How sound doctrine doesn't stop sin in the heart, and who is Pope Leo XIV? These are the topics we'll discuss today right here on the Christian Worldview Radio Program, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host. The Christian Worldview is a non-profit, listener-supported radio ministry. Our website is thechristianworldview.org, and the rest of our contact information will be given throughout today's program.
As always, thank you for your notes of encouragement, financial support, and lifting us up in prayer. President Trump is on a historic multi-nation visit to the Middle East, where he is attempting to broker financial investments in U.S. companies and generally lower the hostile temperature of Arab nations toward one another and Israel. Geopolitical analyst Soren Kern will join us next week to interpret all that took place and what it means for the U.S. and Israel. This week, Mike Gendron, founder and director of Proclaiming the Gospel, a ministry devoted to helping Roman Catholics understand and believe the biblical gospel, joins us to discuss the selection of a new pope, Leo XIV. Mike, a Roman Catholic for the first 35 years of his life, will tell us about the new pope, the first American-born leader of the Catholic Church, and explain core Catholic doctrines, like Peter being the first pope, and how these doctrines contrast with God's word. But before we get to the new pope and the Roman Catholic Church, Mike and I will discuss the disheartening news this week that Josh Byss, founder and president of G3 Ministries, a ministry focused on building the church up in sound doctrine, has resigned due to the uncovering of anonymous social media accounts that he was using to slander other Christians in ministries and then lying about it. Paul told Timothy to quote, pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching, persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.
That's from 1 Timothy 4 16. This is a sobering reminder that we must not only examine our teaching but also our hearts. Let's get to the interview with Mike Gendron. Mike, it's so good to have you on the Christian worldview radio program today.
Thank you for taking the time. Let's start in our own camp today. I'm just going to read the statement that G3 released this week about Josh Byss, again the founder and president of G3 Ministries. The statement reads, in recent weeks the elders of Praisemill Baptist Church, that is the church where Josh Byss is the pastor, the elders of that church uncovered irrefutable evidence that Dr. Byss has for the past three years operated at least four anonymous social media accounts, two anonymous email addresses, and two sub-stack platforms. These accounts were used to publicly and anonymously slander numerous Christian leaders, including faithful pastors, some of whom have spoken at G3 conferences. Several Praisemill Baptist Church elders slandered and others. These actions were not only sinful in nature but deeply divisive, the statement reads, causing unnecessary suspicion and strife within the body of Christ and particularly within the eldership of Praisemill Baptist Church.
One more paragraph. Dr. Byss has been asked on multiple occasions over the past two years whether he had any connection to these anonymous accounts. So there was suspicion of this, Mike. In each case, Dr. Byss denied any knowledge of them. On Sunday evening, May 4th, 2025, after clear and comprehensive evidence emerged linking the accounts directly to him, Dr. Byss, the elders of Praisemill Baptist Church confronted Josh. For some time, he continued to deny his involvement in these anonymous accounts. Only after further evidence was presented and much pleading with him to walk in the light, did Josh finally confess to his actions. Since then, Josh has acknowledged his sin, expressed sorrow, and asked for forgiveness.
His desire is to personally ask forgiveness of every person he has slandered or lied to. While Josh has acknowledged with the elders that he is presently disqualified from serving as an elder, we do not believe at this time that his sin is necessarily permanently disqualifying. Accordingly, his content will remain accessible via the G3 website in G3+.
Now that's been changed since then. They've removed all content from G3 from Dr. Josh Byss, and they've also canceled their annual conference. To be clear, it finishes, no other employee or board member of G3 knew Josh was engaged in this activity.
He acted alone. Now there's more to the statement than that, but that's really the heart of it, and listeners can go to G3 Ministries to read the rest. So Mike, Josh Byss has now resigned. He was, again, the founder and president of G3 Ministries. What are just your overall thoughts on this surprising situation?
And what would be his motivation for operating anonymous accounts? Well, David, I grieve at what he has done, because it's brought shame to the name of Christ and his church, and it's also divided the church. The real irony is that he gave a message at our church entitled, Maintaining Unity for the Glory of God. But sadly to the unbelieving world, it once again gives a reason for the world to call Christians hypocrites.
