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SUBJECT: Attacks on the Catholic Church
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, in some of your sermons you seem to
be against Catholics. Is this true?
ANSWER:
You are completely in error, and leaping to a false
conclusion to accuse me of "hating" Catholics. I have no
hatred in my
heart toward any Catholic; some of my neighbors are
Catholics; I play golf with a Catholic friend. I do not hate
the pope. However, I suppose worshipers of Baal would have
accused Elijah of "hating" them because he understood their
utter paganism, and because he staunchly stood for the true
God. Never have I attacked the pope personally, or the
Catholic church. You need to study Revelation 17; find which
great city has seven hills; study the entire history of the
Roman Catholic Church, especially the life's stories of all
her popes. One good, and simple, place to start is the
little "Halley's Bible Handbook," available in any Bible
book store. Read the portion toward the end of the book
about church history.
I doubt very much that the pope wakes up every morning
saying to himself "I am the false prophet of prophecy,"
anymore than the yet to arise military dictator of the
United States of Europe knows who he is, or what destiny he
will fulfill. It is not for me to judge them -- Christ is
doing that -- but it is for me to preach the truth, and the
truth is that the original true church Jesus Christ built
was never prophesied to become a large, visible church; an
organization of this world with actual statehood, or to have
concourse with the nations. Isaiah 47 describes the "lady of
kingdoms" as does Revelation17 and 18.
While I am sure the "Two Babylons" by Hislop is on the
Catholic blacklist, you really ought to read it, for it
plainly proves the many, many pagan doctrines and symbols
which have been adopted by the Catholic church over the
centuries. Halley says, in his commentary on Revelation 17,
"This description of Babylon the great Harlot, seated on the
seven-headed ten-horned beast, while it may have ultimate
reference to a situation yet to appear, exactly fits papal
Rome. Nothing else in world history does fit." You need to
read all of Halley's comments about the book of Revelation,
and all his section on church history.
There are more than four hundred Protestant denominations --
there are dozens of other religions, among them the more
than 800 million Muslims, and countless millions of Hindus,
Buddhists, Animists, Shintoists, and others. I doubt
that every Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian,
Nazarene, Seventh-day Adventist, Mormon, or members of the
Church of Christ, First Christian Church, Pentecostal
Church, Assembly of God, or dozens more "hates" Catholics. I
certainly do not. Nor do I hate any of the adherents to the
religions mentioned above. They are deceived. Deception,
by its very connotation, carries with it the assumption of
sincerity. They are sincere. No person is deliberately
deceived,
or the deception disappears.
Knowing, as I do, that "none can come to the Son except the
Spirit of the Father draw him," knowing, as I do, that only
a FEW are being called out of this world today, I fully
recognize that God is not YET setting His hand to "convert"
the world -- that during this time His work is preaching a
message of both GOOD NEWS (the word "gospel" means "good
news") that Christ is alive, and that he is coming again to
rule this world with a rod of iron, and a message of
warning, exactly as Christ did in His famous Olivet
Prophecy.
No, I do not hate Catholics, nor Muslims, nor any other
human being of any race, religion, or political persuasion.
Because I take issue with pagan doctrines and Satanic
deception does not mean I hate those who have been swayed by
such doctrines. To those who are a part of this present
worldly system, and most specifically the biblically
identified "Babylon the Great," God says "Come out of her my
people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).
Sincerely,
Garner Ted Armstrong
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