What The Bible Says About The Catholic Church

(Text: I John 4:1-3)
By: Barry L. Cameron


* We have a biblical mandate, as Christians, to check things out. (I Thessalonians 5:21-22; I Peter 3:15) - And we have a standard, in the Word of God, which we are to use, to measure everything.

* My purpose tonight, in this message, is to examine the teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church, in the light of the Word of God.

Why?
- Ironically, I’m speaking on this subject tonight because of the encouragement of the Catholic Church.
- They claim that both protestants and Catholics are all part of the same body of Christ.
- That we have the same God, the same Bible, the same doctrines and that we should stop trying to evangelize one another.

In the Spring of 1994, a number of well known and well-respected evangelical and Catholic leaders signed a document called: “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission In the Third Millennium.” - Signed by men such as Bill Bright, Pat Robertson and Chuck Colson, this document suggested that the time had come for Evangelicals and Catholics to unite together and to agree to stop trying to evangelize one another.

* However, a number of high-profile leaders in evangelical Christianity took exception to this document.
- Among them: Dr. John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Dr. D. James Kennedy, and John Ankerberg.
- They contend that the ECT document minimizes the truth of justification by faith, gives the false impression that any doctrinal differences between Catholics and Protestants are insignificant and mocks the Reformation as both irrelevant and unnecessary.

October 31, 1999, (Halloween) The Associated Press reported that the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church were going to sign a pact that would end their 500-year salvation debate.
“Ending an almost 500-year debate that started when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door, the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches plan to sign a joint declaration today putting aside their differences over the path to salvation.”

* Catholics are signing agreements but they’re still preaching the same gospel they’ve always preached.
- So, in order to see if we’re on the same page theologically, we need to examine their teachings and traditions in light of the Word of God.

* My concern is not the people of the Catholic Church, but rather the theology of the Catholic Church.
- I have a deep love for Catholics. (I have a number of relatives who have been Catholics.)
* We have a large number of former Catholics in our ministry here.
* I have had the privilege of leading several hundred Catholics to a personal relationship with Christ.

* So tonight, if you’re a Catholic or if you’ve had a Catholic background, or if you’ve never been a Catholic, my challenge is for you to join me as we carefully and lovingly examine the teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church and see if, indeed, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, believing and teaching the same Bible, following the same Jesus, and preaching the same gospel.

* According to Mike Gendron: there are over 60 million Catholics in America and 1 billion Catholics in the world.
- There have been many positive contributions from the Catholic Church:
- The Catholic Church has had a major influence in the arts.
* Michaelangelo and Raphael are among several notable artists from the Catholic Church.
* The artwork in the great cathedrals in Europe is unmatched anywhere in the world.
- The strong stand of the Catholic Church against abortion and the sanctity of human life.
- The hundreds of hospitals, nursing homes and orphanages throughout the world.

* People see and hear all these positive things and say, “What can you possibly find to disagree with?”

* That’s why we need to take the Bible and lay the teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church alongside it and see if it measures up.

* Galatians 1:6-9

Mike Gendron (Founder of “Proclaiming The Gospel,” A devout Roman Catholic for 37 years and an ardent defender of the “one true church”)
“Although some Roman Catholics have had a genuine born-again experience, there are also many who have never heard God’s plan of salvation. Hundreds of years of Roman Catholic traditions have veiled the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result, many Catholics put their trust in a complex sacramental system rather than in the person and work of Christ. There is no ‘good news’ in the Catholic Church. Instead, Catholics are burdened with more requirements for salvation than the Jews were before Christ’s atonement. Salvation in the Catholic Church is a process from baptism through purgatory and is attained by faith plus good works. Many evangelicals are unaware that Catholic dogmas deny the essentials of the Gospel--that Christ is our only mediator, His atonement is sufficient, His redemptive work is finished, and His righteousness is necessary for eternal life. As a result, the Roman Catholic Church is the largest and most neglected mission field in the world.”