And what was his motivation? It appears that spiritual pride has wrecked his ministries. When you look at this kind of pride, it usually takes the form of spiritual arrogance and self-sufficiency. It'll often blind men from their sin. So as ministry leaders, we need to humble ourselves into the sovereign hand of Almighty God, because he hates pride. We see that in Proverbs 8 13. And that's because pride leads to the false worship of ourselves.
It's the original sin, wanting to be our own gods and run our own lives. And so conversely, the humble are those who are driven to their knees under the weight of sin, and they will cry out to God for mercy and repent. So I'm so thankful that Josh has chosen to do that. Yeah, and I won't go into all the various anonymous accounts and what was posted, but a lot of it was critiquing those within sort of his own theological ballpark, like Tom Askell and Founders Ministries. I think there were some things in there about John MacArthur and maybe even Vody Bockham and some others. And the only thing I can think of is that he, in his position as founder and president of G3, felt like he couldn't critique anyone else because of all his relationships in the world he's in. So this was a way of him basically being able to anonymously criticize others. And that's bad enough, as you just mentioned, Mike.
But maybe even worse, though, is lying about it. Coupled with what he did, the lying about it, that he makes a pastor not above reproach anymore as the qualification to be a pastor. So very disappointing. We pray and hope for his repentance and restoration. G3, as I mentioned, Mike, has taken all of his material down.
They've canceled their annual conference. Does this transgression ascend to the level of permanent disqualification, Mike, in your view from Scripture? Or this level of canceling of his material and content? Well, David, I think we have to consider the length of time that all this was taking place and his refusal to admit his sin and repent and continue to lie. And so the G3 leaders did what they thought was best. And evidently, several of the scheduled speakers for this year's conference were targets of voices attacked. So I can see why that's happening. Mike, as you well know, this is the latest in several recent prominent evangelical leaders falling, whether through sexual situations like Steve Lawson and many others, now Josh Byce. Is this happening now more than in the past?
Because sometimes we can be too influenced by present news. When we look back to Scripture, you can see there's conflict, obviously, between Paul and John Mark at times. And it wasn't necessarily disqualifying, but Paul would write a letter and then he'd say at the end, you know, this person has departed from me.
And so it seems that there were these kinds of falls going on back then, too. But maybe this is a winnowing of American evangelicalism, and this is happening more now than ever. What are your thoughts on that? Well, it could be that we're more aware of the falls from grace because of the internet and social media. It also could be part of the great apostasy, the falling away. I mean, we see so many evangelical leaders are compromising the exclusivity of the gospel, and they're doing it by signing unity accords with the apostate Catholic Church. And some of them have even left their churches to become Catholic or Orthodox. And so it could be that God is exposing the sin of these men that are hypocrites and calling them to account so He can purify His church.
But in any event, we know the Bible says in the last days there will be a great falling away, and this could be all part of God's plan. Mike Gendron is our guest today. He is the founder and director of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministry. We have a link to their directory, we have a link to their direct ministry at our website, thechristianrealview.org. We highly encourage you to sign up for their free monthly newsletter.
They have all kinds of resources, including gospel tracts. We're going to get to that in a minute as we talk about the pope next. But before we do, Mike, you have been in ministry now for, I think, around 40 years.
Is that correct? 34 years now, yes. Okay, 34 years.
That's a long time. What are the temptations of being in ministry leadership for that long that Christian leaders need to be very circumspect about? Well, David, I think our search for significance in ministry must always be for the glory of God and the advancement of His gospel. We need to recognize that we are nothing apart from Christ, and any ministry success that we have is only because is only because of His grace and power. But I think this is a lesson for all of us in ministry.
We need to remember, according to Genesis 4-7, that sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, but you must master it. And so, oftentimes, when people ask, How can we pray for you, Mike? I ask them to pray for my spiritual and physical protection because I know the devil hates what I'm doing.
I'm exposing one of his greatest counterfeits, if not his most influential counterfeit. And so, we really need spiritual protection, and we need to humble ourselves and ask people to pray for us in that regard. Now, Mike, there have always been celebrity Christians, quote-unquote. Even during the time of the apostles, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, different people clinging on to certain celebrity, quote-unquote, Christians, Christians looking up to them. What is your exhortation to regular Christians listening today, people who don't have ministry platforms, aren't well-known authors and so forth, speakers around the country, conference speakers? What kind of perspective should Christians guard their minds against when it comes to looking up to Christian leaders who are often very gifted preachers and communicators and authors and who have often been very helpful in the content that they use?
