Did Pope Francis Just Call Jesus a Liar?

Pope Francis’s Claim That Humans Are Fundamentally Good

Pope Francis has said that practicing homosexuals will go to heaven, professing atheists will go to heaven, and Roman Catholics have bent over backwards trying to defend him. Good luck defending him this time.

Welcome to the program, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Justin Peters. I hope that this finds you and your family doing well today. I want to thank you so much for joining me. Pope Francis recently did an interview with Nora O'Donnell of CBS, and in this interview, Pope Francis explicitly denies the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Watch this short video clip, and dear friends, there is no way to take his words out of context. There's no defending him this time.

Watch this. When you look at the world, what gives you hope? Everything. You see tragedies, but you also see so many beautiful things. You see heroic mothers, heroic men, men who have hopes and dreams, women who look to the future.

That gives me a lot of hope. People want to live. People forge ahead, and people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners,.

But the heart itself is good. So when asked what gives him hope, Pope Francis said that everything gives him hope, and he says that we are all fundamentally good. The Bible would beg to differ. Let's look at a few texts.

Human Sinfulness in Ecclesiastes, Romans, and Original Sin

Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 20. Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. There's not a righteous man on earth. Unless you think that's not enough to make the case, well, let's look at Romans chapter 3 verses 10 through 12.

The Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, says this, as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God.

All have turned aside. Together they have become, what? Worthless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. Dear friends, there is none righteous. There is none who seeks after God. There is no one who does good, not even one.

All have turned aside. We have all become worthless. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. What the Pope taught in this interview, Pope Francis, what he taught is an explicit denial of the biblical doctrine of original sin.

He said that humans are fundamentally good, and he belabored that point. It wasn't just an off-the-cuff, kind of a one-off comment. He belabored that point. He emphasized it, and this is in direct violation of the very clear teaching of Scripture.

Let's look at Romans chapter 5 verse 12. Paul, again, therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. What is unclear about that?

Contrary to what Pope Francis says, that we are all fundamentally good, the Bible teaches that we are all fundamentally bad. We are all born sinners. Sin entered into the world through one man, Adam, and it has spread like a virus to all men.

Everyone, every man, every woman who has ever been born, we were born sinners by nature, by birth. We were born with a sin nature. The Bible knows nothing of original goodness. It knows everything about original sin.

We are born sinners. We are sinners by birth, by nature, and by choice in our in our deeds, and in our words, and in our thoughts. We have all violated God's laws. And when Pope Francis says that we have good hearts...

Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good. Really? Tell that to the Prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9. The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick.

Who can know it? Jeremiah would beg to differ. He says the heart is deceitful above all things, and is desperately sick. Many translations, desperately wicked. Your heart and my heart, they are desperately wicked.

And so wicked, he says, who can even know it? Our hearts are so deceitful, so wicked, who can even know our hearts? Who can even plumb the depths of the wickedness of our hearts apart from Jesus Christ?

Jesus, the Rich Young Ruler, and the Meaning of True Goodness

So Pope Francis is explicitly denying the very clear teaching of Scripture. And as far as us being good? Well, I would refer you to Mark chapter 10, and let's see what Jesus himself has to say about this subject.

This is the account of the man whom we often refer to as the rich young ruler. So Mark chapter 10 beginning in verse 17. And as he, Jesus, was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him and began asking him, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. For a long time when I was much, much younger as a boy, teenager, young adult man, I didn't really understand what Jesus was saying here because he seems to be calling into question his own goodness.

And I was always taught in, you know, Sunday school that Jesus was good. But here he seems to be calling into question his goodness. He says to this rich young ruler, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

But what I didn't understand at the time, and now do, Jesus was not correcting him. Jesus was leading him. Jesus was saying to this rich young ruler, as we referred to him, okay, you call me good, but why?

Do you call me good because I teach some good things, I tell some good stories, and I do some good things for people? You know, I feed the hungry and heal the sick. Is that why you call me good? Because you think I do some nice things for folks?