Ron Carlson:
“What disturbs us is what Catholics have added to Scripture over the years, so that many Catholics can no longer see the teaching of God’s Word in their faith. What they see instead are the ritual and tradition that have been piled on top of God’s Word over hundreds of years by the Catholic Church. “Many of these rituals and traditions have kept Catholics from knowing the simplicity of God’s true Word. The Catholic Church has added doctrines, traditions, and ideas of men which are not found in Holy Scripture and which are in fact contrary to Scripture.
“Some of these Catholic traditions which Bible-believing Christians reject include such teachings as:
1. The church was built on Peter, who is called first Pope.
2. The doctrine of purgatory after death to purge a person of sin.
3. Prayers to Mary and dead saints to mediate on our behalf.
4. Images to kneel and pray before. 5. Confession to a priest for absolution of sins.
6. The Mass and sacraments as necessary for salvation.
7. Salvation comes only through the Roman Catholic Church.
8. The Eucharist of the Mass and transubstantiation, the teaching that the bread and wine literally becomes the blood and body of Christ when taken at Communion.
9. Penance and the selling of indulgences.
10. Veneration and worship of Mary, which has greatly increased in recent years.
11. Holy Water.
12. Canonization of dead saints.
13. Celibacy of the priesthood.
14. The Rosary
(Fast Facts, Ron Carlson, Page 213-214)

* I would also add:
15. Infant baptism
16. Altering the Ten Commandments
17. Attempting to add the Apocrypha to Bible

Mark 7:1-9, 13
- This is exactly what has happened with the Catholic Church. Their traditions have become as important, if not more important than the Word of God.

(Mark 7:13) “Thus you nullify the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.”

* In theory, Catholics will tell you they follow the Scriptures as their source of authority. However, in daily practice, the Church doesn’t encourage its members to follow the Bible. Rather, they tell them to follow the traditions and teachings of the church.

* So, in the spirit of the Bereans (Acts 17:11) let’s examine some of these teachings.

(1) Altering the Ten Commandments. (They are very creative with the Ten Commandments) - One of the unique characteristics of the Catholic Church is the veneration of saints and the use of sacred objects such as statues and sculpted images.

Doreen D’Antonio (former sister of Christian Charity)
“In the convent, we had a whole list of saints that we used for various situations.
- If we lost something, we would pray to St. Anthony.
- If we had a hopeless case in our family, maybe a relative that was a drunk or something, we would pray to St. Jude. That being a hopeless case.
- We would pray to St. Gerard if there was a pregnant woman in our family that needed assistance. St. Blaise if we had a sore throat. - We would pray to St. Christopher, that they don’t use any more, for traveling. Of course, we remember that one.
- And in elevators. In the convent, we had an elevator for the older nuns, and in that elevator was this humongous medal of St. Christopher.
- It was amazing. We would have little statues of Mary and Joseph. St. Joseph for foster fathers.
- We would have this little statue right on the window sill, hoping and praying that statue would prevent it from raining on a particular day.

* All this, in spite of the fact that in Exodus 20:4, we are forbidden from having any “idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.”

* Though part of the Ten Commandments in the Catholic Bible, the Catholic Church regularly omits this command from catechisms. Yet it still comes up with ten.

Victor Affonso (former Jesuit priest for 21 years)
“And how come they still got ten? They took the last one which is ‘Thou shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; you shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house, or land, manservant, maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’ They divided this into two. They made nine: ‘Man shall not covet his neighbor’s wife,’ and ten: ‘Thou shall not covet thy neighbors goods.’ So they have the Ten Commandments. Now this is crookery. This is trickery. You’ve changed the commandments. But why did you drop the second commandment? Because there is a lot of business in making statues.”

(Booklet) Catholicism: Crisis of Faith
“The command of Exodus 20:4-5 is not listed as one of the Ten Commandments by the Catholic Church. Instead the Church considers it part of the first commandment, Exodus 20:2-3. Yet explanations of the first commandment in Catholic catechisms either completely ignore the prohibitions of Exodus 20:4-5, or brush them aside as not applicable to Catholic practices.”

Read from Catholic Bibles.

