Real faith, taking the shield of faith.
Ephesians 6.16.
Presents an audio interview with Dr. Alberto Rivera Romero.
This interview was made to Dr. Alberto Rivera in a visit to the city of Guatemala
in Central America.
Dr. Alberto Rivera is a Jesuit priest converted to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. Alberto Rivera went to the presence of the Lord in 1997.
This is an exclusive interview with Dr. Alberto Rivera Romero, former Jesuit
priest and now converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Welcome Dr. Rivera.
Could you tell us what the word Catholic means?
It is a very clear definition.
It has nothing to do with the Romanism of religion.
The word Catholic is a plain word in the sense of its application to the Church of
Christ.
The Church of the Lord, the Church of Christ, is a universal church in the sense
not only that it is the local church, but that the local church is a member of
the whole force of the Lord, which is represented by the local church,
not by a government of the local church.
Another important question we have here says the following.
Does it affect that a Christian lives with people who are not Christian?
At this point, as I mentioned before, it is not the point that this conduct is
going to reach the point that a person can do something that cannot be done.
This is not the case, because again, the Church and the practice of Christ are
supposed to...
If the conduct of a person were to be the dominant factor in salvation, the person
is no longer a Christian.
And then we would not need the grace of Christ, we would need something through
the conduct of a person.
If it were, and if it were not, we would lose our lives because of this
conduct.
But it is not the case.
But there are facts that affect.
For example, in terms of the time factor, a person can be affected in terms of their
salvation and in terms of how long they live.
Their salvation and their relationship with Christ and their encounter with
Christ can be dilated.
Because this encounter with Christ, with a person, can be dilated by means of
this series of stones on the way.
But never to the point of being something that dominates our lives or that dominates
our plans or goals, because it is not true.
I would rather say that we should apply the biblical principles to this,
and this is what the Scripture says in the biblical chapter of the book of Exodus.
Let me translate for you this.
In verse 9 of chapter 5 it says, Turn away, for the other time it was the
Lord.
But now the light comes from the Lord.
Walk like children of light, because the fruit of the Spirit is the whole truth and
justice and truth, to all that is given to the Lord.
And do not communicate with the unfruitful works of the devil, and do not commit
adultery, because it is not good for a Christian to live in the mongrels of the
Catholic Church.
We have one more question.
This question says the following.
If someone got married to the Catholic Church, should he return to be married to
the Evangelical Church?
He should not get married.
If he is so bravely married, it was not the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church,
and as I said before, not even the priest who married us.
It was the covenant that they made, both of love, before becoming priests.
Marriage is a divine decree that is not intrinsically related to the plan of
salvation.
In other words, it was already established by God in the book of Genesis.
For so long the man will leave his father and mother.
God does not say, for so long, once you are saved, you will leave.
It already implies that there is no such thing.
The man that God refers to, is referring entirely to the natural man.
That is, to the natural man, to the spiritual man.
Therefore, I advise you, I advise that every person who was canonically married,
according to what is called the sacrament of marriage.
This is a satanic infusion.
What I mean is that there is a need for liberation.
And I would advise that the person contracts a civil marriage, and has not
contracted it yet.
This is the first step you have to take.
Civil marriage.
In other words, a legal recognition in society, that you profess love.
But a spiritual recognition in the Church, that you are a husband and wife.
And that it is not due to the ordination or the ordained marriage of the priest,
to give you a spiritual testimony of this experience of salvation and redemption in
Jesus Christ.
Among other questions we have, the following one says so.
A choir is sung that says, I do not care about the church you go to.
Is that concept correct?
I would say that yes, it does matter to the church you go to.
And so much so that the Holy Spirit has given very good guides, very good
teachings, and very good principles, to determine which is the Church of
Christ, and which is not the Church of Christ.
And from there we go to this.
We had to determine by the doctrine that this experience professes, if this is the
church I should go to.
Because then, if I say, I do not care, in other words, I am not respecting the
revelation of the Holy Spirit, concerning the marks, the characteristics
and doctrines, that God has already given to the Church of Christ.
The Catholic doctrine teaches that the Apostle Peter was the first Pope.
And also the Catholic doctrine teaches that both the Popes and the priests must
maintain the celibacy.
However, the question says, how does Catholicism explain that Peter was
married?
Let's say that Roman Catholicism has always admitted, admitted within the Roman
Catholic theology, and the history of Roman Catholicism, has always admitted,
and still admits, that not only the Apostles, many of them, were married,
but that even several cardinals, and several bishops, and several Catholics
from the beginning of Catholicism were already married.
In other words, there is no doubt about Roman Catholicism, there is no doubt,
nor is there a rejection, that this experience took place.
But then, it became part of the Catholic tradition, as it is done, to create the
tradition with authority, just like the Bible, which says that if the Bible,
for example, on account of celibacy, recommends marriage, and I say,
it is the Bible that recommends it, hence why I had to get married,
not only because I fell in love, but because I obeyed the Lord.
If my wife wants me to always prioritize the fact that I fell in love, and then,
in this sense, that I obeyed the Lord, because when I put it as a priority,
the fact that I got married because I obeyed the Lord, she says, then you did
not fall in love with me.
The truth is that the Bible opposes, and if we read, in 1 Timothy, we have a
very biblical explanation of what it is, and what it should be, precisely,
the man who serves God, and no longer the priest, because among the high ministries
of the Church, you will see that the Holy Spirit never mentions the priest.
In the ministries he speaks of pastors, he speaks of preachers, he speaks of
teachers, he speaks of evangelists, he speaks of doctors, but he never speaks
of priests.
Hence, as for the ministry of the Church of Christ, as are the deacons,
even the priests, etc., he also speaks of the bishops.
