My Roman Catholic “career” began in a small rural neighborhood in Northern California (USA). The village was so small that there was no mass every Sunday. As much as possible, a priest came once a month and read Mass in a large public space.
I have an older and a younger brother. My father studied at the University of Santa Clara, which made it seem good to my parents to send us to a Roman Catholic boarding school. I attended this Jesuit-run school for 4 years. As for academic standards, it was a very good school, but the only kind of religion we experienced there was Roman Catholic theology and tradition unrelated to the Bible.
The desire to serve God and people
The time of finishing my schooling was approaching and I was thinking about what I wanted to make of my life. I thought that as a Jesuit priest I would serve God in the right way and help humanity. That was all I knew. Already during high school, as well as after that, I had a great longing to meet God and get to know Him. I remember one night in my senior year of high school, I went to the football field at night, knelt down, raised my hands to the dark sky, and cried, “God, God, where are you?” I was really hungry for God.
Jesuit seminar
After graduating from high school, I entered the Jesuit order in 1953. The first thing I was told there was that I had to follow all the rules and regulations because God likes it and expects it of me. The motto was: "Follow the rules and the rules will stick to you."
We read many life stories of saints and from the very beginning they convinced me that I should treat them as role models and imitate them. In doing so, however, I did not know that these saints were therefore called saints because they served the Roman Catholic Church. The study lasted thirteen years, subject by subject, topic by topic. He was the last to come to a series of theological studies, the culmination of which was priestly ordination. I received this in 1966.
Hunger for God, but there is no peace
My heart was still hungry for God. I had not yet met the Lord and had no peace. On the contrary, I started smoking and became very nervous. I often walked around my room up and down and smoked cigarette after cigarette, I was so restless.
Thinking that I would get closer to God with this, I continued my studies in Rome. But the hunger of my heart remained. I once spoke to a priest in charge of missions in Africa because I was dealing with the thought of going on missions. But it soon became clear to me that I could only pass on to the people down there what I had learned about Roman Catholic doctrine and what the church had to offer. And if all this didn’t satisfy me, how will it satisfy those people? My studies coincided with the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and ended one year later. When the documents came out of Rome, I thought, from now on everything will be different. It was a time of discovery. I thought, now I will come to the trail of truth and that will change the world. That hope drove me forward. However, I found no change, as the teachings of the Council of Trent still applied. That's why I didn't travel to Africa,
Leading a prayer group
I was reading Mass at the rest home when a lady came up to me and asked me if I would like to lead a prayer group gathering in her house. I’ve never led a prayer choir in my life and I didn’t even know how it went. But I told myself that after so many years of study, I should be qualified for something like that. I agreed.
Every Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon, a few people gathered, read the Bible together, sang hymns to the Lord, and prayed for the needs of the individual. That morning when I was supposed to go there for the first time, I was very restless and wished I would never make a promise. I left without any enthusiasm. But when it came to noon, I would rather not leave. The power of God’s word began to touch my heart and life.
Surprised by God's grace
The biggest surprise God had prepared for me happened like this: One evening in August 1970, we drove with a few people from this prayer group to some home for leisure. At the end of his sermon, the speaker said, “If there is anyone here who is hungry for God and has not yet experienced him and wants God to touch his life, let him come forward and we will pray for him.” At that moment, I prayed to God change me. I stepped forward, where some laid their hands on me and prayed. It didn’t happen because of any work they or I would do, but it was really just God’s grace that I was born again.
In that moment, God changed my life. Jesus and the Bible became completely real and alive to me. "… ..He saved us, not because of the works of righteousness that we would do, but through his mercy, by the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3: 5).
Our prayer group in high school
We started with a prayer group at some high school. Soon there were so many participants that we had to meet at the gym. It didn't take long for between eight hundred and a thousand people to come on Friday nights. We put a lot of weight into praising, praising, and glorifying God. There were no images of saints or anything like that in this gym. We only had a book to lead the meeting, the Bible.
I still had a lot to learn. It wasn’t until many years later that I realized I couldn’t stay in the Roman Catholic Church. Throughout all these years, I have repeatedly emphasized that salvation is only in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and not in the baptism of infants; that the Bible, the word of God, is the only source of authority, and that there are no jokes, but after our death we come either to heaven or to hell.
