You are listening to a message from Sound Words. To find information about our ministry, please visit our website at soundwords.org. You can also download our free app from iTunes or Google Play to access more great sermons. As I mentioned this morning, I want to continue talking with you about the Roman Catholic Church since that is such a focus of attention in our country in these days with the presence of the Pope and his activities. Maybe we ought to start with just a reminder of where we are going biblically in the world. Why don't you turn to Revelation 17. We see events going on and we talked about the spiritual issues involved in religious activity. The book of Revelation carries us through basically the seven-year tribulation. Churches are mentioned in chapters two and three. I take it they are removed to heaven, the rapture of the church. In chapters six to 19, talk about God's judgment on an unbelieving world. God's judgment on an unbelieving world and the apostate church. At the same time, he is preparing Israel. for repentance and turning in faith to the coming King. In Revelation 17, we begin verse 1. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me saying, come here and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality. Those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. And this is a spiritual harlot. that has had great influence in corrupting the world spiritually. He carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality. And on her forehead, a name was written, a mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered greatly. And John asked, what about the mystery of the woman and of the beast? And then you have the explanation. We've looked at this in previous studies. My understanding is that the woman riding the beast is the apostate religious system. It goes back to the Babylonian system established at the Tower of Babel. and where they wanted to unify worship in the world around the tower, that would be their focal point of worship, has continued down. Jeremiah has to condemn Israel for worshiping the Queen of Heaven, which as we'll see in a little bit is one of the titles the Roman Catholic Church has for Mary, Queen of Heaven. The beast that is written here is the political system. In chapter 17 of Revelation, you focus on the judgment of the religious system. In chapter 18, the judgment of the political system. I think there is every reason to believe that Roman Catholicism is the focal point in this apostate religious system. The focal point is on the judgment, on the apostate church. Remember, this is the age of the church. God is dealing with the church. Israel is on a sidetrack, so to speak, in the plan of God, and so the focus is not on Israel. This is the time of the fullness of the Gentiles, God establishing His church, but at the same time there is the apostate church. And my understanding is that the Roman Catholic Church is a key element in this, as it has adopted many of the things that the scripture says about the true church and corrupted them. Satan is indeed acting as an angel of light. All right, just keep that in mind. That's why I'm somewhat in awe as I saw the Pope addressing The leaders of our country, the United Nations with representatives of the world, his influence. What does he have politically? You have the Vatican, and they are their own independent country of a total of 104 acres, I believe it is. And not an army that would do anything but great influence with the nations and leaders of the world. And down through their history, they have been guilty of the blood of the saints as they have been leaders in the persecution of the church. Remember, the Catholic Church claims allegiance to Christ, and all that they do is based on Christ, His sacrifice, grace found in Him, faith in Him. So, Christ, and then from Him, derived his salvation benefits now for us as Bible-believing Christians we believe you present the gospel the truth of the death burial resurrection in Christ as payment for our sin an individual comes in faith and believes in Christ they are justified declared righteous by God forgiven and given new life in the Catholic system you do not come directly to Christ But from Christ, the benefits of his salvation are mediated, usually through Mary. And then to Christ's representative on earth, the Pope. And I read you a statement out of one of the Catholic writings, the Pope has power over the whole earth, the whole world. He's God's representative on earth. He is the vicar of Christ. He is the mediator of Christ. So Christ's benefits come to the Pope, are distributed from the Pope to the bishops, from the bishops to the priests. And then people, ordinary people, if I can say that, they're not part of that Roman Catholic system, that magisterium. They come and get it from the magisterium, the priest. They get baptized. We read that brings salvation. We read the statements in the Roman Catholic. And I read these to you so at least you've heard them and hear it from their writings. This is actually what they say and claim. We know of no salvation apart from baptism. And then later you're confirmed, and that's when you receive the Holy Spirit. Then you partake of the Eucharist, the Mass, which is a reenactment of the sacrifice of Christ, but it's not just symbolic, it's a real sacrifice. It is a propitiatory sacrifice. It is a sacrifice which turns away the wrath of God from you. And that is the heart of the system that's ongoing. Let me just take a passage, come to John 6, that the Roman Catholics use. And if you're going to talk to Catholics, you ought to at least be aware. They base it on Christ's