Modern Roman Catholicism is the monstrous tree that sprang from the acorn of the Judiazers.
– Phil Johnson
Catholicism
Quotes (811)
I know very many decent people who seem to have resolved never to come to Christ until they can understand how the doctrine of election is consistent with the free invitation of the Gospel. I might just as well determine never to eat a morsel of bread until it has been explained to me how it is that God keeps me alive, and yet I must eat to live.
– Charles Spurgeon
1834 – 1892
Quotes (810)
Knowledge of the truth will bring division. Those who follow Jesus by abiding in his Word will be divided from those who do not. . . . Doctrine divides believers from unbelievers. Without doctrine there will be no division.
– Mike Gendron
Quotes (805)
I am told that, years ago above the Falls of Niagra, a boat was upset, and two men were being carried down by the current. Persons on the shore managed to float a rope out to the men, who both seized the rope. One of them held fast to it and was safely drawn to the bank. But the other, seeing a great log come floating by, unwisely let go of the rope and clung to the great piece of timber, for it was the bigger thing of the two and apparently better to cling to. Alas, the timber with the man on it went right over the vast abyss, because there was no union between the wood and the shore. The size of the log was no benefit to him who grasped it. It needed a connection with the shore to produce safety. So, when a man trusts his works, his prayers, alms giving, sacraments, or anything of the sort, he will not be saved, because there is no connection between him and God through Christ Jesus. But faith, though it may seem to be a slender cord, is in the hand of the great God on the shore.
– Charles Spurgeon
1834 – 1892
Are you a Roman Catholic or a Christian?
Are you a Roman Catholic or a Christian?
Grab pen and paper and take the following ten-question quiz (formulated by Dr. J. Ronald Blue of Dallas Theological Seminary). How you do will determine whether you’re a Roman Catholic or a Christian.
Choose the position which is most true:
1:
A). God gives a man right standing with Himself by mercifully accounting him righteous.
B). God gives a man right standing with Himself by actually making him into a righteous person.
2:
A). God gives a man right standing with Himself by placing Christ’s goodness and virtue to his credit.
B). God gives a man right standing with Himself by putting Christ’s goodness and virtue into his heart.
3:
A). God accepts the believer because of the moral excellence found in Christ.
B). God makes a believer acceptable by infusing Christ’s moral excellence into his life.
4:
A). If a man becomes born again, he will achieve right standing with God.
B). If a sinner receives right standing with God, he will then experience a transformation of character and life.
5:
A). We receive right standing with God through faith alone.
B). We receive right standing with God by faith and love.
6:
A). We achieve right standing with God by having Christ live out His life of obedience in us.
B). We achieve right standing with God by receiving the truth that he obeyed the Law of God perfectly for us.
7:
A). We achieve right standing with God by following Christ’s example by the help of enabling grace.
B). We follow Christ’s example because His life has given us right standing with God.
8:
A). God first declares us good, and then His Spirit begins making us good.
B). God sends His Spirit to make us good, and then He will declare that we are good.
9:
A). Christ’s finished work on the cross and intercession at God’s right hand gives us favor in God’s sight.
B). It is the indwelling Christ that gives us favor in God’s sight.
10:
A). Only by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness can we fully satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.
B). By the power of the Holy Spirit living in us we can fully satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.
Bonus Question 1:
You get to Heaven by works: True or False
Bonus Question 2:
Our faith is the ground of our salvation: True or False
Answers . . .
Quotes (793)
Our primary mission field today is within the church. The latest survey reveals that 86% of Americans say they believe in Jesus. Yet, a much smaller percentage of people say they are born-again Christians. How can so many people be deceived or deluded? Many of them have been told by misguided pastors or evangelists that repeating a prayer, signing a card, being baptized, joining a church or coming forward in an alter call has made them a Christian. Others have been asked to “accept” a Jesus they don’t even know. It is no wonder the Apostle Paul exhorted his readers to “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5). We are to test ourselves and encourage others to do the same. The test: have we believed the true Jesus as he is revealed in the Scriptures or a “Jesus” who has been created by the imagination of men?
