Do I Hate Catholics?

In some of the email I receive, writers express upset that, while I claim to be a Bible-believing follower of Jesus Christ, I seem to hate Catholics. Let me clear this up.

There can be few people in the world who are more anti-Roman Catholic Church than I am. I believe the RCC to be a demonic cult that corrupts the Gospel and distorts the teachings of the Bible in order to lead the theologically immature to trust in manmade religiosity instead of the Word of God. Further, I believe there are no limits to the measures the RCC leadership and Magisterium will apply in their service to their master, the Prince of this Age.

On the other hand, I do not hate Roman Catholics, though I confess to having little affection for the cult's leaders and apologists. My wife, some of my children and grandchildren, and virtually all my in-laws are Roman Catholic. When correspondents write of venom they claim they detect in my articles, they make accusations they no more can validate than the Magisterium can validate Mary's sinless life. Hate Catholics? The very idea is so foolish as to be ludicrous. They can have no idea how much I grieve in my heart to look at those I love so dearly and know the terrible eternity set before them -- unless God pours out His saving grace upon them. They cannot imagine the anguish I endure as I hold a dear grandchild in my arms, knowing this little creature so beloved of me will burn forever in the fiery lake unless God calls him out of the darkness.

Some say I hate Catholics. How dare they so judge me? If I truly hated those caught up in the sticky web of the Roman spider, would I devote virtually all my waking hours to reaching out to them? Why do I shine the light of God's Word on the heresies and errors of the Roman church? Why do I point Catholics to the Bible in virtually everything I write or say?

If I truly hated Roman Catholics, would it not better serve my hatred to simply leave them to languish in the filth that is RCC doctrine?

Many of the Roman 'apologists' I encounter appear so submitted to the mind-trammeling teachings of the Whore on the Tiber that they are blind to God's truth. They do not see the hands reaching out to help them escape the blackness of Roman Catholicism. Instead, they see a threat to the cult at whose bosom they suckle. I pray Almighty God remove the scales from their eyes and the clouds from their minds, that all those who have bartered their souls for the shabby promises of Rome might receive the Gospel of truth and salvation.

Certainly, every reader has the right to read or discard what he finds on these pages. I submit that this in no way injures me, for I am more concerned with conforming to God's will than pleasing the itching ears and eyes of those who are seeking not truth but comfort. On the other hand, there is a distinct likelihood that, by ignoring these postings, he may be turning his back on the Word of God. This may be pleasing to his Roman masters and the Prince of this Age, but will not stand him in good stead on that terrible day when he stands alone before the Great White Throne.

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."--Revelation 20:11-15

At times, a Catholic apologist will haul out the ecumenical argument that a Christian should not be so harsh when addressing the beliefs and practices of his brethren. They are deceived. No one who is submitted to the deceiver and who wears the Roman yoke is my brother or sister. I serve my Master, the Lord Jesus Christ of Scripture, and my eyes are on God's glory. Those who bend the knee to Rome serve a different master and their eyes are on the world. All we have in common is that we are sinners. The difference is that my sins are eternally forgiven, the just penalty for them having been satisfied by the substitutionary atoning sacrifice of the Christ. Their sins, on the other hand, continue to pile up, and all the ritual prayers, sacraments and incantations of the Roman cult cannot remit the punishment due for even the most insignificant of them. I emphasize that I do not doubt there are saints--individuals who are truly and eternally in a saving relationship with the Lord--to be found within the body of Catholic faithful; these are my spiritual brothers and sisters.

Some of my correspondents refer to the articles in these pages as "venom," yet I assure you they are manifestations of my great love and concern for the lost who are wandering blindly in the Roman Catholic night. Perhaps they are confused. Let me offer a few examples of what venom really is.

In the early centuries of the Roman Catholic church, Rome was hostile to the use of torture or other means to force confessions. This stand changed, however, and Rome became a strong advocate of torture, confiscation and murder - all in the name of holiness, of course.

But at a later period, in dealing with heretics, the Roman church unfortunately gave the sanction of her highest authority to the use of the torture, and thus betrayed her noblest instincts and holiest mission. The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) inspired the horrible crusades against the Albigenses and Waldenses, and the establishment of the infamous ecclesiatico-political courts of the Inquisition. These courts found the torture the most effective means of punishing and exterminating heresy, and invented new forms of refined cruelty worse than those of the persecutors of heathen Rome. Pope Innocent IV, in his instruction for the guidance of the Inquisition in Tuscany and Lombardy, ordered the civil magistrates to extort from all heretics by torture a confession of their own guilt and a betrayal of all their accomplices (1252)--Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol, IV, Medieval Christianity, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (1910), p. 351

Innocent III launched a crusade against the Albigenses, whom he had labeled heretics. As an inducement to raise forces against the Albigenses, Innocent offered plenary indulgences to all who fought against them and promised the lands and properties of the heretics to those who could take them.

When the crusaders approached Beziers they offered to spare it the horrors of war if it would surrender all heretics listed by its bishop; the city leaders refused, saying they would rather stand seige till they should be reduced to eating their children. The crusaders scaled the walls, captured the town, and slew 20,000 men, women and children in indiscriminate massacre; even those who had sought asylum in the church. Caesarius of Heisterbach, a Cistercian monk writing twenty years after, is our only authority for the story that when Arnaud, the papal legate, was asked should Catholics be spared, he answered, "Kill them all, for God knows His own…" --Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol IV, The Age of Faith, Simon and Schuster (C)1950, p. 775

No one knows how many millions of men, women and children suffered death and/or great loss -- whether by the sword, at the stake, under torture or at the hands of corrupt civil courts-- during the reign of terror that was the Inquisition. For those who might think the Inquisition was just another example of medieval barbarity, please bear in mind that the Spanish Inquisition finally ended in 1834. A few years later, the reign of terror ended in the Americas. The last reported incident of the Inquisition burning a man at the stake was in Mexico, in 1836. In 1844, a woman living on the Portuguese island of Madeira was sentenced to death for rejecting the heretical doctrine of the Real Presence in the communion wafer.

The Inquisition has not disappeared. It merely has undergone a few name changes over the centuries and, though apparently dormant, lies ever in wait for the day it might once again loose its dogs on the enemies of the Roman church. Hate? Satan hates God and all who serve Him. The Roman Catholic Church, faithful servant of its dark master, shares that hate.

I close with the words of Dr. Mal Couch, President of Tyndale Theological Seminary, on the matter:

It has been said of one of the popular "conservative" evangelical writers in the area of spiritual warfare that reading his books is like eating steak laced with arsenic. The steak tasted great and makes up the major portion, but the arsenic, imbedded throughout, will kill you. I can't think of a better analogy of what is going on in evangelicalism today. "Speaking the truth in love" is no longer "popular" or "politically correct" so many in the evangelical world have lost their taste for it. Thus, one of Satan's most effective weapons against Christ's Church is tearing away at the very core of Biblical Christianity. That weapon being, teach a lot of truth and mix in a little bit of error. Once we have developed a taste for error the dosage can and will be elevated!

One of the problems is that we have bought the lie that to confront error is not showing love. We have redefined love! In the context of Scripture it is not the one who allows his brother to continue in sin and error who is showing love but the one who confronts is showing love (Matt. 18:15). Love and truth can no more be separated than can God, who is Love and Truth by His very nature!--Mal Couch & Russell Penney, The Doctgrines That Cannot Be Compromised, Tyndale Theological Seminary (1996)