Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 7/31/21

• Documentarian and Latin Mass devotee says, ‘You can’t just squash it’
• Catholic bishop defies pope Francis’s clampdown on Traditional Latin Mass
• Cardinal Burke Questions the Authority of Pope Francis to Eliminate the Traditional Latin Mass
• Priest hit hard by Traditional Latin Mass edict
• How limiting Latin Mass may become the defining moment for Pope Francis

Pope Francis’ recent restriction of the Latin mass, aimed toward its eventual elimination, has conservative and traditionalist Catholics in an uproar. Conservative Catholics have endured Francis and his progressive reforms (including lifting the ban on sacraments for remarried divorcees, prohibition of capital punishment in all cases, and approval of same-sex civil unions) with dismay and frustration for eight years, but largely without suggestion of schism because absolute fealty to the pope is one of their cardinal tenets. But could this “attack” upon their beloved Latin mass be the unpardonable tipping point?

• San Francisco Archbishop to Pelosi: ‘No one can claim to be devout Catholic’ and support abortion

The wafer wars went on the back-burner after pope Francis’ assault on the Latin mass, but this controversy is far from being over.

• Three years after the 2018 ‘summer of shame,’ what do American Catholics think about the sex abuse crisis?

The revelations involving pedophile cardinal Ted McCarrick, followed by the Pennsylvania attorney general’s report on abuse by priests in that state, followed by the subsequent investigations by multiple states’ attorney generals was a scandal of tsunamian proportions for the RCC in 2018. Only the most die-hard credulous Catholics could continue as members after that.

• Bankruptcy adds to sad legacy of Catholic Church scandal

The Catholic diocese of Norwich, Connecticut just became the 27th diocese in the U.S. to file for bankruptcy in order to shield its financial assets from victims of priest sexual abuse and diocesan cover-up.

• ‘Don’t be calling me turncoat: call me turned-heart’ – Kerry’s convert controversy

This book about a group of 800 people living in County Kerry, Ireland in the early 1800s who accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and came out of the Catholic church in an EXTREMELY Catholic country (at the time) sounds fascinating!

• Anti-vaccine ministry uses Facebook to promote dangerous COVID-19 and vaccine falsehoods to millions followers

It’s time for this “news and views” guy to address the elephant in the middle of the room. I don’t endorse everything in the above article, but anti-vaxxism is sadly rampant within “evangelicalism” to a degree greater than anywhere else. The highest spikes in COVID 19-Delta Variant cases that we’re currently seeing are in the Bible Belt states and that is no coincidence. I enjoy channel surfing right before going to sleep and regularly come upon the Daystar cable channel run by prosperity gospel peddlers, Marcus and Joni Lamb. Seems like most times I stroll by, Joni is inevitably dispensing some hyperbolic, pseudo-science attack on the COVID-19 vaccines. People have their individual reasons for not getting vaccinated, but the tire-meets-the-road truth is that the vaccines won’t work unless enough people get them. The dramatic spike in COVID 19-Delta Variant cases that we’re currently seeing across the entire country is the direct result of a significant percentage of the population choosing not to get vaccinated. Only 66% of American adults and children of age have been vaccinated to date. Even people who have been vaccinated are now being affected in “breakthrough” cases. We’re all going to have to go back to wearing masks. Worst of all, obviously, is that hundreds of thousands of additional people will die as the virus lingers on, and on, and on. 613,000 Americans have died from the COVID-19 virus to date. Have some people gotten sick after receiving the vaccine? Yup, but the number of those cases is exponentially dwarfed by the number who have caught the virus. Are the vaccines immoral because they are connected to abortions? The vaccines aren’t produced using aborted fetal tissue as some mistakenly think, but, yes, the pharmaceutical companies did use cell lines from babies aborted back in the 70s and 80s to develop the C-19 vaccines. Ideal? No, but we live in a society that includes many things of ignominous origin. I drive a Volkswagen, a pet project of Adolf Hitler, and live in a geographical region that was basically taken at musketpoint from the Iroquois Native Americans. Anti-vaxxers decry “mask fascism” and “vaccine fascism” while they continue to spread the virus. Overwhelmed hospital staff are reporting that newly-admitted COVID-19 patients are – too late – expressing regret for not getting vaccinated. It’s incongruous to pray for relief from the pandemic while walking around unvaccinated.

