Are We Really Catholic Bashing?

Throughout the last 13 years we have made the Roman Catholic Church our primary mission field. It has been our heart’s desire to see Roman Catholics embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as their all-sufficient Savior and enjoy the salvation He sovereignly secured for all who trust Him alone. Needless to say, we have received thousands of letters, e-mails and phone calls from disgruntled, irate, annoyed, threatening or confused Catholics who tell us we are Catholic bashers and do not know anything about their religion. Some are zealous for God, but without biblical knowledge. Others have an unbending loyalty to the Pope and his teachings. We recently received a letter which covers many issues that are usually brought forth when Catholics are confronted with the biblical Gospel. Following is the letter and my response.

I hope you can open your heart enough to truly hear what I’m about to tell you. First, you were not a "hard-core" Catholic. You are like a lot of people who were raised Catholic, who really did not know or understand their faith. I was like you at one time. I was raised Catholic, but did not practice my faith for years. But thanks to the grace of God, the Holy Spirit, and my devout wife, I rediscovered my Catholic faith as an adult. I love my faith and its glorious tradition handed down from Peter and Paul and the Apostles.

Regarding your belief in the Bible alone, who do you believe compiled the Bible? Before the Protestant Reformation, Catholics wrote the only Bibles in existence. The King James Bible and all Protestant Bibles are based on the Catholic Bible, but many words were changed to justify Protestant beliefs. You see, Catholicism was the only game in town for over a thousand years until the Eastern Orthodox Church split with Rome and the Protestant Reformation further splintered Christians. The doctrines of Catholic faith have not significantly changed in 2000 years! Yet Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:2 those who "hold fast to traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter". In 2 Thessalonians 3:6 Paul says "Shun any brother who conducts himself not according to tradition they received from us." The Gospel of John 21:25 states that not everything Jesus said was recorded in scripture.

Does being born-again mean that it is open season on Catholics? Is Catholic bashing a requirement for being born-again? Why the constant attacks on Catholicism, an attack on those who receive Christ in the Eucharist on a weekly, or in my case, a daily basis? Do you really believe that if you’re Catholic you’re going to hell? When it was written that early Christians needed to be "born-again", the target audience was those who were not already baptized. Taken in that context, the need to be born-again does not apply to Catholics since Catholics have already been baptized, and are thus reborn.

I would like to address each one of your points. First, the Catholic Church was not even around to compile the Hebrews Scriptures. The Old Testament was closed 400 years before Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Furthermore, it was the apostles and the eyewitnesses to the events of Christ’s first coming who wrote the New Testament, not Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church did not exist in the first century. It can not be the one true church founded by Christ because it does not profess the faith of the apostles. Its teachings and traditions prove, beyond a doubt, that it has departed from the apostolic faith.

Jude warned the early church to contend for the faith against apostates. In verse 4 of his epistle, he wrote, "For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord." Jude identifies the apostates by certain characteristics that resemble the Roman Catholic Church. Catholics deny Jesus as the only sovereign and Lord by supplanting His authority with an authority of their own. They have turned the grace of God into a commodity that can be bought, bartered or merited through indulgences and sacraments. They have perverted the Gospel of grace into a gospel of faith plus works. They have denied the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ and given His divine attributes and titles to Mary and the Pope. They have denied the sufficiency of the word and work of Christ. These are just some of the characteristics that would convict the Catholic Church of being apostate not apostolic.

