Our Reformation Roots #1

Transcription of the first episode of the series Our Reformation Roots brought to you by Pastor Rusty Tardo.

You can listen here.

“I’m going to start a new series of messages tonight. I don't know how long it will be, at least two messages, maybe three. Maybe a dozen, I don't know.

But it will be at least two. Dealing with a subject that's been on my mind, actually, for quite some time, I've wanted to go back and deal with the pillars or the cornerstones or the foundation stones of the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation. And I really have had this burning on my heart for quite a few months, and just never really felt the liberty, actually, to put it into a message yet.

But just within the last couple of weeks, it's really been a burning passion on my mind and heart. And I guess I've just had impacted, in my own understanding, how quickly we are moving away from our Reformation roots. When I say we, I'm speaking of the charismatic Pentecostal movement in the United States, not only here, but in England and so forth.

We have, in a very real, powerful way, all been impacted by the life of one man. There's very few people in the world whose life changed the world. Some people, you know, were important figures in history, but there have been some men who you could actually say their life impacted the whole world and the whole future.

One such man was Martin Luther. And there have been others who before him began to pave the way, others who have followed after him, who again brought around Reformation light. And we have today what is referred to as the whole Protestant Church, largely due to the insights, revelations, and so forth of a man who back in the early 16th century woke up to Bible truth.

I've had it on my mind to teach what the pillars of the Reformation really are. What are the pillar, the foundational cornerstone truths of the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation. And in preparing those messages, I was just reminded of why it's important for us to know these things and to hold on to them.

If you don't know where we came from, to some degree, in church history, you might not realize where we're going. And if you see where the church is going in America, now I'm speaking again of the charismatic church as a whole, the Pentecostal church as a whole, not only that, but mainline denominationalism. If you see where it's going, and you realize what the Bible has to say about that, it becomes quite sobering.

So I'm going to share some things tonight that I trust will come across in the right manner and the right spirit, because I certainly have no anger in my mind towards any group or religion, denomination or whatever. But we're just going to look at some plain facts in the Bible and let the Word of God speak for itself. There is a great move under way in the United States.

It's happening in England. It's happening in Europe. In fact, it's happening all around the world.

It's a movement to unite denominations together in a common bond of unity. The cry for unity is getting louder and louder all the time, and more and more denominations, more and more groups, more and more various churches, independent groups, and so forth, are joining their voices to the voices of many others in a cry for unity. It's a cry to lay aside doctrine.

Now, doctrine is considered right now to be unimportant and divisive, and it's a bad word in most church circles. If you read current or popular charismatic literature, you would have to acknowledge that this is true. Doctrine is considered more and more in Protestant circles, virtually all Protestant circles, doctrine is increasingly considered as divisive, unnecessary, unhealthy, uncharitable, unloving.

So, what we see is a call to link arm and arm with all denominations, all movements, all groups, at least all who profess Christianity, which means Protestant and Catholic, Mormon and Methodist, Evangelical and Charismatic, from the radical Moonees to the mainstream denominations, all are being encouraged at the present time to link arm and arm, hand in hand, and let's lay aside our doctrinal differences and just serve God together. The thought is that by such a sheer demonstration of unity that we'll be able to conquer our cities for God, that we'll be able to take our nations for God, that we'll usher in an unprecedented revival, and we'll experience a worldwide harvest of souls. There have been major international rallies held across the world in gigantic stadiums.

There was one here just a few years ago at the Superdome. They had one last year in Indianapolis. They're having one this year in England.

And they have these around the world where speakers are brought in from virtually every background, every group, every denomination you can imagine. And they address, these speakers address a very diverse audience. These groups, these meetings are, I believe, the beginning of what is going to be an end time amalgamation of various groups, streams, denominations, religions, and so forth, that the organizer's hope is going to help shape a new and a better world.

The rationale seems innocent enough. And if you just listen to the things that they say, the call for love, the call for acceptance, the call to end division, the call for unity, it all sounds quite innocuous. It all sounds, in fact, it could sound really good.

In fact, the whole charismatic Pentecostal world is caught up in it. The mainline denominational world is caught up in it. We hear it everywhere.

