Posted on 09/25/2015 7:04:08 AM PDT by shortstop
If you're the donut man, sell donuts.
And if you're the pope, preach Christ.
In life, you have to know your role and remember your purpose. You have to keep your eye on the prize. Yesterday, in front of a Congress and a nation, Pope Francis forgot who he was.
He came to the plate, and he didn't swing.
He failed to deliver the one message his life is supposedly dedicated to delivering. With the eyes of a government and a people upon him, he squandered the opportunity of a lifetime.
America needed to hear something, and he didn't say it.
If you're the pope, you preach Christ. You spread the good news of a Savior sent to redeem mankind. You call the world to Christ, you call the world to repentance, you call the world to its knees.
You tell all who will hear, the most important thing they or anyone else will ever hear – that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
You follow the example of the Apostle Paul who went among the Corinthians with one topic on his lips – “Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
You stand before the Americans, like that same Paul stood before the Athenians, and say, “Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.”
But that's not what Francis did.
I'm not sure he even mentioned God or Jesus.
Instead, he talked about immigration and global warming and social justice. He gave a halting, barely comprehensible lecture ripped right out of the progressives' talking points. He said nothing new, noble or memorable.
And he certainly didn't preach Christ. He said not a word that called anyone to God, or gave them an insight into salvation or the eternities.
He did nothing to save a soul.
And he said nothing that countless others couldn't have said far better.
We don't need the pope to give us a global warming lecture. Every newscaster and tenured professor can do that. Any number of activists stand at the ready to give a powerful speech on climate change. The same is true for half the politicians in the world and most of the movie stars.
Teachers and scientists already form a massive army spreading the gospel of global warming. Protesting masses can by the thousands shout its tenets.
The pope had nothing to contribute on climate change.
Or immigration.
America has all of one party and half of the other ready, willing and able to argue movingly for open borders. Millions upon millions of people can passionately and eloquently make the case for immigration amnesty and entitlement. A large portion of the politicians in front of him could have taken the lectern and extemporaneously delivered powerful arguments for why the peoples of the world should be allowed to live on American territory and live from the American purse.
He offered nothing unique.
Like he offered nothing unique on the issue of minority rights and marginalized people. In America, a long history of civil rights activism has given us a large portion of the population who clearly, powerfully and earnestly believe in and can advocate for minorities. In the well of the House yesterday, a man who lived as a privileged white in Argentina tried to teach minority rights to a group that included a black congressman who had faced fire hoses and police dogs.
If you're the donut man, sell donuts.
And instead of offering his unique religious perspective and message, and living up to his calling, he rehashed the specialties of others in an unnecessary and uninspiring fashion.
Even in areas of clear moral conflict between his church and the society he was addressing, he chose silence and implication. Instead of condemning gay marriage, he said simply that the family was under attack. Instead of denouncing abortion, he said that life must be respected in all its stages.
And then he went immediately into a lecture against the death penalty, in a stunning demonstration of disproportionate outrage. In the most recent year for which there are statistics, the United States had 43 executions and 740,000 abortions.
Forty-three convicted murderers killed, almost three-quarters of a million innocent unborn babies killed – and he chides Americans over the 43, while being silent about the 740,000?
That is not courageous.
That is an odd dereliction of divine duty.
Worst of all, while what he did say was unnecessary, what he did not say is absolutely essential. He gave America philosophy when it needed faith, rhetoric when it needed religion.
Because America is in need of spiritual guidance. It needs a vicar of Christ to call it to repentance. We are a nation come loose of its religious moorings, and our problems are altogether spiritual problems, which will be solved not by more programs of men, but by more fidelity to God.
If you're the donut man, sell donuts.
And if you're the pope, preach Christ.
The pope needed to stand before America and tell it that there is peace for its soul, that there is light for its path, that there is forgiveness for its sins. He needed to tell this country that there is a loving Father in heaven and that he and his Son stand with open arms, extending the loving invitation of Christianity to all the family of man.
He needed to teach, testify and invite.
He needed to preach Christ, and him crucified.
He needed to offer the peace, salvation and joy that only the divine can provide.
Instead he gave a Democrat stump speech.
He didn't make history, he wasted opportunity.
He forgot the command of Jesus to the first pope.
He did not feed the sheep.
America needed to hear from a pastor yesterday. It got a politician instead.
If he wants faith go to Mass. IF he had preached all non-Catholics and even some Catholics would be screaming! How DARE the Pope preach to us. We are not Catholics. Think about it!
Right on bro!
BINGO!
I have intentionally ignored this dopey Popes visit as it would only further my belief that he is an anti-pope and should be run out of the Vatican on a rail.
I believe something sinister is afoot and I wonder what is going on with Pope Benedict.
Well, he is assuming the Pope is a Christian.
If he wants faith go to Mass. IF he had preached all non-Catholics and even some Catholics would be screaming! How DARE the Pope preach to us. We are not Catholics. Think about it!
I disagree. When Pope John Paul preached, this non-Catholic appreciated his message, PRAYERS and petitions, very much.
Would rather have heard him preach, than not :(
If there was a chance he was going to do that, obama would not have let him come.
Priests have been good to me in my life since my old man died when i was 15. they were good guys. We did lose three of them but at least it was to women of legal age :)
My father warned me when i was about 8, i think, that if a priest ever touches me funny to let him know. That was 1976 and my father was 55 at the time.
How hard must it be to give up the joy of women and possibly family for an entity that you can’t smell, see, touch or hear, except in your heart.
I believe. But it’s not easy.
Having to believe strong enough to make everyone else believe must be really hard
As a Protestant, I thought the Catholic pope was suppose to preach the LORD Jesus Christ..
Instead this guy channeled Al Gore...
and a scene from Dead Man Walking..
And my atheist, lib friends were in awe.
Amen!
Fantastic. Simply fantastic commentary. Spot on. I mean you nailed it. Read the book of Acts. The Apostle Paul was dragged before tribunals and kangaroo courts where gave a defense of himself via his personal salvation testimony. In every single account before public forms and trials he always preached salvation through Christ. The Pope? Mumbled something about Globull Warming.
Wow.
didn’t preach Christ.
but did say crisis...
I thought he said the mass in Latin
As BL said - what a wasted opportunity.
Amen
He wouldn't have had to preach Catholicism to condemn abortion, call for repentance, and demand reform. Preaching what C. S. Lewis called "Mere Christianity" would have been sufficient. Even preaching freedom for all peoples and human rights for everyone would have been sufficient.
Yes, he blew it big time.
If he wants faith go to Mass. IF he had preached all non-Catholics and even some Catholics would be screaming! How DARE the Pope preach to us. We are not Catholics. Think about it!
First, we are well indoctrinated in the idea of separation of church and state. It is very much a first response even though we know better. Thus, “if you want faith, go to mass.”
Second, Not offending anyone is our national mantra. I think that is the essence of your post.
Third, Being a prophet (carrying the burden of the Lord), speaking the truth, will cost you. He wants to be liked, and told the world what it wanted to hear. There will be consequences.
Fourth, The response to every false prophet is
Jer 23:35 You should keep asking each other, ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What is the LORD saying?’
That should be the question to the Pope and to each other.
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