NEW BOOK COMING: RAY YUNGEN'S "SIMPLE ANSWERS-UNDERSTANDING THE CATHOLIC FAITH"; AN EVANGELICAL PRIMER
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
As many of you know, Lighthouse Trails beloved author and co-laborer in Christ, Ray Yungen, passed away on October 16th 2016 at the age of 64 due to complications from a cancer treatment. Ray had just finished the rough draft of his book Simple Answers—Understanding the Catholic Faith:
An Evangelical Primer a few months before he went to be with the Lord. After Ray’s
passing, we had hoped to finish up the editing of his book by the end of 2016 but were unable to complete the project. We are happy to announce that we have finally finished the editing and end notes of the book and went to press on September 18th. The official release date for the book will be October 16th 2017 to commemorate the day Ray passed from this world and into the arms of the Lord. Below is a sneak preview of the book. You may pre-order a copy now or wait until the book is released in October. Either way, we hope you will get a copy of this book as we believe it is going to be an important book that has the potential to open the eyes of many evangelicals and other Protestants who are on the road to Rome and may not even realize it. We also believe this book is written in such a way, with Ray’s conversational and gracious manner, that many Catholics will be willing to read the book as well.During the preparation of this book, while Ray was still with us, he told the editors at Lighthouse Trails that he had wanted to write this book for many years and that he felt it was one of his most important works. Interestingly, he also told us he felt somehow that it was to be his final written work.
From Simple Answers by Ray Yungen:
BACK COVER:
The evangelical church is at a crucial point in its history. There are many voices crying out for a dramatic change in the way evangelicals have traditionally viewed Catholicism; these voices are taking the church in a radically different direction, one that fits in with Bible prophecy.
In 1991, an ex-Catholic pointed out that many Catholics had been leaving the Catholic Church over the previous forty years. The reason for this: Catholics were receiving simple answers from evangelicals regarding salvation.
Today, the need for simple answers has reemerged as we are witnessing a reversal where evangelicals are looking to the Catholic Church for guidance on Christian living and spirituality. Much of this is because the precepts of the Gospel are either minimized or forgotten.
It is not just a fluke or an aberration that the evangelical churches and the Catholic Church are coming into alignment with each other. The Catholic Church is taking a softer view of the evangelical church, and the evangelical church is starting to downplay the traditional and significant differences that have kept it at bay with the Roman Catholic Church.
Simple Answers is a presentation of the facts regarding salvation according to the Gospel in contrast to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
The Introduction:
In 1991, an article written by ex-Catholic Mark Christensen appeared in the Jesuit publication, America, that would be seen as highly unusual for a Catholic magazine. The article was about the consternation of Catholic bishops in the United States on the massive flood of people over the prior forty years leaving the Catholic Church and embracing the evangelical view. They attributed this to the simple answers that the evangelicals had to offer regarding salvation.1Endnotes:
The author was commenting on a meeting that took place by Catholic bishops on how to halt the flow of Catholics into the evangelical churches. What made this article so remarkable was the candid way in which the writer explained why he had left the Catholic Church. The reasons he expressed were basically the traditional Protestant objections to the Roman Catholic faith—not so much in specific doctrinal details but in a general sense. Paraphrasing what he said, he spoke of growing up in a Catholic culture. Throughout his life, being a Catholic was central to his personal identity, and the Church was very much a part of his life. Even after leaving, he maintained a personal resonance with friends and family members still in the Catholic Church.
Despite his feelings toward certain individuals, he explained that he didn’t want to slander the Catholic Church because he had tremendous respect for some of the people in it. But, he said, “what I hear coming from the mouths of ex-Catholics as their number-one reason for leaving the Catholic Church is that they never heard the Gospel. He explained it this way:
“Dearly loved family and friends, that is why I left and why I think most leave the Catholic Church for Evangelicalism. . . . We left because we met Jesus Christ, and He changed our lives. And He changed our lives in a way we never knew in the Catholic Church. . . . Millions of other former Catholics beside myself couldn’t hear this Gospel within the Catholic Church.”2
At the end of the article, he urged the bishops to examine the evidence regarding the charges he made and ask the question why all these once devoted members had to “go elsewhere to find their spiritual food.”
As I said, it was astounding to read this article in a Catholic magazine. There was no Church response trying to refute him. There was no defense. In essence, it was just a plain indictment as to what the Catholic Church does teach regarding salvation. Perhaps because the magazine is a Jesuit publication and the Jesuits are known for being the intellectuals of the Catholic Church, the publishers thought it was intellectually healthy to air opposition. Or maybe they were so sure of themselves that the Catholic Church is the “one true church” that nothing anyone says could dissuade them from this confidence. Perhaps they thought the article could serve as some food for remedial thought in bringing the flock back into the fold. But regardless, the controversy that was brought out is that the evangelicals were luring Catholics away with simple answers to salvation.
In this book, Simple Answers, I will attempt to bring out the spiritual dynamics of these two different systems and how they stack up with each other from a biblical point of view. Of course, there are many books written by Catholic apologists that attempt to show that the Catholic Church is rooted firmly in Scripture. I will use some of these books in the controversy we are going to examine.
The evangelical church is at a crucial point in its history, and many in that camp are at a present-day crossroad that is drawing them to the practices (and ultimately membership) of the Catholic Church. There are many voices crying out for a dramatic change in the way evangelicals have traditionally viewed Catholicism; these voices are taking the church in a radically different direction. But when we discover the simple answers to the questions being asked about salvation and the Christian walk, it becomes clear that this paradigm shift in the evangelical church is fitting in with Bible prophecy.
1. Mark Christensen, “Coming to Grips with Losses—The Migration of Catholics into Conservative Protestantism” (America: The Jesuit Review, January 26, 1991), pp. 58-59.
2. Ibid.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
1/A New Openness
2/“The Work of Our Redemption”
3/Mortal Sin vs. Assurance of Salvation
4/Purgatory
5/Our Lady
6/The Papacy
7/Summing Up
8/Learning From Rome
9/Conclusion
Appendix 1: The New Evangelization from Rome or Finding the True Jesus Christ (Roger Oakland)
Appendix 2: My Journey Out of Catholicism (David Dombrowski)
Endnotes
Index
BOOK INFORMATION:
160 pages
ISBN: 978-1-942423-11-9
Retail Price: $12.95 | Quantity discounts available
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