Or do you call me good because you understand who I am? Do you call me good because you understand that I am good? Because I am God. There is only one who is good, and that is God. Jesus was affirming his deity.

He was not correcting him. He was leading him. Okay, you call me good, but why? Do you really understand the implications of what you are saying? Yes, I am good because I am God. And dear friends, there is only one who is good, as Jesus said, and that is God.

And dear friends, Pope Francis knows that. It's not that he doesn't know that this account is in Mark's gospel. He knows it's in there. He's read it undoubtedly many times. And so by saying that everyone is good, we are all fundamentally good when he knows full well that Jesus said there is only one who is good, and that is God.

Then you know what he's doing? He's calling Jesus a liar. That's what he's doing. And you can object all you want. You can hem and haw all you want, but Pope Francis knows this is in the Bible. He knows what Jesus says.

He knows that Romans chapter 3 is in the Bible, and yet he says that everyone is good. We are all fundamentally good when Jesus himself says only God is good. Pope Francis is calling Jesus a liar. Jesus immediately then cites to the rich young ruler the Ten Commandments.

He said to him, you know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. So he cites to him the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, God's standard of goodness, to help him realize that he is not good.

He has not really kept all of these things from his youth up as he claims, because none of us have. None of us have. God's standard of goodness is outlined in the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not lie.

Have you ever told a lie? Of course you have. Many of them. So have I. Thou shalt not steal. Have you ever taken something that does not belong to you? The value of what you take is irrelevant. If so, you're a thief.

So you're a liar. You're a thief. Thou shalt not commit adultery. But Jesus says if you look at a woman with lust, you've committed adultery already in your heart. If you have ever looked at another person with lust, you're an adulterer.

So how are you doing so far? We've gone through three of the Ten Commandments. Every single person watching me right now, and myself included, we are liars. We're thieves. We are adulterers at heart at least.

Oh, and by the way, we're also idolaters. We're also blasphemers. You see, we have broken God's laws thousands upon thousands of times in word, in deed, and in thought. None of us is good. There is only one who is good, and that is God.

And for Pope Francis to say that humans are.

Fundamentally good. And people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good.

Dear friends, that guts the gospel. That makes the cross of Jesus Christ meaningless. Good people don't need a Savior. Good people don't need redemption. If you were truly good, you would be saved by your own merits, your own goodness.

But there's only one who is good. So as long as people see themselves as good, they'll never come to Christ. It is only when you see yourself for what you truly are, that you are a sinner, that you are a rebel, that you are a traitor who has committed high treason against the sovereign King of the universe, who has broken his laws and thumbed your nose in his face.

It is only when you see yourself as a wretched, vile sinner that you will truly see your need for a Savior. As long as you think you're good, you'll never come to Christ. It is only when we see ourselves for what we really are, rebels who deserve nothing but the righteous wrath of God, the holy wrath of God, it is only then that we will truly see our need for a Savior and come to Christ.

Pope Francis is explicitly denying the gospel. Unless you think that your good works will save you, well, yeah, I've done some bad things, I've done some things wrong, but hey, I've done a lot of good things, too, and I think my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, and God will kind of grade on a curve and let me into heaven.

Oh, no, he will not. Isaiah chapter 64, verse 6, for all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, carry us away.

Your iniquities have carried you away. Your iniquities are carrying you away straight to hell, and if you think that your good deeds will save you, no, your good deeds are like a filthy garment. In the Hebrew, what that means is that's actually a reference to menstrual rags.

It's a very gross description. You think your good works will earn you favor with God? Oh, no. They're filthy. They're disgusting. We cannot earn our favor before a thrice holy God with our measly good works.

Trying to impress God with our good works when he is the king of the universe, when he is thrice holy, when we have sinned against him, that is like trying to impress someone with disgusting filthy rags.

Lay your works down. They will profit you nothing. All of us are sinners, and Pope Francis, as if he hasn't done it already, and he has many, many times over, in fact, Roman Catholic doctrine by its nature is a denial of the gospel, but this is about as clear and concise as it comes, dear ones.

