The evangelical church today is being seduced as
never in its history. It faces a danger so grave that, although we have
discussed this problem before, it must be addressed again with new insight and
vigor. If evangelicals succumb to the seduction (as they increasingly are
doing), then their gospel witness will be submerged in confusion and could
eventually be lost—a tragic and new dimension to the apostasy from which the
church and the world will never recover. Most astonishing and alarming is the
fact that (with few exceptions) evangelical leaders and even the major cult
watchers refuse to acknowledge this threat. We are therefore compelled
to address the subject once again with renewed concern.
An
Incredible Partnership
For decades evangelicals have diligently and
faithfully attempted to identify, analyze and warn the church against cults. Included in the standard list
are Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Unity School of
Christianity, Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, etc. Yet the most seductive,
dangerous and largest cult (many times larger than all of the rest combined) is
not included in the list! Most cult experts refuse to identify this horrendous
cult as such! Instead, they accept it as "Christian."
Worst of all, this cult (which preaches a false gospel that is sending hundreds
of millions into a Christless eternity) is now embraced as a partner in
"evangelizing the world" by many groups which preach the biblical
gospel. Major denominations, such as the Anglican and the Episcopalian church,
are involved in merger talks with this cult. Representatives from the
Assemblies of God have been engaged in "fruitful dialogue" with this
cult, whose members are now widely perceived as born-again Christians. As a
consequence, the evangelical church faces an unprecedented crisis that threatens
its very survival.
The above is a severe, solemn and devastating
charge to make—a charge we have documented in the past and in support of which
additional evidence will now be given. I challenge any church leader to public
debate who declares that this assertion is false. If proven wrong, I will
publicly repent. But if this accusation is true, then a major shake-up in the
evangelical church is required, including repentance by many of its most highly
regarded leaders. I solicit your help in providing church leaders with the
facts they need to identify this cult—facts of which I myself was ignorant
years ago when I, too, failed to identify the Roman Catholic Church as the cult
it is.
Repudiating
the Reformation
What is a cult?
In his book Rise of the Cults, Walter
Martin defined cultism as "...any major deviation from orthodox
Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith."
Though unmentioned by Martin, Roman Catholicism is undeniably a "major
deviation from orthodox Christianity" on many "cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith," and
thus, by his own definition, a cult. Recognition
of this fact ignited the
Reformation! To deny that Roman
Catholicism
is a cult is to repudiate the Reformation and mock the more than 1 million martyrs who
died at Rome's
hands as though they gave their lives for no good reason.
But, says someone, since the Second Vatican
Council (1962-65), the Roman Catholic Church no longer teaches and practices
what it did at the time of the Reformation. That popular idea is false. To
counter the Reformation, Rome's foremost theologians met from 1545-63 in the
Council of Trent. Its Canons and Decrees, which rejected every Reformation doctrine, remain the standard
authoritative statement of Roman Catholicism, and adherence thereto is required
by Catholic catechisms. Opening Vatican II, Pope John XXIII declared, "I
do accept entirely all that has been decided and declared at the Council of
Trent." Vatican II went on to reaffirm Trent's Canons and Decrees. No, Rome has not changed since the Reformation—except superficially.
Were Luther, Calvin and the other Reformers
alive today, they would denounce Roman Catholicism as the largest and most
dangerous cult on earth! Yet Martin's Christian Research Institute (like other
countercult groups) refuses to classify it as a cult. In the above book Martin
emphasized that the five major cults at that time had "a following exceeding 8.5 million persons...."
Yet he overlooked Roman Catholicism's hundreds
of millions!