How should we see those who sort of rise up to become Christian leaders and influencers? Well, David, I think one of the greatest concerns in the church today is that many Christians are following Christian personalities. They're following their favorite people instead of testing their teaching with the Word of God.
They're not being good Bereans. They're not testing the veracity of every man's teaching. It was really the only infallible source for truth that God has left us with, and that is inspired in their own authoritative Word. There are so many Christian personalities today that are leading people astray, and their popularity has caused many people to follow after a false gospel or following after other Scriptures that maybe can be twisted and distorted for the success of Christian personalities. And so more than ever, I think knowing again that we're in this great apostasy, the great falling away, we really need to be good Bereans and test every man's tradition and every man's teaching with the authority of God's Word.
Amen to that. Mike Gendron is our guest. What stands out to me about Mike is that he treasures God's Word as the foundation for his life. Treasuring God's Word as the foundation of your life is actually the title of session two at the Overcomer Course for Young Adults, now just a month away on June 20th and 21st. More details in this break, and then we'll continue with Mike and shift gears to talk about the new pope and the Roman Catholic Church.
I'm David Wheaton. You are listening to the Christian Real View Radio program. You see, ideas have consequences and bad ideas have victims. The culture of death that we're in today is not coincidental.
It's not an accident. It was intentionally created by a set of Marxist socialist, totalitarian revolutionaries who were engaging in a proxy war attack against Christianity and the American family here in the States. That was Seth Gruber, executive producer of the 1916 Project film, which details how our culture of depravity and death arose from Margaret Sanger, Alfred Kinsey, and many more. The 1916 Project DVD is 76 minutes and retails for $20. You can order it for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View and will be shipped to you in the month of May. To order, go to thechristianrealview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. The Overcomer Course is designed to help young adults gain clarity and conviction on the most foundational issues of life and the faith. Day one sessions address salvation, the authority of scripture, life purpose, and spiritual growth and discipleship. Day two sessions present God's design on time, work, and money, sex, singleness, and marriage, the local church, and overcoming temptation. Between sessions, enjoy fellowship, food, and fun at the farm, including activities and games, cookouts, an espresso bar, trail walks, bonfires, and more. Tell the young adults in your life about the Overcomer Course Friday, Saturday, June 20th and 21st at Stonehouse Farm in Jordan, Minnesota.
To foster personal connection, the course is limited to 40 men and women age 18 to 28. Full details and registration at thechristianrealview.org or call 1-888-646-2233. Welcome back to The Christian Real View.
I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit our website, thechristianrealview.org, where you can subscribe to our free weekly email and annual print letter, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Mike Gendron, former Roman Catholic and founder and director of Proclaiming the Gospel, is our guest today. We're going to change topics now to the election of the new pope, Leo XIV, and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
Mike, a new pope, Leo XIV, was just elected I think within the last week. Mike, I believe you were a Catholic, a Roman Catholic, for 35 years. You were a committed Roman Catholic. What took place that caused you to understand that salvation wasn't going to be found in the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, and then to believe the biblical gospel of justification by God's grace through faith alone? Well, David, I had a zeal for God, but looking back it wasn't based on biblical knowledge.
I never opened the Bible and studied it until I was 35 years of age. When I opened it, I had a crisis of faith because what I discovered was a plan of salvation that was diametrically opposed to the plan of salvation I was taught as a Roman Catholic. There were several verses that really caught my attention, and one was Ephesians 2.8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith.
It's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works that no man may boast. And then Titus 3.5, he saved us not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy. I did the wrong thing when I came across these verses, and I was struggling through this crisis of faith. I called my uncle who was a priest, and I would ask him, why does the Bible say something so contradictory to what the Catholic Church teaches?
And he said, well that's not true. And so I quoted those verses, and he said, well God doesn't really mean what he's saying there. And so the more I dug, the more I realized I couldn't reconcile the Word of God with Catholic teaching. And I believe it was then that God opened my eyes to see the light of the Gospel and the glory of Christ, and he granted me repentance. I turned from believing what the Catholic Church had taught me, and I put my faith in Christ as my all-sufficient Savior.
