Anti-catholic evangelist coming to town

[pyrosapienRC]

There will be an Anti-Catholic evangelist coming to a community near my town in 3 days. He will be giving a talk titled “A Biblical View of Roman Catholicism”. In reading from his website, pro-gospel.org/about.php
his entire ministry is built around leading Catholics out of the Church and educating others on how to do the same. His name is Mike Gendron from “Proclaiming the Gospel Ministry” of Plano, Texas. He has written two books; “Preparing Catholics for Eternity” and “Roman Catholicism: Scripture vs. Tradition”

He graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1991.

Any help, prayers, or advice would be greatly appreciated. This will be my first attempt to engage a professional Anti-Catholic in apologetics. Up till now, all of my experience has been with friends and family. I will probably get beat up due to his experience and schooling. But I feel I must defend Christ and His Church to the best of my ability.

 

[CARose]

Good luck in your endeavors. I will pray that you leave your pride at home, that you pray before you begin, that you have done your homework and that you will pray throughout your encounter with him. Then I will pray that the Holy Spirit open the heart of this preacher so that something you say enter his heart.

God Bless,

CARose

 

[Reformed_Rob]

I don’t know what the format at the meeting will be, but likely your only time to say anything will be during a Q&A session. You ask a question, he gives an answer, on to the next person’s question.

So, have a resource of questions based on what particular things he will be discussing. And maybe? you’ll get to ask.

Afterwards, maybe you’ll get to talk to him, or someone else. Just don’t feel too bad if you don’t get to say much. The man has been in this line of work for years now, he’s got it down pretty good I’d expect.

You may read through one of his books, they’ll be for sale at the meeting I’m sure, then you’ll be even better prepped for stuff like this in the future.

 

[Zooey]

I think that you are very brave to take this on…I have seen this man’s site before, he is so mean-spirited!
I have no suggestions, I just want to say that I will pray for you! This kind of preaching that he does is shameful, I think, to use the Lord’s name to beat up on others is just wrong!

I do think I have read somewhere that Gendron was brought up Catholic, & he is very bitter against Catholics, this may explain him. Itmight also help you be prepared for the kind of distortions he may comeup with.
God bless.

 

[twiztedseraph]

CARose:

Good luck in your endeavors. I will pray that you leave your pride at home, that you pray before you begin, that you have done your homework and that you will pray throughout your encounter with him. Then I will pray that the Holy Spirit open the heart of this preacher so that something you say enter his heart.

God Bless,

CARose

I second that sister!

 

[Elzee]

I would also suggest if there are radio stations, newspapers, or businesses (or even churches) promoting this man’s appearance that you send them each a letter stating your disappointment that they would be supporting a man who condemns another faith. You can provide them a link to his site (I haven’t looked at the site, but it sounds like it would support your claims). Taking a hint from Bill Donohue and his letter to ‘The View’, ask them if would promote a speaker who would blatantly condemn Islam or Judaism?

You’ll be in my prayers. Keep your cool, and say everything in love and with kindness. If you get a chance to ask a question, maybe you could also slide in something like if anyone would like to talk to YOU after the session you’d be glad to assist them with any further questions they have on Catholicism. (And, if you don’t know the answer, you’ll find out and get back to them, as John Martignoni says.)

 

[thessalonian]

As was said above, you likely will not be able to be very effective because you MAY get one question, he will answer and you’ll be done. Your 1 question better be a good one that he cannot answer. But likely if he cannot answer he will go off on some tangent tirade about Mary. I’ve gone to a couple of these things and that’s pretty much the way it goes. If you have the funds you could perhaps pick up some pillar of fire pillar of truth and give them to whoever wants one at the door.

Are there any protestant radio stations that will have him on and have call ins? That’s usually the way it goes around here. The do a radio deal and then a talk at some local hate site. You might get a second shot at him on the radio. I’ve called in on Mr. Gendron. He is very good at doing the anti-catholic I hate Mary dance.

I read one of his books that was sent to me by a Lutheran Pastor I engaged on the radio and then sent an email to. The one question I would ask him is how on the one hand he can say he lead a hedonistic lifestyle and on the other paint a picture of himself as a faithful Catholic?