statement at the Last Supper, when he broke the bread and drank the cup, broke the bread with his disciples. And he told them, this is my body, this is my blood. And they say, we take a literal interpretation of scripture. If you're not careful, they'll put you on the spot. Don't you interpret scripture literally? What does it say? It doesn't say, this represents my body. It says, this is my body. This is my blood. So if you take the Bible literally, then you must believe this is literally the body and blood of Christ. They also use John 6, which has nothing to do with the communion service, but it uses similar terminology, and they'll refer to this consistently. Let me just say, in those contexts, in the gospels where Christ instituted this, and then in 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul reiterates that God gave it to him directly. It is said there, this do in remembrance of me. Christ said that in Luke. Paul reiterates it in 1 Corinthians 11. It doesn't say this do to re-sacrifice me. This do in remembrance of me. And as often as you do it, you will proclaim the Lord's death until He comes, 1 Corinthians 11 says. It doesn't say you will re-enact the Lord's death. You will re-sacrifice the Lord. You proclaim His once for all death. By one sacrifice for all time. And then He sat down at the right hand of the Father. And we noted, the physical body of Christ is not omnipresent. Christ as God is omnipresent. The physical aspect of Christ is not omnipresent. He's truly man with a true physical body, now glorified. Our bodies will one day be glorified, but we will never be omnipresent. In Christ's body is not omnipresent. The Bible says He's seated at the right hand. To say that He's present, full bodily present in every wafer, is itself a blasphemy. Who made that up? The church did. Look in John chapter 6 and we'll come down. The context here is the feeding of the people. Christ fed them earlier in the chapter here. And you know, you're familiar with the account, and they have fragments left over. And then they follow him as he crosses the water. And verse 26, Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. You just focused on material benefits. He missed the whole spiritual truth that I am communicating. Do not work for the food which perishes, but the food which endures to eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for on Him the Father's God has sent His seal. Therefore they said to Him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God? Note verse 29. Jesus answered and said, This is the work of God. That you believe in Him whom He has sent. That becomes the key. You believe in Him. He says back in John 3.16, For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, nor that whosoever believes in Him might have eternal life. Then they tell Him, Our fathers gave us manna from heaven, verse 31. What do you do? Just fed them. with a mighty miracle, but in his miracles are not enough. They're looking for something else. Let's get back to the material things and the material things we could enjoy. Jesus said to them, verse 32, It is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. They said, Lord, give us this bread always. is that I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger. He who believes in me will never thirst. You see, the coming to Him, the believing in Him, satisfies your spiritual hunger, your spiritual thirst. He's turning their attention again from physical bread and physical drink to the spiritual reality. And how do you attain this benefit? Well, you have to eat my body, drink my blood. Well, the foundation here is come to me, believe in me. You have seen me, yet you do not believe. Here's the issue. He comes down further to tell them the will of the Father. Verse 40, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life. How do you have eternal life? You believe. Now he's used in the analogy of eating the bread and his blood, it gets more further developed. Come down to verse 47. Truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate man in the wilderness. They died. Verse 51, I am the living bread. Come down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he'll live forever. The bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. They say, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus almost adds to their confusion when he says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, I will raise him up on the last day. My flesh is true food, my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. Verse 60, therefore many of the disciples when they heard it say, this is a difficult statement. Many of that crowd who had been following him. How do we understand this? Jesus said, does this cause you to stumble? And then he talks about his ascension to heaven, verse 62. It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe. You see the point here? Again, there's no indication he blessed the bread and told them this was his body and this was his blood. I don't see the connection to the communion service here, but the language is similar. And this is a Roman Catholic, too. But the context is clear. You have to have a spiritual life for me. I mean, we have figures of speech. I'm the bread. I'm the drink. You eat my flesh, drink my blood. How do you do that? Well, the flesh profits nothing. The physical things that you keep coming back to, they can't get over the hump. That's why the picture he uses just confuses him, because if you won't believe, he doesn't bring clarity. Remember later in his ministry, he'll go to parables. Why? To hide truth from those who have refused to believe. I mean, you