The Catholic Church Leadership
"... not many of you should become teachers, for you know that [you] will face a more severe judgment."
This is part of a series on some of the practices of the Catholic church. It’s meant to be a respectful outreach to my Catholic friends. A true friend will not withhold the truth; not if he really cares for you. Christian unity has to be based on Truth.
My criticisms of the Catholic church teachings - the ones that are not biblical - are not directed at the people. There are many fine people that attend Catholic services. They should be encouraged to study what the bible actually says, and not take any man’s word for it. My criticism is directed at the leadership - the ones who distort and twist the scriptures - and I’m sure that even in leadership, there are probably many fine men who are only following their training, thinking it’s right. But as leaders, it is their responsibility to study the Word of God and make sure they are following it and teaching others to do the same.
the Catholic practice of baptism
I wrote “How I Became Convinced the Bible is True” last year and gave some evidences that influenced me. What I didn’t mention was what the bible says about itself, and the recorded words about what Jesus said about it. Here’s a sample:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
In John chapter 8:31-32, Jesus referred to his word as Truth.
“31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
In John 17, Jesus was praying to God the Father. He was praying for his disciples. In verse 17, he made a very simple statement, referring to God’s word.
“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
The most effective counterfeits are the ones that are close to the truth. That way they can deceive many.
The Catholic church holds to the truth that God gave his son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, that he died by Roman crucifixion, that he rose from the dead three days later, that he ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God, and that he’s coming back to judge the world and make all things right.
But the Catholic church also mixes in traditions and rituals that are not in the bible; in fact, some are actually contrary to what the bible teaches.
The issue is authority. Jesus said “all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” Matthew 28:18
What is the authority for genuine Christianity? Is it man’s ideas, or is it the Word of God? Case in point, is it the pope and his archbishops, bishops, cardinals, and priests, or is it the bible? The Roman Catholic Church has changed positions many times on many things, but the word of God does not change.
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matthew 24:35
After Jesus said that all authority had been given to him, he gave the 11 apostles the “great commission” (Mt.28:18-20), and the book of Acts gives us the history of the early church, where we see the apostles had the authority to heal the sick, and even raise the dead, giving the Christian church a miraculous beginning.
This was the New Covenant. The Jewish priesthood system of the Old Testament was not continued in Christianity.
“By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete. And anything that is obsolete and aging will shortly disappear.” Hebrews 8:13
“ For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” 1 Timothy 2:5
Those verses are a big problem for the Catholic church to explain – why do they have priests? Why do Catholic priests act as if they are authorized to be mediators?
There were no priests in the New Testament early church. (other than the spiritual principle that ALL Christians are priests - see 1 Peter 2:9) We have Jesus as our mediator. We can go directly to the throne of God in prayer, in the name of Jesus. (Nowhere in the bible does it ever say to pray to Mary or the saints.)
The best way to tell a counterfeit is to become thoroughly familiar with the genuine original. That’s how bank tellers are trained – they touch, feel, smell, and of course visually examine closely genuine paper currency so that they will recognize the difference when passed a counterfeit.
That’s how we can tell a fake photo. We know what the real thing looks like, so if we look closely enough, we can spot the differences in a fake.
Some Catholics may have been brought up in the church and may not have ever heard any other teaching. My criticism is for the hierarchy, the top echelon, and the priests and higher-ups who know what the bible says but they ignore it in many ways.
For example, Catholics call their priests “Father”. This is a direct violation of Jesus’ command “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.” Matthew 23:9
The whole idea of having a “clergy” and separating them from the “laity” is not found in the bible. We are all the same in Christ. Paul spelled this out beautifully in Galatians 3:28-29:
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free man, there is no longer male or female. For all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are the offspring of Abraham and heirs according to the promise.”
There is only one way to have your sins forgiven – through faith in Jesus Christ. Speaking about Jesus, Peter said “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
(In the bible, all Christians are called saints, because they’ve been sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ - “to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. 1 Corinthians 1:2)
I’m encouraging my Catholic friends to experience the joy of being set free from the errors of the counterfeit church. The true gospel is a wonderful thing, and Jesus is a wonderful Savior. We are not saved by the Catholic church or by any priest; we are saved by the amazing grace of God.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” Ephesian 2:8 It’s a free gift, available to anyone who believes.
If you have been in the Catholic church, you can be set free. Find a non-denominational, bible-believing church that follows the pattern for the church in the New Testament. The reason I recommend a nondenominational church is because the early churches described in the bible did not have a central headquarters - each congregation was governed locally by elders chosen by the congregation; not by any external hierarchy. That’s the pattern for the church in the bible.
I appreciate your posts. We are not against the great biblically-consistent history of the catholic faith, but as you say we need to stand against the non-biblically-consistent history at the same time. Believers should be defined by their allegiance to the object of our Christian faith, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to Him alone.
Again, it was well thought out and probably rewritten several times.