Catholic False Doctrine

I recently posted a simple message to my over 400 Facebook friends, among whom are a number of Catholics. I wrote, “There is one mediator between God and man – the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). I expect, God willing, to continue with subjects concerning Catholic false doctrine for fear that many may have to go through and suffer the tribulation period.

The Catholic faith is a faith of convenience and tradition. (Do what you want and do penance for it without considering repentance.) It is my hope to enlighten them with scripture and to hopefully encourage them to “study to show themselves approved, workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of God” (2 Timothy 2:15).

All my Facebook “friends” know I am an evangelical Christian and know that I seldom post anything frivolous. (However, I do express my displeasure with some political figures and try to keep up with world events to post.) With time running out to share the Gospel and the rapture of believers soon to take place, I have a sense of urgency for those caught up in unbiblical doctrine and heresy.

I was raised in a secular Catholic family and seldom went to church except when my father demanded that I do so. I studied a little catechism (man-inspired booklets) and learned prayers by rote. The Catholic church was cloaked in mystery, with “holy water” in a dish by the door of the dark, dank edifice. The paintings and statues and candles were intriguing and impressive, yet I never understood the manmade Latin liturgy and got nothing from it.

On the way to St. Mary’s Cathedral at the age of ten, I had to pass by a small Protestant mission for the homeless. Since it was closer to home, I dropped in and heard the Gospel for the first time and “walked the aisle” to receive Christ and salvation. Little did I know of the history of the Catholic denomination and the corruptness of its leadership.

For instance, did you know that the title “clergy” was allotted to the feudal lords of the “dark ages” from 500 – 1500 A.D. simply because they were land barons with many workers on their properties who could neither read nor write? In that way they were bound by what this trumped- up clergy said concerning the things of God. Many of them bought the title with money or goods.

Many Catholics are sincere in their unfounded “faith.” If they knew scripture they wouldn’t use prayer beads (like Muslims do) or say repetitious prayers, and do penance. They need to know that, in the Bible, Jesus tells us to not be saying repetitious prayers.

“But you, when you pray, go into your prayer closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father…and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:6-7).

Some Catholics are still “seekers” while others couldn’t care less about the things of God. They worship “saints,” not knowing that it is forbidden and that all believers are saints. They make unto themselves graven (hand-wrought) images and worship them as well. They rely on works, yet the scriptures tell us that we are saved through faith.

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Do like the first Christians, who searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were true. Search the Holy Scriptures to see if what I say is true.

There was a time in its history when one could pay their way into heaven and pray for those in purgatory (Vatican II still teaches purgatory in its manmade doctrine). No; we only have this lifetime, to get it right. Christ’s work on the cross is finished.

“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again…Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:24-28).

“There is a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

Some breakaways are now beginning to study the Bible, yet still haven’t come to the knowledge of truth; old habits are hard to break. Still others are becoming more liberal than ever with homosexuals being ordained; albeit, the same can be said of some Protestant churches.

Today the Catholic Church is rife with pedophiles and hypocrisy. Recently, at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, a group of Muslim school girls sang a song titled “Insha Allah.” Can you imagine a Christian group singing in a Mosque? Soon, I suspect, the Pope will issue an edict condemning the worship of Jesus Christ on whom the church was supposedly founded.

We should be very leery of the current pope who, with a liberal mindset, tries to bring false religions into the fold. Already he discounts Jesus as a living metaphor and nothing more. Yet He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; He is the Bread of Life; He is God incarnate – the Living Water; He is the Great I Am, the only begotten Son of the Living God.

Thank God Martin Luther protested and brought about a faith that relies solely on scripture.

Having said that, there are many Protestants that practice false doctrine, especially in these later days. They are just as wrong, but I will touch on that in other articles later as God directs. You don’t have to be a Catholic to be misled.

Don’t be taken in by the false doctrines that prevail in these last days before the rapture of the church. Don’t be misled by the apostate churches that rely on manmade thought, ideas and theology.

Most of these “so called” churches impose or demand that you put away your Bible and believe in what they say, however grievous and foolish. Run from such places. Do your due diligence – read the Bible prayerfully for yourself; see if what they say is true. Even so, beware because many have interpreted scripture to say things it really doesn’t.

Ask God to give you the Holy Spirit (but certainly not to be cackling like a chicken as is done in some Pentecostal churches) who leads into all truth as found in the Bible. These matters are too important to take lightly. Don’t let yourself be bound by strict unbiblical rules or man’s foolish interpretation. What Jesus said is true:

“You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). And “If I set you free you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

P.S. I’m still searching for a publisher for my 250-page evangelical manuscript. My hope is to reach the lost with this continuing nonfiction treatise. In it, I write about the many miracles that have occurred to me in my over forty-year ministry on the highways and byways of life and how these miracles correlate with scripture and prophecy. You can expect to have miracles happen for you too – if you give God first place in your life.

