How the Church Got To Where It Is Today pt.7

Fred Whitman is a missionary supported by our local church. He is the Founder and president of a fundamental radio station in Italy. He also planted and pastors a Baptist church there as well. The following is a booklet that he wrote and gave away to those who wanted it. I am presenting it here essentially untouched and unedited. It may take several installments. My hope is that others will find his thoughts insightful and be blessed. Pray for Brother Fred and his family as they ministers to those in Italy.

In His fellowship,
Brother John

How the Church Got To Where It Is Today
By Fred Whitman

One last thing, and then I would like to stop for questions. Is the Catholic Church changing? Is it not the same anymore? Is it not the same in America? Well, if it's not the same in America, why is it not the same? First of all, in America you have religious freedom and liberty, and NO religion can force people to do what it wants to in America. That is not the case in countries where the Roman Church is in the majority. Living under that cloud of fear, people are afraid to talk; they are afraid to invite you, a "Protestant," into their home, just because you are not with their church. It is unbelievable. Well, the Roman Church has not changed. The basic way of salvation in a Roman Church, as what they declare officially in the Council of Trent, is salvation by works plus faith. And the means of grace is the sacraments. Never use the word sacrament talking about the Lord's Table or Baptism. The word sacrament means "A means of participating in grace." If we are not saved when we get baptized, we're not going to be saved when we come out of that water. The word sacrament, a means of obtaining grace, however, is what the Roman Church teaches as the way their people will be saved.

Baptism, first of all, is when a baby is very, very young; it is baptized, sprinkled with water. At that moment, the Church teaches that they are born again. So when you talk about people that say they are born-again Catholics, find out what they mean by that. In most cases, they'll say, "Well, I was born again when I was baptized, and then later I came to a real knowledge of Jesus in my life." Okay, so be careful about that term, "born again."

Confirmation is when a child actually receives the Holy Spirit. The Bishop comes to church, and all the children go up front, and the Bishop puts his hands on the children, and communicates, gives to them the Holy Spirit. That's confirmation.

Confession is when people come to confess their sins to the Priest. He forgives them in the place of God, and then he says, "Now you need to go repent." And this varies to any number of things that they'd self-inflict or suffer or go without something. That’s Confession.

Communion is the end of the mass when the Priest holds up the round little Host and says, "The Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world," In that instant, he is re-sacrificing the Lord Jesus. His death is being renewed at that moment. And so communion is taken, that Host has been blessed, and now the body of Jesus is given to people; they believe they are eating the pieces of the body of Christ. The cup is blessed; it becomes the blood of the Lord Jesus and by doing that, they are participating in salvation by participating in the death of Christ.

Last Rights, of course, is when a Priest is called as a person is dying. They call him in; of course the person could be in a coma and not understand a thing, but the priest will take a little piece of this blessed Host, put it in their mouth, and that's like a spiritual food for their trip into the afterlife. They get to go to purgatory. A Roman Catholic who has done everything (baptism, confirmation, confession, communion, last rights, orders, or possibly even holy marriage) can only hope to go to purgatory when he dies. Heaven may come later after he has suffered sufficiently for his sins.

Orders are when a person becomes a priest or nun, and they're married to the church. The priest receives the power to create the body of God out of the Host as well as crucify it anew as the sacrifice for sin. That is why they call it "the sacrifice of the mass."

Marriage is where they get married IN the church and promise the church that their children born will be raised in the doctrines of the Roman Church. When a person has done ALL those things, he dies, as they would say, in a state of grace, so that he can go directly to purgatory.

For years I have heard priests say at funerals, "Ah, our beloved so-and-so is now with the Lord." But that's not true! Their doctrine does not allow it! If they were with the Lord, they would be saints. Only saints are with the Lord. So, just before I came home from a funeral of the grandmother of my daughter-in-law, and for the first time I heard a priest be totally honest. In this funeral, he said, "Our dear sister who is here before us is now suffering in purgatory, and we need to pray for her so that she'll be able to get out of there soon."

So, in their salvation of works plus faith, the best that their church can do for them is purgatory. They will suffer there until enough people pray for them, enough people buy mass cards, whatever they have to do to give them that push to go into heaven. So, the Roman Church has not changed. The people have tried to interpret different ways, but the official teachings are these, and we know what God teaches and how we need to share what God can do for a person if they would come to Him by faith alone.

The End