We move on now to an example that will bring out clearly the fact that Catholics and Evangelicals (and thus all Protestants) not only have opposite beliefs, but have a fundamentally different concept of God Himself.

   F) The Jesus Catholics believe in and worship has by His Passion and Death, by the shedding of His Precious Blood on the Cross, actually made righteous and truly justified those to whom the grace and merit of His Passion is communicated (Rom.5:19; 1 Cor.6:11; 2 Cor.5:17; Eph.4:23-24; 2 Pet.1:4). The Blood of the Catholic Jesus actually cleanses the souls of those who have been (validly) baptized from both Original Sin and any actual sins committed before hand. These souls are objectively made righteous and beautiful before God.

   The Passion and death of Jesus for Evangelicals has no ontological (i.e. actual) effect on the soul. In other words, the application of the fruit of the death of "their" Jesus brings about no objective change upon the soul of believers, it only changes their "position" or "status" before God. They call this "imputed righteousness" or "declared justification," where the believer is covered by Christ's blood and righteousness. For Evangelicals, God declares the believer justified, but the believer in reality, in his soul, is not so.

   Think of the implications of this belief. This is not some minor theological difference. We are speaking here of a completely different concept of God Himself. For in truth, when God declares something it becomes so in reality.

      And God said, "Let there be light;" and there was light. (Gen.1:3; see also 1:7,9,11,etc.)

      By the word of the Lord the heavens were made... For he spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood firm. (Psa.33[32-DRV]:6,9)

      Praise the name of the Lord. For he spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created. (Psa.148:5)

   As the Catholic Church teaches, and the Bible reveals, God's word is creative and causative. An objective effect always occurs when God declares something. Yet, the Evangelical view is that God's word -what God declares concerning the believer- has no effect on the soul. This doctrine of imputed righteous-ness/declared justification directly denies what is infallibly declared in Sacred Scripture. This doctrine holds that God's declaration has no effect on reality, but only on the believer's "status." In other words, God's declaration of righteousness has no real effect on the soul itself. Thus, for Evangelicals, God calls them one thing -justified in "position"- when they are in reality another -objectively still depraved and unjustified.

   What does this mean? It means a couple of things.

   First, for Evangelicals, God is either impotent, for he has not the power to cause what he declares, OR God does not mean what He actually declares, -which can only mean that God is lying. Both implications are utter blasphemy. Both deny the very nature of God. The first denies that God is all-powerful; the second denies God's goodness and truthfulness. (As we will see later, to deny these, or any, attributes of God is to deny the reality of God Himself.)

   Second, according to this doctrine, it is not the reality of the person or the soul which changes, but it is how God looks at us which changes. Think about this... God's great work of justifying believers is NOT in bringing about a change in us, but rather it is God changing! This is utter blasphemy. God can NEVER change. Either way, according to this belief, for God to save us, He doesn't actually change our spiritual condition but instead, He changes how He thinks about us. For Evangelicals, the essence of our justification is God changing what He declares about us by either ignoring the true state of our souls, or by not really meaning what He declares.

   There is one thing for sure this doctrine reveals: the "God" Evangelicals believe in and worship is surely NOT the God of the Bible, Whom Catholics profess and worship. We have completely different and irreconcilable concepts of God Himself.

   As Pope Pius IX solemnly declared, Protestantism (and thus Evangelicalism) is NOT merely a "different form of the same true Christian religion" It is thus false. It is not the same true Christian religion established by Jesus Christ, nor is it part of it. Catholicism and the Protestantism are totally irreconcilable. The intrinsic unity of divine Faith leaves no other option. As a result, we must of necessity conclude the following: Evangelicals believe in and profess a different Jesus. Now, since Jesus is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, we are forced to conclude that they believe in a different God. Thus, Catholics and Evangelicals DO NOT agree on even the basics of revealed truth. There is, then, no ground for cooperation between Catholics and Evangelicals. For a Catholic to do such, he MUST compromise at least something of his Catholic Faith -if he truly has the Faith. In fact, as just demonstrated, he must deny what is fundamental to the very nature of God.

   Thus, true ecumenism for Catholics MUST be that of evangelizing, of making efforts at bringing Protestants into the one Body of Christ, of witnessing to the truth of the Catholic Faith and exposing the damnable errors of our "separated brethren." Even at Vatican II, in the Decree on Ecumenism (Ch.I, 3), the Catholic Church recognized that these divisions are "damnable" as St. Paul pointed out (see 1 Cor.1:11f; 11: 22). Later on in that same chapter it was declared:

   "it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that Our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those who belong in any way to the people of God must be fully incorporated." (Boldness added to emphasize point.)