SIMILARITIES BETWEEN CATHOLICISM AND PENTECOSTALISM

 

It should be noted that the above mentioned are religions on their own that are different from Christianity. What I mean is that Pentecostals and Roman Catholics aren’t Christians. And Christians can neither be Pentecostal nor Roman Catholic.  I know what you are thinking. I am judgmental, right? Well, listen to what I have got to say before drawing a conclusion. By the time I am finished, may be you would agree that Catholicism and Pentecostalism are anything else but Christianity as underlined in the teachings of the scriptures.

Christianity as a system of beliefs is deeply rooted and based on the teachings of the Bible alone. Pentecostalism and Catholicism on the other hand, would show if we look clearly that their teachings are based on everything else but the scriptures. Actually Pentecostalism and Catholicism are very similar in many ways. In this writing, I won’t only be proving that the two religions are not Christianity, but would also show that Pentecostalism and Catholicism are very similar.

Concerning the similarities between these two systems of belief, their adherents would strongly disagree. But a clear look at their history, belief systems and practices would show that they are more or even most alike than unalike. I can authoritatively state that Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism are almost the same historically, doctrinally and practically.

#1 Romanism and Pentecostalism are from the same historical stock.

Unlike the protestant/evangelical movement that broke away from the Roman Catholic Church, the Pentecostal movement didn’t break out of the Roman Catholic Church. It didn’t come out of the protestant movement like the Presbyterian and Baptist movements did. The Pentecostal movement is an offshoot of the Roman Catholic Church. The Anglican Church left from under the leadership of the Romanism but still kept the majority of their doctrines and practices. It, in turn gave birth to the Methodist Church of Charles and John Wesley. It is on record that the Wesleys for many years ministered Methodist principles as members of the Anglican Communion before separating themselves several years later. It is common knowledge that the first people to articulate the doctrines of holiness and second blessings were the Methodists. Methodism later gave birth to the Holiness movement to which people like Alexander Dowie, Smith Wigglesworth and Maria Woodsworth-Etter belonged. These were the precursors of Pentecostalism which saw the light in the turn of the century. I could aptly say that Roman Catholicism is the great grand-father of Pentecostalism.

Hence Pentecostalism is a great-grandchild of the Roman Catholic Church. Both religions belong to the same family. They have the same genes which in time manifest themselves in disobedience to the Bible which is the word of God.  The Protestants come out of the Catholic and formally denied their beliefs and cut off all allegiance to them. The Anglican Church from whence the Methodist and later on the Pentecostal churches came never formally broke its ties with the Roman Catholic Church. The Anglicans kept the beliefs of the Church of Rome adopted some protestant beliefs though they did change their allegiance from the Pope in Rome to the King of England. These beliefs, they passed to the Methodist church which greatly improved on them before finally handing them over to the Pentecostal church.

#2 Romanism and Pentecostalism are similar doctrinally.

When I write a thing like this without explanations, I am likely to get a lot of red flags. What I mean by similar in doctrine is that their doctrines in the end arrive to the same objective though they may be articulated a bit differently. Here are some doctrines in which the Catholics and Pentecostals share similar views:

1.  Salvation by works

Both religions teach salvation by works for example. Though the means to achieving this salvation are different, they all arrive at the same objective which that your salvation is entirely or partly dependent on you. God has left it wholly to you to make sure you get into heaven.

The key point on the protestant reformation was that salvation as taught in scripture is by faith and not by works. The R.C.C. taught that salvation was earned through a series of works which included joining the church and following the seven sacraments.

Though the Pentecostals seem to teach salvation by faith at the first glance, a close look will reveal that your salvation in entirely up to you. You can actually decide when and where you want to be saved. To them salvation is not the work of God from the beginning to the end. They believe that Jesus paid the price and left the rest to you. Unless you give your life to Christ as they teach, you can’t be saved. Unless you confess with your mouth Jesus as your Lord and savior, you can’t be saved. Note that it is not scriptural to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.

What they fail to realize is that the work of salvation is God’s from the beginning to the end.  It is not scriptural that people are expected to give their lives to Christ. A simple look shows that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. If people have fallen short as a result of their sins, why should God expect them to give their life to Christ? Man on his own could not attain any standards set by God whether it is giving your life Christ or doing anything good. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were not coming to him because the father hadn’t drawn them. Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession of faith.

