Tenderly Bedded in Caskets of Death

A Review of Mother Teresa: A Simple Path, by John Cairns and Lucinda Vardey (Ballantine Books, 1995)

In recent years there has been introduced to the Western world, through both secular and religious media, the life and work of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu of Skopje, Macedonia, better known as Mother Teresa. Indeed, this diminutive Roman Catholic nun, who took her name from St. Theresa of Lisieux as a member of the Sisters of Loreto in Calcutta, India, has become a worldwide phenomenon. She is mentioned regularly through both Christian and non-Christian writings. One cannot help but admire her tenacity, vibrance, devotion and care exhibited to the poor and destitute in the slums of Calcutta. Of late, Mother Teresa's unflinching stand for the rights of the unborn have gained her additional adoration and praise.

Having begun as a teacher in a Roman Catholic school, and later its principal, Mother Teresa experienced an internal call in 1946 to devote the remainder of her life to helping the poorest of the poor in the ghetto of Calcutta. Not only was she impressed to help the impoverished but also to live among them on no higher plane than they. The resulting work has led to the establishment of a children's home, a center for leprosy, a home for the dying and a home for the mentally handicapped and TB sufferers.

For our part, we are interested in the spiritual make-up of Mother Teresa and her understanding of the revelation of God as contained in the Word of God. We have been pressured by the media to accept Mother Teresa as perhaps the greatest living illustration of Christianity in our century. This assessment is coming from professing evangelical Christians and the secular press as well. Needless to say, the Roman Catholic religion views Mother Teresa as a saint awaiting only her death to bestow canonization, the highest adulation of the Catholic religion.

In order to assess Mother Teresa, we purchased and have read cover to cover a new book that gives us insight into the religious character of the "nun from Calcutta." This book, entitled Mother Teresa: A Simple Path, is a compilation of interviews and firsthand experiences of the writer and researcher who spent time in the Missions of Charity at Calcutta. We have been assured in the preface of this book that:

"Mother Teresa and her Order saw and approved the text and wished it well. The results are laid out in the succeeding pages."[1]

We wish to examine Mother Teresa by her own testimony and the testimony of those who have worked for her over the years. For this reason, this book is highly recommended. It serves up first hand quotations on the spiritual views of the workers with the Missions of Charity. The book is also 100% in favor of Mother Teresa. In short, it is an excellent resource book because the writer and researcher have come away with such high admiration for the philosophy and dedication of this work.

An Analysis

The burning question for Christians is whether Mother Teresa is a Christian. We have been told that even asking the question is ridiculous. How can anyone doubt that this woman is a Christian? From books and magazines, to talk shows and editorials, it appears that most everyone is willing to concede the point. It is a finished fact! How can this woman not be a Christian?

Let us look at the facts. In the first place, she is a Roman Catholic who has taught the Romish Catechism for 14 years of her life. We read:

"Mother Teresa would certainly never deviate verbally from Church doctrine--she could not, nor would she probably want to."[2]

As to the relationship of Mother Teresa to Mary, the mother of our Lord, we read the following:

"Mary is the role model for Mother Teresa and all the Missionaries of Charity, and is prayed to fervently as a symbol of great holiness, purity, chastity, surrender, and sacred motherhood. This feminine devotion to the divine mother is a woman's way to the heart of Christ."[3]

The fact that Mother Teresa professes to be a devout Roman Catholic, trusting in the sacramental system of salvation, loyal to the Council of Trent [as well as later Romanist dogma and doctrine], places her outside the Body of Christ. Given her reliance upon a false hope, she cannot be as those redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb and justified through faith alone. However, there is more to Mother Teresa that disqualifies her from being a true disciple of Christ.

