8/12/2019 1990 Issue 8 - The Return to Rome - Counsel of Chalcedon

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The eturn

to

'

ROME

:by Joe

Morecraft,

i l l

I was

~ h o c k e d

angered, ~ a d d e n e d arid disillusioned

to 'hear recently that two friends

of

mine--

one

a

minister and the other ari elder

in

the Presbyterian

Church

in

America--had renounced Protestantism

and had joined the Roman Catholic Church. t

grieved me to hear that they had abandoned the Bride

of Christ and committed adultery with the whore of

Babylon, that they had left Christ and

joined

themselves with an antichrist. You

can

imagine

. what this did to their congregation. I still find

it

hard

to believe, although they are

not

the only ones who

have left presbyterian and episcopal churches in

recent years to return o Rome. There appears a

.. small trend, which we should be aware of and

concerned

about The one thing most

of

these

people -have in common is that. they have .

been

'dominated

Jy

the ilifluenpe of dwindling group in

Tyler, Texas, who refer o t ~ m . S e l v e s

- ref

ormed .

catholics.

THE HERESIES

OF

ROME

I

am deeply troubled about those who have returned

to Rome, because I

know

what the Roman Catholic

Church believes.

At

heart

it

stands in direct

opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ revealed in

the Bible.

To

say that it is heretical

and

apostate is

not an exaggeration. Here are some

of the

basic

doctrines of Roman Catholicism:

1.

The Bible is not the final

or

only source

of

revealed truth. It is a source of doctrines for the

church ALONG

WITH

the traditions

of

the church,

viz. the papal decrees,

and

human reason.

2. The Bible is not to be interpreted by the laity, but

the l lity is to submit to the interpretation of the Bible

by the church, i.e., the priesthood and the

pope

.

3.

The Pope is the head of the church

on

earth; and

when

he

speaks officially, (ex cathedra),

he

speaks

infallibly.

4.

In the Mass, Christ is sacrificed all over again.

5.

In the Eucharist, (Lord's Supper), the bread is

literally the physical body of Jesus,

and

the wine is

literally his blood. This amounts to cannibalism.

6.

There is

no

salvation outside the Roman Catholic

Church.

Her

seven sacraments

are

prerequisites for

salvation.

7.

Mary, the mother

of

Jesus, is adored as Co

Redeemer'' with her son.

8. The instrumental

cause

of justification and

regeneration is baptism,

9. The grace of justification and salvation can be

lost after

it

has been received.

Rome

does not

believe

in the eternal security of believers.

10.

The

Roman

Catholic Church believes

in

salvation by the merit of

good

works, not in

salvation

by

faith

in

Christ alone.

In

fact, Roman

doctrine actually states: IF

ANYONE

SAYS

THAT

THE

SINNER IS JUSTIFIED

BY

FAITH

ALONE ..

LET

HIM

BE

ANATHEMA. --The

Council

of

Trent.

1

1 Some

good

books explaining the errors

of

Roman Catholicism

are: 1). Roman Catholicism

by

. Loraine Boettner, published by Presbyterian and

Reformed Publishing Company; 2). A Refor

mation Debate:. John Calvin

nd

Jacopo Sadoleto

published by Harper Torchbooks; .

(3). The Argu

ments of Romanists Discussed and Refuted

by

James H. Thomwell, in

The

Collected Works

of

Thomwell, published

by

The

Banner

of Truth; (4).

Witnessing to Roman Catholics by C. John Miller,

published by Westminster Theological Seminary;

(5).

The Conflict with Rome by

G.C. Berkouwer,

published by Eerdrnans Publishing Company. (6).

Has Roman Catholicism Changed?

by Thomas

Schirrmacher

in

Antithesis, Vol.l No. 2, Mar/Apr

1990.

The Counsel of Chalcedon October 1990 Page

13

8/12/2019 1990 Issue 8 - The Return to Rome - Counsel of Chalcedon

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CAUSES OF

THE

RETURN TO ROME

Why

should a knowledgeable Protestant,

es.J?ecially

a

Reformed

P r o t e s t a n t

attractedc to Roman

Catholicism?

What

causes such an incredible thing

to

happen?

How

can people

who

have

drunk

deeply

from the wells of the Reformed Faith arid evangelical

Christianity leave them for broken cisterns, which

hold

no

water? After eating bread,

how

can

they

now enjoy stones? ,Their:actions are precariously

near

those

of

which the

book of

Hebrews speaks

in

6:4ff: . .

For

in the case

of

those who have once been

enlightened

and

have tasted of he heavenly gift and

have been made partakers of ,e lfoly Spirit, and

have tasted the good wordofGodand the o ~ e r s of

.

the age to come, and then have fa/lim away, it is

.

impossible to rt;new them again to repentance, since

they again cru.cify to themselves the Son

of

God,

and put Him to an open shame.

;

.The last words of this verse are literally true of

Roman Catholicism, which teaches that Christ

is

re

crucified, resacrificed

on

the altar, whenever

and

wherever the Mass is performed, hence, the

sacrifice of the Mass.

