August 22, 2018 Show with Richard Bennett on “The Nature of God”

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Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

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Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors,

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Christian scholars and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage, quote, we are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

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Now here's our host Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

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This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Wednesday on this 22nd day of August 2018.

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I am so delighted to have after a long absence back on the program a very dear friend of mine

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Richard Bennett. I have helped Richard organize many speaking engagements over the years and I am so delighted that his health has turned around for the better and has enabled him to be on the program today.

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Richard Bennett is a former Roman Catholic priest, he's an author and he's the founder of Berean Beacon and today we are going to address how the nature of God negates false

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Roman Catholic mysticism and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Richard Bennett.

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It's a joy, it's a joy to be with you again Chris, a real joy, praise the

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Lord. Amen, well Richard if you could let our listeners know before we go into the subject just a little bit about your health and how it has improved because all of us who know and love you are worried for a little while but if you could tell us about your health and as much as you care to share.

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Yeah well worse than me is my beloved wife who has a fourth stage cancer, it's spread to our lungs and into our bones and it seems to be spreading further, sometimes she profusely bleeds from her left breast and the cancer spread also to her right breast so while the

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Berean Beacon is well supported and we are in difficulties and then

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I have on my back spine from an accident I had in 1972, I have two discs that are crushed and this causes a lot of pain and then because of the digestion bones in my digestion system being brittle and wasting away

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I've had trouble digesting food, painful and used to look forward to a meal and now it's painful so it's difficult so it's a difficult task for us and while the

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Berean Beacon is well funded, we're not well funded. Well I'm going to ask my listeners to pray about that and actually physically do something about that if you could help

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Richard out financially that'd be wonderful and just to let you know Richard's wife who he just mentioned who has the fourth stage cancer she is a former nun,

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Richard is a former priest and his wife is a former... No no no no you don't you don't have that she was not a former nun.

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Oh why did I think that? Because I have a book of 50 former nuns.

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Oh okay that I apologize for that for some reason I thought that you married a former nun, I've known you since the 1990s

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I don't understand why I didn't know that. Yeah yeah yeah yeah we have a book of 50 former nuns.

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Yes I do I do recall that. And just recently Patricia another former nun and another one called

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Kelly just very recently they keep coming out Chris people keep coming out for Romanism I have a book of 50 former priests

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I have a book of 20 former nuns and in the last oh two days ago

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Patricia, Lady Patricia came out just before that Kelly came out that's a former nun so you know in Catholicism they don't tell you about those who are coming out.

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Right well I know that you could get that book on the 50 former nuns from Solid Ground Christian Books solid -ground -books .com.

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Yeah yes you can you can get it there and that's that would be it would be it would be good and valuable to get that and it's always a joy to be with you

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Chris. Maybe when maybe when I think of you I think of Martin Luther for some reason that's why

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I thought you were married to a former nun. And by the way if the

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Lord did touch anybody's heart and they wanted to support us we don't use our faces for obvious reasons because a lot of people don't like me.

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I want to go on the Lord's time.

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We have a P .O. Box in Yakima I'm here on the northwest coast of America you know and it's a

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P .O. Box 13 P .O. Box 13 Yakima Y -A -K -I -M -A

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Yakima Washington and the zip code is 98907 98907 and that is

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P .O. Box 13. Well if anybody else wants to have that repeated to them

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I can you can email me and sometime after the show I can get back to you with that P .O. Box. It is really easy to P .O.

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Box 13 and the zip code 98907. Okay and let's not keep this show back because the nature of God being negated by false mysticism and first of all

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I would like to speak if you ask me you better let you ask me then how the show should go.

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Yeah well I just wanted to ask one question first did you say before the program that you have recently turned 80 is that how old you are now?

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Yes 8 -0 8 -0 and I'm 80. Well we we we in the body of Christ praise

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God that he has kept you here on earth for a while I know that that might not be your preference but but we are very happy that you are here on earth and I'm sure your wife is as well so by the way if anybody wants to know more information about Berean Beacon you can hear more about Richard's testimony on how he came from being a

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Roman Catholic priest to being a born -again believer in Christ and a theologically reformed believer and a baptistic believer you could go to bereanbeacon .org

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bereanbeacon .org and you can find out more about Richard. Well this is quite a controversial theme that we're going to be discussing today the nature of God negates false

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Catholic mysticism if you could begin on how God reveals who he truly is in the scriptures.

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Yes God reveals first of all who he is and God is one

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God in three persons the Father the Son Jesus Christ and the

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Holy Spirit that is who is God but the question that very few people ask is what is

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God? I was teaching in Portland Oregon at Bible College there for 10 years actually that was after I came to biblical faith and came to salvation and the whole testimony is there on the web page it was what

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I used to ask I would say what is God and the students say Mr. Bennett you got that wrong it should be who is

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God and I say no God is God is God is Father Son Holy Spirit but what is

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God what is the nature of God? Spurgeon's Catechism which you can get from Chapel Library a wonderful resource has question number four what is

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God? God is the spirit infinite eternal unchangeable in his being wisdom holiness goodness justice and truth and that's what

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God is and of course the Bible verses for all of those attributes of God are given in Spurgeon's Catechism and it's also in the

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Westminster Catechism but Spurgeon's Catechism is for Baptists and it does not believe in infant baptism of course but so it's awesome that God is like eternal like the scripture says the eternal

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God is thy ransom under all the everlasting arms the eternal

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God your refuge it's thy refuge King James put it clearly thy is not yours it's a thy personally yours

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George Mary yours Philomena it's your God is eternal and underneath are the everlasting arms it means he's holding you up he's caring for you

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God loves you God loves you and that's he loves you in Christ and this is what we need to talk about today he doesn't love you in yourself in yourself like myself there's no good thing as the scripture says it's in Christ and we'll be dealing with that later on but the attributes of God the most distinctive is his holiness and so it says in Isaiah like it says in the book of Revelation you know about the holiness of God the

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Lord's sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple and above it stood the serpent one had six wings with twain he covered his face with twain he covered his feet with twain did he fly and one cried unto the other and said holy holy holy is the

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Lord God of hosts full of his glory that's Isaiah 6 verses 1 to 3 it's awesome how holy

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God is holy completely set apart from anything that would speak of evil or wrong completely perfect in himself the holiness of God it's awesome how awesome holy this is now there's one institution that uses this term for another person all holy and I hate to say it because it's it's it's even to repeat the words is it's frightening but I will read them for the sake of clarity and I remember what it was like when

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I was in Roman Catholicism I want this finally to know what is truth and there are dear

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Catholics there who want to know what is truth so let me repeat what it says in the

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Catechism of the Catholic Church by asking Mary to pray for us we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves with the mother of mercy the all holy one and all holy one are capital letters and if you don't believe me go on your computer into the

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Catechism of the Catholic Church take the Catechism of the Catholic Church and look up paragraph 2677 2677 the

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Catechism is divided into paragraphs and that's the way

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Catholics themselves quote it not page numbers paragraphs paragraph 2677 the all holy one spoken of Mary may

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Pope Francis and his people enclave repent and be ashamed of ever equating

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Mary with God as the all holy one amen yes and those dear

