I am happy to report I personally know some born again Catholics, so I will differ with you a bit. Two of them that I know are Priests, and yes I know they are the exception to the rule. They all seem to have one specific thing in common, they hunger to understand the Word, and do study the Bible for themselves. I see a major split coming in the Catholic Church, between the many that worship Mary, and the few that worship Jesus Christ as LORD.
I will tell you the story of one that I had to joy of explaining the gospel to, and watched him grow spiritually, even though he vowed to stay with the Catholic Church. The Holy Spirit in me put it on my heart NOT to tell him he needed to find a Bible Teaching Church, because GOD is Using him right where he is. Besides, one of the two born again Priests that I know is his Priest. That Priest's name is Father Baptista. And after hearing him explain the gospel of Jesus Christ in a sermon at a funeral Service, I had to compliment him on his sermon, I said: "With name like that and a spiritually gifted teaching style like that, you should have been a Baptist Minister." He didn't appreciate the joke about his name, but he sure thanked me for encouraging him to continue to preach like that.
Now back to my friend Bob. After I led him in prayer to become born again, (I could tell he was hungering for the truth that night); I bought him a NASB with lots of cross references and a nice concordance, the first chance I had. He reads it faithfully daily. The LORD gave him a very special ministry after he got grounded in the word. He owns a small body shop, and when he sees a hitch-hiker coming through town, he stops and says, "I can offer you a place to sleep for the night, a hot supper and breakfast, and four hours of work to earn $40 to help you on your trip, but I have one condition. You have to sit down with me after supper and do a one hour Bible study." YES, he teaches from the Bible that I bought him, and is content to remain Catholic.
Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV)
[SUP]11 [/SUP] So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
I will tell you the story of one that I had to joy of explaining the gospel to, and watched him grow spiritually, even though he vowed to stay with the Catholic Church. The Holy Spirit in me put it on my heart NOT to tell him he needed to find a Bible Teaching Church, because GOD is Using him right where he is. Besides, one of the two born again Priests that I know is his Priest. That Priest's name is Father Baptista. And after hearing him explain the gospel of Jesus Christ in a sermon at a funeral Service, I had to compliment him on his sermon, I said: "With name like that and a spiritually gifted teaching style like that, you should have been a Baptist Minister." He didn't appreciate the joke about his name, but he sure thanked me for encouraging him to continue to preach like that.
Now back to my friend Bob. After I led him in prayer to become born again, (I could tell he was hungering for the truth that night); I bought him a NASB with lots of cross references and a nice concordance, the first chance I had. He reads it faithfully daily. The LORD gave him a very special ministry after he got grounded in the word. He owns a small body shop, and when he sees a hitch-hiker coming through town, he stops and says, "I can offer you a place to sleep for the night, a hot supper and breakfast, and four hours of work to earn $40 to help you on your trip, but I have one condition. You have to sit down with me after supper and do a one hour Bible study." YES, he teaches from the Bible that I bought him, and is content to remain Catholic.
Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV)
[SUP]11 [/SUP] So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
You teaching a catholic? ill go no farther as it says:
Matthew 15:14 (NKJV)
[SUP]14 [/SUP]Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."