won't believe in me. How many times has it already said it in chapter 6? Now, no wonder you're confused. It's the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and are life, but there are some of you who do not believe. There's the problem. Lack of faith. I mean, what are you going to say? John told us that Jesus is the light of the world. You who follows me will not walk in darkness. You think that if you had gone out with Jesus at night, There would have been a big light around? No, it's a figure of speech. Everybody knows it. Everybody recognizes it. Nobody thinks that he was a light, the light of the world. Would that mean when you look at the sun, that's really the body of Jesus? No. In John 15, you'll say, I am the vine. You are the branches. Anybody think he became a literal, physical vine? Well, you take the Bible literally. He said, I am a vine. I am the vine. You're branches. The only reason something like this comes is those who can't understand truth are confused by it. And God intends to hide truth from those who won't believe. It's the purpose of the parables, told His disciples, that inner circle. It's given to you to know these things. But I speak in parables. so that they don't understand. Here he just keeps driving home the point because they keep going back to physical things. Oh, you just want to be fed. You don't even care about signs. You just come because I gave you physical food. Well, give us another sign. We got physical bread. The Old Testament got manna from heaven. That was physical bread. Now, what kind of sign will you do? Give us another banquet. No, you have to partake of my body. Oh, how can you do that? So verse 66, it's a thinning process. As a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. You know, today you want to build the crowd. Jesus thinned the crowd. Jesus said to the twelve, you want to go away too? And then Peter's answer, Lord, whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed. Nothing here about we're eating your physical body. Only those who are spiritually blind. But I mention this because if you do talk to Roman Catholics and the Doctor of the Mass comes up, they will take you to John 6. And we ought to be prepared for that, to give biblical answer. All right. We've talked about baptism and Mass. Let's talk about Mary. Because you get the graces for salvation from Mary, from Christ, through Mary, to the Pope, the bishops, the priests, and down to you. Understand the graces come through the sacraments. We looked at the sacrament of baptism, the sacrament of confirmation, the sacrament of the Eucharist, and I'm gonna try to say the others. There's penance, there's holy orders, which is when a man is ordained, if you will, into the priesthood. Sacrament of marriage, there's seven altogether. But the basic sacraments. Everything else is secondary. I won't say irrelevant, that's too strong. To the church. As long as you stay in fellowship with the church, you've been baptized, you've been confirmed, you partake of the Eucharist, the Mass, you go to confession, you do some penance, church is fine. You ever wonder why the church doesn't excommunicate some people? Why do they put up with these things? Why don't they just say, you're excommunicated? Wouldn't that make people afraid? The church is not in the business of drying people out. As long as you're partaking of the sacraments, you're in fellowship with the church. These other things can be forgiven along the way. Before I go to Mary, let me just ... Doesn't this make you want to get a catechism? They'll say and want to hear, only God forgives sins, but he only forgives sins through the actions of the church. The priest can forgive sins. So they'll say only God forgives sins, but God only forgives sins through the priest. And then they'll say reconciliation with the church is inseparable from reconciliation with God. You cannot be reconciled to God without being reconciled to the church. So that's where you go. You go to the priest. Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of penance. All mortal sins of which penitence as for a diligent self-examination are conscious of must be recounted by them in confession." There's mortal sins and venial sins. Mortal sins are the serious ones. They could cut you off from salvation. They're more serious sins. Venial sins are less serious sins. You know, you stole somebody's peanut butter sandwich at lunch. You know, lighter sins. But mortal sins must be confessed. According to the church's command, after having obtained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year. Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion. even if he's deeply repentant, without having first received the sacrament of absolution. Venial sins, everyday faults, they strongly recommend you confess them, but that's not as important. The sinner must still, now you've confessed it, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin. You see, when the Roman Catholic Church says you're saved by grace through faith, you're never completely saved. There are works you must do. The sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for his sins, even after you've confessed them. So, he must make satisfaction for or expiate his sins. This satisfaction is called penance. Now, we have a totally different doctrine of salvation. There are certain works you must perform to expiate your sins, to make satisfaction for them. The penance the confessor imposes. This is the priest you've confessed to. He'll take into account your personal situation and look out for what's best for you, the gravity of the sin, and then what he recommends as penance. