Posted on 11/14/2017 2:24:54 PM PST by nickcarraway
Robert Jeffress spent Wednesday with Donald Trump, supporting the president during his fundraising visit to the Belo Mansion in downtown Dallas. On Thursday, the First Baptist Dallas pastor and Trump's biggest evangelical supporter had to do something a lot less fun — take to the Fox News airwaves to defend himself from charges that he is anti-Catholic.
Word of Jeffress' potentially anti-Catholic views bubbled to the surface this week when a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about her boss's continued praise for the Dallas demagogue, given Jeffress' controversial statements about the Catholic church. Sanders said that she wasn't "aware of Robert Jeffress being anti-Catholic" and that she knew that he worked with Texas Catholics on events like the anti-abortion rights demonstration March for Life.
On Fox News, Jeffress repeated Sanders' line, confirming that he works with Catholics against abortion, and said that the characterization of his thoughts about Catholicism was inaccurate.
"What they did was they went back and recycled old quotes from years ago that were either completely manufactured at the time or ripped out of context," Jeffress said.
The Observer believes that Jeffress deserves a fair hearing about whether he was taken out of context, so we've taken the liberty of transcribing, in their entirety, Jeffress' comments about Catholicism and the Roman Catholic Church from a 2010 segment on his radio show Pathway to Victory.
"This is the Babylonian mystery religion that spread like a cult throughout the entire world. The high priests of that fake religion, that false religion, the high priests of that religion would wear crowns that resemble the heads of fish, that was in order to worship the fish god Dagon, and on those crowns were written the words, ‘Keeper of the Bridge,’ the bridge between Satan and man.
"That phrase, Keeper of the Bridge — the Roman equivalent of it is Pontifex Maximus. It was a title that was first carried by the Caesars and then the emperors and finally by the Bishop of the Rome, Pontifex Maximus, the Keeper of the Bridge.
"You can see where we’re going with this. It is that Babylonian mystery religion that infected the early church. One of the churches it infected was the church of Pergamos, which is one of the recipients of the Book of Revelation. And the early church was corrupted by this Babylonian mystery religion, and today the Roman Catholic Church is the result of that corruption.
"Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn’t come from God’s word; it comes from that cultlike, pagan religion. Now you say, ‘Pastor, how can you say such a thing? That is such an indictment of the Catholic Church. After all, the Catholic Church talks about God and the Bible and Jesus and the blood of Christ and salvation.’
"Isn’t that the genius of Satan? If you want to counterfeit a dollar bill, you don’t do it with purple paper and red ink. You’re not going to fool anybody with that. But if you want to counterfeit money, what you do is make it look closely related to the real thing as possible.
"And that’s what Satan does with counterfeit religion. He uses, he steals, he appropriates all of the symbols of true biblical Christianity, and he changes it just enough in order to cause people to miss eternal life."
Basically, Jeffress believes that Catholicism is a counterfeit of genuine Christianity, descended from a Babylonian fish-worshiping cult. Its resemblance to the real article shows Satan's genius, Jeffress says. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the faith practiced by 70 million Americans.
I didn't know any group out there criticized people for bashing Catholics.
I thought Catholics were just above Mormons for being attacked. At least on this site.
Catholics and Protestants have long-standing disagreements which have at times been rather harsh (and in the old days, drew blood).
In the current era, catholic and protestant believers find themselves on the same side of battle after battle, and have a new-found appreciation for one another.
Any Bible believing Christian will eventually be labeled as anti-Catholic. Just by virtue of preaching the Word.
Satan behind Catholic Church? Nothing more than what I’ve heard many Catholics say about the current Pope and his dogma.
There’s nothing wrong with being “anti-Catholic (doctrine)” if you are not Catholic. Just as Catholics are “anti-protestant (doctrine.)”
I suspect its just another Leftist media ploy to divide and conquer.
As a Catholic,I’d never say that Southern Baptists are out drinkin and whorin on Saturday nite and amenin in the pews on Sunday morning!
How can you tell from the wacky whirling dervish of Catho-nutters hating Lutherans?
Most of what Jeffress allegedly said is straight out of a very stupid book called “The Two Babylons” by Alexander Hislop. It’s not an essential part of Protestantism, or Evangelicalism, or anything like that. It’s a made-up Catholic bashing screed.
Labeling Jeffress the ‘Dallas demagogue’ in the second paragraph gave the game away.
Lately, attacking any Christian ally is really counterproductive in the face of an unprecedented series of attacks by atheists and Muslims (in other words, Democrats).
Basically, Jeffress believes that Catholicism is a counterfeit of genuine Christianity, descended from a Babylonian fish-worshiping cult. Its resemblance to the real article shows Satan's genius, Jeffress says. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the faith practiced by 70 million Americans.
God looks upon the heart, not upon the trappings of everyday worship. Those who accept Christ's sacrifice are saved, regardless of the mode of worship.
For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. -- John 3:16
I’m Catholic and I don’t regard anyone who has honest disagreements with the Catholic Church as being “anti-Catholic”.
Besides, given the current Pope, he may have a point or two.
Some Catholics are born again Christians. Some aren’t.
Some Baptists the same. Some Assembly of God/Pentecostal the same. Some football players are born again Christians; Some aren’t. Some FReepers are; Some aren’t.
Now guess what! Some non-Born Again FReepers, and Baptists and football players are good people; and some aren’t. A few aetheists are pro-life. Many Bhuddists and Hindus are pro-life.
There are sometimes that Born-Again believers should colaborate and collude with non-saved. There are sometimes they shouldn’t.
Can’t generalize.
You're not new here so I can only assume that you don't subscribe to the FR Religion Forum.
You’re right - I haven’t. Do I take it that there are some sort of religious wars going on there?
As a Catholic whp learned Chritian values from my Protestant mom I have tried very hard to look past attacks like this. I believethis pastor is a good man who has said some painful things in the past. When Jesus was asked how many times we should forgive He said 70 times 70 meaning an endless amountIll follow Jesus on thisone
Thank God our Lord judges the individual.
Only libs believe in group salvation.
Jeffress is not anti-Catholic. He wants Catholics to be saved. He cares about their eternal disposition, even if they do not.
The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. One has paid for our sin. We can receive forgiveness by accepting God’s finished work on the cross as payment in full.
However, men insist on earning their own salvation. What they fail to realize is that they are already disqualified — they have broken the law and are guilty of all. (James 2:10). All men must repent of dead works (acts of obedience to the Law) and place their faith in God alone to save them. (Hebrews 6:1) But this is a stumbling block for many.
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