Roman Catholicism is a system of religion founded on Superstition.

Superstition has been aptly and correctly defined by an eminent writer (J. N. Darby) as "the subjection of the mind of man-in the things of God-to that for subjection to which there is no warrant in divine testimony." The same writer remarks further:"The object of our superstitious reverence gets between our souls and God, and in practice supplants Him, and takes His place. God is indeed never entirely forgotten…. the introduction of the one true God may be in a greater or lesser degree, but it remains true that, in general, where any object intervenes between us and God, He is so far hidden:and the effect upon men is that they are lowered to the standard of what they reverence. God's presence (whatever their fears) does not act immediately on their conscience as light, or elevate their hearts to Himself as love. Faith, on the contrary, is the reception of a divine testimony into the soul, so that God Himself is believed, 'Abraham believed God' " (Romans 4:3).

Now the whole fabric of Roman Catholicism rests upon superstition, and not upon faith in a divine testimony. The Church of Rome, therefore, is only as old as apostasy from the truth makes her. Her boasted antiquity is untrue. She is not as old as the New Testament. Hence her antagonism to the Scriptures. She finds nothing in them to support her superstitions, but everything to contradict and destroy them.

The Church of God was founded upon a divine testimony, and the Scriptures were and are her authoritative chart and compass.

The Church of Rome is not the Church of God now, nor for many centuries, but a counterfeit system which has displaced it, and persecutes it.

Declension, no doubt, was gradual. There were the beginnings of it even in the Apostles' day, as the epistle of Jude and Revelation 2 and 3 show. By the fourth century it had greatly increased. Mosheim, the eminent historian, says of this period:"An enormous train of different superstitions were gradually substituted in the place of true religion and genuine piety. This odious revolution was owing to a variety of causes. A ridiculous precipitation in receiving new opinions, a preposterous desire of imitating the Pagan rites, and of blending them with Christian worship, and that idle propensity which the generality of mankind have towards a gaudy and ostentatious religion, all contributed to establish the reign of superstition upon the ruins of Christianity….. The reins being once let loose to superstition, which knows no bounds, absurd notions and idle ceremonies multiplied every day" (Ecclesiastical History, p. 98).

The state of things got gradually worse, superstitions were continually being added, and the general state of Christendom in the seventh century and onwards was one of apostasy, though here and there God maintained in individuals, and in small and obscure communities, a testimony for Himself.

In the eleventh century under the rule of Hildebrand -Pope Gregory VII.-we find Roman Catholicism practically full blown and superstition reigning supreme; well may those times be termed "The Dark Ages."
Looking back upon them, it is not difficult to understand how needful it was for those interested in the papacy to invent something to bolster it up, nor to discover the "depths of Satan" (Rev. 2:24) as displayed in the resultant myth of the apostle Peter having been the first Bishop of Rome, along with the endeavor to establish Apostolic Succession. One has only to read the ungodly and, in many cases, infamous lives of the popes, even as recorded by Roman Catholic historians, to be convinced as to the Satanic origin of this lie (of apostolic convinced as to the Satanic origin of this lie (of Apostolic Succession), apart altogether from the fact that the apostle Peter was never at Rome, and that his charge was not the Gentile, but the Jewish sheep of Christ. The Gentiles were the apostle Paul's care (Gal. 2:7,8; Romans 11:13; 15:16; 2 Cor. 11:28).

It is a solemn thing to notice in these days that Roman Catholic ritualism and Modernistic rationalism unite in their opposition to the Bible. Divine testimony is abhorrent to both, and both are infidel at heart.

Modernism vaunts itself as being wiser than God. Roman Catholicism demands the belief that its superstitions are better than the Word of God, and more important, as witness the following:

Referring to the Scriptures in Irish Schools, Pope Pius VII. in a Bull issued in 1819 says, "This sowing of weeds, giving corrupt teaching, whereby children in early years are inoculated with most injurious poison."

He had already in 1816 spoken of Bible distribution as "a most artful crime…. a pestilence which must be healed and extirpated, a most corrupting influence to the faith of any soul."

Pope Leo XII. in 1824 refers to a society which he says "is spreading over the world the Bible, which is the doctrine of the devil."

In 1844 Pope Gregory XVI. wrote, "We have decided to condemn by Apostolic authority, every Bible Society."

In 1850 Pope Pius IX. says, "The Bible Society ventures to spread abroad the Scriptures in the mother tongue, without ecclesiastical notes or warnings… .You, reverend brethren, will see with what watchful wisdom you must bestir yourselves to awaken in the faithful a holy horror of such poisonous reading."

It may be asked, "What are the superstitions alluded to in the foregoing?" The most prominent and important are the blasphemous Mass, the worship and invocation of Mary and "saints," image worship, belief in the "divine right" of the popedom, its supremacy and infallibility, belief in priests having supernatural powers as claimed by them in the celebration of the Mass, in the confessional, and in the hour of death; belief in purgatory, and in any efficacy attaching to relics, pilgrimages, indulgences and prayers for the dead.

These are all inventions of the human mind. There are more, but take these away and Roman Catholicism ceases to exist.

None of them are found in the Word of God, the Bible, and all are contrary to its teaching.
Roman Catholicism then, in brief, is a system of religion built upon superstition, antagonistic to the Word of God, apostate from the truth, and thriving only upon ignorance of and opposition to it.

By denying the value of the atonement it makes God a liar (1 John 5:10,11).

In practice it is corrupt, idolatrous, and persecuting. It awaits the imminent judgment of God, as prophetically depicted in Rev. 17 to 18, and the fall of it will set all heaven rejoicing, and no wonder! (Rev. 19:1-4).

That many are being ensnared by it at present is terrible evidence of the power of Satan over the minds of men. If men will not have the truth they will be given over to believe a lie, so that we must not be surprised at the progress Rome is making in some parts (2 Thess. 2:11-13).

This little paper is meant to warn and deliver. May God graciously speed its mission. F. L. Harris