God's Plea

[Ayodhya Nath Bhat]

God's Plea

Hopefully, you have just asked Jesus to come into your heart and have been born again scripturally. If so, according to the Bible, one of your first acts should be to come out of the Catholic church:

"...Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Revelation 18:4

Many Roman Catholics claim to be born again Christians, yet contend that God wants them to remain in the Catholic church. However, Scripture declares that God does not want His children worshipping Him in a false, idolatrous religion. On the contrary, He says come out and stay out:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1  

Many other verses teach us the same lesson:

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14  

Should you worship with those who deny God's Word?

"And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed." 2 Thessalonians 3:14

Many Catholics give various excuses for remaining in the Catholic church, but good intentions do not impress God when they cause you to disobey His Word. More than anything, God wants obedience:

"Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes..." Deuteronomy 27:10
"Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God..." Jeremiah 42:6
 

Obedience or sacrifice?

Sometimes Catholics remain in the church, insisting that they are sacrificing their personal desires for the good of others. But God would rather have obedience than sacrifice:

"...Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice..." 1 Samuel 15:22  

Why won't people come out?

Despite God's clear instructions in His Word, some people still refuse to leave the Catholic church. There are two possible reasons why:

1. They are saved but honestly don't know that God wants them to leave the church.

2. They think they are saved but aren't, because in their heart their hope for salvation is still in the Catholic church, and they are afraid to leave.

Only you can tell which category you fit in because no one else knows your heart.

Was he really converted?

I remember talking with a Catholic young man who willingly admitted his lost condition and his need to trust Christ as Savior. He prayed and asked Jesus to come into his heart. He had no problem with that.

Then I told him he needed to leave the Catholic church. He recoiled and blurted out, "Oh, I could never leave the Catholic church!"

"Why not?" I asked.

He explained that he had been born and raised in the Catholic church and that the church was necessary for salvation. Whether this young man understood it or not, his hope for eternal life was in the Catholic church, not in Jesus Christ.

Like him, many Catholics today claim to be born again, yet refuse to obey God. Certainly, no one can judge another man's salvation, but the Bible does reveal that those who trust in traditions of men will be bitterly disappointed on Judgment Day:

"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." Jeremiah 17:5  

If you are a Catholic who refuses to come out of Catholicism, you are, at best, a Christian living in disobedience to God, and, at worst, an unsaved person deceived into thinking you are a Christian:

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Ephesians 5:11

If you really want to please God, you must obey Him and leave this system that denies His truths.

No fear

Another reason people don't leave the Catholic church is fear. The church has instilled in them the belief that salvation is available only through the Catholic church! I remember being taught as a child that it was a mortal sin to attend any other religious service while it was in progress.

However, God's Word assures those who have been born again that they need not fear:

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7

You need not fear leaving the Roman Catholic church. Jesus Christ will take good care of you.

No more idols

To help you be set free from the power of this false church, it is important that you remove from your home anything associated with it, like statues, rosary beads, Catechisms, prayer books, etc. These are all idolatrous items, and God hates idolatry:

"Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." 1 Corinthians 10:14  

The Apostle Paul plainly states that those who practice idolatry will not go to heaven. (See Galatians 5:19-21.)

The best way to dispose of these idolatrous items is to burn them (see Acts 19:19).

"I'll reach them from within"

Another excuse people use to avoid leaving the Catholic church is that they want to win those still in the church from within.

But the truth is, the best way to win others is to obey God so you can have His power in your life. It doesn' t make sense to disobey God to do His work better. If God instructs you to come out of the Catholic church, then you should obey Him.

A converted priest

Several years ago, a Catholic priest who learned that his church was in error asked Jesus to come into his heart and save him.

In obedience to God, he left the Catholic church. But every Sunday morning he drove back to his old church and sat in his car in the parking lot. After Mass, as former parishioners walked by and recognized him, they'd say something like, " Hey, Father, we heard you left the church. What happened to you?"

