Keepers) or whatever the number
may be. This will be defined by the experts, so don’t bother to argue. Who are
you? What are your credentials? This is a juggernaut, which will run through the
churches of this land, so be careful if you get in the way. You will be run
over, mowed down, personally discredited.
I am frankly disgusted as I read one book after
another on the “last days.” They warn that the real threat to the church is the
New Age movement. They think the threat is from the Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim,
the Universalist or the modern New Ager who sits in the lotus position and
meditates. The threat is not from without but from within! It is coming from the
evangelical church, which has embraced the most New Age humanistic pseudoscience
ever concocted by man. This isn’t my bright idea. Why can’t our leaders see it?
We opened our doors wide and invited humanism into the church and few there are
that have not been affected by it! Let’s examine how leaven affects the church.