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Catholics listen listening that your church should ever have said that there's enough reason for you to vacate the

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Catholic Church and find a good Bible -believing church that believes in the

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Bible being the rule of faith and that we're saved by grace alone through faith alone and in Christ alone so the this is the awesomeness of our holy

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God and this church calling itself Catholic Roman Catholic it's holific to say the least yes so and on the one hand on paper and its official teachings much of what you said about God would be echoed by the

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Church of Rome but the problem the very serious and heretical problem they have is when they share that glory with Mary am i right that's correct that is correct they do have have other things correct but then when they share that the glory of God with Mary that is where it's totally unacceptable and of course they claim that they do not view her as deity they do not worship her but and as far as what they say they they they say that veneration uh that uh hyperdulia and dulia the different categories of veneration uh are not crossing the line into worship but in reality we would say that everything that they say and do in their efforts to honor and communicate with Mary they are violating that line going into the area of worshiping

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Mary even if they claim they are not am i right yes and that most of the prayers in Catholicism are to Mary and most of the churches are named after Mary and most of the big statues are of Mary in Catholic churches and itself and the fact that they pray to her it means that she can uh so -called she could hear all prayers in all different languages all at the same time that that that that's an attitude of God but anyway that's not the

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Mary I know and honor Mary the one that I honor as a true believer who stood at the foot of Christ's cross that is a true

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Mary is a really one that we should be a model after because she stood in all our pain and agony still believing that Christ Jesus was who we said he was before Abraham was

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I am he said and not many other words showing that he was divinity so this is um it is this heart rendering to say the least amen well uh

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Catholic mysticism if you could uh explain why this is dangerous why this negates or should

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I say why the character and nature of God negates Catholic mysticism what exactly do you mean by Catholic mysticism by Catholic mysticism

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I mean what they teach how we can commune with God you know through our minds and in understanding um the

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Catholic church throughout the years had you know before Vatican Council 2 in the 60s the

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Vatican the Vatican and that is Romanism had you know had pagan elements in it but at Vatican Council 2 they authenticated um different um pagan religions and I'd like to read the exact words of of the

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Vatican Council 2 um let me give the exact reference I'm importing from Vatican Council 2 the document

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Nostra Aetate that is for anyone who understands

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Latin that is our age Nostra Aetate Nostra Aetate sorry

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I pronounced my Latin wrong um it's under paragraph 2 in that document quotation in Hinduism men explore a divine mystery and express it both in limitless riches of myth and accurately defined insights of philosophy they seek release from the trials of the present life by ascetical practices profound meditation and recourse to God in confidence and love

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Buddhism in its various forms testifies to the essential inadequacy of this changing world it proposes a way of life by which man can with confidence and trust attain the state of perfect liberation and reach supreme illumination either through their own effort or with the aid of divine help or or by the aid of divine help the

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Catholic church negates nothing of what is true and holy in these religions so here is the

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Roman Catholic church authenticating Hinduism and Buddhism and two pagan religions and they say that a man can reach can attain a perfect state of liberation and supreme illumination speaking about Buddhism and uh

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I I spent 21 years if you've read my testimony in Trinidad and I saw people living in Buddhism and it was frightening

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I remember visiting their homes and you know when I would go visiting door to door to see um the

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Catholic people I would often come against the Buddhists and to see the Buddhists you know what they would worship in in the in the pictures under on the walls where they would have pictures of uh different god and goddesses that they worship and then they would have a picture of Mary and some of the

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Catholic saints up there as well and but then to see men and women saved out of Buddhism it was such a joy for me oh such a joy and they would renounce all the these horrific things that they were doing in Buddhism trying to attain by their mind a supreme illumination

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I mean it's it's ludicrous not just illumination but supreme illumination is the official words of the

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Vatican council to document uh it was a joy for me and to baptize and see

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Buddhists and to see Hindus too I saw actually more Hindus and Buddhists come to the

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Lord and just profess the faith in Christ and to see the joy in their hearts

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I remember one man that I baptized and he said you know we're not we're not very we are not very emotional and he came up out of the water and he he just praised

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God at the top of his voice for about 20 minutes it's it's it's um

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I say that was uh that was um getting my people mixed up that was a different land than than out of Buddhism and Hinduism but but true anyway this is what

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I saw other to do too just praising God as they came out of these pagan religions yes uh many

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Roman Catholics and even liberal Protestants or even

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Protestants that would consider themselves conservative in many ways but they're ecumenical with the

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Church of Rome they would say that our position here that vehemently opposes the

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Church of Rome's affirmation of false religions they would say that our position is less loving but it is not loving at all when you are encouraging people to remain enslaved to false and damning religions

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I don't know why people if they think that they have truth why they think it is a loving thing to allow someone to remain in falsehood

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I mean it's it's really uh insane if you ask me yeah yeah it really is insane and uh it's uh how it all happened people say that couldn't have happened and that that's not official

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Catholic Church teaching let me quote from a very well -known Jesuit priest

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William Johnston in his book called and I'm quoting from page seven of his writing the

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Jesuit William um William Johnston then came the

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Second Vatican Council 1962 to 1965 overnight the

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Catholic Church which had been a western institution exporting its wares to the east became a world community

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Asian and African and theologians and assembled in Rome with their

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European and American confreres acknowledging that the Spirit of God is at work in all peoples in all religions

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I'll read that sentence again you know that is all these theologians met acknowledged that the

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Spirit of God is at work in all peoples in all religions what the

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Vatican Council too said here is William Johnston repeating it that the

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Spirit of God is at work on all people in all religions and therefore there's no need to witness to a

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Buddhist or to a Hindu in fact aren't many Buddhists atheists I mean some people might find that uh sound it sounds oxymoronic because they think if somebody's a member of a religion they can't be an atheist but aren't many

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Buddhists actually atheists well some of them are that they were I'm not interested I remember I used to go to the schools and weren't teaching and in turn of that and some some of them were

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I'm not interested in religion you know don't don't don't don't put that tab on me or something like that you know and uh uh or they would say in in turn that don't that's making me a kunamono kunamono was it was one of those local dialects for saying

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I'm not a fool you know it was uh oh man

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I had interesting experience in my 21 years in turn of that but that is the mirror of the mind and uh summing up that the

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Spirit of God is equally in all religions and that negates