(2) Purgatory. (There is no reference to this in Scripture)
(Fast Facts On False Teaching, Ron Carlson) “The Catholic Church teaches that this is a place of temporary punishment for those who have committed venial sins. When those sins are removed by masses said for them, prayers said for them, and penance done in all forms of work, the person is then released from purgatory and permitted to go to Heaven. “What is interesting about purgatory as taught by the Roman Catholic Church is that neither the word nor even the concept of purgatory is found anywhere in Scripture. “The teaching of purgatory became the best business investment the Catholic Church ever made, for the great influx of money it produced helped build the great Cathedral of Saint Peter in Rome. Purgatory produced the system of indulgences--actions one could perform in order to work off the length of someone else’s stay in purgatory. It is a type of time off for good behavior by a person’s living relatives, and it continues to this very day.” “If you want to help a dead relative in purgatory try to make it to heaven, you need to have Masses said for that person. How do you have Masses said? You pay the Church. For example, if you want a certain number of Masses said and a few years off purgatory, you pay some figure like 500 dollars. If you want bigger Masses and more years taken off purgatory, you give a much larger amount, like 5,000 dollars.”

John 11:25-26; II Corinthians 5:8

* One of the major problems with the false doctrine of purgatory is the idea that you could somehow pay for your own sins (through enough suffering) or your living relatives could pay for your sins with literal offerings being given and Masses being said on your behalf. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

(3) Another Gospel. Galatians 1:8
(Dennis Pollock, Lamb & Lion Ministries)
“The ultimate factor in deciding the legitimacy of the Catholic Church is its presentation of the gospel, its answer to the age-old question of ‘What must I do to be saved?’ The Catholic apologists argue strongly that the Catholics, like the Protestants, believe in salvation by grace through faith. Keith Fournier declares, ‘As the Catholic Church teaches, we are converted to Christ by our faith, not because of our good works; and we do good works only because we have the divine grace to do so.’ This sounds very evangelical; Billy Graham could not have said it better.
“The trouble is that in order for us to find out the position of the Catholic Church we must look beyond the apologists. These are often born again believers themselves, who have indeed found Christ through personal faith, and are eager to have the world believe that Catholics and Evangelicals are but two flavors of the same church.
“To anyone who bothers to do much reading on the Catholic position on salvation, the truth becomes readily apparent--the official position of the church is that salvation comes through grace, but the grace is distributed a little at a time through the official sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. The Council of Trent proclaimed, ‘If anyone says that the sacraments…are not necessary for salvation but…that without them…men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification…let him be anathema.’

“The Vatican II Apostolic Constitution declares: ‘Following in Christ’s steps, those who believe in Him have always…carried their crosses to make expiation for their own sins and the sins of others…’

“Anyone who is familiar with the writings of Paul will immediately realize what incredible blasphemies these quotes are! They mock the cross of Christ and show utter disregard for the very heart of New Testament theology.”

Mike Gendron (Roman Catholicism, Scripture vs. Tradition)
“The Roman Catholic Church preaches a different gospel by demanding additional requirements for salvation including: the sacraments, meritorious masses, church membership, purgatory, indulgences and baptism.”

Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9-10

(4) The Sacrifice of the Mass.
Dave Hunt: “We have come to the very heart of Roman Catholicism, that unique element which separates it from all other religions and especially from evangelical Christianity: the sacrifice of the Mass. In it, ‘the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated. It is the source and the summit of the whole of the Church’s worship and of the Christian life.’ Declared present on the altar through the miracle of transubstantiation (which only the Catholic priest can perform) is the ‘true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, who is really and substantially present under the appearance of bread and wine in order to offer himself in the sacrifice of the Mass and to be received as spiritual food in Holy Communion.

“Christ said from the cross just as He died, ‘It is finished,’ (John 19:30). But to the Catholic it isn’t finished. Christ’s sacrifice continues to this day, being endlessly repeated on Catholic altars: ‘Each time Mass is offered, the Sacrifice of Christ is repeated. A new sacrifice is not offered, but by divine power, one and the same sacrifice is repeated…In the Mass Christ continues to offer Himself to the Father as He did on the Cross’ but in an ‘unbloody manner under the appearance of bread and wine.’

