Rome In America – God’sWord Against Romanism.

March 10, 2026

And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.


Continued from Is Romanism Good Enough For Romanists? Part 2.

GOD’S WORD AGAINST ROMANISM.

“Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.”    

 Luke 11:28.

If the Word of God is against Romanism, its doom is written, and its overthrow and extinction approach.

When the king of Babylon saw the handwriting on the wall, the King’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

“What does it mean?” cried the king. “Bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers.” They came. And the king said to the wise men of Babylon: “Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler of the kingdom.” God had spoken; the King felt that it meant something to him and to his people. He must find out the meaning of the mystical characters. The wise men could not read the writing. This troubled the king.

The queen thought of Daniel, and he was brought forth. A man who could interpret God’s Word was of value then. He is of value now. Though the words mene, mene, tekel, upharsin, told that God had numbered the kingdom and finished it, that the king had been weighed in the balances and found wanting, and that his kingdom was divided, he commanded that Daniel be rewarded for his exposition of the Word of God; and so he clothed him with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler of the kingdom.

Is it of less consequence that we study the teachings of the Word of God concerning Romanism? We know that the Old World was destroyed by the flood, which was foretold of Noah, that Sodom and Gomorrah were burned, in accordance with the warning of the angel; that the mightiest kingdoms have been overthrown, and the most magnificent cities have gone down before an edict of God. Nothing can withstand or successfully head an Almighty “shall.” This history declares.

The Word of God is more than a book. It is God’s embattled host, always on the field, ever on the alert, ready to be wheeled into action at a moment’s notice. There is no break in the line; no weakness in the column. Death has not thinned its ranks. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though relieved from their watch here, are still doing yeoman service, though on another part of the field. They did not die. They simply passed into the visible presence of the Commander in-Chief. The dead are with the Lord and us. The Lord is with the living and the dead. The man with the Bible enjoys the society of patriarchs, prophets, and Apostles. Paul is still with us. His voice rolls out louder, clearer than when he declared, “I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also the Gentile. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” The words of the Apostle seem as if written for us. They are as brave and more defiant than when he wore the chain at Rome.

Peter is still here, not wearing a miter and a cope (a long enveloping ecclesiastical vestment), for he never saw such mummery, except among the Pagans, to whom he preached the Gospel. He is no longer even with the fisherman’s cloak, but clothed upon with the vesture of salvation. We see him, redeemed and disenthralled, converted to Christ, and striding forth as a champion of the cross. On the day of Pentecost, he so holds forth the Word of Life that thousands cast their deadly doing down, and obey gladly and eagerly the divine command.

John is here, on whose breast Jesus leaned when in the flesh; and in the Spirit, he is unchanged. The Paulicians, the Waldensians, the followers of Luther and of Calvin, the supporters of William the Silent in the Netherlands, the Puritans of England, the lovers of God in Wales, are all encamped on the green banks of deliverance, whether the believer touches this shore or that. “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.” Joseph heard it, so did Joshua, and Samuel, and David, and Daniel, and Matthew, and Mark, and Barnabas, and Cornelius, and an innumerable company, all with us now, resembling the army the prophet saw, visible to the eye of faith, as wheeling in the air, with horses and chariots and soldiers led by the great Captain of our salvation, striking blows where they are deserved, giving succor where required, and doing here and everywhere what the Lord commanded. It is a blessed truth.

Our God is nigh us, even in the Word, which is in our mouth and heart—the word of faith we preach, commissioning us to say to each and every individual with whom we come in contact that “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

The Bible is then a living fact. It is the life and support of every believer. It belonged to the first century no more than it belongs to this or will belong to the one hundred and nineteenth century, if Christ shall still keep His Church encamped on the earth, to do battle with the enemies of truth.

It is because the theory prevails that Romanism builds on the Word of God that it holds a place in the world. Mohammedanism, Mormonism, and Romanism, each and all, make much of the “Thus saith the Lord,” which they do warp and bend to their purpose. Romanism claims that the Word of God is the foundation-stone of the building, to which is added the decrees of the Church and the teachings of the fathers. Here is where the battle is joined. To the true believer in Christ, the decrees of the Church of Rome and the teachings of the fathers are without authority; their appeal is to the Bible. There stood Luther. There stand all who see in the divine revelation the standard of authority.

