I was reading recently the address from Pope Benedict XVI given August 12 at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. The message is wonderful in that in very few words, the Pope clearly defines the God, or more properly, god, of Roman Catholicism. This god not being one who is Sovereign that does as he wills, when he wills, with whomever he wills. Rather, this god is one who needs man’s help, is dependent upon him, and is unable do anything without his approval.
Below we will find how deeply rooted this doctrine is in Catholicism where even the incarnation of Jesus Christ was not something that would happen because God decreed it, rather it was an act dependent on man, or in this case woman. We read,
When God decided to become man in his Son, he needed the freely-spoken “yes” of one of his creatures. God does not act against our freedom. And something truly extraordinary happens: God makes himself dependent on the free decision, the “yes” of one of his creatures; he waits for this “yes”.
St Bernard of Clairvaux explained dramatically in one of his homilies this crucial moment in universal history when Heaven, earth and God himself wait for what this creature will say.1
This is truly astonishing and as we will see below, total contrary to the clear words of Scripture. Astonishing because in just a few sentences the Pope has begun the process of crafting an idol2 with his tongue not unlike how the artisans of Catholicism do with their hands as they fashion their statues and paint their canvases. I stress an idol because after Benedict lays this unscriptural foundation he will quickly build upon it and point his priests and followers not unto the Lord Jesus as the apostles did, but rather unto the Mary of Catholicism.
Continuing with the address, the Pope states that:
Mary’s “yes” is therefore the door through which God was able to enter the world, to become man. So it is that Mary is truly and profoundly involved in the Mystery of the Incarnation, of our salvation. And the Incarnation, the Son’s becoming man, was the beginning that prepared the ground for the gift of himself; for giving himself with great love on the Cross to become Bread for the life of the world. Hence sacrifice, priesthood and Incarnation go together and Mary is at the heart of this mystery.3
And so we see that the Roman Catholic Mary preached by the Pope is “the door through which God was able to enter the world.” Likewise, she is, because of the Incarnation, said to be “…profoundly involved in … salvation.” All because she said “yes” and graciously granted the Lord permission to enter the world which, according to Catholicism, placed Mary at the heart of “…sacrifice, priesthood and Incarnation.”
If the Pope ended here, things would be bad enough, yet he does not. Rather, he follows in the footsteps of his predecessor Pope John Paul II and points his clergy not unto the Lord Jesus as the “chief Shepherd”, but rather unto the Catholic Mary where they are told to invoke her as “Mother of the supreme and eternal Priest, as Queen of Apostles, and as Protectress of their ministry.”4 All with the intent for priests to “…always venerate and love her, with a filial devotion and worship.”5
All because, according to the Pontiff, Mary said “yes” and graciously granted God permission to act. But is this teaching in accordance with the Scriptures? Most assuredly it is not as we will see next.
Looking to the Scriptures
To test the words of the Pope against what is recorded in God’s word, let us turn to the gospel of Luke where we read about Gabriel’s visitation to Mary and what transpired.
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. (Luke 1:26-32 – Bold added)
What should immediately jump out at us when we read these words is that we do not find a question put forth to Mary by Gabriel as he delivers his glad tidings from God. That is, we do not find Gabriel saying unto Mary something like,
Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou may conceive in thy womb if thou sayest yes, and bring forth a son, and you may call his name JESUS if you agree. He may be great if you allow him to be born, and he may be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God may give unto him the throne of his father David, but only if you say yes. So now Mary Heaven, earth and even God himself wait for what you will say.
As preposterous as I hope these words sound unto the reader this is exactly the heart of what the Pope is saying. Yet his words are in total contradiction to the Word of God that records Gabriel coming forth and issuing a declaration to Mary not about what may be but rather what shall be. What shall be because Mary was already chosen by God to be the blessed vessel to bring forth the promised Messiah with Gabriel delivering “glad tidings” and not a multiple choice test.
These “glad tidings” of course being a fulfillment of prophecies recorded throughout the Old Testament including one of the more familiar from Isaiah.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
A fact not lost on the early church where we have Matthew citing this very prophecy when he writes his gospel account and speaks specifically to the birth of the Lord.