The Pentecostals have popularized the theology of salvation by confession. All you need to do is confess. What they forget is that confession in itself is a work. Hence they call the crowds forward in the crusade and exact confessions from them and declare them saved and born again. What we must understand is that confession in itself can’t save anyone just as doing good can’t. Jesus is the one who saves. Believing and confessing are just effects of the work of the Holy Spirit as he wrought his salvific work on the human heart. Anyone can confess that Jesus is Lord but not all that confess Jesus are saved. Only those whose confession is a work of the Holy Spirit are saved.  Apostle Paul taught in Corinth that no one can confess Jesus as Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:2,3. But when you attend Pentecostals crusades you can clearly you can clearly see that the confessions aren’t from the Holy Spirit. They are forced, motivated, emotionally induced, cajoled and coerced by the preachers. A false understanding of the place of confession in salvation in Pentecostalism has help bring a new dark age upon the church just as the Roman Catholic Church brought their own dark age as they made the church the final authority in matters of salvation and spirituality instead of pointing the people to Christ. The Pentecostal Charismatic movement has and is doing ditto.

2.  Pentecostals and Catholics alike hold that one can be saved today and lost tomorrow.

Roman Catholicism hold that died for the salvation of the world but left is in the custody of the church. Hence it is the church’s duty to administer salvation to the faithful in the form of graces. The more graces a faithful catholic collects, the closer to salvation he gets. So Roman Catholics are never sure of their salvation as anytime they sin, graces that were credited to their accounts are deducted. These graces will be added back when they are absolved y the priest after confession. To be a bit more specific, the sacrament and the mass are the chief ways through which graces are garnered.  They also have the advantage of continuing garnering graces even after dead through the offerings given and masses said on their behalf by their living friends and relatives. Lest I forget, they can also wait in the purgatory while their account receives enough graces to allow them cross over into heaven. This reminds me of a video game I played as a kid. In the game you had to collect enough coin to go to the next level even if you had completed the current level.

To the Pentecostal, the doctrine of eternal security is a demonic teaching. They believe that salvific security comes from their obedience to God. Hence they seek to attain the state of divine perfection through tarrying and waiting for the baptism of the Spirit with the evidence of tongues. The doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues is an offshoot of the doctrine of divine perfection, second blessing developed by the holiness movement. Once someone had attained this state, he becomes sinless. And even then, he still can lose his salvation since the Pentecostals believe that once can only be saved if they do not commit any sins whatsoever. There is nothing like the permanence of salvation or the perseverance of the saints.

3.  Pentecostals and Catholics believe in relics

For centuries, Catholics have believed that great saints and men of God transferred some of their graces, virtues and anointing to the clothes, objects they used or touched while alive and the rooms where they slept. When people touched these relics devotedly, they received healings, miracles and experience visions, dreams and great anointing.

A relic is an object that was touched or used by a saint or man of God which is believed to possess power that believers can recover for their own uses through touches. Relics can also grant wishes.

Hence Roman Catholics visit special sites where pieces of clothes, staffs, candle holders used by Peter, Mary and Paul and pieces of the cross of Jesus are kept. They go to such places in hope to receive miracles and blessings. Pieces of the cross, vials of Mary’s breast milk, pieces of the loaves Jesus multiplied, clothing and objects used by saints such as Saint Francis, Saint Augustine and Saint Dominic are kept for veneration by the saints. Bones and skulls of the saints are kept in black boxes for the veneration of the saints.

Pentecostals are known for using handkerchiefs, holy water blessed by men of God to heal the sick, raise the dead, give breakthroughs and grant miracles.

The internet went agog recently when Pastor E.A. Adeboye brought out a staff which he said was handed him by Pa Josiah Akindayomi. So He then asked the members to fix their gazes on the stick so that all their wishes can be granted.

There are hundreds of instance whereby people trampled upon each other as they attempted to sit on a chair, touch or stand on the very spot a Pentecostal pastor stood on. They do this in hope that some of the power or virtue that flowed out of the man of God as he sat or touched the place would be transferred to them and give healings and breakthrough.

Books are held in Pentecostal circles as containing miraculous powers that can grant wishes to those who buy and read them. Students of all nations for Christ bible school in Benin City used to under the statue of Benson Idahosa in B.I.U and his grave at C.G.M.I.I at Miracle Centre in order to receive the anointing to perform miracle as alleged to have been performed by him.