You can't avoid it anymore. Here's the rationale. And you see if it doesn't sound good to you.

In a world that's filled with division, in a world that's filled with suspicion, in a world that's filled with hate, in a world that's filled with hate, that's filled with crime and violence and arguments and hate and schism, the main problem with the church is that it's too much like the world. It, too, is divided. So the church must lay aside its differences, doctrinal and so forth, and come together and present a united front against our common enemies, the devil, poverty, suicide, racism, abortion, pornography, so forth.

And together, we can forge a better world for God. We can forge a better future. So the idea is to lay aside our differences, link together with all Christians everywhere, combine together to change our world.

Now, that sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

The Lord knows the world needs changing, I'll tell you that. It's a vile, wicked, corrupt, ugly, hateful world. There's no question about the fact it needs changing.

Unfortunately, the Bible tells us it won't be changed by man's efforts. In fact, the Bible tells us in the last days, instead of us changing the world and making it a better place to live by humanistic efforts, the Bible tells us evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse, that the world is not going to become a better place to live in the last days. It's going to increasingly degenerate and become a worse place to live, in spite of all the noble sounding efforts of men.

What many Christians who are following and swallowing this type of propaganda are failing to realize, is that the Bible predicts that just such an in-time amalgamation of religions will occur. The Bible tells us it will take place. But unfortunately, it's not going to be an amalgamation of true faith and true religion.

It will be an amalgamation of false religion. There's nothing wrong when somebody says, look brother, we need to just lay aside some of these differences and agree in Christ. You know, there are some things we can just lay aside in order to get along with our brothers and sisters.

There are some things that are just not essential to salvation. And we can lay them, when I say lay them aside, that doesn't mean dispense with them, but that means we can overlook some differences we have with genuine brothers and sisters in Christ. Hello.

And we can love them and accept them as our genuine brothers and sisters in Christ. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. But unity at the expense of truth is evil.

When we're told we have to lay foundational doctrines of Christianity aside in order to have unity with others, this is never God's intention. This goes beyond love. That's not love.

It's not love for God. It's not love for truth. And it's a false love for others.

Hello. Well, I hope you'll follow what we're getting at when we deal with this passage here in Revelation 17. I want you to see that the Bible speaks here of a one world religion, a mega church, a gigantic spiritual power that will change the future of the world, but not for good, for evil.

By laying doctrine aside, you no longer have truth. And when you don't have truth, you don't have Christ, who is truth. Now, all you have is a humanistic effort to change the world, and you know that's destined to failure.

Only Christ is going to give us a better world, and He'll do that at His return. Y'all all awake tonight? Okay, praise God.

Just every now and then, look up, say amen. You know, something, just let me know you're out there. We're going to read Revelation 17.

There came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.

And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great astonishment.

That's what the word is there, with great amazement. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carried her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. When they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is, and here is the mind which hath wisdom, the seven heads or seven mountains on which the woman sitteth, and there are seven kings, five are fallen and one is, and the other is not yet to come.

And when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest, or ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and king of kings. And they that are with him are called and chosen.

And faithful, and he said unto me, the waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Revelation 17. I really felt like I needed to deal tonight with this as an introductory message before we even got into the pillars or the cornerstones of the Reformation, Reformation doctrines.

Because what we see here is an apocalyptic picture of Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, the Bible calls it, in verse 5. An apostate system that's going to arise in such great power in the end times, so as to exercise dominion over the entire world. I want you to see here what we have.

We have here in this passage a reference to a confederation of kings. You can see that in verse 12. It speaks about ten horns, which are ten kings.

You have a confederation here of kings. A world kingdom that's going to be presided over by the beast. Verse 13, these all have one mind, they're going to give their power and strength to the beast, who's going to use a world religious system that is equated with ancient Babylon in his rise to world power.

We have several interesting and colorful figures here. We have a beast, we have a woman, we have the many waters, and we have the lamb. I think we know who the lamb is.

The beast, we should know, is Antichrist. As far as the rest, we want to discover who they are. Now, keep this in mind.

