Exposing the False Religion of the Roman Catholic Church

Father, what an incredible gift it is that you gave us a book. That you gave us your word written down for all of time that we might know your will and your ways.

Father, as we look to it this morning, I pray that by your Holy Spirit you would illumine the scriptures to us. Father, that you would renew our minds, that you would transform our hearts, and that we might become more like Christ as a result of giving ourselves to your word.

Father, we ask all this in Christ's name. Amen.

Well, on Monday this past week, April the 21st, one day after Easter Sunday, Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church took his last breath on this earth. There are a few times where I deviate from the text we're in. We've been going through Ephesians, but this is such a momentous event where the entire world for the next several weeks will be lauding the Roman Catholic Church as that which is great and wonderful and kind and the real bulwark of Christianity. There'll be a lot of questions, a lot of confusion. And I want to take the time this morning to let you know what the truth is about the Roman Catholic system.

It's likely that your family, your friends, your coworkers, and others that you know will be talking about Catholicism during this time. They'll wonder what the smoke is about from the Vatican. They'll wonder why there's black cloth draped on the doors of the local Catholic buildings. They'll wonder why people are mourning for the Pope and what does it all mean. And in reality, every interaction you have will be an opportunity to witness the gospel to these people.

So, I want to take time this morning to address the evils and the idolatry of Roman Catholicism and just how and why it is not only opposed to the teaching of scripture, but it is in fact an enemy of Jesus Christ. What I'm going to say will undoubtedly upset a lot of people. I realize that. It will upset not only the devout Catholic, but the cultural Catholic. Not only that, it will undoubtedly upset scores of professing believers just like you and me who have been led to believe that the Roman Catholic system is a true church and is merely a different denomination, but friends, that is not so.

Sadly, the vast majority of evangelicals today even go as far as to believe that we are to unite with the Catholics in unity as brothers and sisters in Christ. And no doubt we'll hear this same call for unity. We already have over the next few weeks. In fact, some of the most prominent evangelicals of our day have already effectively communicated this very thing. Franklin Graham this past week publicly stated, and I quote, "Pope Francis passed away this morning after battling health issues. He was able to have meetings and appear at sometime at the Vatican's Holy Week observances in just the last couple days. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with him last year when I went to Naples to preach. Pray for the Catholic Church as they begin the process of selecting another Pope." That was from an evangelical who should know better.

It wasn't long ago that there was a document formed called the Evangelicals and Catholics Together. It was an attempt by some to unite Roman Catholicism with Protestantism as though the Reformation never happened. And here's the problem. These attempts are a little more than Satan's attempt to simply blur the line of biblical Christianity.

So, what I hope to show you this morning, and it'll be a little bit different than a normal sermon, is that the Roman Catholics are a mission field, not our brothers and sisters in Christ. They are those who need still the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, the stakes are high, and that's what the stakes are. The stakes are whether or not Roman Catholicism is Christian, and it makes the difference between whether we share the gospel with over a billion people now, or whether we ignore them, assuming that they're safe. So, the stakes are high. And they're eternal.

And the fact is that the Catholic Church is not a separate Christian denomination. They are by all definitions a cult. They're another religion altogether, and I aim to show you that this morning. In fact, I believe that one of Satan's greatest deceptions since the Garden of Eden was the creation of the Roman Catholic system. Christ is mocked in their doctrine. Idols are worshipped. Mary is worshipped, and the whole system places people under a very clear works-based salvation. And then, a mere man, a creature created from the dirt, has the audacity to claim the title Vicar of Christ. Scores of people will be led to hell. And most Protestants like you and I will either embrace Rome as Christian in some way, shape, or form, excusing it away as just a different denomination, essentially Christian, or by cowardice, they'll just be afraid to offend anyone by calling out the utter demonic power behind Roman Catholicism.

Why does all that matter? Well, I've said it already. It matters because it makes the difference between whether or not we share the gospel with these people who do not know the gospel. If we don't fight against it, we aid the enemy in his quest for souls. We need to understand that. There can be no peace with Rome. There must be war against it because there can be no peace with the devil. And it's not the Pope who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, it is the devil deceiving people until their very souls are in his hands for all eternity. To cozy up to Rome is simply to court the devil and his demons. And so, we must wage war against Rome. And we do that by calling all those trapped in the Roman Catholic system to turn from Rome and to turn to Christ.

So, what just is it that makes the Roman Catholic Church an enemy of the gospel? All right, I want to spend the rest of our time this morning answering this question so that you understand enough about what the Roman Catholic Church system, rather, it's not a church, teaches so that you can express the gospel faithfully to those who you give God gives you opportunity over the next few weeks and beyond. And as you know, I mean, we have a fairly large Catholic population here in our community. And in fact, there's a Roman Catholic building no more than two minutes away from here. You undoubtedly some of you drove by it this morning. You saw the black shawl over the front doors.

