I have never considered myself to be anti-catholic. Protestant and Reformed, yes. But then, I guess that’s what that means, doesn’t it? We protested against the abuses and false doctrines of Roman Catholicism and reformed the Church.

But I’ve seen the bumper stickers that say, “Catholics love Jesus too” and thought, “Well, sure they do. I don’t doubt their sincerity at all.” I have no doubt that some Catholics really know the Lord, just like I have no doubt that many Baptists don’t have a clue.

But after spending seven weeks in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, I am thoroughly convinced that Roman Catholicism is an apostate church, a false religion.

Individual Catholics would agree with many of the tenets of the Christian faith…the Bible is the Word of God, Jesus is the Son of God and the only Savior of mankind, He died on the cross for our sins, He rose again and one day will return to judge the earth. So, what’s the problem?

Many, many things are wrong with the Roman system and doctrine. But my biggest problem is that the Gospel is so covered up with additional stuff that it is almost indiscernible. Church tradition is on equal footing with the Bible. Actually, for all practical purposes, it has more authority than the Word of God. You can see this in Mel Gibson who says he based his movie on “Holy Scripture and accepted visions.” It’s the “accepted visions” that I have a problem with. I don’t accept them.

I asked many Mexicans the same question and without exception, got the same answer:

“How do you receive forgiveness of sins?”

“Confess to the priest, receive absolution, take the holy wafer.”

No wonder the Reformers (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox), the Puritans, the Revivalists (Whitefield, Edwards) and the great Pastors of the eighteenth century like Spurgeon, all believed the papacy or the Romish system to be the Anti-Christ. Now, I’m not smart enough to say yea or nay to that, but I certainly understand the sentiment.
I’m not anti- Catholic individual persons. I am definitely opposed to the Roman Catholic Church. That’s comparable to saying I’m opposed to terrorism but I’m deeply concerned for the POW’s.

Please take a moment and look at the pictures on our developing website, www.revivalyeamings.org. They say more than I could say with a thousand words.

Mexico is 96-98% Roman Catholic. Mexico is lost. Missiologists call the big middle section, consisting of a half dozen large states, The Heart of Darkness or sometimes The Zone of Silence. The silence of the Gospel is deafening! In an area including Guadalajara, there are 8 million people and 30,000 Christians. That translates to 3 out of every 800 that are saved. But, probably 799 out of 800 believe they are.

In other words, you could spend the day walking or driving around one city and possibly never see a single person is going to Heaven.

I’m going back, as often and for as long as the Lord allows and provides.

Africa

The trip to Liberia had to be cancelled. One airline that we were counting on, folded. The price of a ticket went from $1400 to $2800 overnight and was still climbing last I heard. Everyone had to back out. It was a stewardship decision. I can go to Mexico a half dozen times for that. Maybe next year.

In the love of Christ, Dan