This is where the conflict began: it almost broke my heart to see people trust false and deceptive teachings about their salvation. I thought, maybe God will be able to use me to make changes in the Roman Catholic Church. In prayer, I met some who thought similarly. We prayed that God would change the Roman Catholic Church so that we could remain Roman Catholics. Today, I see that you can stay in the Roman Catholic Church only if you make compromises.
Modified by the Holy Spirit
After the Holy Spirit changed me in many things, I finally understood that I would grieve my Lord if I did not surrender to Him completely, one hundred percent, and instead make compromises, which is a sin. I have also noticed that the Roman Catholic Church cannot change. If it changed, there would be no more popes, rosaries, no doctrine of jokes, no priests, no masses, and so on. After seventeen years of brainwashing, the Holy Spirit has now cleansed and washed my brain. What happened during this period of life is described in Romans 12: 1-2: “Because God is so merciful, I beseech you, brethren, to offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God; it is your meaningful worship. And do not adapt to this world, but transform yourself by renewing your mind so that you can discern what God wants, what is good, pleasing and perfect to Him. ”
Research in India
During this time, I met another priest who preached the same things as me. (Among other things, he also left the Roman Church). He spent half his life in India and the rest in the United States. His name was Victor Affonso and he was a Jesuit. I told him it must be nice if you work as a missionary in India. I, too, was there for six months in 1986. One month after that, we were together a group of people investigating Roman Catholic doctrine in the light of the Bible. We are determined to follow what the Bible says: in the event that Roman Catholic teaching opposes this, we will reject it.
We realized that Jesus said, “Come to me,” and that we are called in the Gospels to pray to the Father in Jesus ’name, never to the saints or Mary. The early Christians did not pray to Stephen, who died a martyr’s death early in the history of the community, nor to James, who was also soon murdered. Why should I, since Christ was risen with them! He said, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Mt 18:20). They prayed to Jesus, they prayed to the Father; they were led by the Holy Spirit and obeyed God's commandments.
In India, we also discovered that the Roman Catholic Catechism changed the Ten Commandments written in the Bible. The first commandment in the Roman Catholic Catechism is the same as in the Bible. The second commandment in the catechism is, "Thou shalt not abuse the name of the Lord thy God." This is a complete change of the biblical text. The third commandment was moved to another place, and the original second commandment, as found in the Bible, was crossed out. Virtually all versions of the Roman Catholic Catechism omit the second of the Ten Commandments. Take, for example, the answer to question 195 of the New Baltimore Catechism: “The commandments of God are these ten: (1) I am the Lord, your God, you must have no foreign gods beside me.” (2). You must not abuse the name of the Lord your God. Etc.
[same in German in »Catechism of the Catholic Church, Oldenbourg / Paulusverlag, 1993; or in the "Roman Catechism" after the decision of the Council of Trent, Petru-Verlag, 1970; German translation]. The second commandment in the Bible is, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any thing that is in the form of any thing in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God. and they keep my commandments ”(Exodus 20: 4-6). God forbids us to kneel before statues or serve them, but there are photographs in which the Pope kneels before statues and kisses them!
We were very upset when we noticed that this commandment was missing in the catechism. The question arose, of course, how the Catechism nevertheless came to the Ten Commandments. Of course, the last commandment (in the Bible, the tenth) is divided into two: "You must not covet your neighbor's wife" is listed in the catechism as the ninth, and the second part of the text, which deals with the covetous goods of the neighbor, is the tenth. This is a strong distortion of the Bible. I have discovered more and more dogmas and teachings that are completely contrary to the Bible.
Mary and Mass
We also investigated the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. This one says that Mary was conceived without sin. In the first moment of her conception, she was supposed to be kept clean without any trace of original sin. This is contrary to the biblical statement in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Here, then, we had a religious doctrine that spread as a tradition and was later declared infallible, which is contrary to the Bible.
Then we came across one of the most delicate areas. It was a gift of mass. The official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church states that the Mass is a continuation of the sacrifice at Golgotha. The Council of Trenta defined:
“Since in this sacrifice of God, which is celebrated at Mass, the same Christ is present and offered without blood, who once offered himself with blood on the altar of the cross, the church choir teaches as follows: this sacrifice is a true sacrifice of reconciliation… for it is one and the same sacrifice, and this is the same one who is now a sacrifice in the service of a priest and who at that time offered himself on the cross, only the manner of offering is different. ”[Neuner-Roos:“ Der Glaube der Kirche ”(Church Faith), no. . 599; nem.pr. ].