Pope Francis is not a Christian, and how is it that, you know, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, when the Roman Catholic Church is in need of a pope, when one of their popes dies or, like in the case of Pope Benedict, just resigns, when that happens, when the papacy is vacant, the Cardinals get together and they choose a pope, and according to official Roman Catholic doctrine, this decision-making process by the Cardinals is infallibly superintended by the Holy Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit of God directs these Cardinals to infallibly choose their next pope, and Pope Francis, I used to call Pope Francis the Joel Osteen of Roman Catholicism. I don't do that anymore because that's too generous to him.

Pope Francis is so wildly liberal, I call him the Deepak Chopra of Roman Catholicism. He has openly said that practicing homosexuals and professing atheists will go to heaven. Then what's the point? What's the point of the cross?

What's the point of Jesus coming and dying on the cross? And now he has said that we're all fundamentally good. It makes the cross of Christ meaningless, and there are many other things that we could discuss about the Roman Catholic Church, all the other brazen heresies and denials of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement on the cross.

We could talk about all those things, and prayers and worship to Mary and the saints, and the theological fiction that is purgatory, and all of those things. And by the way, if humans are so good, why is there a need for purgatory?

I mean, if you're fundamentally good, why go to this place called purgatory to have all your other sins burned up that Christ somehow didn't pay for? Dear friends, there is not a shred of biblical evidence for purgatory.

This is a made-up place. Purgatory is as real as Candyland. It does not exist. It's a fabrication of the Roman Catholic Church that it has used over the centuries to enrich itself. But I digress. In fact, I will put a link down below in the description to a couple of other interviews that I've done in years past.

I interviewed Mike Gendron. Mike Gendron is a former Roman Catholic. He was a Roman Catholic for the first 35 years of his life. He knows Roman Catholicism backwards and forwards, and now he is a born-again Christian.

He has a real heart to evangelize Roman Catholics. And so if you want more information on Roman Catholicism, why it's so unbiblical, check the links down below in the description to those videos. Please do watch them.

Roman Catholic Titles, Trent, and the False Hope of Works

So yeah, you have here Pope Francis, a man who is clearly denying the gospel of Jesus Christ and even the deity of Christ himself. I want to bring up another couple of points, and then I want to close with the gospel.

But Pope Francis has often been referred to as the humble Pope. They say that Pope Francis is very humble. It is said of him that at least he used to cook his own food, and he doesn't wear the red papal shoes that most Popes wear.

They say he's a very humble man. But have you ever noticed the titles that Roman Catholics give to their Popes? There's a number of different titles, but the three primary titles that they give to their Popes are as follows.

They refer to the Pope as the Holy Father. Dear friends, there is only one Holy Father, and then they refer to him as the head of the church. Dear friends, there is only one head of the church, and that is Jesus Christ.

And they refer to the Pope as the Vicar of Christ. That word vicar means substitute, so substitute of Christ on earth. Who is the true substitute of Christ on earth? Remember what Jesus said to his disciples?

But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. The Holy Spirit of God is the true Vicar of Christ on earth.

So they give the titles of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit to the Pope. And dear friends, if you think you're the Holy Father, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, you receive those titles, you ain't humble.

I don't care what color your shoes are, you're not humble. Roman Catholicism is antithetical to the gospel. In the Council of Trent that lasted from 1545 to 1563, a long council, but at the conclusion of that council, the Roman Catholic Church adopted a series of anathemas.

In other words, if you believe these things, you will die and go to hell. There is no hope of salvation for you. And basically, in summary, the Council of Trent said that if you believe that salvation is by grace alone, through no merit of your own, if you believe that salvation is by faith alone, without a mixture of works, and in Christ alone, you are anathema, you will die and go to hell.

And that remains official Roman Catholic doctrine to this very day. It has never been rescinded. The true gospel is this. You are a sinner. You have broken the laws of God. The righteous wrath of God abides on you.