Forty Answers to “Forty Reasons I Am A Catholic”: #1

Today, we begin our series examining and responding to Catholic apologist and philosopher, Peter Kreeft’s book, “Forty Reasons I Am A Catholic” (2018). Thanks for joining me and I hope to see you every Friday for the next thirty-nine weeks.

Claim #1: I Am A Catholic Because I Believe Catholicism Is True

Kreeft opens the first chapter with a very basic declaration, stating he is Catholic because he believes Catholicism is true. He then asks readers to imagine themselves as God at the Last Judgement with two people standing before them. One is a “dishonest,” name-only Catholic and the other is an “honest” atheist. The nominal Catholic believed in few or none of the church tenets, but continued to identify as a Catholic because it made him feel happy, or moral, or both. Kreeft posits that God would tell the nominal Catholic that “happiness without truth is not true happiness and therefore is not true happiness at all; and that morality without truth is not true morality and therefore is not true morality at all” (p.6). Kreeft concludes that God would judge the dishonest Catholic in purgatory or Hell more harshly than the honest atheist.

Response:

I can see from this initial chapter that Kreeft’s arguments in this book are going to be based much more on his philosophical views than on Scripture. There are no references to Scripture in this first chapter. Kreeft appears to be appealing to those readers with little or no Bible knowledge and hoping he is able to convince them via his philosophical reasoning. There’s a danger to that as Bible believers know. I skimmed through the chapters ahead and there are a few Bible references, but Scripture is definitely not a hallmark.

It’s interesting that Kreeft begins this book by delegitimizing the hundreds of millions of nominal Roman Catholics. Catholic sources reveal that only a minority of RCC members actually follow minimum mandatory requirements and believe basic Catholic doctrines such as transubstantiation. I’ve seen Kreeft’s frustration with the vast number of nominal Catholics previously (see here)

At the outset of this series we’re already seeing some serious differences between Roman Catholicism and Gospel Christianity. We see in Kreeft’s Last Judgement illustration the Catholic position that all will be judged according to their level of morality. Kreeft judges between the dishonest nominal Catholic and the allegedly honest atheist, but none are truly honest or moral according to God’s standard of moral perfection. God’s Word declares none are moral or righteous:

“As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” – Romans 3:10-12

Both the hypothetical nominal Catholic and “honest” atheist would have died in their sins and spent eternity in Hell because they did not repent and trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior by faith alone. Kreeft obviously views himself as an honest and moral Catholic in contrast to his nominal Catholic example, but since Jesus Christ was the only perfectly honest human being to ever walk the planet, how honest does a Catholic have to be to merit salvation? That is the conundrum of Catholicism.

Since Kreeft believes Catholicism is true, we must ask what is his standard? Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists also believe their respective religions are true. Kreeft doesn’t reference the Bible, God’s Word, in this opening chapter, however, the Bible attests to its own authenticity as the source of spiritual truth.

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” – John 17:17

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

I foresee in the weeks ahead that we will mainly be comparing Kreeft’s philosophical appeals to Catholicism’s alleged truths with the Scriptural truths presented in the Bible.

“For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” – 1 Corinthians 3:19

Kreeft refers to “true happiness” in this chapter, but this ex-Catholic can testify that no Catholic can ever be truly joyful because the Catholic salvation system of sacramental grace and merit provides no lasting joy or peace.

In contrast to Peter Kreeft, I am no longer a Catholic because I know Catholicism is NOT true according to God’s Word.

Next week: Claim #2: “I am a Catholic because it’s the best of five choices”

Throwback Thursday: IFB Memories #3: “Using public restrooms could be fatal”

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on May 11, 2016 and has been revised. Speaking of epidemics/pandemics…

The AIDS epidemic was already starting to make headlines when my wife and I began attending an independent fundamental Baptist (IFB) church back in 1983. The death toll was rising every year and would peak at 42,000 deaths in the US in 1995 with no cure in sight. People were frightened. How was AIDS transmitted? Could it be contracted by casual contact? If you were around in the 1980s, you’ll remember that AIDS was scary stuff.

The pastor at our church, Joe B, didn’t meet the crisis lying down. Sermons increasingly began to reference AIDS as being God’s judgement on homosexuality. After a while, it seemed like AIDS and homosexuality were the pastor’s prime focus. As the epidemic continued to ramp up, it became rare to hear a sermon that didn’t include a statement about the sin of homosexuality. I certainly know what the Bible says about homosexuality, but it became an obsession at our church. It became sin #1. But what about all the other sins against God? I got so sick of hearing about homosexuals during church sermons that I can remember getting physically agitated every time another harangue began.