And David, that literally turned my life upside down. I quickly realized that the only two things in this life that are eternal are the souls of men and the Word of God, and I wanted to invest the rest of my life in the things that would last throughout all eternity. And so one of the first things I did was begin developing Gospel tracts to reach Roman Catholics, and then I wrote a book called Preparing for Eternity that really presents the same crisis of faith that I had, and it forces Catholics to choose between Christ and his Word and the teachings of the religion.
It's impossible to believe both. And so these resources have set many Roman Catholics free from the bondage of religious deception, and we give all the praise and honor and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ for using his Word to bring Catholics to a saving faith in the all-sufficient Savior. Praise God that he opened your eyes to understand that we're not saved by our good works. We're saved for good works, but we're not saved by good works, and that we're only saved by Christ's work on our behalf. And thank you for sharing your salvation story with us.
Mike Gendron is with us today on the Christian Real View. And by the way, we have a link to that book you just mentioned, Preparing for Eternity at our website, thechristianrealview.org, and we're going to get into your most popular Gospel tract, which is Scripture versus tradition, in just a minute. Now, Galatians chapter 1, Mike, a passage that you're well familiar with, says, But even if we, Paul writes to the Galatians, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a Gospel contrary to what we have preached to you.
This is Paul talking. If we preach to you another Gospel different than what we have preached in the past, he is to be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a Gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. And Paul is referring to a Gospel that adds human merit or human deeds to the work of Christ.
Those two don't mix. It's like, if you start believing in any of your own works, you're basically saying, well, Christ's work wasn't good enough. I have to add a little bit of my own, and that destroys faith, that you're putting your faith in yourself partially then. Mike, as you have written this tract on Scripture versus tradition, and I think it's been distributed now, I think over a million times, it's your most popular Gospel tract. I know there are many, many significant errors within the Roman Catholic Church that developed over the centuries, but what would you say are the three most significant errors that listeners should be aware of that you would categorize the Roman Catholic Church's teaching, as Paul writes here, another Gospel?
Yeah, that's a good question. The first is that they deny the supreme authority of Scripture, which allows their unbiblical traditions to come in and distort the Gospel. In Roman Catholicism, they have three authorities.
Scripture is one of them, but they also have their sacred traditions to be equal in authority, and then they have their infallible pope. And so when you no longer submit to the supreme authority of Scripture, then you drift away from the truth of God's Word, and that's how the Gospel gets distorted. But the second major error is they deny the all-sufficient and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. His last words before he gave up his spirit, it is finished. He had completed the work of redemption.
He did everything necessary to save sinners completely and forever. And so the Catholic Church distorts the Gospel by requiring Catholics to do works and sacraments and keep the law in order to be saved. And that's another Gospel, and it puts every Roman Catholic clergy member under that divine curse that you mentioned in Galatians 1, 6-9. The third most significant error is they deny the promise of the Gospel, which is eternal life.
They teach conditional life. It can be lost by mortal sin, and then it has to be regained by receiving the sacraments. And so Roman Catholics need to know that when you put all of your trust in Christ, then you can have the assurance of eternal life.
But if you're trusting Christ plus what you do, there can never be assurance. And that's why the Roman Catholic Gospel offers no assurance. One of the verses I love to take Catholics to is 1 John 5-13, where John writes to those who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. That really opens the eyes of Catholics, and it causes them to want to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for clarifying some of the significant errors of the Roman Catholic Church.
Mike Gendron with us today on the Christian Royal View. Now one of the most common assertions that the Roman Catholic Church makes is that Peter was the first pope. And so all the popes successively have been in the line of Peter, and they base it on what Christ said to Peter back in Matthew chapter 16. This is when Christ said he came into the district of Caesarea Philippi. He was asking his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? The disciples said, some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Jesus said to them, but who do you say that I am? And here's where Peter answers in verse 16 of chapter 16 of Matthew. Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, Peter, blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. And he warned the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Christ. Again from Matthew chapter 16, and that particular passage is very prominent in Roman Catholic doctrine, saying that the pope is in the succession line of Peter, because right there Jesus said, upon this rock I will build my church.
And I think sometimes evangelicals or biblical Christians don't know really how to answer that. Well, boy, he did say he was building the church on Peter, right? How is that passage being misinterpreted, Mike, by the Roman Catholic church?
