James Dobson and Romanism
By David W. Cloud
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James Dobson has a close and uncritical relationship with Roman Catholicism. The November 1989, issue of Focus on the Family's Clubhouse magazine featured Roman Catholic Mother Teresa. A smiling Mother Teresa was on the cover, and the lead article was entitled "Teresa of Calcutta: Little Woman with a Big Heart." The readers of this magazine were made to think that Mother Teresa is a genuine New Testament Christian and that she is doing a great work for God through her Sisters of Charities mission. This is a great deception. Mother of Teresa preaches the false sacramental gospel of Rome and has given multitudes of people a false comfort by encouraging them to place their hopes in such vanities as the Roman Catholic mass and the Roman Catholic Mary. It is an abomination before God for Dobson to feature this woman in his magazine.
Dobson's ecumenical flirtations have not gone unrewarded. The Catholic Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, bestowed an honorary doctorate upon him as a statement of their support for Focus on the Family (Evangelical Catholics, p. 200). The September 1990, issue of New Covenant, a Catholic charismatic magazine, featured Dobson and a very positive report on Focus on the Family. Dobson's photo appeared the cover.
This illustrates the great error of new-evangelical philosophy. There is no doubt that Dobson is a kind man who has helped people. There is no doubt that his focus on the family has done some good. Yet doing good is no excuse for ignoring the Word of God. Dobson's teaching is a subtle and dangerous mixture of humanistic psychology and Bible. And his ministry has no warning about error and false gospels. He does fight against social evils such as abortion and pornography, but false gospels are at least as destructive as any social ill. The Apostles did not lead crusades against social and political evils; they preached the gospel and built doctrinally strong churches.
Dobson does not warn about the wickedness of Romanism. Of course, if he did the Catholics would not so readily recommend his ministry. We don't know a man's motivations, but we do know that Dr. Dobson has admitted that a great many of his listeners are Catholic. We do know that the new evangelical is willing to limit his message to broaden his fellowship. This is not God's way. The Scriptures are given for doctrine, and those who slight doctrine are not following Scripture.
Catholicism, with its sacramental gospel, has sent more people to hell than any other Christian cult. The Apostle Paul said that anyone who preaches a false gospel is cursed of God (Gal. 1:6-10). That Rome's gospel is false is certain. The Council of Trent, reaffirmed by Vatican II, proclaimed, "If anyone shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy pardoning sins for Christ's sake, or that it is that confidence alone by which we are justified ... let him be accursed" (Canon 12). Rome is an avowed enemy of the New Testament faith.
It is not a small matter to ignore error. Especially is this true for a worldwide ministry such as Dobson's. As a Christian minister, Dobson is responsible to preach and to follow the Word of God, yet he ignores all of the many passages of Scripture about contending with and separating from error. Without going further into Dobson's theology, we would mention one other clear error. He is a theistic evolutionist. "He has endorsed and heavily promoted Hugh Ross's book, Fingerprint of God, which is a polemic for progressive creationism/theistic evolution ... Dobson has also given Ross a frequent forum on the Focus on the Family radio program to espouse this heresy. ...Dobson also said that he agrees `in an unqualified way' that the Earth is 3.5 to 4 billion years old. ...In a response to a critical letter from Bible-Science Newsletter, Dobson said that he takes the first eleven chapters of Genesis to be poetry, not factual history" (The BDM Letter, Apr. 1992).
We believe fundamental Bible believers should have nothing to do with Focus on the Family. It is as deeply compromised as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
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