In his sermons, Joe liked to mention that he had worked as a medical lab technician* before entering the seminary and he knew a thing or two about blood. Boy, did he know a thing or two. Sermons that referred to the blood of Christ were usually peppered with incomprehensible medical jargon. With the AIDS epidemic seemingly spreading like wildfire during a California dry spell, the pastor shared his “insider’s” perspective from the pulpit on exactly where the whole AIDS thing was headed; the impending “truth” that the government was too afraid to reveal to the public.

According to our former-medical-lab-technician pastor, men ran the risk of catching AIDS every time they visited a public lavatory. How so? The alarming scenario he laid out began with infected homosexual men using a restroom. When they subsequently flushed the toilet or urinal, the water and waste would naturally swirl together in the fixture, releasing microscopic droplets of infected urine into the surrounding air. Unsuspecting heterosexual men who entered the lavatory would inhale the contaminated vapor and contract AIDS. Yes, that hypothesis was preached as fact from the pulpit of our church to a congregation that was already skittish about the epidemic. For several months after that, I avoided public lavatories like the bubonic plague. It’s funny now, but it wasn’t at the time. The moral of the story is, don’t allow yourself or your family sit under the preaching of a megalomaniac. If there are no checks and balances on your pastor (the pastor is an absolute dictator in IFB churches), there’s a chance he could go off the deep end.

But some of our former pastor’s concerns were legitimate. Things have certainly changed since 1983 regarding homosexuality. In our post-modern, inclusive, pluralistic, tolerant society, sin is “out” and deviancy is “in.” Society has been tipped on its head. The exception is now presented as the norm. Old-school “morality” is pooh-poohed. Same-sex couples are now featured quite prominent in the popular media. Most anything goes these days. Whatever seems good to an individual is “right” for them as long as they don’t infringe upon anyone else. Christians are definitely going to catch increasing “heat” from secular society because of what the Bible says about homosexuality.

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” – Proverbs 21:2

*When I first began attending the church, pastor Joe regularly bragged that he had been a medical student before entering the seminary. A suspicious church member checked out the story and found the claim was untrue. After being confronted, the pastor tearfully confessed before the congregation that he had been a lab technician, not a doctoral student. Years later, the pastor made it known that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was considering him as Billy’s eventual replacement, another pretentious lie.

2021 Update: Pastor Joe B’s rants against homosexuals are beyond ironic in light of the revelation that he was arrested for child sex abuse and pleaded guilty in town court on June 2nd, 2021. See my relevant post here. This post is also sadly ironic because today’s COVID-19 virus is contracted largely via airborne transmission.

Kazan Redux: Elia Kazan’s Eighteenth Film: “The Visitors”

Today, as part of our “Kazan Redux” series, we’re going to re-review director Elia Kazan’s eighteenth film, “The Visitors.” The review below was first posted on December 24, 2017 and has been slightly revised.

Elia Kazan had been one of America’s most celebrated and influential film and theatrical directors in the 1940s and 50s, but by the early 1970s, after the financial failure of five of his previous six movies, he could not find backing for a new film project written by his son, Chris Kazan, which explored themes regarding the unpopular Vietnam War. Kazan opted to film “The Visitors” himself on a shoestring budget using a 16mm camera.

The Visitors
Directed by Elia Kazan and featuring James Woods, Patricia Joyce, Steve Railsback, Chico Martinez, and Patrick McVey
United Artists, 1972, 88 minutes

Plot

Bill (Woods) and Martha (Joyce) and their infant child live in a Connecticut farmhouse owned by Martha’s domineering father, Western pulp fiction writer, Harry (McVey). They are not married and their relationship seems to be somewhat strained.

Two visitors, Sarge aka Mike (Railsback) and Tony (Martinez), show up at the house unexpectedly. They had served together in the same platoon with Bill in Vietnam, but Bill had testified against them at a court martial for wartime atrocities. The pair had been released due to a legal technicality after having been imprisoned for two years and had driven from Kansas to Connecticut to find Bill. The intentions of the visitors are unclear and Bill is nervous and fearful.

Harry stops by for a visit. He’s an overbearing redneck who enjoys the company of the two manly guests as much as he openly despises his daughter’s passive boyfriend.