The grave of Joseph Ayo Babalola is a popular pilgrimage spot for the members of Christ Apostolic Church and other churches. They go there and pray on his grave in hope to receive blessings and miracles.

The practice of grave sucking is on the rise in the Pentecostal circle today. Grave sucking is the practice of sucking out power left in the grave of dead saints and men of God. Many pastors and church members have been visiting the graves of great Pentecostal pastors in order to tap whatever anointing is left in their dead bones. Pastor Benny Hinn claimed that he felt the anointing as he visited the grave of Aimee Simple MacPherson. He also said he felt a great power come on him when he was at Kathrin Kulman’s grave.

4.  Pentecostals and Catholics practice sacerdotalism.

Sacerdotalism is the belief that people need go-betweens or mediators to stand between them and God.

The foundation of Roman Catholicism is the sacraments. Without them the entire Roman Catholic system will collapse. Jesus died and earned salvation for the whole world. This salvation has however been entrusted to the church whose ministers are the priests. They are the ones responsible for administering the grace to the people. These they do through the 6sacraments and the mass. When the Roman Catholic believers partake in the sacraments and other rituals, graces and merits are imparted unto him. The more merits one gains, the closer he gets to salvation. The priests are the go-between that stand for the people before God, receive the merits and pour them on the people as they participate in the sacraments.  The priests mediate between divinity and humanity. Without the priests, there is no salvation since the people cannot go to God by themselves. This brings to light a vital Roman Catholic doctrine that teachers that there is no salvation without or outside the church.

Though the Pentecostals do not have priests officially, their ministers operate as priests anyway. They consider themselves to be priests and mediators who go to God, get the breakthrough and releases it on the people through special services, prayers, fasting, seed sowing, prophetic pronouncements, decrees, praise and worship and confessions. In many Pentecostal churches, the members do not do anything without the knowledge and approval of the pastors.  The members go to the pastors for guidance on all matters. They seek divine confirmation from the pastors as to whether the can take a trip, start a business, attend a particular school, marry a certain man or woman and even what clothes to wear. Just as God spoke only through the Urim and Tumim of Aaron, God today only speaks through the Pentecostal pastors. God can’t tell the people anything without the knowledge of the man of God. If God dares tell the members something first, he would have to correct his mistake by confirming it to the man of God. He’ll be waiting. If he doesn’t get his confirmation the members would be in danger of being cursed if they dare go ahead and act on the information from God.

Both Catholics and Pentecostals are wrong to practice sacerdotalism. This practice divides the body of Christ as it may onto two groups. Christ has made all believers kings and priests unto his father. Through his death, he tore the veil so that everyone could boldly come before the throne of God. The believers do not need a priest or another man to stand between them and God. It is a sin for any man to stand as a mediator between God and another man in matters of redemption. Christ is our mediator. And we do not need another one.

5.  Pentecostals and Roman Catholic churches believe in extra-biblical revelation.

Revelation as in extra-biblical revelation is a given truth that comes from beyond the Bible. They also call it extra-sensory knowledge because it comes from outside of the individual’s natural senses. In other words, it is knowledge that comes from outside the physical world. Biblical or intra-biblical revelation is knowledge from God as clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures. Extra-biblical revelation is knowledge that comes from outside the Bible. This extra-biblical knowledge or truth comes from sources outside the Bible but is presented and taught as God’s truth.

Is truth found only in the Bible? You may ask. Of course all truth isn’t found only in the Bible. All truth is God’s truth unless it comes from demonic sources. 1Timothy 4:1-5 In matters of salvation however, only the truth revealed in the Bible is expected to be expounded and taught in churches. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. And we are saved by faith. The gospel   same as taught by Jesus and his apostles and as documented for us today in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles and Revelation. Anything added is anathema, heretical and ultimately an aberration. Moses commanded the Israelites never to add or remove anything from the law of God. Paul told the Galatians that any man or angel that preached a gospel different from that which the apostles and he preached, should be cursed. John the revelator said that anyone who adds to the word would have his share of the plagues described in the book added. The Roman Catholics and the Pentecostals add to the scriptures. Their gospel has add-ons. It isn’t from the scriptures alone. It is a mixture of bible, human traditions, philosophy, psychology, humanism, traditional religions and extra-sensory knowledge.