Why

would

peciple risk

so much

and leave

so much

to

return

to the

old

wineskin

of the Roman

Catholic Church? Passages such asiTini.othy 1:3-7;

4:1-5; II

Timothy

4:3-4; Titus 1:13-14; II

Peter

2:

1-

22 may help us understand their reasons and

motives, which

may

include some

of

the ollowing:

1

The

Desire for

Something

New

2. The Desire to Escape the Struggle Against

Evil within and without the Churcn .

3.

The

Influence of False

J::)octrines

4. The Desire for the Order and Security

of Slavery and the Fear of Freedom

5. The Craving for Unity Without Truth

6;

The Escape

from

the

World

in Neo-platonisin

7.

The Desire for Mysticism and Irrationalism

8.

The

Need

for

Authoritarianism

9. The Proudful Desire of Salvation by

Human Merit and Achievement .

10.

The

Loss ofLove for Truth and for God.

The

Counsel of Chalcedon October 1990 Page 14

THE DANGER SIGNS

OFA

RETURN

TO

.ROME

Watch out for any of these potential danger signs of

a return. to Rome

in

presbyterian pastors

or

,

presbytenan churches:

1. The wearing ofa clerical collar and vestmentS.

2. Liturgical renewal and the slavish following of

the liturgical calendar.

3. The use of visual aids, rites, ceremonies, and

liturgies in worship not commanded by the Bible,

viz. crossing oneself with the sign of the cross

4. The replacing

of

the pulpit, and the preaching

of

the Word, with the communion table and the

Eucharist, as the central focus

of

the sanctuary and

ofworship. .

5. The denial of the regulative principle of worship

spelled out so clearly

in

the Westminster Confession

ofFaith, chapter XXI,

Of

Religious Worship.

6. The compromising or

e n y ~ g

of the clarity of

the Bible, and the responsibility

of

au Christians to

interpret and apply it

for

the.mselves, with the help

of the Holy Spirit and the teaching ministry of the

church,..

by

interpreting .the Bible in 'a highly

allegorical manner,

11 -aking

it impossjble for the

common Christian to .understand

the

-Bible

a.t'

all

without i'the tyranny of the clerical experts.

7.

w ~ e n

.a presbyterian church joins an

e p i s c o p ~

denonunation. . . .

8

When

the

~ o c u s

of

o s p e l p r e a c h i n g

is

o ~

~ h a t

God

has done rn us subJecti.vely, rather than on what

_as. done for us in Christ in redemption.and

JUStification. .. .

9.

When

a preacher says that Jesus' statement,

This is

My

Body, is literally true.

10. When a preacher recommends the book by

Alexander Schernann entitled,

For the Life

of

the

World. Schmemann is a Russian Orthodox Catholic

priest, and the subject of his book is how to develop

a world-view: from the Catholic doctrine of

transubstantiation, i.e., the view that the bread

becomes Jesus literal flesh, and the .wine becomes

his literal blood, in the Eucharist.

8/12/2019 1990 Issue 8 - The Return to Rome - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Conclusion

Pray earnestly for your minister.

f

he is

not

preaching the word

of

God, find another church

where the word is preached. Read, study, meditate

on, and pray over the

Westminster Confession of

Faith, the Larger Catechism and the Shorter

Catechism.

Teach it carefully to your children.

Encourage your church leaders to teach and preach

these Westminster Standards regularly to your

people,

so

they will be fully familiar with

what

it

means to be Reformed, and so they will love the

Reformed Faith with all their hearts, because

of

the

way

it

honors the Triune God in creation, salvation

and revelation.

We, who are being Reformed by the Word

and

Spirit of God, and who love the Reformed Faith

of

the Bible and of our Calvinistic fathers, must work

that

we

might be more and more self-consciously

and consistently Reformed. Most certainly

our

great aim must be to persuade men to believe

in

Christ. Every one who does that is Reformed at

heart.

But

we

must also labor to make men self

consciously and consistently Reformed.

To

quote a

great American Calvinist, they must become

Reformed 'in thought and feeling and action.'

Teaching the Word

ofGod

is the prime means to that

end.--By faithfully performing the task

of

producing

self-conscious Calvinists

we

may contribute

to

the

growth

of

the (Christian Church),

not

merely

in

numbers,

but

in soundness and strength. --R.B.

Kuiper,

To Be or Not to Be Reformed.

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Joe

Morecraft

We say these things, not because we slavishly

follow any man,

but

because we earnestly believe

that Calvinism is Christianity in its purest, most

consistent, and most nearly perfect expression.

Therefore, let us stedfastly refuse to detract even a

little from our Reformed heritage. Shall

we

and our L,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Oiiiijii;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;o;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;o;;;;;iiiiiiiOOiiiiiii;;;;o;;;;;======; l

children not much rather enter more fully than ever

before upon its enjoyment? What we need is

not

to

become a little less Reformed, but much more so.

To impart that heritage to others is

at

once

our most

solemn duty and our

most

glorious privilege. Shal l

we not impart it untarnished and undiminished to

men of every kindred and tongue

and

people

and

nation? --R.

B

Kuiper, To

Be or

Not to

Be

Reformed. n

Love swallows down whole

many a pill

that i chewed

on

would be

very

bitter to the

taste."

C.H. Spurgeon

The Counsel of Chalcedon October 1990 Page

15