Now, the simple answer to the question why is the Roman Catholic system not Christian is this, because the Roman Catholic system itself becomes a substitute for Christ. And it offers a works-based salvation which rejects the Bible's teaching that salvation comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Now, they believe in salvation by grace through faith in Christ. They'll say, "We believe that." The problem is the moment you say alone, it's through faith alone, that they can no longer agree with you. They reject it because they add works to faith. Rome teaches that you not only need faith in Christ, but you have to earn merit. You have to earn your salvation by your works. In fact, the official position of the Roman Catholic Church, even to this day, is to listen, damn to hell anyone who believes in salvation by faith alone. That is their official position.

In fact, let me just quote their own source to you. From the Council of Trent, Canon number nine, it says this, "If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, let him be anathema. Let him be damned." That alone, if you knew nothing else, is enough to conclude that the entire Roman Catholic system is a work of the devil. If you believe the Bible, the Roman Catholic system says you are damned.

Even in Ephesians, which we're studying right now, what does the Apostle Paul say? If you recall in chapter 2, verse 9, the Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of God himself, the Holy Spirit, says, "For by grace you have been saved, and this not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, so that no man may boast." God says your salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. The Catholic Church says if you believe that, you are damned. Both cannot be right. Either we are damned if we believe in salvation by faith alone, or Roman Catholicism is damned for rejecting it. And the Apostle makes it very clear that salvation is not through any works.

Not only that, they teach that the communion bread and wine literally become the actual body of Christ and the actual physical blood of Christ. So, you are eating the real flesh of Jesus. And you are drinking the actual blood of Christ. The priest is said to, every mass, pull down Christ from his throne and offer him again as a victim to people as a sacrifice over and over again. They effectively claim to continually sacrifice Christ.

So, I want to cover three just specific doctrines in brief or three kind of general beliefs, the mass, the worship of Mary and the Pope and papacy this morning. I'm going to be a little bit longer than usual. I'm just going to go ahead and prepare you now. The first topic I'm going to cover is the mass, which is at the center and forefront of Roman Catholicism. Now, so that you can hear it from their own source, listen to what the Catholic Catechism has to say about mass. And I quote, "The mass is the source of and summit of the Christian life." In other words, it's the very origin of the Christian life. It's the pinnacle, the height, the highest point of the Christian life. This is the primary sacrament in the Roman Catholic system, and there are seven.

So, what's the mass all about? Well, essentially in Roman Catholicism, there are altars built in every Catholic building around the world, and they offer this continual sacrifice of Christ. God in scripture eliminated the need for a continual sacrifice, did he not? Through the sacrifice of Christ once for all, the Roman Catholic Church has brought it back. It's one of the greatest shams in all of history since the death and resurrection of Christ. And what happens during the mass is pagan, satanic worship with just a little bit of Christianity sprinkled in. And this is the very reason, by the way, the Roman Catholic system mixes so well with other cultures. If you have traveled at all, what you'll notice when you go to Roman Catholic systems in other countries is they're often integrated with local pagan practices. Of course they are. Of course they are. They're of the same father, the devil. They are quite happy to adopt pagan superstition and the works-based salvation that categorizes every single false religion in the world.

So, what exactly do they sacrifice over and over again? We've said it already, Christ. Not only that, but they teach that the priest essentially has such great power that he can pull Christ off of his throne every week in mass and offer him as a victim. The priest has that power. Now, again, I I don't want you to just hear me say this. Let me read from their own theologian, recognized and licensed by the Roman Catholic Church as legitimate and right teaching by John O'Brien. He wrote a book called The Faith of Millions that was promoted and stamped with the Roman Catholic approval. He writes this about the mass. He says, "When the priest announces the tremendous words of consecration, this is the mass. He reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from his throne, and places him upon our altar to be offered up again as the victim for the sins of man. It is a power exercised by the priest greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of seraphim and cherubim. Indeed, it is a power greater even than the power of the Virgin Mary." While the blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven and renders him present on our altar as the eternal victim. The priest brings Christ down from heaven and renders him present on our altar as the eternal victim for the sins of man, not once, but a thousand times." End quote.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori on the Dignities and Duties of the Priest describes the mass this way. He says, "Thus, the priest may, in a certain manner, be called the creator of his creator. Since by saying the words of consecration, he creates, as it were, Jesus in the sacrament by giving him a sacramental existence and produces him as a victim to be offered to the eternal Father. As in creating the world, it was sufficient for God to have said, 'Let him be made,' and it was created. He spoke, and they were made. So, too, it is sufficient for the priest to say, 'Hoc est corpus meum.' It's Latin. Means, 'And behold, the bread is no longer bread, but now the body of Christ.'"

