Posted on 09/25/2013 8:27:57 PM PDT by WXRGina
Reuters and other news agencies are reporting that the Pope has capitulated on several issues such as homosexuality, abortion and contraception.
The Pope’s remarks were taken from a 12,000 word interview with the Jesuit periodical, Civilta Cattolica, (Catholic Civilization) the most prominent statement reaching news agencies is his declaration that the church needs to shake off its obsession with abortion and homosexuality.
The Pope has pleased the liberal factions of the Catholic Church and sickened and worried the conservative members of the church.
Few have reported on the prophetic implications of the Pope’s remarks and with some exceptions, such as those made by Evangelist Bill Keller, most protestant news outlets remain free of op-eds or theological treatment of the Pope’s interview, at the moment.
Biblical Theology and Catholic Teachings – Always at Odds
Hundreds of traditional or patristic teachings of Catholicism are either in direct conflict with the bible or do not exist in the scriptures at all.
The list of theological discrepancies has been addressed repeatedly for centuries and there would be little room to cover them all in one short article.
What we must point out is that on two very important levels, those who stand on scripture can’t ever recognize the authority of the Pope – it has never been a matter of whether they like him or not, nor is it a matter of personal choosing.
First, Because of the Greek rendering of Matthew 16: 18, “That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” Protestants believe that Christ was referring to himself as the Rock, not Peter. This is supported by other scriptural passages, to wit:
“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (Mt 16: 18b)
Secondly, not one word in the bible speaks of ‘apostolic succession.’ It is a concoction of the Roman church, not a biblical teaching. It is very difficult even to support the teaching in view of the fact that there was no Catholic church for over 300 years after Christ came into the world. Most Catholics are totally unaware of this fact. They have been told they are the ‘first church,’ but true history betrays them.
Simply because these facts cannot keep the childlike faith of any Catholic from reaching the Savior does not justify or verify the truth of Catholicism’s origins. It is simply a matter of Catholics being saved or redeemed not because of their religion – but in spite of it!
The Real and Present Danger in the Discrepancies between the Papacy and the Bible
Gentle, but firm, is the only way to approach addressing the errors of Catholicism at the same time knowing that millions of Catholics are of the family of faith simply because Jesus said “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” (Jn 6: 37)
Yet, it is more than an item of curiosity or some minor theological difference; it is a dire sense of urgency and concern, especially in the last days, that causes anyone who knows scripture to make fair warning.
I have repeated this warning so often that I think my publishers may think I’ve run out of new things to say. I’ll take that chance, as opposed to risking a confrontation with my Savior for not making it as abundantly clear as possible, while there is still time.
What warning you ask!
Any religion, Catholic or other, that derives its ultimate authority from a man is subject to heresy, apostasy and error depending on the personality, the current state of mind or the evolvement of personal ideologies in that man.
Faith based solely on the scriptures, the written accounts of Christ’s teaching and his Apostles and biblical prophets cannot be altered, changed or disputed until the very last day of time. God intended this; it is his way of grounding us on a rock instead of the sinking sands of a changing and unstable world, to wit:
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” (Mt 7: 24, 25)
Christ relegated his authority to his Apostles and their teachings too are on the same level as his. They were not mere scribes or interpreters of his will they were Holy Spirit inspired and authorized to speak as final authorities.
“He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.” (Lk 10: 16)
Finally, since we will not be judged by what other men say – why would we waste time or risk being found in total error. Why not go to the source of truth and take Christ’s warning seriously?
“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” (Jn 12: 48)
So what did the Apostles really say about abortion, homosexuality and issues of the day?
The prophetic part of the bible contradicts the Pope’s assertion that believers are obsessed with homosexuality and abortion. In fact it warns that in the last days it is possession (demonic) that will fuel the slide into apostasy the world over.
Political correctness, floundering Pontiff’s and general acceptance of everything the bible condemns, is proof immutable, that the NWO, apostasy and the emergence of the Antichrist are well on track for the very near future. ‘Just don’t talk about it’ is the advice of fools. If the only choices are between obsession and possession it’s pretty much a no brainer.
Not only is homosexuality referred to as an abomination, to be noted, rebuked and refused as part of the church, but immoral behaviors were cause for people to be put out of the church and not allowed back in until they had fully repented. (1Co 5: 1-7) Should the perversion of same sex acts and marriage be an exception?
The idea of the Pope suggesting that we are over-talking the subject of abortions reaches to the heights of apostasy. The only voices the over two hundred million aborted babies worldwide have - is ours. Telling us to be silent is the moral equivalent of blasphemy.
After the Sandy Hook massacre of innocent children the liberals went after guns with a vengeance. Doesn’t it seem hypocritical that after 60,000,000 abortions in the U.S. and 160,000,000 abortions worldwide that telling us to pipe down is the only thing the Pope can think of to say? We will never be silent, or to borrow a phrase, you can pry my anti-abortion argument from my cold dead lips, but no other way.
The Folly of Following the Fallen
Has the Pope taken his first steps into the last day’s (apostasy) falling away? We can only hope he has not, but if this is the beginning of it, it is also the end of everything as we have known it.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” (2 Th 2: 3)
They would no longer stay in the Catholic Church if that were true, Sum.
__________________________________
Actually, I left the Catholic Church for several years...and Jesus led me back. I am Catholic and my relationship with the Lord has deepened because of this, as has my husband’s. My husband had a slightly different experience. Though he was not Catholic, he came to believe that God wanted him here. We both searched the Scriptures together and prayed, asking the Father to show us where we were to be (we had attended several different Christian churches over a period of years...always finding something that was being said by the pastor that did not line up with the Bible).
