JAMES DOBSON AND ROME
Updated June 17, 2003 (first published February 14, 1997) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

James Dobson and his Focus on the Family organization downplay doctrine and promote ecumenical unity. Focus vice president Rolf Zettersten said he and co-workers “cast their theological distinctives aside in order to achieve a common objective--to help families” (Focus on the Family, December 1989).

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 was a genuine New Testament Christian and that she did a great work for God through her Sisters of Charities mission. This is a great deception. Mother Teresa preached Rome’s false sacramental gospel and gave multitudes a false comfort by encouraging them to place their faith in such vanities as the Roman Catholic Mass, the Roman Catholic Mary, even Hindu idols. It is an abomination before God for Dobson to feature this woman in his magazine and to pretend that she was a true Christian. (For more about Mother Teresa, see the book Evangelicals and Rome, available from Way of Life Literature.)

In 1988 the National Catholic Register contained a feature article entitled “Massachusetts Catholics Building Ecumenical Bridges” that cited an alliance that the Massachusetts Catholic Conference had made with the Massachusetts Family Institute, a statewide James Dobson Focus on the Family-related group. As the article title indicated, Roman Catholic propagandists freely used this new coalition for their ecumenical benefit (Fundamentalist Digest, Jan.-Feb. 2002, citing the National Catholic Register, June 7-13, 1988).

In 1999, Dr. Dobson’s wife, Shirley Dobson was the chairman of the “National Day of Prayer.” According to the Christian News (Dec. 14, 1998, p. 2), Rabbi Joshua Heberman, Dr. James A. Kennedy and Catholic priest Robert A. Sirica served as “liaisons” for this ecumenical event. A letter writer in The Berean Call (Oct. 1999) states that in Dobson’s Apr. 1999 Focus on the Family magazine, Mrs. Dobson’s suggestions for participation in this event including lighting “a scented candle...to remind you to pray” and to make “a candle lighting ceremony part” of one’s commitment to pray.” The Berean Call observed that Mrs. Dobson’s proposals perhaps reflected “the growing embrace of Catholicism” within evangelical Christianity (Fundamentalist Digest, Jan.-Feb. 2002).

In November 2000, James Dobson and Charles Colson participated in a conference in Rome hosted by the pope’s Pontifical Council for the Family and by the Acton Institute, a Roman Catholic organization based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “After the sessions, both Colson and Dobson made statements that were used by Roman Catholic publicists to promote the harlot ecumenical cause” (Fundamentalist Digest, Jan.-Feb. 2002, citing The National Catholic Register, Dec. 17-23, 2000 and Calvary Contender, Jan. 1, 2001). Dobson and Colson also met with Pope John Paul II. The Colorado Springs Gazette (Dec. 9, 2000) noted that the personal meeting between the pope, Colson and Dobson was a “special moment” because Evangelicals and Catholics have disagreed with one another for centuries concerning the role and infallibility of the pope. One conference participant, Robert Sirico, a Catholic priest and president of the Acton Institute, said that Vatican officials “could not recall a similar meeting involving such high-level evangelical Protestants taking place at the Vatican.” According to the Gazette, the Catholic News Service reported that Dobson praised the Catholic church for its efforts to protect the family and said that while he has some theological differences with the Roman Catholic Church, he often agrees more with the Roman Catholic Church than with other Evangelicals on issues such as abortion, premarital sex and homosexuality (Foundation magazine, Jan.-Feb. 2001).

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 graced 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 congregations and fought against sin and heresy in the 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. Dobson is responsible to obey the Word of God, yet he ignores all of the many passages of Scripture about contending with and separating from error.

The Bible warns that if I refuse to deal plainly with the error of false teachers, if I treat them as brothers in Christ and fellowship with them and speak highly of them and help them, I am partaker of their evil deeds, and I will lose my rewards. I believe this warning and judgment falls directly upon Dr. Dobson’s head (and that of a multitude of other ecumenical leaders today).

Bible believing Christians should have nothing to do with Focus on the Family. It is as deeply compromised as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

For more on Focus on the Family see--

"Focus on the Family Dodges the Hard Questions"
"Focus on the Family Didn't Like My Letter"