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"Bible Answer Man" and Rome

The following is from Wilson Ewin's excellent book Today's Evangelicals Embracing the World's Deadliest Cult:

For ten years as "The Bible Answer Man," Dr. Walter Martin participated in the Long John Nebel Show--heard in 43 states, six days a week over the NBC radio network. His book on the cults was first published in 1965 and soon became a best seller with 24 printings. The author taught on the fields of Biblical Theology and Comparative Religions at the Melodyland School of Theology in Anaheim, California. ... Because of his tremendous influence upon evangelicals around the world, Dr. Martin and the Christian Research Institute which he founded must bear major responsibility for today's wall of neutrality, tolerance and silence that surrounds the exposure of Romanism as a cult. Dr. Martin died in June 1989.

Then came 1993 and the C.R.I. moved openly into the ecumenical camp. This was stated in their book entitled "The Cult of the Virgin." Sponsored by the Christian Research Institute through its editors Elliot Miller and Ken Samples, the book contains an appendix by a Jesuit named Pacwa. Miller and Samples present him as a "Bible-believing Catholic" with whom they have "fellowship in Christ and cooperative efforts in the common cause of Christ's kingdom" (p. 161). The book states: "The underlying purpose of this book is ultimately ecumenical rather than anti-ecumenical" (p. 161).

Dr. Martin was a close friend of Pacwa. The priest is a known apologist and defender of his church. He wrote for the C.R.I. Journal and spoke on Dr. Martin's "The Bible Answer Man" program. Martin introduced him to C.R.I.'s contributing editor, Ken Samples.

Was Martin a double agent and guilty of deception regarding his views of Romanism? The claim he made in the opening statement of his book on the cults is at variance with the testimony given by Ken Samples. The contradiction is recorded on cassette. Editor Samples stated this:

"The position that I hold on Catholicism ... was greatly influenced by Dr. Martin ... (he) held the very same position, in fact the statements that I wrote to represent our organization, Dr. Martin read and agreed with ... Dr. Martin agreed absolutely with our position on Catholicism, because quite frankly he helped shape my own view of Catholicism."

A lengthy article in four parts began to appear in the Winter 1993 issue of the C.R.I. Journal. Entitled "What Think Ye of Rome?--An Evangelical Appraisal of Contemporary Catholicism," the Journal strongly opposes calling the papal church a cult. It states, "Catholicism affirms most of what the cults deny and possesses an orthodox foundation which all cult groups lack."

A Vatican ecumenist could not have improved on the image of Popery created by the C.R.I. Journal. The Winter 1993 (Part One) issue states, "From the fourth century to the present, Roman Catholic thought has had a momentous influence ... The Church has wielded great power over the centuries, often spreading enlightenment and benevolence among humanity."

The Part II section in the Spring 1993 issue credits Catholicism with "almost a two-thousand-year history (it has historical continuity with apostolic, first-century Christianity), and is the ecclesiastical tree from which Protestantism originally splintered."

The lengthy C.R.I. Journal's presentation of Popery is a flow of half truths, distortion, falsehood and deceit, all staged with the obvious purpose of altering the accusing facts of history (Wilson Ewin, Today's Evangelicals Embracing the World's Deadliest Cult, Quebec Baptist Missions, Box 113, Compton, Quebec, Canada J0B 1L0, 1994, pp. 59-61).