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Christianity why should Christ say go and give the gospel to all creatures right it's it didn't matter what the creatures were yes there's no reason for a gospel if everybody if everybody reaches supreme illumination well there's no reason for a gospel and yes in fact in the catholic catechism according the dogmatic constitution of the church lumen gentium 16 from vatican ii it is declared the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the creator in the first place amongst whom are the muslims these profess to hold the faith of and together with us they adore the one merciful god mankind's judge on the last day that's a pretty remarkable and heretical statement that that that if it isn't that isn't that isn't that horrific is not a strong enough word the man who flew the planes into the towers you on 9 11 uh that they were people who did not need to be witnessed to you know that they they they had reached supreme illumination themselves oh man it it it it stupidity is not the word for there's not a strong enough word that i know or that it's diabolically evil that that's how it it's not even it's not even it's a way of god yes it's not even consistent with their own theology because uh in the quran the trinity is wrongly defined that including mary as a part of the uh of the trinity which they condemn and and of course no roman catholic ever included mary as a uh she is not a part of the godhead but at the same time muslims believe that uh not only is there are the catholics false views of mary blasphemous but they even believe that their true views of jesus christ being the god man that is the worst sin that a person can commit in islam the sin of shirk and yet the catholics claim that the muslims still are adoring the same god it makes absolutely no sense you know nonsense and no sense whatsoever and it's it's diabolically wrong and and even if you remove the terrorists from the situation your wonderful neighbor next door who may be a muslim and a very nice person may be very charitable and humble and sacrificial and generous uh that person is being robbed of the truth when they are told that you can keep worshiping the non -trinitarian allah that you worship you can keep worshiping a god that would reject jesus christ as being a part of the godhead and you will be fine you will be safe you will go to heaven you are robbing that person of the truth and putting them in peril of an eternal life in hell i mean it is not a a kind and loving thing to deceive a muslim or anyone else just because you want to have the approach of kindness and love and compassion that you're doing the opposite in reality by deceiving them yes yes another another thing that one of the well -known mystics did and that it's frightening too is that he identified himself and others who would who would have this mystical identification with god he identified this as us becoming part of the divinity let me read what the mystical thomas merton said and exact quotation now i realize that we all are if only everyone could realize this explanation mark i suddenly saw that the secret beauty of their heart the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self -knowledge can reach the core of their reality the person that each one is in god's eyes if only they could all see themselves as they really are and are is is italicized to highlight it if more if there will be no more war no more hatred no more cruelty no more greed i suppose the big problem would be that we would all fall down and worship each other this is you know you so become identified with god that you we would all fall down and worship each other that is from thomas merton's conjectures of a guilty bystander page 157 and 158 conjectures of a guilty bystander thomas merton page 157 158 we would all worship one another if we could only see what according to merton the reality is that is not reality that is damnable heresy we have to go to our first uh station break right now and if you'd like to ask richard a question our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com

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chris arnzen at gmail .com don't go away god willing we will be right back right after these messages from our sponsors one sure way all iron sharpens iron radio listeners can help keep my show on the air is to support my advertisers i know you all use batteries every day so i'm urging you all from now on to exclusively use battery depot .com

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that's batterydepot .com james white here co -founder of alvin omega ministries an occasional guest on iron sharpens iron radio i'm so delighted my friend chris arnson will be heading down to atlanta for the next g3 conference from january 17th to the 19th 2019 where i'll be joining a very impressive lineup of speakers on the theme a biblical understanding of missions speakers include john piper steve lawson vody balcom mark dever conrad mbewe phil johnson josh vice yours truly and many more i hope you all join chris and me for this phenomenal event for more details go to g3conference .com

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that's solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past or present you can unearth from solid ground solid ground christian books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of iron sharpens iron radio and please don't forget to continue to pray for mike gadosh the founder of solid ground christian books he is going in for serious open heart surgery a very dangerous delicate complicated open heart surgery tomorrow he goes in for surgery prep that's thursday august 23rd and then on friday august 24th god willing in the first thing in the morning he is having the surgery so please pray that our sovereign lord our great physician jesus christ raises mike up out of that hospital bed when the surgery is complete after a time of uh and that he is restored to a stronger physical state a healthier physical state than he has been in years and even a stronger state spiritually as a result of the trial there are loving and merciful and graceful god has placed him in and i know that uh richard bennett my guest today knows mike adosh because mike has published uh at least one of the books that came about through berean beacon ministries the the testimony of the 50 former nuns who became born again believers in christ uh we and and also the book called on the wings of grace alone it is about 30 ordinary everyday catholics and that it's one of them i think it's probably the most interesting of the testimony booklet is on the wings of grace alone 30 converted catholics great uh well and if you want to know more about those books you could go to solid -ground -books .com