The Bible to be the only source of truth taught in the churches. It is God’s breathed and useful for rebuke, correction, instruction, reproofs so that the man of God might be perfect and ready for every good work. Hence the man of God must study to show himself approved and be able to rightly divide the word of truth.

Catholicism is a mixture of scriptures, church traditions, councils and papal decrees. Doctrines such as the perpetuate virginity of Mary, her ascension, coronation in heaven and role in redemption were not sourced from the scriptures. They were decided at councils and sealed by papal decrees. Veneration of the saints, faith in relics, sacerdotalism and apostolic succession were also decided at church council as there are no scriptural backings for such teachings.

The Pentecostals pay lip service to Sola Scriptura but stand on it only when it is convenient for them. Many Pentecostal preachers affirm that all needed for salvation, life and godliness in not found in the Bible. So, they rely on extra-sensory revelations for further information. The life of the average Pentecostal believer is dependent on what the man of God says and not what the Bible teaches.  Hence they flock to the man of God, pastor or prophets to seek guidance on issues such as their love life, education, marriage, children, business and career. They never mind to ask what the Bible says about such issues. They are more interested about what the man of God says about their problems. This is the reason Pentecostal churches are replete with stories of people receiving special messages, experiences, visions appearances of Jesus and Mary, dreams from the Lord and tourist trips to heaven and hell that go unchallenged. Fashion trends, teachings, dance, religious diets and spiritual hairstyles have been developed and are practiced as a result.

Pentecostals and Catholics alike believe in getting knowledge that inform their beliefs and influence their conduct from sources other than the Bible.

6.  Apostolic Succession

This is the position that the authority and power of the twelve apostles was passed down through the ages till today. This position holds that there apostles today who holds the same powers, miracle performing ability that the early church apostles called by Jesus Christ held in the first century church.

A hallmark of this teaching in the Roman Catholic Church is the claim that the Pope of Rome is the successor of Apostle Peter. The cardinals and the bishops are successors of the eleven apostles and seventy disciples respectively. They are imbued with the same power that Jesus endowed the early disciples with, to heal the sick, raise the dead, perform all kinds of miraculous feats, receive revelation from God write holy scripture and enforce doctrine on the church of God. When the Pope speaks ex-cathedral, his words are considered the very word of God and are binding on the church. When he writes papal bulls, they are equally considered the very words of God and cannot be ignored. They claim that the clergy’s power to forgive sins in the confession booth comes directly from apostle Peter whom they claim was given the ability to forgive sin. The pope of Rome just like the early apostles writes letters and epistles to the churches wherein he expounds on truth which in turn are binding on the church regardless of whether they agree with the Holy Scriptures or not.

The Pentecostals also believe that apostles with the same power and authority as the early apostles exist today. And these are found mostly in the Pentecostal churches. They like the Catholics’ also receive special revelation from God on matters of doctrines, which the people must accept without fail, perform miraculous feats like the twelve apostles and claim for themselves the same authority over the church that Jesus gave Peter, Paul and the other apostles.  It is this authority and power that they claim gives them the right to lord it over their people and control every aspect of their lives. It gives them the power to give deliverance, breakthrough and blessing to the people. Hence anyone who opposes them opposes God just as Ananias and Sapphira’s lie to Peter was considered a lie against God the Holy Spirit.

This understanding both from the Catholics and Pentecostals betray a lack of understanding of the scriptures and of the meaning of apostle. An apostle is a messenger sent on an errand by someone. Jesus himself is referred to as the apostle of our faith. He was sent by the father to reveal his love and ultimately die on the cross for our sins as john chapter 3 stipulates. Matthew 12 shows how he picked 12 men to be his apostles and messengers and sent them to be his witnesses. He gave them power to heal the sick, raise the dead and cleanse the lepers. They were his messengers, his apostles. Judas Iscariot was later replaced by Matthias. Paul as one born in the wrong time was called by the ascended Lord as recorded in Acts chapter 9 and commissioned as apostle to the gentiles.

 Jesus like the prophets before him was a messenger which means the same as an apostle. He appointed the twelve and Paul to be his witnesses. This they did as they spread the gospel throughout the then known world and wrote the New Testament. The messenger and apostle of God today is the Bible. The scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, reproving, correcting, rebuking so that the man of God may be perfect and ready for every good work.

