Roman Catholic Evangelism

TEN RULES FOR ROMAN CATHOLIC EVANGELISM

1. YOUR PRIMARY MOTIVE MUST NOT BE TO GET RESULTS.

You may ask what is wrong with getting results, and I'll tell you nothing is. However, we will always sacrifice anything to achieve our primary objective, and if our primary objective is to get results, we will make our presentation as shallow as it has to be in order to get the results. To have a burden for souls is not a good primary motive. The only primary motive that is acceptable is that our lives are witnesses to others because we love the Lord Jesus Christ, and desire to glorify Him. This prime motivation will enable us to be the most Christlike witnesses.

2. DON'T BE IN A HURRY.

Bart Brewer said, "No farmer plows, sows and reaps in 20 minutes. Yet sometimes we give them 20 minutes of our "precious time" and think, "What does he expect? I can't spend a lot of time with him, as I am responsible for evangelizing this whole town." We have to learn to build relationshiops as a basis for evangelism, and these are not built overnight. That is not to say that a person can't get saved in 20 minutes. If that happens, you can be sure someone else spent a lot of time sowing the seed.

3. NEVER ASSUME YOUR CATHOLIC FRIEND UNDERSTANDS YOU EVEN IF HE AGREES WITH YOU.

He recognizes that you seem to know a lot about the Bible, and, rather than admitting he doesn't know something or give you an opportunity to take out your Bible and prove it, he might agree with everything you say. Many Catholics are taught fundamentalist terminologies , and may agree with you and yet have a different definition. One Christian said, "They have our vocabulary, but not our dictionary."

4. TRY TO KEEP FROM ARGUING.

You must be willing to defend the faith, and give a reason for the hope that is within you, but an argument is seldom profitable. However, most fundamentalists seem to think that Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world and win arguments with every creature." If you win an argument, you demonstrate how smart you are; if you preach the Gospel, you are telling them how perfect Christ is.

5. DON'T KNOCK THEIR CHURCH.

Some think the greatest evangelistic weapon is to tell about tunnels between the convents and monasteries with the bones of babies found there. One priest told me this was a ridiculous charge; "if we want to go to the convent, why go to the trouble to dig a tunnel? We would just walk over there." A Catholic may tell you the immorality of priests proves the divine origin of the Catholic Church, for if a company had a hard-working, honest Board of Directors, you would expect it to succeed. The Catholic Church has some priests that are rascals, even some popes who have been monsters, and yet it succeeds. That must mean God is with them. Many Christians are shocked by priests' immorality, but you have a group of unsaved men living in an abnormal circumstance. For them to take out their frustrations on nuns or altar boys is not unusual.

6. BE LOVING.

The Apostle Paul said, "Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved." Don't go with a slick, superior attitude, but ask God to give you the love for the lost only He can give, so that they might be saved.

7. BE BIBLICAL.

The only Person Who administers salvation is the Holy Spirit, and the only weapon He has ever used is the Word of God. If you give a testimony, be sure it is based on scripture. Base your illustrations on the Bible. We are working with an Expert in evangelism, and we always use the same tool that He uses. The Bible is powerful. The entrance of God's Word gives light. All sinners are blinded by Satan, and a blind person does not need something more spectacular to look at, he needs some sight with which he can see.

8. DON'T GIVE HIM SOMETHING TO DO.

Without realizing what the Roman Catholic is thinking, many people on visitation are trained to (1) get the person to repeat a prayer; (2) tell him to walk the aisle; and (3) get baptized. The Catholic person is still thinking "DO," and he might be willing to do those things. But while he is thinking "DO" he doesn't understand the work is DONE. If the person is led to Christ at home, encourage him to come to church. The pastor should give a careful invitation, like, "If you have trusted Christ this week, we'd like to share this joy with you, and you can witness to your new-found faith by coming as a testimony." If the Holy Spirit really did a work of salvation, he will respond. But as much as we say, "Walking the aisle doesn't save you", if he has been told that is what he should do, he will do it at your prompting. Truly saved people obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and we can trust Him to do the necessary work.

