ROMAN CATHOLICISM IS A CULT

ROMAN CATHOLICISM IS A CULT

Despite their many differences, Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, and Roman Catholicism have two things in common: All of them reject the Jesus of the Bible and all have Satan for their father. God pronounces a curse against all false teachers.

1 Corinthians 16:22
22. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.

Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, priest, and Doctor of Theology, was a professor of sacred theology at the Catholic university in Wittenberg, Germany. From November 1515 to September 1516, he taught his students from Paul’s epistle to the Romans. Every day as he studied to prepare is lectures, he kept trying to understand the Pauline Doctrine of Justification. He wrote, "I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, 'the righteousness of God', because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous … Night and day I pondered until ... I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before 'the righteousness of God' had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressible sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven."

Romans 1:17
17. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

When God opened Martin Luther’s eyes, he understood these verses and was able to see the many errors of the Catholic Church.

Romans 3:28
28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

Romans 4:2
2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something of which to boast, but not before God.
3. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.''
4. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

As a priest and theology professor, he confronted the indulgence salesmen of the Catholic Church with his “95 Theses” in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms meeting in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.

Martin Luther was correct when he proclaimed, “Sola Scriptura” (the Bible only). All false religions err when they add or detract from the Bible. In Roman Catholicism, “the Word of God” encompasses not only the Bible, but also the Apocrypha, the Magisterium (the Church’s authority to teach and interpret divine truth), the Pope’s ex-cathedra pronouncements, and an indefinite body of church tradition, some formalized in canon law and some not yet committed to writing. Whereas evangelical Protestants believe the Bible is the ultimate test of all truth, Roman Catholics believe the Church determines what is true and what is not. In effect, this makes the Church a higher authority than Scripture.

Creeds and doctrinal statements are certainly important. However, creeds, decisions of church councils, all doctrine, and even the church itself must be judged by Scripture … not vice versa. Scripture is to be accurately interpreted in its context by comparing it to Scripture … certainly not according to anyone’s personal whims. Scripture itself is thus the sole binding rule of faith and practice for all Christians. Protestant creeds and doctrinal statements simply express the churches’ collective understanding of the proper interpretation of Scripture. In no sense could the creeds and pronouncements of the churches ever constitute an authority equal to or higher than Scripture. Scripture always takes priority over the church in the rank of authority.

Roman Catholicism, on the other hand, teaches that the infallible touchstone of truth is the Church itself. The Church not only infallibly determines the proper interpretation of Scripture, but also supplements Scripture with additional traditions and teachings. That combination of Church tradition plus the Church’s interpretation of Scripture is what constitutes the binding rule of faith and practice for Catholics. The fact is, the Church sets itself above Holy Scripture in rank of authority.

Matthew 15:3
3. But He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?

Mark 7:7
7. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'

The Roman Catholic Church errs in its teaching on the most fundamental doctrines of sanctification and justification. According to Roman Catholicism, justification is a process in which God’s grace is poured forth into the sinner’s heart, making that person progressively more righteous. During this process, it is the sinner’s responsibility to preserve and increase that grace by various good works. The means by which justification is initially obtained is not faith, but the sacrament of baptism. Furthermore, justification is forfeited whenever the believer commits a mortal sin, such as hatred or adultery. In the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, then, works are necessary both to begin and to continue the process of justification.

The error in the Catholic Church’s position on justification may be summed up in four biblical arguments:

First, scripture presents justification as instantaneous, not gradual. Contrasting the proud Pharisee with the broken, repentant tax-gatherer who smote his breast and prayed humbly for divine mercy, Jesus said that the tax-gatherer “went down to his house justified” (Luke 18:14). His justification was instantaneous, complete before he performed any work, based solely on his repentant faith. Jesus also said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24). Eternal life is the present possession of all who believe … and, by definition, eternal life cannot be lost. The one who believes immediately passes from spiritual death to eternal life, because that person is instantaneously justified (see Rom. 5:1, 9; 8:1).

Second, justification means the sinner is declared righteous, not actually made righteous. This goes hand in hand with the fact that justification is instantaneous. There is no process to be performed … justification is purely a forensic reality, a declaration God makes about the sinner. Justification takes place in the court of God, not in the soul of the sinner. It is an objective fact, not a subjective phenomenon, and it changes the sinner’s status, not his nature. Justification is an immediate decree, a divine “not guilty” verdict on behalf of the believing sinner in which God declares him to be righteous in His sight.

