An Experience From Our Work in Rome
By Charles T. Everson
A PERSON who has never worked in a Catholic country can not imagine the power that Catholicism exerts over its members. It is not so much a power of argument as an influence that the people seem to draw from the atmosphere itself. The greater part of them are persuaded that the priests are a wicked, domineering class, and that the church is a great business; and yet they remain in the church as if held under a mighty spell. Those who have been born and reared in Catholicism seem to have been injected with a poison that intoxicates them; the Scriptures well state it: “The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” We find that even those who do not attend the church, and who speak against it, when it comes to the point of leaving it for the Protestant religion, seem powerless to make the move. It takes a mighty power to break the spell of hypnotic influence that the papacy throws around its adherents. And this mighty power we find revealed in the present truth, God’s remedy against the power of the “beast” in these last days. Some time ago a young man who comes to our home for Bible studies invited another young gentleman, a friend of his, to come and study the truth. But this young man was a fervent Catholic who went regularly to the church and to confession, and, therefore, became much offended at this invitation, and told his friend that if he spoke to him again of Protestantism, he need never come to his home again, for he would not receive him. Little by little he worked quietly with him, and the young man finally began to relent, and became curious to know in what consisted the Protestant religion. At last he consented to call and see me and study the Bible. After the first study he still remained doubtful, and after the second he was not persuaded, but in the third study he began to become convinced that we had something superior to Catholicism to offer him. He continued to come, and each time he became more certain that this is the truth, and that the Church of Rome is in error. At the same time he interviewed his confessor, and asked him for explanations in the Scriptures. His confessor was a very learned professor, whose brother is a cardinal, but still he often found himself at a loss in endeavoring to respond to this young man’s questions, and he would reply that “even if we can not understand the teachings of the church, we must believe them and accept them, for we have them from the church, which is infallible.” But these reasonings did not satisfy the young man, and therefore he became more convinced than ever of the truth; for, as he told me, “You make everything so plain that a person can not help but see it.” He was planning to have me meet this professor as he was not clear about the question of confession, in which he had been very carefully taught by this priest; but at that time he received notice that he would need to leave Rome to enter the army for his military service. As his time then began to be limited, he came for Bible studies every day, and the last day of his stay at Rome he told me, “Now if I had the subject of confession straightened out, I should be convinced on everything.” So we took it up and studied it, and he saw it clearly. Although his time was very limited, he returned again before leaving, and we studied the question of the church founded upon Peter. After these studies he said that the subjects were now so plain that he would not be afraid to meet the priest himself, and show him the truth on confession and the other subjects. He said that he was fully satisfied that what he had learned was the truth. He took with him a Bible and some of our literature, and when he left, his heart was overflowing with gratitude for what we had done for him. A short time after his arrival in the army he wrote me that he had found a young man, an infidel, whom he had succeeded in interesting in the truth, and he wished to know how he should proceed with teaching him the message. As he is stationed in a city not very distant from here, he made a trip to Rome last Sunday, and came to see me, and told me that he wished I could meet the young man of whom he wrote; for he thought I could help him. He said that his courage was good, and he wished to go forward in the truth.