1. God’s Word is against Romanism because it builds on Peter rather than on Christ. The Apostles heard Christ’s words to Peter about “the rock” on which He was to build the Church. Not one of them ever dreamed that Peter was referred to. Paul, in his letter to the church at Rome, whose faith then was spoken of throughout the world, had no reference or allusion to the claim now made for Peter, and in the letters written there, he made no mention of his being in Rome or of his having been exalted to place of primacy among the Apostles.

Peter was equally silent on the subject, and was in his estimation no more than any other disciple, while Christ to him, after his conversion, was all and in all. The mistakes of Peter were many. They were grievous and sad. Christ rebuked him because of them. He assumed too much. He was too forward. His self-assertion offended his Master. The contrast between Christ and Peter is very great.

Yonder was Christ alone. Judas had betrayed Him. The disciples had deserted Him. There He stood in the judgment hall alone, and of the people none were with Him. He was without even a friend at court. There stood Peter by the fire—not in the cold, but in the glare of comfort— warming himself. A maiden saw him and earnestly looked upon him. There is nothing more terrible at such a time than a woman’s eye. It searches through and through. Turning to someone, she said, “This man was also with Him.” And he denied, saying, “Woman, I know Him not.” And after a little while, another saw him, and said: “Thou art also of them.” Peter said, “Man, I am not.” Christ was right. He is always right. What He said came true. The words of Christ always will come true.

If God could have a choice on whom to build His Church, is it presumable that He would reject His Son and confer the honor upon Peter? Behold the Son of God, as, unbroken and unbent, clothed with majesty as with a garment, He stands in the presence of His enemies in such a way that He commands the admiration of His judges, and bears Himself in such a way that though the gaze of centuries has been directed toward Him, the judgment of Pilate has become the judgment of mankind, and all have been compelled to say, “I find no fault in Him.”

Peter, on the other hand, despite his boasting, fled like a coward, and then, perhaps lured on by curiosity, crept into the place of trial, only that he might deny his Lord, and so in the presence of his Master, of the judges, and of the multitude, he turned traitor.

There he was, dwarfed and withered, despicable in his own esteem and utterly set aside, when his great-hearted Master looked on him in love and pity. Peter saw it as it flashed from Christ’s eye beneath the crown of thorns and surrounded by the lines of agony and cruelty. That look went like an arrow to Peter’s soul. It tore through all his hypocrisy, laid bare his selfishness, and revealed the man on whom the Romanists claim Christ declared, “I will build My Church.” Monstrous assumption! Satan had sifted him. He was exposed and deposed. His soul was smitten. He yielded to conviction. He repented weeping. He gave himself to Christ and was converted, and was a coward no more.

Ever after, he strengthened his brethren. None from this time was more resolute. The man who by the fire said with an oath “I know not the man,” after his conversion, on the day of Pentecost, when the battle was formed, when the swirl of human opinion struck Jerusalem, when it was to be known and decided that Christ, who had been crucified and buried had risen, stood forth no longer alone and apart, but with the eleven, and raised his voice and said to them, “Ye men of Judea and all ye who inhabit Jerusalem, be this known to you, and hearken to my words, this Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Being then exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He both poured forth that which ye see and hear. Therefore, let all know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.”

Not a word from God concerning Peter, not a word from Peter concerning himself. Not a word for a Pope; not a thought of a Pope. All was for Christ. Every crown was cast at His feet. The people heard the Word of God and yielded to its claims. Three thousand bowed their knee to Jesus and obeyed His mandate by enrolling themselves in the army of the Lord.