As the night progresses, Martha learns from Bill the details of the wartime atrocity, which involved the rape and murder of a Vietnamese girl, and she angrily confronts Sarge. While she abhors him, she is also strangely attracted to his aggressive demeanor. Bill breaks things up and attacks Sarge. A fight ensues and Bill is beaten to a bloody pulp. Martha is also attacked. The visitors leave, satisfied that they have meted out justice. After Bill regains consciousness, he asks Martha if she’s all right. She just stares back at him with silent contempt.

The moral of the story: It was bad enough to see the violence of Vietnam on the television screen, but it was something altogether different when it crossed over your threshold.

Commentary

Kazan stated in an interview that “The Visitors” was an “anti-war picture,” and that it was about “the price of the Vietnam War on the soul of the American people.”  While the production quality is unsurprisingly low given the budget constraints, the rising tension between the characters is palpable. Railsback’s character is especially convincing as a coiled cobra patiently waiting to strike its victim. The script was loosely based on a portion of Daniel Lang’s book, “Casualties of War” (1969), which also inspired Brian De Palma’s same-titled 1989 film.

Like the Bill character, Kazan had also testified against his friends at the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in 1952 when he named the names of former associates of the American Communist Party. While I haven’t read of Kazan having ever been physically attacked because of his testimony, he was widely ostracized by liberals on both coasts until his death in 2003.

The shoestring-budget movie was partially filmed at Kazan’s home and property at 10 Old Mill Road* in Sandy Hook, Newtown, Connecticut (yes, THAT Sandy Hook where 20 elementary school children and 7 adults were massacred by a disturbed young man in 2012). It’s unique among all of Kazan’s films because of its basic, no-frills production quality. “The Visitors” had an extremely limited release. Of all of Kazan’s nineteen films, “The Visitors” is the only one not on DVD, but it is available as a VHS tape and through Amazon streaming.

Additional thoughts from a believer

The United States’ protracted involvement in the Vietnam War wore down the resolve of the American people. By the time Kazan made “The Visitors” in 1972, the nation had had enough. In 1973, America ceased military operations in Vietnam. South Vietnam eventually fell to the North Vietnamese-led forces in 1975.

The First World War was proclaimed to be “the war that would end all wars.” International organizations such as the League of Nations and the United Nations were established to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts. But conflicts and wars continue. As the Bible says, the hearts of men are desperately wicked. Individuals have a difficult time maintaining harmonious relationships let alone nations. The only lasting peace comes through a relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ. Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Above: A Google Maps street level view of 10 Mill Road, Sandy Hook, Connecticut as it appears today

Lower the landing gear. Next month we’ll re-review Kazan’s final film, “The Last Tycoon.”

*Kazan owned adjoining property and a house at #4 Old Mill Road where the bulk of “The Visitors” was filmed, but it appears that house is no longer standing (see here).

Truth from Arkansas! Sunday Sermon Series, #94

It’s Two-fer-Tuesday, my friends, which used to mean two new sermons from the brethren down in Arkansas. However, uploads of Sunday sermons from Pastor Cody Andrews of Holly Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Star City have become sporadic and I suspected brother Wally was navigating an irregular work schedule in his new career as a nurse. Wally did send me a comment the other day confirming that he’s working every other weekend.

This week, we do have Pastor Roger Copeland of Northern Hills Baptist Church in Texarkana, preaching from James 1:5-8 on “What Is Wisdom and How Can I Have It?” This sermon was delivered on Sunday, July 11th.

Pastor Roger Copeland – What Is Wisdom and How Can I Have It? (sermon begins at 11:20 mark)

The Twilight Zone: The hazy divide between reality and the supernatural?

Stories from the Twilight Zone
By Rod Serling
Bantam Pathfinder, 1970 (22nd printing), 151 pp.

The Twilight Zone was a successful television series, which ran five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. Rod Serling (many mistakenly thought his name was “Sterling”) served as executive producer and head writer. The stories always involved some type of bizarre supernatural circumstance that put the characters in a tense quandary. I remember watching the show as a young child and being creeped out and fascinated at the same time. Sixty-years later, Twilight Zone reruns still play on cable television and via streaming.

I bought and read this book as a thirteen-year-old and recently purchased a slightly dog-eared used copy from an Amazon third-party used bookseller as a lark. It presents five Twilight Zone episodes from the early years of the show in short-story format:

• The Mighty Casey – A robot pitcher turns the cellar-dwelling Brooklyn Dodgers into a contender.

• Escape Clause – Hypochondriac, Walter Bedeker, makes a deal with the devil to gain near-immortality, but immediately regrets it.

• Walking Distance – A stressed-out, Madison Avenue advertising executive travels back in time to his idyllic childhood hometown, but gradually realizes you can’t go home again.

