Is the Roman Catholic Church a legitimate church, or is of a cult? A key question is What spirit do they carry?
Jesus the Messiah told us that we could recognize whether something is good or bad, righteous or unrighteous by the fruit that it produces, (Matthew 7:15-20). With this in mind we’ve been looking at the different characteristics, or the fruit that are universally identified as being a cult, and we’ve been comparing these fruits or characteristics to the Roman Catholic Church. The central question being, does the Roman Catholic Church fulfill the characteristics and bear the fruit of a cult, or does it fulfill the characteristics and bear the fruit of the legitimate congregation belonging to YHWH Almighty God, and to Jesus Christ?
A Cult will generally operate in a noticeably different spirit than what Scripture describes as the Holy Spirit. The concept is a little bit more abstract and harder to pin down then the obvious and clear concepts that we have been able to easily identify in past episodes so far. Getting this one right calls for closer fruit inspection, but it be done.
Suggested Readings
Matthew 5:43-48. According to Messiah, the true test of character is not how a group treats the friends, but it’s how we treat our enemies. Jesus said, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven… How we treat our enemies proves WHOSE child you truly are. If you’re following the Holy Spirit of God, you’re going to do the works of Matthew 5:43-48. Does the Catholic Church do that, or do they not
Galatians 5:22-26. This is what being controlled by the Holy Spirit of God looks like.
Luke 9:49-56. According to the Messiah, wanting to forbid and to prevent people from doing good works because they are not of your particular group, and wanting to call God’s wrath, judgment, condemnation and death on people who disagree with you, is a sign that you do not know what spirit your following, and that you are not a right spirit., So how does the Catholic Church, treat its enemies and people that disagree with them or that they disagree with?
Genesis 4:1-15. Abel and his offering was accepted by God. Cain and his offering was NOT accepted by God. The critical lesson here is, how did Cain respond to the problem? Did Cain say, ‘Wow, I’m really screwing up here. If I change my attitude and my ways God will accept me, and I’ll be happy again?’ No, Cain’s solution was, I will murder my brother. I will silence the opposition, and God will have no choice but to accept me once my brother is gone. And so Cain murdered Abel over the issue of worship. Abel was the first martyr.
So, how does the Catholic Church treat the opposition? Do they carry the spirit of Abel, or do they carry the spirit of Cain? You can always tell what spirit you are carrying by how you treat your enemies
As always, we will inspect the Catholic Church using its own writings, comparing that with Scripture, and not just our own opinions on any matter.
Brother Michel Lankford
