The Pope Is NOT A Christian

The Pope stands against Christ. He is in no way to be considered a Christian man. Why do I say this? Consider the following text of a tweet from him on May 11:

I would like to remind you that on 14 May, believers of every religion are invited to unite themselves spiritually in a day of prayer, fasting and works of charity, to implore God to help humanity overcome the coronavirus

-Pope Francis

As of the moment of the writing of this article, there has been no retraction or clarification of this tweet, so I will take it at face value that this is what the Pope meant to communicate. There are two major problems I see with this tweet:

1. It makes people of other religions think they’re right with God.
2. It gets the Gospel wrong.

1. It makes people of other religions think they’re right with God.

By inviting “believers of every religion” to pray that humanity would overcome COVID 19, it implies that God would would act on prayers by these people. This is furthered by the call to unite spiritually, after all you would not want to unite with someone who wouldn’t be heard by God, as it would put your prayers in jeopardy. There is no call for these people to repent and become Christians before praying, just to pray. Therefore, we must conclude the Pope is affirming those who do not know or acknowledge Christ to pray to God. But what does God tell us? In Isaiah 59:2 He tells us, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” I will note that, in context, this message is being delivered to Israel, so if God will not listen to His covenant people in their sin, why should we expect those of other religions to be heard? John 9:31 makes this more clear. One of the men whom Jesus healed defended Him by saying, “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.” This is laid out plainly. If you are not a worshiper of God, dear reader, God will not hear you, there is a separation between you and Him because of your sins. And the result of this is far worse than a pandemic. God tells us that “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36). So the Pope very much leads people astray by letting them think they are alright and can petition God, when really they are under the wrath of God.

2. It gets the Gospel wrong.

Pope Francis not only gets the state of unbelievers before God wrong, but he also misidentifies the solution. He lists prayer, fasting, and works of charity as the means that he believes will make God remove the pandemic from us. My question is: Will these things alone do this? We know that this virus is ultimately from God (Amos 3:6). If Pope Francis thinks this will take God’s curse away from the nations he is sorely mistaken. First, there is no mention of faith. We know from the Bible that “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Second, there is no mention of Christ. We’re told that there is only one mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5), and that’s Jesus Christ. Is the Pope trying tell unbelievers they can go before God without going through His appointed mediator? Jesus himself tells us that no one comes to the Father except by Him (John 14:6). By coming to God by doing works of charity and fasting apart from Christ, they’re coming to Him without their sin being dealt with by God’s appointed means. They’re trying to bribe God by doing good things without having dealt with the fundamental problems in their relationship to Him. Doing good deeds cannot make you right with God (Titus 3:5, Ephesians 2:8-9).

And here is the most tragic thing of all. This pandemic may kill some physically, it’s true, but there is a death far worse than this. Jesus tells us, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28). The eternal death in hell is far more to be feared than just mere dying. By failing to warn those who are going to their eternal death, and by failing to proclaim the Good News that Jesus has made an atonement for sin for all who will believe in Him (Hebrews 2:17, John 3:16), he does not present the true Gospel. We’re told by the apostle Paul in Galatians 1:8, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” Pope Francis has a false Gospel, and thus is accursed by God. Would you say someone who is accursed is a Christian? This man claims to be the head of the universal Church of Christ (a blasphemy, as Christ Himself is the true head of the Church), can he not even warn the world of what they face apart from Christ?

Conclusion

I know there will be may who are angry at this post because they feel that I’m being mean. After all, isn’t the Pope trying to do a good thing in all of this? The answer is that, while he may think he’s doing something good, in reality he is harming those who listen to him, by giving them the wrong solution to the problem. Thus, it would actually be cruel to not call out the Pope for what he has said. There may be others who say it’s wrong to criticize the Pope for his religious beliefs. I would then ask that person: Are you not criticizing me for my religious beliefs, and would that not make you a hypocrite? I implore anyone who thinks I’m being mean to reconsider based on what God has said in the Scripture, your soul may indeed depend on it. God still holds out His hands to those who have sinned wickedly against Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will find Him to be the perfect savior.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.