March 12, 2004 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

Mel Gibson spent his own money to make a movie that would express his traditional Catholic faith, that would associate the cross directly with the mass and that would place Mary at the heart of Christ’s suffering.

He was willing to “put his money where his mouth is.” He was willing to produce a film that could very possibly have lost money. No one before the movie’s opening on February 25 predicted that it would make him fabulously rich. When he first attempted to find a distributor for the film, no one would touch it. When he finally found one who would carry the movie, it was far out of the mainstream.

Mel Gibson has been upfront about his motives, beliefs, and objectives all along, and being a Hollywood insider, he certainly knows the price that comes with such candor.

When Mel Gibson used the “visions” of Catholic mystics as authoritative resources for his movie about Jesus, even though their visions plainly contradict Scripture, he was doing nothing wrong, according to the dictates of his own deeply-held faith.

When he was asked if non-Catholic Christians can go to heaven apart from Rome and he replied that they cannot, he was only expressing his sincerest held beliefs.

When Mel Gibson told interviewers that his conscience is bound by the dictates of the pope’s pronouncements “from the chair,” he was simply expressing his faith.

When Mel Gibson believes in the blessing and efficacy of relics and when his company sells “Jesus nails,” he is doing nothing contrary to his religious faith.

When he builds a Catholic chapel near his home for the saying of Latin mass and when he says that the gospel should not be understood so much as experienced, he is only expressing his religious faith.

When Mel Gibson says that he is bound by the 16th century Catholic Council of Trent, which hurled 125 anathemas or curses at those who believe the Bible alone is the Word of God and that men are saved by grace alone, he is merely being true to his religious faith.

When Mel Gibson prays to Mary, he is convinced by his own faith that he is doing the right thing.

When judged biblically in all of these things, he is dead wrong, but the man is sincerely following the dictates of his religious faith.

WHAT FAITH ARE THE EVANGELICALS AND BAPTISTS FOLLOWING?

I cannot say the same thing about the evangelicals and Baptists who are uncritically promoting this movie. THEIR religious faith is allegedly “Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone.” THEIR religious faith does not, therefore, accept Mary as the Ever Virgin Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, or co-mediatrix. THEIR religious faith does not accept the mass as a propitiatory sacrifice. THEIR religious faith does not accept a gospel of grace plus works and sacraments. THEIR religious faith rejects the Council of Trent with no hesitation. Or so one would assume.

Then why in the world, may I ask, did all of these evangelicals and Baptists start fawning like a bunch of schoolgirls in the presence of this Hollywood movie star and wholly neglect to stand up for THEIR faith? Why did they encourage Mel Gibson in his false religion and give him the impression that God supports his project, instead of speaking the truth in love, of warning him that there is only one true gospel and that any attempt to add works or sacraments to grace produces a false gospel that is under God’s solemn curse (Galatians 1)?

Did Billy Graham do this? Did Bill Hybels or Rick Warren or Robert Schuller or Adrian Rogers or Paul Crouch or James Dobson or Jack Graham or Ted Haggard or Chuck Colson or Chuck Swindoll or a hundred others of similar caliber of influence? I have not seen even one such scriptural testimony from any high profile evangelical or Baptist leader. Perhaps that is why they are so high profile in such an evil day. The Lord knows, but it certainly causes a person to wonder.

WHO SHOULD BE PREACHING?

Any Roman Catholic should be welcome to attend an evangelical or Baptist church or gospel meeting and hear the Word of God, but no Roman Catholic should be welcome to preach to our people.

And Mel Gibson is a preacher! His sermon is in the form of a Hollywood style movie, which is one of the most influential forms of communication in our day.

CATHOLICS SAY GIBSON IS AN EVANGELIST

Traditional Roman Catholics certainly understand the massive potential of this movie for building up their “church.” The Roman Catholic magazine Inside the Vatican chose Mel Gibson as its “Man of the Year ” for 2003. The Daily Catholic calls Gibson an evangelist and apostle for Rome’s traditions:

“Many see Gibson as a Hollywood movie star, but True Catholics see him as an evangelist in the purist sense. A true Apostle for the Truths and Traditions of the Church Christ founded. Mel has set on film what has always been set in stone: the everlasting reminder of why Christ died for each and every one of us. We have that reminder daily in the Latin Mass in the Alter Christus--the priest offers Him up daily as a propitiatory sacrifice in an unbloody manner to the Father for us. PRAYERFULLY THIS MOVIE WILL MOVE THE HEARTS AND SOULS OF MILLIONS TO RETURN TO THE TRUTHS AND TRADITIONS OF CHRIST’S TRUE CHURCH (Daily Catholic, January 17, 2004).

Note the heresy that permeates this article. The Catholic Church is the church that Christ founded. The wafer of the Catholic mass is the “Alter Christus” (one who is in the place Christ). The Catholic priest offers a propitiatory sacrifice repeatedly in his mass. The priest stands before God for the people.

Mel Gibson, together with the globe-trotting Pope John Paul II, will doubtless go down in history as this generation’s two premier evangelists for these heresies.

I do not want that legacy. I want a legacy for standing for the truth of God’s holy Book and for it alone. I stand and die with the Bible. I believe that it is the preserved Word of God (the Masoretic Hebrew and Greek Received texts and accurate translations thereof in any language) and that it alone is the standard for faith and practice. The evangelicals and Baptists who are fawning over this movie and its Catholic evangelist are throwing away their legacy. They are selling their birthright for a mess of pottage.

Regardless of what evangelistic opportunity arises in the context of this movie, it is going to be a great encouragement to the Roman Catholic Church and to ecumenical endeavors everywhere.