According to the Bible, according to the book of Genesis, Babylon is the birthplace of false worship. Genesis chapter 10 speaks of Babel, which was the very first temple erected to false gods, erected by Nimrod. It was a counterfeit of true faith and true religion.

It was an abomination to God, and God destroyed it. Keep also in mind that the bride of Christ, the church, is called by several different names. It's called the bride.

It's called the chaste virgin. The Bible speaks of the true church being arrayed in white. At the same time, we see Babylon here, this false religious system being referred to as a great whore.

Verse 1. Now, this is some powerful language, but it's Bible language. I want you to see the way God refers to false religious systems.

It's color, He tells us. Verse 4, scarlet. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color.

We read in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 3 that this is the same color of the devil. It's the devil's color. He's the great red dragon.

In Genesis, we find false religion began with Babylon. In Revelation, we learn that false religion will end with Babylon. It began with Babel, it will end with Babylon.

In chapter 17 and verse 1, we begin to see right here God detailing the final ruin and judgment of this apostate religious system. Notice again right in the middle of the verse where the angel said to John in his Revelation, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth on many waters. God is going to begin to reveal the final judgment of this false apostate religious system that was introduced really all the way back with the Tower of Babel, but whose blasphemies and heresies and errors are still in apostate religion.

One-eighth of the Book of Revelation, almost 50 verses, deals with the judgment of Babylon. It's a reoccurring theme over and over and over throughout the book. In Genesis 11, God judged Babel.

He brought about its downfall, the Tower of Babel. He confused the languages and spread the multitudes out. Remember, Babel means confusion.

That's what it actually refers to as confusion. And that's what false religion is. It's confusing still today.

It's still Babel, confusing. In Revelation, God judges Babylon. Ultimately, he judges it finally for all of its sins.

Notice the sins he refers to. Verse 2, he says, With whom? That is, with this false system, the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

In verse 6, he speaks of other of her sins. I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. The big question is, who is this mystery Babylon?

Now, the book of Revelation, as you know, is full of imagery and symbolism. Since literal Babylon, as a city or a world religion, is no longer with us, it has to represent something. Let's look and see if we can discover, without reading into anything, let's see if we can discover the identity of mystery Babylon.

I think if we just look at the Bible, the Bible is very clear, and we can discover without any problem just who it is. This is a very graphic picture. Notice, first of all, that Babylon, whoever it is, Babylon, sits on many waters.

This great whore. Verse 1 says, the great whore sits on many waters. Now, what does that mean?

Well, the Bible does interpret itself. In verse 15, the angel is explaining what it means. He says unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

So what we see here is that this great whore, Babylon Mystery Religion, is a religious system that literally straddles the world. It's a religion that exercises worldwide influence. It's not a little, this is not a little church on a corner somewhere.

It's not a little denomination of a few people or even a few million people. This system literally straddles the world. Secondly, let's notice that it's a religious system that is extremely wealthy.

Verse 4, The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet. Now these were always in Bible times the colors of great wealth. And decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness and so forth.

So it speaks here with the gold, the precious stones and so on, of a system. It speaks of a system that basks itself in luxury and wealth. Thirdly, whoever this great whore is, it represents a religious system that has a history of intolerance and bloodshed.

Verse 6, well, let's read, yeah, verse 6. And I saw the woman, drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. So it is, though it's a religious system, it's an intolerant religious system, intolerant of other religions.

Fourthly, let's notice that it's a religious system that is incredibly and yet very deceitfully idolatrous. Verse 3 speaks of it being full of names of blasphemy.

Fifthly, this false religious system is called not only the great whore, but it's called the mother of harlots. Verse 5, Mystery Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots. Why?

Because all that is wrong, all that is false, all that is idolatrous, all that is blasphemous, all that is spurious, all that is counterfeit in religion has sprung from her loins. Sixthly, we see that this woman is more than a religion, it's a literal city. Verse 9, and here is the mind which hath wisdom.

The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. It's an unmistakable reference to Rome. Rome has always been known as the city that sits on seven mountains or seven hills.