9. ANSWER HIS QUESTIONS.

For teaching on Response Evangelism, send for the book DO/DONE. THE ULTIMATE CONTRAST. Never tell a sinner that you will answer him later, but right now you are more interested in finishing your presentationm. That is one of the rudest things you could do, and will turn him off as sure as anything.

10. DON'T DWELL ON NON-ESSENTIALS.

Write for the book SCRIPTURAL EVANGELISM, which deals with how to change an argument into a witness of the Infinite Christ of the Bible. We can argue that our Catholic friend worships Mary , and end up fighting about the old English word that our word "worship" comes from. We would certainly be better asking our Catholic friend if Mary is a mediator, and then pointing out that a mediator always makes peace between two warring parties. Use Romans 5:1 to tell him about true reconciliation with God.

D.A.D./P.A.D. - The Secret of Evangelism

"Dadpad" is simply an acrostic that stands for "Discover a DO; Present a DONE." It is based on a familiar theme of the C.E.C./M.O.T.C. ministry, which is in many of our publications. It boils down to this little saying,

"You do a job until you are done. When you are doing, you are not done. When you are done, you are not doing. You cannot be doing and done at the same time."

It can be proved both from scripture and church history that every false religion in the world is based upon something man can do. Various religions have various things to do, but there is always some effort of man that is necessary for an ultimate hope of salvation.

In Roman Catholicism, one normally begins to partake of the do concept even before he knows that he is doing. This is called Baptism (usually Infant Baptism) when one without his knowledge or agreement is inducted into the Catholic Church. This is followed by a life time of things to do, culminated by a Requiem Mass at the time of death and often on the anniversary of ones death. It is important to know that no single "Do" nor even a totality of a lifetime of "Dos" can assure the individual a life in Heaven.

I once wrote to a Roman Catholic and told her that nothing I could do - past, present or future - is contributing to my salvation. She replied that she agreed 100% with that statement, but went on to say, "The only thing I have to do is to keep from mortal sin." False religion cannot stand without human accomplishments, works or merits.

This is a universal part of religion formulated by man or Satan. Even in god-saturated India one can be assured that shaving off one's hair and throwing it into the Holy River will assure one million years in Heaven for every hair that hits the water. But there is still man's do, for you must sacrifice your hair and throw it into the river. Non-biblical religions can only offer a hope of Heaven (a very tenuous hope at that) through something that man must do.

In all the volumes of religion that abound in the world, the only revelation of a truly finished work comes from the Bible. Over and over we are assured that His death on the cross was fully meritorious and satisfying to the just demands of a Holy God. We who by His Grace are Christians lay claim to no other righteousness but His; indeed we desire no other.

"Upon a life I could not live; upon a death I did not die

Another's life, Another's death I stake my whole eternity."

Or, as the Scripture more potently states, "For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14).

The work for our salvation is DONE.

THE FOLLY OF UNSCRIPTURAL EVANGELISM

Versions and perversions of God's Word abound today. There is one verse that has been enthroned in the hearts of men, even though it is probably not in print. The verse is a perversion of Mark 16:15. Man's version is, "And he [Jesus] said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and win arguments with every creature."

There is a lot of human pleasure derived from winning an argument. Many a confrontation started in purity but because of human pride, the dialog sank to the level of argumentation. After all, would it seem comely for a Catholic to win an argument with a Baptist? That would be letting our side down, so we must at any cost win the argument.

By winning an argument you prove how brilliant you are; by true witnessing you tell how perfect your Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, is. If your desire in life is to prove your superiority you will find winning arguments a step in that direction. It all depends on whom you want to glorify.

Another unscriptural form of evangelism is an evangelism that has results as the primary motive. You might ask me what the problem is with seeing results, and I would tell you there is nothing wrong with it. However, if you make results the primary motive, important things can be sacrificed in order to achieve the primary motive.

If your one desire is to get him to repeat a prayer after you, you might as well "evangelize" your parrot. You can teach him to repeat the words, and he may have as much true understanding as that lost person who you talked into repeating a prayer. After all, if the only two alternatives you give him are to repeat a prayer or go to hell, any sane person would choose the prayer.