Folks, there is no greater blasphemies on this planet than what is found in the Catholic system. The priest is the creator of Christ? What hubris? What arrogance? That a man thinks he can reach into the heavens and yank Christ down off his throne? And yet, this is what they teach clearly and boldly. And he doesn't produce Christ as the victor, the overcomer, the conqueror. He produces him as a perpetual victim. That isn't the Jesus that I know. That isn't the Jesus of the Bible. According to the Roman Catholic Church, Jesus isn't the one who conquered once for all and defeated sin and death. He's just a perpetual victim. That on any given whim, the priest can just decide to yank him off of his heavenly throne and sacrifice him again. The Lord's Supper then becomes an altar where the bread and the wine, they teach, becomes the actual flesh and blood of a victim that the priest offers. In reality, because Jesus' sacrifice to them was obviously not enough the first time.

Now, unless you think I'm attributing more power to the priest than Rome does, even though I think we've heard enough evidence already. I I and I understand this is a bit painful. You should be cringing inside by now. But, I'm going to keep going. John O'Brien again says this. He says, "The priest speaks, and lo, Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest's command." End quote. No man can bring Christ down from his throne. And the one who tries is merely an enemy of Christ, not a follower. And any system that promotes or aids or encourages this sort of attack on the throne of Christ is an enemy of God and the church. A false system under the power and influence of Satan himself.

And this belief isn't merely the belief of one man, it was ratified in the early Roman Catholic councils. And what you have to understand when you read of these early Catholic councils is if the council said it, the Catholic system teaches that it's the same as the church saying it. And if the church saying it says it, it is infallible and inerrant and can never be reversed or changed. So what the council said hundreds of years ago is still absolutely binding to today based on their own beliefs. So listen to the Council of Trent concerning the mass. Not only do they teach this abominable and wicked doctrine, but they go even further if that's possible. Canon number one says this, "If anyone denies that in the sac- sacrament, the most holy Eucharist are contained truly, really, and substantially the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ, but says that he is in it only as a sign or figure or force, let him be anathema." In other words, if you believe that when Jesus said do this in remembrance of me, you're damned by the Roman Catholic Church. If you don't believe you are eating the literal flesh of Christ and drinking his actual true blood. If you don't believe that the Catholic priest had the power to yank Christ from his throne, the Catholic Church says you are damned. And that's what it means to pronounce anathema, to damn. So damnation is pronounced on anybody who says that Christ is not actually, physically the bread and the wine.

Canon number eight says this, "If anyone says that Christ received in the Eucharist is received spiritually only and not also sacramentally and really, let him be anathema." In other words, if you say that eating the bread, which they call taking of the host, which by the way is the only thing they give to people, you can't have the blood. The priest do. If you say that it's only a representation of the body broken for you and that the cup, the wine, the juice is only representative of Christ's shed blood. If you believe that, as the Bible teaches, you are anathema. See, you want to know why people are so beholden to the Catholic Church? It's not out of some devotion or reverence, it's purely fear. It's purely fear.

Not only does the Roman Catholic Church damn you if you don't believe you're eating Jesus' literal flesh. If you don't believe that the priest has power over God himself to pull him down off his throne, but then they damn anyone who would even question the practice at all, basically. The same council said this, "If anyone says that in a mass, a true and real sacrifice is not offered to God, or that to be offered is nothing else than Christ has given us to eat, let him be anathema." Canon number three, "If anyone says that the sacrifice of the mass is only one of praise and thanksgiving, or that it is a mere commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, but not a proprietary one." In other words, if you say it's not a literal sacrifice in which God requires for the forgiveness of sin. They go on to say, "If you say it's anything less than that, or that it profits him only who receives and ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other necessities, let him be anathema." So if you don't believe communion can be given to the dead, anathema.

Now that you've heard all of that, let me wash your soul with the Bible. This is what scripture has to say about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. From Hebrews 7:24-28, says, "But Jesus on the other hand, because he continues forever, holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore, he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens, who does not need daily, like those high priests, meaning the Old Testament, to offer up sacrifices. Who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the sins of his people, because he died once for all when he offered up himself." He died once for all. There are no perpetual sacrifices and he wasn't a victim. He gave his own life. What did he tell Pilate? He said he had the power to lay down his life and to raise it up again. He isn't a victor, he isn't a victim. He's a conqueror. There's no need for further sacrifices according to scripture. There's no need for Christ to be crucified more than once and to be sacrificed more than once, and to teach anything other than what scripture teaches is to deem Christ himself to be a liar.

