Examining Roman Catholicism In Light Of Scripture
Whoever is reading this particular message, lets examine the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church in light of what the bible says. First of all, lets look at the false teaching of a place called "purgatory". There is not one verse in the bible that mentions that place, not even a hint at such a place. The Lord Jesus Christ talked about a place called "heaven", and He talked about a place called "hell", but not one word on purgatory. The apostle Paul whom the Lord used to write almost half of the New Testament, did not mention purgatory either, and Peter whom the Lord used to preach at the day of pentecost,never mentioned the place either, it is not mentioned at all in the bible.
Now lets take a look at the belief of the virgin Mary being without sin, and being a co-redeemer, and co-mediatrix. Nowhere in the bible does it say that she is, in fact, the bible says, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." {1 Tim.2:5} The bible also says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one." {Romans 3:10}, and, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God". {Romans 3:23}, and that includes Mary, and besides, Mary said as recorded in Luke 1:47, "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my SAVIOUR." Mary admitted she was a sinner and needed a Saviour in that verse, and she gave birth to her Saviour. I firmly believe that all the so called apparitions of Mary are nothing but a demonic deception.
Next, lets take a look at "mass" and the reoffering of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ for sin. The word "mass" is strickly a catholic term, and it means "death sacrifice", and Jesus has nothing to do with death because He is alive forever more. Roman Catholics believe that the wafer{host} and the wine, actually become the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in what is known as "transubstantiation". If catholics would read Hebrews 10:10-13, they would realize that the Lord Jesus does not leave His Father's side and comes down here at the beck and call of some priest and reoffer his body as sacrifice for sin, for it says, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin: But this man, after he had offered ONE sacrifice for sins FOREVER, sat down on the right hand of God; From HENCEFORTH expecting till his enemies be made his foot stool". So you see, Jesus does not come down and reoffer his body as sacrifice for sin. One more thing about mass and purgatory, catholics pay money for mass to get a loved one out of this fictional place of purgatory, well, the bible says in 1 Peter 1:18,19, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, .........." " But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot." Money {silver and gold} is corruptible and cannot redeem a soul from this fictional place called purgatory or a real place called hell, only the shed blood of Jesus can do that, so catholics waste money paying for masses.
Next, catholics call their priest "Father", when Jesus plainly said as recorded in Matt.23:9, "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." The Pope is not the Holy Father either, "Holy Father" is in the bible just once, and it was used by Jesus when He was praying to his Father in John chapter 17, and it is in verse 11. Getting back to Mary, catholics pray to her, when Jesus taught His disciples how to pray in Matt.6:9-13 {check it out}and Jesus also said, "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." {John 14:13} and He didn't say anything about praying to Mary. Catholics violate the 2nd commandment by saying the rosary and bowing to statues, when the 2nd commandment says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them....." {Exodus 20:4,5}
Catholics believe that Peter was the first Pope, they misunderstand what Jesus said to Peter in Matt.16:18 when He said, "And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Now the rock is based on the confession that Peter made to Jesus in verse 16 about Jesus being the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus wasn't calling Peter the rock, and besides, just 5 verses later, Jesus called Peter "Satan". Peter couldn't be a pope anyway, because popes and priests aren't allowed to marry, and Peter had a mother in law, which obviously means he had a wife. Lets take a look at one more thing, infant baptism. Infant baptism is not scriptual. A person has to believe in Jesus, THEN be baptized, and a baby is too young to believe, and no one can believe for a baby, and besides, sprinkling is not baptizing, the Greek word for baptize means "to dip" or "to immerse" not sprinkling, and Jesus did not get sprinkled, and John the baptist did not sprinkle anybody.
Now, after examining some of these beliefs and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, it is obvious that catholics believe in another Jesus, and not the real Jesus Christ of the bible. Roman Catholicism is one of many false religions, it is another gospel, and not the real gospel in the bible. There are billions of catholics all over the world, and yes, that many can be wrong. They are sincere in their belief, but they are sincerely wrong, and need to be told the truth, and they need to be prayed for, for they are deceived. Any catholic who might be reading this, I'm not trying to sound harsh or attacking your religion, but you need to search the scriptures, and you need to understand that there is absolutley NO salvation apart from the Jesus Christ of the bible, it is not the Roman Catholic Church, please understand.
God Bless,
Christopher
