 Welcome everybody to Unfiltered, Pastor David, welcome. You know, before we get started, Pastor, I want to encourage anybody that has any questions that you'd like for us to answer, possibly answer. Leave your comments in the, in the, in your, in your, your questions in the response or comment section. Because today's question, Pastor, comes from somebody who's been watching. And before we start, I wanted to ask, you were race Catholic, correct? Yes, of course. So your entire life as a young man up until... Up until I was 20. Your race Catholic. So the question is, can Catholics be saved? Well, the answer is yes. All men can be saved. I mean, the bottom line is, is that Jesus died for all and those who come to faith in Christ, obviously they can be saved. I think the problem as it relates to that is that Christ can be hidden in Catholic theology. And that makes it difficult. Because when you begin to examine Catholic theology as it pertains to salvation, the, the official stance of the church as it pertains to coming to faith in Christ and having a relationship with God through him and all of that is kind of, it was not kind of, it's very muddied because Jesus Christ and God the Father and the Holy Spirit are very much presented in many ways as in a very orthodox way. I mean, so the things that, that I learned as a kid going through Catechism and all that God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, as far as I can remember from Catechism classes and Confirmation classes, I can, I was being pointed to the true Christ. But what happened is it became muddied by, by the theology as it relates to how you're saved. Because in Catholic theology, as I was taught that there's what is called what we call baptismal regeneration, meaning that when an infant is water baptized or being initiated into the salvation experience. And so you have the God, Father and God mother who stand there by proxy proclaiming faith on your behalf in, in general. And, and so you are brought into the, the faith through water baptism. And later on, you receive the other sacraments, you know, communion and confirmation, confirmation being with the Catholic Church basically equates with the, the baptism, the Holy Spirit and all the confirming your walk with the Lord and all of that. It's all muddy because the rituals that, that I was taught in the Catholic Church actually obscured God and didn't, didn't reveal him to me. So Catholics can be saved if they believe in the genuine Christ, meaning the one who not only died on the cross and paid for their sins, but is the only mediator between God and man. If you believe as a Catholic that your good works, your works that are done through your, your penance and, and through the rituals that are observed in the church, the sacraments that are presented to you as, as a means of God's grace and all, and you're saved through observing these regulations, then that obscures what grace actually is because that becomes a works righteousness situation. And on, not only that, but you also have an obscuring of, of others in the church, for example, Mary and in other saints. And what you have is Jesus in actual theology is the one mediator between God and man. Jesus is the only way to the Father. But as a Catholic, you can again be obscured in a relationship because you put the mother of Jesus actually as a co-mediatrix as someone that you would speak to so that she can take your request to the Father. So she becomes a, what they call a co-mediatrix or a co-mediator. And that obscures who Jesus Christ is as the only way to God. And, and I know Catholics can get upset at this, but, but it's factually true. And what happens is you begin to give honor to the mother of Christ rather than full honor to God. And, and God said, I am the Lord, that is my name and my glory. I will give to no one else, neither my praise to graven images. So you don't go through Mary and you don't go through saints. You only go through Jesus Christ. So with all of that said, can a Catholic be saved? Yeah, if they have a true and genuine faith in God through the grace of God by faith in Jesus Christ. But if they believe that they can be saved because they're received all the sacraments and they go to confession and they attend church in holy days of obligation and observe the various feast days and, and you add all of this works righteousness. No, Paul would say that isn't the way that you're saved. He'd say because you're being saved by works rather than by God. Romans chapter 11 verse six says that very clearly. So can a Catholic be saved? Yes, if they have faith in the true Christ, if they receive Christ as Lord and savior, if they understand the grace of God, it's unmerited favor and that faith in Jesus and he alone saves them. Then of course, all men can be saved if they if they actually believe that. Amen. Pastor, thank you so much for that. Because the question that came in and it looks like some of the responses people were trying to respond to that. So thank you for clarifying that. And once again, if you do have any questions for Pastor David, you can leave them in the response section. I want to invite you guys men. We have our men's barbecue tomorrow evening at 6 30. Unfortunately, we have no more hamburgers, but you can come for the teaching and worship. Invite you guys to come out and join us. And then on Sunday, it's Acts chapter nine, Acts chapter nine, the Acts chapter eight. Acts chapter 26 to 40. Yes, you're fired on fire. Hopefully, I have an evangelist come speak to me, right? Baptized. I can get baptized, but anyways, we look forward to having you guys come out 8 30 and 10 45. Thank you again, Pastor David. Thank you guys. God bless you.