WILL THE TRUTH PREVAIL?
By Rick Mathes
John 14:6 (NASB77) 6 Jesus •said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.
Pilate asked, “What is Truth?” Jesus ignored him and remained silent. Why?
I asked as a teenager, “What is Truth?” and no priests could answer this simple question. I had been attending a Roman Catholic high school and was never required to look at one word of the Bible. I did sneak a peek at the front pages and learned that I could get 100 days off from the flames of Purgatory if I read the St. Joseph Bible for 15 minutes. It raised the question of why I went to confession in the first place. The Mass was a re-crucifixion of Jesus for our sins; the confessional was a place to be forgiven and then into the flames of Purgatory until enough Holy Candles were purchased to get me out sooner. It was all very confusing to me and sure didn’t nail down what truth was.
Many of the teaching brothers were homosexuals so it was a wonder how sex outside of marriage was a mortal sin but sex with a Marist Brother was ok? My sister couldn’t be a nun because my parents were divorced but priests couldn’t marry even though Peter and most of the Apostles were. It wasn’t adding up.
How did water from the sink turn into holy water when the priest prayed a blessing on it? And why did we go to hell for eating fish on Friday? On and on the absurdities continued. I finally gave up on religion and went south with the devil for another 25 years.
And now, having been a Protesting Christian for 30 years, I am still amazed that anyone would believe the nonsense of Roman Catholicism. I came to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter to most what they believe because even in the evangelical quarters, virtually no one asks the pastor what he believes when they join his church anyway.
An Assembly of God church I am familiar with did a survey asking those in the area, “Why did you choose your church to join?” They responded that these were the reasons in the order of importance:
- Youth Groups
- Social Contacts
- Friendly people
- Great Music
- Close Location
(Way down the list in #14 was the sermon message and beliefs weren’t even on the chart!)
I’ve been to the Vatican twice and had been in the presence of two Popes. It was awesome to visit the Vatican and investigate all the art and history on those 100 acres of land. I went away both times scratching my head and wondering why Catholics just blindly follow popes that have been representatives of the devil for so long. Just read their history of bastard children, immorality, inquisition, torture, homosexuality, murder, etc. of “infallible popes”!
I was led to the Syllabus of Errors that is the official doctrine and commandment of pope that are believed to speak for Jesus Himself. I was astonished at the horrific denial of human rights and American ideals. They aren’t even close to what the Holy Bible teaches.
Galatians 1:5-15 (NASB77) 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him
who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you,
and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.
Let me answer my own question, “What is Truth.” You answer means heaven or hell for you!
True believers believe:
- Bible Only
- Jesus Only
- Grace Only
- Faith Only
Roman Catholics believe:
- Bible plus the Pope speaking for Jesus is equal to the Bible
- Jesus plus the Holy Sacraments are necessary for salvation
- Grace plus works that earn more grace
- Faith plus whatever the Roman Church dictates as truth
Now this is the short form and I know I will get an avalanche of emails from angry Roman Catholics but they cannot deny the Syllabus of Errors that I have published in “Adults Only” of this web site.
Do you really want to know the danger Rome is to your salvation and to our country? It is so easy just to join the church and do more good than bad. I’m sure Jesus will understand. Or are the terrible “turn or burn” ministers like me right whan I insist that you repent, submit and obey his commandments. Make Him only Lord and believe the Bible only!
My disclaimer:
It is most certainly possible and even probable that there are more Roman Catholics going to heaven than Baptists, who knows? What I do know is that it isn’t what you know but who you know that gets you into glory. So if my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, they will certainly be saved and enjoy eternity in heaven with Him and with me. (I believe in the eternal security the Bible clearly teaches).
So where is all of this going? What is truth! The Lord only knows and He has all He has to say about it in the Bible. Read it and believe it. Put aside all the human religion nonsense and get real truth, the only truth straight from the teachings of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God.
Put the “Roman” aside and just be a “Catholic” like the rest of us!
PRESS ON!
Rick Mathes 