WANTED: More Christians with Backbone – By Darryl Eberhart
By Darryl Eberhart // Editor of ETI & TTT Newsletters
May 15, 2009 // Internet website: www.toughissues.org // Written for “The Gospel Catholic”
(All emphasis is mine unless otherwise stated.)
Approximately fifteen years ago I began to read through the entire Bible each year – from Genesis to Revelation. (I highly recommend that all Christians do this!) I noticed there were many admonitions in the Bible for God’s people to do justice and righteousness [i.e., doing what is right in God’s sight], e.g.:
- “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of [Ed.: i.e., rescue them from] the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3, 4)
- “If thou forbear [Ed.: i.e., refrain from; avoid (doing)] to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? And He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? And shall not He render to every man according to his works? (Proverbs 24:11, 12)
I also noticed there were admonitions in the Bible to reprove evil, and to stand against it, e.g.:
- “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them] [Ed.: i.e., express one’s disapproval of them; rebuke them].” (Ephesians 5:11)
- “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? [Or] who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 94:16)
I found this important admonition in the New Testament book of Jude: “…It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 3)
Well, centuries ago – during the Protestant Reformation – courageous Christian men with backbone “earnestly contended” for the true Gospel [of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone, by God’s grace alone]. They “reproved” [i.e., rebuked] the false gospel put forth by Papal Rome, and brought to light the numerous unscriptural doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, such as indulgences, Purgatory, mandatory celibacy, and confession to an authorized priest. They courageously “stood up against” the Papacy, identifying it as the “antichrist” clearly described in the Holy Bible. (The description of the religious whore found in Chapter 17 of Revelation, i.e., “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth”, sitting on “seven mountains”, “arrayed in purple and scarlet color”, and “drunken with the blood of the saints”, can only fit one entity on planet Earth, i.e., PAPAL ROME!) They expounded the true Biblical Gospel and “exposed” this “antichrist system” in the hope of “delivering” precious Roman Catholics from a religious system that far more resembles the old pagan Babylonian mystery religion than it does Biblical Christianity! In fact, there are so many pagan, unbiblical doctrines and practices within the Roman Catholic Church, that one could rightly describe Roman Catholicism as “paganism with a very thin veneer of Christianity”! (Alexander Hislop’s book, “The Two Babylons”, provides a lot of evidence to show that many of Papal Rome’s doctrines and practices came straight out of ancient Babylon!)
Today we see the leaders and clergymen of most “Protestant” denominations falling under Papal Rome’s ecumenical “spell”. We hear these so-called “Protestant” leaders and clergymen stating that Roman Catholicism is a Christian denomination, and that Protestants and evangelicals are not to bear witness of the true Biblical Gospel to Roman Catholics. In fact, on March 29, 1994, a joint declaration was put forth by Roman Catholics and leading American evangelicals, entitled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the 3rd Millennium”. This declaration specifically urged Roman Catholics and evangelicals “to stop aggressive proselytization [Ed.: i.e., attempted conversion] of each other’s flocks”.
We also see these so-called “Protestant” leaders and clergymen joining with Roman Catholic prelates and priests in the name of love and unity in order to work together on certain social and moral issues of our day. Forgotten in this “ecumenical love-fest” is the fact that we Christians are commanded in II Corinthians 6:14: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers…” As John MacArthur, Jr. has well stated: “Too many on both sides [Ed.: i.e., Roman Catholics and evangelicals] have no real understanding of the historical differences between [Ed.: Papal] Rome and the Reformers. They don’t realize that the doctrinal differences that divide us are far more important than the moral convictions we share. After all, the central issue we differ on is the gospel itself – the very thing that distinguishes true Christianity from damning heresy (Galatians 1:8, 9). We dare not gloss over this matter of eternal significance.”
It is so important that non-Roman Catholics quickly learn that the ecumenical movement is totally controlled by Papal Rome, and that its sole purpose is to bring all Christian denominations, associations, and movements under the totalitarian authority and control of the Pope of Rome!
Even some independent Baptists and Fundamentalists here in America fail to see the need to reach out to Roman Catholics in their local areas with the true Biblical Gospel. Interestingly, many American churches (Protestant, independent fundamentalist, independent Baptist, etc.) will spend thousands of dollars to send a missionary overseas to witness to pagans, yet fail to recognize that in many American communities – and often in their very own neighborhoods – are many Roman Catholics who have never heard the true Biblical Gospel. Worse yet, many of these Roman Catholics have been deceived by their Church into thinking that they really are Christians when they are not! The Lord Jesus Christ said that one must be “born again” [spiritually, by repenting and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior – and by putting one’s total faith and trust in His finished work at Calvary]. (The Roman Catholic “idea” that “infant baptism” is an act of being “born again” is totally without scriptural support!)
Early Christian groups, such as the Albigenses, the Waldenses, etc., bore witness of the true Biblical Gospel to Roman Catholics – often at risk to their very lives! The Protestant Reformers and their followers did the same! (The Protestant Reformers and their followers also bore witness to the fact that the Papacy is the Antichrist!) Can we Christians do less today? Are we to leave millions upon millions of Roman Catholics trapped in a religious system that refuses to tell them the true Biblical Gospel? Are we to leave millions upon millions of Roman Catholics trapped in a religious system that enslaves them with superstition and man-made tradition that contradict Scripture? Are we to leave millions upon millions of Roman Catholics trapped in a religious system that forces women and girls to confess their sins and deepest secrets to a celibate priest? Are we to leave millions upon millions of Roman Catholics trapped in a religious system that takes money from them for the purpose of “paying and praying” their dearly departed loved ones out of Purgatory?
Are we to remain silent about the true Biblical Gospel so that we do not “offend” Roman Catholics? Are we to remain silent about the unscriptural doctrines and practices of Roman Catholicism so that we do not “offend” Roman Catholics? It is not love to keep the truth from those who need to hear the truth! Author Dave Hunt stated on page 403 of his book, “A Woman Rides the Beast”: “We are told to love one another as Christ has loved us. Pop psychology trivializes that command by equating it with a ‘positive’ attitude. Forgotten is the first duty of love: to speak the truth (Ephesians 4:15). Real love does not flatter or soothe when correction is needed but [Ed.: rather] points out the error which is blinding and harming the loved one. Christ said, ‘As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent’ (Revelation 3:19). Instead, the idea is now current that love excludes rebuke, ignores the truth, and seeks unity at any price. Only disaster can result.” Amen! Let us Christians of today show some spiritual “backbone” – some spiritual “intestinal fortitude” – and let us speak the truth to precious Roman Catholics in love! And may God give us the “backbone” – as He did to the Reformers – to reprove the false gospel of Papal Rome!
Note: Several of my friends and I have found that the best book to give to Roman Catholics in order to show them how Roman Catholic doctrines and practices conflict with what the Bible teaches is Dr. Loraine Boettner’s 466-page book, “Roman Catholicism” . This book is available from The Conversion Center for $15 (includes shipping and handling to locations within the USA). Please make your check or money order payable to “The Conversion Center, Inc.”, and mail it to: The Conversion Center // P.O. Box 31688 // Raleigh, NC 27622-1688.