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solid -ground -books .com we are now back with our interview uh with richard bennett a former roman catholic priest founder of berean beacon and he is discussing how the nature of god negates false roman catholic mysticism and by the way i think i just figured out richard why i wrongly thought that your wife was a former nun when i first met you in the early 2000s face to face uh the same day that i met you i met your wife and i met a former nun who was there to hear you speak a friend of yours peggy o 'neal the darling wonderful yes i'm carrie yes yes that was peggy o 'neal she was she was she was just a joy and she's going to be with the lord now joy to know amen amen well uh let's uh before we go back to the mysticism let's hear because we have all kinds of listeners that are not all christians they uh some of them are roman catholics some of them are muslims uh we have a a variety even though the majority would certainly be christians i even have received uh emails and communication from members of the mooney cult uh the the church that or the cult that reverend sung young moon founded i've had all kinds of people listening to this program and uh i want you to give the biblical good news of salvation and really contrast that to what we are offered by the uh roman catholic church and also even in regard to the dangers of the mysticism that the roman catholic church practices you want me to do that yeah well before the all holy god uh chris you and i each man and woman in this world are born sinners because of the sin of adam just read read chapter chapter three of genesis or read even chapter read chapter one of genesis and see that how how how from the beginning man sinned against god and it was is as sinners by nature having the same nature as adam and having personal sins who is there of us who hasn't sinned if you say i've never sinned and you are you are professing to be to be a liar because all have sinned for scripture and fall short of the glory of god and it is it is we are justified freely by his grace there's different parts in the bible where paul the apostle speaks with a a joy and it's like he's he's like he's lost beyond looking for words in praising god for redemption and this roman's tree that really you hear the heart of the apostle paul as he is writing the the the epistle or the letter to the romans he said he said he said uh for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in christ jesus that all have sinned everyone every man woman and child who has cognizance who's reached the age of reason knows that they're a sinner and paul says being justified freely through the redemption it's free it's true the redemption that's christ jesus when christ jesus paid by his blood on the cross by the drops of blood that came down the cross wooden on the wood of the cross when christ jesus paid for your sin his redemption his payment there was nothing more to pay and we are justified freely the apostle paul says that is redemption christ jesus paid it by his blood on the cross look to him for salvation he will give it ask god in heaven to give you the faith to trust christ alone empowered by the grace that is in christ jesus and you will know the salvation that is in god alone and you will praise him forever praising him and worshiping him and then find a true church that preaches these things like romans 3 you know from 23 where i quoted 26 it is justified freely it's by god's it's nothing else we don't have anything else it's not any sacrament it's not any church one man said to me there about a month ago he said but you're downgrading my catholic church i said there's no church no church it's the grace of god alone and there's only one mediator and he's christ jesus and it's interesting that there's priests mentioned in the old testament no priest mentioned in the new testament except jesus christ being the one priest amen and of course the priesthood of all believers or the priesthood of all believers which we all share yes now when you said there is no church obviously i know what you mean you're not saying there is no church you're saying that there's no church no matter how biblically faithful it is that can save a person or even help save a person it is yes it is god alone in his mercy that saves sinners yes i'm saying that no church but biblical churches that preach the gospel the gospel faith and those churches praise god now uh the the areas that the roman catholic church would violate what you just said uh would include the treasury of merit that they believe enables them to enter into heaven if they are uh faithful catholics uh that christ's death on calvary even though they might not formulate the wording this way they would you cannot draw any other conclusion that they believe that the death of christ is insufficient to completely purge them of all sin and to redeem them and that's why the treasury of merit the the good deeds of mary and the saints are required and also the good deeds of the individual uh the any person that enters into heaven his good deeds are included in that merit and on top of everything if they have sin in their lives which uh the vast majority of people do according to church of rome we would believe everybody does other than christ but they believe that there are certain circumstances where saints are free from sin but the average person who is even dying uh in a good standing uh in a right relationship with god even then that person has to be tormented in purgatory for further purging those are the aren't those the major areas where the church of rome really goes off the rails into heresy and i'm talking about serious and damnable heresy yeah that that doesn't screw and uh they they go into heresy when they define what it is to believe they define this and uh get the catholic catechism of the catholic church just type in catechism of the catholic church on a search engine and it'll come up and or by a catechism of the catholic church in the catechism of the catholic church paragraph 181 easy to remember 181 paragraph 81 they define what believing is let me quote exactly what they say believing is an ecclesial act ecclesial is the latin word for church act it's church act the church of faith precedes and genders supports and nourishes our faith and genders that it is gives life to our faith the church is the mother of all believers no one can have god as father who does not have the church as mother you cannot call god your father if the catholic church is not your mother now it seems that having said that the roman catholic church and i'm not using words intentionally to be cruel but there's a schizophrenia going on here because you have since vatican 2 people of all types of religions we were just quoting before from the the catechism how buddhists and hindus and muslims uh and of course even in the catechism uh jews who reject christ as their messiah they can also go to heaven so it seems that there is a speaking out of both sides of the mouth here there is on the one hand a dogmatic church of rome where there are things that are declared as officially binding dogmas that can never be changed at the council of trent and then you have today a catechism and a pope that seem to do 180 degree turn on this and speak in exactly the opposite fashion on many areas am i right you you are right and this present pope every every every individual in all religions is to be accepted and of course islam too and uh it's it's horrific but this official quote that you cannot have god as your father if you don't have the church as your mother uh i mean how could how could you how could anybody say that about any church it it's it's unbelievable that you cannot know god as your father and uh and i'm assuming i'm assuming the spin they must take on it and i'm talking about the moderate and liberal catholics they must be inclusivists who would say well you do need the church as your mother but you don't need to know that i'm assuming no i know that yeah yeah yeah yeah and uh um i i saw i i saw a muslim man you hoping to come to faith and he was saying well then then i just i just believe that god is my father as i trust on christ alone and admit that i'm a sinner washed by the brush of blood it was just wonderful to hear this muslim say these things and i mean then if he had known what the catholic church says oh no you must know the church as your mother first it's just ridiculous and ridiculous is not a strong enough word i don't know i can't find a strong enough word to express it right and and those and those uh conservative muslims who would be faithful to the quran uh they do not view the catholic church as adoring the same true god as they uh adore they don't agree with that statement i have asked i know i've asked muslims do you believe that the catholic catechism is correct when it says that you adore the same one true god as they do that absolutely not i i know i know they wouldn't even pause a second because absolutely i know i know and uh and these people haven't talked to the people in in islam and uh you know at least the islamic person knows common sense right we do have we have rj in white plains new york who says richard how do you respond to the more conservative traditionalist catholic who says that many of the modern things that we are discussing in the catechism and other things that have been brought in since vatican ii are not dogma and they would agree that they are false teachings that heretics in the catholic church are teaching but they are not the true dogma of the church and they will even say that popes may teach heretical things but if they don't if they do not declare them ex cathedra as dogma then it really doesn't matter it's not binding upon catholics how do you respond to these conservative catholics who say these things yes yes i can understand the position that they're coming from and because the horrific it's so different than what was before vatican council too and these are conservative catholics but these conservative catholics are still trusting in sacraments yes when they baptize their babies that the baby is born again the words of the catholic church uses for baptism and that when they go to confession catholics don't go to confession like they used to in the older days um you know that the priest gives absolution uh absolve you from all your sins in the name of the father son holy spirit when the priest says these words over the head of a man or woman then the sins are forgiven taken away these things don't work people come back to confession with the same sins that was the trouble that i saw in trinidad for all the the the sacraments there was one man and it was frightening and it actually did frighten me afterwards when i thought back on it his wife called me he was dying of cancer and i went and i gave him confession he confessed his sin he did it devoutly and then i gave him another sacrament and then he he um he he got anointing of the sick he got three sacraments and then when it came to die he was in such pain that he started to curse god and i could not believe it here's a man he's got three of the sacraments and he's cursing god as he dies and it frightened me as a catholic priest and that was one of the things that i was thinking of when i started to search the bible and you know just compared to to my catholic teaching it was frightening because you're still looking to sacraments it's no sacrament it's no ritual of any church it's trusting christ alone as a sinner that you look to the grace of god amen if you by the blood of christ amen we have to go to our midway break right now this is a longer break than normal because grace life radio 90 .1

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fm in lake city florida requires a longer break in between our two major segments because they air their own commercials and public service so please be patient with us as we go on this elongated break and use this time not only to write questions for richard bennett but also to write down the information provided by our advertisers because the more you patronize our advertisers the more likely they are to remain our advertisers which means that we are more likely to remain on the air because their advertising dollars are largely the reason we do exist so as far as questions for richard go you can send us an email to chris arnzen at gmail .com

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chris arnzen at gmail .com and give us your first name city and state and country of residence unless you are remaining anonymous due to a personal and private matter don't go away we will be right back with richard bennett after this elongated break iron sharpens iron welcomes solid rock remodeling to our family of sponsors serving south central pennsylvania solid rock remodeling is focused on discovering understanding and exceeding your expectations they deliver personalized project solutions with exceptional results solid rock remodeling offers a full range of home renovations including kitchen and bath remodeling decks porches windows and doors roof and siding and more for a clear detailed professional estimate call this trustworthy team of problem solvers who provide superior results that stand the test of time call solid rock remodeling at 717 -697 -1981 717 -697 -1981 or visit solidrockremodeling .com

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that's solidrockremodeling .com solid rock remodeling bringing new life to your home my name is steve lawson founder and president of one passion ministries as well as teaching fellow for ligonier ministries i serve as professor of preaching and oversee the doctor of ministry program at the master's seminary in los angeles i would like to recommend the church where one of my preaching students andy woodard serves as the pastor it's called new covenant church nyc they are a reformed baptist church that meets in midtown manhattan you can find their service times and location on their website which is www .ncc

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.nyc they believe in a sovereign god who commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel if you're looking for a church that believes in expository preaching which is simply biblical preaching in new york city i'd like to recommend that you visit new covenant church nyc again their information can be found at www .ncc

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.nyc have a great day chris arenson host of iron sharpens iron radio here i want to tell you about a man i have personally known for many years his name is dan buttafuoco dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer but not the type that typically comes to mind dan cares about people and is a theologian himself recently he wrote a book titled consider the evidence for the bible ravi zacharias wrote the forward dan also has a master's degree in theology dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states he represents many christians in serious injury matters all over the country dan is an exceptional trial lawyer he wrote the test for the national board of trial advocacy and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for 1 million dollars or more and in approximately 10 different states in illinois his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history in new york his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the law journal if you have a serious personal injury or medical malpractice claim in any state i recommend that you call dan consultations are free there is no fee unless you win dan buttafuoco's number is 1 -800 -669 -4878 1 -800 -669 -4878 or email me for dan's contact information at chris arnzen at gmail .com