Now all this [pregnancy of Mary by Holy Spirit and birth of Jesus] was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:22-23)
Mary of course recognized God’s Sovereignty and bent her knee in humble submission to the LORD’s decree much as an obedient child would unto his or her parent.6 Her reply, after her valid concern about not knowing a man was answered by Gabriel, was, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38) That is, do unto me Lord as you have declared by thy word for you are the potter I am the clay, you are the master I am your handmaid.7
But the Pope would have us believe that God was in fact servant unto Mary’s word as he sat on the edge of his heavenly throne waiting patiently for what her answer would be. This dear readers is not the God of the Bible and whether it be Mary or John, Peter or James, or anyone else, God is Sovereign and does as he wills where none can stay his hand. His actions are not dependent on man giving him approval and contrary to the Pope’s word, God does in fact act against man’s so-called freedom. For we are all his creatures subject to his supreme will as he acts in accordance with his heavenly will; a will that is always perfect, always right, always holy.
Likewise, be it known that a god who is dependent on man is no God at all. A god who waits for man to give him approval to act is not Sovereign. A god who does as man wills is not a God who does as he wills. This is why the god the Pope is preaching unto his followers and the world is not the God of the Bible who is declared as one who, “…doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:37)
And so I close with a plea unto the Roman Catholic and those who hold the doctrine of what might be called the sovereignty of man, or free will, to repent and believe on the God as declared in the Scriptures. A God who is Sovereign over all things where not even a sparrow falls to the ground and dies apart from his will. A God who is beholden to no man who from the same lump of clay will create one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor (see Romans 9:21). All so that he might show forth his power where “…his name might be declared throughout all the earth” (Romans 9:17) as “…he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” (Romans 9:21)
– End –
Endnotes:
1. Pope Benedict IX. On Mary, Mother of Priests “The Perfect Model for Their Existence.” Zenit.Org August 27, 2009. <http://www.zenit.org/article-26696?l=english> Bold added for emphasis.
2. idol – Any thing on which we set our affections; that to which we indulge an excessive and sinful attachment. An idol is any thing which usurps the place of God in the hearts of his rational creatures. Def. 4a., 4b. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
3. On Mary, Mother of Priests “The Perfect Model for Their Existence.”
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
5. It is beyond the scope of this paper to address the elevation of Mary to the heavenly heights the Pope is raising her unto for “filial devotion and worship”, but suffice to say this Mary is not the humble, servant of the Lord found in the Scriptures. Rather, she is a creation of the Roman Catholic religion who is often referred to as the Queen of Heaven. For more information on the Roman Catholic Mary please see this paper here.
6. Compare Mary’s humble submission unto God’s will verses that of Zacharias found in Luke 1:18 (see Luke 1:5-25). Yet note in this situation that even though Zacharias did not submit as Mary did, everything still happened exactly as God decreed down to the very naming of the child!
7. handmaid – The word in Greek is doulē which is defined as female slave.
Christ Alone Wyoming 
Great post!
A god that needs our help is a puny god and no God at all.
God creates faith, maintains faith, and brings this good work to completion. Not because of our help, but in spite of our help….out of His own gracious and loving heart.
LikeLike
Those of the Armenian bent should love this, since the “freewill” of man is their god.
LikeLike
This is a man who has studied the false teachings of Catholicism greatly and desires for many to come out from it. I will pray that God uses your knowledge greatly. To the one and only true God who does not need your help Jesus. God Bless you Brother!
LikeLike
Far too many proclaiming Christians have a god who waits for their command. My wife and I are in the midst of the membership class for our church. 6 weeks (once a week) of learning about our church and the history thereof – which includes 2 weeks on the reformation.
It’s interesting to read protestent documents of that era and see how the FREEDOM in Christ, no longer under the false christ of the Roman church, influenced the writers. A great number of them considered the Pope to THE anti-Christ. I think the apostle John had it right when he told us there were many of the spirit of anti-christ and some of them would be made manifest by leaving the church. The Romans did this as early as the 4th century, progressing through the ages until the church “threw them out” by breaking away.
Having read much history from both sides over the last few years, I thank the Lord for the Reformation and grieve for those who think it was no big deal.
LikeLike
This teaching sounds very similar to the Charismatic/Pentecostal teaching of Myles Munroe who states that God needs our permission to work on earth.