I think you have already done the best thing. That is notify others and we will pray for your city. That said we will pray for you that the spirit of God be upon you.

 

[Ivornotion]

Looked up the site. This is a quote from his site >They must not be aware that praying to anyone other than God is an abomination to God (Deut. 18:11).

This is what Deuteronomy says ------>18:11 Nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead.

18:12 For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these abominations he will destroy them at thy coming.

18:13 Thou shalt be perfect, and without spot before the Lord thy God.

18:14 These nations, whose land thou shalt possess, hearken to soothsayers and diviners: but thou art otherwise instructed by the Lord thy God.18:11 Nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead.

18:12 For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these abominations he will destroy them at thy coming.

18:13 Thou shalt be perfect, and without spot before the Lord thy God.

18:14 These nations, whose land thou shalt possess, hearken to soothsayers and diviners: but thou art otherwise instructed by the Lord thy God.
This is about fortune telling.

---

Another quote.
One thing is certain - the pope knows the truth now. I believe he is experiencing what the rich man in Luke 16 endured. Both of them dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in splendor every day. When the rich man died and found himself tormented in the flames of Hades, he begged the Father to send someone to tell his family the truth so they would repent and not end up in the same place. The pope may now be making the same request.
Mike Gendron has Judged Pope JP2 I don’t think anyone can say that JP 2 forgot the poor, and that was the reason for the kings demise.
Mat: 7:1 "JUDGE not, that you may not be judged,

7:2 For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.

7:3 why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye?

7:4 Or how sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the mote out of thy eye; and behold a beam is in thy own eye?

7:5 Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

This man even takes issue with a crucifix, oh well the best of Irish luck with him. pro-gospel.org/01/ea-027.php

 

[Church_Militant]

How My Parish Fought Off An Invasion

That article might help and you may want to print it and hand deliver it to your pastor and maybe even leave some copies in the narthex of your church, or e-mail the link to the pastors of the Catolic Churches in your area. Spread the link arond to all your Catholic friends and relatives, as well as the ma(name removed by moderator)age library link here at CA.

Regardless, be prepared for the onlsaught of misinformation and rhetoric…and pray.

Pax tecum,

 

[pnewton]

It might be worthwhile to contact CA about bulk orders on Pillar of Fire. This booklet has been passed out to many in locations where Catholics have been targeted.

 

[VociMike]

Some thoughts. First, he talks about Christians evangelizing Roman Catholics. Does he not consider Catholics Christians? What is a Christian, and why don’t Catholics count as Christians?

From his statement of purpose:

To urge Roman Catholics to renounce their faith in anything that opposes or nullifies the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Like rejecting the Church He founded?

To persuade Roman Catholics to personally place their complete trust in Jesus Christ, His word, His grace, His redemption, His perfect sacrifice, His substitutionary atonement, and His finished work, so they can be saved from the power and penalty of sin and become children of God.

Including having trust in the Church He founded, and which He has promised would be led into all truth, and to which He gave the authority to bind and loose heaven itself?

*To expose the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church that oppose or nullify the true Gospel, so people can know truth from error and not be deceived. *

How does he know what the “true Gospel” is? What makes his understanding correct, and others who disagree with him wrong? Heck, how does he even know

*To awaken Christians and evangelical churches to the reality that Catholics who adhere to the official dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church need to hear the gospel and repent from their dead works. (Hebrews 6:1) *

Why are Catholic works “dead works”? Is he in the business of judging hearts? Is his continual criticism of fellow Christians a living work or a dead work?

Speaking of the “official dogmas” of the Catholic Church, is he therefore rejecting the Incarnation? The divinity of Christ? The Trinity? The virgin birth? Christ’s death and resurrection? The resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come? That’s just a sampling of “official dogmas” of the Catholic Church. Oh yeah, the very canon of his bible is “official dogma” of the Catholic Church, except for the parts the Protestants threw out, of course.

 

[Joysong]

Dear friend,

Interesting that you write today, for the gospel at Mass this morning dealt with those who were plotting to catch Jesus with His own words and trap him. They were cunning and sharp-witted because they studied the law and knew it inside and out. But they were no match for Jesus, who had wisdom to expose their craftiness. As we know, that did not stop them when they found themselves overcome, but they slinked away to await another opportunity.