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of a neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. In other words, you must accept the penalty the priest says you have to pay. And that's why in the Protestant Reformation there was a great outrage over the whole issue of penance because you could buy the indulgences, you could escape the consequences of your sin, and indulgence is a forgiveness of the consequence of your sin. So it doesn't have to be worked off. So you get indulgences, and that's why these sins, they're not completely atoned for. The death of Christ doesn't completely atone for them. So now you've confessed them, you've asked God's forgiveness, you've sought the forgiveness of the church, the priest absolves you with a stipulation. You must work off. Make satisfaction for some of your sins. Here's what you must do. Now, when you die, you've got sins you haven't worked off yet. That's why you go to purgatory. And that's why someone can do things to get indulgences for someone in purgatory. We talked about this today. Because they'll be in purgatory having their sins burned off, but you can shorten their time in purgatory. So you can have a mass said for the dead. You can do something on behalf of them. As we noted, you can do penance and get indulgences for yourself or someone who has died. You cannot get an indulgence for someone who is still living. Indeed, bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, Holy Orders is another one of the seven sacraments. Holy Orders is when the priest is ordained into the priesthood. So, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, bishops and priests have the power to forgive all sins. You see how the Catholics can emphasize whatever they want. Oh yes, Christ is the one who pays the penalty for all sins. We believe salvation is received by grace, by believing. We say, well, it's the same thing we believe. Well, that's not the whole picture. How do you access that salvation? Well, I just bow before Christ and acknowledge my sin and guilt and claim the forgiveness that he has provided. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Remember, there is no salvation outside the church. You must come to the priest and acknowledge your sin. And it is those who have received holy orders by the authority of the Pope. This one has been consecrated a bishop or a priest under the bishop. They are the ones that will mediate that grace to you. That's why outside the church, cut off from the sacraments, there is no salvation. How would you get forgiveness? Certain particular grave sins incur excommunication. the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments, for which absolution consequently cannot be granted according to canon law except by the pope, the bishop, or the place of priests authorized by them." That's the final authority that they have. we will excommunicate you from the church. Now when that's done, and the church doesn't use it that often, because they're not in the business of getting people out of church, there's only something that you do that so offends the church that they can't tolerate you any longer. But you can be forgiven if you come back to the church. Henry VIII, you know, crawl on your knees and sit in the snow and wait until I'm ready to forgive you kind of thing. And this indulgence, an indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins, whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the church. which has the minister of redemption. You see, there's no direct access to Christ in Roman Catholicism. The language may sound at times like the same language you use. This is a totally different system of salvation. That's why, for Catholics, this is important. That's why some of our visitors go and knock on the door of a Catholic. They don't even want to talk to you. You know, everything's in the church. That's why they don't need to know the Word of God that much. Now after more recent councils, because of the influence of evangelicalism, there's been more openness to the Bible, but you understand the only ones who can really interpret the Bible are the church. It applies it with authority, the treasure of satisfactions of Christ and the saints, as I read you this morning, and especially Mary. So you realize this all doesn't come from Christ. It comes from Mary, who had an infinite amount of good works. the mother of Christ and the co-redemptrix. It's a bottomless pit of indulgences, good works that she didn't need. And the saints, they're the ones who have had good works themselves. And the church administers this. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God, therefore makes us incapable of eternal life. and brings the eternal punishment of sin. That's why it's so serious to get back into fellowship with the church. And this treasury of indulgences, I read you earlier. The treasury includes the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, pristine in their value. Then also the prayers and good works of the saints. In this way they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the mystical body. So salvation, well they'd say yeah it is in Christ because what they acquired and over acquired was a result of what Christ did. Only the devil could put together such a system. That's enough on indulgences you're not going to get any here anyway. Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the church can forgive sins in the name of Christ. This is the system. It's as pagan as you can get. It's worse than the Judaizers in many ways. Alright. The Sacrament of Holy Orders. is when you ordained a priest. And let me just say something on this, since we've had a lot of issues about the priest, and some of you saw in one of the news publications, I think it was on the internet I was reading, one of the news sections, they're talking about many of these priests who have been shown to be guilty of sexual offenses against children, They've been removed from their positions here in the States by an organization who has tracked them down, and many of them are serving as priests in South America. Some of them working with children. And this news article had pictures of the priests with their names. I don't know, standing there with his hands on the children. He's been accused of these terrible offenses. The church just moved them down there. Because one thing you understand, once they are ordained and receive holy orders, He cannot become a layman again because the character imprinted by ordination is forever. Now you tie that with the next statement. Since it is ultimately Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the unworthiness of the minister does not prevent Christ from acting. That's why all these priests did terrible sins. Yeah, they would agree those were sins. But that doesn't keep them from performing their priesthood because it doesn't depend on the priest. This is like you put your finger in an electric socket, you get shocked. It doesn't matter. Anything else? Well, you're a priest. You're in the line. You have been ordained. You receive the grace from Christ through the Pope. It's passed on. We'd like you to be a better character. But that's not the issue. And besides, no matter what their sin, if they confessed it, they were absolved from the guilt of it, let's get on with life. And you're a permanent priest anyway. Might as well move you to a Catholic country where they won't make an issue of it. Some of those priests that were guilty of such terrible crimes have received honors and elevation as priests in the Catholic system down there. It's appalling. We had, not long ago, Roman Catholics and Evangelicals together for the gospel. It's a wonder I haven't had a heart attack. Okay. The church authority alone has the responsibility and right to call someone to receive the sacred holy order. So, church is always in charge. Let's talk about Mary a little bit. Let me read you. Testimony of an evangelical who converted to Catholicism. This is Scott Hahn's testimony. Years ago, I used to watch the Roman Catholic Channel just to see what's going on, and Scott Hahn had his own program. Scott Hahn came out of an evangelical background, went to an evangelical seminary, converted to Catholicism, and now is a major proponent of Catholicism. Here's his testimony. Hyundai, I decided that it was time for me to go to Mass on my own. Finally find out, what is the Mass about? So he's at a Roman Catholic University. He went down to the parish there. Right before noon, I slipped quietly into the basement of the chapel for daily Mass. I wasn't sure what to expect. Maybe I'd be all alone with a priest and a couple of old nuns. I took a seat as an observer in the back pew. All of a sudden lots of ordinary people began coming in off the streets. Rank and file type folks. They come in genuflected. Remember when you come in you bow because the wafer that's been consecrated is in the storage place at the front and that's still the physical body of Christ. So they genuflected, knelt and prayed. Their simple but sincere devotion was impressive. Then a bell rang and a priest walked toward the altar. I remained seated. I wasn't sure if it was safe to kneel. As an evangelical Calvinist, I had been taught that the Catholic mass was the greatest sacrilege that a man could commit to re-sacrifice Christ. So I wasn't sure what to do. What are you doing here? After pronouncing the words of consecration, the priest held up the host, that's the wafer, like the Pope when he was doing the Mass, holds it up. I felt as if the last drop of doubt had drained from me. With all my heart I whispered, my Lord and my God, that's really you. I never thought that when I saw the Pope hold up the wafer. My Lord and my God, that's really you. I thought, I wonder where they got those wafers. And if that's you, then I want full communion with you. I don't want to hold anything back." Then I remembered my promise, 1990. Oh, yes. I've got routine control. I'm a Presbyterian, right? With that, I left the chapel, not telling a soul where or what I had done, but the next day I was back, and the next and the next. Within a week or two, I was hooked. I don't know how to say it, but I had fallen head over heels in love with our Lord in the Eucharist. His presence to me in the blessed sacrament was powerful and personal. As I sat in the back, I began to kneel and pray with others whom I knew to be my brothers and sisters. I wasn't an orphan. I had found my family. It was God's family. Then I, he goes on, I'll skip some. I knew I wanted to partake in this. I wanted to eat the wafer. Have it on my tongue, down my throat, into my body and soul. This is what the incarnation was all about. This was the gospel in its fullness. And so he ended up converting. But you know what was lacking there? Nothing about the scripture, right? What does the scripture say about this? It was a total emotional experience and this is the danger where you have to be very careful what you expose yourself to. It's very difficult. to convince a person that an emotional experience was not genuine. For several years, when I was recently converted, our family was part of the holiness churches to believe in the second blessing. And I tell you, no matter what you said theologically, people who were