Yeah, it's a good question, because we need to address it. Matthew 16 and 18 is the most important verse in Roman Catholicism. Their church stands or falls on the interpretation of this verse. And so what's happened is, after Jesus asked the question, and Peter answered it with a profession of faith as to who Jesus is, a few moments later Jesus said, before I build my church, I must first go and die for my church.
And then Peter rebuked him. He said, Lord, Lord, may it never be. And Jesus responded with, get behind me, Satan.
You have in mind the things of men rather than the things of God. So Jesus was calling Peter the mouthpiece of the devil. And so is this the man that Jesus would build his church upon?
Absolutely not. He's building his church on the profession of faith as to who Jesus is. Peter, in his first epistle, said that he was a fellow elder. He said that Jesus was the rock. The apostle Paul said Jesus was the rock.
The psalmist said, who is the rock except our God? And then in 1 Corinthians 3, 11, we read, for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And so Jesus is building his church upon himself.
He is the foundation, and no other man can lay another foundation. So Roman Catholics misinterpret this verse, and as a result of it, the papacy has sprouted from it. But even looking at the papacy, there was never really a universal leader over the Roman Catholic Church until the sixth century, and that was Gregory I.
And so they really cannot trace their lineage back to Peter. So we need to warn Roman Catholics that the foundation is Christ alone, not Peter. Mike, I want to play a soundbite for you and have you interpret it, actually. It was from this new pope, Leo XIV, in his first address when he was elected. And we just play about 15 seconds of him speaking in Italian, and then I'm going to read the translation of what he said. Here's the new pope, Leo XIV.
Okay, I'm going to stop it there, but listeners may have been able to pick out, even in Italian, some of the names he was listing off. Let me give a translation of this, Mike. He said, may the holy apostles, Peter and Paul, and whose power and authority we trust, intercede for us before the Lord.
Amen. Through the prayers and merits of blessed Mary, ever virgin, Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint John the Baptist, the holy apostles, Peter and Paul, and all the saints, may almighty God have mercy on you and forgive all your sins, and may Jesus Christ bring you to everlasting life. And then he said this, indulgence, absolution, and remission of all your sins, a season of true and fruitful penance, a well-disposed heart, amendment of life, or change of life, the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit, and final perseverance in good works in tribulation. May the almighty and merciful Lord grant you, and may the blessing of almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit come down on you and remain with you forever. So Mike, I'd like you to point some things out from that paragraph I just read from the audio of his first message, and what he's saying by some of these things about Peter and Paul, who's the power and authority we trust and will intercede for us before the Lord, and the blessed Mary, ever virgin, and Saint Michael the Archangel, and John the Baptist.
What is he saying in this message? The verse that comes to my mind is from 2 Corinthians 11 3, where Paul writes, I'm afraid that as the saints deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. In his address, he was addressing everybody except Christ. He named all the apostles and Mary. He was very focused on Mary, and so it really is sad that he didn't even acknowledge the true head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm glad you brought this up, because, once again, I think this is indicative of what the Roman Catholic Church teaches. They divert their attention away from the devotion of Christ to the devotion of Mary in the papacy. Now, I didn't read the whole statement, so he may have mentioned Christ as another point, to be fair, but there's all these intercessors in between Paul and Peter and the Virgin Mary and so forth, that it's this mix that corrupts the true gospel and sound doctrine.
Mike Gendron with us today here on the Christian worldview. Mike, what do you know about the selection process that takes place when the Roman Catholic cardinals get together in the Sistine Chapel in Rome to vote on a new pope? It's all behind closed doors. Smoke goes up out of the chimney. If it's black smoke, they haven't made a decision yet.
When the white smoke comes out, that means they've made a decision. There's a new pope. Is there a person behind the scenes or a small group that wields power and influence?
Is there political and financial and regional considerations? I heard someone talking about online—I think it was a Catholic priest—saying that the church is in this terrible financial situation right now with their pension obligations and other things that are going on. So what goes into this selection process? Yeah, the College of Cardinals gathers in a conclave, and it's usually 15 to 20 days after the pope dies. This conclave is a secret meeting to vote for a new pope, and they have to get two-thirds of the vote. That's what's required for anyone to become pope. Out of all the voting cardinals, there's 252 cardinals in total, but only 135 of them were eligible to vote because they have to be under the age of 80.