The Roman Catholic Church declares itself to be the church that Jesus started 2000 years ago. It further pronounces that the church never changes its dogmatic teachings. With this in mind we, once again, can examine the teachings of the Catholic Church today and prove they do not resemble the first century church. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see:

• Priests offering sacrifices for sins • Indulgences remitting punishment for sins • Prayers for souls in purgatory • Church leaders forbidden to marry • Infallible men • Salvation dispensed through sacraments • Rosaries, scapulars, holy water, crucifixes & statues

You said "the King James Bible and all Protestant Bibles are based on the Catholic Bible, but many words were changed to justify Protestant beliefs." You are incorrect. The King James Bible was translated from the original languages of Scripture (Hebrew and Greek) while the first Roman Catholic Bible, known as the Douay-Rheims Bible was translated from Latin in the 16th century. Needless to say, a translation from the original languages would be much more accurate than a translation from a translation. Furthermore, it is not the King James Bible that departed from the original canon but the Roman Catholic Bible. In 1546 the Council of Trent added the Apocryphal books to the canon in an attempt to justify the doctrine of Purgatory. Jerome rejected them when he was translating the Bible into Latin in 450 because they were never part of the Hebrew canon. The texts include Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, Tobit, Sirach, Baruch, Maccabees I & II, Esdras I & II, additions to the Book of Esther, the Book of Daniel, and the Prayer of Manasseh.

Have you considered the references to tradition in the New Testament appear mostly as warnings against using them to nullify the word of God or to hold people captive (Mark 7:7-13; Col. 2:8-9). Only three times is tradition used in a positive sense. The few references you cited are exhortation for Christians to follow apostolic traditions. Please note the tense. Each reference is given in the past tense, i.e. the tradition which you were taught, (2 Thes. 2:15); which you have heard (2 Tim. 2:2); and, as I [Paul] delivered them to you (1 Cor. 11:2) Man’s tradition, which crept into the church after the apostles, is what we are to earnestly contend against (Jude 3). Followers of Jesus Christ are exhorted to earnestly contend for the faith which was delivered to the saints at the time the last apostle went to glory. "The faith" is made up of the Word of God and the traditions which "were taught" by the apostles. We must contend against other traditions because religious leaders and institutions can become corrupt (Mat. 23). The only assurance to genuine faith is from the objective, infallible Word of God (John 17:17).

You noted that the Gospel of John 21:25 states that not everything Jesus said was recorded in scripture. Do you know why John included what he did in his Gospel? He tells us. "These [things] have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:30-31). Have you believed what John wrote? Unfortunately many Roman Catholics would have been indoctrinated to trust their clergy rather than what is written in the divinely inspired Scriptures. Consider what John has written about the Lord Jesus Christ:

• He saves sinners from condemnation (John 3:18, 5:24). • He came to give life to those who are spiritually dead in sin (John 14:6). • He showed the world the only way to the Father because sinners are lost (John 14:6). • He is the personification of truth. To avoid deception we must trust Him (John 14:6). • He testifies to the truth. Those who seek the truth listen to Him (John 18:37).

John also answers your questions on being born-again. He wrote: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13). Please note that those who are born-again "believe in His name." Is it possible for a 7-day old infant to believe or have faith in anything? Please also note that those who are born-again are born of God not of any human initiative. You can not be born-again because you were born into a Christian family, or because of self-will or because of your parents’ decision to baptize you. It is God who calls and draws those He has chosen (Eph. 1:4; John 6:44; Rom. 8:30). The Bible teaches that anyone (Catholic or non-Catholic) who has not been born-again will not enter the kingdom of God, but instead suffer everlasting torment in the eternal lake of fire.

I do not know why Catholics so often refer to us as Catholic bashers. If we really wanted to bash Catholics we would ignore them and let them march proudly towards an eternity without Christ. It is our love for Catholics and for our Lord that motivates us to be faithful to the great commission. It is our compassion for Catholics that persuades us to proclaim that Jesus Christ is sufficient to save sinners completely and forever, a doctrine that most Catholics deny. And finally it is our desire to exalt our Lord by exposing any teaching or tradition that robs Him of the glory, honor and praise that He alone deserves. It is my prayer that you will come to Jesus with empty hands of faith, bringing nothing but your sins to the cross! Only then will you know the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.