It has been known that way throughout its history. Seventhly, let's notice this religious system has entered into relations with governments of the earth. There is the relation with the beast.

There is the relation with the ten kings. Finally, I want you to notice the various kings and kingdoms that have come and gone beginning in verse 10. Let's read these again.

There are seven kings, five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come. And when he cometh, he must continue a short space, and the beast that was and is not, even he's the eighth and is of the seven, and goes into perdition, and the ten horns or ten kings, many think that this is the European common market nations, a ten nation confederacy that will one day be under the rule of Antichrist, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast, representative of a short time, one hour, just a short time. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength to the beast.

So it's a confederacy, as these nations come together and align themselves with Antichrist. Verse 14, they shall make war with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings. And they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Now, what we see here, these five kingdoms that are referred to, I want you to notice over here, verse 10, there are seven kings, five are fallen. The five fallen kingdoms would have been Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. One is, he says.

Now, which kingdom was in power at the time of John's revelation? Obviously, we know that it was Rome. And he says, and the other is not yet come.

There is going to be another one that will come out of the last one. It will be a revival of the last one. The revival of the ancient Roman Empire.

And the beast is Antichrist, of course, who will rule over a confederacy of nations, and will use the woman in order to ascend to power. Notice verse 3 again, that the woman sat upon the scarlet colored beast. The woman rode the beast.

They needed one another. The beast needed the woman. The woman needed the beast.

And together, combined, they will bring the beast, who is the Antichrist, they will bring him to a position of world domination and world power. Antichrist is a literal man. We do not know his identity, but we do know that he will depend heavily upon this great Babylonian whore, this religious system.

He will depend on it heavily in his ascension to world power. We also know that by the time of the middle of the Tribulation, the beast will betray the woman and turn on her. He will have ascended to power.

He will no longer need the woman, and he will turn on her and begin to destroy her. We see that in the Book of Daniel, chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 11. We also see it right here, verse 16, where the ten horns that thou sawst upon the beast will hate the whore and will make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn it with fire.

So the kingdom of Antichrist will turn itself upon the woman. And you know what happens in the middle of the tribulation period? Antichrist proclaims himself to be God.

He not only makes a covenant with this great religious system, but he has a covenant with the Jews. The temple is rebuilt. But in the middle of tribulation, Antichrist proclaims himself to be God.

He turns upon the apostate religious system and does everything in his power to exterminate it as well.

Now, if you're still not convinced as to the identity of this apostate religious system, then verse 18, I think, will even clarify further. The woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Now, here's something very interesting.

The great harlot is a religious system, but it's also a literal city. Let's see that. It's not only a religion, it's a literal city.

The woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth. Now, the Greek here is present tense. John says, it's the city that now reigns over the kingdoms of this world.

Now, when he wrote that, you know what city reigned over the kingdoms of this world. Rome controlled the known world, and they controlled it with an iron fist, allowing no rebellion, no usurption of Roman power. There is, it's an unmistakable reference to Rome.

In the spiritual sense, although Rome no longer exists as a world power, as it did in ancient times, in the spiritual sense, it still dominates much of the world, and I think we all know that is true. That power is going to increase in the last days. That also, I believe, is undeniable.

So we see the woman is both a literal city, and a world religious power. Only one religion fits that description at present, and that's Romanism. Today, Romanism rules over a world congregation of over 900 million people.

Over 900 million. We know that it has a world kingdom. The Bible tells us that this woman sits upon many waters.

No religion in the world exercises the control, the domination as Romanism. Also, this system is indisputably the wealthiest religion on the earth. We already read in verse 4 that whoever Mystery Babylon was, it was extremely wealthy, no religion on earth.

Many nations on earth are not as wealthy as Roman Catholicism. Also, there can be no denying that it is also the most influential religious body on the earth. No religion on earth has the political clout, the political power, the political weight of Roman Catholicism.

You think about it, brothers and sisters. I mean this in no mean way. We don't hate Roman Catholics.

Please, I hope you recognize that. We exercise a spirit of love for all human beings. But let's not overlook what the Bible clearly points out here.

What religion on the face of the earth has political clout? Which religion has ambassadors?

