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Discernment-Ministries Inc. |
CATHOLICISM
This has been a very difficult two weeks for me. The deep sadness in my heart has grown as each day has passed. My mother, like Pope John Paul II, had Parkinson’s disease, and, like him, died of the complications of septic shock. I have prayed for the Pope’s salvation for many years and more so when I could see the ravages of Parkinson’s disease upon his body. Yet, it is not the memories of my mother that have troubled me but my burden for the Pope and for the Catholics who are, as he was, blinded by the deceptive teachings of their church. One of the things that was most instrumental in my mother’s salvation was the day that the Lord had me tell her that only if she was born again of the Spirit of God and trusted only in Jesus for her salvation would she have eternal life and that if even the Pope were not born-again he would not be saved.
“Church teaching is that I don’t know, at any given moment, what my eternal future will be. I can hope, pray, do my very best – but I still don’t know. Pope John Paul II doesn’t know absolutely that he will go to heaven, nor does Mother Teresa of Calcutta.”(New York Cardinal O’ Connor said in The New York Times Feb 1,1980, B4)
I have read the authorized biography Pope John Paul II by Tad Szulc and Crossing the Threshold of Hope by His Holiness John Paul II. I know what his views are on salvation, the Mass, Mary, purgatory, indulgences, etc. In addition I took a course on Catholic doctrine from a Catholic organization to re-familiarize myself with Catholic doctrine and have read the new Catechism of the Catholic Church which was approved by John Paul II and the magesterium of the Catholic Church. I tell you all this to simply say that I know that Catholicism is not Christianity and it troubles me deeply to think that because the lines between Catholicism and Christianity have become so blurred there will be millions of Catholics who will never be witnessed to, never be saved, never know eternal life with Jesus, never know the joy of His everlasting love.
When I have looked at the millions of people gathered this week in St. Peter’s Square, all I see are lost souls and all I can think about is what would have happened if 26 years ago it would have been assumed that because I was Catholic then I was also a Christian. I would never have been witnessed to and would have gone to hell. And my daughter and son – who were water baptized as infants in the Catholic Church – would they too have never been witnessed to and been lost forever?
The Bible says “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” With all my heart I want to see those who are Catholic set free. That is the reason I have written the enclosed. I am sure that many Catholics have a zeal for God but it is not based on Biblical knowledge. I know that my heart often deeply cried out for God as a youth – but I could never find Him. What was passed on to me as a young Catholic was what my parents thought was truth. But it was not. Catholics need to know the truth of real salvation and we Christians need to first know the truth about Catholicism that we may witness to them meaningfully so that they may know the true love of Jesus and have eternal life. If we love the Catholic people, we will share with them the Gospel of life.
Books used as references:
Catechism of the Catholic Church – Catholic source book approved by John Paul II
The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and the Word of God by James G. McCarthy
Showtime for the Sheep: The Church and the Passion of the Christ by T.A. McMahon
Crossing the Threshold of Hope by His Holiness John Paul II
The word Pope comes from the Latin for “father”; magesterium from the word for “master.”
In the forward of the Crossing the Threshold of Hope the editor, Vittorio Messori, states:
The leader of the Catholic Church is defined …as the Vicar of Christ…The Pope is considered the man on earth who represents the Son of God who “takes the place” of the Second Person of the omnipotent God of the Trinity…Catholics believe this and therefore call him “Holy Father” or “Your Holiness” (pp.3, 4).
The First Vatican Council decreed that in matters of “faith and morals” the Pope “possesses…that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his church to enjoy in defining doctrine.”
