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HIS SERVANTS' MINISTRY

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False Teachers

"Mother" Teresa

What I will say in this article will be brief, but I will share articles and web sites of others about her. This woman was loved and respected by a multitude of people for the work she did. BUT, her stand for Jesus was intolerable in my estimation. I will state some things that in my humble opinion were/are excedingly wrong, backed up by the Holy Word of Almighty God!

Words in bold are Mother Teresa's words.

"Mother" Teresa, and those who worked with her, NEVER tried to convert to Christ the dying people for whom they cared. Instead, "Mother" Teresa declared: "If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are. ... What God is in your mind you must accept" (from Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work, by Desmond Doig, p. 156). This in my mind is hog-wash!!! The Bible clearly states that there is just ONE WAY to God . . . the one, true Creator God of this Universe, and that is through Christ Jesus!!!

John 3:15-18 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. [16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [17] For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. [18] He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (KJV)

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (KJV)

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (KJV)

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (KJV)

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (KJV)

Mark 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (KJV) Was Mother Teresa ashamed of Jesus???

It is VERY difficult to understand the praise given to her by those claiming to be Bible-believing Christians.

"Mother" Teresa was a Catholic. She worshipped Mary; she believed that the cracker/wafer of the mass is Jesus Christ; she believed all men are children of God (universalism). In her speech before the United Nations in October 1985, she said, "We gather to thank God for the 40 years of the beautiful work of the United Nations for the good of the people. No color, no religion, no nationality should come between us -- we are all children of God. ... When we destroy an unborn child, we destroy God" (11/11/85, Christian News, p. 17).

Other notable quotes from "Mother" Teresa (12/4/89, Time magazine, pp. 11,13): (All emphases added):

(a) "The dying, the crippled, the mentally ill, the unwanted, the unloved -- they are Jesus in disguise. ... [through the] poor people I have an opportunity to be 24 hours a day with Jesus." [On another occasion, she again demonstrated her pantheistic religious philosophy: "Every AIDS victim is Jesus in a pitiful disguise; Jesus is in everyone.. ... [AIDS sufferers are] children of God [who] have been created for greater things" (1/13/86, Time).] My comment on that: AIDS sufferers are people who have committed an abomination in God's eyes (Lev.18:22; 20:13), with the exception of innocent babies, etc. Most AIDS sufferers are children of the devil!!! 1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (KJV)

(b) "You must make them feel loved and wanted. They are Jesus for me." What does God say??? Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (KJV)

(c) "I love all religions. ... If people become better Hindus, better Muslims, better Buddhists by our acts of love, then there is something else growing there." [On another occasion, she again demonstrated her false gospel that 'there are many ways to God': "All is God -- Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, etc., all have access to the same God."] That is NOT what the Bible states so clearly!!! You either accept God's one and only Way (Christ Jesus) or you are doomed to the lake of fire (HELL)!!!

In her book, Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations, and Prayers, "Mother" Teresa says on pp. 81-82:

"We never try to convert those who receive [aid from Missionaries of Charity] to Christianity but in our work we bear witness to the love of God's presence and if Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, or agnostics become for this better men -- simply better -- we will be satisfied. It matters to the individual what church he belongs to. If that individual thinks and believes that this is the only way to God for her or him, this is the way God comes into their life -- his life. If he does not know any other way and if he has no doubt so that he does not need to search then this is his way to salvation."

"Mother" Teresa could not have preached a clearer FALSE gospel than that quoted above.

Christ Jesus clearly disagreed with Mother Teresa!!! John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (KJV)

It should be clear that "Mother" Teresa was anything but an Evangelical Christian. She was indeed a self-sacrificing woman, BUT she followed a false religion and taught another gospel!!! (2 Cor.11:4; Gal.1:6). Consider some quotes from her speech at the 10/84 Worldwide Retreat for Priests:

(a) "At the word of a priest, that little piece of bread becomes the body of Christ, the Bread of Life." A Catholic priest does NOT have any mystical power to change a piece of bread or wafer into the literal Body of Christ Jesus!!! Our Lord Jesus does NOT become a wafer or cracker. And we are NOT cannibals to physically and literally EAT the Body of Christ! John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (KJV) We do NOT need a Catholic priest to bring Christ to us. Jesus clearly tells us what we need to do: John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (KJV) We must come to Christ, NOT a priest!!!

b) "Without a priest, without Jesus going with them, our sisters couldn't go anywhere." Jesus gives us His Spirit to abide with true born again believers. We do NOT need a Catholic priest!!! John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; (KJV) 2 John 1:2 For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever. (KJV) Once we have the Holy Spirit, we have Him for ever!!!