YBIC

Jim Towers

You can contact me at jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com  and www.thepropheciesmovie.com

According to the book of Joel, we could be living in the last of the “last days,” in which case, we will be seeing visions, miracles, signs and wonders and portents (warnings) in the skies. The days of God’s seeming indifference to the reckless state of our world will be over, and He will awaken people with these signs.

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, young men shall see visions…. and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth…” (Joel 2:28).

Some, if not many, Christian people in tune with scripture and walking with God are beginning to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives more fully in these final days before the rapture of the church. With the outpouring of God’s spirit, Christians are finally beginning to do what they’ve been commanded to do; that is to share the good news of the gospel with others verbally and without reservation. In the past we’d just go over and over the same old ground in our Bible studies and seldom, if ever, bear fruit.

I attended a Bible-study group of about seventy people. The subject matter was about the calling of Moses in the book of Genesis. God appears to him in a burning bush in the form of a voice telling him he must go back to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let his people go. Moses is reluctant and pleads to not have to do so.

“I am not eloquent, and I am slow of speech,” he cries. (Let us not forget that he was human too and a hunted man as well; one who had killed a fellow Egyptian.)

Like us, he was a sinner, but he knew of God — at least knew of his existence. He may have been an agnostic like so many of us are. Moses may have thought, maybe the God of the Jews is who my people say he is; maybe He isn’t. After all, they had been in bondage a very long time.

There is a direct correlation between today’s Christians who were also given the mandate to share and thus deliver the unsaved with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Like Moses, Christians in the past were reluctant to do so as well; but because the Word of God must be fulfilled, things are just now beginning to change. And like God says in the book of Joel,

“In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh….,” which is to say that Christians will become emboldened in the last days and unregenerate people will become receptive to the good news of the Gospel. I for one certainly hope so.

Many Christians have become institutionalized, going to church every time the door is open, but failing to follow Christ. It seems that many just want to remain oblivious to scripture or have not bothered to read it except in church. This they do to cover their tracks or to assuage a guilty conscience; but you will know them by their fruits. The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, hope, and self-control. Those without Christ experience hate, lust, jealousy, lack of joy, fear, and complete lack of self-control, as displayed clearly by the higher echelon of society and various celebrities.

This Bible-study group I was attending recently turned out to be a time of testimony. The first man approached the podium and began telling of his sharing Christ with a neighbor. From the sound of his testimony he had never done such a radical thing before. Was he a new Christian at over sixty years old? Chances are he wasn’t, but like Moses he was reluctant to do so, citing various excuses. Maybe it was fear that kept him from sharing Christ. Then again, maybe he was being politically correct and just doing what was to be expected in our culture — avoid the subject.

We, like Moses, are His chosen vessels today, sent to free the slaves of sin from bondage.

Then, one after another the people in the Bible class began to “testify.”  I sat there mesmerized as close to five of the men and women testified about their overcoming their fears to be able to witness to friends and acquaintances. It seems they never realized up until then that faith without works is dead.

This took a long time in coming, and just when it looked like we were losing the battle for lost souls, just in time this verse from the book of Joel comes into play.

What with increasing political correctness, apostasy, lack of love and apathy, in despair I had just about given up on my fellow Christians. But will we Christians begin to turn the tide, or is it too little too late? Having been an evangelical believer for nearly all my life, I have seldom if ever been hesitant to share Christ with anyone. And to be honest with you, I was beginning to get disillusioned and weary about the apathy in the church. Now, however, I’m becoming encouraged.

We must leave our comfort zone and reach out to the lost and hurting masses before the rapture of the church occurs, and that could happen at any time.

The only reason for this boldness is that the prophetic scriptures of Joel are being fulfilled again in our present time.

We have wars and rumors of war, apostasy, the rage against Christianity, talk of rebuilding of the temple along with the readiness of the Cohen (Levitical priests) to perform their duties, the utensils for sacrifice, and the red heifer. There is the present anger over Jerusalem becoming the capital of Israel with the United States confirming it by mandating our embassy be placed there (which may usher in the prophesied war of Gog and Magog), etc. I could go on and on about prophecy being fulfilled in our present time, but I think you get the picture.

On another note:

There is a new television series in the works having to do with the supernatural: things such as having an encounter with Christ through a vision or the like.

There is also a television show with Sid Roth called “It’s Supernatural.”  While we can’t buy into every testimony we see on that show, at least it is showing that people are searching for and having supernatural experiences like never before.

YBIC

Jim Towers      jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com and www.thepropheciesmovie.com and book.