The authors of A Simple Path are forthright in exposing the ecumenical side of Mother Teresa:

"Yet the signs of Mother Teresa's ecumenicism are often evident as well. For example, in Calcutta, just inside the gates of Prem Dan, the Missionaries of Charity home for TB and mentally handicapped patients, stands a life size statue of the Madonna in a blue cape, holding Catholic rosary beads; yet at closer observation she has an Indian face, wears a white Indian tunic, and is held at her feet by a huge pink lotus blossom."[4]

Indeed these signs of ecumenism expose the radical altering of Christianity at the hands of this unassuming indefatigable worker for the disenfranchised. Perhaps this is what makes it so hard to say anything negative about this woman. But, nevertheless, the truth of the Gospel far outweighs the good deeds of a thousand pagans. It is more than apparent that Mother Teresa is no friend of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen to her theology:

• "There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, and a Catholic become a better Catholic."
• "Brother Vinod, who runs Gandhiji Prem Nivas, our center for leprosy patients in Titagarh, Calcutta, understands how we try not to preach religion, but just show our faith through actions..."
• "We believe our work should be our example to people. We have among us 475 souls--30 families are Catholics and the rest are Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs--all different religions."[5]

We recommend the reading of this book in order to get a better grip on what is happening in America. Mother Teresa is a combination Roman Catholic/humanist. She holds the old heresy of "many roads leading to heaven" and "we are all children of God fit for heaven." She wishes all to follow their own divine path. She thinks the way to heaven is through self-described selfless acts of love. What concerns us most is that the confessing evangelical media is buying into all of this and ejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ in favor of an ascetic social work.

In closing, we must say a word about the Word of God. Sprinkled throughout this book, A Simple Path, is an abbreviated citation from Matthew 25. Here the Lord is speaking about His return and gives a picture of what it will be like. He will separate the sheep from the goats and He will say to the sheep, "Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom..." In so doing, Jesus mentions that the sheep had fed Him, clothed Him, given drink to Him and visited Him in prison. Somewhat perplexed, the sheep ask, "Lord, when?" His response has become the theme song of just about every charitable social agency working under the guise of Christianity and hoping to be supported by God's people. The Missionaries of Charity are no exception. Jesus answers, "to the extent that you did it to these brothers of Mine, even to the least of them, you did it to Me."

Was Jesus preaching a social gospel here? Were these "brothers of mine" a reference to the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of mankind? Is Jesus teaching here that to feed the poor and to heal the sick is the pre-requisite for eternal life? Is this the gospel of Jesus Christ? If we say yes, then we would have every reason to believe that the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs as well as Roman Catholics involved in this sort of thing can expect to go to heaven since they have fed the poor and clothed the naked. This is the unspoken, non-condemning, most loving man-made gospel of every religion. But is it of Christ? We say no, not now and not ever. The brothers in this passage are the saints of God, purchased of Christ. They are the disciples of Jesus as previously mentioned in Matthew 10:24,25,40,42.

We understand, from the Word of God, that Jesus' gospel must be preached throughout the world (Mark 13:13). How shall they hear without a preacher? Blessed are the feet of those who bring tidings of good news. Perhaps the biggest fruit of 20th century deception is the Wordless, unspoken gospel of self-sacrifice. It is the gospel of Mother Teresa and backed up by an increasingly ecumenical Roman Catholicism. It is a gospel of spiritual death. No act of love can adequately present the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No act of love or mercy, no matter how noble, can be substituted for the greatest story ever told. Indeed, the followers of Jesus Christ were not martyred because they were silently helping the poor and needy. They were killed because of the Gospel. They were called to speak. They were called to preach. Jesus said to His disciples: "As you go, preach, saying the Kingdom of God is at hand!"(Matt. 10:7) The apostle Paul thunders, "preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season..." (2 Tim.4:1,2) Paul believed; therefore he spoke (2 Cor. 4:13).

We ask, "Why is there no gospel preached in the Missions of Charity?" It will not do to say, "We speak with our hands and our love." No one has ever come to Christ without conviction of his own sinfulness and the need of an all sufficient savior. The knowledge of God and the plan of His salvation must be spoken loud and clear. However, rather than speaking to the false hope of her own religion, and the world religions surrounding her, Mother Teresa is content to bed her patients and co-workers in their own caskets of death, fit for eternal life apart from God and the glorious gospel of His Son.

[1] A Simple Path, pg. xiv
[2] A Simple Path, pg. xxv
[3] Ibid pg. xxv
[4] Ibid pg. xvi
[5] Ibid pg. 31