– Mike Gendron
Praying for Rose Marie.
I first met Rose Marie a few years ago. She is a 20-something nun who works a booth at the local fair. Since she travels around selling Rome’s idolatrous wares and trinkets, I hadn’t seen her since that first meeting. However, she was back in town and I saw her yesterday at this year’s fair. When I approached her she immediately recognized me.
Rose Marie, or as I’m sure she prefers to be called, Sister Rose Marie, is still relying on her own efforts to save her from the coming wrath of God.
I only had a chance to chat with her for about a minute or two this time, but I am researching a way to correspond with her like a pen-pal. If this does not materialize, then I’ll have to wait another year to have an opportunity to speak with her.
I ask that the readers of DefCon please keep this precious young lady (who has devoted her life to a dead religion of works in hopes to find favor with God) in your prayers. To read a brief post on my first encounter with Rose Marie from 2007, check out: A conversation with a nun in the most unlikeliest of places.
Goodbye grandpa.
On August 03, 2010, while lying in bed nursing a 102 degree fever, I received a call that my grandfather (who was in the hospital recovering from a minor operation) had stopped breathing on two separate occasions but they were able to resuscitate him both times.
When I arrived at the hospital he was on a ventilator (tube down his throat feeding him oxygen) in addition to a myriad of other tubes and wires, and loaded with a plethora of medications—all of which were keeping him alive.
The following day tests confirmed that his condition was only growing worse and that his organs were beginning to shut down. It was unanimous: his wife and family decided that there was no need to artificially prolong the inevitable.
The day I’ve always dreaded arrived on the evening of August 04, 2010. With his family by his side, my grandfather slipped into a Christless eternity, ending his life of eighty-three years on earth.
Quotes (787)
The thick pollutions of thine abominable [Roman Catholic] church forbid the idea of descent from any apostle but the traitor Judas.
– Charles Spurgeon
1834 – 1892
Sermon of the week:”The Authentic Christian” by Angelo Sanchez.
Your sermon of the week is The Authentic Christian by Angelo Sanchez of Community Bible Church (CBCReno.net). In this sermon, Pastor Sanchez covers a subject most pastors won’t touch, and says things most pastors aren’t willing to say, yet is so vitally important to hear.
One of the oddest videos around.
This is one of those videos that’s beyond words. It leaves you wondering what in the world did I just witness?
A Little Leaven calls it “Misadventures in Liturgical Dance,” but I call it “A Romish Mess.”
Quotes (746)
Scripture declares clearly, and without a doubt, that there is only one cleansing agent for the sin of believers. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Yet, Rome diverts its people from the Savior’s blood and instead offers a place called purgatory as a dreadfully contrived hoax.
– Mike Gendron
Quotes (735)
I honestly, for the life of me, do not understand how somebody who professes to be in Christ can still continue to take God’s name in vain. And I will tell you I hear it all the time. Not in the profane ways of the world but in using the word God as an expletive. If you’re in Christ and Christ dwells in your heart then what comes out of your mouth should be words of praise and thanksgiving to God, not using God’s name in vain. The same filth that used to come out of your mouth is now cleaned up; why? because Christ lives in you. . . . I was an alter boy, and I went to Holy Family Catholic School, and I was surrounded by all this religious atmosphere, but you know what, I was excellent at was cussing. Most alter boys do cuss by the way. . . . I was a prolific swearer at twelve years old. When God saved me there was an immediate sense that those words no longer fit inside of this mouth. To be in union with Christ affects the way that you think, it affects the way that you speak, it affects the way that you use your body.
– Brian Borgman
Quotes (726)
Long ago I ceased to count heads. Truth is usually in the minority in this evil world.