(c) "When the priest is there, then can we have our altar and our tabernacle and our Jesus. Only the priest put Jesus there for us. ... Jesus wants to go there, but we cannot bring him unless you first give him to us. This is why I love priests so much. We could never be what we are and do the things we do without you priests who first bring Jesus to us." We do NOT need a Catholic priest to bring Jesus to us!!! ALL true born again believers are themselves "priests."1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (KJV)

(d) "Mary ... is our patroness and our Mother, and she is always leading us to Jesus." Mary is the wonderful mother of the Man Jesus!!! Mary is NOT our "mother".

What gospel did "Mother" Teresa preach to those in her care??? She certainly did NOT preach the Gospel of Christ nor did she ever lead them to the one and only TRUE and eternal Creator God, who alone can give us true, eternal salvation through the finished work of Jesus on Calvary's cross.

"Mother" Teresa was absolutely a marvelous example of compassionate and charitable deeds. I would never think of denying that. BUT . . . she claimed that her purpose in life was to bring her patients closer to the "God" in whom they already believe; so that a Hindu becomes a better Hindu, a Buddhist a better Buddhist, etc. 1 (Vatican II says those of all religions are somehow saved through the Church.) She told how to witness for Jesus: In an interview with a nun who worked with "Mother" Teresa, dying Hindus were instructed to pray to their own Hindu gods! 2 (reported in Christian News): That is NOT what the Holy Word of God teaches!!! "These people are waiting to die. What are you telling them to prepare them for death and eternity? She replied candidly, 'We tell them to pray to their Bhagwan, to their gods.'"

She was instructing staunch Hindus to pray sincerely to their own Hindu idols and she felt that if they did this, God would certainly not judge them! No matter how plausible from man's earthly vantage point, when good works are conducted by unregenerate religious people, what is promoted is a cursed false gospel, encouraging the lost heathen to have hope in their false gods, even as they lay upon their death beds. So in God's eyes, the entire endeavor was a cursed one, and no Christian should have supported, assisted, or praised a work cursed by God!

"Mother" Teresa has been labeled by many so-called "Christian" leaders as the greatest modern day example of Christianity, we should take a serious look at her theology and beliefs! Mother Teresa ... A Simple Path contains inside cover notes declaring it "a unique spiritual guide." From it we can learn of her beliefs. A paragraph in the Foreword sets the foundation for its reading. (Source: A Review of A Simple Path, by L. Barnes):

"The Christian way has always been to love God and ones neighbor as oneself. Yet Mother Teresa has, perhaps with the influence of the East, distilled six steps to creating peace in ourselves and others that can be taken by anyone -- even someone of no religious beliefs or of a religious background other than Christian -- with no insult to beliefs or practices. This is why, when reading Mother Teresa's words and those of her community, we may, if we choose, replace the references to Jesus with references to other godheads or symbols of divinity" (p. xxviii).

Her six steps to creating peace are: silence, prayer, faith, love, service, and peace. For those who don't know if they believe much in anything, "Mother" Teresa suggested they try small acts of love toward others. She strongly believed in prayer for everyone. She found no problem praying with Hindus, Muslims and other faiths. Three pages of sample prayers are prefaced with, "You could replace 'Jesus' by 'God' if you are not a Christian" (p. 35). You could replace 'Jesus' by 'God' if you are not a Christian!!! What??? Replace Jesus by THEIR god (idol)???? That is absolute BLASPHEMY!

In 184 pages, there was nothing stating that salvation was through Jesus alone. She wrote, "I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic" (p. 31). There is no attempt to let others know that Jesus is the only way. There is no hint that "Mother" Teresa or her "sisters" believed the narrow way Jesus preached (Mat. 7:13-14; John 14:6).

Scriptures were limited to three quotes from Jesus on the subject of serving, with no book, chapter, or verse references. Since this was a book on "Mother" Teresa's faith, no Scripture until page 55 is quite a statement in itself. Rather than Scripture, there was page after page of humanitarian testimonies. The value of God's Word was not evident. In fact, "Mother" Teresa had a different word of God -- "Sister" Theresina put it this way, "We pray the Rosary as we go out -- it's our weapon, the word of God" (p. 125). Jesus said: Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. (KJV) These words from Jesus, my friend, and this especially includes the rosary!!!

