Atty. Marwil Llasos, O.P. at the entrance of Sorsogon CathedralWhen the book Truth Encounter of Dr. Anthony Pezzotta made its debut in 1996, Filipino Protestant and Evangelical leaders enthusiastically acclaimed and endorsed it.
Dr. Anthony Pezzotta was a Salesian priest turned Baptist pastor. He loves to style himself as “Dr.” Pezzotta although he does not have an earned doctorate degree. What he has is merely an honorary doctorate in divinity from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. Since Dr. Pezzotta was a Catholic priest, Protestant and Evangelical leaders assumed he was such a prize catch. They are never more wrong.
Commenting on Dr. Pezzotta’s book, Bro. Eddie C. Villanueva of Jesus is Lord Church stated Truth Encounter is “[t]he much awaited book on Bible-based revelations of truth that will set people free from ignorance and bondage.” The implication is clear. Catholics are ignorant and under bondage. This is the same hypocritical Evangelical leader who wooed Catholic votes in his (twice) failed quest for the presidency. The Filipino saw through his pretense and God did not bless his hypocrisy. He lost the presidential elections twice. I thought he was God’s anointed. I saw on TV how the imported Evangelical pastors and evangelists anointed Bro. Eddie during the JIL anniversary at Luneta last year – and they all prophesied about the victory of God’s anointed one. They all turned out false prophets.
Rev. Butch Conde of the Bread of Life Ministries trumpeted Truth Encounter by saying that ”[e]veryone who wants to be surely founded in the truth, the only truth, the Bible truth cannot afford to be without a copy of this book.” Thus, for Rev. Conde, Truth Encounter is equated the truth, the only truth and the Bible truth. I wonder if other Evangelicals will be comfortable with that assessment. The jury is still out if Rev. Butch Conde is well received in Evangelical circles outside his own church.
Dr. Luis Pantoja, Jr., Senior Pastor of the glitzy Greenhills Christian Fellowship concluded that Pezzotta’s book “offers a brief but well-documented overview of Catholicism for general reference.” I also wonder if Dr. Pantoja bothered to read the manuscript of Truth Encounter before he concluded that it is “well-documented.” How can a book be “well-documented” if it is has no reference materials? Truth Encounter does not even have a bibliography! And yet, Dr. Pantoja called it “well-documented”!
Dr. Isabelo F. Maralit, President of Asian Theological Seminary, highly commended the work of Dr. Pezzotta and acclaimed the apostate priest as “an expert on Catholicism.” What qualifies Dr. Maralit to pronounce Pezzotta as an expert on Catholicism? Credentials, please.
Finally, Dr. Agustin B. Vencer, Jr., International Director of the World Evangelical Fellowship considered the “former” Catholic priest as a Catholic “scholar and a theologian” and as one “who knew Catholicism from within” [Truth Encounter (Makati City: Church Strengthening Ministry, 1996) p. iii]. What is Dr. Vencer’s basis in calling Pezzotta as a Catholic scholar and theologian? He didn’t say – except that Dr. Pezzotta was a Catholic priest.
What these Protestant and Evangelical leaders thought to be gold turned out to be garbage. When Filipino Catholic apologists exposed this “scholar” and “expert’s” factual, historical, theological and Biblical errors, Evangelical apologists in the Philippines conveniently dropped Dr. Anthony Pezzotta like hot potato. What an embarrassment Dr. Pezzotta has become to Evangelical apologists!
(For a critique of Chapters 11 and 12 of Dr. Pezzotta’s Truth Encounter, see: http://bromarwilnllasos.blogspot.com/search/label/Pezzotta).
The foremost aggrupation of Evangelical apologists in the Philippines is the Bereans Apologetics and Research Ministry (the BARM).
After I came out with my refutation of Chapter 11 of Dr. Pezzotta’s Truth Encounter, Filipino Catholic apologists challenged Berean apologists in their forum. None of them put up a defense of Dr. Anthony Pezzotta and his book, which Rev. Butch Conde equates with “the truth, the only truth and the Bible truth.” Poor, poor Anthony Pezzotta. None of his brothers in the Bereans took up his cudgels. They dropped him like a dung!