– Charles Spurgeon
1834 – 1892
Quotes (725)
Surely that man must be in an unhealthy state of soul who can think of all that Jesus suffered, and yet cling to those sins for which that suffering was undergone. It was sin that wove the crown of thorns; it was sin that pierced our Lord’s hands, and feet, and side; it was sin that brought Him to Gethsemane and Calvary, to the cross, and to the grave. Cold must our hearts be if we do not hate sin and labor to get rid of it, though we may have to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye in doing it.
– J. C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
Which “Jesus” do you worship?
False idols of who Jesus is come in all shades and styles, but there’s nothing that’s created more false idols of who Jesus is than man’s own heart.
Unfortunately, most people have created a “Jesus” of their own liking, fashioned in the recesses of their carnal minds (or created by some religious leader that they’ve submitted their lives and entrusted their souls to) and that’s the “Jesus” they serve and worship. Ironically, these false idols of “Jesus” bear a striking resemblance to those who created them (and their desires), but very little–if any–resemblance to the Jesus of the Bible.
Since there are so many versions of “Jesus” circulating out there I’ve decided to create this easy to use (but non-exhaustive) resource as a way to help you know which “Jesus” you worship based solely upon what you believe about Him.
If your Jesus . . .
. . . is the sibling of Satan; born from a sexual encounter between God the Father who was once a man (Adam to be exact) and God’s own daughter Mary; who was crucified because he practiced polygamy; who did not pay for the sins of the world on the cross but in the Garden of Gethsemane, whose sacrifice was insufficient since you still have to work your way to heaven and in some cases your own blood must be spilled to redeem yourself; and who could not maintain his church but had to commission a lying, swindling, occult-dabbling, womanizing, pedophiliac, adulterer, Freemason, con-artist who was known for telling tall tales (whose own account of the first vision changed several times), to “translate” an ancient and “inspired” book that needed almost 4,000 corrections, changes, and alterations since it’s first publication, and to “restore” the church that your Jesus couldn’t keep together . . .
. . . then you worship the Mormon Jesus.
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . is a created being (Michael the Archangel to be exact); who is not God but a god (thus making you a polytheist); who will condemn you for celebrating your birthday or giving your child a life saving blood transfusion; who did not die on a cross but on an upright stake; whose body is unaccounted for and still missing today because he did not physically rise from the dead but only raised “spiritually;” whose sacrifice was insufficient because you still have to earn your own salvation; and who–in spite of accepting worship from those around him–does not want you to worship him . . .
. . . then you worship give obeisance to the Jehovah’s Witness Jesus
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . is most commonly depicted as a helpless infant or dead upon a cross; who is bound to take orders from his mortal mom who he created (the Creator subjecting himself to the creation); who has to share his glory with the mortal human Mary; who is our mediator between his earthly, kindhearted, and loving mother and his angry, vindictive father; who is sacrificed again and again every week (in spite of the Bible saying He was sacrificed once and for all, never to be sacrificed again) because mortal human priests have incredible power to call him down from heaven and magically turn him into a cracker and wine (again being subject to his creation instead of the other way around); and whose sacrifice was insufficient because you still have to merit your own salvation . . .
. . . then you worship the Roman Catholic Jesus
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . is a hippie-like figure who no longer considers the Bible as a final authority but questions the very Scriptures and their perspicuity, even going as far as to justify such sins as homosexuality; who no longer differentiates between sheep and goats, wheat and tares, truth and error, light and darkness, the broad road and the narrow path, but now warmly accepts Roman Catholicism, Lecto Divina, and other false religious traditions and mystical practices (it would be judgmental not to); and whose motto is “come as you are and you can stay that way too because only Pharisees would tell you otherwise,” . . .
. . . then you worship the Emergent Jesus.
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . wears an Armani suit while driving a Lexus; whose sole purpose for existence is to show you by example how to line your pockets with greenbacks if you simply sow a financial seed of faith; who confirms your salvation by such outward expressions as being slain in the spirit and speaking in tongues; and who says that if you don’t accept these strange doctrines then you’re just not anointed enough . . .