“The contrast between Catholicism and what the Bible teaches could not be greater than with regard to the alleged ‘sacrifice’ of the Mass. That difference is exposed with stark clarity in the distinction which the Bible emphasizes between the one sacrifice Christ made of Himself and the continual Old Testament sacrifices which had to be repeated daily. The repetition of those offerings is given as proof that they could not pay the penalty for sin; and the fact that Christ was offered only once is given as proof that His sacrifice was sufficient and never needed to be repeated. That the Mass must be repeated proves its ineffectiveness. If once is not enough, then neither would a billion repetitions; nor can Rome say how many masses it takes to get anyone out of purgatory.” (Source: A Woman Rides The Beast)

Hebrews 9:25-26; 10:11-12

Dave Hunt: “
Scripture could not be clearer. Christ’s sacrifice took place once for all time upon the cross and is never to be repeated because it paid the full penalty for sin. That the Mass is Christ being sacrificed over and over on Catholic altars is the heart of Catholicism; and the repetition of the Mass is the Catholic’s main hope of eventual release from purgatory. That doctrine directly contradicts the Bible. II Corinthians 5:8, “ Absent from the body…” (Source: A Woman Rides The Beast)

* The Lord Jesus, Himself, said that the observance of communion would be a memorial to remember what He did, not that He was going to do it again and again and again. (See I Corinthians 11:23-26)

(5) The Exaltation of Mary. (There is no reference to this in Scripture)
- Read “The Tradition of Mary” from Fast Facts On False Teachings (Carlson/Decker)

(6) Infant Baptism. (There is no reference to this in Scripture)

Dave Hunt:
“Catholicism’s doctrine of infant baptism destroyed the truth that one becomes a Christian not by any work or ritual but by responding to the offer of God’s grace through personal faith in Christ. Since baptism automatically saved, Pope Leo III decreed forcible baptism of Jews. At times, Jews were given the option of professing to believe in Christ, or death--or in some cases merely imprisonment or expulsion from the region.

“Baptizing an infidel assured one’s passage to Heaven. Jewish children were sprinkled forcibly with water and declared to be ‘Christians’ by those who imagined they had thereby guaranteed themselves a heavenly abode. Benedict XIV (1740-58) supported this terror by ruling that a child, though baptized against its own and its parent’s will, was nevertheless a Roman Catholic. If these unwilling ‘converts’ thereafter denied their new ‘faith’ they were then heretics, with the dire consequences attached to that label.”

* The Bible clearly teaches believer’s baptism. In other words, someone has to be a believer before they can confess Christ and be saved. (See Romans 10:9-10)
- Infants can’t even quote John 3:16, much less understand its implications.

* Because Catholics teach the doctrine of original sin, that babies come into this world already guilty of sin and headed for Hell, they erroneously and quite deceptively convince parents to have their babies baptized (or christened) so they can be sure they can go to Heaven should something happen to them.

What Does The Bible Say?
- Matthew 18:1-6; (especially verse 10), 19:13-14;

What Does Bible Baptism look like? (Bible Baptism has to picture 3 realities)
- Romans 6:3-4
- Matthew 3:13-17 (Jesus walked15-20 miles to be baptized out in the wilderness in the Jordan.)

(7) The Priesthood.
- When Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the Temple (that had previously separated man from God) was torn from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51)
- God was abolishing the priesthood along with the system of sacrifices, which He had instituted to bring men and women to Christ.

* That’s the theme of the book of Hebrews. (“Christ is Superior”)
- Now, we have a greater covenant, greater promises, and a greater High Priest in Christ. Hebrews 8:6-13
- Hebrews 9 tells us the first covenant had an earthly tabernacle and animal sacrifices.

* Now, in Christ, we are the tabernacle or temple, and Jesus is the final sacrifice made once for all. (Hebrews 9:14, 24-28)

Hebrews 10:11-18. There is no longer any need for priests or sacrifices.
* Through the finished work of Christ on the cross, the work is done.

Hebrews 10:19-25. Now, we can approach the throne of God with confidence and without a priest.

I Peter 2:9. The priesthood of all believers.

Ephesians 4:11-16. God has given the ministry to all believers.

(8) The Pope.
Ron Carlson:
“In 1870, at the first Vatican Council, Pope Pius the Ninth declared in the doctrine of papal infallibility that the Pope possessed full and complete power and authority over the whole Church, that the Pope can rule independently on any matter which comes under its sphere of the church’s jurisdiction, without the concurrence of the other bishops or the rest of the Church, and that there is no higher authority on earth than the Pope.” (Source: Fast Facts, page 217)

* The entire idea of having a Pope is based upon one single passage in Scripture (Matthew 16:13-20)
* The Catholics claim authority for having a Pope based on this and say that Peter was the first Pope.