• The Fever – A male version of the “uptight church lady” catches gambling fever in Las Vegas and becomes completely unhinged.

• Where Is Everybody? – An Air Force sergeant is part of an isolation experiment and nearly loses his mind, or were his “imagined” experiences real?

• The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street – Neighbors suspect an alien invasion and gradually succumb to paranoia, turning against each other.

Science fiction was at its peak in the early-1960s. People were trying to make sense of life in a culture where technology was rapidly advancing. It was all part of an empty search for “spiritual meaning” outside of God’s Word and Jesus Christ. People are still fascinated with the “paranormal” and “supernatural,” but scoff at true spirituality in Christ. The search for genuine spirituality begins with trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior by faith alone. The closer a Christian walks with the Lord, the more the spiritual/eternal overtakes the natural/temporal.

The Twilight Zone joins my small collection of books that sat on my bookshelf when I was a kid in 1970: CIA – The Inside Story, Bump and Run (San Diego Chargers football), The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (fiction), Arundel and Rabble in Arms (both Am Rev historical fiction), Uncle Tom’s Cabin (my grandfather’s copy), First NFL-AFL Illustrated Digest, We Came of Age (AFL football), and The Other League (AFL football).

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 7/24/21

• Pope’s clampdown on Latin Mass praised as ‘prophetic,’ ripped as ‘cruel’
• Archbishop defies pope, says traditional Latin mass will continue
• Catholics React to Pope Francis’ Sweeping Restrictions on Latin Masses

The headline pictured above is HUGE and disconcerting news for conservative and traditionalist Catholics. Pope Francis’ decision to restrict and eventually eliminate the Latin mass deserves a separate post all by itself. The Second Vatican Council (1961-1965) was an effort by the Roman Catholic church to modernize itself. One of the most significant changes wrought by the council was replacing the incomprehensible Latin mass liturgy with the Novus Ordo (“New Order”) mass in the vernacular. Conservative and traditionalist Catholics strongly resented Vatican II’s modernizations and defiantly clung to the Latin mass as a symbol of pre-conciliar militant Catholicism. Conservative pope Benedict XVI officially accommodated the Latin mass in a 2007 encyclical. However, on Friday, July 16th, pope Francis reversed Benedict’s accommodation and declared that priests could only say the “extraordinary form” Latin mass with the permission of their bishop, with the goal of eventually eliminating the Latin rite altogether. Conservative and traditionalist Catholics were already resentful of Francis because of his progressive reforms, but this “attack” upon their beloved Latin mass has elicited oaths of outrage and defiance. On his part, Francis recognized the Latin rite was a bastion for his conservative and traditionalist opponents that was being used to rally and indoctrinate others.

The mass is a boring, liturgical ceremony when said in English. Imagine compounding the boredom by sitting through an incomprehensible Latin liturgy for one hour. But traditionalist Catholics are thrilled by the “grandeur” and “mystery” of the Latin rite. Whether said in Latin or the vernacular, the mass is an anti-Biblical ceremony purporting to transform Jesus Christ into bread wafers and wine and to re-sacrifice him for the sins of the congregants. The genuine Gospel is nowhere in sight at either Latin or Novus Ordo masses. I will be reporting on the conservative/traditionalist reaction to Francis’ ruling in the weeks ahead. We are living in unusual times when the most “pious,” doctrinaire Catholics view their pope as a scoundrel at best and a heretic at worst.

• The Unlikely Rebound of Mainline Protestantism

Interesting phenomenon. Liberal mainline “Protestantism” is seeing a slight resurgence 1) as a reaction to evangelicalism’s almost-wholesale endorsement of Donald Trump and 2) because of its wholesale embracement of the increasingly acceptable LGBT agenda. The genuine Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone is not preached in mainline “Protestant” churches.

• Divorcing Josh Duggar would be his wife Anna’s ‘last resort,’ source says

As a former viewer of “19 Kids and Counting,” I’m still interested in the Duggar clan. Anna Duggar has had to deal with incredibly difficult circumstances in her life while I whine about piddly stuff.

• Traditionalist Catholics burn down five houses of evangelicals in Chiapas, Mexico

I’ve been reporting on the persecution of evangelicals by Catholics in Southern Mexico since I started this blog six years ago. When will it stop?

• Top Catholic priest resigns after phone data tracked to Grindr

Catholic sociologist, Richard Sipe, estimated that 30-40 percent of Catholic priests are homosexual. Catholic seminaries were/are both magnets and incubators of deviancy.