Why do I say that? Well, why don't you just turn with me to the book of John and I want you to see it with your own eyes. John chapter 19. John chapter 19, verse 28. Listen to what Jesus himself says. He says, "After this, Jesus knowing that all things had already been finished, in order to finish scripture, said, 'I am thirsty.' A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put the sponge of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop, and they brought it to his mouth. Therefore, when Jesus received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished.' And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit." It is finished. But the Roman Catholic Church says it's never finished. It's never done. It wasn't good enough. But Jesus said it is finished.

Folks, this is a hellish religion of fear, full of the vilest sorts of blasphemies, deceiving now today over a billion people across the world.

Now, what about Mary? Let's talk about Mary and worship. They The Catholics, if you talk to them about Mary and you say, "Well, you worship Mary." And I know I've been having these conversations all week, so you don't have to. They'll say, "No, we don't worship Mary. We don't worship Mary. We don't pray to Mary. We just simply honor her, but we worship God." You don't worship Mary? Well, let me just read a prayer to you. And let's just see if you can tell me how worshipful prayer is. Now, this particular prayer I'm going to read to you has nothing about Mary here, but listen to this first. "With all my heart I praise thee, above all angels and saints in paradise, and I consecrate to thee my soul with all its faculties." I could pray that to God, couldn't you? It's incredibly worshipful. I pray with all my heart I praise thee. And I consecrate to thee my soul with all its faculties. Just think about the elements of prayer, the elements of worship in that prayer. I praise thee, that's worship as clear as day, right? I consecrate to thee my soul with all its faculties. That Surely that's worship. I mean this prayer is saying that my soul belongs to this one and this one only. That is a statement of not only just worship, but absolute and total surrender.

Here's the problem. I left out a few words. So let me read it to you again the way it's actually written. With all my heart I praise thee, most holy Virgin. Above all angels and saints in paradise, daughter of the eternal Father, and I consecrate to thee my soul with all its faculties. Hail Mary. Folks, if that isn't worship, worship doesn't exist. This is from the Roman Catholics three Hail Marys. Official prayers.

Not only do they blaspheme God in the mass, but they worship the dead. They are a cult that worships a false goddess who they call Mary. Mary is not this person. Mary is worshipping Jesus as her savior. As a human who is in desperate need of the Messiah. As a sinner who needed forgiveness for her sins. She would be appalled if she knew what the Roman Catholic system has done to her name. No, they worship a false goddess whom they call Mary. They've created a Mary that doesn't exist and certainly isn't the Mary we see in the Bible. And again, they'll say, "We don't worship Mary. We just talk to Mary in order to get to her son." But did that sound like just talking to Mary to you? Oh, that was only the first of the prayers. I'm going to read you the next two.

With all my heart I praise thee, most holy Virgin above all the angels and saints in paradise, beloved mother of the son of God, I consecrate to thee my body with all its senses. Hail Mary. The third and the last. With all my heart I praise thee, most holy Virgin above all angels and saints in paradise, beloved spouse of the Holy Ghost. I consecrate to thee my heart with all its affections and beseech thee to obtain for me from the most holy Trinity all the graces necessary for salvation. Hail Mary. This is from their own sources, printed by license given by the Roman Catholic Church by Francis Cardinal Spellman in 1963.

Does that sound like just talking? First of all, never mind the fact that we don't talk to the dead. That's already a problem. This is worship. It's blasphemous. But just so that you know, it isn't just a one-off event by some random Catholic, although I've given you the license, the former Pope John Paul II prayed this in June of 1999. Hail, oh daughter of God, hail, oh mother of the son of God, hail, oh bride of the Holy Spirit, temple of the most holy Trinity. By the way, the three Hail Mary prayers we read are meant to be prayed three times a day. And maybe if you pray them three times a day, by the time you die, the expectation is that Mary will appear to you as an apparition before you die, guaranteeing your salvation.