We can easily sacrifice a thorough presentation of the Gospel in order to get quick results. We can leave questions unanswered. We can use our salesmanship to elicit a response. We can effectively block the possibility of the Holy Spirit's true conviction, because He often takes too long. Our capsule method of evangelism has, in the definition of William McDonald, produced nothing but stillbirths. But we have one consolation: we can go back to our church and tell how many decisions were made and be warmly congratulated.

There is no doubt that the Roman Catholic Church is a moving target. If your aim is to hit this moving target, you may become successful, but you still haven't evangelized. As a book seller, it is unfortunate that the best selling books, tapes and videos are ones that echo what Peter de Rosa calls "The Dark Side of the Papacy." It is tragic that followers of the Lord Jesus Christ can get their "jollies" by proving how wicked Rome is, and not believe it is far more important to show a loving Saviour to individuals than to prove the putrid acts of the papacy and glory in the final defeat of the Harlot.

That Rome embodies the harlot church of Revelation 17 in indisputable; to imagine that this revelation has an relevance to evangelism is folly.

WORKING WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

Mark 16:20: ". . . the Lord working with them . . ."

2 Corinthians 6:1 " . . . as workers together with him . . ."

What a tremendous calling; to work with God! Yet Scripture assures us that is exactly what is happening in true biblical evangelism. The Holy Spirit, sent to be the sole Administrator of Salvation, is enlisting the cooperation of Christians today.

Regarding His administering salvation, we read in John 16:9 that He will reprove (convict) the world of sin. In John 15:26, we read that He will testify (bear witness) of Christ, and when one has responded to the Gospel (John 1:12), the Holy Spirit baptizes him into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).

When anyone has a job to do, he chooses some implement or weapon to do the job. The only weapon that Holy Spirit is spoken of as using is found in Ephesians 6:17 - "the word of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."

Since He is the expert in evangelism, and we, as poor weak novices are working with Him, it seems beyond question that the only weapon we should employ is the Word of God. Yet how many of us rely on our slick presentation or our ability to use logic when we present the Gospel.

WE MUST TRUST THE HOLY SPIRIT MORE THAN WE TRUST OUR ABILITY TO PRESENT THE GOSPEL.

As we use His weapon (the Word of God), we must also use His method. Notice in John 16:9 that the conviction of sin is NOT because they are murderers and NOT because they believe false doctrine. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin because they believe not on Christ. We see in Romans 10:3 a picture of those who are ignorant of what Christ did for them, and they are pictured as acting as every unsaved person in the world. They go about to establish their own righteousness, which simply proves there is something they are endeavoring to do.

If one does not trust Christ, one is reduced to doing something for his own salvation. So we see the Holy Spirit's conviction is based on the intrinsic theme of all false religion - DO.

We are also told He testifies of Christ (John 15:26). The only Christ the Holy Spirit will bear witness to is the Christ of the Bible, Who has DONE the work. We, as workers together with Him, will also testify of the same Christ.

Therefore we see His work, and our work as we work together with Him, is exposing the DO of man's religion and presenting the DONE of Christ's salvific work.

DISCOVERING A DO

Since there is a great variety among the unsaved world, we will find there are many different DOs. Since every DO is a counterfeit of God's DONE, anyone who knows the finished work of Christ as the reality of his life should be able to spot the counterfeit easily.

Every DO religion has three things in common: They rely on man's effort to complete salvation, they are unscriptural and they are unsure. There is no DO religion that can give an absolute assurance of eternal salvation.

Remember that you are not there to disprove his theological system; you are there to work with the Holy Spirit Who will only convict on the basis of the person's DO (which indicates his lack of trust in the Christ of the Bible).

While some begin their witness with TELLING the unsaved person what he believes, and then trying to disprove it, it is far better to ASK the person what he believes. This starts your witness on a far more positive note.

People like to converse about things that interest them. We have often erred by basing our witness solely on that which interest us, and we have often made it quite clear that we are not really interested in what the lost person believes. If he has the "nerve" to ask a question, we are sometimes taught not to answer him; we must be sure we monopolize the conversation, because anything he thinks might distract from our message.