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that's chris arnzen at gmail .com gotta tell you for my money chris arnzen's radio program is just the best iron criticizing i think that's what it's called this is todd freel of wretched radio and tv with phil johnson of grace to you inviting everybody to come to the g3 conference which has almost instantly become one of the best conferences in the country and it is it's a great conference i love it and chris arnzen was there last year he's been there i think every year it's great to see him there you and i actually did some recordings in the lobby at that place which is a highlight tons of stuff going on tons of great speakers and no matter where you are in the building you will hear chris arnzen's laugh and that's worth the price of admission alone if you would like to join phil me chris and a cavalcade of great preachers so it should be a cavalcade of great preachers and me g3 conference .com

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before i return to richard bennett our guest today former roman catholic priest and former uh and uh founder i should say a berean beacon uh we are discussing if you just tuned in the nature of god and how it negates roman catholic mysticism uh if you uh if you uh just uh be patient with me for a moment because i have to announce a few upcoming special events that iron trap and zion radio is participating in uh first of all uh coming up tomorrow on thursday the 23rd of august for the first time ever anybody has interviewed tom evans the current president of family radio he is officially on this show he's he picked iron trap and zion radio above any other program to officially announce the repentance of family radio from the heresies of harold camping so this will be a live interview tomorrow thursday august 23rd from 4 to 6 p .m

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eastern time so we hope that you tune in and listen to this what i am sure will be a fascinating interview with tom evans president of family radio and family stations incorporated then coming up in september friday september 7th at the gordon conwell theological seminaries jacksonville florida campus dr james r white of alpha omega ministries and dr michael l brown of the line of fire radio program and the fire school for ministry they are going to be speaking on a house -mended christian unity in a culture of outrage that's friday september 7th at 6 30 p .m

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for more details go to switzerland communitychurch .org switzerlandcommunitychurch .org then on the following night saturday september 8th also at 6 30 p .m

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dr white and dr brown are both going to be debating two individuals who believe that homosexuality is an acceptable desire and behavior in the sight of god the theme is is homosexuality consistent with new testament obedience that is a live publicly moderated debate at the switzerland community church saturday september 8th at 6 30 p .m

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for more details go to switzerlandcommunitychurch .org switzerlandcommunitychurch .org then coming up in november on the 9th and the 10th the alliance of confessing evangelicals is having their annual quaker town conference on reform theology the theme is the glory of the cross the speakers include david garner ray ortlund richard phillips timothy gibson and carlton wynn that will be held at the grace bible fellowship church in quaker town pennsylvania for more details go to alliancenet .org

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alliancenet .org click on events and then scroll down to quaker town conference on reform theology then coming up in january uh from thursday the 17th of january through saturday the 19th of january i will once again be manning an exhibitor's booth at the g3 conference in college park georgia which is a suburb of atlanta at the georgia international convention center the g3 conference stands stands for gospel grace and glory and the theme this year or should i say this january is the mission of god a biblical understanding of missions and they are having a wednesday night conference exclusively for those who are spanish speaking or bilingual it will all be in the spanish language on wednesday january 16th at the georgia international convention center also but for the english speaking conference they have a long lineup of phenomenal preachers including dr james r white of alpha and omega ministries uh paul washer uh we have steven j lawson we have vody baucom we have conrad and bayway the pastor of cobata baptist church in lusaka zambia africa phil johnson the executive director of john macarthur's ministry grace to you todd friel of wretched tv and wretched radio dr james r white of alpha and omega ministries uh we have dr steven j nichols the president of reformation bible college the college founded by the late r .c

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sproll and ligonier ministries and the list goes on it's a very long list of speakers if you'd like to attend this conference go to g3 conference .com

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g3 conference .com and you could also register for your own exhibitors booth just as i will be manning there god willing in the crowd of between four and five thousand people i strongly recommend that if you have a ministry or a business that you would like to promote amongst that very large crowd of between four and five thousand people that you register for an exhibitors booth by going to g3 conference .com

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and that's also the email address where you could send in a question for richard bennett that's chris arnson at gmail .com

