Posted on 01/26/2018 1:04:07 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
We are in a time of the first ever mass conversions of Muslims,” Father Mitch Pacwa SJ told me in a phone interview. “God is doing a mighty work among them.”
Pacwa said that mass conversions are happening even in very fundamentalist countries. There is rapidly growing number of conversions especially on the edges of the Muslim world in the western and southern parts of Africa, he said. “Africa is now growing predominantly Christian despite crackdowns,” Pacwa said.
Some of the noteworthy countries he mentioned include Iran, reported to have 3 million Christians, and Indonesia with reports of 2 million a year converting.
“In Mongolia, the president opened the country to Christians and there’s even an archbishop,” Pacwa said. “They built a Catholic school there too. If I was younger, I would have gone.” He said that the desire for a Western education was the impetus to open up the country to the Catholic Church.
There are even conversions happening in many strict Muslim countries, according to Pacwa. He did not want to go on record with particulars for fear of increased retribution. Mass conversions are also being reported among refugees that are filling up the Christian churches left empty by Europeans. Many wonder if those are authentic conversions or just a response to improving their chances for amnesty, but time will tell.
Signs of this conversion are showing up in the U.S. too, Pacwa said. “I was about to celebrate Mass at a Maronite church in San Diego and I said hi to a man who introduced himself as Achmad. I asked if he was a Christian. He said: ‘Yes, I was recently baptized.’ He said he from Morocco. Christians do not have the name Ahmad—that’s a form of Mohammad.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
| The Glories of Mary | Romans 10:5-13 NASB | |
| Saint Anselm says, ‘that as it is impossible for one who is not devout to Mary, and consequently not protected by her, to be saved, so is it impossible for one who recommends himself to her, and consequently is beloved by her, to be lost.’ Saint Antoninus repeats the same thing, and almost in the same words: ‘As it is impossible for those from whom Mary turns her eyes of mercy, to be saved, so also are those towards whom she turns these eyes, and for whom she prays, necessarily saved and glorified.’ Consequently the clients of Mary will necessarily be saved. (p184) | 5For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 6But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down),7or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” 8But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BEDISAPPOINTED.” 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”. |
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| But, on the other hand, Mary says in the words applied to her by the church, “He that hearkeneth to me shall not be confounded;’ that is to say, he who hearkeneth to what I say shall not be lost. On which Saint Bonaventure says, ‘O Lady, he who honours thee will be far from damnation.’ And this will still be the case, Saint Hilary observes, even should the person, during the past time have greatly offended God. ‘However great a sinner he may have been,’ says the saint, ‘if he shews himself devout to Mary he will never perish.’(p185) | 14“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. |
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Bible quotes from NASB
RCC position on Mary from The Glories of Mary, translated from the Italian of St Alphonsus De; Liguori, Founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, by A Father of the Same Congregation LONDON: Printed for the Redemptorist Fathers, St Mary’s, Clapham, Surrey; to be had of J.J. Wallwork, 42, Great Marlborough Street, Regent Street, and of all Booksellers. MDCCCLII p184-185.
https://books.google.com/books?id=7uwCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq=All+power+is+given+to+thee+in+Heaven+and+on+earth,+so+that+at+the+command+of+Mary+all+obey-even+God&source=bl&ots=myZ-FaiMh7&sig=ivbaVW-mCAErqzlDyoebpOj0EJE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrmYK1rcTYAhVPtFMKHVeRBdAQ6AEIOzAG#v=twopage&q&f=false
Did I say the occupant of the Roman See was never allowed to be corrected, disciplined, and rebuked? Heavens, certainly not in this pontificate!
I said the Roman See didn't apostasize.
Because the same man that Christ warned and rebuked and disciplined, was also told: "For thou art Peter. And upon this rock I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
I will stand with my Catholic brothers and sisters as followers of our Savior Jesus Christ.
I don’t agree with some Catholic beliefs.
But it’s not my job to decide who is a “real” Christian, that’s for God to decide.
My that all sounds very impressive until one considers how long Revisionist “scholars” we’re united in their agreement over the “petros, petras” nonsense.
But as a Roman Catholic you do not get to chose which Roman Catholic beliefs you agree or disagree with. You have to believe in all of them or you are damned per Rome.
Hey Elsie....you have your list of the ECFs on Peter handy?
Agreed, but his memory seems to be a little sketchy. ;-)
Happens to the best of us! I’ve been going since 5:30 am today.
>>I’ll take my chances. And enjoy my eternal security while you live in fear.<<
Well, enjoy thinking your salvation is assured while you can, because you may be in for a very rude discovery when you meet your Maker. Such presumption is very much advised against in your Bible. I, however, trust that because I live as Christ Himself taught us we should live, I can look forward to the reward Christ has promised.
It’s not just Catholics. My (late) mother, who was a Methodist missionary, told me that Church’s greatest growth area is Africa.
Aw man, here we were having a nice debate and you have to go and call in the Scriptural Tourettes case.
“You have to believe in all of them or you are damned per Rome. “
That’s not my problem or worry as a Protestant.
So in other words you have assurance of your salvation. How presumptuous!
I will not be surprised when I meet my Maker. I will be going home to my Daddy to the place prepared for me by Christ. You see my position and salvation depend on Him not me. And the knowledge that I dwell securely in my Savior makes all the difference. I hope some day you can truly experience it.
8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph 2:8-9 NASB)
AND this,
27Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one (Romans 3:27-30 NASB)
is contradicting himself by saying we have to work to earn our salvation??
You might want to re-read those passages.
My apologies...I though you were identifying as a Roman Catholic.
He’s got the best list of the ECF’s and their contradictory positions on Peter being the rock or not.
>>I’ve considered your claim and the claim of John, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit...<<
So tell me in your own words without parroting Scripture (which even Satan is capable of doing) exactly what you think John’s claim is in the verses you’ve cited.
Whoa their Roman Catholic friend.....you've gone off script.
Roman Catholics have told us we cannot know for sure if we're saved and that to believe so is the sin of presumption which would be a mortal sin in Roman Catholicism.
How do you gain your assurance in light of what Rome teaches against this?
It sounds like you're back to trying to keep the Law. Good luck with that!
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