If we clearly indicate to him that we are not interested in what he wants to talk about, we will find this is the best way to submarine the conversation. Our "witness" becomes a monologue, and we wonder why he shuts the door in our face or just turns his mind off of what we are saying. We will often find that asking him a question and recognizing him as a partner in this dialog will give us an opportunity that, although a bit scary, can really get the Gospel message to him.

If he asks a question, answer him. If he doesn't ask a question, ask him one. Involve him in the conversation. What he believes may be wrong, but he is entitled not only to his opinion but to the opportunity to freely express it. When he says anything, listen to what he says and find something in his statement that says, "DO."

If he doesn't volunteer a DO, prime the pump by asking him a question. You can ask a JW "Between today and the day you die, what must you do to have a life of eternal blessedness?" When he tells you what he must DO, reply with what Christ has DONE for you.

You might ask a Catholic, "How many Masses do you have to celebrate in order to be sure of going to Heaven?" While he might say, "That is a stupid question," in actual fact it is not. Since each Mass is a progression toward heaven, how many steps are required?

You might ask him how many Masses (which are an offering for sin) he has attended. When he gives you a round figure, ask him if he is now perfect and complete in the sight of God. He will usually admit that he has a long way to go before he is there. You can say, "That is interesting. By 1000 offerings for sin you have not yet been made complete in God's sight, yet the Bible says `For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."

What are you doing? You are contrasting his DO with the Bible's DONE, an exercise that will enable the Holy Spirit to do His Work. You are called to witness from your mouth to his ear; only the Holy Spirit can implant the Truth in his heart.

Remember the sword of the Spirit! Each unsaved person to whom you speak has been blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4). Blind people do not need to be told that they are blind. They do not need some spectacular sight upon which to look for they are blind and cannot see anything, either normal or spectacular. They do need sight, and we are told that "the entrance of (God's) Words gives light" (Ps 119:130).

Do not believe you have to prove the Word of God is powerful. All you have to do is use it, and God will prove the Power of His Word. It is better to haltingly quote one verse of Scripture than to deliver the finest oration filled with man's logic.

TRUST THE HOLY SPIRIT'S USE OF HIS SWORD MORE THAN YOU TRUST THE USE OF YOUR LOGIC.

PRESENT A DONE

As you deal with your unsaved friends, as we have mentioned, there will be a variety of DOs. Satan has no originality - he cannot create DOs out of thin air. Every DO is a counterfeit of God's DONE, and as you study them, you will be surprised how easy it is to define the DOs and understand the DONEs.

One of Satan's DOs is GOOD WORKS. Good works are good; they are far better than what we as humans recognize as bad works. But both have the same standing before God. Sin is an abomination to Him, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. However, good works can be one of the cleverest counterfeits Satan can use. Dr. James Dobson accepted the late Mother Teresa as a Christian because "she manifested the fruit of the Spirit in her life." Jack Van Impe scorns those who think this "sweet 90 pound lady" could possible be lost.

While I have no desire to judge an individual's salvation, from her own lips come statements that indicate a darkness concerning the state of her soul. She prays for a soul to leave Purgatory every time she was photographed; she said she could not have Jesus were it not for the priest's blessing on the wafer; she openly urged the pope to name Mary "Co-Redeemer, Co-Mediatrix and Advocate of Christians."

Even many evangelicals have accorded her a "do-it-yourself canonization" and fear the rages of public opinion if they were ever to cast a doubt on her saintliness. Yet, anyone, be she Mother Teresa or be he Adolph Hitler, can never see the gates of Glory through the merit of their good works. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5).

An understanding of Catholic thought would bring us to the conclusion that they believe they are regenerated (born again) at the time of their baptism. As Pope Paul VI said, "Through the sacrament of Baptism man is reborn." Interesting questions can be asked to find out if this is a genuine or counterfeit new birth. We know its efficacy relies on the willed actions of the priest (or, in cases of emergency, anyone). We also know the New Birth comes not through something man must will to do (John 1:13). The New Birth makes a person a new creature in Christ, yet the only change in a baptized Catholic is an invisible character which is imprinted on his soul. Even this "invisible character" cannot assure him of eternal life in Heaven. The Bible clearly states in 1 Peter 1:3-4 that those who are born again have a place reserved for them in Heaven. Lest anyone should think that they might still miss that place reserved for them, we have the promise in 1 Peter 3:18 that Jesus Christ Himself will "bring us to God."