While Catholics may read the Bible, only bishops of the church have the right to interpret its meaning and teach with authority:
The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God…has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ (Second Vatican Council)
Biblical Response:
Do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. (Mt 23:8)
We are repeatedly cautioned in Scripture to test all teachings:
Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good (1 Thes 5:21)
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1John 4:1)
Paul, the writer of so many epistles, warned against anyone’s infallibility in their own flesh. He stressed that only Scripture was infallible:
But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed (Gal 1:8)
In his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope Pope on p. 212 John Paul II speaks of his choice for the motto of his papacy: “Toto Tuus, I am completely yours, O Mary.” He so devoutly believed in Marian theology that he had this motto sewn in the robes of all his garments. The cross with an “M” on his casket was that exact coat of arms. In his last will and testament John Paul II wrote:
“I don’t know when (death) will come but, like everything else, I entrust even that moment into the hands of the Mother of my Master.” (USA Today, 4/8/05)
He also believed that “if victory comes it will be brought by Mary. Christ will conquer through her, because He wants the Church’s victories now and in the future to be linked to her” (Crossing the Threshold of Hope p. 221)
As stated in T.A. McMahon’s book p. 114 the Pope has expressed his thoughts on Mary in the official encyclical Redemptoris Mater, “On the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church”:
Mary’s work was to be our co-redemptress, and to mediate for us together with Christ, but of course in subordination to Him. He is the one principle Mediator to whom we owe all. Do not be disturbed by this association of Mary with the redemptive work of Christ. If all Christians are members of Christ, and are called upon, as St. Paul says, to fill up what is wanting to the suffering of Christ, then you can be sure that as Mary, His Mother, was more closely associated with Christ than we are, so she is more closely associated with His redemptive work. By a special title, therefore, we call her co-redemptress. We call her “Our life, our sweetness and our hope”…All this tells us what she is for. She is our spiritual Mother in heaven, and she fulfills the duties of a Mother, winning for us by her intercession that grace of Christ which is life to our souls and which, please God, will mean eternal life in the end. (emphasis in McMahon book).
What then does the Catholic church believe about Mary? (all reference numbers in brackets are from the authorized Catholic Catechism)
Immaculate Conception: “We declare…the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God…was preserved free from all stain of original sin…”[491]
(editorial note: this is not referring to the virgin birth or Christ’s conception).
Biblical Response: She herself acknowledged she was a sinner who needed to be redeemed when she prayed, “My soul exalts the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior (Lk 1:46,47). (also Ps 51:5; Rom 5:12).
The Virgin Mother of God: The Catholic Church teaches that, following the birth of Jesus, Mary remained an “immaculate and perpetual” virgin [266]
Biblical Response: “Mary was the mother of the human Jesus but not the mother of God; God can have no mother” (McCarthy p. 191). Mary also did not remain a virgin after Jesus was born; she had other children. Jn2:12; Mt 12:46; Mk 3:31; Lk 8:19; Mt 13: 55,56; Mk 6:3,4; Jn 7: 2-10; Jn 7:5; Acts 1:14; Gal 1:19; Gal 2: 9-12 – all make references to the brothers and sisters of the Lord. The original Greek word used speaks of a relationship of shared parentage.
The Assumption of Mary: “In view of Mary’s sinless perfection, Roman Catholicism teaches that Mary’s body did not undergo decay at the end of her life but that God miraculously took her up to heaven” (McCarthy p. 188). This is known as the doctrine of the Assumption. When in heaven, God crowned her Queen of Heaven and Earth [966].
Biblical Response: There are no scripture references that substantiate this claim. The Assumption of Mary is a tradition of the Catholic Church that has been elevated to the same level as Holy Scripture. In Matthew 15:6 Jesus states:” For the sake of your traditions, you have made null and void the Word of God.” Mark 7: 7-8 concurs:
In vain do they worship Me, teaching to be obeyed as doctrines the precepts of men. You disregard the commandment of God and cling to the tradition of men.
Mary as Co-Redeemer: The Catholic Church teaches that Mary “being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” (Second Vatican Council). According to the Church, Mary’s sufferings at the cross were so intense that they brought her to the very threshold of death. She “participated with Jesus in the very painful act of redemption” [300] She is therefore called by the Church “our co-redemptor.”[304] In addition, “just as Christ, because he redeemed us, is by a special title our King and Lord, so too is Blessed Mary, our Queen and our Mistress, because of the unique way in which she co-operated in our redemption.” [Ad Coeli Reginam 307 – To the Queen of Heaven]
Biblical Response: Scripture is clear in stating that the Lord alone is our redeemer. It is in God’s “beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1: 13,14). God justifies sinners “through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24). See also 1Peter 1: 18,19.
Mary, Mediatress of All Grace: On p. 203 of his book James McCarthy states: “Roman Catholicism also teaches that Mary earned the privilege of being the one through whom God would dispense all grace to the world” [Ad Diem 308]. According to the Catholic Church, Christ “grants all graces to mankind through her,”[309] and “nothing is imparted to us except through Mary.”[310] The Church teaches that “nothing comes to us except through Mary’s mediation, for such is God’s will.”[313]
Biblical Response: “For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tim 2:5). See also Jn 14:13,14; 1Pe 5:7.
Before, during and after Pope John Paul II’s death a great many people were saying the string of beads called the rosary. He was also buried with one. The Pope called the rosary “my favorite prayer.” He proclaimed October 2002-October 2003 the year of the rosary. The rosary consists of five decades – set of 10 – of Hail Mary's separated by a larger bead. The wording of the Hail Mary prayer summarizes a great many doctrines of Marian theology in Catholicism: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Is that a prayer that a Bible-believing Christian can pray? Can the “mother of God” be our intercessor?