Third, the Bible teaches that justification means righteousness is imputed, not infused. Righteousness is “reckoned,” or credited to the account of those who believe (Rom. 4:3–25). They stand justified before God not because of their own righteousness (Rom. 3:10), but because of a perfect righteousness outside themselves that is reckoned to them by faith (Phil. 3:9). Where does that perfect righteousness come from? It is God’s own righteousness (Rom 10:3), and it is the believer’s in the person of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ’s own perfect righteousness is credited to the believer’s personal account (Rom. 5:17, 19), just as the full guilt of the believer’s sin was imputed to Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). The only merit God accepts for salvation is that of Jesus Christ; nothing man can ever do could earn God’s favor or add anything to the merit of Christ.

Fourth and finally, Scripture clearly teaches that man is justified by faith alone, not by faith plus works. According to the Apostle Paul, “If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6). Elsewhere Paul testifies, “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9, emphasis added; see Acts 16:31 and Rom. 4:3–6). In fact, it is clearly taught throughout Scripture that “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Rom. 3:28; see Gal. 2:16; Rom. 9:31–32; 10:3).

In contrast, Roman Catholicism places an undue stress on human works. Catholic doctrine denies that God “justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5) without first making them godly. Good works therefore become the grounds for justification. As thousands of former Catholics will testify, Roman Catholic doctrine and liturgy obscure the essential truth that the believer is saved by grace through faith and not by his own works (Eph. 2:8-9). In a simple sense, Catholics genuinely believe they are saved by doing good, confessing sin, and observing ceremonies. Justification is also referred to as receiving Christ. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that all you have to do to receive Christ is to open your mouth and stick out your tongue to receive a wafer of bread.

Adding works to faith as the grounds of justification is precisely the teaching that Paul condemned as “a different gospel” (see 2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6). It nullifies the grace of God, for if meritorious righteousness can be earned through the sacraments, “then Christ died needlessly” (Gal. 2:21). Any system that mingles works with grace, then, is “a different gospel,” a distorted message that is anathematized (Gal. 1:9), not by a council of medieval bishops, but by the very Word of God that cannot be broken. In fact, it does not overstate the case to say that the Roman Catholic view on justification sets it apart as a wholly different religion than the true Christian faith, for it is antithetical to the simple gospel of grace.

Galatians 1:7
7. but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

As long as the Roman Catholic Church continues to assert its own authority and bind its people to “another gospel,” it is the spiritual duty of all true Christians to oppose Roman Catholic doctrine with biblical truth and to call all Catholics to true salvation. Meanwhile, evangelicals must not capitulate to the pressures for artificial unity. They cannot allow the gospel to be obscured, and they cannot make friends with false religion, lest they become partakers in their evil deeds (2 John 11). The only basis of true fellowship is agreement in doctrinal principles. A Christian cannot share a podium with a Catholic. Their appearance together would only serve to confuse the ignorant.

Every believer is sanctified (set apart) unto God by justification at the time of salvation, is declared to be holy, and is therefore identified as a saint. This sanctification is called positional sanctification and is instantaneous. This should not be confused with progressive sanctification. This positional sanctification has to do with the believer's standing, not his present walk or condition (Acts 20:32; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 2:11; 3:1; 10:10, 14; 13:12; 1 Peter 1:2).

There is also, by the work of the Holy Spirit, a progressive sanctification by which the state of the believer is brought closer to the standing the believer positionally enjoys through justification. Through obedience to the Word of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the believer is able to live a life of increasing holiness in conformity to the will of God, becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:17,19; Romans 6:1 22; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3 4; 5:23). In this respect, every saved person is involved in a daily conflict-the new creation in Christ doing battle against the flesh-but adequate provision is made for victory through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The struggle nevertheless stays with the believer all through this earthly life and is never completely ended. All claims to the eradication of sin in this life are unscriptural. Eradication of sin is not possible, but the Holy Spirit does provide for victory over sin (Galatians 5:16 25; Ephesians 4:22 24; Philippians 3:12; Colossians 3:9 10; 1 Peter 1:14 16; 1 John 3:5 9).

As one of its primary teachings, The Catholic Church pronounces anathema on anyone who does not believe in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. This doctrine is just too bizarre to be believed. Catholics must believe that, at every mass, a magic show takes place. All ordinary priests supposedly have the power to change ordinary bread and wine into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ even though the bread and the wine still look and taste the same as before.

