Who Is That Catholic Basher?

Dear Catholic reader and others:

If you are wondering who the Catholic bashing "fundamentalist" is that put this web site together, wonder no further.  This site is maintained by Ray Kane, former Catholic, saved by God's grace at around age 30.  Actually I don't consider myself a Catholic basher even though many Catholics may think that is what I am.  I am extremely concerned about the eternal spiritual welfare of Catholics and others.  Also, I don't consider myself a fundamentalist per se, but rather a non-denominational Bible believing Christian who holds to the "reformed" doctrines of grace. I had neither the intention nor the desire of leaving Catholicism until God put His spirit in me and made me a new creature in Christ. I was content with myself and my spiritual condition - until God opened my eyes to my need of salvation. I was just one of many Polish Catholics in my family consisting of generation after generation of Catholics, all of whom are in hell now or headed for that terrible place of eternal torment, after trusting in their works and their religion instead of Christ and His righteousness alone.

As a youth I used to make fun of Billy Graham, while my mother watched his crusades on TV. And ironically enough, many years later, I was very actively involved in the Graham 1991 Crusade in the New Jersey Meadowlands Arena after God had turned me into a real Christian (as compared to a so-called "Catholic" Christian).  I no longer advocate or support Billy Graham since I learned how ecumenical he is and since learning that his gospel is really a false free-will gospel.  But I must say, my opinions about various people, churches and doctrines have changed over time as God worked in me and helped me to grow in my knowledge and love of Him and His Word, the Bible. And such is the sign of a *true* disciple of Christ, always learning and not afraid to admit that doctrines he or she once believed are not really true. And dear Catholic reader, take heed: the static nature of Catholic dogma is not necessarily something to take pride or comfort in.  It just means it does not change, no matter how wrong a doctrine is and no matter how much a Catholic theologian may study the Bible (including the pope).  Most major Protestant denominations are also guilty of being static (unchanging) with respect to their doctrines also, especially the doctrines that are unique to their denomination.

Getting back to who I am, I am someone who took in my elderly and *very* devout Catholic mother for the final 12 years of her life since she could not manage her finances and could not manage other affairs in her life. While she might have abandoned me if the tables were turned (since while she was living, she made it clear that she did not appreciate my views on Catholicism), I do not look for easy ways out of life's problems and difficulties.  The grass is not always greener on the other side of the road.... it just may look greener from our side of the road. My mother and many many other Catholics have done their best to inform me that theirs is the one true church and one true religion.  However, all the supposed evidence in the world for the authenticity of the Church of Rome, will not and can not change Rome's gospel from a works gospel to the true gospel of salvation by grace alone through the completed work of Christ alone.

The very fact that I now think the way I do - about God, the Bible, and sin - is a testimony to the life-changing power of God - apart from Rome and its worse than useless penance system that denies the efficacy (all sufficiency) of Christ's once-for-all-time sacrifice at Calvary.  Until God converted me, I was not a religious person at all. I was a Catholic, I understood Catholicism, I had gone through CCD classes, but I was lost. I did not know the true God, the true Christ.  I thought I did.  I knew about a Catholic Christ and all sorts of Catholic tradition, but I was a lost sinner, deserving the wrath of God, and not even aware of my lostness, just like all my other lost friends and relatives, be they Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jew, etc. If I had been a very ardent Catholic I would not have been better off.  I would still be lost and without salvation and perhaps worse, I would be leading others astray. Religion based on anything that man does or attempts to do for God cannot remove a single sin and only provides a false sense of security to the soul that is on its way to everlasting punishment in hell.

And what about YOU? Perhaps you have a religion, but has God supernaturally converted you? Have you let go of your idols and your tradition? Or are you still convinced that the church you grew up in is OK for you, regardless of whether or not God is satisfied with what you believe?

May the God of the Bible grant you His true salvation, as He has done for an unworthy sinner such as I.

Ray Kane,
http://comingintheclouds.org

"And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him." [Isaiah 59:16]