After I was born-again from above, I was approached by a Catholic woman who had heard about my conversion. Actually, I don’t call it a conversion. I am Jewish, and when the Lord saved me, I became a completed Jew. Anyway, to this Catholic woman–I was a convert.
The mission of the woman was to help me see the light–in other words; she wanted me to become a Catholic. We went round and round, mostly about “Mary.” It became so obvious that this woman was worshiping Mary!
She called Mary Queen of Heaven, Mother of God, Blessed Mother, Immaculate Mary and Virgin Mary. Everything the woman was saying to me came straight from the Roman Catholic Church. Everything that I said to her came from the Bible. She did not feel that the Bible was a good source of information about Mary or Jesus. I was STUNNED!
I used Scripture whenever the woman made false statements. When I would say the name of Jesus, she would go right back to talking about Mary. She told me that this is what Jesus wanted; for people to go through His mother to get to Him. I told her that Mary had other children. I could hear her breathe in, as if she had been slapped.
“Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus” (Matthew 1:24-25).
Before I became a Christian, I had always thought that the holiest people in the world were Catholics. God opened my eyes to see that this was a facade in the Roman Catholic Church, which Satan used to his advantage. Everything was so beautiful with stained glass windows, statues of their saints, purple velvet, golden chalices; I could go on and on.
How could this NOT be the true church of the Lord?
“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
As I thought about the birth of our Lord Jesus in a lowly stable, something about all of the obvious riches in the Roman Catholic Church did not seem genuine to me. Would Jesus want millions of dollars spent on huge, ornate buildings? It became apparent to me that this church had little to do with Jesus Christ, and everything to do with Mary and worshiping her. The more I learned about the Roman Catholic Church, the more it reminded me of the synagogue; traditions of men being taught as the truth–replacing the Word of God.
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8).
The devil takes a little bit of truth (Word of God) and twists it to deceive us. He did this to Eve in the Garden of Eden. He even tried doing it to our Lord Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus simply corrected and rebuked the evil one, using the written Word of God.
After the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, Satan did not waste any time building his own institution (the Roman Catholic Church), to make sure that people would remain lost in their sins. Before Lucifer was cast out of heaven by God, he was exalting himself to be like the Lord Most High. He wants worship!
He demands worship.
Graven Images
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image–any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4).
The Roman Catholic Church is filled with statues of people who they claim did at least two or more miracles. These canonized people are called saints.
How does the Roman Catholic understanding of “saints” compare with the biblical teaching? Not very well. In Roman Catholic theology, the saints are in heaven. In the Bible, the saints are on earth. In Roman Catholic teaching, a person does not become a saint unless he/she is “beatified” or “canonized” by the Pope or prominent bishop. In the Bible, everyone who has received Jesus Christ by faith is a saint. In Roman Catholic practice, the saints are revered, prayed to, and in some instances, worshipped. In the Bible, saints are called to revere, worship, and pray to God alone. [1]
Salvation
In Catholicism, Mary is the co-redeemer along with Jesus. The people are taught that Mary participated with Jesus in His painful act of redemption. We know Who redeemed us–Jesus the Christ and no one else:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).
No mention of Mary in that passage of Scripture. Not once.
In Catholicism, Mary is the co-mediator, whom we can trust with all of our cares. The Bible says this about our mediator:
“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Extremely clear, wouldn’t you say?
In Catholicism, salvation is sought after by good works and participation in the sacraments. I’ve never met a Catholic who has said that they are sure they going to heaven.
The Bible says this:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
We are saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. It is a gift of God. It has nothing to do with our works. Good works should come naturally to a redeemed soul, but being redeemed is the work of God. We must believe Him.
The Bible
The priests in the Roman Catholic Church do not encourage the reading of the Word of God to its members. Well, I can see why! If the people begin to read God’s Word, they will see that the Roman Catholic Church is teaching doctrines contrary to the Bible. Then a Catholic person would need to make a choice: To adhere to Catholic doctrine and tradition or believe what they read in the Holy Word of God.
After my last article, I received an email from a woman who seemed frantic. She told me that she was a Catholic Christian. She said that her priest told the congregation that Allah is the same as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I assured her that is NOT the truth. I sent her two articles addressing this lie that is being perpetuated by false teachers.
In June of this year, the Vatican invited a Muslim cleric and a rabbi to pray together with the Pope. This smacks prophetically of a one world religion, and should alarm Christians everywhere.
I have to think that the priest telling his congregation the lie about Allah, is not a fluke. Perhaps the Vatican is telling Catholic priests to preach that Allah and the Lord God Almighty are one and the same.
Satan knows that the end is near.
Corruption in the Vatican
Anyone can search the history of the Vatican and find appalling corruption with each new pope. But nothing can compare with the Vatican during the reign of Hitler in Nazi Germany:
Why, it has been asked repeatedly, did the Pope not utter a solemn denunciation of this crime against the Jews and against humanity? . . . Why, it has been demanded, did he not give a clear moral and spiritual lead to Catholic priests throughout Europe? In June 1941, when the Vichy French government introduced “Jewish laws” closely modeled upon the Nuremberg Laws, the Pope responded to appeals from French bishops by stating that such laws were not in conflict with Catholic teaching. Later efforts by the British, Americans and Poles to persuade the Vatican to publish a specific condemnation of Nazi extermination of the Jews fell on deaf ears. The Pope, came the reply, could only issue a general condemnation of wartime atrocities. “A strong and openly voiced papal line might have silenced those Catholic bishops throughout Europe who actively and fervently collaborated with their Nazi masters.” –Ronnie S. Landou, The Nazi Holocaust, pp. 216-217
I cannot understand how a person who has been saved by our Lord Jesus, and begins to read the Holy Word of God, could remain in the Roman Catholic Church. The only reason I could see a person remaining there, would be if they felt the leading from God that they were to share the message of salvation with other Catholics. I still think that a person such as this should seek out a place of worship where God’s Word is preached boldly.
Brethren, we are to obey God. He has given us all that we need in His Word. We are to be as the Bereans were–searching the Scriptures to see if what we were told is so.
The evil one is always standing by to confuse and lie to us!
“But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
MARANATHA!
Blessings in Yeshua.