01:12:40

chris arnson at gmail .com as always give us your first name city and state and country of residence and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter uh before the break richard uh we were basically saying that even though the modern catholic church has heresies of its own kind that have infiltrated into the church of rome that was that were that were foreign to the church of rome for centuries even if you were a faithful roman catholic going back to the council of trent you would still be in serious jeopardy of the eternal damnation because of the the severity of the heresies even embraced by the roman catholic church going centuries before vatican ii am i right yeah yes correct yeah yeah yeah yes um officially the council of trent condemned what we call biblical faith trusted in christ alone for salvation uh we have a listener in bangor maine john asks how do you respond to the roman catholic who says that the anathemas of the council of trent are not condemnations to hell but merely a much softer rebuke that you cannot be a member of the in good standing yeah yeah yes well he does not know what an anathema means anathema let him be um you could translate that accursed you know it means it means it means eternally separated from god uh and that's what the council of trent it meant and it's quite clear when you read the anathemas of council of prince that they were condemning a person to hell and damnation who did not believe the catholic official teaching at that time yes and in fact the apostle paul uses that word ironically for people who are guilty of one of the sins that is a dogma of the church of rome uh they uh but the apostle paul condemned with an anathema those who added anything to faith in order to justify them am i right i had to fight i didn't the apostle paul in galatians declared an anathema on those that are actually guilty of one of the things that the roman catholic church is guilty of they add to faith things that justify a man yes yes yes yes yes that is true and that is true apostle paul as well yeah yes yes indeed and he was not the apostle paul was not just saying well you can't be officially a member of the local church he was saying you are going to hell you have a false gospel yes you have a false gospel message and it is heartbreaking to see to see precious people in the church that that that believes what the church says i i think it's worth repeating what i gave in paragraph 181 from the catechism of the catholic church what it is to believe believing isn't it please feel that that is the church act that the catholic the church has paid three fees in gender support and nourishes our faith the church is the mother of all believers no one can have god as father who does not have the church as mother you cannot know god as father unless you know that the church is mother and it's talking about the catholic church and that's paragraph 181 and so you cannot know god as your father unless the catholic church is your mother and there's no churches is our mother unless you're going to catholic church it's uh you know it's interesting that the roman catholic church will say that we need the church as our mother and mary as our mother so do we have two mothers according to yes we do yes yes and and the horrendous thing that she is the all holy one that reported earlier on that they give it the same title as we do for god and it's um we have what we have the church's and mary is our mother and um and they you know these three have two mothers and um it's um but the catholic church denies itself and it's interesting that they say that the pope now is infallible and this infallible francis who is denying uh so many things that the other pope said he's infallible and they were infallible so infallibility is is denying infallibility infallible because it's a it's a it's a teaching of the catholic church that the pope is infallible we have cj in lindenhurst long island new york who says earlier you were talking about the uniting of the catholic church to pagan religion has this not always been their practice since they departed from biblical christianity centuries ago because after all they have been worshiping statues for centuries and relics and icons they of course claim that they are not worshiping these things but they are venerating them but one could hardly distinguish between veneration and worship that's also something that we said earlier uh yeah i mean did not the catholic church centuries ago um appease the pagan cultures that they attempted to quote quote christianize by by incorporating things like using statues and other things that they prayed to that is true they incorporated paganism into the church and they they say it's only veneration but when when what do you mean by worship when people bow down and then reverend show reverence to a statue is that how can you call that anything but worshiping because it's what we know what a person should do in worshiping god if they're really contrite you know there's no need for these actions but when when when a person uses them they are showing they're showing veneration they're showing more that they're showing reverence to that is worship this is just a play on words to say oh it's veneration it's not worship and uh it's um it's this this this playing with words is damnable because it could cause somebody to remain in the catholic church and therefore never know biblical salvation because they're always looking to the sacrament and not looking to christ alone if christ alone saves i know when i saw that in scripture after the accident i had in 1972 and then started studying the scripture it took me 13 and a half years it's not because i'm a slow learner but i didn't want to see because i said if i see what i'm seeing then the church is not saved the sacraments don't work they don't deliver then i don't have a job and um how am i going to how am i going to manage uh catholic priests are not allowed to learn a trade when i was entering the priesthood i wanted to study auto mechanics because i wanted to be overseas in some mission territory and i thought i would need to know how to repair a car no you know you weren't allowed to have any trade catholic priests are not allowed of any trade really even today even today wow that's that's odd some of them some men have become priests who were before beforehand were qualified i know you take your qualifications with you in that case but you're not allowed of qualifications like that and even with the horrendous things and then they change people's names in catholicism i was called to change her name and you say well that's no small thing well it is a it is a big thing when when i had spent 22 years as a catholic priest 21 on the island of trinidad and one or not a part of one i didn't wasn't a whole year in rome then you've lost your identity when i left the catholic church in the priesthood in 1985 i was born again and i finally reached the states states in 1986 on the 6th of january and it was uh when i finally reached the states united states even at the at the when i was checking at the my passport i said i said ever he said everything was in the name of peter bennett and uh it was richard bennett was my real name and i'm saying richard bennett but all your documents say rick peter bennett and it was i had to prove that peter bennett was richard bennett and that uh and that um rick then then if this is so where richard has done nothing since uh since since since he graduated from jesuit high school and it was it made things impossible i could not get a like a car license a license to drive a car i couldn't qualify for anything because they had changed my name it makes leaving the catholic church extremely difficult even with those difficulties we have the book that has sold in many languages and it's our best book we publish four books but far from rome near to god the testimonies of 50 converted catholic priests is now on its third edition wow change different type of testimonies in each edition uh it it it's a remarkable book really it'll warm your heart to see in spite of the difficulties how those 50 priests came to know god far from near to god the testimonies of 50 converted catholic priests yes i read that book years ago but it was the banner of truth edition so you're saying that there are different testimonies included in the newer edition yes they are yeah yeah yes we we put in different ones uh you know and we've taken out even though we took out some remarkable ones you know we just we just saw just a little variation and of course we show pictures of each of the former priests um you know mostly went whenever we're in the priestly cops now uh i think we should make it clear and i'm i'm very confident you agree with me on this after having known you for so long uh there may be some who think that we are saying if you are a member of a catholic church or anybody who has been a member of a catholic church that automatically means you're going to hell but doesn't really the most important thing uh is what do you actually believe and where do you place your trust because there are uh catholics who out of ignorance actually are disobeying their own dogma and are believing in a biblical gospel uh and there have been in in centuries past catholics who were executed by the catholic church for believing in biblical truth and yet they never officially left the catholic church in any kind of ceremonial way they never converted to protestantism but these were catholics that we will meet in heaven because they believed the truth about the gospel they are trusting or have trusted in christ alone as their only hope of salvation and so on wouldn't you agree with that yes i would agree with that and then and then in book i quote which you see some of the priests and it took them it took them a long while they said bob bush the very first testimony in the in the third edition of the book uh he he stayed in in in the having come to salvation and it was only it took a while before he actually left and uh it did it uh in my own life it was only a question of months and uh it was uh one of the main reasons was that that the archbishop wanted to send me back to a place called mayaro in where i had experienced shango and voodoo you know the the the witchcraft of pagans in a very tangible way and i was afraid if i went back to that parish where i had been before that some of those not catholics but those in the occult because i condemned the occult and then you know in witchcraft and they they could kill me and uh and it was uh it was uh it was one of the that one that caused me to leave catholicism really quickly well we have to go to our final break it's a much shorter break than the last one and if you have any questions that you'd like to ask richard bennett please send them in now or forever hold your peace because they're rapidly running out of time chris arnzen at gmail .com

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chris arnzen at gmail .com please give us your first name at least your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside the usa and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter don't go away we'll be right back with richard bennett my name is steve lawson founder and president of one passion ministries as well as teaching fellow for ligonier ministries i serve as professor of preaching and oversee the doctor of ministry program at the master's seminary in los angeles i would like to recommend the church where one of my preaching students andy woodard serves as the pastor it's called new covenant church nyc they are a reformed baptist church that meets in midtown manhattan you can find their service times and location on their www .ncc

01:27:53

.nyc they believe in a sovereign god who commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel if you're looking for a church that believes in expository preaching which is simply biblical preaching in new york city i'd like to recommend that you visit new covenant church nyc again their information can be found at www .ncc

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.nyc have a great day iron sharpens iron radio is sponsored by harvey cedars a year -round bible conference and retreat center nestled on the jersey shore harvey cedars offers a wide range of accommodations to suit groups up to 400 for generations christians have enjoyed gathering and growing at harvey cedars each year thousands of high school and college students come and learn more about god's word an additional 9 000 come annually to harvey cedars as families couples singles men women pastors seniors and missionaries 90 miles from new york city 70 miles from philly and 95 miles from wilmington and easily accessible scores of notable christian groups frequently planned conferences at harvey cedars like the navigators intervarsity christian fellowship campus crusade and the alliance of confessing evangelicals find harvey cedars on facebook or at hcbible .org

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hcbible .org call 609 -494 -5689 609 -494 -5689 harvey cedars where christ finds people and changes lives paul wrote to the church at galatia for am i now seeking the approval of man or of god or am i trying to please man if i were still trying to please man i would not be a servant of christ hi i'm mark lucans pastor of providence baptist church we are reformed baptist church and we hold to the london baptist confession of faith of 1689 we are in nofork massachusetts we strive to reflect paul's mindset to be much more concerned with how god views what we say and what we do than how men view these things that's not the best recipe for popularity but since that wasn't the apostles priority it must not be ours either we believe by god's grace that we are called to demonstrate love and compassion to our fellow man and to be vessels of christ's mercy to a lost and hurting community around us and to build up the body of christ in truth and love if you live near nofork massachusetts or plan to visit our area please come and join us for worship and fellowship you can call us at 508 -528 -5750 that's 508 -528 -5750 or go to our website to email us listen to past sermons worship songs or watch our tv program entitled resting in grace you can find us at providence baptist church ma .org

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that's providence baptist church ma .org or even on sermonaudio .com providence baptist church is delighted to sponsor iron sharpens iron radio i am chris arnson host of iron sharpens iron radio here to tell you about an exciting offer from world magazine my trusted source for news from a christian perspective try world at no charge for 90 days and get a free copy of r .c.