Again, when it pleased God to visit the Gentiles, in the family of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, an angel sent from heaven commanded Him to send for Peter to Joppa to come, and tell him and his relations words by which he and his friends might be saved. He did so. He sent for the Apostle. Peter came. Why call for Peter? Because Christ’s gifts are without repentance. He had given him the key (Matt. 16:19). He therefore must open the two-leaved gate, and introduce both Jews and Gentiles into the kingdom. This being once done, need not be repeated. The gates of heaven have not since been closed or locked. There is no more use for the keys. “Peter,” said Alexander Campbell, “has them yet; he took them to heaven with him; he did not will them to any heir or successor. The Popes are fighting but shadows. Heaven never trusted such gentry with the keys. They might take it into their heads to lock the heretics out. I thank God he gave them to Peter; that Peter opened the gates of the Kingdom of heaven to us all, and that as the Popes cannot shut, we do not need them a second time. Peter will guard them till he who has the key of David, who opens and none can shut, will appear the second time.”

Rome claims that Peter had not only a primacy of orders, but also a primacy of dominion; so says Bellarmine.

As to the primacy of orders, nothing is more certain than that Peter did not receive such an assignment at the hand of Christ. Christ promised that the twelve Apostles should have thrones. “When the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, these shall also sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matt. 19:28.) In Matt. 23:8, it is written, “Be not ye called Rabbi (or master), for one is your Master even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” There is no primacy of orders here.

As to the primacy of jurisdiction, it is quite as clear, for the promise made to Peter in Matt. 16:19, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,” belonged not only to the Apostles, but to the Church of Christ in all ages.

The acts of God’s children on earth are recognized in heaven. This is shown by the feeling that comes to an individual when received into the Church of Christ. He feels that he comes into a kingdom at the head of which is God. He inherits blessings prepared for him from before the foundation of the world.

The same is shown by what he suffers when excluded from the Church. The heavens above were as iron and the earth beneath was as brass. It seemed impossible to reach the ear of God. Descriptions have been written of the gloom and utter desolation that come to men anathematized by the Church of Rome. Descriptions as sad might be written of men and women who have been excluded from the Church of Christ. The mark is on them. The people who love God have withdrawn the right hand of fellowship. It is a terrible withdrawal. Terrible for the withholding on earth and from the portentous dread which comes from the thought that what is done on earth is ratified in heaven. The power conferred on Peter, in Matt. 16:19 is given to all the Apostles in Matt. 18:18, by Christ before His crucifixion, and to all the disciples after His resurrection, in John 20:23, where it is written: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit; whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

The Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone (Eph. 2:20), The Apostles and prophets have the same rank; the preeminence is given to Jesus Christ alone. It is not even true that Peter was always named first, as Romanists claim. In John 1:44, Andrew has the primacy. In 1 Cor. 1:12, Paul and Apollos precede him. In Gal. 8:9, James is first. In Acts 15:7, all spoke before Peter, and James presided at the council and pronounced the decision. In Acts 8:14, Peter is sent to Samaria. In Acts 11:2,3, he is complained of; and in Gal. 2:11, he is rebuked by Paul, for he was to be blamed.

2. God’s Word is against Romanism, because it substitutes the name of Mary for Jesus Christ. The Scripture saith: This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

If ever a woman had reason to say, “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,” it was Mary, the Virgin Mother of Jesus. God recognized her as a helper in restoring men from the ruins of sin. Notwithstanding this, Satan seeks to use her as an ally to lead millions away. But Christ withstood the tendency as it cropped out at the marriage supper of Cana of Galilee, and whenever and wherever it flamed up in His path.

What a contrast between the first and the second Adam; the first went all down, without remonstrance, and apparently without a thought of what he surrendered and of what he might have retained, and yielded to Eve, who had worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, and thus paved the way for the introduction of idolatry. She gave the devil welcome to her heart, and he employed her to break down the kingdom of God.

The second Adam is before us. Again, Satan, through a woman, tries to turn the current of an Almighty purpose. The devil saw Mariolatry in its true light, Christ saw it also and withstood the tendency and trampled upon the very germ. “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” (John 2:4). Suppose Christ had wavered a hair’s breadth? Suppose He had given to Mary at the marriage feast the recognition which nature may have prompted, and which Romanists contend belonged to her; how the Church would have been bound hand and foot! It was not to be. Christ guarded His position with sacred and prescient care. So when He turned to His brethren, when it was said, “Thy mother and thy brethren are without, desiring to speak with Thee,” Christ, stretching out His hands to His disciples, said: “Behold my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother;” and again, when the multitudes thronged Him and over the crowd went the womanly cry, “Blessed is the womb that bare Thee and the paps which thou hast sucked,” Christ replied: “Rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.”

