a Rabbi, a Priest, and a minister...

Larry King has a habit of interviewing religious leaders (from many different religions and Christian denominations) and he is meticulous about asking one line of questioning to all of them. The gist of his question is this, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” There have been confessions made by many different people, and many of them (from what I have seen) have fallen into a similar category of deceived non-biblical nonsense. And by the way - I am primarily referring to those people who claim to be Christians. Sure, we get the same universalistic and all-inclusive drivel from other religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age religions, and (sadly) Judaism, but we cannot expect false religions to provide us with the truth. But we can and should expect more from those who are or claim to be Christians and who claim to hold dear the very gospel that Christ died to give to us.

If you don’t think that the devil has set up false systems to be inclusive of everything but the truth, here is a quick rabbit trail. I have found, interestingly enough, that the position of many (if not most or all) modern Jewish Rabbis is that if a person keeps the laws of Noah (Noahide law), they will have a share in paradise. These 7 Laws of Noah are (although not universally agreed to in order or in content) these:

• Prohibition of idolatry


• Prohibition of blasphemy


• Prohibition of murder


• Prohibition of theft


• Prohibition of illicit relations


• Prohibition of eating live meat


• Prohibition of failing to establish courts of justice

The basic doctrine associated with these laws is that if a non-Jew keeps these laws, they will inherit eternal life. It is interesting to note that “Maimonides has maintained that Islam is a Noahide religion” while, although there is some debate, “the strict view is that Christian theology is considered [idolatry] for all people, both Jew and gentile, as it subscribes to the Trinity.“ It is funny that the Jewish tradition holds that practicioners of Islam would be keeping the laws of Noah when true Muslims (in my view) are the ones practicing the Ji’had on everyone else. I call them “true Muslims” because their holy book calls for war and destruciton and of the infadel as plainly as Christ claimed exclusively to be the only way to God in the New Testament (John 14:6). Is it more ironic or more wicked that this doctrine most specifically rejects Christ, but accepts Mohammad and those who wage an endless war on Jews?

Leaving false religions aside (because, really, how much truth can we expect to find in those who openly and viciously deny the deity of Jesus?), I want to focus again on various “Christians” and their affrmations of the gospel. In order to do this, I have found a few video clips from the Larry King Live show that I would like to share. The first video is one that I have sent to a few Catholic friends and it has received by them with anything from calling the Priest a heretic to defending him totally on what he says. Let us just listen to this ordained minister and Priest of the Roman Catholic Church talk about the gospel:

(Click here to view the video Clip)

The universalism is so thick; I had a hard time listening to it. The sickening works righteousness of being a good person “doing the best he can” which then allows one to get eternal life just oozes out of his mouth. This is another gospel than the one contained in the Bible.

Now, to show that I am not just ragging on Catholic statements of Christ and salvation, here is the poster-boy for contemporary (pseudo) Christianity: Joel Osteen.

(Click here to view the video Clip)

To be fair to Mr. Osteen, he did pretty well for the first 31 seconds of this exchange. After that, it wasn’t just that he went downhill; he did a freefall plummet out of the sky. Saying that the people in India (who presumably are not Christians by the context of his statement) “love God” by practicing what the Bible declares to be idolatry is nothing less than pure theological garbage. He is right that we don’t know definitely who is or who is not saved, assuming that we’re only looking at professing Christians, but to say regarding other faiths, “I don't know if I believe they're wrong.” is to skip past humility and jump straight into a denial of God’s Word and it is heresy of the first order.

In the final clip, there are three primary speakers here: a rabbi, a priest, and a minister. No joke, that’s the case. Rabbi Harold Kushner, Father William Byron, and Albert Mohler who is the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary fulfill these three different roles. You can watch for yourself, but you will see both Rabbi Kushner and Father Byron basically say that regardless of what you believe, your good works will get you to heaven. After that, Mohler will give the appropriate, correct, and biblical response. (this clip has bad video quality)

(Click here to view the video Clip)

I don’t think that Rabbi Kushner, Father Byron, or Father Manning represent the crazy wacko-wings of their respective religions, but rather I think that they represent the main-stream. In the same way, I think that Joel Osteen represents much of those who would now call themselves evangelicals. Albert Mohler represents the traditional and historical affirmations of the Christian faith in that we are saved in Christ alone by the preaching of the Word of God (Romans 10:13-15).

I am not in line with Mr. Osteen’s presentation of the gospel, his emphasis on prosperity (health, wealth, etc.), or that Christians can live your best life now in Christ (unless by that he means and articulates that we will undergo trials, tribulations, persecutions, and possibly martyrdom for the cause of Christ). If he were a pastor in my denomination, I would call for disciplinary action and most likely removal from his pulpit because he clearly does not understand the gospel. Dr. Mohler affirms the gospel, and although we may disagree on some issues (none come to mind right now), I applaud his stance and encourage him on in his ministry.

If these two Catholic Priests are correctly articulating Catholic theology, then it is proof positive that the Catholic Church is as apostate as the Mormon church or the wishy-washy self-help protestant churches like the one that Mr. Osteen pastors. Again, if indeed this is the official gospel preached by the Roman Catholic Church, neither I nor you owe it any allegiance, nor should we pay it lip service, nor should we genuflect to it. If, however, these Priests are preaching a gospel that is contrary to official Roman Catholic theology, with the very intricate hierarchy that exists, why are they still active Roman Catholic Priests? Why have they not been corrected by whatever disciplinary system that is present? Why have they not been defrocked? Why have they not been excommunicated?

If the Roman Catholic Church is unwilling or unable to severely discipline those members of its clergy who so blatantly blaspheme the gospel, I cannot support it, I cannot defend it, and I cannot be in communion with it. Any church that allows men to preach the false gospel that these men (Byron, Manning, or Osteen) preach is apostate to the very gospel that Christ died to bring to us in such a basic and foundational way that there is no excuse for it.