1990 issue 8 - the return to rome - counsel of chalcedon
TRANSCRIPT
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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
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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.
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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.
Want to share the Gospel
with your friends
... But need a little help?
e
can help you
We have available a
NEW
VIDEO which is
a
Clear and Compelling presentation of the
Gospel to the unconverted. t is an
informal and easy-to-understand video,
35 minutes in length.
Wncdl e n>
The Gospel of Christ
presented
by
Joe
More
craft
with
music
by
Becky Morecraft
Get one for yourself and invite your
unconverted friends and relatives
to
your home
to
watch this
dynamic video on your
V
Available for
$25.00
2.00 postage and handling
Chalcedon Video Ministry
P.O. Box 888022
Dunwoody, Georgia
30356
404-396-0965
''
earnestly pray tluu God will use this video to bring many
people to saving faith in Jesus Christ."
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