Now one can argue that the Council of Trent is no longer valid, that much has changed since then. But Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Faith, wrote in a book entitled Der Ratzinger Report: “It is impossible to be for the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council, but against the Second Vatican Council. Whoever rejects the Second Vatican Council rejects the authority supported by both previous Councils and tears it from the ground up. "
The Catechism also teaches that the Mass is the same sacrifice as that at Golgotha. For example, the New Baltimore Catechism says, "The mass sacrifice is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice on the cross, for both involve the same sacrifice and the same primary sacrificial priest: Christ." [Cf. "Catechism of the Catholic Church", Oldenbourg, 1993, no. 1367; ].
In contrast, Hebrews 10:18 says, "But where all these things are forgiven, there is no more offering for sins." The Bible speaks unequivocally. Eight times in the four chapters of Hebrews (from chapter 7) we come across the term “one for ever”; there is one sacrifice for sin, one forever.
A complete sacrifice
Anyone who has ever attended a Catholic Mass will remember a prayer uttered by a priest:
“Pray, brethren, that God, the Almighty Father, may accept our sacrifice.” This is a very serious request. The community responds with the same words and asks God to accept the sacrifice. However, this is contrary to God’s word, which tells us that the sacrifice has already been accepted. As Jesus hung on the cross, He said, "It is finished!" (Jn 19:30), and we know that it is complete, complete, completely fulfilled, for the Father accepted the sacrifice, raised Jesus, and placed him at his right hand. The glad tidings we proclaim are that Jesus rose from the dead, that His sacrifice is perfect, and that He is
paid for sins. If we recognize Jesus ’work by God’s grace as a sacrifice for our sins once and for all, we are saved and have eternal life.
One monument serves to commemorate what someone did for us. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Therefore, everyone who reads this, and every priest who attends Mass, must seriously consider the error he confesses in prayer: “Brothers and sisters, we pray that our offering will be accepted. . ”The offering has already been accepted. At the Lord’s Supper, we need to remember what Jesus did for us. We must not add or repeat the sacrifice that Jesus offered on the cross.
Can Mass provide forgiveness of sins?
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Mass is a reconciliation sacrifice that can take away the sins of the living and the dead. Although some claim that the church no longer believes in jokes in some places, to this day virtually every Mass is celebrated for the good of the deceased, in the belief that the time of the Mass will shorten his time as a result of the Mass. That is why masses for the dead are read. But the Bible clearly teaches that after the death of a man comes judgment: "As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this comes judgment" (Heb 9:27). If someone dies as a savior, he comes directly to heaven; he who persists in his sins goes to hell.
There is nothing more that would allow us to return from hell to heaven. The Roman Catholic Church believes that the Mass has a conciliatory power and that with its help the time in jokes is shortened.
But all the suffering and all the penance that was done for sins was completed by Jesus on the cross. We must accept this truth. We must be born again and receive eternal life while we are still alive. There is no basis in the Bible for the view that we can change our mind in any way after death.
Righteous to stand before God
Next, we explored what the Roman Catholic Church says about salvation. One of their teachings claims that we can be saved at baptism as newborns. In force still valid today
“Codex des kanonischen Rechtes” (Code of Canon Law) writes: “Baptism is the entrance door to the sacraments; acceptance of this, or at least a desire for it, is necessary for salvation; with it people are freed from sin, created for the new children of God, imprinted with an indelible image of Christ, and become members of the Church; it is valid only by washing with real water in connection with the commanded baptismal confession ”(Can. 849). By doing so, they teach that the baby is saved at baptism and receives eternal life by the power of baptism.
However, this is not true. Jesus never said anything like that, not even in the whole Bible. It's not overcooked. Jesus said, "Let the children come to me." The Bible unequivocally says that we are saved if we believe that Jesus paid the full price for our sins and thus attributed to us the righteousness he has before God. "He who knew no sin, for our sakes, hath made us to be sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor 5:21).