We do not need apostles today because we have the Bible. Apostles were needed for the laying down of the foundation of the church and the completion of God’s revelation. What I mean by this is that special messengers, apostles and prophets with the ability to perform miracles, signs and wonders were necessary throughout history till the completion of the Old and New Testament. Throughout this time it was normal for men of God to bring a “Thus says the Lord.” God spoke audibly to his servants who in turn gave such a message to his people. It is of great importance to notice that God always gave his servants messages that touched on the history of salvation, the nation of Israel or the nations. He never gave his servant a special message for an individual as it is the custom today.  

Claiming that we have apostles today is a direct claim that God is still giving revelation to them today just as he did in Bible days. And if God is still speaking today as he did in Bible days, then we do not have a closed Bible. The R.C.C. has the Pope who issues papal bulls and speaks ex-cathedral. The Pentecostals aren’t left behind as you hardly could listen to Pentecostal preacher for thirty minutes without his saying,” God told me.” God tells them to ask their people to do all manner of crazy things.

As I earlier said, we do not have apostles in the caliber of the twelve and Paul. We may have apostles of the church but not apostles of Christ or God. The Bible doesn’t teach that God will speak to us audibly or through intuitions. It teaches that God spoke through the prophets, then through Jesus and his apostles. The prophets and the apostles left us the Old and New Testaments so that we cannot be in doubt as to what God wants us to know and do today.

The record of God speaking to his prophets in the scriptures is descriptive of how God communicated with his people in pre-Bible times. It is not a prescription of how God would speak to us today. It is descriptive and not prescriptive. Besides, God did not speak to every believer in the Bible. He spoke only to his chosen servants. So it is preposterous for Pentecostals to teach believers to expect to hear the voice of God. Also God has spoken already. His words are in the Bible. He doesn’t need to speak audibly today. If we want to know what he said, we should read our Bible. We do not need men who claim to hear God’s voice. We need faithful men that are versed in the Scriptures to tell what is in there. Hence we’d be well prepared for every good work.

7.  Speaking in Tongues

The speaking in tongues phenomenon used to be a Pentecostal only issue. But now it is found in almost all Christian circles. And the Roman Catholics are not left out. Pastors, priest, monks and nuns all share in the charismatic experience of tongue speaking. Despite the few discrepancies in their doctrines and ecclesiology, they all believe in speaking in tongues though they might differ on the source on the tongues. Some Catholics say that their tongues were given them by Holy Mary, Jesus, holy angels or the Holy Spirit himself. The Pentecostals claim the Holy Spirit as the main source of their tongues. The truth is that they both speak in tongues and that makes them similar to some extent. The other thing is that their tongues don’t exactly have different characteristics. They are all meaningless blabbing while the tongues spoken in the Bible were real languages that could be understood and interpreted.

8.  Transference of Spiritual Power

The Catholics believe that power is transferred through the laying on of hands which is the same the Pentecostals believe and practice. The Holy Spirit is transferred to the believer as the Bishop lays hands on him during confirmation. During the baptism in the Holy Spirit the pastor is believed to have the power to transfer the Holy Spirit to the believer through the laying on of hands. The transference is then evidenced to have been completed as the believer speaks in tongues. Both religions don’t only believe in their clergies possessing the ability to transfer power, graces, favors, blessings and merits to other people. They also claim the ability to pass the power of God to inanimate objects such as mantles, staves, oils, water thereby enabling such objects with the power to perform miraculous feats in places that they cannot reach by themselves.

#3 Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism are the same in their practices.

 As seen above, both religions share a lot of fundamentals. Salvation and how to get saved is the most fundamental of all Christian doctrines. They also believe that the Holy Spirit is given through the laying on of hands of the pastors and bishops. Their clergies are known as men of God.  They are all into deliverance ministry, casting out of demons, organizing crusades, door to door evangelism, thanksgivings, bazaars, praise and worship programs and the rest. You won’t easily make out the difference when a Pentecostal and catholic pray because the terminology is very similar. Sometimes it could be clear if the catholic is praying to the Virgin Mary. But if it is praying to angels, both sides make it a point of duty to call on the angelic hosts to do their biddings. The spiritual, theological and religious registers are so similar that on hearing them you won’t know they are from different religions.

On conclusion, these points are not exhaustive as they may still be many more that I have not noticed. Hence this write up could be updated as new data comes up. Also, the purpose of this article isn’t intended to deride the religions under consideration. It is meant to educate, enlighten and bring glory to God. Feel free to contribute in the comment box.