Interview with John MacArthur - 23 questions about Roman Catholicism

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• published: 06 Mar 2015
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Pastor MacArthur answers the following questions about Roman Catholicism: 1. Does church history support Romanism? 2. What about late forming Romanist doctrines? 3. Is there such as thing as apostolic succession? Does this prove Romanism true? 4. Is there circular reasoning in saying that Catholicism is infallible? 5. What is the definition of the church? 6. Does the lack of authority in diverse protestant churches prove the need for a monolithic Roman Church? 7. What about scripture alone? 8. When tradition contradicts scripture which has the authority? 9. Does the Bible teach that traditions are inspired & authoritative? 10. 2 Corinthians 5:21 - What is the true gospel? 11. Why did Jesus live a full life here on earth for 33 years? 12. How is Rome's gospel different than the gospel of the Bible? 13. How does mass, purgatory, good works, etc take away from the true gospel? 14. What about works & James 2:24? 15. What is the difference between justification & santification? 16. Does Rome preach a false gospel & is it damnable heresy? 17. What about Romanist baptismal regeneration? 18. Can a person be saved without water baptism? 19. What about spirit baptism? 20. Has Romanism changed since Vatican II? 21. Are Roman Catholics our brothers & sisters in Christ? 22. What is wrong with the "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" document? 23. What if you are an ecumenical evangelical? Pastor John MacArthur in this exclusive interview given to our camera crew during a conference held in Dallas, Texas during 1999. John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, as well as an author, conference speaker, president of The Master's College and Seminary, and featured teacher with the Grace to You media ministry http://www.gty.org). Since completing his first best-selling book The Gospel According to Jesus in 1988, John has written nearly 400 books and study guides, including Our Sufficiency in Christ, Strange Fire, Ashamed of the Gospel, Charismatic Chaos, The Murder of Jesus, A Tale of Two Sons, Twelve Ordinary Men, The Truth War, The Jesus You Can't Ignore, Slave, One Perfect Life, and The MacArthur New Testament Commentary series. John's titles have been translated into more than two dozen languages. The MacArthur Study Bible, the cornerstone resource of his ministry, is available in English (NKJ, NAS, and ESV), Spanish, Russian, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Arabic with a Chinese translation underway. Pastor MacArthur has criticized popular mega-church pastor Joel Osteen, whom he has spoken of as a quasi-pantheist. He has also been critical of Billy Graham, whom he says teaches an unbiblical view of salvation: a type of Catholic Universalism where people outside of Christianity can go to heaven. In May 2002, in the midst of significant media and public attention focused on Catholic sex abuse cases, MacArthur gave a message highly critical of the entire system of the Roman Catholic priesthood. MacArthur has referred to Catholicism in as the "Kingdom of Satan," and holds to the confession that the pope is anti-christ, but which he said "applies to anyone who positions himself against or in place of Christ." In a newer Sermon Pastor MacArthur unequivocally states that a person who truly believes what Roman Catholicism teaches is not saved. In addition he stated that the "theology of Islam is false." Pastor John MacArthur is one of the most critical in the Christian community against the Charismatic Movement and Pentecostalism in general. In further evaluation, MacArthur charged that "the Charismatic Movement has stolen the Holy Spirit and created a golden calf and they're dancing around the golden calf as if it were the Holy Spirit." He broadly stated that within the Charismatic Movement, claimed manifestations of the Spirit such as "visions, revelations, voices from heaven...speaking in tongues, prophecies.. anointings, miracles," are "all false, all lies, all deceptions attributed falsely to the Holy Spirit." The books, "The Charismatics," "Charismatic Chaos" and "Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship," are three books against the Charismatic & Pentecostal Movements. The last book, "Strange Fire," was presented at his "Strange Fire Conference," October 2013. Pastor MacArthur has allowed that some within the Charismatic movement believed in the authority of Scripture. However, he saw its interdenominational presence as being "a testimony to the absence of any theology."