My 66th birthday is Sunday...
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, 33 and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” 35 And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. 36 And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; 37 for nothing will be impossible for God.” 38 Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. Luke 1:26-38

7 Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, 8 but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. Rev. 12: 7,8

6 Raphael called the two of them aside privately and said to them: “Bless God and give him thanks before all the living for the good things he has done for you, by blessing and extolling his name in song. Proclaim before all with due honor the deeds of God, and do not be slack in thanking him. 7 A king’s secret should be kept secret, but one must declare the works of God and give thanks with due honor. Do good, and evil will not overtake you. 8 Prayer with fasting is good. Almsgiving with righteousness is better than wealth with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold, 9 for almsgiving saves from death, and purges all sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life, 10 but those who commit sin and do evil are their own worst enemies. Tobit 12: 6-10
Wow! A Roman Catholic feast day that I can tie to both Holy Scripture "and" your birthday! What could be better? Happy 66th. :)

Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels

(Note: The Catholic Church does not celebrate this feast day this year as it falls on a Sunday, but come your 67th, the Archangels will be right back in the queue.)

(Note: The Catholic Church does not celebrate this feast day this year as it falls on a Sunday, but come your 67th, the Archangels will be right back in the queue.)

Once again, Lizzy, you throw up some more of the rote and rituals of your group. It just makes me want to throw up!

You want to celebrate an angel, and try and tie it to my birthday? What could be further from my mind? There is only one to celebrate, and that is Jesus Christ. My birthday is inconsequential in the overall scheme of things, and the angel appearing to Mary is just more of your groups attempt to pervert God's plan. There should be no feast for an angel of any type. They are created beings for the sole purpose of ministering to God. With Michael, his ministry included talking to the Virgin. God spoke through that Angel so that the woman would not misunderstand when she became pregnant without knowing Joseph.

The Scriptures you quoted do nothing to celebrate Christ. The Scriptures you quoted were not entirely from the Bible, unless you want to include the Apocrypha. But the Apocrypha isn't Canon. Even the Catholic Church doesn't think so, but includes it for reference and to make their feeble attempts to convince blind people that they can see something that is not there.

So thanks for the birthday wishes, but no thanks for the rest of your post which does nothing to promote the gospel. The only gospel I know speaks of the saving grace made available through Jesus Christ. We are not told to go into all the world and preach the church. Paul didn't tell everybody that must be saved by the church. Paul didn't tell everybody to celebrate the church or the coming of some angels. The entire record we see in Scripture has one purpose only. The purpose is to prepare the world, which God has created, for His entry as a man, demonstrating holiness, and sacrificed for our sin.

Before the beginning of creation, God planned everything we see in Scripture. How else could the profits for tell the coming of Jesus Christ? How else could the record be established and passed to us through the written word that we have? The Catholic Church will claim that the only reason we have it is because they wrote it. It was written by instruments of God. It was written by the Holy Ghost. The Catholic Church may have a claim of assistance, but it's certainly cannot claim a role in salvation which it tries to do.

So, Lizzy, thanks for the birthday greeting of sorts. But your attempt to further the Catholic errors in doctrine are falling on deaf ears here in my house. There is no other besides Jesus name, by which we are saved. Not by works! Not by celebrations! And, most certainly not by taking our eyes off of the author and finisher of our faith. Your post is just another attempt to make us look down instead of up!!! That is how the enemy works!

Hebrews 3: 3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. ...

Hebrews 12: ... 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Thanks for your note, but I am just a spoke in the wheel. The Holy Spirit is at the helm guiding us followers into eternity. I am happy to be an instrument, and my song is to the Lord.

I know that every day we are inundated with these Roman Catholic attempts at dominating the conversation. But God knows the hearts and minds, and is sovereign in his reign. We don't know what to say all the time, but I try to be quiet and listen. Thank God he gave me the Holy Spirit to live in my heart, because he confirms that Jesus is my Lord. All praise goes in that direction, and my treasures are with him!

Hebrews 12: 18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Amen to that smvoice!