convinced, and I've sat in services where people got the second blessing, and you could not convince them with anything in the Bible that that's not what the Bible says you get. I know my experience. I know it was genuine. You think the devil can't give you a genuine experience? Look what he did to Job. You think he can't warm your heart? You think he can't give you a feeling of emotion, of love and attraction for that wafer? You think when you partake of it he can't say, I never felt so close to God? But you understand there are people in all kinds of false religions who give the same testimony. Mormons give testimony. You have to be careful. Testimonies have a place. We testify of our faith in Christ, but be careful. I'm not saying there's not emotions involved for us, but they have to come out of the Word of God. That's my concern when I watch what's going on. With the Pope being invited here, everybody promoting, there is an emotion to it. Everything is geared to give a sense of awe. This man who is here, he is a holy man. He is Christ representative. Look how humble he is. Look how powerful his influence is in his humility. Look at the movement. Maybe there's something to it and you're drawn in. I think for many of these, like Scott Hahn, he had never been converted. In the first John 2, they went out from us because they were not of us. If they had really been of us, they would have remained with us. Well, be careful, we as Christians can get confused. I don't think Christians depart from the faith, but they can get confused in the faith, like the Corinthians. All right, now I can get back to Mary. This is the Catholic Encyclopedia, revised and updated, and I read to you it has the imprimatur and the helobstat. Mary, Virgin Mother of God. The central point of the theology of Mary is that she is the mother of God. She was immaculately conceived. Now, who said she was immaculately conceived? You understand, the church says the Bible is the word of God, it's an authority. But the church is also the authority and it's the only valid interpreter. And the church can declare doctrines that are not found in scripture and they acknowledge that. So, the immaculate conception was declared to be the church dogma by a papal bull by Pius IX in 1854. Mary was conceived without sin. If you ask, where in the Bible do you... We don't have to go to the Bible. The Pope is the representative of Christ on earth, and Christ told him, and it's established as Roman Catholic doctrine. And then Mary was taken to heaven. Where is that? On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the doctrine of Our Lady's Assumption. That's it. Mary didn't die. It was 1950 when a pope says, I've had a revelation from Christ. Mary never went through the physical death. I declare that in a papal bull. That is something that is infallible and irreformable, remember, that can never be altered or changed forever. Because why? The Pope said it. Maybe he had pizza before he had the vision. You know, maybe it was a dream. No, it came from Christ. How do you know? He said so. There is no recourse. No council, church council, no bishops can challenge what the Pope has declared ex cathedra. Now it's not everything. The Pope that was here talked about his views on the environment, but that hasn't been issued as a papal bull. He's not speaking ex cathedra with his authority. as the sole leader of the church. So he can have his opinion. So some Catholics have said, I think he ought to leave those things to scientists and get on with spiritual things. But they won't say that about a doctrine that he declares. Okay. So from Mary, God the Son took his human nature. That's true. We'd agree with that. And his human body. and he will forever remain the son of Mary and she will forever be the mother of God. Now that expression I mentioned this morning gets a little confusing. He was God before he was born to Mary. She's the mother of his human nature and his physical body. But they say, for Mary, God the Son, took His human nature. He will forever remain the Son of Mary. She will forever be the Mother of God. Now that will explain how we realize He was God. But He's one person. So then they begin, the church studying, searching, and interpreting, now note this, both the scriptures and tradition has defined those doctrines concerning Mary about which the scriptures are not specific. You see, the Roman Catholic Church is authoritative for Catholics. They don't have to show a chapter and verse. because they can fill in the spots that the scripture doesn't speak to. From extra-scriptural sources, we know who the parents of Mary were. Joachim and Ann. These two saints are celebrated with a memorial in the church calendar. Then Pius declared the doctrine of her assumption. Toward the close of the Marian year, 1954, On December 8th, the Pope declared the doctrine of the universal queenship of Mary, and established a feast, that of Mary, Queen, now celebrated as a memorial on August 22nd. You see how they don't change the doctrine of Mary, but they add to it, expand it, and elevate her position progressively. From apostolic tradition to church, the faithful have awarded to Mary, the mother of God, the second highest degree of honor. She's been celebrated in feasts and devotions and honored in hymns, songs, poetry, sculpture, as no other creature. It is under her title of the Immaculate Conception that Mary was declared the patroness of the United States. So she is the patroness of the United States. The name of Mary, because she is the mother of God, is honored with multiple titles. She is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the