These three verses are as if blended into chain-shot and hurled at this image of Mariolatry, shattering and shivering it to atoms. At the cross, Jesus calls Mary not the “Mother of God,” as Rome impiously names her, but “Woman,” and pointing to John says, “Behold your son,” and then tells John to give Mary welcome as to a mother.

Mary’s name is mentioned in Acts 1:14, for she was with the disciples as a worshipper of the risen Christ on the day of Pentecost, not as the Queen of Heaven or the intermediate between the disciples and Christ, but as a sister beloved. She holds in the Bible a woman’s place, and holds no other place. Let us give to her and to Peter a place in our hearts. They belong to the household of faith. Satan would gladly estrange us from them. It must not be done. Mary is beloved and honored. With her, God’s true children will assemble before the throne and shall worship there and her Christ with Peter and all the blood-washed throng.

This is seen in the images they wear, and in the images before which they bow. The Second Commandment is left out of their collections and is eliminated from their faith. The devout Psalmist cried, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us! But unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They that make them are like unto them.”

Here is the curse of idol worship. We resemble what we worship. The godlike worship the Most High; hence their cry is, “O Israel, trust thou in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield.”

As men turned from God, Paganism came back, and image worship spread. It went on until, in the sixteenth century, the revolt came. How it rebuked the transgression, and declared in thunder-tones, God’s law against images shall be recognized! See the iconoclasts in Antwerp. They enter the great cathedral. They fly upon the image of the Virgin. They drag it down and bear it forth to the street, stripped of its tawdry tinsel and lace. They break the images into a thousand fragments and scatter them upon the floor. A wild shout is heard. The multitude cries, “Down with images.” They crowd about, armed with axes, bludgeons, and sledge-hammers; others bring ladders, pulleys, ropes, and levers. Every statue is hurled from its niche, every picture torn from the wall, every wonderfully-painted window shivered to atoms, every ancient monument shattered, every sculptured decoration, however insensible in appearance, hurled to the ground. A colossal and magnificent group of the Saviour crucified between two thieves adorned the principal altar; the statue of Christ is wrenched from its place with ropes and pulleys, and the thieves are left as if in mockery.

A very beautiful piece of architecture decorated the choir—the repository, as it was called, in which the body of Christ was figuratively enshrined. This much-admired work rested upon a simple column, but rose arch upon arch, and pillar upon pillar, to the height of three hundred feet, till quite lost in the vault above. It was now shattered into a million pieces. And into the city went the iconoclasts, smiting every image of the Virgin, every crucifix, every sculptured saint, every Catholic symbol which they could find. “Thirty churches,” says Motley, “were sacked.” Monasteries were entered, and their libraries of monkish legends burned. Nunneries were swept clean, and the occupants were set at liberty. Through it all, no life was sacrificed, no insults offered to priest or monk or nun, and not a farthing of the immense amount of property destroyed was appropriated. They heard God’s voice, and they broke down the idols, destroyed the altars, and burnt the graven images of false gods with fire, believing that they were an abomination unto the Lord.

The time is coming when Romanists shall awake from their sleep; they shall see the glory of the Lord; they shall break in pieces their images; repent of their sins, and turn unto the Lord their God with a full heart. “Therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel. Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies. And I will turn My hand upon thee; and,” according to pureness, “purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin; and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning; afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” “Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.” (Isa. 1:24-27.) “And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord above shall be exalted in that day. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go unto the clefts of the rocks, and unto the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”

Why not believe in the fulfilment of this prophecy? Pagans, who were like Romanists in faith and morality, were converted in vast numbers under the preaching of the Apostles. They are being left at the present time unthought of and unprayed for. In the name of our God and of His Christ, let us rear again the old banner of the cross, and preach to them a crucified Christ, the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.