It is also to be noted that at the end of the Mass, Cardinal Ratzinger stated of the Pope’s soul and spirit: “ we entrust you to the Mother of God.”
There is one additional item about the prayers offered at the Mass that needs to be noted. It is not only prayers offered to Mary that were a problem. There were also prayers being offered with and for the Pope himself. Catholics believe in the “communion of saints. This communion is a mystical relationship between all Catholics, whether living on earth, suffering in purgatory, or enjoying the glories of heaven” [954-962,1474-1475]. During the Mass, Holy Communion or the Eucharist is always distributed – it is the cornerstone of each Mass. “It is by the Eucharist thus celebrated (in the Funeral for the Dead) that the community of the faithful, especially the family of the deceased, learn to live in communion with the one who ‘has fallen asleep in the Lord’, by communicating in the Body of Christ of which he is a living (?) member and, then, by praying for him and with him. [985].
Biblical Response: The Roman Catholic practice of the living invoking the spirits of the dead has more in common with spiritism and divination, both condemned in Scripture as abominations before the Lord, than with any Christian practice (Deut 18: 10,11).
PURGATORY, INDULGENCES, UNCERTAINTY…OR CHRIST’S “IT IS FINISHED”
Roman Catholicism believes that even though a sin has been forgiven, punishment must still be paid [1473]. This “temporal” punishment can be paid through acts of penance in this life, such as saying the rosary or doing good deeds, or it can be paid in the next life in purgatory [1030-1032,1472]. The living may also help the dead loved one who is in purgatory by acquiring special credits called indulgences that cancel out temporal punishment [1032,1471]. Indulgences include all the prayers and good works of all the saints or praying the rosary. Only the church can dispense these indulgences. The church affirmed the existence of purgatory at each of the last three ecumenical councils including Vatican II. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes purgatory as a place of “cleansing fire” [1031]
“Belief in the existence of purgatory is also expressed at every Mass. During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, prayers are offered for the dead. Usually the Mass itself is also offered for someone suffering in purgatory. The person’s name is announced in the Sunday bulletin. Each year, in fact, on the anniversary of the death of the last Pope, the present Pope offers Mass for his two predecessors, who are presumably still suffering in purgatory” (McCarthy p.114).
Pope John Paul II (would) offer Mass for John Paul I and Paul VI on September 28, the anniversary of the death of John Paul I (from “The Lord Gives Us Confidence,” in L’Osservatore Romano, October 7, 1992, p.1).
Biblical response: Eternal life is not a reward, but the unmerited gift of God.
· Ro 6: 23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
· A person who truly believes in Christ can know that he has eternal life: 1 John 5: 11-13 “ God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”
· The Scriptures teach that Jesus “released us from our sins by His blood” (Rev 1:5).
They make no mention of acts of penance, indulgences, or a place such as purgatory through which the penalty of sin can be satisfied.
If a sinner must pay the temporal punishment for his sins, that is the equivalent of saying that Jesus’ blood was insufficient.
Biblical salvation has no need of a place such as purgatory.
· I John 1:9 states: “When you confess your sin (to Jesus), He is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.”
· The Lord Jesus “made purification of sins” (Heb 1:3) on the cross.
· His blood can cleanse the vilest sinner (Heb 9:14).
· There is no temporal punishment remaining for which the believer must atone; Jesus paid it all: He Himself is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2).
CATHOLIC CHURCH NECESSARY FOR SALVATION
One of the most important distinctions concerning salvation for a Catholic and a Christian is that Catholics believe that the Roman Catholic Church is necessary for salvation:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church…is necessary for salvation…(Christ Himself) affirmed the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door [846]
Yet the Bible, relying only on the Scriptures inspired by God (2Tim 3:16) simply states that there is salvation in no one else but the Lord Jesus Christ:
For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4: 12)
THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AND HOLY COMMUNION
Roman Catholicism teaches that Christ instituted the Mass at the Last Supper. When He pronounced over the bread “This is My body” and over the wine “This is My blood” (Mt 26:26,28) He changed them [621]. The bread became His literal body; the wine became His literal blood [1339]. This is the doctrine of transubstantiation. Christ then offered them as a sacrifice to the Father and gave them to His disciples to eat and drink. This was the first Eucharist.
