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 THE Pope was recognised as the overall authority in the Christian world by an Anglican and Roman Catholic commission which described him as a `gift to be received by all the churches.' After five years of debate, the 18 member Anglican-Roman Catholic commission concluded that the Bishop of Rome had a `specific ministry concerning the discernment of truth' and accepted that only the Pope had the moral authority to unite the various Christian denominations. Dr George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, called for a debate on the report's findings. He said, `In a world torn apart by violence and division, Christians need urgently to be able to speak with a common voice, confident of the authority of the gospel of peace.' It is in fact the authority of the Gospel and the whole Word of God which has in the past prevented Bible believing Christians from being able to speak with a common voice with the Roman Catholic Church. Rome's history is one of suppression of the truths of the Gospel and their replacement with a religious system which bound people up with dead works in the vain attempt to earn salvation and brought them into submission to a corrupted clergy. It has also been guilty of the most appalling persecution of Bible believing Christians for which it has never repented or made any restitution. The major false doctrines of Roman Catholicism which the Reformation opposed are: 1. Justification by works. BUT the Bible teaches we are saved by faith in the work of Jesus Christ dying as a sacrifice for our sins (Ephesians 2:8-10). 2. Baptismal regeneration—that a baby becomes a Christian through being baptised. BUT the Bible teaches that we must be `born again' (John 3:5-8) through repentance and faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us, after which we are baptised (Acts 2.38). 3. Worship of images. BUT the 10 commandments which forbid idolatry remain valid for Christians (Exodus 20:4-6, Romans 1:18-25). 4. Celibacy—forbidding priests to marry, thus creating a distinction between the priesthood and the laity. BUT the Bible teaches the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:4-10, Revelation 5:10). Peter, considered falsely to be the first Pope, had a wife and enforced celibacy is described as a `doctrine of demons' (1 Corinthians 9:5, 1 Timothy 4:1-3). 5. Confessionalism—where sins are confessed to a priest who then declares absolution for those sins. BUT the Bible teaches that we confess our sins to God and receive forgiveness through the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:5-2.2). 6. Purgatory—a place which is neither heaven nor hell, BUT a place where one has to be refined before going to heaven. But in the Bible there is only heaven and hell and those who are saved in this life need no further refinement (Matthew 25:46, Revelation 21:1-8). 7. Transubstantiation—the concept of the continual and perpetual sacrifice of Christ through the Mass. BUT the Bible teaches that Christ's sacrifice was complete and that the communion or the Lord's supper is the remembrance of that sacrifice (Hebrews 9:28, 1 Corinthians 11:23-32). 8. Indulgences—where through the giving of money a person's time in purgatory could be reduced. BUT since there is no such place as purgatory, this became a trick to deceive people into giving money to the church in the Middle Ages. There is no way that we can buy favour with God (1 Peter 1:18-19). 9. Penance—involving the torment of one's body in order to reduce time in purgatory. BUT Christ died for our sins, the just for the unjust, in order that we might be redeemed to God. 10. Mariolatry—the worship of the virgin Mary, her elevation to the `mother of God' to be considered co-Redemptrix (i.e. she plays a part in our redemption along with the Lord Jesus) and the declaration of her `immaculate conception'—i.e. she was conceived without sin. BUT this is the importing of the Babylonian system of the worship of the goddess, `Queen of heaven' into Christianity. Mary was in fact a faithful Jewish woman called Miriam who played a vital role in bringing Jesus into the world through the miracle of the virgin birth. After this she had other children in the natural way and was a believer in Jesus. There is no other mediator between God and man except the Lord Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). While Rome may play down some of these doctrines in order to appear more acceptable to modern man, none have been repented of or renounced and basically Rome remains in its own words `semper eadem'—always the same. In view of all this, the push for a united church, with the Pope as its head will not be a triumph for the Gospel but for apostasy. As Protestants abandon the Bible as their authority it becomes possible for them to consider what would have been unthinkable for the Reformers—accepting the Pope as the authority over the Christian world. However in these days where the Alpha Course has become the norm for evangelicals and Catholics as an introduction to Christianity, nothing should surprise us. Alpha is acceptable to Rome and its authors see no conflict between Roman Catholicism and Biblical Christianity. This is part of the general trend of religious unity, which goes way beyond simply uniting the Christian churches. It ties in with the prophecies relating to an apostasy (falling away from the truth) amongst evangelical churches and a coming together of world religions in a religious system like that of ancient Rome. In the Roman Empire people were free to follow which ever god they wished to, as long as they submitted to the overall authority of the Emperor who was known as `Pontifex Maximus' (supreme bridge maker—a title taken over in the fourth century by the Bishop of Rome/Pope). They placed their gods in the Pantheon (all gods) in Rome (the Spirit Zone in the Millennium Dome is a modern parallel to this) and kept the peace (`Pax Romana') by not trying to convert people from their religions. The early Christians could neither accept the divine status of the Emperor nor keep quiet about the one way of salvation they had found in Jesus and so ran into conflict with the Empire, resulting in persecution and martyrdom. As we come into the last days of this age we should not be surprised to see the rise of Babylon as described in Revelation 17:3-6: "And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and of the Abominations of the Earth. And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her I marvelled with great amazement." Tony Pierce Appeared in Volume 5.2 September 1999 |
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