If you’ll take a close look at the tapestry above, you will find a classic example of the problem I have with Roman Catholicism! Within one icon, the Word of God is blasphemed repeatedly! First you see Mary crushing the head of the serpent. A blatant contradiction of Genesis 3:15 which states:

“I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”(emphasis mine) It is apparent that the “it” here is referring to Mary’s seed, which is Jesus. Remember, a woman does not carry the seed, but the man. Therefore it is foretelling of a virgin birth. It does NOT infer that Mary will bruise his head, but rather that Jesus Christ conquered Satan. (Col. 2:14,15)

The next thing you will notice about the tapestry is that Mary is portrayed as being “clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars...” leading us to believe that Mary is the woman spoken of in Revelation Chapter 12. However, even a general study of the Word of God would reveal that the woman of Revelation 12 is Israel. (Genesis 37:7-11)

I could go on and on about the blasphemous references made in the tapestry, but my point is, Roman Catholicism is heaped in idolatry and paganism. It is the very pit of false doctrines. The reason I am saying this is because we have recently been accused by Father Pontillilo, ( a priest with an alleged healing ministry) of being “bitter” and “angry”. I am not bitter! I am angry! Romans 12:9 tells us, “...Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” Any Christian who truly loves God and His righteousness and His truth will hate error! It is impossible to love the truth without hating evil, just as one who loves flowers, hates weeds! Spiritual pacifism is nothing but a phony godliness. This is the problem I have with people like Chuck Colson, Billy Graham, Dr. James Dobson, just to name a few. They do not have a zeal for the truth. They do not hate false doctrine, but rather fellowship with those who teach blasphemy! This angers me!

All I hear anymore, is “accept the Catholics as our brothers”, or “ever since Vatican II, the Church of Rome has changed, they are now the new evangelical Catholics!” Well, let me tell you something. this Catholicism that people like Keith Founier, Patrick Madrid, Karl Keating, etc. are presenting is nothing more than a figment of their imagination. The true Church of Rome has spoken through her popes and her councils and I assure you they are NOT EVANGELICAL!!! But what angers me most is that people like Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, etc., fall right into their trap and convince thousands to join in. For example, Chuck Colson says that Roman Catholicism shares the mission of presenting Christ as Savior and Lord to a needy world. This is not true! The goal of the Vatican is to make the world Catholic! History has proven this time and time again and today is no different! Catholic priests have never entered a land simply to preach Christ and lead people to salvation. They do not lead men to the freedom of the gospel but rather make converts for the pope and bring men into sacramental bondage! Rome is clever! If it is to her advantage to put on the face of an “evangelical” then she will do so. But know this, her final goal is to rule the world from Jerusalem and I do mean rule. Whatever it takes to achieve this goal, she will oblige. Just read a little history regarding the Jesuits or the Knights of Malta. It is the goal of these two organizations to bring the world under subjection to the pope.

Always remember that unity in error is nothing short of conspiracy! As the Psalmist cried, so also we cry, “I hate every false way.” So when we are accused of being hateful and bitter, we want you to understand that it is the false doctrine we hate, not the people trapped in its clutches! We were there, just like you. That is why Rebecca and I began this newsletter. We felt such a love for the people we left behind in the Church of Rome, that we just couldn’t rest unless we warned them that they were being lied to and deceived. I am a woman raising five children on my own while going to college 8 hours a day, five days a week, using every spare dollar and every extra moment on getting this out to you people. If I hated you, I would go shopping and let you burn in hell! And take Robert Wise, a man raised as a Methodist who didn’t even know what he believed two years ago, heard the Word of God, clung to that Word, and gave himself totally to the Lord. He is the one who first gave us the opportunity to put this newsletter out by letting us use his old run down computer. He also helped us pay to make copies and to mail them out. He was never Catholic, but when he heard how they were being lied to and were in danger of burning in hell, he put his all into trying to reach these poor lost souls. As a matter of fact, Rebecca and I are the only two ex-Catholics on the staff. The rest were raised anywhere from Protestant to Agnostic. But the common factor amongst us all is a love for those who need to know Jesus Christ as their only Savior and Lord. Our staff loves the truth, and we hate error. We hate any false doctrine that would lead people away from God instead of to Him.

Chuck Colson calls our stand “petty quarreling in the camp”. But we are taking a stand on the very gospel by which we are saved and the very Christ Who saves us! Rome preaches a false gospel and a false Christ. Keith Fournier says that the divisions among Christians are insane. Mr. Fournier is dead wrong! I’ll tell you what is insane: it’s insane for Mr. Fournier to call himself an “evangelical Bible believer”! This man believes in sacramentalism, baptismal regeneration, infant baptism, a sinless Mary, the mass, the eucharist, and the so-called teaching authority of Rome. He exalts Loyola as a man of God when he was nothing more than a treacherous Jesuit! He bows before statues of various saints and yet calls himself a Bible believer? I don’t think so! Call yourself a Catholic, Mr. Fournier, but do not call yourself a Bible believer! Should our readers need proof of his stand, listen to this excerpt from Mr. Fournier’s book Evangelical Catholics:

“Often I knelt in front of my favorite statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pouring my heart out to Him...I frequently sneaked upstairs and sat alone, looking at the beautiful stained-glass windows, and enjoying the fragrance of the votive candles as it fill the air...For me, even as a child, these times of private devotion were ‘evangelical moments’....As soon as I was able, which was around the third grade, I served dutifully as an altar boy at the altar of sacrifice. Even though I didn’t understand the Latin spoken in the Catholic liturgy of that time, I knew that I was part of something miraculous...I would later wander from the cross, but the memories of those ‘evangelical moments’ would linger....(p.26)

Webster’s Deluxe Unabridged Dictionary gives the standard definition of “evangelical”:

“...of or for the gospel...of those Protestant churches, as the Methodist and Baptist, that emphasize the salvation by faith in the atonement of Jesus, and reject the efficacy of the sacraments....”

The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary of 1989 gives a similar definition: “of or relating to certain Protestant churches emphasizing the authority of Scripture and the importance of preaching as contrasted with ritual.”

This is the historical meaning of the term “evangelical”, and so to say that a Roman Catholic can be an evangelical is to bring utter confusion to terminology. A tactic used by the Church of Rome throughout all of her history.

So maybe instead of writing us and asking us why we are angry, you could write us and explain to us why you are not! “Father” Pontillilo also told us to give it up, “quit”. Well, too often those who possess the truth sit idly by while those who advance flagrant error and espouse fantastic heresy, propagate their indefatigable enthusiasm and unflagging fervor. False teachers are tireless and relentless in the extension of their aberrations, because the demons inspiring and energizing them, are diligent and industrious. I Timothy 4:1&2 says that

“...in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy...”.

We are seeing the great “falling away” (II Thess.) taking place before our very eyes! Let’s look at what the Word of God has to say. “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” (Romans 16:17)

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” (II Tim. 3:5) “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness...from such withdraw thyself.” (I Tim.6:3- 5)

As you can clearly see, we should reprove the works of darkness and not embrace them.

Diane M. Schoeppner