He'd reply, "Yes, I did leave because something exciting happened. Hop in the car and I'll tell you all about it." Using that method, he led over half his former congregation to true salvation in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

So, my friend, the choice is yours. If you are now a true Christian, you know what God wants you to do. The question is, "Will you obey Him?"

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you," 2 Corinthians 6:17

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[tklein1014]

Forgive me, but it is pointless to answer your questions.  You keep bringing up the same arguments without defending them, even after we've given the Catholic position on these things.

However, Scripture declares that God does not want His children worshipping Him in a false, idolatrous religion.

We have already discussed your charges of idolatry in another thread.  Go back, read the Catholic position with an open mind, & defend your position.

Should you worship with those who deny God's Word? ... Many Catholics give various excuses for remaining in the Catholic church, but good intentions do not impress God when they cause you to disobey His Word.

We have already discussed "denying/disobeying God's Word" in other threads.  Go back, read the Catholic position with an open mind, and defend your position.

Another reason people don't leave the Catholic church is fear.

This too, we have already discussed in other threads.  Go back, read the Catholic position with an open mind, and defend your position.  I'm not "afraid" to leave the church, I chose my faith.  You haven't given me any reason why your beliefs are better than mine, or defendable, since you haven't defended one of your positions, unless I've missed something somewhere.

As the rest of your post seems to deal with these things, I won't bother to quote anymore.  I don't know about others here, but I'm feeling a little ignored.  I refuse to answer the same questions over and over.  I encourage you to go back to some of the other threads and continue those discussions, instead of starting 10 or so more new threads with the same arguments you have not bothered to defend.

Tina

[Rev. Eric]

Hello Again Ayodhya,

I find the message of your "God's Plea" post strange concerning what you posted on Feb. 21st within the "What Does it Mean to Be saved?" discussion.  Consider what you wrote in "God's Plea" with what you said on Feb. 21st, which I will quote here:

Let me begin by saying that my posts are not meant to lure away Catholics from their faith.If you are a Catholic and I a Christian then why are we all looking so concerned about the writings in the posts.Its the Love of God-Father,Son and Holy Spirit.

Why the contradiction?

And speaking of that earlier "What Does it Mean to be Saved?" discussion, therein you also said:

You may appreciate being a busy Company Executive , I am not able to devote so much of time as you for posts. So don't mistake my silence for acceptance of whatever you post in defence.

Since you made that statement, you have started 14 new topics, each with an extensive post. So, obviously, you have had time to continue our discussions in your earlier topics.  For example, over and over I have asked you to demonstrate the validity of your doctrine of Sola Scripture against what I posted under "Why Follow the Bible?"  Over and over, you have refused to.  For the record, I do not mistake your silence for acceptance for what we have posted.  I do, however, think your silence represents your inablilty to refute what we have said defending our Catholic Faith.  If I am wrong, then I invite you to prove me otherwise.

Furthermore, going back once again to your post under "What Does it Mean to be Saved?", you stated:

You cannot bury the truth.

If you believe that your positions are the truth (against the positions of me and the other Community Catholics), then you should be able to demonstrate it in an intelligent debate.  As Tina so eloquently wrote:

I encourage you to go back to some of the other threads and continue those discussions, instead of starting 10 or so more new threads with the same arguments you have not bothered to defend.

I will now repeat what I said nearly a week ago in my post in the "Thank You Pastor" discussion:
But if you are unable to refute (our posts), then you should ask yourself why. After all, you are a Christian well-versed in Scripture and you also believe in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and those who are empowered by the Holy Spirit wield the Sword of Truth. Therefore, if our positions are wrong, you should be able to refute them. If you are unable to, then perhaps you should be open to the possibility that Catholics are actually following the will of God, and that our teachings represent the fullness of Truth.

God bless,
-Rev. Eric

[DavidFilmer]

If Ayodhya plans to cut-and-paste the works of others, the least he could do is attribute it. Ayodhya plagerized this content from the book "Understanding Roman Catholicism," copyright 1995 by Rick Jones, which is posted (with permission and attrition) on Jack Chick's website (Jack Chick is a professional anti-Catholic):

http://www.chick.com/reading/books/160/160app3.asp