Consider the horrendous errors that follow.

The following is from an interview with a Catholic nun, "Sister" Ann, who worked in Kathman-du, Nepal, with "Mother" Teresa's organization Missionaries of Charity. The interview was conducted 11/23/84 at the Pashupati Temple:

Q: Do you believe if they die believing in Shiva or in Ram [Hindu gods] they will go to heaven?
A: Yes, that is their faith. My own faith will lead me to God, ... So if they have believed in their god very strongly, if they have faith, surely they will be saved. NOT what the Bible says!

Q: Today it does not seem that the Catholic Church is trying to convert anymore. I know that John Paul II is saying now that those of other religions are saved. You do not believe they are lost anyway, right?
A: No, they are not lost. They are saved according to their faith, you know. If they believe whatever they believe, that is their salvation. NOT what the Bible says!

Quite clearly "Mother" Teresa was both a pantheist (worship of all gods) and a Universalist (everyone will go to Heaven). Universalists believe that Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and all other non-Christians can get to Heaven without saving faith in Christ, IF they believe that all who sincerely follow their own religions or beliefs will be saved. "Mother" Teresa told Muslims and Jews that they worship the same God that Christians worship. "Mother" Teresa even called atheistic communists children of God! That is NOT what the Bible teaches!!!

In 12/96, a former nun in "Mother" Teresa's order wrote the following letter (Source: FBIS, 2/1/97):

"I myself was in Mother Teresa's order, the Missionaries of Charity. I am now a Christian. I was saved on 3/3/96 ... You are quite right about the pagan influences on the order. When I was a postulant in Rome, we had Hindu-style meditation techniques from a book called "Sadhana" by Father Antony De Mello. Mother Teresa behaves like a Hindu guru. She visits each convent at six monthly to yearly intervals. The sisters seem to live for these visits and sit worshipfully at her feet when she gives one of her talks. On the special occasion when she presented us with our personal rosaries (in the postulancy in Rome) she said, "My words are scripture for you," and of course she was right. All the letters which she writes on "spiritual" matters are kept, printed and copied and bound into volumes. Each convent has a copy of these volumes of her words which are studied daily as Christians study the Bible. Cuttings of Mother Teresa's hair and pieces of her saris are kept in a cupboard in Rome, ready to be made into relics when she is canonized.

Christopher Hitchens, in his book The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice (Verso:1995), and in his television program, strongly criticized "Mother" Teresa. He documented the pitiful conditions of "Mother" Teresa's care facilities, despite the millions of dollars she collected yearly. The care facilities were grotesquely simple: rudimentary, unscientific, miles behind any modern conception of what medical science is supposed to do. Very rightly, it was said that she tended to the dying, because if you were doing anything but dying, she hadn't really much to offer.

Hitchens was not indicting her with a lack of compassion or with cruelty toward her patients. The problem was her Roman Catholic belief that personal suffering helps to earn one's salvation. She thought suffering was good, and she didn't use pain relievers in her clinics. She had said that the suffering of the poor is something very beautiful and the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of misery and suffering. Many Catholic priests and nuns, to this day, wear hair undergarments, put stones in their shoes, flagellate themselves and otherwise try to merit heaven by suffering. Poverty and suffering are not simply endured, but are sought and even created. Just as she hoped to earn her way to heaven through her own deprivation and suffering, so "Mother" Teresa hoped to help her patients as well to reach heaven through the suffering she imposed upon them.

In Roman Catholicism, baptism is essential for salvation. It is known that "Mother" Teresa's assistants secretly "baptized" patients by placing a damp cloth on fevered brows, under their breath saying the magic formula that allegedly erases original sin and gives entrance into the kingdom of God. Of course, the uncertain route leads through purgatory and additional suffering in its flames before the gates of heaven can be opened. But then, according to "Mother" Teresa, suffering is good. "Mother" Teresa (who herself, it should be noted, had checked into some of the finest and costliest clinics and hospitals in the West during her bouts with heart trouble and old age) once gave this game away in a filmed interview. She described a person who was in the last agonies of cancer and suffering unbearable pain. With a smile, "Mother" Teresa told the camera what she told this terminal patient: "You are suffering like Christ on the cross. So Jesus must be kissing you" (Hitchens, p. 41).

