How I Led Catholics Out Of the Church (And into Apostasy)

How I led Catholics Out of the Church STEVE WOOD I was a Protestant for twenty years before I became a Catholic. I led many people out of the Catholic Church. My formula for getting Catholics to leave the Church usually consisted of three steps.

Step 1: Get Catholics to have a conversion experience in a Protestant setting. Most Fundamentalist, Evangelical, and charismatic Protestant churches have dynamic youth programs, vibrant Wednesday and Sunday evening services, and friendly small-group bible studies. In addition, they host special crusades, seminars and concerts. At the invitation of a Protestant friend, a Catholic may begin attending one or more of these events while still going to Sunday Mass at his local parish. Most Protestant services proclaim a simple gospel: repent from sin and follow Christ in faith. They stress the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus and the reward of eternal life. Most of the Catholics who attend these services are not accustomed to hearing such direct challenges to abandon sin and follow Christ. As a result, many Catholics experience a genuine conversion.

Protestants should be commended for their zeal in promoting conversions. Catholic leaders need to multiply the opportunities for their people to have such conversions in Catholic settings. The reason is simple. About five out of ten people adopt the beliefs of the denomination where they have their conversion. This percentage is even higher for those who had profound conversions or charismatic experiences that were provided by Protestants. (Believe me, I know; I was a graduate of an Assembly of God college and a youth minister in two charismatic churches.)

Protestant pastors, evangelists, youth leaders, and lay ministers are acutely aware that conversion experiences in Protestant settings often lead to a Protestant faith and church membership. Why do so many Catholic leaders fail to see this? Why are they so nonchalant about a process that has pulled hundreds of thousands of Catholics out of the Church?

A genuine conversion is one of life's most precious experiences, comparable to marriage or the birth of a child. Conversion awakens a deep hunger for God. Effective Protestant ministries train workers to follow up on this spiritual longing.

Before a stadium crusade, I would give follow-up workers a six-week training course. I showed them how to present a Protestant interpretation of the conversion experience with a selective use of bible verses. The scripture of choice was of course John 3:3, the "born-again" verse: "Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'

I used the "touch and go" scripture technique, similar to that used by pilots training for landings and takeoffs. We would briefly touch down on John 3:3 to show that being born again was necessary for eternal life. Then I would describe conversion in terms of being born again. We would make a hasty takeoff before reading John 3:5 which stresses the necessity of being "born of water and spirit." I never mentioned that for 20 centuries the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, echoing the unanimous teaching of the Church fathers, understood this passage as referring to the Sacrament of Baptism! And I certainly never brought up Titus 3:5 ("He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit") as a parallel reference to John 3:5.

In my experience as a Protestant, all the Catholics who had a conversion in a Protestant setting lacked a firm grasp of their Catholic faith.

In twenty years of Protestant ministry, I never met a Catholic who knew that John 3:3-8 describes the sacrament of Baptism. It wasn't hard to convince them to disregard the sacraments along with the Church that emphasized the sacraments.

Proverbs says: "He who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him" (18:17). Catholics without a scriptural foundation for their Catholic beliefs never hear "the rest of the story." My selective use of scripture made the Protestant perspective seem so absolutely sure. Over time, this one-sided approach to scripture caused Catholics to reject their Catholic faith.

Catholics often consider Protestants who proselytize to be bigoted, narrow-minded, or prejudiced. This is unfair and inaccurate; a profound charity energizes their misguided zeal.

There was only one reason I led Catholics out of the Church: I thought they were on their way to hell. I mistakenly thought the Catholic Church denied that salvation was by grace; I knew that anyone who believed this wasn't going to heaven. Out of love for their immortal souls, I worked tirelessly to convert them.

I used Ephesians 2:8-9 to convince Catholics that it was imperative for them to leave the Church:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. First I would say, "The Bible says that salvation is by grace and not by works. Right?" Their answer was always yes. Then I would say, "The Catholic Church teaches that salvation is by works. Right?" (I never met a Catholic who did not say yes. Every Catholic I met during my twenty years of ministry confirmed my misconception that Catholicism taught salvation is by works instead of grace.) Finally, I would declare, "The Catholic Church is leading people to hell by denying salvation is by grace. You'd better join a church that teaches the true way to heaven."

Because I would also do a "touch and go" in Ephesians, I rarely quoted verse 10 which says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Listen carefully to stadium evangelists, televangelists, and radio preachers. Nine times out of ten they will quote Ephesians 2:8-9 with great emphasis and never mention verse 10.

We are not slaves futilely trying to earn salvation by doing "works of the law" (Eph. 2:8-9). Yet as sons of God we are inspired and energized by the Holy Spirit to do "good works" as we cooperate with our heavenly father in extending the Kingdom of God (Eph. 2:10). Catholicism believes and teaches the full message of Ephesians 2:8-10, without equivocating or abbreviating the truth.