Kawawa naman si Pastor Anthony Pezzotta. Inilaglag ng mga kapatid niya sa Bereans!!! Ganiyan ba talaga sa mga Evangelicals, may laglagan ng kapatid?
In the Bereans Forum, the moderator Rodimus (who prefers now to use his real name Gerry Soliman) posted on November 11, 2008, this comment: “Justyn M. already has a statement that BARM doesn't endorse the book. Neither do I because I haven't read the book yet. However, please tell Atty. Llasos that he will expect an email response from me concerning the Perpetual Virginity. Nice to see everyone again.”
(See: http://www.thebereans.net/forum2/archive/index.php/t-43116.html).
In an email to me, Rodimus confirmed and reiterated that the BARM does not endorse the Pezzottas book: “… I would like to first inform you that BARM does not endorse the book of Mr. Anthony Pezzotta against Roman Catholicism...”
(See: http://marwil-n-llasos.blogspot.com/2009/03/bro-mars-answers-rodimus-of-bereans.html).
Of course, we can never trust the BARM, Rodimus or Gerry Soliman for that matter. They are obviously making a hair-splitting distinction between Dr. Pezzotta and his book. They say they do not endorse Dr. Pezzotta’s book, but do they approve of Pezzotta and his attacks against the Catholic Church?
Let’s see.
Webservant of the Bereans Forum commented: “please rest assured that we won't (and will never) appeal to any works regarding Alberto P. Rivera. We would, however, appeal to the life of Anthony "Tony" Pezzotta, Italian ex-priest turned Baptist Minister.”
(See: http://www.thebereans.net/forum2/showthread.php?t=33239).
Oh, the BARM doesn’t endorse Pezzotta’s book but. BARM members (like its Webmaster) “appeal” to his life.
In an article questioning the Catholic dogma on Mary as the Mother of God, the BARM also quoted Pezzotta’s argument:
“Now let’s answer the question, is it proper and is it theologically valid to call Mary, as the Mother of God? The answer is no, because:
Jesus is unique… they don’t match because there is no one like Jesus, having 2 distinct natures, being both God and man. We can’t talk about my body and my soul? I am one, one nature…they are 2 integral part of me, but in Jesus the two natures are distinct. He is God and man and Mary is mother of Jesus only as man to call her “Mother of God” is to go against this.—Anthony Pezzotta, ex-RCC priest.”
(See: http://www.thebereans.net/rcc-mariology.shtml).
Oh I see. The BARM does not endorse Pezzotta’s book; but it approves of Pezzotta’s arguments and quotes it.
Also in the same page, the BARM cited Unbiblical Pillars of Roman Catholicism, from a taped seminar conducted by ex-RCC priest Anthony Pezzotta sponsored by the Bread of Life Ministries.
(See: http://www.thebereans.net/rcc-mariology.shtml).
Again, the BARM does not endorse Pezzotta’s book. It just cites his talks.
Gerry Soliman, or Rodimus, is on record stating that “Justyn M. already has a statement that BARM doesn't endorse the book” of Dr. Anthony Pezzotta. Yet, the same Justyn M. (or “Pastor Jun,” one of the moderators of the BARM and a “born again” pastor) made a review of the updated version of Truth Encounter and posted that review in this site http://justynm.multiply.com/reviews. This is what Justyn M. says about Pezzotta (and his book):
“The author, a former Rector of a Salesian Community in the Philippines, left the Catholic Church in 1974 and joined a local Baptist Church. He eventually was ordained to the Gospel Ministry and returned to the Philippines as a Baptist missionary. He is a member of the Conservative Baptist Association of Southern California. This revised edition includes additional material of Sacramentalism and Ecumenicism.”
Well, if the BARM is not endorsing Dr. Pezzotta’s book, but what about Justyn M.? Is he endorsing it? I think so, otherwise he would not make a review of it and post the review in his website dubbed The Bible Says.
We can never trust the Bereans Apologetics and Research Ministry and its moderators like Rodimus or Gerry Soliman and Justyn M. They are a bunch of lying hypocrites.
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