Two Questions:
- If you were going to pick a Bible character as a role model for infallibility would it be Peter?
- When Peter wrote, under the inspiration and divine direction of the Holy Spirit, why didn’t he allude to this idea of being a Pope and of having infallibility? (See I Peter 5:1)

* There are other issues such as:
• Addressing mere men as “Father” (forbidden by Christ in Matthew 23:8-12)
- The context is humility and being servants, not seeking recognition or titles.
• Making the sign of the cross. (For many it has become a good luck charm or a mindless habit.)
- David knew God did not delight in rituals or sacrifices. He wanted us. (Psalm 51:16-17)

* The entire 23rd chapter of Matthew is Jesus declaring the importance of your heart over your habits.

• The Apocrypha (15 writings recorded during the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. 12 of them were declared inspired and added to the Catholic Canon in 1546.)
- The problem is that by adding the Apocrypha to the Bible they have undermined the inerrancy of Scripture, because these books contain many historical and theological errors.
- But, if you are building a theology based on extra-biblical revelation, anything goes. • Indulgences
Dave Hunt:
“It was the sale of indulgences more than anything else that roused Luther’s ire to such an extent that he hailed the 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle chapel and sparked the Reformation. Salvation was sold in many other ways beside indulgences, and still is to this day. Though the fee is today called an ‘offering,’ in fact money changes hands, with the promise of salvation as the incentive for the ‘gift.”

Romans 6:23

Conclusion:

Catholicism: Crisis of Faith (booklet) “The Scriptures are clear, but the errors persist. The Sacrifice of the Mass continues despite Christ’s last words on the cross, ‘It is finished!’ Statues are treated as sacred though the Ten Commandments forbid both making and bowing down to them. Mary is proclaimed mediator of all grace despite the New Testament’s teaching that there is one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus.”

“And the people are taught that they must work for salvation though the Scriptures clearly state that salvation is ‘by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.’ Many modern Catholics have chosen to ignore certain doctrines of the Church which they consider to be out of date. A common misconception is that the Second Vatican Council changed many of these dogmas.”

Bart Brewer (former Carmelite Priest, Booklet, Catholicism: Crisis of faith.):
“Vatican II made no doctrinal changes. In other words, no, there was a change of image, but no change of substance. There’s a principle Rome promotes ‘semper idem.’ It means ‘always the same.’ In other words, her basic dogmatic teachings never change. There has been redefinition and restructuring of Catholic theology, but there has been no substantive, no radical change of Catholic dogma, because that would destroy Roman Catholicism.”

* There may be Catholics who are genuine, born again, Bible-believing Christians.
- If they are, they have to leave the Catholic Church, because the teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church are not compatible with genuine, Biblical Christianity.

- In the light of Scripture, they just don’t measure up.
- In fact, the evidence is very clear, they represent “another gospel.”

Galatians 1:8, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you , let him be eternally condemned!”

Sources:
• Fast Facts On False Teachings by Ron Carlson and Ed Decker (Harvest House)
• Catholicism: Crisis of Faith (Video), Lumen Productions, P.O. Box 595, Cupertino, CA 95015
• What You Need To Know About Roman Catholicism by James G. McCarthy (The 62 Primary Errors of Roman Catholicism)
• The Facts On Roman Catholicism by John Ankerberg and John Weldon
• Irreconcilable Differences: Catholics, Evangelicals, and the New Quest For Unity (featuring John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, James Kennedy and John Ankerberg) 1.900.55.GRACE
• The Berean Call (Dave Hunt), P.O. Box 7019, Bend, OR 97708
• A Woman Rides The Beast (Dave Hunt) Harvest House
• Catholics & Protestants (Lamb & Lion Ministries, July/August 1995 issue)
• Good News For Catholics, Inc., P.O. Box 595, Cupertino, CA 95015
• Proclaiming The Gospel (A Ministry To Catholics), Mike Gendron, P.O. Box 940871, Plano, TX 75094
• Roman Catholicism by Lorraine Boettner (Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Co.)