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"Take
Heed" Ministries
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Cecil Andrews, PO BOX 13, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AL, Northern Ireland. Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEBSITE - http://www.takeheed.net |
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Words
of Wisdom
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“CATHOLICISM
and ISLAM – TIES that BIND”
By
Tom McMahon
Executive
Director ‘The Berean Call’
November
2002
The above title became a source of
controversy when I used it for a talk given at a recent prophecy conference.
What I found curious about the commotion was that it came from Catholics (and
some evangelicals) who had yet to hear my presentation. Furthermore, the title
reflects the hope and prayers of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue.
Actually, the real controversy stems
from confusion created by the Church of Rome herself. In her zeal to be the
spiritual voice of the world's religions, she talks out of both sides of her
ecumenical mouth. Regarding her relationship to Islam, not only has she made to
those of the Muslim faith some theological overtures, which contradict
Christian orthodoxy, but even worse, there are ties between the two religions
which go a lot deeper than most people realize. Let's first consider some
commonalities between the two faiths.
Starting with the number of
adherents, Catholicism and Islam each exceed one billion, nearly all of whom
enter their respective faiths as infants. More than 16 million babies are
baptized into the Roman Catholic Church each year. It's a family thing. My
sisters and I were baptized as Catholics because our parents were Catholics,
and they and their siblings were baptized into the Church because their
parents were Catholics. That's the primary way the faith is propagated.
Practically speaking, although
baptism is not part of Islam, all children born into a Muslim family are Muslims.
Their official "confirmation" follows as soon as they
are able to confess the shahada ("There is no God but
Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger"). This baby-oriented process
for increasing their ranks has been a motivating factor in the
Vatican/Saudi-sponsored lobby against UN endeavours to introduce contraception
and other methods of population control, especially in third-world countries.
Islam is the fastest growing religion
in the world today; Catholicism is the largest religious body among those
professing to be Christian. If the number of followers was a good measure for
selecting a religion, then Islam and Catholicism would definitely be the way to
go. However, the Bible has no such yardstick. Rather, Jesus said, "[W]ide
is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
it" (Matthew
Most people are aware of the
veneration and even worship of Mary found among Roman Catholics, but not many
know that much the same deference exists among Muslims. A chapter in the Qur'an
is named after Mary ("Surah Maryam"). From the
outskirts of
Catholic and Islamic prayers have
many similarities. For the Muslim, praying to Allah five times a day is
altogether an act of obedience, and the prayers are always repetitive. As one
former Muslim puts it, "It's hardly intimate communication with
Allah;...it's done more to escape the punishment due to those who neglect
prayer." Most prayers prayed by Catholics are also rote and repetitive,
saying the rosary being the best example. Repeating 16 "Our Father's"
and 153 "Hail Mary's" is far from personal communication.
Furthermore, when a Catholic goes to confession the priest assigns rosaries as
severe punishment, or penance, for one's sins.
Prayer beads were a part of Islamic
devotion to Allah long before an apparition of the Blessed Lady taught St.
Dominic to pray the rosary beads in the thirteenth century. Prayer beads, by
the way, are a stock item in ancient and modern paganism. On an ironic note,
Catholic Church historians credit the prayers of members of the Confraternity
of the Rosary for a major naval victory over the Turks, which "saved
Catholics and Muslims regard
pilgrimages as a means of obtaining favor from God. The hadj, one
of the five pillars of Islam, is a required (one-time) journey to
Roman Catholicism recognizes Allah as
the God of the Bible. In 1985, Pope John Paul II declared to an enraptured audience of thousands of Muslim youths, "Christians and
Muslims, we have many things in common as believers and as human beings....We
believe in the same God, the one and only God, the living God...."
But how is that possible?
Historically, Allah was a pagan idol,
supreme among many idols worshiped by Muhammad's Quraish tribe long before he
was born. Will Durant in his classic, The Story of Civilization, writes,
Within the Ka'aba, in pre-Moslem
days, were several idols representing gods. One was called Allah; three others
were Allah's daughters, al-Uzza, al-Lat, and al-Manat. We may judge the
antiquity of this Arab pantheon from the mention of Al-il-Lat (Al-Lat) by
Herodotus [fifth century b.c. Greek historian] as a major Arabian deity. The
Quraish paved the way for monotheism by worshiping Allah as chief god....
