Roman Catholicism Examined In
Light Of Biblical Truth
During Jesus’ life on Earth, He prophesied that He would build His
church (or Kingdom), that Peter would open it up (Matthew 16:18&19), and
that it would come during some of the disciples’ lifetime (Mark 9:1). This
was, of course, in complete accordance with Old Testament prophecies which
indicated the coming of the Kingdom during the reign of the
True to His Word, Jesus established His
Kingdom (His church) on the Day of Pentecost as outlined in Acts, chapter
2, in 33 AD, and Peter bound repentance and baptism for the remission of sins
(Acts 2:38) for terms of admission into Christ’s church; a
binding which Heaven still honors (Matthew 16:19).
For the next 275 years or so, Christians were persecuted, beaten,
brutalized, tortured, and ultimately, killed because of their faith; which Jesus
had also prophesied (John 15:18-23). It was during this time period that John
the Apostle was imprisoned on Patmos (Revelation 1:9), and received the
Revelation from Jesus, which He then wrote down to encourage these 1st,
2nd, and 3rd century Christians, who were undergoing this
most extreme of persecutions at the hands of the Roman authorities, to persevere
and subsequently, overcome.
Then, just as Revelation had foretold, the evil reign of tyranny which
had bound them was “beaten” (Revelation 12-16), and a somewhat kinder
emperor rose to power. During his reign, in the “Edict of Milan” (313 AD),
The church which Jesus had died to purchase with His very blood (Acts 20:28) was then re-structured by
However, the Roman Catholic Church, by
their own admission (as stated below), is about as anti-Scriptural as
anyone claiming to follow God could possibly be:
“Of all the advice that we can offer your holiness, we must open your
eyes and use all possible force in the matter, namely, to permit the reading of
the gospel as little as possible in all countries under your jurisdiction. Let
very little part of the gospel suffice which is usually read in mass, and let no
one be permitted to read more. So long as people will be content with the small
amount, your interest will prosper; but as soon as the people want to read more,
your interest will fail. The Bible is the book, which more than any other, has
raised against us the tumults and tempests by which we have almost perished. In
fact, if one compares the teaching of the Bible with what takes place in our
churches, he will soon find discord, and will realize that our teachings are
often different from the Bible, and oftener still, contrary to it.”
(Excerpt from an address by the Cardinals
in the Roman church to pope Pious III, National Library of Paris, Folio No.
1068, Volume 2, pp. 650-651)
What a far cry from Paul’s
Holy-Spirit-led instructions in Galatians 1:6-9!!!:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called
you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-which is really
no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are
trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even
if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one
we preached to you, let him be eternally
condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If
anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let
him be eternally condemned!”
(Bold/italics/underlining mine).
Anyone need look no further than the Catholic doctrines regarding
“saints”, to see how absolutely anti-Scriptural they truly are. According to
Catholic teaching, a person must have been deceased for
several hundred years before they can even be considered for possible
sainthood. Then after a long, tedious, extremely expensive process (which of
course benefits the church-see 2nd Peter 2:1-3), that candidate may
be named as a saint by the
Paul also wrote to the saints in various regions in his letters (see
Romans 1:7; 2nd Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1;
etc.). He wasn’t writing to dead people either, but simply to those people who
had had their sins washed away by the blood of Christ (Acts 2:38, 22:16;
Galatians 3:26-27) - simply stated: Christians, which is what God’s people,
according to God, are to be called (see Acts 4:12, 11:26, 26:28).
Some of the other, more glaring examples of Catholic teachings which are
completely and absolutely contrary to God’s Instruction, and in some cases,
forbidden outright by God, are listed below.
A). They address their spiritual leaders as “Father”, which
Jesus said very, very
specifically NOT to do:
See Matthew 23:1-10, particularly verse 9.
B).
They do not allow priests, nuns, etc. to marry, and do not allow the eating of
certain foods on certain days. These two very specific doctrinal practices are
referred to as “…things taught by demons…”, that come through
“…hypocritical liars…” in the Word of God: See 1st Timothy
4:1-5.Can you imagine, in light of the current and ongoing Catholic crisis, how
much of it could have been avoided if they’d simply stuck with God’s plan
that “…each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own
husband.”? (1st Corinthians 7:2: also see verses 3-5)?
C).
They teach that their “fathers” and their “saints” are the access
routes, or mediators, between sinners and God, which they’re not: See 1st
Timothy 2:5
D).
They teach that their traditions/writings should be accepted on the same level
of authority as the Bible, unless of course there’s a contradiction between
the two, in which case, the letter to pope Pious exposes where they believe the
final authority to be. See 2nd Timothy 3:14-4:5, Matthew 28:18-20,
Jude 3, Revelation 22:18+19
E).
They teach that Peter was the first pope, and head of the church. This is
outright rebellion to God in light of God’s Word from several aspects:
-Colossians
1:3-20, as well as many other places, leave no doubt that Jesus
is the head of His
church.
-Peter
was married: He had a mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14), a wife (1st
Corinthians 9:5), and was an elder (1st Peter 5:1), which again
proves he not only was married, but also had children (1st Timothy
3:1-5).
-Peter
WOULD NOT allow people to bow down and worship him (Acts 10:24-26)
F).
They teach that sprinkling is sufficient for baptism, which God’s Word
unequivocally says must be a submersion, or “burial” (which is precisely
what the Greek word “baptizo” means): See Romans 6:3&4, Colossians 2:12.
G).
They teach that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life-a teaching which is
completely inconsistent with the Word of God, as those who have studied the
Bible throughout the ages, have always known that she had other children: See
Mark 6:3
Above
are listed only a few of the many examples, of where Catholic
doctrine/teachings, are shown to be a direct departure from God’s Word,
wherein we find His
blueprint for His
church. Other teachings and terms common to Catholicism which are absolutely
foreign to God’s Word, obviously found nowhere in It, include:
1.
Catholic
2.
Pope
3.
Nun
4.
Sacraments
5.
Confirmation
6.
Holy Eucharist
7.
Extreme Unction
8.
Purgatory
Matthew
15:8 & 9 says: “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught
by men.”
Please
consider where you stand with God on these issues,
for He is the only One that counts. And if we, as the church of Christ (Romans
16:16), as found in the Scripture long before any human denomination ever
existed – including Constantine’s Catholicism - can be of any assistance
whatsoever, in helping you to grow in the Word of God, please let us know.
In
John 14:15, Jesus says: “If you love Me,
you will obey My commandments” (Emphasis-mine). Whose will do you choose to
obey?
In
the Love of God and His Eternal Truth; your servant for His sake; Douglas E.
Dingley;
Blessed
to be the evangelist for the