. . . then you worship the Charismatic Word of Faith Jesus.
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . is a registered Republican; wrapped in the American flag; whose purpose for coming to earth was to show us that the gospel is salvation through legislation; who wants us to set up God’s kingdom on earth by our efforts and political action; who exists to help your son win the football game and your daughter win the dance recital; and who doesn’t mind sitting on the shelf till you’re ready to pull him out at Christmas, Easter, weddings, funerals, national tragedies, or whenever you want to feel good about yourself . . .
. . . then you worship American Jesus.
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . never mentions your sinfulness or his holiness, but instead emphasizes having a good time in church with a rockin’ praise band; boasts of a fun atmosphere for kids; has a relevant message from the latest Hollywood movie; and offers free coffee and donuts in the lounge . . .
. . . then you worship the Laodicean Jesus (see also Mega-Church Jesus below).
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . is a Hawaiian shirt-wearing, big-teeth smiling, latte-drinking-while-preaching, motivational speaker peddling the message that God’s greatest hope for mankind is that they reach their full potential by finding their purpose in this life and living that best life now . . .
. . . then you worship Mega-Church Jesus
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . considers praise music and CCM to be the two sacraments of the church; considers a membership in a Christian CD music club to be evidence of sanctification; emphasizes the church praise band’s practice sessions over that of church Bible study, prayer, evangelism, and holiness; suggests that the church is a place to showcase one’s talent for rockin’ a guitar for God; and who believes that music “reaches people” in a way that the gospel can’t . . .
. . . then you worship Musician Jesus (aka Golden Calf Jesus).
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . believes public school teachers, Christian psychologists, the church, the lead pastor, and especially the “youth pastor” are all responsible for your child’s biblical and spiritual upbringing, development, nourishment, and maturity (everyone but their own parents); who teaches that peers of the same age group (and often the opposite sex) are the best mentors and role models for your children; whose “youth ministries” are most commonly identified by lock-ins, pizza parties, bowling nights, and lots of drama (both kinds); and who considers that those best qualified to pressure your child/teen into repeating a “sinner’s prayer” is the twenty-something hip dude who’s never raised any children of his own, has way too much gel in his hair, and knows more about MTV and U2 than theology and his Bible . . .
. . . then you worship Youth Pastor Jesus.
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . is an ascended master (one of many); who does not believe in sin, holiness, or redemption; and is accepting of all religions because he himself is just one of many paths to enlightenment . . .
. . . then you worship New Age Jesus (a.k.a. Oprah Jesus, not to be confused with the Robert Schuller Jesus or The Shack Jesus).
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . is ok with the use of profanity, the twisting of parts of the Bible to promote masturbation and other parts of Scripture to create mandates for wives to commit certain sexual acts with their husbands; who winks at the copious amount of vulgarity, sexual innuendos, double entendres, and all things worldly; enjoys being depicted as a disc jokey on t-shirts; and whose premier preacher makes fun of “fundamentalists” (those who take the Bible seriously), mocks those who take responsibility for the education of their own children (because they take the Bible seriously), and considers Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, and Robert Schuller his spiritual brothers . . .
. . . then you worship the Mark Driscoll Jesus
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If your Jesus . . .
. . . is the sovereign, mighty, holy, King of kings, Lord of lords, chief cornerstone; the Alpha and Omega; the First and Last; the Son of God; God in the flesh; a completely sufficient Savior; eternally existent; Creator of all things; who is, who was, who is to come; who became flesh; subject to no human; reigns over all; was born of a virgin; who shed His priceless Blood for His elect; who laid His life down upon a rugged cross, took that life up again–body and all–on the third day, snatched the keys of Hades, and removed the sting from death; who is the Prince of Peace, the Great Physician, Immanuel, God with us; whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light; who is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, who is the faultless, sinless, unblemished, Lamb of God; the only mediator between God and man; the narrow gate; the way, the truth, the life; the only way to the Father; and who is worthy to receive glory, and honor, and power forever and ever, Amen!. . .