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forward slash iron sharpens today linbrook baptist church on 225 earl avenue in linbrook long island is teaching god's timeless truths in the 21st century our church is far more than a sunday worship service it's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of gospel is clear and relevant it's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement it's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people and healing we're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our lord jesus christ in fellowship play and together hi i'm pastor bob waldeman and i invite you to come and join us here at linbrook baptist church and see all that a church can be call linbrook baptist at 516 -599 -9402 that's 516 -599 -9402 or visit linbrookbaptist .org

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that's linbrookbaptist .org gotta tell you for my money chris arnson's radio program is just the best iron criticizing i think that's what it's called this is todd freel of wretched radio and tv with phil johnson of grace to you inviting everybody to come to the g3 conference which has almost instantly become one of the best conferences in the country and it is it's a great conference i love it and chris arnson was there last year he's been there i think every year it's great to see him there you and i actually did some recordings in the lobby at that place which is a highlight tons of stuff going on tons of great speakers and no matter where you are in the building you will hear chris arnson's laugh and that's worth the price of admission alone if you would like to join phil me chris and a cavalcade of great preachers so it should be a cavalcade of great preachers and me g3 conference .com

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g3 conference .com and don't forget that that g3 conference is from thursday january 17th through saturday january 19th 2019 go to g3 conference .com

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for more details we are now back with the final 24 minutes of our interview with richard bennett a former roman catholic priest and founder of berean beacon we are discussing the nature of god and how it negates roman catholic mysticism if you'd like to join us on the air our email address is chris arnson at gmail .com

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and we have arnie in perry county pennsylvania and he has a question i know this is a little bit off topic richard but i am a native pennsylvanian and because of that i was wondering if you might take just a minute or so to respond to the recent scandal that was uncovered in the in pennsylvania in the roman catholic priesthood involving the sexual molestation of children yes yes yes i'm aware of that and in in that one state alone there was 301 priests who were involved in the molestation of children and both boys and girls yeah i know it's predominantly boys well what what is your response to this is there something built into the system of rome that makes this a more likely horror story to occur like for instance uh even though there are wicked men in authority in all denominations and fellowships and associations and brotherhood within even bible believing circles there are false converts that exist amongst us you have all kinds of horror stories with even you know baptist and presbyterian pastors doing these things but is the system of rome does it have built in it a more dangerous uh concept of for instance the fact that they forbid priests to marry it's not necessarily that a man who is uh required to remain celibate will become a pedophile or a predator but it is the church is more likely to be getting people applying and entering into the priesthood because they already have homosexual proclivities and other strange uh sexual appetites am i right on that i think you're right on that and it is really it's really it's really sad and it's heartbreaking and that that men would come into the priesthood because they know that this is a tool of fellow homosexuals that they they will be meeting and uh it's um and the fact that they forbid marriage marriage is right there at the beginning of genesis you know man shall leave a father and mother and cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh and the male and female uh he made them male and he made them female and the man shall leave his father and mother and cling to that is from the very beginning of the bible chapter one and and it's uh it's it's horrific to see the amount of of roman catholic priests it's not that you can get you can get that in other religions but the amount 301 in pennsylvania alone and the molesting young boys in particular but also sometimes young girls it is it is it is it is just horrible and beyond words to explain and uh and it forbids marriage how could a church forbid what god ordained god ordained it at the very beginning of creation and the catholic church forbids it to its priests it's so that they can control those priests and and um now these priests commit all these horrific things they don't change the law they don't change the law pope francis has done many many things he has not yet changed the law about marriage you know because that's the way they control their men a man's wife would never allow the way they treat these men you know the way the way they change their location so that they do not get they do not get to know the people very well in one place in where i was in trinidad it was every seven years the priest had to be moved that wasn't case he really got to know people very well and he had good friends no one in a good sense and he's moved and they and he he is like a pawn because he doesn't have a wife he doesn't have children and you can you can put them here and you can put them there and when they're embarrassed about pedophilia they move them to another place and of course it does the same in that other place they just move them around and it's horrific to see what the catholic church does to its priests and how they can't leave the system because they've no trade they've no they've nothing to fall back on and they stay inside the system and if you are listening and you are a priest please write to me personally and i gave my p .o