Infallibility,
Exclusivity and Blind Submission
Answers to Cultists
at Your Door presents another example. Its
authors, the Passantinos, are described as "experts in cult research [who]
have spent years in counter-cult ministry" (outside back cover of Witch Hunt). They include such marks
of a cult as the claim that it "is the only organization on earth that is
following God's will" and that its leader is "uniquely chosen by God
to lead God's people" and that it alone "offer(s) the Bible's `true' interpretation on all
matters." Again, the Roman Catholic church fully fits the criteria. It
claims to be the only true church; that its pope is uniquely chosen to lead all
of God's people; and that only its
hierarchy can interpret scripture. Yet the Passantinos, like most other
"cult experts," fail to include Roman Catholicism as a cult, though
it meets all their own tests!
Mormons must blindly obey Joseph Smith and his
succes-sors; JWs dare not question The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society;
other cultists must submit to their leaders. Such authoritarianism is the
primary mark of a cult. The same blind submission is required of all Catholics.
Canon 212 of Catholicism's Code of
Canon Law requires that Catholics must
give absolute obedience to their "sacred pastors." Vatican II
states repeatedly that only
Catholicism's hierarchy can inter-pret the Bible, and that papal pronouncements
must be obeyed without question. Canon 333 (Sec. 3) declares, "There is
neither appeal nor recourse against a decision or decree of the Roman
Pontiff." Vatican watchdog Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's recent 7,500-word
"Instruction" declares that dissent about church teachings cannot be "justified as a matter
of following one's conscience." No cult demands surrender of mind and
conscience more arrogantly than Roman Catholicism.
Commending
Catholicism
Roman Catholicism is not only left out of the
list of cults by the experts, but it is explicitly approved. For example, in Scripture Twisting, James W. Sire,
longtime editor-in-chief of InterVarsity Press, defines a cult as having "doctrines and/or practices that contradict those of
the Scriptures as interpreted
by traditional Christianity as represented by the major Catholic and Protestant
denominations..." [emphasis his]. Sire makes Catholicism a standard
of orthodoxy against which cults are to be judged! Yet he accuses the cults of
twisting Scripture, a technique of which Rome is surely the ultimate master!
Sire indicts Mormonism as a cult for adding other revelations to the Bible—but
Rome has added far more new revelations to the Bible than the Mormon Church!
Sire declares, "There is no guru class in biblical Christianity, no
illuminati, no people through whom all proper interpretation must
come"—yet that is exactly the situation in the Roman Catholic Church! How,
then, does he make it the standard of orthodoxy?
Consider also The Agony of Deceit published by Moody. Each chapter is written
by a leading evangelical about a specific false teaching within today's church.
While Agony mostly repeats much
that was found in The Seduction of
Christianity five years
earlier, it is another voice issuing many of the same warnings, for which we
are thankful. Yet it, too, whitewashes Roman Catholicism. On p. 65 it states,
"Traditional Roman Catholicism...hold[s] to biblical inerrancy." In
fact Catholicism explicitly denies biblical
inerrancy! The next sentence does acknowledge that the "messages [of
Protestantism and Catholicism] are poles apart," but moves right on
without identifying the vital differences.
Page 111 declares, "The Catholic church
resisted the mounting heresies with regard to the Person of Christ,
and...Protestants would continue to affirm Catholic Christology." Again,
terribly false! Catholicism's Christology is heretical. It denies Christ's
exclusive role as mediator between God and man, making Mary
"co-mediatrix"; it denies the exclusivity of His redemptive work,
making Mary "co-redemptrix" (Vatican II credits Mary with a perpetual
"salvific role; she continues to obtain by her constant intercession the
graces we need for eternal salvation"); and it denies the sufficiency of
His redemptive work, declaring that the redeemed must, in addition to Christ's
suffering for them upon the cross, suffer for their own sins here and/or in
purgatory, etc. A great deal more heresy is involved in Catholic Christology,
such as presenting Him as perpetually an infant or child subject to His mother,
but lack of space prevents further detail. The "Christ" of Roman
Catholicism is just as false as its "Mary"—as much "another
Jesus" as that of Mormonism or any other cult. Let's admit it!