Listen to this. Of the 135 cardinals that were eligible to vote, 109 of them were appointed by Francis himself. That comprises approximately 80 percent of the electorate. So the answer to your question, was there a major influence? Yeah, I think you'd have to say Pope Francis was a major influence because he selected the cardinals that would one day vote for his replacement. Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel is our guest. We have links to his ministry at thechristianworldview.org. We'll take a short break now to tell you about some ministry updates, but stay tuned. More with Mike coming up about the worldview of this first American-born pope.
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Order resources for adults and children and support the ministry. We are discussing the new Pope Leo XIV and the Roman Catholic Church, and Mike Gendron, former Roman Catholic and founder and director of Proclaiming the Gospel, is our guest. Mike, there's an account on social media called Culture Explorer, and that account wrote this about this new pope.
He said, Pope Leo XIV isn't just a break from tradition, he's a sign of what's coming. He was born in Chicago, so he's an American, and for the first time, by the way, first time there's been an American pope. He's the son of a French-Italian World War II veteran and a Hispanic-American mother.
He became a Peruvian citizen after 20 years of missionary work down in Peru. Now he speaks seven languages and leads 1.3 billion Catholics, the first truly global pope. Not sure why that would be, other ones have been global too, but before the priesthood, he was a mathematician.
He went to college at Villanova, now the first Augustinian friar ever to become pope. He blends ancient spirituality with analytical precision, a rare mind, and an even rarer combination. He supports migrants, the poor, and dialogue across faiths, but he opposes women's ordination and defends traditional doctrine.
Again, this is according to this account. He's progressive on mercy, conservative on truth. He's not left or right. He's Augustinian, rooted, thoughtful, balanced. He earned his credibility in Peru, not the Vatican, not Rome. He lived among the poor, ran a diocese, and preached in Spanish. Later, he ran the Vatican office that picks bishops worldwide. He knows how the church works, on the ground, and at the top. His papal name, Leo XIV, is a signal. He's invoking Leo the Great, who once faced down Attila the Hun. It's a name that means strength, clarity, and reform. His first promise is to build bridges in a divided world. This isn't about a new pope, this message concludes. It's about a new era, and that new era starts now. So that just gives a little background on who he is.
I can't verify the accuracy of all that. This is one person's opinion. Mike, what do you know about this new pope, who's titled himself Leo XIV, and is there significance that he is the first American pope? Yes, he was born in America, but he had a dual citizenship.
Also, he was a citizen in Peru, and two-thirds of his life has been outside the United States. But there is significance in the name that popes choose. They choose the name of a predecessor to both honor him and to emulate his example. So the name usually foretells the direction that the pope wants to take. When you look at Pope Leo XIII, who headed the Catholic Church from 1878 until his death 25 years later in 1903, he was a founding figure of the Catholic social justice tradition. So it's interesting that Pope Leo XIII was also 69 when he was elected, just as Leo XIV is. So Leo XIII was the quote-unquote pope of the rosary, and Marian devotion was central to his papacy.
He believed that the Virgin Mary serves as a mediator and co-redeemer for Jesus Christ. He even earned the nickname, Rosary Pope, for adding 11 papal encyclicals to the rosary. So another pope named Leo was Leo X. He and Martin Luther were central figures in the Protestant Reformation. So Leo X as a pope opposed Luther's criticisms of the church, particularly regarding the sale of indulgences. So in 1520, Leo X issued a papal bull condemning Luther's teachings, which ultimately led to Luther's excommunication in 1521. So all this to say that we've already seen that Pope Leo XIV has become a Marian pope, just like Leo XIII.
Interesting. Mike Gendron with us today on the Christian Real View. He is the founding director of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministry.
A couple resources we recommend. We have them linked at our website, thechristianrealview.org, is to get his scripture versus tradition tracked, compare his biblical Christianity to Roman Catholicism, also sign up for his monthly newsletter, and get a copy of his book, Preparing for Eternity. The evangelical reaction to what is going on in Roman Catholicism, Mike, is often interesting.
I'll just give an example. Franklin Graham, the well-known evangelical head of Samaritan's Purse, son of Billy Graham, posted a picture of himself with the pope on Facebook, and he said, quote, Pope Francis passed away this morning. This is after the last pope passed away.