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box already write to me at p .o box 1313 yakima y -a -k -i -m -a yakima washington and the zip code is 98907 write to me if you are a priest in that situation and just give me the details of how i can contact you and and who your bishop or archbishop is if you're in an order what order it is like dominican franciscan or what whatever other order you have you know it it would be a carmelite maybe whatever order it is let me know and let me know how i can contact you now uh the the invitation that you're giving uh what specifically uh are you asking these priests to do if they are contemplating the biblical gospel of course that would be a reason but what other reasons would you have an invitation well if they're beginning to doubt the church that they see that lives don't get better into catholic church if it's a catholic city uh like los angeles or something like that you find there's more there's more there's more immorality in in in in in cities that are particularly catholic and that i'm not talking off the top of my head this is documented and uh really it's yeah yes cities that are predominantly catholic are predominantly immoral and you you go to the jails you find a majority of catholics in the jails and it's um these things and it was documented in the old days and people have not taken the the the time to document these things at the present time and uh i would that there were more ministries like my own mike kendron is one of one of the other people who does the same ministry as duke in exposing romanism i know of no other ministry bart brewer did in his day but he's he died and went to be with the lord uh so i don't know of none other at the present day and that does this type of work and uh but if there are priests and you're struggling uh write to me and i'll see if i can put you in contact with somebody in one of those states that would come to visit you and would help you and maybe you might need financial help to leave leave your your parish we would see if that could be achieved now do you do you actually have uh priests who on occasion accept those invitations and who contact you privately perhaps like nicodemus well yes i i don't want to say that on the air i don't want to expose anybody or to give any right any details you know because of course not but but if there are priests uh and i know that somebody might say oh i'll pretend i'm a priest and see can i get some money right so so we we would be uh at least i know enough people in the states and and i would be able to get get it confirmed and get somebody and um it's probably better it's probably better if they wish you go to to mike kendron because he's he's far more versatile than i am and i'm 80 and i'm not suffering i'm suffering from bad health so i i i would i would be very slow so i shouldn't put that invitation now because i have whatever work i do i can i do it very slowly and i already am overworked and writing articles and making videos well you could obviously refer anybody who's contacting you to mike gender nor anyone else that you believe is a suitable person to speak with them uh we have let's see here susan margaret in dauphin county pennsylvania she asks am i right to believe that the sex scandals in the catholic church are really more of a tragedy involving the sin of homosexuality than pedophilia because it's it's teenage boys not prepubescent ones and does this not come from the catholic church's insufficient understanding of the sin of homosexuality where they view it as a merely as a disorder but one may even become a priest who admits that he has these desires as long as he takes a vow of chastity um yes i i would not agree with what you said that most of these are are more more and people who are past puberty they're more older boys um i i know there's some of that but i think it's mostly young boys um and from from all that i had read about it but um and maybe part of the nation where she lives that's the way it is you know things differ from state to state from city to city so there may be differences there and our heart should go out to to um to those who will be molested and if somebody is repenting of the sin and wants to get out of romanism and the catholic church we should try to come alongside to help them to leave the catholic church as they come to biblical salvation we would hope and trust in christ jesus and recognize that all have sinned and come short of the glory of god as scripture says amen one thing that she said i believe is correct because i've spoken to roman catholics about it even conservative ones who will say that the catholic church will uh allow will ordain a man into the priesthood without hesitation even if he admits that he is a homosexual or has those desires as long as he vows to be chased i've heard that that is true from quite a number of roman catholics so wouldn't you agree with that that is true you're asking me chris are you yes yes don't you think that that is a true i i don't know in my day it wasn't unknown because i came from ireland and we had a traditional morality in and uh it was even the priest from ireland you know we had the traditional morality you know just going back to what was decent and proper you know i mean in in society we had that in ireland and uh and it was the same you know when we when we went abroad this was the sort of traditional morality that um many of us brought with us and so it's um you know the tradition things have changed horrendously since since um those you know who were born before the 60s 1960 was the the changing point in the states where you know the death morality changed utterly in the in the 60s we have we have a question from joey in clifton new jersey dear richard how do you see the possibility of the vatican regarding mary as co -mediatrix with christ developing has it been building or losing support very very good question i would like to know the answer of that myself uh that that there could be a mediatrix that christ is the mediator and yet we have a feminine one too so um even if he didn't go to school one on one make two not one and the bible said there's one mediator between god and man the man jesus christ uh but the um the catholic church has a mediatrix uh mary and mary is the other mediator and um it's it's these inconsistencies even in catholicism uh are such that a person would just want to leave an institution that denies itself you know the there's one mediator and then they talk about christ being the mediator and now you come along with a feminine mediator and uh to make it worse as we quote at the beginning of the show she is also called the all holy one like god is and uh it's um it's it's damnable and it should cause a person to leave the catholic church and then to look for a good church it is difficult to look for a good church most of the reform baptist churches are really good praise the lord for that and that it's um it's it's sometimes hard to find a good a good church that truly believes and in the five souls that that go back to the bible you know that it's all on the authority of scripture alone it's by grace alone we're saved it's through faith alone it's in christ alone and to god alone be the glory praise worship and honor the five solace of the reformation continue to be the biblical way we can look for a true church does it believe that the bible alone is the authority is it by grace alone that we are saved is it through faith alone that we trust is it in christ alone and is it to god alone be the glory we only worship god we do not worship mary or venerator and or so adulation and hyper duty and all these words that they come up with to try trying to get around what they're saying it's god alone we worship and these are the five the five solace to call them and they still are today like the word of reformation the turning and it's those five solace i sometimes ask young children to repeat them and i get them where they can say it you know it's on the authority of scripture alone it's by grace alone it's through faith alone it's in christ alone and it's only to god alone that we give glory worship and praise not to any human being and praise god for that i remember uh years ago when i was arranging debates with roman catholics and i'm still doing that now but this particular incident that occurred there was a prominent roman catholic i believe his last name is miriali who was advocating the co -mediatrix uh doctrine to be pronounced as dogma of the church of rome and i remember that the only reason that this person's colleagues in the roman catholic apologetic world were hesitant about that is because they believed it would thwart ecumenical relations with evangelicals and other protestants that was really the only reason it wasn't that they were opposed to the actual concept because they they really believe that already uh don't they i mean it's don't they actually believe that mary is a co -mediatrix even though they uh might not say that that is a dogmatic title wouldn't that weren't don't they already believe in that they do they do they already believe in it but they they wouldn't want to be dogmatic in case from going into the catholic church and uh it's um you know it it's it's it's it's trying to be to placate people so that they would they uh and to make things more easily so that they could get people to come into the catholic church and uh you know and then being scared by the sacraments and thinking that they're priests at the present day it was only priests in the old testament there is the high priesthood of christ and the priesthood of all believers whereby we all praise god and worship him you know in spirit and in truth but there's no priesthood you know men uh in gowns and in chasubles and all other things the priesthood wears and then the um you know there's there's no such thing in the new testament that was old testament where they had sacrificial priests and the fact that the priest is supposed to be offering a sacrifice it's the same sacrifice they say as christ offered on the cross there's no sacrificial priests in the new testament they're only in the old testament and they were typical uh um foreshadowing what was to come in by christ in the new testament well i'd like you to uh summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners in regard to the main theme of the nature of god and how it negates roman catholic mysticism for about three minutes you can have the floor uninterrupted to summarize what you want to say yeah yeah what i what i want to say most of all and this is really really on my heart to say is that um from the beginning of when when christ was on earth it was that the gospel should be preached to all creatures and the very final chapter the very final chapter in the bible says come out of her my people that you be not partakers of our sins and you receive not of our plagues that is from the very last book the book of revelation and it's chapter 7 18 verse 4 come out of her my people there are people in the church who do not trust the sacraments they're trusting christ alone they look to christ alone for their salvation they experience the joy inside them of knowing that they're saved by grace but they still stay inside the catholic church and the bible command come out of her my people i ask you who are in the catholic church and and are still partaking of the sacraments to know that you have salvation if you're trusting christ alone and come out of her my people thus says the word of the lord in the book of revelation and it's a command it's not it's not an invitation it's revelation 18 verse 4 and how what will turn to the lord god by faith alone through christ jesus grace alone recognize say i recognize that i'm a sinner i know i need grace i trust that christ jesus died for my sin on the tree of calvary and i trust that by his precious blood alone and through the grace that he gives me alone he activates the faith by his blood on the cross alone and now i am saved to summarize it it's ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9 for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself it's the gift of god not of works lest anyone should boast not of yourselves it's plural in in in us in the bible so there may be many maybe women you have trusted christ alone marjorie are you here listening to me mary angela have you trusted christ alone you are saved come out of her come out of her and you will know and you will know that you are accepted in the beloved that's ephesians chapter 1 verse 6 you are accepted in christ it's not only that you are forgiven in christ you're accepted in christ and all graces come to you afterwards because you're in christ it's summarized at the end of john wrote his his first epistle after his first letter he said and we know that the son of god has come and given us an understanding that's true and we are in him that it's true even in his son jesus christ this is the true god and life eternal that's word for word the end of first john in your bible we are in him if you have trusted on christ alone you are in him and you come out of a system that denies that saying that you have to be know the church as your mother paragraph 181 and in euclid you do not know any church as your mother it's god alone is your father as he sees the blood of christ jesus covering your soul and you trust on him alone and you come out of her and let's have your testimony and write to us i said you can contact me at p .o

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box 1313 yakima y -a -k -i -m -a washington 98907 and let us hear from you if if if if you have any any desire then to leave the catholic church and you need some help you know in any way and uh that's that is my word to you we look to him and we say to the praise and glory of his grace for uh whereas we're in he has made us accepted in the beloved that's ephesian chapter one verse six you're accepted in the beloved amen our our residence is in christ praise his glorious amen well i also want to remind our listeners that your website is bereanbeacon .org