That ONE NAME is on my mind from morning till night and I can almost count the minutes on one hand when I am not thinking on His name in some way or other and yet when I look in the mirror I see a person that makes me wonder what he actually really does believe.I shudder at the thought that I am still capable of acting as though He were of no consequence.God help me.I think I 'get' John 6:29 and all I can utter is "Lord I believe,help thou my unbelief"!

I simply have no time for departed saints,angels,Mary etc etc.All the time I have will never be enough to fully comprehend/grasp/take hold on/understand what has been given to me by Jesus Christ!...and He Himself tells us plainly that it is THE "work of God" to do exactly that!

This is not entry to an exclusive country club (indeed it's much more!)but rather a RESCUE and God's Word makes it plain that it's ALL about Jesus Christ! For the sake of our souls we had better 'get' that.

Oh well, I did try..

Angels are certainly covered in the Scriptures, but not in the way the Roman Catholic doctrine would make you think. The purpose of Angels is not for lifting up or venerating, as you would say. The Roman Catholic doctrine concerning saints is just as unfounded. Even with Mary, they all become objects of veneration. But, you would say, veneration is not worship. It is time to puke again! Once again, the definition of “is” becomes confused. The very word is interchangeable and reflects on the premise being wrong.

1615–25; < Latin venerātus, past participle of venerārī to solicit the goodwill of (a god), worship, revere, verbal derivative of vener-, stem of venus, presumably in its original sense “desire”; see Venus)

Trying does not earn you a special place with God. Praying to dead people does not earn you a special entry before the throne. Lighting candles can only make fumes and heat. All of the ritual and rote on display within the Roman Catholic camp are useless and serve no purpose other than occupying your attention and focus. The pretension of it is enough to make someone wonder how it came about. There is a very simple answer. Come out of the darkness and into the light offered through Christ, not some human organization based in Rome.

Titus 3: 3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. 10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. 11 You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.

Trying does not earn you a special place with God. Praying to dead people does not earn you a special entry before the throne...All of the ritual and rote on display within the Roman Catholic camp are useless and serve no purpose other than occupying your attention and focus.
Little kids "try" all the time, and a good Christian mom would recognize this effort, thanking her young one for the little flower that is fresh picked especially for her. And if the saints truly brought people away from Christ, all those enlightened by their love for Him would be empty people, yet they are not, and in fact, sometimes are saints-in-the-making as well.

I also find inspiring, politicians who are Christians, especially Catholic Christians. This is from a book review on Bobby Jindal's Leadership and Crisis.
Raised by devout Hindu parents, as a pre-teen Jindal began to question things when his best friend Kent told Bobby he would miss him when he was in heaven and Jindal was in hell. By his sophomore year in high school, Jindal needed answers, so he dusted off the Bible that Kent gave him and read the Good Book from beginning to end. As remarkable as that feat was for a sixteen-year-old, the fact that he read the entire Old and New Testament in his closet with a flashlight (so as not to arouse his folks' ire that he might be changing faiths) makes it all the more amazing. "I was probably the only teenager in Baton Rouge who told his parents he was going to a party so he could sneak off to church" (pg. 48-49), joked Jindal, but when Bobby asked God to give him a sign that Jesus was indeed "The Way," and the Lord instead gave him two...Jindal became convinced that a conversion to Catholic Christianity was not only the way to salvation, but a guidepath for all the policies he would decide on earth as well. --Tom O'Toole
Earlier on [describing a college "prayer session" for his best friend, Susan], this from Jindal:Strangely, I found myself repeating the Hail Mary until it became a chant. Being a recent convert to Catholicism, I had yet to accept the Catholic doctrines concerning Mary and considered any form of Marian devotion to be idolatry. Though I had never before prayed a Hail Mary in my life, I suddenly found myself incapable of any other form of prayer. Somehow, Mary's intercessions allowed me to find peace during that long night; I knew that I had survived the worst and that I would exit with my faith intact. It terrified me to recall how close I came to turning away from Christ out of fear... --Bobby Jindal
"And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." --Luke 1:28

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