Why I Believe Some Evangelicals Are Converting to Roman Catholicism
Some Roman Catholics are using the fact that some Evangelicals are becoming Roman Catholics as "proof" that they are the truth. I would like to talk about the reality to why some Evangelicals are becoming Roman Catholics. Are these Evangelicals who are converting to Roman Catholicism now "awakened"? On the contrary, this is what the Bible says:
1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
If you were truly saved you would not depart from the Church. But many Evangelicals today are only Evangelicals by name but they were not truly born again Christians. If you're truly born again your spiritual rebirth can't be undone and there would be the mark of the perseverance of the saints. The truth of the matter is that Judas Iscariot was not saved and he lost it or that was saved. John 17:12 states that Judas Iscariot is lost in contrast to the rest. Jesus mentioned that all His disciples are saved except Judas Iscariot. I believe John wrote 1 John 2:19 with Judas Iscariot in his mind to show the difference of true and false conversion.
Why is false conversion so rampant? I remembered reading "Hard to Believe" by Dr. John F. MacArthur. Before that, I also listened to the sermons of Pastor Ray Comfort called "True and False Conversion" and "Hell's Best Kept Secret". It hid the ugly truth about false conversion and flimsy evangelism. Both of Comfort's sermons tackled on apostasy and why it happens. Here's a list of the common truths found in both sermons by Pastor Comfort that's really true about evangelism and so-called conversions today:
Why is false conversion so rampant? I remembered reading "Hard to Believe" by Dr. John F. MacArthur. Before that, I also listened to the sermons of Pastor Ray Comfort called "True and False Conversion" and "Hell's Best Kept Secret". It hid the ugly truth about false conversion and flimsy evangelism. Both of Comfort's sermons tackled on apostasy and why it happens. Here's a list of the common truths found in both sermons by Pastor Comfort that's really true about evangelism and so-called conversions today:
- You have millions of decisions for Christ but many who sign the dotted line haven't received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. In other words, there's 10% or less of this population's decision that were genuine.
- Modern evangelism these days is one of the biggest causes of why so many false conversions happen. So many pastors today preach "Easy Christianity" which also teaches the heresy of fruitless Christianity. They don't even bother to tell the individual about their sin. This is a very different preaching used in the Bible where the Law is presented to the lost sinner.
- Many have said the sinner's prayer, get baptized and became church members all because they believed in some flimsy gospel that tells them "You will feel peace, you will feel joy." instead of addressing the issue of sin and their need to be saved. What's the use of saying the sinner's prayer and getting baptized if you don't even see yourself as a sinner and Jesus is the Savior? I don't care if you can't remember when you were saved. I only care if you are truly saved!
- You can tell true and false conversion by the truth of the perseverance of the saints. There's this truth that even if you may momentarily fall away but you can't completely fall away. You can make a Christian cower for awhile but the Holy Spirit convicts them and the Heavenly Father convicts them back on track. In other words, no true Christian can truly renounce the truth that they have grown to love.
If you know the truth and you are deep into the truth then the lie will not be pleasing to you at all. It's not that these Evangelicals finally "knew the truth" because the Roman Catholic priest helped them "see the truth". On the contrary, they have no real firm foundation for biblical truth. There's still so much shallow conversions and thorns that prevented any real fruit from forming. These are not types of Christians but they are false converts. Their worldly desires and shallow reasons for supposedly receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior prove that it's a false conversion. Since they have no real root then it's very easy to dissuade them into a lie.
Here's the illustration of true and false conversion. A husband supposedly converts to becoming an evangelical because his wife came from an evangelical family. Another is a Christian woman who got married to a Roman Catholic. The first situation is where the husband after his "conversion" found the evangelical scenario boring and his wife who's an evangelical is not even born again. The family are nominal Christians who believe that they can be saved and live like the rest of the world. The wife converts to Roman Catholicism even if she's supposedly an evangelical because she has no real root. In the second scenario, the Christian woman who got married to a Roman Catholic won her husband to the LORD. Both scenarios show that one is a sham conversion and the other is a genuine conversion.
With this in mind it's time to get serious about old-fashioned evangelism and soulwinning. It's time to stop flimsy evangelism. It's time to think about the uncompromised message about sin and the Savior. It's time to really show people why they're sinners and why the Lord Jesus is the Savior from sin. It's time to stop preaching a Jesus that's Savior but not Lord. If your Jesus is not Lord then you aren't even saved to start with. How can a true Christian ever think of Jesus as only Savior but not Lord? That's just plain impossible because every Christian has Jesus as their Lord. It's time to get serious about preaching the Bible as it is to lost sinners as they are.