Is there such a thing as a Baptist embassy? An Assembly of God embassy? Is there such a thing?

There is no such thing. There is no such thing as a Muslim embassy. There is only Roman Catholic embassies.

It is the only religion in the world with political power, political clout. It's the only religion in the world that owns a city within a city. From which it has its own finance systems, its own banks.

It literally is a country, a nation, a power in and of itself. It alone has a powerful, I mean, he referred to him as a charismatic leader, the Pope, that according to Roman Catholic doctrine is infallible. What religion in the world claims to have a living, infallible leader?

Besides Catholicism, unless you talk maybe to the Moonees, or the Dalai Lama. But he has made the spiritual equivalent of Christ on the earth incapable of error, incapable of failure. Brothers and sisters, ever since the Protestant Reformation, the woman pictured in Revelation chapter 17 has been equated with Rome, long before the Protestant Reformation.

Even by the forerunners of the Reformation, by men such as Wycliffe and so forth, Rome has been identified with the woman. Such worthies as Martin Luther, William Tyndale, John Knox, John Calvin have all equated Rome with the woman in Revelation 17. There can be no doubt as to who its identity is.

But keep something else in mind. What we see by the time we get to Revelation 17 is more than Rome. It's bigger than Rome.

It's Rome and an amalgamation of religions, all combined, all united under spiritual headship and authority of Rome. But I believe what we have here is the entire confederation or conglomeration of churches, denominations, groups, religions, all in league, all in league with Rome. Presided over by Rome, they comp-

they, they, together, presided over by Rome, they comprise the woman here in Revelation chapter 17. Several things have to come to pass, I believe. They have to come to pass in our generation because I believe this is the last one, brothers.

Sisters, I believe this is it. You believe we're winding it up here? I'm convinced that we are.

I don't believe the time is real long. I don't know if we've got two years or twenty. I don't know if we've got six months or sixty years.

I don't know how long we have. But one thing I do know, if this is the last generation, as I'm convinced it is, several things have to happen for this to come to pass, and they have to happen quickly. Now, you think about it.

In order for Revelation 17 to come to pass, and it will come to pass, and it will come to pass in our lifetime. Now, I'm believing that we're going to be out of here before the whole thing's fully developed, because I'm believing the fly. Praise God.

But in order for this to come to pass, Rome and its pontiff must increase in power and prestige all over the world in these last days. The world must begin to see Rome in a different light. But Protestantism especially must begin to see Rome in a different light.

Because for so long, Protestantism, for hundreds and hundreds of years, Protestantism has seen Rome as the antithesis of the biblical church. They've seen it as the antichrist system. But today, you don't hear that kind of talk anymore.

You just don't hear that anymore. Today, Rome is more and more looked upon as a genuine and sincere religion, with a genuine concern at bringing peace and tranquility to the world. Now, that's the picture Rome must present to Protestantism, and it must present that picture to the whole world.

Now, you think about it. In order for Rome to have the religions of the world to unite with her, and especially the denominational systems, Protestant systems and so forth, Rome must address several things. It must address the political ill of the world.

Now, Rome has always been involved with politics, always. Ever since its existence, ever since it was accepted by, ever since Constantine legitimized Christianity, and he was a Roman emperor, ever since then, Catholicism has been associated with politics. Rome always addresses the political ill of the world.

Wherever the Pope travels, and this is the most traveled Pope ever, wherever he goes, he will speak about man's inhumanity to man. He will address the social problems. He will rebuke, if it's communism or whatever it is, he will always address the social ill, the political ill of the world.

Now, this is necessary. You have to keep in mind, this is necessary in order to win over people who once oppose them. Rome must also seem unaggressive.

Rome must appear to be tolerant towards other world religions. There was a meeting not long ago, some of you may have read about it in Time Magazine, where the Pope invited all of the leaders of the world religions to come and meet with him. There were Hindus, there were Buddhists, there were Shintos, there were pagan witch doctors, American Indians, there were people from almost every kind of religious background you can imagine.

