Dear BPCWAians, We have just commemorated the 1517 Reformation last Sunday and in this pastoral, I wish to provide some clear evidence that the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) has not changed. Many today assert that we need to forget the past and reunite with “Mother Church” from which they claim that we came out of. They say this because they think that the Roman Catholic church believes in essentially the same doctrines as us and has changed. The reunification efforts are rapid and across denominations. Those who would not jump on the bandwagon are labelled schismatic and hampering the “work of Christ’s kingdom”. So, is it still necessary for BPCWA to be separate from them? Well, it depends on whether the RCC has indeed reformed in doctrines and beliefs.

Proof that the RC Church has not changed. After 1517, the RCC launched Counter- Reformation movements. One of their efforts was through the Council of Trent. This ecumenical council was crucial as it determined and defined the doctrines of the RCC in response to Protestant’s “heresies”. It established authoritative definitions for Canons that define the RCC doctrinal stance. Anyone who does not accept their definitions, “let him be anathema”, ie cursed.

In the Vatican’s website, its statements remain unchanged in its catechisms, ie its question and the answers it gives to teach its followers about what they must believe in as a Roman Catholic (https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm). If you call yourself a Roman Catholic, this is what you must believe based upon their official Vatican website:

The heresy that doing works contributes to forgiveness of sins still enforced:

“V. THE MANY FORMS OF PENANCE IN CHRISTIAN LIFE: 1437 Reading Sacred Scripture,

praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Our Father – every sincere act of worship or devotion revives the spirit of conversion and repentance within us and contributes to the forgiveness of our sins” (https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c2a4.htm)

The heresy that baptism is needed for salvation still believed in today:

“1987 The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” and through Baptism” (https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c3a2.htm#I)

Just on the doctrine of salvation itself, here are some of the Council of Trent Canons that remain unchanged and that are still put forth as beliefs of the RCC (taken from https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/trent/sixth-session.htm):

The RCC has not changed on the doctrine on how we are saved by Justification by Christ alone. It teaches that we need to add our good works:

CANON XII.-If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.

CANON XIV.-If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema.

CANON XXIV.-If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.

These documents remains the official teachings for “GUARDING THE DEPOSIT OF FAITH IS THE MISSION WHICH THE LORD ENTRUSTED TO HIS CHURCH, and which she fulfills in every age” are signed off by Pope John Paul stating that, “The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I approved 25 June last and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church’s faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church’s Magisterium. I declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion. May it serve the renewal to which the Holy Spirit ceaselessly calls the Church of God, the Body of Christ, on her pilgrimage to the undiminished light of the Kingdom!”

Why separation is important. As the RCC has not changed in her doctrinal teachings that salvation is by faith plus your own good works, and that one must trust in the “grace” of their sacraments inorderto be saved, it shows clearly that the RCC has not moved from its heresies at all. Any move to seek to re-unite with the RCC will be in defiance of God’s clear command for true believers in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? (15) And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them,  and walk in them;  and I will  be their God,  and they  shall  be  my people. (17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (18) And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”. God revealed clearly that there will be an unholy ecumenical union signified by the harlot in Revelations 17:1-6 “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: (2) With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. (3) So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. (4) And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: (5) And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (6) And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration”. To be re-united with the RCC is to be under God’s wrath and eventual destruction warned in Rev 18:3-5 “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. (4) And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (5) For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities”.

May our Lord keep BPCWA pure and faithful to the end till He returns, and may each one of us and our future generations be loyal to His Truth, be courageous to stand against the swelling tide of those who wish to return to the RCC, and be faithful in defending and sending forth His Truth so that many Roman Catholics will also come out from among them.

Yours in our Lord’s service,

Pastor