In their lust for unity with other men the Emergent Church and post-evangelical “Protestants” in general are—in direct opposition to the Lord’s Reformers—right now embracing the apostate Roman Catholic Church as just another Christian denomination. Take for example Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren as I show in Rick Warren, “Every Facet Of Christianity—Including Catholicism”. However, the issue really is simple: If, as taught the Church of Rome, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without “the new birth in baptism” then we are now in hopeless contradiction with the Gospel as contained in Holy Scripture.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)

Speaking The Truth In Love

Let me make this as clear as I possibly can for the Roman Catholics who may read this work in Christ from Apprising Ministries. I personally am former member of the Roman Catholic Church and happen to care very deeply about those, such as the majority of my own family line, who are trapped in this apostate man-made system of religion known as Roman Catholicism. I also fully realize that what I say may sound “unloving” and possibly even “harsh.” However, there is just nothing that I can do about that; for the fact is, we are not doing anyone a service by not telling the Truth.

As I have said before, one of my life verses is 1 Corinthians 15:10 — But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. There are a couple of things I can note here: 1) But for God’s grace (unmerited favor) I was freed from the bondage of this false religious system of the Roman Catholic Church, and 2) The Lord’s unmerited favor has also resulted in His calling me to the incredible privilege of being one of His pastor-teachers so this grace “was not in vain.”

Now there has been some confusion over this issue of baptism. You must understand that it matters not some of the Reformers may have baptized infants, or that Luther placed much emphasis upon baptism, because these men did not believe in baptismal regeneration as does the Church of Rome. So this is a red herring that only leads us off to “wrestle with the snake”; the issue is not about infants, but rather Rome’s view of baptism period. In the above Scripture the Apostle Paul has very clearly said that if anyone preaches a Gospel other than that of Christ’s original Apostles, it is God Himself Who says this person—or group—is accursed.

Roman Catholicism Teaches Baptismal Regeneration

The Gospel of the Apostles does not include the doctrine that baptism plays any role whatsoever in bringing about forgiveness of our sins and/or uniting us to Christ. The different “gospel” of the apostate Church of Rome unquestionably does, which is why I will quote the following directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church section 977 — “Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ…” No, baptism has nothing whatsoever to do with forgiveness of sins (e.g. Matthew 9:2; Luke 23:42-43; Acts 10:43-45), and no it doesn’t unite us with Christ.

A person becomes baptized because he has already been united to Christ through regeneration by God’s grace alone; through faith alone; in Christ alone. Ephesians 2:8-9 is written in the past tense, are ye saved (NIV — have been saved), and yet the different gospel the Roman Catholic Church teaches that justification is an ongoing process. God the Holy Spirit tells us that anyone, even an angel from Heaven—which most certainly applies to the Pope in Rome pretending to be Vicar of Christ—who preaches any other Gospel than the one Paul preached is under the divine curse of God. And if one is under the divine curse of the Lord then he can’t very well be a Christian.

The Catechism also says in section 405: “human nature has not been totally corrupted;…” This is also part of the different gospel of the Roman Catholic Church because Genesis 8:21 distinctly says — “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” The Lord Himself confirms this in Matthew 7:11 when He says to His Own disciples — “ye then, being evil.” The greatest of the Apostles says — “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” And finally Romans 3:10-18 makes it quite clear that there is none that seeketh after God. (v.11).

Mankind Plays Absolutely No Part In Salvation

In fact we have this confirmed again by the LORD God Himself in Matthew 11:27 when He says — no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Now we may not like the fact — no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him, as the NIV renders this verse, but this is exactly what the text says. So you can see this is right in line with what God the Holy Spirit of Truth reveals through Paul — “there is none that seeketh after God.”

There is just no way around the absolute Truth of Romans 5:

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (vv.6-10)

The Catechism also says in section 405: “Baptism,…erases original sin…” In Section 1215: “[Baptism] actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one ‘can enter the kingdom of God.’ ” Section 1265 says: “Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also…the whole organism of the Christian’s supernatural life has its roots in baptism.” We read in section 1250: “Born with a fallen human nature…children also have need of the new birth in baptism.” And finally, here is section 1992: “Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith.”

Men and women, the issue is simple: If no one can enter the Kingdom of God without “the new birth in baptism,” then we are now in hopeless contradiction with the Gospel of the Apostles contained in Holy Scripture. It needs to be recovered that the Reformers were simply returning our Lord’s Church back to what God has told us about His Gospel in His Word. The fact is that mankind’s nature is totally depraved; he does nothing to initiate so great [a] salvation, he does nothing to accomplish it, nor is there anything he does afterward to keep it. Paul gave us the Gospel that he preached along with the other Apostles in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; and it is most clearly not the one of baptismal regeneration, which is preached by the apostate Roman Catholic Church.

In fact, Paul himself even differentiated between baptism and the preaching of the Gospel when he told us — For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to — [instead] — preach the gospel. No, the Bible is very clear on this subject; and the truly perplexing question that remains is: How possibly can the allegedly Protestant Reformed evangelical community now consider as Christian an organization that claims infallibility for its corrupt and unregenerate teaching magisterium who continues to proclaim a gospel of works-oriented baptism for the remission of sins, which undoubtedly comes under the category of preaching another gospel unto you than that ye have received?