He gets even more blasphemous as he teaches “Even God Himself is illegal on earth. Why? Because, He is a spirit and the law He set up by His own mouth was that only spirits with bodies can function on earth legally.”(Myles Munroe, “This Is Your Day,” Benny Hinn, July 12, 2004). The sheer audacity of these false prophets amazes me! Who on earth do they think they are to claim that God needs them for anything?
Interestingly enough it seems that as both the Charismatics and the Catholics continue their downhill slide, their doctrine is becoming more and more similar.
God is Sovereign, Almighty and Omnipotent. Any other god is not God at all!
LikeLike
I do not, and I dont believe any discerning believer, would state that the RCC is part of the bride of Christ. It simply cannot be!
Great post.
LikeLike
I don’t find it a coincidence that I was listening to John MacArthur’s lectures on the idolatry shown towards Mary by the Roman Catholic Church. I’m also, right now, listening to MacArthur’s lecture: “Explaining the Heresy of the Catholic Mass.”
Matthew Johnston, I sadly must agree with you. I’ve often said that the more I understand Roman Catholicism, the more I understand that it’s a man-made religion. But, actually, I would change that statement. Now, I would say that the more I understand Roman Catholicism, the more I understand that it’s more like paganism that claims to be passed off as “Christianity.”
I say this, not to be mean, but with a heavy heart.
LikeLike
Caleb – It is wonderful you are studying the Roman Catholic religion as many believers are ignorant to her history, doctrine and how she truly is drunken with the blood of the saints.
For you and any others interested I highly encourage the sermons of William Mencarow on Sermon Audio. If you listen to his messages on prophecy you will be greatly blessed to learn history of the church that most of us never have heard due to sleeping shepherds. This history will then put Rome in much clearer perspective so that one, we are not deceived by Rome’s smokescreens. And two, so that we can better minister to Roman Catholics to help them, by God’s grace, come out of Mystery Babylon.
LikeLike
Brother Michael, I wholeheartedly agree with you that many believers are ignorant on the Roman Catholic Church and what it teaches. I was AMAZED and HORRIFIED that there are some “Protestant” friends of mine who intend to CONVERT to Roman Catholicism. I think that there’s been a bit of a resurgence amongst my generation (I’m a college student), thanks to the Emerging Church, in the interest in the rites & rituals of Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy for that matter.
I’m thankful for those like MacArthur who have REALLY done their homework on Roman Catholicism in order to expose it as a false form of Christianity.
LikeLike
Liberal Protestantism is far worse that Roman Catholicism. The RC church believes in the Diety of Christ, the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Birth, Jesus’ miracles, His death, burial and Resurrection.
Liberal Protestantism denies all of these Foundational Truths, and no one says a word against their heresy. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox, Evangelicals accept all of the early creeds of the Catholic church. They also embrace many of the same church fathers that Rome embraces eg Ausgustine.
We have more in common with the Roman church’s foundational teaching and NOTHING in common with Liberal Protestants.
LikeLike
Hi Ralph,
Catholics reject salvation by grace alone through faith alone, and anyone who does that is not born again. I would agree that liberal “Christians” are probably even farther away, but dead in sins is dead in sins. I don’t see any degrees of deadness.
You can look on this very website and see what we’ve said about Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Robert Schuller, Rick Warren and many others.
Thanks,
Bill
LikeLike
Michael,
This is where I have a problem with your post. To me it is not that God is awaiting our “permission” to do anything, but He awaits us to “choose” to do His will and more important to “choose” Him. If He did not wait for this choice then He would be imposing His will upon us.
One of my questions on your post is this. If God is a God who “enforces” His will upon us, then why does He not just get rid of sin, as He detest it, and sin is what seperates us from God? It is because He gives us the “choice” of good and evil, the good being Him. He gives us the choice of saying “yes” or “no” to Him.
Jesus Himself never forced anyone to “follow Him.” We see in the Bible when the scoffers did not believe what He was saying regarding The Eucharist He let them leave in their disbelief.
God does not need our “permission” for anything, what He waits on is our “choice.” When we choose to do it God’s way or what He wants us to do, then God does work through us to accomplish His will, at times. If Mary would have told God “no” He would not have forced her to have Jesus, as that is not God’s way at all.