For twenty centuries the Catholic Church has faithfully taught that salvation is by grace. Peter the first pope said, "We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved" (Acts 15:11). The Catechism of the Catholic Church, fully endorsed by Pope John Paul II, says, "Our justification comes from the grace of God" (section 1996).

Protestantism started when Martin Luther declared that we are justified (made righteous) by faith alone. At the time I was leading Catholics out of the Church, I wasn't aware that Martin Luther had added the word alone to his translation of Romans 3:28 in order to prove his doctrine. (The word alone is not found in any contemporary Protestant English translation of Romans 3:28.) I didn't realize that the only place the bible mentions "faith alone" in the context of salvation is in James 2:24, where the idea of faith alone is explicitly refuted: "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." This verse was troubling, but I either ignored it, or twisted it to mean something other that what the verse and its context clearly taught.

I have no objection to Catholics participating in Protestant-oriented events and worthwhile ecumenical activities provided that:

they have a firm grasp of their Catholic faith. they know their faith well enough to articulate it to a non-Catholic, using scripture and the Church fathers. they have the maturity to realize that the most profound presence of Christ isn't necessarily found in the midst of loud noise and high emotion, but in quiet moments like Eucharistic adoration (see 1 Kings 19:11-12). Unfortunately, the majority of Catholic men born after WWII don't meet the above conditions. For them, attending Protestant functions may be opening a door that will lead them right out of the Catholic Church.

There are now thousands of Catholic men on the brink of leaving the one Church Christ died to establish. I recently heard of a group of Catholic men who decided not to consult the Catechism of the Catholic Church in their small-group bible study. They believed that all they needed was scripture alone. Three of these men claimed that they no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I can tell you from experience where this group is headed: straight out of the Catholic Church.

Over the past three decades, thousands of Catholics have left the Church for Protestant pastures. The largest church in America is the Catholic Church; the second largest group of Christians in America is former-Catholics. The Catholic men's movement has a solemn obligation to help men discover the biblical and historical roots of their Catholic faith. Then, rather than leaving, they will become instruments to help others discover the treasures of Catholicism.

Remember that a man who leaves the Church will often take his family with him — for generations. It took my family four hundred years — 10 generations — to come back to the Church after a generation of my ancestors in Norway, England, Germany and Scotland decided to leave the Catholic Church.

As one whose family has made the round-trip back to Catholicism, let me extend a personal plea to Catholic men, especially the leaders of various Catholic men's groups: don't put untrained Catholics in a Protestant setting. They might gain a short-term religious experience, but they take the long-term risk of losing their faith. It would be highly irresponsible to expose them to Protestantism before they are fully exposed to Catholicism.

At my dad's funeral twenty-nine years ago, I tearfully sang his favorite hymn, Faith of Our Fathers. Little did my dad, a minister's son, or I realize that the true faith of our forefathers was Roman Catholicism. Every day I thank God for bringing me back to the ancient Church of my ancestors. Every year God gives me breath on this earth I will keep proclaiming to both my Protestant brethren and to cradle Catholics the glorious faith of our fathers.

Wood, Steve. "How I led Catholics Out of the Church." St. Joseph's Covenant Newsletter 4 no. 2 (March/April 1998).

Steve Wood is the founder of St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers (SJCK), a dynamic apostolate for Catholic men, and runs the web site dads.org.

I disagree with the contention that Protestants do not believe what they are taught: i.e., Protestant “use their brains” while Catholics do not. A lifetime in a variety of Protestant churches has convinced me that many of those in the pews believe what their pastors tell them. Much of the time this is fine, but we also need to exercise our own God-given discernment.

>>I would agree with you regarding the more traditional mainline conservatives in the Protestant ranks, but there is a virulent Evangelical fundamentalism that simply rejects the role of reason in faith. I’ve faced it first-hand on numerous threads since I’ve been on FR.

Discuss the role of reason with these folks, and you have horns and smell of fire and brimstone.

However, there is a Great Mystery here: the Holy Spirit often exercises a restraining effect that prevents - or at least delays - the effects of an experientially-based faith.
>>Agreed. But is experientially based faith simply human feelings or of supernatural origin. I’m a skeptic on this.

As Jesus said:”By their fruits you will know them.”

Thus many churches in the “Protestant” tradition remain faithful to the Gospel when one would expect them to disintegrate. It is their simple faith and trust in their Savior along with a strong devotional life which mitigates whatever theological shortcomings they may have.
>>I can’t argue with genuine faith. Of course only God knows who those individuals are both inside and outside of the visible Church.

God offers all sufficient grace for salvation, but he is the ultimate judge.

I think too that one must know that they are abandoning the Truth for a heretical sect. I imagine in many cases their ignorance of Catholic teaching keeps them from being fully culpable and therefore they are not apostate by the strictest definition.

Just my opinion which I gladly submit to Mother Church in such matters.

The Lord separates the sheep from the goats. I didn’t see anywhere where there is further separating, like Protestants from Catholics, Baptists from Pentecostals.

