What About "Born Again" Roman Catholics?
Believe it or not one of the worst infiltration today takes form in the heresy of having the notion of the"born again Roman Catholic". I did remember while I really said what Jesus said in John 3:3 saying the necessity of being born again, now there are Roman Catholics out there who dare tell me that they have been "born again" and are now my brothers and sisters in Christ. However a closer examination of the Scripture would prove such a notion wrong. Now here comes the question, "Can a Roman Catholic consider himself or herself a born again Christian?" The answer is a no.
Part of the great deception of making people believe that Roman Catholics can be born again, that they are fellow Christians and sadly, many people have bought this deceptive lie. SAD BUT TRUE. These apostates expose themselves in secular media and in EVEN IN THEIR DEEDS. Jesus already warned in Matthew 7:16 that by their FRUITS they shall be known. Apostate pastors in fact can even be identified with being drunk, adulterers and some are even homosexuals or fellowship is involved with such dirty sinners like corrupt politicians, sinning with them rather than preaching to them. Jesus went to broken sinners, not to arrogant ones. Seriously I just thought, "How can these men ever consider themselves men of God when they are in fact, considering those who are not men of God as their brethren?" It just pretty much of a disappointment to how many pastors I used to like to hear preach, eventually would say a statement like, "Well the Roman Catholics are our brothers and sisters in Christ." Just consider how much of a disappointment it was when perhaps one of the most recognized pastors are later seen having obeisance with the Pope and they mention themselves.
The statement is also in fact in itself a CONTRADICTION because the Roman Catholic institution throughout its history has always declared the beliefs of born again Christianity to be very anathema to what the Council of Trent decides as the "final authority" of their religion and not based on the Bible. Some of the non-biblical definitions of born again in the Roman Catholic institution is linked to INFANT BAPTISM which again is totally absurd. Others may even get the excuse of "confirmation" to where they claim that they receive the Holy Spirit by the priest. And now they claim to be "born again" Catholic because they said a simple prayer, they did a good job conning the soul winner and someday they are going to really pay dearly if they ever died in their apostate state. Or maybe some would appeal to their confirmation rites. Regardless, these are NOT what the Bible means to be born again. Or to some, they even claim that they are doing good works in order to be "born again" yet they have plenty of sins behind them! The Bible is clear that salvation is not by works rather it results to real works (Ephesians 2:8-10). The Roman Catholic Church throughout its history and relying on the Council of Trent as the "final authority" has made one manmade rule to another from Mary worship to Purgatory. All these beliefs are what Mark 7:8-13 say about rejecting God's Word to follow their own tradition.
Reading through John 3 all over, Jesus required BELIEF (PISTEUON) or complete reliance on Him to be truly born again of water and of Spirit, warned that those who believe not are condemned and that men refuse to come to Him because they love their sin. Even if the word "repent" is not in John, still repentance is being emphasized. In fact John 3:5 has NOTHING to do with infant baptism much less water immersion baptism done for the saved. Rather, this water is not the water that people drink when they are thirsty or use to take a bath but rather spiritual water. Isaiah 44:3 compares the Holy Spirit to water. Proverbs 1:23, Joel 2:28-29, Zechariah 12:10 also refer to the Holy Spirit poured out like water. Ezekiel 36:25-27 also has the picture of what it means to be truly regenerated by water as this water cleans and God replaces the heart of stone with a heart of muscles. Jeremiah 2:13 affirms that the LORD is the fountain of LIVING WATERS again which debunks the whole idea of the need of physical baptism to be saved. Rather, the desire for a believer's baptism is the result of being saved. Also, infant baptism is nothing more than the issue of being absurd to the max because a baby is incapable of repentance and believing the Gospel. Say what they want, but the Scripture is clearer than man-made rules.
Pastor Paul David Washer talking about the simple prayer vs. to that of real, BIBLICAL evangelism is indeed what is needed, shows why the simple prayer leads to the series of false conversions led by telling them they are saved by merely reciting a few words rather than really presenting the FULL picture of the Gospel and that the person NEVER understood the Gospel of Jesus Christ- His death, burial and resurrection. He addressed the fact that Jesus didn't tell people to pray a sinner's prayer, He told people about REPENT (METANONEIA) YE AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL (Mark 1:5). Unless people truly have a repentant heart, unless they are really sorry for their sins, they CANNOT see the real need to be born again in Christ. They can deceive everyone including themselves with that "In one moment I prayed a prayer..." rather than "In one moment in my life, I placed my trust in Christ" type of profession. One is true and the other is false. In fact one of the greatest evidences of salvation is continued fellowship with the people of God, though a Christian may fall, there is the restoring work of the Holy Spirit. Decision cards, baptism, altar walks and "praying" DO NOT guarantee true conversion. These people need to be broken before they can be truly converted. That is, not an easy message but rather being told the hard truth that they are dirty, rotten sinners in need of the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
Pastor John F. Macarthur has even written in "The Truth War" and "Fool's Gold" about creeping apostasy in the churches today. That is, not everything that glitters is gold and the truth war is an important war. Forget about criticism that it's a declaration of Jihad, Christians are declaring a holy war against satanic doctrine NOT persons who are victims of the satanic doctrine. Call it offensive but heresies (anything that deviates FROM SCRIPTURAL TEACHING and NOT from some council ran by men like the Unholy Inquisition) will always be damnable. Heresies especially when attacks the vital issues of who Jesus is will certainly set a downhill and it determines the true from the false. In fact the world has its own portrayal of Jesus such as a Jesus who was only a man and not God the Son, a Jesus who is Satan's older brother, a Jesus who had sex with fifty women, a Jesus who never became man, etc. these ideas should be rejected and a true believer WILL NEVER buy such junk but shun it! Matthew 24:5 warns that many will claim to be Christ and deceive many. Friend, the real Jesus is different from every other claim of Jesus!
Pastor Ray Comfort who is yet to write in CARM about false conversions has also talked about the issue of "True and False Conversion" and "Hell's Best Kept Secret" which he reveals the secrets of Charles H. Spurgeon's style of preaching. In each of these videos, Pastor Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron discuss the dangers of a watered down doctrine and how they lead to false conversions. Recalling the parable of the sower, each seed fell on certain ground. The seed is God's Word and depending on what kind of soil it fell, the roots did matter. Those that fell into good soil representing the truly repentant are those that endure trial. No matter the flood, the sun, the wind, etc. they cannot be uprooted. The truth is if one is born of God, they will never die, what God has begun in the believer, He will CERTAINLY not leave it undone. That is the basic truth of what eternal security is- a faith in Jesus Christ that CONTINUES and BEARS FRUIT as its inevitable result. Those who departed are NEVER saved to start with (1 John 2:19).
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