This man, unless you are armed and dangerous with the power of the Holy Spirit and solid knowledge of the scriptures, will tear you to shreds verbally, and use you as an example (guinea pig) before his crowd in order to further his ministry of snaring Catholics to his side.

You may also come up against manipulative verbal techniques known as the *Delphi Technique, *which I’m sure he has mastered to a tee. His agenda is focused and cleverly devised through years of study to destroy. I know you realize this.

I like the ideas some have shared, to contact the local churches. There is power and unity in numbers. Be assured of my prayers, united with that of your other friends here. May God give you clear discernment how to proceed!

Carole

 

[pyrosapienRC]

Update!!

I have several friends who have indicated a desire to attend this with me. All of them are good and faithful Catholics. One of them is the father of 13 children so remember him and his family in your prayers.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and advice. I don’t envision a big back and forth debate, I believe that I will probably have an opportunity to ask him one or two questions at the end of the talk. If there are at least half a dozen Catholics at this we may be able to have a real effect.

I offered my Mass up for this intention today and my regular adoration hour is at 2:00 AM following the talk. I am currently trying to decide whether my question should be on the Eucharist or on something relating to Sola Fide but, perhaps I should just allow the Holy Spirit to move me at the time.

Regards

 

[CARose]

I am happy to hear that you will be going with a group of Faithful Catholics. This is excellent. I pray that you all use the power of prayer throughout the evening, upon hearing each and every one of his words that you pray that the Holy Spirit be present in the word, opening the hearts and minds of all present to the dangers of mis-truth and the errors that are being presented to them.

I pray that the Holy Spirit move this preacher such that something in his own words touches his heart in a new and curious way, making him more receptive to the fullness of the Truth which he has avoided for so long.

I love the idea that has been proposed that you contact other churches in your area. It would be wonderful if you could have several churches doing Eucharistic Adoration at the same time as this event is happening, and have their prayers be dedicated to you and all those in attendance and anyone they will be subsequently sharing with.

God Bless you,

CARose

 

[Axion]

pyrosapienRC:

Update!!

I have several friends who have indicated a desire to attend this with me. All of them are good and faithful Catholics. One of them is the father of 13 children so remember him and his family in your prayers.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and advice. I don’t envision a big back and forth debate, I believe that I will probably have an opportunity to ask him one or two questions at the end of the talk. If there are at least half a dozen Catholics at this we may be able to have a real effect.

I offered my Mass up for this intention today and my regular adoration hour is at 2:00 AM following the talk. I am currently trying to decide whether my question should be on the Eucharist or on something relating to Sola Fide but, perhaps I should just allow the Holy Spirit to move me at the time.

Regards

One idea for your Question:
Jesus said He would be with the Church and guide the Church until the end times. Yet according to you, He got it all wrong, and He let the Church lead tens of millions of people into error for 1500 years, until the reformers came along? Do you really believe this? Or perhaps the Catholic Church has actually been the one teaching the true Gospel all those centuries?

Actually, especially if you have friends, it would be good for some of you to hand out a leaflet or tract to the people going in, defending Catholic teachings. That will do a lot more than One question. And since the event is aimed at the Catholic Church, they can hardly complain at the Church stating its case and contradicting deceptions about it.

 

[RobNY]

Oooh yes, tracts. Maybe the Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth tracts would be helpful.

And perhaps, also write personal notes that you can insert in each one telling them either to contact you if they want to discuss, or to go to the forums at Catholic.com if they want to discuss it further. That way curiosity might make them immerse themselves in a staunchly Catholic environment like this website.

By the way, that site makes me angry. I can’t look at it any more. May God help me if I ever have to run across someone like that in life.

pyrosapienRC:

I offered my Mass up for this intention today and my regular adoration hour is at 2:00 AM following the talk. I am currently trying to decide whether my question should be on the Eucharist or on something relating to Sola Fide but, perhaps I should just allow the Holy Spirit to move me at the time.

