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In other news...

Many formerly trapped Catholics are being rescued by Christ and escaping the chains of Rome. As their eyes are being opened, they are realizing that their salvation was granted by grace alone, through faith, and that not of themselves...it was a gift of God, not of works the way they were taught to boast by Rome and its sacerdotalism, indulgences, mariolatry, rosaries, sacraments, rituals, etc.

They're lost. Lost on an ocean of subjectivism and individualism where "truth" means whatever they decide it to mean. They're submerged in a sea of confusion where Pastor A and Minister B make it up out of whole cloth, all the while selling the snake oil of presumed "salvation", while ignoring the words of Jesus that it is not those who say "Lord, Lord" who will inherit the kingdom of heaven but those who "do the will of My Father". They're blinded to the importance of the parable of the Good Samaritan and they're taught to believe that the Last Judgment will be a mere formality, when Jesus himself tells us that he will judge us on our works......."for I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in...."

They're taught that all that's necessary is faith when Scripture tells us explicitly that there is something greater than faith and that something is love which shows itself in works, which is precisely why James tells us that faith without works is useless. They're taught to ignore the importance of the cross and suffering when Jesus says definitively that anyone who would be his follower must take up that cross and carry it. A work, in other words.

They swallow latter-day American heresy, Rapture-shmature, the "prosperity gospel", ticket-punch salvation where all that's necessary is to maintain a gut-feeling that "I'm saved" and it's a done deal. Insta-salvation, drive through salvation, fast-food salvation.

Blind fools. Blind, presumptuous fools.

Many formerly trapped Catholics are being rescued by Christ and escaping the chains of Rome....

Absolutely true.
However, any affection, not to mention respect at all left for what after all is, along with the Orthodox tradition, the Mother Church?
King James and King Charles not Protestant enough for you?
The rapprochement between the Lutherans and the Romans not mentioned in your church's bulletin?
Any realization that you would not have your personal Bible at all had it not been preserved by those horrid Greeks and even worse Romans?

sacerdotalism, indulgences, mariolatry, rosaries, sacraments, rituals, etc. Guilty as charged, and so what?

.... salvation was granted by grace alone, through faith, and that not of themselves....

There you go again, agreeing with the Pope.

The Roman Catholic Church ... laden with pagan tradition? Well yeah, that's the Roman part. The Greek Orthodox Church, laden with Hellenistic pagan traditions? Well yeah, that's the Greek part. Authority, Tradition, Hierarchy, no religion ... even the various Protestant sects .... can exist without some of those elements in greater or lesser degree. Think Circus (another pagan concept). The tents and costumes may differ, but the elephant is the same.

Take your stand. Militantly convert as many as you can to your way of worship and praise. However, don't presume that those outside of your particular sect are any more or less Christian, or even saved, than yourself.

**Many formerly trapped Catholics **

No such thing. This statement is an oxymoron.

Once a Catholic — always a Catholic — and the person will have to answer for their Baptism when they die.

They may not be an active Catholic right now, but they will always be a Catholic.