All came, all to acquiesce to Rome. Now some of these things, you may think that in and of themselves they don't seem entirely evil. So, Rome's message continues to be one of peace and love, and you can't have a lot of problems with that.

You know, I remember when I was putting together the Medjugorje book, people would ask me, well, the whole message of Medjugorje is peace. The whole message is peace. What's so wrong with that?

Well, if somebody just said, let's have peace, I mean, that sounds innocent enough. But brothers and sisters, we cannot fail to see the big picture. And when you see the big picture, it's scary.

Right now, Rome is wooing all of its harlot daughters back home.

This current pope has seemed the most conciliatory of all, the most charismatic of all. He's definitely the most traveled of all. He has strengthened Roman Catholicism from one end of the world to the other.

He has fostered openness and ecumenism amongst other religions and denominations. He has managed to soften the position of Protestantism across the world. He has managed to soften doctrinally the position of Protestantism.

And the resistance Protestants once had towards Catholicism has been softened all over the world. Listen, you can't read without finding out that that's true. He has managed to soften the hearts of other religions across the world, while at the same time, they have not yielded one doctrine, one position that Roman Catholicism has held since the Council of Trent.

They've not yielded one thing. This pope is more devoted to Mary than any, I know that's lived at least in my lifetime, perhaps more than any that has lived, period. He's made two personal pilgrimages to Fatima.

He has experienced an attempted assassination, lived through it, and attributes his survival to the Virgin Mary. Like I said, has made two pilgrimages to Fatima himself. He has continued to cling dogmatically to all of the established Roman Catholic dogmas, while the resistance and the doctrines that have been held by Protestants for all these centuries have eroded.

Catholicism has not given up anything. Not anything that they hold on to. Well, why am I telling you all of this?

Because right now, Rome is wooing Protestantism. Rome is wooing Protestantism back home. And Rome's overtures, I believe, are more subtle, and in some ways more diabolical, than ever before.

I see in what I read, in what I experience, in what I hear, I see the whole of the charismatic Pentecostal movement. I see much of Evangelism. I see much of mainline denominationalism, perhaps all of it softening up in its position towards Rome.

I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but many groups have already embraced Rome as a partner in world Evangelization. Now, just a few years ago, that would have been unheard of. No group would have said, we're going to link arm in arm with Roman Catholics, and we're going to Evangelize our nation, or our cities, or our world.

Because how can you Evangelize with a group that doesn't believe salvation comes the same way you believe? When you believe salvation is by faith, they believe it's by works plus faith. When you believe the Bible alone, is our guide, our consolation, and they believe church tradition is equivalent to the Bible.

When you believe that you have access to God yourself, and you can pray for yourself, and have direct access to Jesus Christ, you can directly access the Father's ears, and they say you need a mediator or a mediatrix. You have to pray to the Virgin Mary, pray through saints, pray to the dead, whatever. How can we link arm in arm in these regards?

But today, the position of Protestants, of Charismatics, especially Charismatics, has softened to the point that many major evangelical groups, evangelistic groups, now fully embrace Rome as brothers and partners in world evangelization. Campus Crusade for Christ, Inner Varsity, Youth with a Mission, the Billy Graham Crusades, Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowships, Paul Crouch's TBN, Pat Robertson's CBN, all endorse evangelization with Roman Catholicism. Several denominations are now participating in talks with Roman Catholicism concerning a merger of the denominations.

Rome is wooing her daughters back home. You'd be surprised at some of the Pentecostal groups now involved in what they call meaningful dialogue with Roman Catholicism. Charismatics especially have been open to Roman Catholics.

Charismatic TV constantly parades priests and nuns on their programs. Not that, keep in mind, not that we're against people, not that we're against people at all, but Roman Catholicism stands for a different salvation than what Christianity stands for. It preaches a different Bible than what Christianity stands for.

Many charismatic leaders, and you hesitate sometimes to use names because you don't want to seem mean-spirited or angry or whatever, and I'm not mean-spirited and I'm not angry, but I have big, big problems, brothers and sisters, with charismatic leaders. Now, some men who are on the forefront and supposedly the cutting edge of the charismatic movement, who are embracing Romanism, who share platforms with Roman Catholics, who denounce people who will speak anything negative against Roman Catholicism or against the Pope or against any Roman Catholic doctrine or dogma, it's quite distressing, to say the least, quite distressing. Many charismatics got together just a year or so ago and named the Pope, gave him the Prince of Peace Award.