. . . then you worship the Jesus of the Bible.
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See also:
“The Devil is at work inside the Vatican.”
An insider finally admits what we’ve known all along.
Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that “the Devil is at work inside the Vatican”, according to the Holy See’s chief exorcist.
Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican’s chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession, said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as “cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon”.
Check out the news piece from The Times Online.
Quotes (707)
I charge you never to give up the old doctrine of the blood of Christ, the complete satisfaction which that atoning blood made for sin, and the impossibility of being saved except by that blood. Let nothing tempt you to believe that it is enough to look only at the example of Christ, or only to receive the sacrament which Christ commanded to be received, for which many nowadays worship like an idol. When you come to your deathbed, you will want something more than an example and a sacrament. Take heed that you are found resting all your weight on Christ’s substitution for you on the cross, and His atoning blood, or it will be better if you had never been born.
– J. C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
David Crowder’s crowded theology.
The latest pockmark to appear on the already scarred face of CCM comes from one of evangelicalism’s favorite “worship leaders,” David Crowder of the David Crowder Band.
Crowder, who is the
author of the contemplative-promoting book, Praise Habit (referring to the habits worn by Catholic nuns),
also participated in a contemplative/emergent conference with the likes of
Leonard Sweet, Chuck Fromm (founder of the event and of Worship Leader magazine), emerging leader Sally Morgenthaler, Brennan Manning proponent Michael W. Smith . . . contemplative/emerging Marva Dawn, Alpha Course leader and contemplative proponent Todd Hunter, and others.
(See more about this from the source Lighthouse Trails.)
But Crowder’s lack of discernment doesn’t end here. He recently granted an interview to the Roman Catholic “movement” known as Life Teen (whose promo video was previously featured on DefCon here) in which they state on their website:
Because of our deep Eucharistic devotion, Life Teen has developed a spirituality that is
- 100% Catholic
- Obedient to the Magisterium
- Centered on the Eucharist
- Scriptural
- Liturgical
- Catechetical
- Sacramental
- Focused on social justice
And:
On December 9, 2007, [at] the Feast of St. Juan Diego, we consecrated the Life Teen movement to the Blessed Virgin Mary and will renew our consecration annually by prayerfully participating in the St. Louis Marie de Montfort Total Consecration. [Emphasis theirs]
And:
Our entire ministry is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary so that we may be led to the feet of her son with the obedience she exemplified.
If you’re wondering why Crowder (or any evangelical for that matter) would grant an interview with the idolatrous Romanists whose teachings and beliefs are antithetical to biblical Christianity, wonder no more. Crowder–whose music may very well be in your car stereo or on your teenager’s ipod right now–concedes in this interview a rather interesting source of influence in the “formation of [his] faith.”
Here’s the question from the interviewer Matt Smith:
You are not Catholic, but on your Illuminate album, you sing a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. What’s your connection?
Here’s the evangelical “worship leader’s” answer:
Much of the Catholic traditions and writings have been influential in my formation of faith and to be quite contradictory of what was stated earlier, I’ve found much inspiration there. St. Francis is a figure I’m equally attracted to and repelled by. I long for his powers of disassociation from the trappings of “stuff.” I’m beset with consumption and materialism, and he is a compelling symbol of contentment. His contentment and way of suffering terrify me.
You can read the whole interview here.
Let this be a warning fellow pilgrims, not all that glitters is gold, and not everything labeled “Christian,” that’s sold in “Christian” bookstores, and that’s played on “Christian” pop-music stations is what it’s purported to be.
Be cautious that you are not influenced by those who’ve been influenced by Rome. Be careful little eyes what you see; be careful little ears what you hear; and always be sure to choose your entertainment wisely.
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Christ Alone Wyoming 