James R. White dissects “Mere Christianity” ecumenical gobbledygook

In the 24-minute video below, evangelical apologist, James R. White examines the spiritually deadly errors of Roman Catholicism and picks apart the foggy-bottom “Mere Christianity” ecumenical paradigm that permeates evangelicalism and is peddled in this video by Norman Geisler disciple, Frank Turek.

This is excellent, folks. In this era of rampant ecumenical compromise, few apologists are willing to step out and “tell it like it is” regarding Roman Catholicism. God bless James R. White!

Throwback Thursday: Life’s Most Important Question?

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on May 10, 2016 and has been revised.

If you asked a crowd of people what was Life’s Most Important Question, you’d get many answers, but with the absolute certainty of death ahead of them and their standing with God uncertain, some people would answer that Life’s Most Important Question is:

“What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)

The Roman Catholic church claims to have the answer to that question. It says for a person to be saved they must do the following:

• Attend RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) classes for a year.
• Get baptized.
• Attend mass every Sunday and every holy day of obligation.
• Receive the eucharist at least once a year.
• Obey the Ten Commandments (impossible).
• Confess all “mortal” sins to a priest – participate in the sacrament of reconciliation at least once a year.
• Use sacramentals liberally and frequently ask Mary and the saints for their help.
• Receive the sacrament of last rites before you die.

If you do all of the above, according to the Catholic church, you may PERHAPS merit Heaven, provided you don’t have ANY mortal sin on your soul at the moment of your death.

In contrast to Roman Catholicism’s long religious legal laundry list, God’s Word gives us the simple answer to the question in Acts 16:30 in the very next verse:

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31).

“Believe” is translated from the Greek word, pisteuo, which means “to put one’s faith in, to trust, with the implication that actions based on that trust will follow.”

Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith alone. That is the ONLY way to be saved.

Answering another Catholic apologist

The name of this blog is “excatholic4christ.” Yes, I was a Roman Catholic for 27 years, but I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior by faith alone in 1983 and came out of the Catholic church with its false gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit. Isn’t it okay to “worship” God as a Catholic or whatever way strikes your fancy as long as you’re “sincere”? Nope. Although pluralism, tolerance, and relativism are the world’s current standards, the Bible is God’s standard and it contradicts most Catholic doctrines, including how a person is saved.

I started this blog in 2015 with the aim of Gospel outreach to Roman Catholics and warning evangelicals of ecumenism with Rome. Over the last six years, I’ve addressed many of Rome’s anti-Biblical doctrines. A couple of times, I selected a particular book by a Catholic apologist and systematically answered their claims from a Biblical perspective via a lengthy series.

The first series addressed “The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants” (2004) by Catholic apologist, Dave Armstrong. That series ran from August 2018 to April 2019 with 34 weekly installments (see the complete index here). Bottom line: We weren’t confounded.

The next series addressed “Meeting the Protestant Challenge: How to Answer 50 Biblical Objections to Catholic Beliefs” (2019) by Catholic apologist, Karl Broussard. That series ran from December 2019 to November 2020 with 50 weekly installments (see the complete index here).

These apologetics series require a lot of prayerful work and research and I wasn’t in a hurry to begin another one, especially after returning to work in January and commencing to assist one of my sisters around the same time. Those situations have calmed down a bit, so the Lord has put it in my heart to start another series addressing a Catholic apologist. Catholics need this information and so do evangelicals who are increasingly hearing pro-ecumenical messages from their pastors.

I was strolling through Amazon a few months ago and stumbled across “Forty Reasons I Am A Catholic” (2018) by Peter Kreeft. Kreeft is a Catholic philosopher and apologist. He is particularly notable for me because the ecumenically-minded young pastor of the Southern Baptist Convention church we attended for one year (2014-2015) praised Kreeft from the pulpit as his favorite philosopher. This book looks like a good vehicle for another apologetics series. It’s only 132 pages long and, obviously, from the title, is divided into forty chapters, meaning the chapters average only 3.3 pages in length. At quick glance, the book appears to be addressed to a non-academic, general audience. Kreeft evidently believes he has forty good reasons for why he is a Catholic, while I know I have forty (and many more) very good reasons for why I am no longer a Roman Catholic. Who is right?

Please pull out your Bibles and join me on Friday, July 30th as we begin a forty-week series examining and answering “Forty Reasons I Am A Catholic.”