Not only does Roman Catholic teach pure devotion to Mary by offering her their body, their soul, the affections, the grossest acts of idolatry, but they also make Mary a god in her own right, nearly the fourth member of the Trinity. Listen to what came out of the first feast of Annunciation in 1299. This is when the Ave Maria was being sung in a chapel, it was said that a woman now called Saint Gertrude saw visions of Mary and recorded it and taught as being true and accurate, license sanctioned by the Catholic system. During the prayer, she saw This is the visitate the vision. During the prayer, she saw our blessed mother in the form of a white lily with three branches before the most blessed Trinity. This revelation confirmed the title of the immaculate lily of the most holy Trinity, which saints had given to her. The saint learned that on occasion that the blinding whiteness of the lily signified the immaculate purity of the holy mother of God, which was never stained with even the slightest venial sin. Venial means something that can be forgiven or remitted or revoked. In other words, Mary never even had sin. And this vision was proof. She goes on to say in the vision, "The three branches signify our lady's participation The three branches signified our lady's participation in the omnipotence of the Father, with the wisdom of the Son, and the charity of the Holy Ghost. Then our blessed mother spoke to Saint Gertrude and said, 'To any soul who faithfully prays thee Hail three Hail Marys, I will appear at the hour of death in a splendor so extraordinary that it will fill the soul with heavenly consolation.'" If she saw this vision, it was a demon.

I don't know if you caught that, but Mary is now not only the spouse of God, the Holy Spirit, but participates in God's omnipotence. God's omnipotence being that trait which means he is all powerful, above all things, transcends all things, greater than all things, controls all things. And they say Mary participates in that god-like attribute. So she is a god in the Roman Catholic system.

What does scripture have to say about all this? First Timothy 2 5 through 8. Catholics teach you have to go to Mary. Here we read this. "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Not Mary. The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. The witness for this proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle. I'm telling the truth, I am not lying, as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Therefore, I want men in every place, that is to say all people, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension." Who does Paul want us to lift holy hands to? Christ. Why? Because he and he alone is the mediator. Not Mary.

So the Roman Catholic system teaches that Mary is the mediator. Scripture teaches that Jesus is the mediator. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that prayer and devotion teaches to pray and devote yourselves wholly in every way to Mary, but Paul says that people in all places are to pray and lift up holy hands to Christ and Christ alone. Roman Catholicism teaches that Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit and shares in God's omnipotence, which makes her God. But the Bible teaches us that God alone is omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit does not have a spouse. God is not married. These things are the most blasphemous perversions you could ever come up with. And if Mary herself could hear them again, she would be devastated that the idea that she is in any way anything more than you and I a sin-sick sinner who needed desperately a savior. And thank God she doesn't hear their prayers. She doesn't even know. Because she's not God and she's not listening to prayers. She's worshipping Christ.

So what does the Bible say about those who worship idols? Because that's clearly what they've made whoever this demon is called Mary. 1 John 5:21 says, "Little children, guard yourselves from idols." Perhaps the verse that describes the Roman Catholic system better than any other is Romans 1:21-23. "For even though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanging the glory of an incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man." Doesn't that sound just like the Catholic system? What do you see all over the world when you go to a Catholic building? Statues of men and images of men which they bow down to and kiss the very stone feet of those statues. And have the foolish ignorance to say, "Oh, we're not worshipping." Oh, yes, you are. Most certainly. Jonah 2:8-9 says, "Those who regard worthless idols forsake their loving kindness. But as for me, I will sacrifice to you, that is to God, with the voice of thanksgiving that which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to Yahweh." Not Mary, God. Galatians 5:19-21. "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality." We read this earlier, "idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you. Just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Those who worship idols are doing the deeds of the flesh and scripture is clear. Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul says, "Therefore, my beloved, flee flee from idolatry."

Lastly, we come to the Pope himself. Who is the guardian of the mass which we've looked at, which presumes to dethrone Christ and sacrifice him over and over again? Who's the primary authority which elevates Mary and encourages devotion and absolute and utter worship looking to her for salvation and condemns those who don't? It's none other than the Pope himself. The Pope who just died, Pope Francis, prayed this to Mary. He said, "Oh Mary, you always shine on our path as a sign of salvation and hope. We entrust ourselves to you, health of the sick, who at the cross took part in Jesus' pain keeping your faith firm." You get that? Mary, who at the cross took part in Jesus' pain keeping her faith firm. He goes on, he says, "You, salvation of the Roman people, know what we need. You, Mary, you're the salvation of the Roman people." He says, "And we are sure you will provide so that as in Cana of Galilee, we may return to joy and to feasting after this time of trial. Help us, mother of divine love, to conform to the will of the Father and to do as we are told by Jesus, who has taken upon himself our sufferings and carried our sorrows, to lead us through the cross to the joy of the resurrection." He goes on to say, "Under your protection, we seek refuge, holy mother of God. Do not disdain the entreaties of we who are in trial, but deliver us from every danger, oh glorious and blessed virgin."