After battling health issues, he was able to have meetings and appear at some of the Vatican's holy week observances in just the last couple of days. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with him, Pope Francis, last year when I went to Naples to preach. Pray for the Catholic Church as they begin the process of selecting the next pope, unquote. Again, from Franklin Graham, one of the most notable evangelicals. Now, I'm sure that Franklin Graham knows the significant differences between Roman Catholicism and biblical Christianity, and not here to cut Franklin Graham down at the knees for everything he's ever done, but that kind of statement, to me at least, Mike, doesn't clarify the eternity-changing differences between the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and the Gospel, the biblical Gospel.
What do you make of evangelicals who make statements like that that don't clarify the differences, and how should evangelicals speak of situations that come to the pope in Roman Catholicism? Yeah, it's a very troubling prayer request that Franklin Graham made. He said, pray for the Catholic Church as they begin the process of selecting the next pope. In other words, he's saying, pray for the Catholic Church so that they can select a man who would rob Christ of his unique headship of the Church, rob Christ of the glory and honor and praise that he alone deserves.
And so I don't know if Franklin Graham thought this through when he asked for that kind of a prayer, but we must speak the truth in love. And what I want to say, I don't say to offend Catholics, but they need to know that by the authority of Scripture, the pope is a false prophet. He not only teaches the distorted Gospel of works and sacraments, but he continues the work of redemption on an altar that Jesus finished on the cross. We've seen the new pope offer the sacrifice of the mass, and what the Catholic Church teaches is the work of our redemption continues on an altar, even though Jesus cried out, it is finished on the cross. And when you look at the praise that this pope got, it really didn't matter who was selected as the next pope. Because tens of thousands of Catholics gathered in St. Peter's Square to give whoever it was going to be all the praise and honor and glory that should be reserved for the Lord Jesus. And then the pope directed their devotion to Mary when he prayed to her instead of the one and only Holy Father. A few days later, he wasted no time in praying to an icon of Mary in a church named after her. And then he thanked her for his election as pope. While he was a cardinal, he expressed his devotion to the Virgin, urging the faithful to be inspired by Mary to spread peace and reconciliation to the world. So clearly, this pope is diverting people's attention away from Christ and Mary, and I hope Roman Catholics can open their Bible and begin to see the things that are going on in the world. And open their Bible and begin to see that they are being deceived about life's most critical issues, and begin testing the teaching of this pope with the authority of Scripture. I know that's been the whole heartbeat of your whole ministry and your whole life, Mike, since coming out of the Roman Catholic Church. It has not been just to bash the Roman Catholic Church or bash Catholics, but to draw the distinctions to try to clearly proclaim the gospel, as the name of your ministry is, proclaiming the gospel so that Catholics can be saved and believe the true gospel instead of a false gospel. Mike Gendron again with us today on the Christian Real View.
Just a couple more questions for you, Mike. Speaking of evangelicals, there are many evangelicals or Christians who believe that the Roman Catholic Church, or even the pope, could be involved in a very prominent way in biblical eschatology in the end times. What is your understanding of that and how the pope or the Roman Catholic Church may be a part of the future eschatology?
Yeah, David, we know from studying eschatology that in the end there will be a global religion and a global government and even a global currency. And so I really believe that since the office of the papacy is the most influential office in the world, because there's people represented in all the countries of the world, I really believe that the office of the pope may be the false prophet that points the world to the antichrist. And I know the reformers looked at the pope as the antichrist, but we know that from Revelation 13 that the false prophet is a religious figure. So I believe it's the false prophet that will be the office of the pope. And this man is young enough, I really believe we're in the season of the Lord's return.
There's so many prophetic implications that we're seeing in the world today. And so we know that not only this pope, but previous pope, their ecumenical agenda is to gather all people under the power and influence of the papacy. And so that's why I believe eschatology is important when we look to this man as the ruler of the Catholic Church that will one day seek to unite all religions together. If in fact there are 1.4 or whatever it was billion Catholics in the world, that's a large percentage of the world population. And the ostensible leader of that certainly is going to have a lot of prominence and influence in this world as we head toward the end time scenarios of Scripture.
So it's something to pay very, very close attention to. Just as a side note, I would encourage your listeners to visit our website because I wrote an article and actually did a message on the 10 common bonds that unite Roman Catholicism and Islam. And as you mentioned, you have 1.4 billion Catholics and another 1.6 billion Muslims.