I am not saying there are not consequences to bear for not “choosing” God there are. It bewildered Mary for awhile as how she was to conceive a child as she had not known man, much like it would have any of us. (Some things God does ask us to do today may make us stop and think a moment)
When Mary said, “Let it be done unto me according to Your Word” Mary was telling God “yes.” Did God need her “permission?” No. Did He need her choice of choosing Him and His will? Yes.
If God ever forced one thing on anyone, then He would have to force everything on all of us. That is not how God does. God also never changes and if He would have forced this on Mary, again, then He would have to force everything.
When He sent Abraham to sacrifice Isaac God waited to see if Abraham would do it? Abraham was going to then God knew He could trust Abraham. God waited for the obedience of Abraham, just like He did Mary.
Every single person God used in the Bible went and did the will of God because they “chose” to, not because of force.
As far as Mary being “part of the plan of salvation” she was. One cannot take her out of that plan. We do not mind giving credit to Moses for his part in the Exodus. He do not mind giving David credit for establishing a kingdom. We do not mind giving Abraham credit for being the father of many nations. Or Noah for building the ark, etc…
God is due all honor and glory, but that does not mean others are due no honor at all. Moses was called the “greatest prophet and there would never be another like him.” David God called him, “A man after my own heart.” Job God called His, “Good and faithful servant.” In Hebrews much honor was given to the Ancient Prophets for their “faith.” It is only Mary that people have the problem with. Make no doubt, God honored her by letting her give birth to His Son. Do not ever think Jesus did not honor His mother.
We in the United States honor men who fought and died for our country. We have special days set up for this and call them “holidays.”
Anyone ever chosen by God always had the free will to tell God no. To say any other anything, is false teaching. God wants us to choose Him and His will, because He loves us. Anything different would make God a “dictator” and He is not.
God Bless, Sandy
LikeLike
Dear Sandy,
Thank you for your lengthy reply. Actually, God does impose his will upon man so that his will is accomplished, for if he did this not the world would have been destroyed long ago. The Scriptures are replete with examples that testify to this. Consider just this one which I was just reading a few days ago where it is written about Israel and their times in Egypt and how God “turned their heart”; that is he changed their will. And this to do “evil” instead of “good.”
Mankind is so bent on “man’s will” being upheld at all cost it really is tragic as to why people do not submit to God having a will regardless of what man’s will is. This being more upsetting when people who deny God’s will as being supreme live their daily lives either imposing their will on others (as a dictator to use your word) or having others wills imposed on them. And this is considered good and noble in earthly matters, but damnable, despicable and dictatorial (your word again) when dealing with heavenly.
Consider the raising of a child when his/her parents are striving to raise her to be a good and upright child. In such a setting, whose will is final authority in the house? Is it the parents or the child’s? If a parent commands the child to clean up her room and she says no, what does the parent do, allow the child to have her will and live in a pig sty? If subscribing to modern, free will parenting, then yes. But not so if trying to raise the child according to good parenting. Because in such a setting a parent will impose their will on the child such that they clean the room.
In this, do you consider godly parenting dictatorial? Are parents tyrants and dictators whose impose their will on their child? Should the child be left to freely choose to do the good if and when they so desire? Do the parents provide them a list of options where the child can chose to do this, and not do that? Does a parent have the right to force their will on the child? In my world they do for if they do not then there will be total disorder in the house where the child will become lord of that house as the parents are now subjects to her will.
How many more examples could be cited in daily life? The military, a sports team, school, employment, and on and on one could go.
Yet this only addresses part of the issue, for the real core that you need to fully understand is the consequence of sin. As a Catholic you are taught about original sin, yet you are never taught about its full consequences. And it is this. That sin turned the heart of man such that he who loved God now hated him in his heart. This is why Adam and Eve hid from God after they sinned when shortly before they were enjoying deep fellowship with him.
The hatred man has for God is called in one place “enmity” where the apostle writes, ” …the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Rom 8:7) This word literally means hatred. The carnal mind of course is the unregenerate mind; the person who has not been born again. Such a person hates God and will not come to him nor do his will no matter how outwardly pious they may appear.
I could write much more on this but one more verse will have to suffice. It is where Jesus says that the condemnation on the world is this:
Men love darkness rather than light. Men love sin rather than righteousness. All men, and all women which includes Mary before she was saved. And no one will come to the light (i.e. Jesus) because no one wants their evil and blackened heart exposed to the light. Likewise no one will come to the light because men LOVE sin; you love sin, my flesh loves sin, ALL men love sin. They love sin not unlike how a fattened sow loves to wallow in the filth of a pig sty. And nothing will change that without a mighty work of God to change the heart, change the disposition, change the will.