A man whose book is right now the number one bestseller in all of Christendom, Benny Hinn, was one who endorsed giving the Pope that award. Benny Hinn has constantly appeared in platform after platform with Roman Catholicism. And by doing that, you endorse Roman Catholicism, and you are saying, in effect, that it is a legitimate denomination, that they too are winning souls for Christ.

And brothers and sisters, if I can say this without being mean-spirited, I've just got to say it. Roman Catholicism is drawing hundreds of millions of souls into a Christless eternity. Hundreds of millions of souls.

We are not saved by works. We are not saved by meritorious acts. There is no such thing as purgatory.

Rosary, prayers are meaningless and worthless. You might as well say you're ABCs. It does no good to pray to the saints.

It does no good to pray to the Virgin Mary. The Mass is a blasphemous, heretical event. It is not the sacrifice of Christ all over again.

I mean that in no mean-spirited way. I mean that in no offensive way. But, brothers and sisters, we must stand on our Christian faith.

We must stand on the cornerstone of Christianity and the cornerstone of Reformation faith. And that's what these are. And we must uphold them.

We cannot endorse in any way a system, a religion that is leading multitudes to hell. Now, what would happen if a preacher started appearing on a platform with Mormonism? What would you think about him?

You'd think, well, he's running with the Mormons. He's saying Mormonism, he's at all their crusades and campaigns. And when we have evangelistic rallies, he tells the Mormons, look, we're going to, you know, six people got saved.

You take these cars, and I want you to witness to those three, and see if you can get them in your church, and I'll take these other three and see if we can get them in ours. What would you think of a religion that did that, of a church that did that, or a denomination that did that? You'd say they were apostate.

They had departed from the faith, because Mormonism is not a valid Christian religion. Hello. What if they did it with the Jehovah Witnesses?

What if they did it with the Moonees? What if they did it with any of the other cults? You would say it is an apostate church that is participating in such a manner with those groups.

And yet, today, every one of those evangelical groups that I named are participating in just that way with Roman Catholicism. They are participating in just that way. Many charismatic leaders share platforms with Roman Catholics.

Without hesitation, they will endorse Catholicism as a legitimate religion. Recently, a personal friend of mine, Jeff Barnett, pastor of a church in Indianapolis, Indiana, was in an elevator with John Wimba. John Wimba, the head of the Vineyards movement.

The Vineyards now has about 500 churches. It is one of the fastest growing charismatic denominations in the world, in the United States at least. And in this conversation, they got to talking about different things.

I don't know how they got on the subject, but somehow or another the subject got around to Medjugorje. And Jeff Barnett, well, you know, he's a friend of mine. We know each other.

He's read my book. I've preached in his church. He's preached in mine.

And he got to talking about, yeah, how about that Medjugorje? He says, boy, that is really some demonic activity going over there. Well, Wimber was affronted and offended.

He said, what in the world would make you think that that is demonic? There are many people who are being brought to God through the events taking place at Medjugorje. Now, friends, again, I want to tell you something that I mean in no mean-spirited way.

But any man who has any spiritual perception whatsoever, who has any knowledge of the Word of God whatsoever, or has any knowledge of what is going on in Medjugorje whatsoever, any man who could make a statement like that is either, number one, so spiritually blind as to be literally an ignoramus. Now, any man who leads a denomination as large as John Wimber cannot be an ignoramus. Or secondly, he has to be thoroughly deceived.

And that's scary. That's very scary. John Wimber appears time after time after time in all of the major charismatic conferences.

With Roman Catholicism, he has written articles that have appeared in Roman Catholic magazines. He even wrote one on the Virgin Mary, not too many years ago. Friends, there are some strange and almost frightening things taking place in the world that we need to be aware of.

