The Truth of the Roman Catholic Church — Tim Conway

Mary as Mediatrix and the Uniqueness of Christ's Salvation

Let's think about the Roman Catholic Church for a second. The Roman Catholic Church sets Mary forth as a mediatrix. The Roman Catholic Church, this isn't even in question. I'm a former nominal Catholic, but it's not even in question if you have once walked in the Catholic ranks.

Any of you former Catholics? Folks, that Mary is honored and worshiped way above Christ. She is counted more special, more worthy of honor. She's counted as the one who is gracious and merciful and the tender one that you can go to.

And that's the way I viewed her. And Mary is not a co-mediatrix. Christ alone is our Savior. And the thing is, the Roman Catholic Church does not teach salvation by grace through faith. They teach salvation by works.

Works-Based Salvation and the Suppression of Scripture

And you have to do things to earn your way to heaven. It is diametrically opposed to the Gospel. The Roman Catholic Church has sought to take the Bible throughout history. The Dark Ages were called the Dark Ages because the Roman Catholic Church took the Bible out of the common man's hand.

They gladly put everything into Latin so that the common man could not understand, could not interpret, could not read for himself. Throughout history, the Roman Catholic Church has put to death Christians who were found possessing the Bible in their own language.

If we look at the wickedness of the priesthood, even as it's become clear just in our own country in these last years, but if you study the history, you look at the Inquisition, you look at the Christians that they have put to death through the years.

Purgatory and the Sufficiency of Christ's Finished Work

If you look at the way they've tampered with the Word of God and their doctrine of purgatory, their doctrine of purgatory says that even after all the good that you've done in this world, if you get to the end, you still have to go in the flames and pay the remainder.

That is such an attack on the finished and complete work of Jesus Christ on the cross. If I trust in Christ and it is finished and His one sacrifice has justified me in the sight of God, there is no place for purgatory whatsoever.

Purgatory is self-payment. It is not Christ's payment. It is at odds and diametrically opposed to true Christianity, biblical Christianity at numerous major points. Yes, they might claim they believe in a Trinity, but they really don't.

I mean, they believe in Father, Mother, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that Mother is worshiped in the top spot, in the top place. She's given preeminence and She's prayed to and they pray to the saints. And they've even altered the very...

I mean, they've messed around with the second commandment and they would have us to believe that it is okay to worship graven images. And they've filled their churches full of it. That's why Wendy is even in the predicament that she's in.

Wendy is in the same kind of predicament that you can find they were in in the New Testament when they were bowing down before the Greek and the Roman gods. Why? Because you basically have the same thing going on.

You have statues. Statues that people worship. Statues that people fall down before. And Richard Bennett is a friend of mine, converted Catholic priest. He said he and a bunch of other priests and nuns were at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and they were getting drunk in a strip club when it hit him.

I think something's wrong with Catholicism. It's like you think so? But that's not a fluke situation. That is Catholicism. Catholicism is all about living in your sin and then coming to certain times of the year and abstaining from certain things and trying to pay your way and do your abstinence so as to get credit with God so that in the end, your time in purgatory is reduced to the greatest minimum.

Christ's Perfect Obedience and Imputed Righteousness

And it's horrible. We have a truth that is given to us that Jesus Christ, He earned our law-keeping. He earned our righteousness by the obedience of one. And He obeyed His Father and He obeyed Him without blemish and without spot, without defect, without sin.

He kept the law in our place. This is My Son in whom I'm well pleased. He was pleasing. There was no defect in Him. He obeyed the Father. He prepared a body for Him. And He came and took upon Himself humanity.

And He walked in sin. He who knew no sin, Scripture says. And He came under the law. And the law had nothing on Him. The law had nothing on Him. By His obedience, by His righteousness, God declares us by faith in Him, God declares us righteous.

God declares us perfect. God forgives all of our sin. His shed blood, His payment, His death, what He did on that cross, He was forsaken. God bruised Him. God smote Him. God afflicted Him in our place.

Christ's Substitutionary Suffering and Reconciliation

Our chastisement He bore. And by that one offering, by His suffering, we've been reconciled to God. And that's the beauty. If there's any purgatory, then Christ failed. Christ failed to do what Christ came to do.

And what did He do? What did He come to do? He came to save sinners. And no sinner is saved by Christ who goes to purgatory. Because that's saying that Christ's payment is not sufficient and I have to pay more.

Conversion from Works-Righteousness to Grace

And so we reject Catholicism as damnable error. And so, when I got saved, I got saved out of Catholicism. I got saved from Mary worship. I got saved from my own works, which were only filthy rags is what Scripture said.

I got saved from that. I was rescued. That's God's salvation. It saves us. Every false religion can be known by this. It's a works-based. Christianity is the only thing that says it's not by works of righteousness that we've done.

The Mass and the Re-Sacrifice of Christ

And so, the mass has been considered through the centuries, the mass has been considered an abomination by our brethren who have gone before us. And do you know why it has? Do you know what happens in the mass?

They re-sacrifice Christ all over again. They don't deny that. They lift up their wafer and they claim that it becomes Christ and the sacrifice all over. Scripture repeatedly says once. One sacrifice.

He suffered once. There's no repeat sacrifice. What the Catholics do in their mass is an abomination.