He says in chapter 3 of 1 Timothy, a faithful word, if any of you want to be
a bishop, a good work of faith.
It is therefore convenient that the bishop should be the irreproachable husband of a
woman.
And this is extraordinary, the Holy Spirit puts this requirement above the strongest
moral requirements that he demands of the life of a certain man of God.
This requirement is above even the most serious moral requirements.
He has so much primacy that he closes all general requirements in verse 4,
saying, that he governs his house well, that he has his children in his lesson
with all honesty, because he who does not know how to govern his house, how will he
take care of the Church of God?
Marriage is imposed in the Christian ministry.
The following question says, Is it correct that Christians use the Catholic Bible?
It is not correct.
I would say that it is more than correct, it is not about being correct or not being
correct, I would say it is about reverence to the word of God.
I would say that in the case of studying the perversions that Catholicism has
committed against the Holy Scriptures, yes, in the sense of knowing them,
not in the sense of meditating on them, of studying them for spiritual
development, there are problems in that.
Do Catholics believe or not that there is an eternal salvation?
Yes, they believe that there is an eternal salvation.
Yes, I would lie if I said no, and I think that the question has perhaps
not been put in real perspective, about Catholicism and that concept of
eternal salvation.
Yes, there is that concept, even more.
Why do you believe, and do you believe the hearers, that the Catholics, including the
Catholics who are listening to me, turn away so much from the point of view
of religious vows, turn away so much to reach the most devout, the most religious,
and you, the old people, and the elderly, especially the most militant, with a
tremendous fervor, that they do not spend days without novena, that they do not
spend days without mass, that they do not spend days without confession.
What is this peace?
Peace is showing that they long, that they desire, and they feel the need
for eternal life.
Why?
Because the Catholic doctrine according to the economy of grace, and there is this
doctrine instituted by Thomas Aquinas himself, in the theology of the economy of
grace, Thomas Aquinas exposes, but I understand, the doctrine of grace in
the scriptures, exposes that the more one participates in the sacraments,
the more indulgences, the more, ah, ah, ah, works, good works,
the more one participates, the greater quantity of grace, is stored in his favor,
for his eternal salvation.
See that if you believe in eternal life, what does it mean?
That you have less exposure.
As it is not known according to the Catholic doctrine, it is not known who is
going to be saved, and when he is going to be saved.
Listen to two things, it is not known who is going to be saved, and when he is going
to be saved, for the same reason of the economy, which implies, that the Catholic
needs, each person, to reach a certain quantity, which is uncertain, another
paradox, a certain quantity is uncertain, of grace, to exhaust the sins,
that he has committed during his life.
Hence, only grace can be obtained, by receiving mediation of the sacraments,
which define the same tridentine council, are the only seven channels of grace.
Hence, if you believe in eternal life, but you cannot have, you cannot have,
contrary to the teaching of Christ, to the sacrifice of Christ, to the love of
Christ, and to the promise of Christ, that he who believes in me, even if he is
dead, will live, will live, eternally.
What opinion does Mother Teresa of Calcutta deserve?
Well, I wouldn't dare to say, for the sake of racism, what I say, what I want to say.
But, I want to say what the Bible says.
And the Bible, in this sense, God, the Holy Spirit, clearly says,
that the one who rebels against the Son, yes, is already condemned.
This lady, like the majority, of all the nuns, who still insist, and persist,
between tradition and the Bible, is condemned, eternally, to think of her
good works, which she is even trying to do, in order to be able to leave her home.
In the history of Roman Catholicism, what is true about a Baptist, in the
Vatican?
Not only one, in the papacy, as I have already explained, even this morning,
referring to the seminary this morning, I explained, in great detail, that in the
degeneration of the papacy, and the corruption, came to such an extreme,
before the Protestant Reformation, came to such an extreme, that two things,
among other things, happened before the Inquisition was established, and it is
worth saying, that even in the second century, the Inquisition was established,
not only as a result of the Reformation, and of the reformers, who were already
beginning to surrender themselves to Christ, but even with the degeneration,
interversion, and immorality, that had already been exposed to the rest of the
clergy, including Carlos, where they speak of them.
There were even several women, including Joan the Baptist.
Related to the papacy of the Borgias, we have cases like these, including the
Italian princes, and that these women were the concubines, including Joan the
Baptist, who was the concubine of the previous Pope, who was poisoned to death,
and that same concubine of the Pope, took the office of the Pope.
We have a few more questions left.
The next one goes like this.
Do the tongues of the charismatics speak of the Holy Spirit or not?
No, not at all.
They are not of the Holy Spirit.
They will never be able to do it.
They are of the spirit of the Antichrist, the greatest imitator of the Holy Spirit,
of the tongues of the Holy Spirit, of the operations of the Holy Spirit,
and ministries of the Holy Spirit.
Probably, not only for the Bible, but for the Catholic doctrine,
even if it is inconsistent with the Catholic doctrine.
To finish this telephone interview, we want to ask you the last question.
It goes like this.
What is the difference between the Gospel and Roman Catholicism?
Is it not true that they both follow the same path?
No, impossible.
Not at all.
Because both have different purposes, like night and day.
Specifically, the Catholic religion, while the Gospel is the product of Christ
and his Gospel.
For example, to make it more dramatically biblical, I choose chapter 2 of the book
of Acts and chapter 17 of the book of Revelation.
And you will realize that the characteristics of the Catholic religion
are all expressed in chapter 17 of the book of Revelation, while the
characteristics of the Gospel church, as Christ's wife, was revealed in chapter
2 of the book of Acts, from its beginning.
Thank you Dr. Alberto Rivera for granting us this interview.
We are on YouTube as La Verdadera Fe.
We have many videos of healthy biblical teaching.
Our email is feverdadera.hotmail.com and feverdadera.yahoo.com