Pentecostalism | Counter Reformation

Ever since the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church has been at work to woo back the Protestant Churches and regain its position as the spiritual authority. Most people, wary of Rome and its ways, embraced their new Protestant freedom with open arms.

Although suspicion of Rome still ran high prior to 1960, as the years passed, many began to believe that Rome’s influence and power had been broken. Christian author and evangelist Grattan Guinness describes this waning suspicion in the opening chapter of his book Romanism and the Reformation.

We have seen how Rome began its Counter Reformation with the introduction of false doctrines to counter the reformers' straight testimony of the identity of the Antichrist. Preterism, futurism, German rationalism, and higher criticism were all introduced through Catholic or Jesuit theologians. Slowly these beliefs began to infiltrate the Protestant churches and to poison the faith of Christians.

While Protestants remained vigilant about Catholicism in America, even resisting the Pope’s visit to America during Ronald Reagan’s term of office as President, they were not as vigilant to the quiet infiltration of false doctrine into their ranks.

Why was the Counter Reformation so successful? The answer, when we are truly honest with ourselves, is that Protestants stopped reading their Bibles, and got complacent. The Bible tells us that delusion and deception play a major role at the end of time:

With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image (Revelation 19:20 NIV).

Before 1960, Rome’s Counter Reformation was mostly accomplished through the introduction of new doctrine. But by the beginning of the 20th century, the reformed churches had begun to move towards ecumenism, and in 1948, the World Council of Churches was formed, embracing most of the Protestant Churches, but excluding the Orthodox and Catholic churches.

The Papacy needed a carefully-crafted plan to overcome the prejudices towards Rome still lingering in the minds of many. The Vatican II Council in 1960 changed the way people perceived Catholicism. No Roman doctrine had to be altered, but instead people were led away from doctrinal issues and introduced to experiential religion. In fact, Pentecostalism is strengthening Catholicism's pillars. Cardinal Joseph Suenens, “one of the chief architects of the Vatican II meetings,”ⁱ said this:

Since I have had this [charismatic] experience, my allegiance to the Holy Father as the Vicar of Christ in the world has been heightened and strengthened. My appreciation for Mary as the co-redemptress and mediatoress of my salvation has been assured. My appreciation of the mass as the sacrifice of Christ has now been heightened.ⁱⁱ

The ecumenical spirit, already manifested in Protestantism, opened the way for a spirit of unity to control church-goers that was based on emotion rather than truth. But without a foundation built on truth, unity is haphazard and deceptive.

True unity can only be based on the Word of God. Therefore we must study carefully to distinguish truth from error. Revealing error is a painful exercise, and it is not the intention of any of these articles to belittle any avenue of faith. However, it is vital that we study the Scriptures and align our lives with the truth.

i. David W. Cloud, Flirting with Rome: Evangelical Entanglement with Roman Catholicism Volume 4 (Oak Harbor, WA: Way of Life Literature, 1993).

ii. Ibid.