Why I Continue to Stand By the Truth that Roman Catholics Are NOT Christians Even When It Offends
Having been a former Roman Catholic, I grew up believing in salvation is kept by performing works, devotion to the Virgin Mary, that the Vatican was above the Bible, the Pope is the successor of Peter, that I had to pass through confession through the priest before my sins can be forgiven and every other nonsense. Not long after, the hypocrisy of Roman Catholic relatives around me began to show up. But not only among Roman Catholic relatives but a lot of them spent time in their religious activities but were guilty of gross sins that their institution called as "mortal sins". Mortal sin was defined as any act that may send one to Hell unless a special Mass or it was said in the Confessional. The more I observed the confessionals, the more I realize that there was really no genuine repentance of sins, just saying prayers, walk while kneeling, more Rosary, commit sin again, do penance, rinse and repeat! I almost became an atheist then later, I started to read the Bible all the more. Not long after, I got saved and I experienced the chastising hand of God while seeing Christians who rebuked me, leave those unsaved sinners alone.
Guilt inducement has been one of the favorite tactics of the Roman Catholic institution which was a method used by not only the slick Jesuit priests but also by other orders established within the Great Whore of Revelation. People would tell me that with my attitude of saying Roman Catholics are not Christians, I am just like Osama bin Ladin and that I am one step to becoming a terrorists. They tell me that the only difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestant Christians (by the way, Baptists are NOT Protestants) is the interpretation. They tell me that Catholics and Protestants can now get together because of fighting a common cause like opposing the Reproductive Herod Bill, same sex marriage, divorce, abortion, pornography and other immoralities that are made legal by today's society. Although both Roman Catholics and born again Christians have something in common like belief in the Trinity, the incarnation of Christ and the BASIC beliefs but there is more than meets the eye when one looks at the truth.
The doctrine of salvation and the purpose of good works between the Roman Catholic and the born again Christian are both radically different. The Christian doctrine of salvation was already preached even before the Reformation. The whole battle cry of the Reformation was the truth that was already shouted out by Christian groups like the Baptists was, "Salvation is by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone." Salvation for the born again Christian is when one repents of their sin (change one's mind about their sin) and receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They do good works only because at the moment of salvation, Jesus is already the Lord of the believer's life even when they have just begun. On the other hand, the Roman Catholic view of salvation is erroneous. Though they believe in the necessity of faith in Christ, however they have added works to it. That is, salvation must be maintained by going good works (including absolute submission to the Pope himself) and restoring one's self through the sacraments. The Roman Catholic institution considers it a grand heresy to believe that you can know for sure you are saved. However the Bible says in 1 John 5:13 that you can know for sure that you are saved by what you believe and by what you do.
Roman Catholics and born again Christians have a very different view of intercession between God the Father and man. For the born again Christian, they stick to the Biblical truth in John 2:5 with Mary's only command, "Do whatever He tells you." and nothing more than that. Meanwhile, Roman Catholics believe that to go to Jesus, they must first go through Mary while taking the Wedding of Cana OUT OF CONTEXT. Nowhere in the Scripture did Jesus invite people to Mary and when Mary told the people, "Do whatever He tells you to do.", it's obvious that she wants people to understand she could not mediate between them and Jesus. Instead, people by Mary's command were told to go to Jesus immediately. What is worse is that some Roman Catholics are quick to judge that born again Chrsitians hate Mary. To make matters worse, Roman Catholics also add the idea of praying to dead people who were canonized as "saints" to intercede for them to the Father. 1 Timothy 2:5 is clear that there is only One Mediator between man and God, it is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Roman Catholics and born again Christians have a very different view of authority of Scripture. The Roman Catholic institution banned Bible reading for centuries because people would find out that they were defrauded. The penalty for releasing the Scriptures into the public was to die a brutal death and the Inquisition was indeed that heavy arm of the Vatican. During the history of the Bible, the great William Tyndale the great Baptist and a friend of the founder of the Reformation, Martin Luther, was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. John Huss who preached the Bible to the public suffered the same gruesome fate. Because born again Christians declared the sufficiency of Scripture to contain all the necessary traditions of the Church as opposed to the unscriptural tradition of the Roman Catholic institution, they were burned to death for declaring the truth of the Scriptures. The Popes first try to claim apostolic authority, claiming to be Peter's successors (based on a faulty interpretation of Matthew 16:18), then they put themselves above Scripture which has resulted to one Papal contradiction after the other which makes the Pope look like he is the successor of the Seat of Caiaphas by his actions.
Not to mention, the history of the Roman Catholic institution has never been a good one either. As white-washed as the history books are yet the ugly truth of the Inquisition cannot be dismissed as a fairy tale. Some Roman Catholic apologists either try to "water down" the Inquisition or say it never existed at all. When I read the book "Foxe's Book of Martyrs", the history of Biblical Christianity was so ravaged as well by the Inquisition. The Roman Catholic institution was responsible for the execution of Protestant Christians who did nothing but preach the truth. The Dominicans became the strong arm of the Vatican during the Inquisition. After the Reformation, Ignatius of Loyola established the Jesuit Order and launched the Counter-Reformation. St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre was launched to counter the Reformation. They had always considered anybody who opposed them as enemies of their "Mother Church".
The truth is offensive but it's always better to have the bitter truth than a sweet lie. A sweet lie may not offend for now but it will eventually cause greater pain later. A bitter truth may hurt now but later, it will heal the person if it's accepted. I would rather be divided by the truth than be united for a short while in error. I can only be united in the truth with others who are in the truth. True unity in the Body of Christ is not about embracing falsehood and just because somebody claims they are Christian. Rather, true unity in Christ is only achievable by Biblical truth, not embracing falsehood. Meanwhile, this is not a call for a bloodbath of Roman Catholics but to rather continue in the soulwinning program. The struggle is not against flesh and blood but rather the demonic forces that tie anyone who is not saved, not just Roman Catholics but anyone who is lost without Christ.