The work of Christ or our works?
The Roman Catholic Church goes on to say that if you want to be saved, you must obey its laws, rules, and ordinances. Whoever violates these laws (e.g., birth control, fasting, or regular attendance at Sunday Masses) commits a sin. In the canonical law in force to this day, the Roman Catholic Church stipulates that the forgiveness of grave sins requires confession to a priest: «(» Codex des canonischen Rechtes «, Can.960). the Roman Catholic Church argues that this is the path, the normal path for the remission of sins.
But the Bible says that we are saved if we repent from the heart and believe in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. We are saved by grace, not by works. The Roman Catholic Church adds works that we must do to be saved, and conversely the Bible makes it clear that we are saved by grace, not by works.
Salvation is an undeserved gift, independent of any effort on our part. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. You are not saved from works, lest any man should boast ”(Eph 2: 8-9). This is also confirmed by Romans 11: 6: "But if it be by grace, it is no more by works; otherwise grace is no more grace."
Return from India and exit from the church
During my stay in India, we investigated these and many other teachings, and as the time of my return approached, I knew I could no longer be a representative of the Roman Catholic Church.
I was beginning to understand that Roman Catholic dogmas that contradict the Bible have such deep roots that they cannot be changed.
Even the Catholic charismatic movement has returned to the fundamental dogmas and teachings of Rome, accepted them as correct, and persists in them, so that the whole movement is weakened. The Catholic charismatic movement is not a fresh wind that blows in the church and changes everything because of the return to the Bible. He cannot return to biblical teaching because the church does not allow it. The Roman Catholic Church will always insist that the offering of the Mass is a continuation of the sacrifice of Jesus. It will also never shy away from having a newborn baby at baptism and thus gain eternal life, nor will it give up the various duties it imposes on its members.
I have a sincere love for Catholics and would love to help them. I would like to help them find the freedom of salvation, life, and blessing we receive if we follow the Bible. I am not hostile to any Catholic or Roman Catholic priest: they are prisoners of their dogmas and teachings. God Himself wants to set them free. Jesus said, "Forsake the commandment of God, and keep the tradition of men" (Mark 7: 8). This is exactly the problem we are facing. These traditions contradict God’s word because they contradict its truth.
When I returned home from India, I realized that the biggest change in my life was ahead of me. For me, it was a time of great distress, for I placed all my trust in the Roman Catholic Church and served it for so many years. But I knew I would have to leave her as soon as I got back from India.
It was 1987 when I officially left the Roman Catholic Church. I wrote a letter of resignation, contacted my former superiors, and wrote to them even before my resignation. I did this because I wanted to give my testimony and the reasons for my exit. I wanted to follow the Bible.
My parents and my wife
I suffered a lot during that time. I went back to my parents, they were both over eighty. One evening we had a serious conversation where I told them what I had done.
I told them how I had been saved by God’s grace and that I was on the verge of
doctrine I leave the Roman Catholic Church. After a long pause, my father said to me, quite thoughtfully, "You know, Bob, your mother and I have the same thoughts." They went to Mass again, came home, and said, “Did you know there was an altar in front of the church? The altar is the place where the sacrifice is made. ”The father continued,“ Now I see perfectly clearly that we no longer need any sacrifice. ”Both parents began to read the Bible and live by it. In 1989, my mother died reading the Bible, in peace and with the certainty that she has eternal life and will always be with the Lord. My father died in 1993 with a prayer in his mouth for all he would leave. He wrote a testimony of God’s grace and, despite his advanced age, testified to his faith, even in a nursing home. Even before my father’s death, on June 6, 1992, God endowed me with the most beautiful thing He can give in addition to salvation: with my wonderful wife Joan.
Today I am a trained preacher, in fellowship with others who teach the biblical faith and proclaim the joyful message of God’s grace just because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As soon as he left the priesthood and the Roman Catholic Church, Bob Busch began to evangelize in the United States as well as in Central and South America. In 1992, he suffered severe paralysis after spinal surgery. How he endured this severe physical limitation is a testimony of God’s grace. He also proclaimed the good news of salvation as a radio evangelist. He lived in Oakdale, California, United States.
[Source: https://bereanbeacon.org/sl/nekoc-jezuit-danes-bozji-otrok/]
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