How about this question:

Mr. Gedron:

You profess a belief in faith alone. The only time the words “faith alone” occur in the Bible are in the epistle of James 2:24 where it says:

NIV:

24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

KJV:

24Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Why do you believe in “faith alone” despite the fact that the Bible expressly condemns it?

The Eucharist would be a marvellous topic as well, but is probably far too bulky for such a discussion. Personally, I’m in love with Eucharistic theology, but I don’t think it is necessarily the best place to start with. Not with the time of forum you will be speaking in. If it was a forum with free rebuttals, I would say differently, but otherwise he can make rather feeble objections without your chance to oppose him.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and advice. I don’t envision a big back and forth debate, I believe that I will probably have an opportunity to ask him one or two questions at the end of the talk. If there are at least half a dozen Catholics at this we may be able to have a real effect.

You sly bastard, you.

That is a great idea. 6 Catholics is 6 questions. Maybe you can even tag team. That would be… excuse my teenager terminology… sweet. In fact, you could even use that to nail him on Eucharistic theology because it would allow someone that agrees with you to ask a trenchant reply question in response. However, this assumes that they’re quite on the ball.

Oh yeah, my question. How well do you know your stuff? I understand what you meant by saying you’d let the Spirit decide, but unless you are prepared to speak you can very easily forget many things to say.

The tract avenue seems to be the best way.

Warning, possibly stupid idea incoming! Handle with caution! In fact, if you think you can, maybe even formally getting up, standing on a chair and fielding some objections to the crowd might be a a way. I mean, I just realized how stupid this could be, but it is the *crowd *that you are trying to win. If the crowd is predominantly Catholic, you don’t have to worry, because even if they are silent, they very well may be agreeing with you as you strengthen their faith.

I wouldn’t trust myself to do this on my own, not without cheat sheets and reference books and such. I’m quite confident in written debates, but spoken debates can hinge much less on good argument than on confusing or difficult to counter succinctly arguments. You’d probably be best with blitizing faith alone, *Scripture Alone. *

Your thoughts?

 

[teajay]

I have had experience with this man’s claims. An anti-Catholic pentacostal group that my friend is a part of gave me a video with him on it. It was by Jacob Prasch ministries (another anti-Catholic group).

Of course, the irony is that these claims, once investigated, proved to be so false that not only did he lose all credibility but so did the group giving me the video!

I am actually closer to the Church after watching his stuff than I was before… …feel free to tell him that!

If I was going to engage in discussion with a person like this, I would first read their writings, find a clearly and demonstratably false claim of fact (not doctrine) that they make (choose an easy one, you are trying to demonstrate this man’s lack of credibility, nothing more), document it and then refer to the overwhelming amount of evidence that shows that the claim is false. Then I would ask them why they felt it necessary to resort to falsehoods in order to defend the “truth”, perhaps citing scripture on the prohibition against bearing false witness?

Oh and often these lectures are filled with people that simply want to have their pre-existing beliefs confirmed, not challenged. They likely want to cheer on someone they already agree with. I doubt many Catholics will attend.

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

Peace be with you!

Hahaha! Mike Gendron…that name’s always good for a laugh. That man is the worst debator I’ve ever encountered. I can tell you what his talk will be: rehashed old generic anti-Catholic lies and gimmicks that he got from someone else.
I debated him via e-mail for a little while until he gave up. I explained every claim he laid down thouroghly and he couldn’t answer a single question I posed to him…and now he hasn’t responed back. I would encourage you and any other knowledgable Catholics to go and publicly embarass this guy by stumping him with every question you ask him.

In Christ,
Rand

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

pyrosapienRC:

Any help, prayers, or advice would be greatly appreciated. This will be my first attempt to engage a professional Anti-Catholic in apologetics. Up till now, all of my experience has been with friends and family. I will probably get beat up due to his experience and schooling. But I feel I must defend Christ and His Church to the best of my ability.

Oh, if his verbal arguments are the quality of his written ones, you’ve got nothing to worry about. I was able to counter every claim of his without even looking up anything but the verse numbers of Bible passages.

In Christ,
Rand

 

[antiaphrodite]

we’re praying!!! thanks for the update, and tell us how it went!