Over the last few centuries, the teachings regarding the worship of Mary have been evolving. The Catholic Church now teaches that all Catholics have to believe, under penalty of anathema, that Mary also had a virgin birth, lived a sinless life of perpetual virginity, didn’t deliver Jesus through the birth canal, and didn’t die but just bodily assumed into Heaven.

Contrary to Catholic teachings, Mary was not a perpetual virgin. It’s absolutely true that Mary, being a virgin, gave birth to Jesus but then Joseph and his wife, Mary, had a normal life and had four more sons and at least two more daughters.

Matthew 13:55
55. "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers (Greek - adelphos - of the same womb) James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
56. "And His sisters, are they not all with us?

None of His half-brothers or half-sisters believed in Jesus until they saw Him after His resurrection.

John 7:5
5. For even His brothers (Greek - adelphos - of the same womb) did not believe in Him.

Incidentally, one of Jesus’ half-brothers, James, wrote the epistle James and another half-brother, Judas, wrote the epistle Jude.

Galatians 1:19
19. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother (Greek - adelphos - of the same womb).

The Roman Catholic Church also says that Catholics must believe, under penalty of anathema, that they can pray to and worship Mary and that Mary is a “co-redeemer” and “co-mediatrix” with Christ.

1 Timothy 2:5
5. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

Catholics say that we have to pray to Mary because only a mother could get her son to answer our prayers. Jesus taught that we can come boldly to Him with our prayers.

Hebrews 4:15
15. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

I always ask Catholics if they ever get the feeling that Mary isn’t listening to their prayers. Only God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient and since Mary isn’t God, she is not omniscient. In fact, there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that people in Heaven have any knowledge or awareness of anything on earth. It is ridiculous to think that people who are in the presence of a sinless God would want to have their holy environment invaded with all the sins that are on the earth. All that aside, even if Mary wanted, she could only listen to one prayer at a time and could not possibly listen to the millions upon millions of prayers directed to her every day. In addition, since she doesn’t have supernatural hearing, for Mary to be able to hear those worshipers, they would have to shout loud enough to be heard all the way up to Heaven. Good luck with that!

Catholics also pray the rosary beads and they repeat the same prayers over and over and over and over again (vain repetitions). The rosary beads have five “Our Fathers” and fifty “Hail Marys” so Catholics say ten prayers to Mary for every one they pray to the Lord. Jesus taught His disciples that they could pray directly to the Father and they wouldn’t need to yell in order for God to hear them.

Matthew 6:5
5. "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
6. "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7. "But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8. “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
9. In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11. Give us this day our daily bread.
12. And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13. And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Numerous mother/child cult religions existed before the time of Christ. Back in time, Nimrod had a wife by the name of Semiramis and she supposedly conceived a son by a sunbeam. Her son’s name was Tammuz and she offered this son as a promised deliverer. When Tammuz grew up, a wild boar killed him. After forty days of his mother's crying, he arose from the dead. Lent was this forty-day period of weeping for Tammuz before the feast, which celebrated his resurrection in the spring. They worshiped Semiramis by offering a wafer to her and her name was the Queen of Heaven. The worship of Semiramis also involved priests, sacramental rites, burning of incense, dedication of virgins, and purgatory. This is the basis of the harlot’s worship and Roman Catholicism.

Jeremiah 44:17
17. "But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her,

Ezekiel 8:14
14. So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord's house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.

Satan is the father of all mother/child cults:
In Babylon, it was Semiramis and her son, Tammuz.
In Egypt, it was Isis and her son, Osiris.
In Phoenicia, it was Ashtoreth and her son, Baal.
In Greece, it was Aphrodite and her son, Eros.
In Rome, it was Venus and her son, Cupid.
In India, it was Devaki and her son, Krishna.
In Roman Catholicism, it is the Queen of Heaven and her son.

When the Roman Empire finally became the dominate world empire, Julius Caesar had all the priestesses and priests of Semiramis move from Pergamos to Rome. When the worship of Semiramis arrived in Rome, the chief priest in Rome took the title Pontifex Maximum and it was imprinted on his miter. The title had to do with the worship of a god called Dagon the Fish-god. From then on, every emperor in Rome wore the title Pontifex Maximum. It had nothing to do with Christianity; it meant you were the chief priest of the worship of Semiramis. Do you know who wears that title today? The Pope! The Pope is not the direct successor of Peter; he is a servant of Satan, Dagon the Fish-god, and the Babylonian mystery religions. The chief priest of Dagon the Fish-god always wore a big hat with two tall peaks that looked like a big fish with its mouth open. All the Popes wear that same style hat even to this day.

