Pilgrims Covenant Church - 4-21-05 Letter to the Editor on the Pope

I sent this letter to the editor to our local paper and to a number of large state papers. The brevity of the letter is due to a limit on the length of letters printed in our local paper. It is important for Christians, especially pastors, to speak up during this time when the Roman Catholic Church is being presented far and wide as Christ's true Church, thanks to the death of the pope and the picking of his successor.

As a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church, I feel compelled to comment on the recent death of Pope John Paul II and the selection of his successor. Although it is not uncommon for media personalities to repeat the Romanist mantra that the Catholic pope is the head of Christ's Church, nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus Christ is the only head of His Church. The pope is the head of a church/state behemoth which has little in common with Christ's true Church. Roman Catholic dogma concerning the pope, Mary, the mass, purgatory, indulgences, apparitions, prayers to the dead, and so much more are all grossly unbiblical. The Roman Catholic gospel is a Christ-dishonoring gospel of human works, not God's grace. The pope is not anyone's "Holy Father," and he is not the "vicar of Christ." The Scriptures are clear that the first title is reserved to God alone and the second belongs to the Holy Spirit. Historically, the great Protestant preachers always considered the papacy to be the "antichrist" warned of in the Scriptures. I believe that position to be the correct one. There are many wonderful Catholic people, and I fully support their right to exercise their religious convictions. At the same time, it grieves my heart to think of the billions of people worldwide who have recently been seduced into believing that the Roman Catholic Church is the Church of Jesus Christ when it most definitely is not.