Caveat Emptor: Buyer Beware

On August 10, 2008, the pastor of a mega-evangelical church challenged lay leaders to stand if they would commit themselves to live a life as dedicated to God as Mother Teresa had lived. 50,000 were “attending” the conference beamed by satellite across America. In asking for such commitment, the pastor asked all 50,000 to stand and repeat several of Mother’s Teresa’s proverbial statements. After spending months studying her life, the pastor said, “I’ve studied many leaders, but none of them have impressed me more than the study I’ve done on Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa receives high praise in the worldwide best-seller, “The Purpose Driven Life.” (pgs. 125, 231) That’s two for two as far as mega-church endorsements are concerned. It doesn’t get any better than that.

But in these ringing endorsements, should there not be an “emptor caveat?” Read on and decide if there should be a “buyer beware” sign posted with every mention of Mother Teresa.

Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them,” and He defined “their fruits” as their words, not their deeds. If you go by their deeds, the wolves look like sheep, but if you go by their words, that’s what tells the tale, are we dealing with a sheep or wolf? Works aren’t the indicator of a true teacher; the unbeliever can do and has done much good, so that, if one goes by another’s works, he looks like a sheep. So, to the question, Mother Teresa: sheep or wolf?

Let Mother Teresa speak for herself: “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.” She went on to say, “All is God — Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, etc.; all have access to the same God.” Hey, let’s all go along and get along; we may be on different paths, but so what?

Caveat Emptor: In John 14:6, Jesus says that He’s the only exclusive way to God and nobody gets to God except through Him. It is Christ alone; not Christ + one more and not someone else.

Read this: “We never try to convert [others]… 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… 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.”

Caveat Emptor: What kind of a gospel is that? We know: Paul would call it “another gospel,” one that does not save, and one that puts its speaker under the anathema of God. (Gal. 1:6-9) Her gospel is one of works squared: if a person becomes a better man, that’s all that counts. Yet Isaiah wrote that all our “getting betters” are filthy rags as far as salvation is concerned.

One more: “Mary … is our patroness and our Mother, and she is always leading us to Jesus.” How can evangelical pastors and lay people clap for her with no caveat?

Does any thinking, biblically oriented person need more information to know a wolf when he hears one?

If she talks like a wolf, she’s a wolf. Yet to the world and the deluded, she’s a sheep. Charles Colson, going by her works, not her words, declares Mother Teresa a believer, saved, and a sister in Christ. It is inconceivable to him that she would be otherwise. In his declaration, he never asks if she’s come to faith alone; he never ponders if she might be doing all that good* in order to be saved, in which case she’s not trusting Christ alone. Christ + Mother Teresa’s good works = 2, not 1, (Christ alone).**

No wonder the world applauds Mother Teresa; she’s one of their own. The world worships her broad-is-the-way mentality; they love it. Why not? The world has long championed the glories of ecumenism. The world gives its applause to its own because, as Jesus said, the world loves its own. She’s on a fast track to sainthood; the world has already canonized her.

Mother Teresa, applauded by the world as it continues to toss bouquets at her memory, was an enemy of grace.

Dr. Mike Halsey, Pastor

*Several authors have noted that she absolutely did not do good, that her methods with the sick were not only unsanitary, but also came from a cruelty that found spiritual delight in the suffering of the dying. That discussion is for another time.

**Of course, if Mother Teresa ever, at one time, placed her faith in Christ alone, she is saved.

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