So someone asked, "Where is the Pope today?" Well, John MacArthur was once asked a similar question and his answer is the same answer as it should be today. He answered the question with a question. Is the Pope Catholic? And what was implied is that yes, the Pope is Catholic and therefore he has no inheritance in the kingdom of God. I assure you outside of some unique and extraordinarily unusual mirac- miracle, the Pope is in hell. And if he had the opportunity to speak to the Roman Catholic Church one more time, I guarantee you he will say what the rich man said. He would warn them that they've gone astray. He would warn them that they aren't worshipping the one true God. He would warn them to abandon the Roman Catholic system. But he doesn't get a chance to do that. He will spend eternity under the judgment and wrath of God as an antichrist.

The Pope led an entire false religion that prays to a goddess of their own making. The Pope leads and guards the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that dams anyone who believes that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The Pope claims to sit as the head of the church and teaches that priests have the power to command Jesus' obedience. The Pope is an antichrist, dear church. Do not be misled. Do not be deceived. Do not be duped into believing that the Roman Catholic system deserves your pity or your kindness. It is an enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ seeking souls to devour.

The Pope is the head of a works-based system. Again, listen to the Council of Trent. It is given as a reward promised by God himself to be faithfully given to their good works and merits. By those very works which have been done in God fully satisfied by the divine law according to the state of this life and to have truly merited eternal life. In other words, it's your good works that gives you merit that earns you the right to be saved. That doesn't sound anything like the scripture we read earlier. Paul says, "It's not by works. It's not by the law." He says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith." And I love that God anticipated the twisting of his own word because in the same sentence Paul adds, "And this not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works so that no man may boast." Not by works. But the Roman Catholic system teaches that if you believe that, you are damned.

So not only does the Pope teach, guard, and promote a false gospel of works, but he has the audacity, the hubris, the pinnacle of pride and arrogance to take on the very names that belong to God himself and God alone taking the name holy father. Well, Jesus identifies one as the holy father. Let's just see who it is. Turn with me to John quickly. John chapter 17. John chapter 17 and listen to verse 11. This is Jesus praying his high priestly prayer. He says, "I am no longer in the world. And yet they themselves are in the world. And I come to you, holy father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me that they may be one as we are one." There is a holy father. And it is not the Pope. It is God the Father who is in heaven. Matthew 29:9 says, "And do not call anyone on earth your father." And this is why he says it. "For one is your father, he who is in heaven." And this is because no man on earth is a source for your spiritual life. But the Pope assumes the title that belongs to God alone.

But not only is he called the head of the church, he assumes the role and position which only belongs to Christ as the head of the church. And then the Pope is called the vicar of Christ. Well, what does vicar means? It means that he stands in place of Christ. Instead of Christ, you have the Pope. But there is one who stands in place of Christ here on this earth. Who is it? The scriptures again tell us from John 15. Jesus tells us verse 26 to 27. Jesus says, "When the advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me, and you will bear witness also, because you have been with me from the beginning." It's the Holy Spirit who stands for Christ. So, the Pope has taken a title that belongs to God only. He professes to be the head of the church, which belongs to Christ only, and he attempts to take the Holy Spirit's place. Now, you tell me what has to be said about a man who basically pretends he is God on earth. Nothing else can be said but that he is Antichrist. He's not the final Antichrist, but he is an Antichrist.

In fact, it was also Pope Francis that said this publicly, "Every religion is a way to arrive at God." End quote. This Catholic Pope wasn't even Catholic. But Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me."

There can be no peace with Rome. There can be no peace with Rome. There has to be war against it because there can be no peace with the devil, and it's not the Pope who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. It is indeed the devil. And he's deceiving people by the millions until their very souls are in his hands for all eternity. To cozy up to Rome then is truly to cozy up to devils. I believe one of Satan's greatest deceptions again since the garden was the creation of the Roman Catholic Church, and now you see why. Scores are led to hell. And it matters again because it makes the difference between whether or not we ignore them or they become a mission field, a people who desperately need the gospel because they're deceived.

John MacArthur said it this way. He says about the Roman Catholic system, "It is an apostate, corrupt, heretical, false Christianity. It is a front for the kingdom of Satan. The true church of the Lord Jesus Christ has always understood this. And even through the dark ages from 400 to 1500 prior to the Reformation, genuine Christian believers set themselves apart from that system and were brutally punished and executed for the rejection of that system." He goes on to say, "It engages in idolatry by the worship of saints and the veneration of angels. It conducts an horrific exaltation of Mary above Christ and even God. It conducts a twisted sacrament of the mass by which Jesus is sacrificed again and again. It offers false forgiveness through confessional. It calls for the uselessness of infant baptism and other sacraments." Believers all throughout history, really until the modern day, have known and understood that Rome is an enemy to the souls of people.