Perhaps your concern should be:

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)

Didn’t you assume Mormons were pro-life? That’s certainly the image their church attempts to broadcast, and most Mormons, in fact, mistakenly believe their church opposes abortion and regards it as an objective evil. But not so

>>Then I stand corrected. I’ve always been led to believe that the Mormon Church is pro-family at least in the secular sense.

In most protestant denominations, the congregation has a direct role in choosing who will pastor them, and they can fire, too.

As a Protestant I have to agree with rzman21 here. In a church that has proper, biblical-based authority (deacons, elders, etc.) in place, the pastor is held accountable. This was the situation in the Baptist church I was raised in. As I have pointed out elsewhere, this may well have been due to the piety and moderation of the church as a whole.

However, most of us know of huge churches run by some big-name preacher who "runs the show" and answers to no one. The rejoinder: "I'm accountable only to the Lord" is but an excuse to do whatever one wants. I know of one recent case where a church hired a would-be big name pastor who promptly got rid of the deacons and elders. The same pastor has recently been accused of sexual misconduct by several young men. This pastor settled out of court for a huge sum of money while refusing to admit any wrongdoing.

This is not an isolated case: I could name numerous similar cases where pastors of proudly "independant" churches misused their authority in various ways.

Thankfully most churches avoid such pitfals because, again, of the piety of the faithful, but I do not see the label "independant" as something to brag about.

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Yes, I agree. But if you believe in something you should be able to defend it in an intelligent way and not resort to name calling or twisting words around. It must be reasonable and worthy. We’re not trying to convert each other (or at least I’m not) but hopefully understand WHY you believe something. Catholics believe something because the Church tells them what to believe. Protestants find that unacceptable.
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So the Truth changes? The Church tells us what has always been not what today’s culture has decided is the new truth.

Just look around at all the denominations who have bought into the culture. What is happening in those churches?

So what do we have now? New churches springing up daily saying: We teach the Bible. Yeah well maybe today but what happens tomorrow?

Like you said.

In the Catholic Church, at least theoretically, the priest plays second fiddle the Christ. In some charismatically led Evangelical churches, Sunday becomes an ego trip for the preacher who usurps the role of Christ and becomes the master rather than the servant.

A Catholic priest, by contrast, however, is supposed to be a faceless servant of Christ.

I just look at people like Benny Hinn, Jimmy Swaggart, Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, etc., it was all about them. Jesus was a prop in their Churches.

Like you said.

A Catholic priest, by contrast, however, is supposed to be a faceless servant of Christ.

I just look at people like Benny Hinn, Jimmy Swaggart, Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, etc., it was all about them. Jesus was a prop in their Churches.

We don’t need a Protestant Church or a Catholic Church.

We need people to read their bibles and take salvation seriously.

“The Church” is not a worldly church run by men, it’s God’s people, in all continents, in all walks of life, yes even in Catholic OR Protestant churches. And even those who have never attended a physical Church. Read Romans 1, about how God will give those who receive the light he gives them more light, so that none have an excuse.

The problem is not that men don’t know the truth, but that men love the darkness. Similarly the problem is not the church, it’s with the believers.

“There are now thousands of Catholic men on the brink of leaving the one Church Christ died to establish. I recently heard of a group of Catholic men who decided not to consult the Catechism of the Catholic Church in their small-group bible study. They believed that all they needed was scripture alone. Three of these men claimed that they no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I can tell you from experience where this group is headed: straight out of the Catholic Church.”

“the one Church Christ died to establish”???? I don't think so.

“They believed that all they needed was scripture alone.”

Ugh, YES! It's the only book He wrote.

“the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.” Religious mumbo jumbo.

The real presence of Christ is in “ME”, not some cracker or Welch’s Grape Juice.

To: shanover
I don’t think Christian management is all that concerned about whether we’re Catholic or Protestant as long as we’re working toward the same goal.

>>Here’s your attack on the Catholic Church, considering the topic of this thread is about Catholics who are seduced into leaving the Catholic Church.

I interpret this as a relativist attack on the Catholic Church.

One friend, a Catholic female, went to her boyfriend’s Protestant church (why on earth she did this I don’t know) only to find it was a set-up. After everyone was seated, they all surrounded her, basically cornering her, and hammered the Catholic Church with lies & outright distiruons.

I would consider such behaviour completely unacceptable. However, I would disagree with your contention that my experience of not experiencing active anti-Catholicism is "unique" (as in "an exception to th rule"). Rather, I would hope that the unfortunate experience of your friend is the exception rather than the rule.

The problem is not that men don’t know the truth, but that men love the darkness. Similarly the problem is not the church, it’s with the believers.

Agreed. bears repeating. Too much emphasis on the Church and its busy activities and no knee work or communing with God leads one astray. Better to spend one hour reading and understanding the Bible than two hours in Church listening to stuff that doesn't square with the Bible or the life of Jesus.

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