That is what you deserve. And if you die in your sins, you will very rightly and very justly go to a very real place called hell, where the worm will not die, the fire will not be quenched, there will be wailing, weeping, gnashing of teeth, the full undiluted fury of God's wrath will be poured out on you day and night, and it will never end.

The smoke of your torment will go up endlessly, never ending. That is what you deserve. That is what your sins have earned you. The wages of sin is death, eternal death. And your works will not save you.

There is nothing that you can do to earn God's favor. That's the bad news. But the good news of the gospel is this, is that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth, and Jesus lived a perfect life.

Truly God, truly man. He was one person with two distinct natures, the God-Man. And as the God-Man, Jesus lived a perfect life to the perfect pleasure and satisfaction of God the Father. Jesus never broke any of God's laws.

He was perfect. He was the Lamb without blemish. And then Jesus willingly laid down His life on the cross. His life was not taken. He gave it. And on the cross, this perfect person offered His perfect life as a perfect sacrifice to perfectly satisfy the perfect wrath of God.

Died on the cross three days later, bodily raised from the dead, proving Himself to be who He said He was, God in human flesh. His sacrifice was once for all. Read the book of Hebrews. Never to be repeated again.

Jesus said on the cross, it is finished. Jesus propitiated. That means He satisfied the wrath of God that burns against the sins of His people. And if you will repent of sin, turn from your sins, and place your trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, He will save you.

There is salvation in no one else. You will not find salvation in your works. Your works are as filthy rags. You will not find salvation in any other world religion, any other philosophy. Buddha will not help you.

Muhammad will not help you. Only Jesus Christ. And not the Jesus of Mormonism. Not the Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Not a Jesus who was created. Not even the Jesus of Roman Catholicism, who has to have his sacrifice reenacted all the time.

And there's other issues. Again, links down below in the description if you want to do a deeper dive on that. The once-for-all sacrifice of God the Son on the cross. If you will turn from your sin, repent from sin, and place your trust in Him, and come to Christ seeking not only a Savior from hell, but seeking a Savior from sin.

From sin itself. Does your sin grieve you? Because you understand that your sin grieves God. If you will come to Christ empty-handed, seeking Him and Him alone, He will save you. Jesus says, The one who comes to me I will in no wise cast out.

You will pass from death to life. The old things passed away. Behold, all things will be made new. The righteousness of Christ will be imputed, not infused, imputed to your account. And when God the Father looks at you, He will see the righteousness of His own Son that has been imputed to you.

Hope in Humanity Versus Hope in Christ

That is the good news. And Jesus Himself is our reward. And finally, when Pope Francis says that his hope is in humanity, he was asked in that interview, What brings you hope? And he said, Todas, everything.

And then he says, you know, men and women who do that, that's what gives him hope. When he looks.

At humanity, that gives him hope. You see heroic mothers, heroic men, men who have hopes and dreams, women who look to the future. That gives me a lot of hope.

Untrue. Untrue. Let's look at Titus chapter 3, 5 through 7, and we will see where our hope lies. He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

If you're a Christian, your hope is not in mankind. It's not in this earth. It's not in this world. It's not in this age. Our hope as Christians is in Christ Jesus. Praise be His name. Dear friends, I do not hate Roman Catholics.

Not at all. I do hate Roman Catholicism because it keeps people in spiritual bondage, because I am commanded as a Christian to hate what God hates. We meditate on the Word of God. I meditate on Your Word, therefore I hate every false way.

So we as Christians, we are to love what God loves and hate what God hates. I hate Roman Catholicism. I hate the Word of Faith theology because these are all distortions of the gospel, false gospels. But I love Roman Catholics.

We should all love Roman Catholics and love them enough to tell them the truth, that they are in spiritual bondage in the Roman Catholic Church, but there is freedom in Christ Jesus in the true gospel, which I have presented to you in this video.

May God bless you and your family. Until our next time together, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all.