According to the Catholic Church, the Mass is “a true and proper sacrifice,” [171] not merely a symbolic rite. The Catholic Catechism teaches that the reason the Mass is the same sacrifice as that of Calvary is because the victim in each case was Jesus Christ. In fact, they refer to the bread of the Eucharist as the “host” which is the Latin word hostia, which literally means “victim.” In the sacrifice of the Mass Christ is immolated [183]. Immolation is the sacrificial killing of a victim. Christ does not suffer and pour out His blood at the Mass, however – it is “ an unbloody immolation” [184] by which He becomes sacramentally present under the appearances of bread and wine, a “most holy victim” [1085,1353,1362,136,1367,1383,1409,1545]. The sacrifice is real and the offering is real: the priest “ offers the immaculate Victim to God the Father, in the Holy Spirit.” [173] The Church teaches that the sacrifice of the cross and the sacrifice of the Mass are “one and the same sacrifice” [175].
The climax of the Catholic Mass occurs during the consecration when the priest changes the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. The bread and wine become “God and man”[136] for the Eucharist is considered to be the incarnate Christ.
In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really and substantially contained.” [200] (emphasis in original)
The Eucharist, according to Catholicism, makes the Catholic more like Christ, for “partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ has no less an effect than to change us into what we have received.” [143] (These exact words were heard at the Pope’s funeral).
Catholics are also to “hold the Eucharist in highest honor…worshipping it with supreme adoration…with the same worship that we offer to God” [147,148]. When the priest during the Mass holds up the “Eucharistic wafer” and says “This is the Lamb of God, happy are those who are called to His supper”, he is saying that the wafer is literally the Lamb of God, Jesus.
Biblical response: For a Jew, drinking human blood would have been more than repulsive; it would have been unlawful. The law of Moses strictly forbade it (Leviticus 17:10-14). Additionally the council at Jerusalem could not have instructed Gentile Christians to “abstain…from blood”(Acts 15:29) if Christians routinely drank blood at the Lord’s Supper.
The disciples were accustomed to Jesus using figurative language in His teaching. On different occasions, Christ referred to His body as a temple (Jn 2:19), new life as living water (Jn 4:10), His disciples as salt (Mt 5: 13). The Gospel of John records seven figurative statements that Jesus made about Himself. Each uses the same verb that is translated “is” in Jesus’ words “ This is My body.” Jesus said:
· I am the bread of life (Jn 6:48);
· I am the light of the world (Jn 8:12);
· I am the door (Jn 10:9);
· I am the good shepherd (Jn 10:11);
· I am the resurrection and the life (Jn 11:25);
· I am the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14:6) and
· I am the true vine (Jn 15:1).
All of these are meant to be understood in their figurative sense. Following the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples:
These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; and hour is coming when I will speak no more to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. (John 16:25)
When Jesus refers to the new covenant, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood” (1 Cor 11:25), it is obvious the cup was not the covenant itself but the symbol of the covenant. In addition, at the Last Supper Jesus instructed His disciples, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). The word translated “remembrance” means a calling to mind. Jesus wanted His disciples to call to mind His work of salvation on the cross. With the symbols of His body and blood before them – the bread and wine, they were to “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor 11:26).
“When Paul wrote that “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7), he put the verb in a form expressing the action as an event in past time. Christ is not being sacrificed; He has been sacrificed on the cross. Just before the Lord gave up His spirit on the cross, He cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). His sacrificial work of redemption was done. To translate it in the original, it would read “ It has been finished and stands complete.” The whole debt is paid” (McCarthy pp.162-63).
Roman Catholicism misrepresents the finished work of Christ on the cross by saying that the sacrifice of the cross is continued in the Mass. This past year (2004-2005) the Pope implemented the Year of the Eucharist and Eucharistic adoration.
· The Bible teaches that Christ presented the sacrifice of His life to the Father only once. He “entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).
· The Father accepted the perfect sacrifice of Christ without reservation. “Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18).
· For this reason Scripture repeatedly calls the cross the “once-for-all” offering of Christ (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12,26,28; 10:10; Romans 6:10; 1 Peter 3:18).
· Through the full payment by Him “all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:39).
A PLEA
I searched for 36 years for a way to fill the deep emptiness within me. One blessed day a friend took me to hear a speaker tell of the plan of salvation. It was so simple – and I knew it was true. No one had ever told it to me before. How I wish they had. It would have saved me so much loneliness and sorrow. Someone loved me enough to tell me the truth of salvation. Catholicism would not lead me to Jesus and the “fullness that fills all in all.” But being a born-again Christian who trusted only in Him for my salvation has. There are so many millions of Catholics who are perishing because they don’t know the truth. In love should we not tell them?
Barbara Wilhelm
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