co-redemptrix, the mediatrix of all graces, the Blessed Mother. So that's why I say, really, for the Catholics, you get the graces. The grace, oh, it comes from Christ. but she's the Mediatrix of all the graces. They come from Christ through his mother to the Pope and down. She is the Queen of Heaven. So very important. We're not denigrating the honor given to Mary, that she was chosen. The angel addressed that. She's highly honored, but they have her being at the center of Acts 1, As she was key, she through his whole life was the one who worked with him so he could accomplish his work of redemption. She was one at the foot of the cross who shared his agonies and had her heart pierced with his sufferings. So in many ways she shared with him his work of redemption as only a mother could. I mean these kind of things, it's pure paganism. with the scripture woven in. We do not to make the error that the devil is not adept at scripture. He could outquote us. I have no doubt he doesn't need to get a Bible to know what it says and he probably could stand here and quote the Bible from Genesis 1, 1 to the last verse of Revelation and not miss a beat. And what language do you want to quote it in? And would you like me to go from front to back or back to front? We are dealing with the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. One who can control the weather when given permission by God. Remember the storms he brought in Job and collapsed the house? He can control diseases. It is a serious business. So I view the Roman Catholic Church as paganism. Again, they say, well, that's not nice to say. Well, they don't say nice things about me. They say I'm anathema. They say if I don't change, I'll go to hell. That's not nice. Somehow, though, if we tell the truth about them, we're being unnice. You know, I'm not the Pope. I got a new vehicle many years ago. I still have the plate. Somebody made a license plate for me and put it on the back of my vehicle. The Pope. I'm not the Protestant Pope. We do not have that kind of relationship in the church. I don't mediate Christ or any of His blessings to you. And you know that. You are every bit as much a child of God with as free and direct an access to God as me, as any pastor, as anybody else. And those who would deny that, it's the Judaistic heresy upgraded for the church age. Faith in Christ is necessary. We don't deny these doctrines. He is the only Savior. It's His death. All graces come from Him. Everything we have comes from Him. They can say all that. Depends on where they are, what they want to emphasize. but you read their doctrine. Most Catholics don't read it. I was going to read to you. I did read it, I think the first hour today, but I won't read. Here are 12 things you believe if you were a Catholic. I like to know some of these things, so I can tell Catholics what they believe. The Catholics, you tell them, say, well, I don't believe everything the church teaches. Well, you can't be considered yourself a Roman, but you know you can be as long as you keep partaking of the sacraments. No matter what you say, as long as you keep partaking of the sacraments, you're alright. And you can confess the other things and get them cleansed off. The last one, and it's similar to other things, you must believe the Catholic. I do at this present freely profess and truly hold this true Catholic faith without which no one can be saved. Some people hear Catholics say, well, you know, the Church today, they've changed their view. You don't have to be Catholic to be saved. You may have people who have been influenced by the Catholic Church. That's not so. Why would you as a Catholic say that the doctrines of the Council of Trent are a lie? If you don't believe the doctrine of the Catholic Church, you cannot be saved. Now I say, if you do believe the doctrines of the Catholic Church, you cannot be saved. I have only one authority. And the Spirit is the interpreter for those of us who are believers. That doesn't mean we don't learn from teachers. But it's not true because I taught it to you. That's why you bring your Bible and look and follow along and say, wait, that's not in the text. Where did he get that? That preachers deserve to be paid as much as the top executives in the city. Papal decree. He's like, no, no. You show me in the Bible. And that's the issue of how Protestants protesting against the Catholics. The Catholics responded by reconfirming their doctrines. Praise the Lord, we have salvation by grace through faith. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Not partially by grace, partially by faith, and partially by Christ. Fully, completely done. Praise the Lord for that. Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for such a rich and full salvation. It is good for us to be reminded of the dangers, the confusion the devil shows, spreads in the world. Lord, even the presence of the Pope in our country will just expand the confusion, cause people to trust in empty ceremonies, in worthless rituals, in the doctrines of men, and Lord, further confirm them in their lostness. Pray that we will be bold and clear with the truth of the gospel of your grace, the salvation that is found only in the finished work of Christ and completely in the finished work of Christ. We give you praise in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you for listening to this message from Sound Words, a ministry of Indian Hills Community Church. Make sure to download our app from iTunes or Google Play for more messages like the one you just heard. If you would like to contact us, please email soundwords at ihcc.org or give us a call at 402-483-4541.