Consider one more example of the associations of this legendary woman. Charles Keating of Lincoln Savings and Loan, now in prison for having swindled hundreds of millions of dollars from simple folk. Keating, a staunch Roman Catholic whom "Mother" Teresa visited whenever in California, gave her more that a million dollars. She wrote to Judge Lance Ito requesting leniency for Keating during his trial. (Source: "An Interview with Christopher Hitchens on Mother Teresa," Fall 1996, Free Inquiry, pp. 53-58; and The Berean Call, 10/96.)

"Mother" Teresa is apparently on a fast track to become a Catholic saint. Normally, there is a five-year wait before the process of "sainthood" is pursued, but Pope John Paul II made an exception for "Mother" Teresa and the process began within a year of her demise. There are three steps to sainthood: veneration, beatification, and canonization. Step two, which requires confirmation of a miracle, is possibly nearing completion for "Mother" Teresa, as a 12-member inquiry tribunal is looking at alleged miracles caused by her. In particular, they are examining the disappearance of a malignant tumor from a village girl's stomach.

The Bible says nothing about a special class of saints who can hear and answer prayer. The term "saint" is used in Scripture to refer to EVERY born again child of God (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:2, etc.). Many evangelical leaders praised "Mother" Teresa while she was alive. Why do they not lift their voices publicly today to condemn this idolatrous, heretical saintification process? (Source: 7/6/01, FBIS.)

In diaries scheduled to be published in 12/2002 in Italy, "Mother" Teresa described terrible, nagging doubts that plagued her mind for the last 50 years of her life. The Italian newspaper Il Messeggero said, "The real Mother Teresa was one who for one year had visions and who for the next 50 had doubts -- until her death." In 1958 she wrote, "My smile is a great cloak that hides a multitude of pains." In another letter she said: "The damned of hell suffer eternal punishment because they experiment with the loss of God. In my own soul, I feel the terrible pain of this loss. I feel that God does not want me, that God is not God and that he does not really exist." The Bible says that the true believer in Jesus Christ has eternal life as a gift of God and that it is not of works but of faith (John 3:15-16; 5:24; Rom.6:23; Eph. 2:8-9). The Bible gives the true believer a blessed assurance of salvation (1 John 5:11-13). The believer's hope is not an uncertain thing, but is "an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast" (Heb. 6:18-19). "Mother" Teresa, on the other hand, had NO assurance of salvation, because she put her faith in Rome's false sacramental-works gospel. (Source: 12/6/02, FBIS.)

In September of 2001, Archbishop of Calcutta Henry D'Souza said "Mother" Teresa had an exorcism performed on her while in the hospital in 1997, but he said this would not affect her candidacy for sainthood (9/7/01, Religion Today). The exorcism took place in a hospital where she had gone for cardiac problems. The archbishop himself had been hospitalized at the same facility and shared the same doctor as "Mother" Teresa. He said he noticed that while "Mother" Teresa was calm during the day, at night she appeared "extremely agitated." D'Souza said "Mother" Teresa would pull off wires and other monitoring equipment stuck to her body.

He said that is when he believed "Mother" Teresa "might be under the attack of the evil one." He offered to arrange for an exorcism for the elderly nun. She agreed. "So I said let's do the prayer of exorcism over her. So I called one of the priests who was a holy man in Calcutta ..." After the exorcism was over, the archbishop said "Mother" Teresa "slept like a baby." D'Souza said the revelations about "Mother" Teresa show that she was "both holy and human," making her even more special. (Source: 9/5/01, Satinder Bindra, CNN New Delhi Bureau.)

Endnotes
1 When "Mother" Teresa died, her longtime friend and biographer Naveen Chawla said that he once asked her bluntly, "Do you convert?" She replied, "Of course I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu or a better Muslim or a better Protestant. Once you've found God, it's up to you to decide how to worship him" ("Mother Teresa Touched Other Faiths," Associated Press, 9/7/97). [Return to Text]

2 The April 7-13, 1990, issue of Radio Times tells the story of "Mother" Teresa sheltering an old Hindu priest. "She nursed him with her own hands and helped him to die reconciled with his own gods."

The Bible says:

Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? [23] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (KJV) Jesus' Words!!!

BEWARE! False teachers can and will lead you to an ETERNAL HELL!

False Teachers

How to Recognize a False Teacher

Crazy Teachings of False Teachers