Charles Spurgeon understood this. He said, "Of all the dreams that ever deluded men, and probably of all the blasphemies that ever were uttered, there has never been one which is more absurd and which is more fruitful in all manner of mischief than the idea that the Bishop of Rome can be the head of the church of Jesus Christ. No, these Popes die. And how could the church live if its head were dead? The true head ever lives. And the church ever lives in him, Jesus Christ." In another place, Spurgeon says, "We must have no truce, no treaty with Rome. War, war to the knife with her. Peace there cannot be. She cannot have peace with us. We cannot have peace with her. She hates the true church, and we can only say that the hatred is reciprocated. We would not lay down a hand upon her priests. We would not touch a hair of their heads. Let them be free, but their doctrine we would destroy from the face of the earth as doctrines of devils. So, let it perish, oh God, and let that evil thing become as the fat of lambs. Into smoke let it consume. Yes, into smoke let it consume away."

Souls are perishing because of Rome. Friends, family, neighbors, and millions of other souls are being led astray into the fiery pit of hell, into the hands of Satan by the doctrines of demons through Roman Catholicism. And we have Christians who want to embrace this system as those which are brothers and sisters in Christ. No, if we love the souls of people, we must fight against Rome. We must go to war against her. And there is a way to do that. How do we do that? Well, we do that by evangelizing all Roman Catholics with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we go to war with her. We expose the Roman Catholic system for what it is, an Antichrist. And we plead with her followers to wake up and see the true gospel. To stop worshipping Mary. Stop worshipping saints. Stop worshipping angels. To stop calling the Pope Holy Father, a name that belongs only to God. To stop trying to earn their salvation because Christ has already paid for it once and for all. To stop sleeping with a prostitute that is Rome Rome. And to repent and turn to Christ in him alone. We beg them. That's how we go to war with Rome. We plead with them. And if they insist on going to hell, then let them have to fight us all the way to the gates of hell before we can do no more. It's not loving to treat Roman Catholics as Christian. Dear friends, it's damning. It's a hateful damnation because it comforts them in their false gospel that will surely lead them to the same fate their Pope now has discovered. And I just wonder how many Catholics will have to wake up in hell and think, "Why wasn't I warned? Why Why did my believing family not tell me? Why did they stop telling me? Why did they give up on me? How many Catholics in hell will be forced to say, 'Why didn't my friends warn me? They knew the truth.' How many Catholics will be forced to say, 'There was a church that knew the truth 2 minutes away. Why didn't they warn us? Why didn't they warn us? And now my soul is in anguish for all eternity.'"

Folks, we have to war against Rome if we love God and if we love people. What's at stake? The lives of millions. The souls of over a billion people. Martin Luther understood the dangers of Rome so much so that he was willing to give his life to tell the truth to the people, to defy the Pope in favor of obeying Christ. The Reformation matters. And it's why we celebrate it. When the rest of the world is dressing their children up like little demons at the end of October, we celebrate what God did through the Reformation because it matters.

Luther says, "We are here of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist. I owe the Pope no other obedience than I owe to the Antichrist." He goes on to say, "I am persuaded that if at this time St. Peter in person should preach all the articles of Holy Scripture and only deny the Pope's authority, power, and primacy and say that the Pope is not the head of all Christendom, they would cause him to be hanged. Yet, if Christ himself were again on earth and should preach, without all doubt, the Pope would crucify him again."

John Calvin Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman Pontiff Antichrist, but those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself. After whom we speak and whose language we adopt.

J.C. Ryle lamenting the wrong view many had of Roman Catholicism in his own day says, "The facts of the case are very simple. There is no longer a general dislike, dread, and aversion to popery which is almost universal in this realm. The edge of the old British feeling about Protestantism seems blunted and dull. How much more so today?" Ryle continues to say, 'I hold for one that this Roman Catholic movement ought to be steadily and firmly resisted. Notwithstanding the rank, the learning, and the devotedness of some of its advocates, I regard it as the most mischievous, soul-ruining, and unscriptural movement. To say that reunion with Rome would be an insult to our martyr our martyred reformers is a very light thing. It is far more than this. It would be a sin and an offense against God. Rather than be reunited with an idolatrous Roman Catholic Church, I would willingly see my own beloved church perish and go to pieces. Rather than become a Roman Catholic once more, she would be better dead. Unity in the abstract is no doubt an excellent thing, but unity without truth is useless.' See, that's what they're calling for today, unity without truth. Truth. Peace and uniformity are beautiful and valuable, peace without the gospel, peace based on common church government and not a common faith is a worthless peace, not deserving the name. When Rome has repealed the decrees of Trent, those are all those things we've read, and her additions to the creeds, when Rome has recanted her faults and unscriptural doctrines, when Rome has formally renounced image worship, Mary worship, and transubstantiation, that's when they pull Christ from heaven to make the bread his blood his body and blood. Then and not till then will it be time to talk of reunion. Till then, there is a gulf between us us which cannot honestly be bridged. Till then, I call on all Christians to resist to the death this idea of reunion with Rome. Till then, let our watchwords be, 'No peace with the Roman Catholic Church, no communion with idolaters.'" End quote.