Archaeological evidence uncovered in
Catholicism's zeal to relate to Islam
makes one wonder how honest it is about its own perspective on God, based on
the "Sacred Scripture." God is referred to as Yahweh or Jehovah about
9,000 times in the Bible. Never is He thus referred to in the Qur'an. He
reveals himself in the Scriptures as "The God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob/Israel." He is the Father of the Jews, "the
God of
Allah has a completely different
attitude toward the Jews than does the God of the Bible. Allah commands his
followers to "Take not the Jews...for friends" (Sura
Further comparisons between Jehovah
and Allah demonstrate clearly that they cannot be one and the same. Jehovah has
a Son: "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to
be the Saviour of the world" (1 John
While there are both clear and
critical differences between the biblical God and Allah, nevertheless, the
Roman Catholic Church accepts them as one and the same God. The following quote
is from
‘The Church
has also a high regard for the Muslims. They worship God, who is one, living
and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has
also spoken to men. They strive to submit themselves without reserve to the
hidden decrees of God, just as Abraham submitted himself to God's plan, to
whose faith Muslims eagerly link their own.
Although
not acknowledging him as God, they venerate Jesus as a prophet, his virgin
Mother they also honor, and even at times devoutly evoke. Further, they await
the day of judgment and the reward of God following the resurrection of the
dead. For this reason they highly esteem an upright life and worship God,
especially by way of prayer, alms-deeds and fasting’ (
Consider carefully the above
quote (taken from what the Roman Catholic Church claims is an infallible council)
and you will realize what truly binds Catholicism and Islam together: They
both have a Jesus who cannot save their souls.
The Qur'an teaches that Jesus did not
die on the cross: "And because of [the Jews] saying, We slew the
Messiah Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger They slew him not nor crucified,
but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in
doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture;
they slew him not for certain" (Sura 4:157). Vatican
II may give Muslims credit for "venerating" Jesus, but in fact, it's
a bogus Jesus. Sadly, Catholicism also has a false Christ. It teaches that His
death on the cross was not sufficient for our salvation. Not only must His
sacrifice (which, according to the Scriptures, was offered only once to
take away our sins completely [Hebrews 9:28]) be
"re-presented" as a daily sacrifice for sins on altars around the
world, but Catholics must expiate their own sins through sufferings here on
earth and in purgatory.
Finally, Vatican II spells out
clearly what Islam and Catholicism regard as their hope for salvation: "...they highly esteem
an upright life and worship God, especially by way of prayer, alms-deeds and fasting."
This is works
salvation.
In Islam, a person is accountable for
every thought, word, and deed. His or her life is to be lived according to what
is pleasing to Allah as found in the Qur'an and the hadith.
In addition, there is shari'a, which is the body of rules that
attempts to cover the totality of Islamic religious, political, social
and domestic life. Breaking such laws involves various forms of temporal
punishment. At the Last Judgment Allah will determine one's eternal destiny as
He places one's good and evil works on the divine scale: "Then those
whose scales are heavy [with good deeds], they are the successful. And those
whose scales are light are those who lose their souls, in hell abiding"
(Sura 23:102,103). The hadith vividly describes the
tortures of hell.
A friend of mine, James McCarthy,
produced a video titled Catholicism:
Crisis of Faith in which he
interviews about a dozen people leaving Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New
York. He simply asks them on what basis they expect to get to heaven. Only one
made any reference to Jesus. The overwhelming response was that they felt they
were pretty good people, and were fairly confident that their good deeds
outweighed their bad ones.
Although the Catholic Church
states that it is only by God's grace that one can enter heaven, it becomes
very clear that what is meant is that grace is required to enable one to do
the works which qualify one for heaven.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic
Church, they "obtain the joy of
heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace
of Christ" (par 1821) and
they "can
merit for [them]selves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal
life" (par 2027).
Pope John
Paul II addressed a Catholic
community in Turkey with these words: "I wonder if it is now urgent, precisely today
when Christians and Muslims have entered a new period of history, to recognize
and develop the spiritual bonds that unite us." No! What is "urgent" is that Catholics
and Muslims be set free from the spiritual bondage of attempting to
qualify for heaven by their good deeds. Pray that their hearts would be open to
receive the gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23). TBC
The video referred to above
Catholicism: Crisis of Faith
Is available from our ministry
Price £11.00 [includes p&p in the UK]
Order from
‘Take Heed’ Publications
Po Box 13
Ballynahinch
BT24 8AL
Northern Ireland