3. God’s Word is against the worship of the host. Romanists claim that the host, under the form of bread, contains the Mediator’s total and identical body, soul, and Deity. “Nothing of the bread and wine remains after consecration. All except the accidents are transformed into the Messiah, in His Godhead, with all its perfections, and in His manhood, with all its component parts, soul, body, blood, bones, flesh, nerves, muscles, veins, and sinews.”

Our Lord, according to this Romish claim, is not only whole in the whole, but whole in every part. “The whole God and man is comprehended in every crumb of the bread, and in every drop of the wine.” In reading such a horrible statement, one hardly knows whether to weep over the imbecility of his own species, or to vent his bursting indignation against the impostors who, lost to all sense of shame, obtruded this mass of contradictions on man. As Edger, in his “Variations of Popery,” truly says: “History, in all its ample folios, displays, in the deceiving and the deceived, no equal instance of assurance and credulity.”

In Luke 22:19 we read that at the close of the Passover feast Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He brake it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of Me,” and the cup in like manner after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, even that which is poured out for you.” that was all. It was a supper. Matt. 26:26 says, “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed and brake it, and He gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is My body. And He took a cup and gave thanks and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is shed for many unto remission of sins. But I say unto you I shall not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the Mount of Olives.”

That is the simple record. How blessed the communion has been to the soul! In this broken bread we behold a type of the broken body, and in this wine we see a type of the poured-out blood shed for us, and so with full heart we sing:

“There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.”

4. God’s Word is against the cardinal doctrines of Romanism. Rome says the Holy Scripture doth not contain all that is necessary to salvation. Paul, in 2 Timothy 3:16, says, “The Holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.” “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” (Ps. 19:7.) Rome says the Holy Scripture is dark and obscure. The Word of God says, “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (Ps. 19:8.) “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.” 119:105.)

Rome says it is not for the people to read the Holy Scriptures. God says, “Search the Scriptures.” “These are they that bear witness of Me.” (John 5:39.) “These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.” (Deut. 6:6,7.) “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.” (Luke 11:28.)

Rome says, “To enter a cloister, it is permitted to break the bonds of marriage,” Christ says, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matt. 19:6.

Rome says: “The monks do well to swear to their superiors a blind obedience.” God’s Word says: “Ye are bought with a price, be not yo the servants of men.” (1 Cor. 7:23.) “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1.) “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” (Acts 4: 19,

Rome says: “Concupiscence is no sin,” God’s Word says: “Thou shalt not covet.”

Rome says that “we may satisfy the justice of God by our sufferings.” (Council of Trent.) The Word of God answers the question: “Who are these which are arrayed in white robes?” by saying, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:14.)

Rome claims “that ministers of the Gospel pardon sins, not as ambassadors of Jesus Christ and heralds of His grace, but as judges, and by way of jurisdiction.” (Council of Trent.)

In our Bible, it is written: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7.) “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” (Isa. 43:25.) “It behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations.” (Luke 24:46.

Purgatory is a doctrine of Romanism, which claims that our Lord Jesus hath not delivered us from all punishment that was due our sins. (Council of Trent.) God’s Word says: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1.) “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24.) This one passage opens the gates of hell to all who have had friends die in the faith of Christ: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” (Gal. 3:13.) “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isa, 53:4,5.)

Rome says “that besides the blood of Jesus Christ, there is a purgatory for the expiation of our sins, and that he who does not believe it, will be damned.” (Bellarmine.)

God’s Word says: “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7.) For this let us glorify God.

So we might go on and refute with Scripture, position after position taken by Rome.

Romanism is what it is because it rejects the Word of God. Bring Romanists to the light of the truth, by Bible readers, by public discussion, by private conversation, and their eyes will be opened, and they shall come to the light, and with us they will walk in the light. If Romanists now living are to be saved, we must preach to them the Gospel. On this night of error, they are going down the broad road to death. Pray for them, work with them, and the mists of error will roll away, and Romanists will accept the Word of God, which uproots the foundation of error and permits Christ to be the cornerstone of hope.

THE END

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