We've gotten very soft with the devil. We've lost a love for souls. And what has replaced it largely is whether or not people will like us. Dear friends, the Roman Catholic system should inflame us with the deepest anger possible. I don't mean the people, but I mean the system. The people are the mission field.

Ready for harvest. Because it mocks Christ and it takes the place of God and it promotes idolatry of the grossest sort, and it's quite happy, the Roman Catholic system, to lead our family and our friends and our neighbors and billions of other straight to hell. And Satan is its master.

But the Roman Catholics themselves are our mission field. You have and I have what they need, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true gospel. So, let me end on that. What is the gospel? What is the gospel that they don't have that they desperately need to know?

Well, gospel means good news. But it started in the garden, didn't it? A man had a perfect relationship with God. God gave man everything he could ever want, everything he ever needed, but he also gave him a command, and that command made the difference between life with God and death, and through man's disobedience, he chose death. And from there, sin entered the whole world. And from them on then on, every human being born, including Mary, was born into sin, tainted and stained and defiled an enemy by natural birth to God. Ephesians describes all men as dead, dead in their trespasses and sins. And so, every man at this point deserves hell. There's not an innocent soul alive. Every man is an enemy of Christ because of this original sin and the sin they willfully commit. And God's righteous judgment after Adam ate and Eve ate of the fruit would then to send all men to hell.

But instead, what does he do? He grants mercy. And he shows love because he sends Christ who comes as fully God and fully man to live the perfect life that we couldn't live and to die the death we deserved. Isaiah 53 tells us that it was Christ himself who bore our griefs. It was our sorrows that he carried. He was the one stricken by God on our behalf. He was crushed for the sins of men. And the chastening for our peace fell on him. God made Christ, the perfect God-man who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf. Christ, when he said, "It is finished," paid the penalty once and for all. For the sin that should have put us on that cross. And when we repent of our sins and turn to Christ and believe in Christ for our salvation, his perfect life then is imputed to us, attributed to us, given to us, his righteousness is counted as our own and our sins to him nailed on the cross forgiven forever once for all.

There is no salvation in Mary. There is no salvation in works. There is no salvation in following the Pope. There is salvation in one and one alone, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that salvation is by God's grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone, and no other. That is the gospel the Catholics desperately need to hear. Because it's the only saving gospel. And that is why we must wage war on Rome. And we tell them that in the moment they truly repent and in the moment they come to Christ genuinely, in the moment they profess with their lips and they believe in their heart that Christ is Lord and has died for their sins, in that moment, God cancels the certificate of debt that stood against them. And he makes them alive together with him for all eternity. And it's done. That's the gospel that they need. That's the way we wage war against Rome, and we must because lives are at stake. Amen.

Let's pray. Father, what an incredible salvation we have. How great a salvation we have. And Father, how terrible a thing Rome has done. Father, I pray that you would give us a heart and a passion for all of those who are in the grips of Satan still because they are under Rome. Father, give us the words to speak as we speak with family and friends and co-workers and those around us who are for a season pointed all towards Rome because of the death of this Pope. And let it be a time where many Catholics hear the true gospel. Father, let us be those who seek to share with those Catholics we know the true gospel. That they don't need and must not worship Mary. That they must not follow a Pope who claims the title and offices of God. That they do not need more than one sacrifice. One was enough. Father, help us to love these people so much that in the words of Spurgeon, if they must go to hell, let them leap over our dead bodies. And let us have at the same time a love for the people, a hatred for the satanic system that defies the living God and seeks to damn souls into the hands of the enemy for eternity.

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the gospel. And even this morning, a reminder of how careful and guarded we must be against idolatry and false teachers. But even more that we have a savior who doesn't have to continually offer himself. And he wasn't a victim, he was a victor. And that he overcame sin and death once and once for all. Father, help us to fix our eyes on Christ. And help us to share that truth with everyone we see. We pray all this in the name above all names, the king of all kings, the Lord of all lords, the true head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. And amen.