This is why one must be born again, a birth which comes not by man’s will but by God’s. Even as your physical birth was not of your will but your parents, and ultimately not theirs but God’s. Unless you believe that you are just the random product of countless free-will decisions made since the days of Adam and Eve.
God chose Mary and disposed her heart to do his will. Mary is not part of the plan of salvation as RC’s would have us believe. For Salvation is ALL about Jesus and zero about Mary. The gospel is Repent and Believe on Jesus for the remission of sins, not uphold Mary as mediatrix and co-redemtrix.
LikeLike
Michael,
You make very good points and I appreciate that. I am sorry response was at much length but I could not explain what I wanted to say in a “few” words.
However great your points are though, I cannot agree with them all and so it seems we have come to a “crossroads.” I do not like to argue things forever, so I will with all of my heart thank you for letting post my comment here and give another view. Also thank you for your kind reply.
The important thing is, is that we do love God and more important that He loves us, more than we could ever know how to love. For that we can both be most thankful and grateful.
Have a wonderful day filled with the joy of our Lord in your heart, God Bless, Sandy
LikeLike
Sandy,
Thank you likewise for your kind response; it is refreshing and I appreciate your frankness in expressing both your beliefs and honest differences in what I wrote. I hope that even though what I wrote is bitter to your current beliefs, that you will consider spending some time chewing on it. For quite often those things which are best for our health are much less palatable to our taste buds than those things which are more deleterious. This is why we must teach our children to eat their vegetables, and to instill discipline in them to minimize their eating of sweets.
My prayer I leave you with is that you might search the Scriptures daily like those in Berea (Acts 17:11) and find their testifying of Jesus (John 5:39) as you uncover the pearl of great price (Mt 13:45-46) and sell all to have it. And that you might follow in the footsteps of the Samaritan woman at the well and drink deeply of living waters, which when one drinks of, he or she will never thirst again and will have a well inside springing up unto eternal life (John 4:5-42).
In Christ
Michael
LikeLike
Thank you Michael and I will “chew on it.” Also thank you for the Scripture. Though many of us may disagree that is no reason to ever injure a soul of another if we can help it. Then an injured soul must go to God as that is the only choice to me a “soul” has when it is wounded. I never want to send to God an injured soul and from what you posted to me, I do not think that is what you want either.
God Bless you and thanks again for your kindness.
I believe we may have just set an example of how it can be done.
Love in Christ, Sandy
LikeLike
For devout catholics:
Did you know that when a catholic priest is ordained, the senior member of the sect lays his hand on him and says “YOU ARE OTHER CHRIST” in Latin, Satan’s language. If you are catholic and call yourself Christian, You have been cleverly deceived.
Here are some interesting quotes::: “We hold upon this earth the place of almighty God.” Pope Leo XIII, referring to himself.
“The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ, hidden under a veil of flesh.” The Catholic National, July 1895
“But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff… [who] requires… complete submission and obedience of will… as to God Himself.” Pope Leo XIII, the Great Encyclical Letters, p. 193
“It seems that Pope John Paul II now presides over the universal Church from his place upon Christ’s cross.” Taken from an article entitled, “Auckland Bishop Says Pope Presides From the Cross” AUCKLAND, New Zealand, SEPT. 20, 2004, Zenit.org
“Indeed, it is not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their offices the priests are so many gods.” Pope Innocent III
The Roman Catholic Church created a vast ‘market’ on earth for a unique kind of merchandise, for which she had no competitors and unquenchable demand. She claimed that she had the right to sell God’s grace, His free act of forgiveness, to the sinners. To this day, this blasphemous power, maintains the power to forgive sin.
“This judicial authority will even include the power to forgive sin.” The Catholic Encyclopaedia Vol. 12, -article “Pope”, p. 265
“And God himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of his priest and either not to pardon or to pardon, according as they refuse to give absolution, provided the penitent is capable of it.” Dignity and Duties of the Priest, p. 27, New York: Benziger Brothers, Printers to the Holy Apostolic See, 1888
Did you read that? God is obliged? Whew! Not the God I know.
LikeLike