Several times in Agony it is stated that Protestants and Catholics embrace the
same apostolic creeds. This is a partially true but seriously misleading statement.
The implication is that the creeds are an all-encompassing statement of
biblical Christianity, which they are not. Furthermore, there is a vast
difference between the meaning Catholics and Protestants attach to what the
creeds say. For example, while affirming that Christ "suffered under
Pontius Pilate," Catholicism teaches that His suffering was insufficient.
In addition to Christ's suffering, we must each suffer for our sins in order to
be saved. We can even suffer for others' salvation (The Apostolic Constitution
of Jan. 1, 1967, Indulgentiarum
Doctrina, #1687, urges Catholics to carry "each one his own cross
in expiation of their sins and of the sins of others...assist[ing] their
brothers to obtain salvation from God")—rank heresy to Protestants. Yet Agony implies that Catholics mean by
the creeds the same thing as Protestants— an inexcusable and deadly error in a
book by eminent Christian scholars written to point out errors within the
church! Though this and the other books cited above contain much that commends
them, their approval of Catholicism is tragically misleading.
The false portrait of Roman Catholicism persists
in Agony. On p. 244, after
correctly condemning the sale of indulgences that led Martin Luther to nail his
95 theses to the chapel door at Wittenberg's castle, the editor/compiler of Agony, Michael Horton, writes,
"It would not be fair, of course, to interpret the entire history and
character of Roman Catholicism by this tragic fund-raising scheme...." The
implication is that Rome has changed for the better, which is false. Though not
sold as blatantly now, indulgences are still an important part of Catholicism's
salvation.
Salvation
by Works
The deviation by Catholicism from biblical
Christianity goes to the heart of the faith, to salvation itself, and thus
affects the eternal destiny of those who are deceived thereby. Roman
Catholicism rejects salvation by faith and preaches a false gospel of works
that cannot save. Salvation is not in Christ but in the Church through
submission to its edicts and sacraments. The Basic Catechism of Christian
Doctrine calls the sacraments "the chief means of our
salvation."
The first of the seven sacraments is baptism,
which is performed upon 98 percent of Catholics as infants. It is declared in Canon
849 to be the means "by which men and women are freed from their sins, are
reborn as children of God...." The Basic
Catechism declares that baptism "is necessary for
salvation...cleanses us from original sin, makes us Christians...."
Another sacrament is the Mass, which the Catechism declares to be "one and
the same Sacrifice with that of the Cross, inasmuch as Christ... continues to
offer himself...on the altar, through the ministry of his priests." Canon
904 states that "the work of redemption is continually accomplished in the
mystery of the Eucharistic Sacrifice," thus denying Christ's triumphant
"It is finished!"
A
Flickering Candle
Let me remind you of Latimer's last words, spoken
through the flames to his companion who was bound to the same stake: "Be
of good courage, master Ridley...for we shall by God's grace this day light
such a `candle' in England as I pray shall never go out!" Tragically, the
"candle" lit by hundreds of thousands of faithful martyrs, if not
already out, is barely flickering and in danger of being snuffed completely.
Paul Crouch, head of the largest Christian TV worldwide network, demeans the
martyrs by calling the issues they died for mere semantics; and he makes a
mockery of the Reformers by declaring orthodox the heresies that sparked the
Reformation.
Lovingly
Confront and Inform
Those who believe Rome's lies and follow her
gospel of works for salvation are lost. Failing to recognize this fact, many evangelical
leaders and cult experts have themselves been deceived by Rome and need to be
confronted and informed. How tragic to assume that Catholics are Christians who
merely have some peripheral beliefs and practices that seem peculiar to
Protestants but which will not prevent them from being saved. A false gospel is
a false gospel, and it damns those who believe it, whether preached by
Mormonism or Catholicism. A cult is a cult. Roman Catholics, like the members
of other cults, need to be treated with compassion, warned of cultic lies, and
presented with the true gospel which alone can save them.
By
Dave Hunt
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