Satan couldn’t destroy true Christianity with killings and persecutions so when Julius Caesar brought the Babylonian mystery religion to Rome, Satan started to merge the names and events of the Babylonian religion with the names and events associated with Christianity and this is the basis of Roman Catholicism. In 325 A.D., Constantine, the ruler of the Roman Empire, said, by proclamation, that all Roman citizens were to automatically become Christians and all non-conformists were to be punished. Satan hoped that by adding millions of non-Christians to the true Christians, he would water down and destroy Christ’s Church. As a way to make sure that all future people were included, he introduced infant baptism. True Christians were never a part of Catholicism back then and true Christians are not part of Catholicism today.

Whenever I compare the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to what is actually said in the Bible, I always think of the classic line from the Marx Brothers’ movie called “Duck Soup” where Chico Marx, who was dressed up as Groucho Marx, said, “Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?” The Roman Catholic Church pronounces a curse on anyone who says that they can know that they have eternal life but what does the Bible say?

I John 5:13
13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,

The dead in Purgatory (to purge) are punished to purge them from their sins and enduring punishment gains merit points which are then added to their account. When they earn enough merit points, (Satan’s balance scale concept, when the good stuff outweighs the bad), they will be released to proceed to Heaven. In order to have even more merit points added to their account, the Roman Catholic Church wants their loved ones to give money to a priest to say a mass in their honor. Of course, since they would never know if or when their loved ones got out of Purgatory, they would have to keep giving money year after year. The selling of indulgences as a way to escape the penalties of Penance and paying priests to say masses so that the dead can escape the punishment of Purgatory and enter Heaven are two of the biggest sources of income of the Roman Catholic Church.

Where does the Catholic Church get all of this abundance of merit points to pass out? Simple … from the Queen of Heaven and her son, of course. You see, the Roman Catholic Church says that the Queen of Heaven and her son were so righteous that they got into Heaven with all sorts of extra righteousness and merit points to spare. The Roman Church is then able to sell those excess merit points from those two people back to the billions and billions of people who didn’t have enough. Is it any wonder that the Roman Catholic Church pronounces the penalty of anathema (a curse) on anyone who does not believe in Purgatory or the Sacrament of Penance? It was just recently disclosed that Pope John Paul II continually flagellated himself with a belt and slept on the floor as acts of penance. Some people have been known to crawl on their bloody knees for miles or to wear a belt with nails in it under their clothes as acts of self-mortification. I have an old Catholic Bible that has the seal of the pope and in it they purposely mistranslated the last part of 2 Peter 3:9 to say, “come to do penance” as a way of trying to promote the un-Biblical practice of self-mortification instead of the correct word, repentance, which means to turn from sin. In their newer Bibles, they have quit mistranslating the text.

2 Peter 3:9
9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

If you want to find out all of the weird stuff the Roman Catholic Church teaches, just go to a Roman Catholic bookstore and buy Ludwig Ott’s Catechisms #1, #2, and #3. These books contain all the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and have the Imprimatur (seal) of the Pope. You would be amazed at how much extra stuff, not found in the Bible that a Catholic has to believe under penalty of anathema from the Church of Rome. Remember, before you join any organization or sign any document, always be sure to read the fine print.

As strange as it may seem … a devout Catholic cannot not be a Christian but, an uncommitted Catholic might be a Christian. In order to be a devout Catholic, under the penalty of anathema, a Catholic has to commit himself to believe every weird thing the Roman Catholic Church teaches. However, an uncommitted Catholic would not have committed himself to study and know all the stuff he’s supposed to believe and may have just decided in his heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and prayed to Jesus to help his unbelief.

Mark 9:23
23. Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.''
24. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!''

If he were sincere about wanting to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, God would help him leave that apostate religious system and find a church that just teaches the Jesus Christ of the Bible.

Who is a saint? To be called a saint (Greek - hagios) simply means to be separated unto God. All believers are properly called saints and are equally justified. Though one saint may be more sanctified (more obedient to the will of God) than another, no saint is more justified (saved) than another. The weakest believer is as much justified and pardoned before the throne of God as is the strongest. The righteousness of Christ is as much imputed to one saint as it is to another.

In the Catholic Church, the Pope has to wait several hundred years before finally deciding if someone performed enough miracles to be called a saint. Contrary to the Pope, the Apostle Paul, in all his letters, greets ordinary saints/believers in every city.

I Corinthians 1:2
2. To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,









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