Article first published in June, 1991
By Dave Hunt
"Join me today in fasting and prayer for the 115 Cardinals seeking God's Will in a new leader." —Rick Warren, Twitter, 03/12/13
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.
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 that
preach the biblical gospel. Major denominations, such as the Anglican
and the Episcopalian church, are involved in merger talks with this
cult. The Assemblies of God hierarchy has 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 that we have documented in the past and in support of which
additional evidence will now be given. We challenge any church leader to
a public debate who declares that this assertion is false. If proven
wrong, we 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. We solicit your
help in providing church leaders with the facts they need to identify
this cult—facts of which I [Dave] was ignorant years ago when I, too,
failed to identify the Roman Catholic Church as the cult that it is.
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 millions of martyrs
who died at Rome’s hands, as though they gave their lives in vain.
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 the Christian Research Institute and other counter-cult
groups refuse 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!
Answers to Cultists at Your Door presents another
example. Its authors, Bob and Gretchen Passantino, are described as
“experts in cult research [who] have spent years in countercult
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 all of the criteria. It claims to be the only true
church, says that its pope is uniquely chosen to lead all of God’s
people, and explains 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 successors, JWs dare
not question The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, and 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 interpret 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 fully or arrogantly than Roman 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
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 page 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, perpetually on the cross—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
that 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 the salvation of others. (The Apostolic
Constitution of Jan. 1, 1967,
Indulgentarium 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.”) This is rank heresy to Protestants. Yet
Agony
implies that Catholics mean the same thing as Protestants by the
creeds—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 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!”
Let me remind you of Hugh 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 burned at the
stake, 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.
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 which
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.
If you are concerned about the growing cooperation between Catholic
organizations and major evangelical ministries, please write to them and
ask where they stand on this critical issue. The questions could be: 1)
What is your organization’s position regarding Catholic doctrines? 2)
What is your position regarding organizational participation with
Catholics in matters of world evangelization? 3) Are you presently
either officially or unofficially involved with any Catholic lay or
clerical groups or organizations? If so, on what basis...and to what
end?
TBC
Source: http://www.thebereancall.org/