When they come together with these common bonds, that represents 40% of the world's population. And you can see all the other religions following suit. Yeah, and just recently when we had Scott Annual on the program talking about the death of Pope Francis, we had played a soundbite—I won't take time to do that today—but just was Pope Francis over in Southeast Asia saying basically that there are many ways to God. It's like different religions. Every religion is a way to arrive at God, like different languages to arrive at God. Hindu, Muslim, Christian, they're just different paths.
And so he was certainly a universalist, which is, of course, a damning gospel that there's many ways to God when Jesus said that he's the only way. So speaking of Jesus being the only way, Mike, I think there are people listening today that are nodding their heads when they hear you talk about the Roman Catholic Church. Perhaps they've been a Roman Catholic, grown up a Roman Catholic, or have been around the church, or they have friends that are Roman Catholics. And inside they're thinking, boy, I just wish I could communicate, or how do I communicate to my Roman Catholic friends?
I love them. I want them to understand and believe the true saving gospel. Give us some direction as to the kinds of issues or conversations that are helpful to have with friends who are Roman Catholic to tell them about the biblical gospel.
Yeah, David, that's a good question. And we have seen that so many Catholics are wondering if Pope Leo XIV will be liberal or conservative on social and political issues. But we really need to ask Catholics, shouldn't you be more concerned with whether or not he is conservative on biblical issues that have eternal consequences? And so I really believe the best way to witness is to ask questions. And we can ask Catholics that we need, how does your church teach that you have any hope of going to heaven?
And if that weren't true, according to God's inspired word, would you want to know what God requires for entrance into heaven? And yeah, we can ask questions like, why did Jesus have to die? You know, just to get questions centered on what the gospel is. And another question we can ask is, you know, we want to challenge them in their unbelief. We can say, the Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all sin.
So why would you need purgatory as a Roman Catholic? And then we can say what we've already talked about. Jesus cried out, it is finished. So why does your priest continue on an altar, what Jesus said is finished? And so what we want to do is ask questions so that we can listen to the response and then hopefully show them the scriptures that will lovingly refute what they just said.
And ultimately we would hope that they would begin having questions that they would begin asking us. Well, what does the Bible say about this? And of course the best way to answer their questions is to sit down with an open Bible. And David, I really encourage people that witness to Catholics to use their Bible because they're told not to trust anything from outside the Catholic church.
And so they have the same 66 books. We can point them to the scriptures from their Bible. And that way they'll have confidence in what they're reading. But I really believe that whenever we give the gospel verbally, we should also leave it behind in written form because no one can really remember everything that we shared. So when you leave a gospel tract behind, it's a great way for Catholics to search the scriptures on their own and to read the gospel tract. And hopefully the imperishable seed that we sow in gospel tracts will bring forth life as they repent and believe the gospel. We have links to that gospel tract we've been mentioning, your most popular one, which is titled Scripture versus Tradition.
And we have it linked at our website, thechristianrealview.org. Again, Mike, thank you so much for taking what God has given you, saving you out of a false gospel into the true gospel of grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and then dedicating your life to proclaiming the gospel, proclaiming the truth of God's Word to Roman Catholics and everyone else that you come in contact with. We so appreciate you. Thank you for coming on the Christian Royal View radio program today. All of God's best and grace to you. Well, thank you, David.
It's always a blessing and a privilege to be on your show. Again, we have links to the ministry of Mike Gendron proclaiming the gospel, including his book, Preparing for Eternity and Gospel Tracks for Roman Catholics at our website, thechristianrealview.org. We are out of time, but thank you for joining us today on the Christian Royal View and for your support of this nonprofit radio ministry.
Next week, Soren Kern will join us to discuss the significance of President Trump's Middle East trip. In the meantime, let's remember that for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast. And the next verse says that we're saved for good works. So until next time, think biblically, live accordingly, and stand firm. The mission of the Christian Royal View is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, order a transcript, or find out what must I do to be saved, go to thechristianrealview.org or call toll free 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Royal View is a listener supported nonprofit radio ministry furnished by the Overcomer Foundation. To make a donation, order resources, become a Christian Royal View partner, sign up for our weekly email or the Christian Royal View Journal monthly print publication, or to contact us, go to thechristianrealview.org, call 1-888-646-2233, or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Thanks for listening to the Christian Royal View.