I just see where the church in the United States today is so pathetic, it's so weak, it's so undiscerning, that the average Christian, even if they heard a message like this one tonight, that they'd be totally turned up to buy it. They'd just think that, you know, we're just being mean or critical or whatever, that we would be unloving and un-Christian and un-charitable and so forth. Truth is held in very low regard today.

Tolerance is exalted above all. The most important word of all is tolerance and unity. The most despised words are doctrine, truth, and so forth.

Everyone is supposed to be embraced as our brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what they believe, no matter what they hold. And doctrine, of course, is a bad word. Now, I believe we can become so persnickety that we would divide from one another over minor doctrinal differences, and that's wrong.

Where we could just, you know, we could just measure one another, and we'd be ready to divide over the little things. There's things that we don't divide over. Now, when it comes to the major doctrines of faith, there must be unity.

Unity in the major doctrines of faith, where there are differences on the peripherals, peripheral doctrines, then let's have charity towards one another, okay? We can love, we can overlook some things, and embrace other legitimate born-again people as our brothers and sisters in Christ. But we cannot soften our resistance to the religion that has introduced idols, rosaries, prayers for the dead, virgin worship, indulgences, the veneration of relics, the pagan mass, pagan holidays, the false doctrine of transubstantiation, a work salvation, infant baptism, the clergy, priesthood era, the infallible pulpitory, holy water shrines, so forth.

We cannot weaken our resistance to such a religion that has subverted biblical Christianity.

If we swallow the old lie that doctrine is not important, we too will gradually be led into an alliance with the church that is solely responsible for the deaths of over one million martyrs.

All of them will have died in vain if it's true that doctrine is not important. Every time I hear somebody say that, it's like a knife that stabs me in the heart. If doctrine is not important, the martyrs shed their blood for nothing.

They willingly gave up their lives for no good reason. They believed that doctrine was important. They believed that Christianity was only true if it was biblical.

If it was not biblical, it was a perversion. It was false. It was not to be embraced.

It could not provide salvation. At worst, at best, it was erroneous. At worst, it was a demonic counterfeit.

And again, I'm not being ugly or mean-spirited when I insist that we must remember our reformation roots. Otherwise, we too will be lulled into an unholy alliance that will occur in these last days. We cannot align ourselves with a system that the Bible tells us right here is actually the opponent of Christ.

This system, according to verse 14, is going to fight against Christianity once again, biblical Christianity, true Christianity.

Brothers, Jesus is always on the side of truth, always on the side of truth. And if we do not stand fast in faith, in the Word, in the truth, that was once delivered to the apostles, then we'll be swept up in the momentum of all this unity stuff. And it's powerful, and it's going to get worse.

It's going to get much worse. The whole call is unity. And if you don't get in on it, you're going to miss out what God's doing in these last days.

Well, we believe in unity. There is a true unity, a true unity of faith. And there is an area where we are to be tolerant of our brothers and sisters.

But we're speaking of brothers and sisters. We are never to be tolerant of evil. We are never to wink our eye at lies and falsehood.

Jesus never did. Jesus never patted the Pharisees and Sadducees on the back, brothers and sisters, and said, after all, they are brothers and sisters. What did He say?

You of your father, the devil. Now, Jesus can say that, so I don't go around calling people devils. He's God.

He can say that. But I will tell you this. He had no toleration of a false system that was leading people to hell and not to heaven, nor are we.

You follow? Nor are we. Certainly, not all unity is bad, but unity that calls us to cast away the doctrines of faith that we depend on for our salvation.

That's not biblical. And we can't allow such things as sentimentality or emotionalism to cloud our discernment or our perception. And that's what I'm afraid some have done.

Let me tell you what's happening right now. Some of the men who are softening towards Rome, who are embracing Romanism, some of these charismatic leaders are very likable personalities. If you knew them, you'd like them.

But there's an area here where we're not following any personalities. We must stay with the truth of God's Word. If a personality departs from the Word of God, listen, you've got to stay with the Word, brothers and sisters.

No matter how likable this person is, no matter how nice a guy he is. I'm reminded of the account in Church History where Marcion had departed from Christian faith. They began teaching heretical doctrines concerning the Godhead."