Sacrifice for sin has always been in the forefront of man's efforts to please God. This was in the heart of both righteous Abel and wicked Cain in Genesis 4. Since sacrifice for sin is present both in God's true religion and Satan's counterfeit, we should be able to discern the respective DO and DONE.

A DO sacrifice has to be repeated. A DO sacrifice will never give the assurance of Heaven. A DO sacrifice is, of course, unscriptural. While the Old Testament sacrifices were ordained by God, they were never fashioned to take away sin. All they could do was to cover sin so that Israel could live in reconciliation with God.

The inabilities of these sacrifices, as well as all modern sacrifices that are patterned after them and receive efficacy because of them, are clearly outlined in Hebrews 10:11.

"And every priest standeth DAILY, offering OFTENTIMES the same sacrifices, which can NEVER take away sins." (Emphasis ours)

This, whether in Old Testament times or in a more modern 20th century church, is a DO sacrifice.

But God continues, "this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God." This DONE sacrifice is further witnessed to in Hebrews 10:14, "For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."

Contrasts between DO and DONE can be seen in the need for cleansing by both Catholics and Christians. Roman Catholics see a need for purging from sin after death, and the place (or state or condition) called Purgatory has been invented by Satan. St. Peter's Catechism tells us the sinner in Purgatory must atone for his sine. This is clearly DO cleansing, as even folks back on earth can do something.

God's provision for cleansing is DONE. Read Hebrews 1:3, "When he had by Himself PURGED our sins, He sat down on the right hand of God " (Emphasis ours).

While some excesses in Roman Catholic Confession, or the Sacrament of Penance, have been dealt with since Vatican II, it is still true that this Sacrament can never accomplish any completion. Fraught with the dangers which include lack of sincerity on the penitent's part and withholding his intention on the priests's part, one can never be sure. The repetitive confession of sin is witness to the fact that Confession is a DO sacrament.

God witnesses to the finished, DONE nature of His forgiveness when He states, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us", and "their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."

TERMINOLOGIES

One of the greatest difficulties in Roman Catholic evangelism is understanding the way they use evangelical-sounding terminologies in an effort to turn away our evangelical thrusts. These can be scrutinized in the light of DO/DONE and thereby used advantageously in our ministry of DADPAD (Discover a DO; present a DONE).

A Catholic can say he is saved by grace. We, citing Eph 2:8,9 would believe that we are given salvation without respect to our work.

The Roman Catholic definition of "saved by Grace" is that God gives the ability to do whatever is necessary for salvation. To quote the New Catholic Catechism,

"the ways of reaching beatitude [heaven] - through right conduct, with the help of law and grace, through conduct that fulfills the twofold commandment of charity, specified in God's Ten Commandments" (page 14, #10).

If a Catholic says "Jesus died for me," he would be merely asserting that Jesus' death on the cross opened heaven's gates so that it would now be possible for him to enter. We look upon the death of Jesus Christ as completing a substitutionary work that brings us to God.

Justification by faith, for the Roman Catholic, happens at baptism, when the child is justified by the faith of his parents and/or godparents.

Teaching of Christ, a Roman Catholic catechism (1983) states that Heaven is a free gift from God, but goes on to say, "Not only does God give Heaven as a free gift for man, he gives him the extra blessing of allowing him to work for it." In fact, this same Catechism tells us Heaven will be sweeter because we earned it.

A Catholic can declare that he has been saved by the sacrifice of Christ, is being saved by the graces offered by the Church, and HOPES to be saved when he stands before God in judgment.

He can trust Christ to help him do whatever is necessary for Heaven, and receive Christ when he partakes of the Host at Mass. He even has Christ's Real Presence between the time he has swallowed "Him" in Communion and digested "Him."

The bottom line is that everything in false religion can be reduced to a DO. Find the DO, and learn how to present a biblical message of Christ's finished, completed, "DONE" work at Calvary.