Though you may not see me as a sister in Christ (because I am joyfully Catholic), I definitely see you as a brother/sister in Christ and sincerely wish that we and people like us would work together in living and spreading the Good News. This painfully darkened world desperately needs that message and witness now and the urgency to win souls for Christ is great...far greater than it has ever been!
I’ve read the first 20 replies only, so maybe someone has said something like this:
I believe is talking about the approach the believer should have to sinners. It’s an evangelical how-to. Love them and embrace them first, because that’s the most important thing. If they turn to God, they will shed all their sinful behaviors as a natural result.
That said, I think if his remarks are misconstrued and lead to the death of even one baby who would not otherwise have died, they were not wisely uttered.
Lovely post, johngrace, just lovely. Such a shining example of knowing not of what you speak. Might wanna go back to the Three Stooges.
Unlike Catholics, we don’t believe others can pray us into heaven or purgatory or wherever. My mother was praying for the woman but not as you know prayer. And even so, the woman still did not die well.
Believers see Jesus at death and what I and Alamo-Girl wrote bears that out. Jesus comes for His own at the moment of their earthly death. He is not leaving them to die in fear and uncertainty. Get it? Try reading the account of the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7 and the account of Peter Marshall’s death by his widow, Catherine.
I will never leave you nor forsake you.....means just that! Even as you take your last earthly breath!
Catholics have so many safeguards built into their false gospel that it is inconceivable for them to even contemplate they might actually be destined for hell.
And I, for one, am sick to death of your namby-pamby feel-good religion that believes all good Catholics make it into heaven. If you are betting your soul on what the Catholic church teaches, then you will be horrified on the day you die.
“Because it really does speak to what you want most from life and that is to be good and loved by others and seen to be godly.”
Reading the mind of other posters is also a violation of the rules of the Religion Forum.
But since you asked, what I want most is, “To serve God, know Him and love Him in this life and to be happy with Him in Heaven in the next.”
It is why God made me.
sitetest
Dispensationalism (theory promulgated by John Dasrby in 1830s) versus partial preterism (understood by churches since the Reformation) depends so much upon the date of the writing of the Book of Revelation. If written after 70 AD, it points to dispensationalism, else partial preterism. Because of a lack of mention of the destruction of the Temple, I believe that Revelation was written early, hence partial preterism makes more sense to me.
In the end, if your focus is preaching this, versus preaching the love of God, we Believers being the hands and feet of Jesus on the earth, those who choose to buy in to your preaching may fall easily when trials come. I have a friend from church who ‘preaches’ this to everyone he meets. He travels 700 miles from Calgary each year to attend an ‘end times’ prophesy conference in Winnipeg, another in Sakatoon, another in Regina and one in Edmonton, in addition to whatever comes to Calgary. He also chooses not to read the Bible because he gets ‘all he needs’ from these conferences.
The hope that I have is in eternity with Jesus, not in being scooped up, unhurt and unscathed, snatched to Heaven while the remainder on the earth almost destroy it. The idea that the people of the rich church in the West (Christendom) will be wisked away with no troubles makes no sense, especially when I see the trials and tribulations of Christians in Africa and the Middle East. I am here for the long haul, with Him in me. If it turns out a ‘pre-trib rapture’, I welcome it, though I do not believe that it is a proper interpreting scripture.
You're not a fool, Brian. You just have a big heart. Pope Francis, said just yesterday, if I recall correctly, that there are “the three languages needed to know Jesus: that of the mind, that of the heart, and that of action.”
I imagine that it is important to keep these three languages in some semblance of balance, of proportion with each other. Perhaps sometimes your big heart speaks too strongly the language of the heart. If you are any sort of fool, you are a fool for Christ.
sitetest
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
But since you asked, what I want most is, “To serve God, know Him and love Him in this life and to be happy with Him in Heaven in the next.”
It is why God made me.
________________________________
What a beautiful truth! That is exactly why He made us.
Speaking of history, do you have the date (from history) of the founding of the Catholic Church?
I’m just curious because I used to teach history and am adamantly against the revision of history. Sadly, most of the textbooks written today are horribly full of “agendized,” revisionist nonsense (thus, the huge numbers of ignorant voters).
Amen.
That is just it, Sum...that is what Satan wants of the world...for us all to come together and sing kumbaya and get along and be united and work together.
What does that sound like to you? A one world religion? Sure does to me.
Why do you think Islam is so appreciative of Catholicism and vice versa, and even acknowledges the Mary worship? How do you think it would go over if a Muslim were told that they were going to hell outside the saving blood of Jesus? Jihad? Yes!
But Catholics don’t require them to change or be saved. They just say let’s all get along. You love Mary, we love Mary...hey, that’s makes us brothers and we’re all okay.
Catholicism & Islam: Ties That Bind
http://www.reachingcatholics.org/cath_islam.html
Excerpt from the article at link: “The above title became a source of controversy when I used it for a talk given at a recent prophecy conference. What I found curious about the commotion was that it came from Catholics (and some evangelicals) who had yet to hear my presentation. Furthermore, the title reflects the hope and prayers of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Rome has been tilling this “common ground” with Islam for decades, as evidenced by the 1994 Vatican publication, Recognize the Spiritual Bonds Which Unite Us: 16 Years of Christian-Muslim Dialogue. Why, therefore, would anyone be upset by my simply repeating what the Roman Catholic Church very much desires?”
The only “spiritual bonds” that Rome and Islam share are Satanic ones. And Jesus and Islam share absolutely NONE!
You and your husband sound like truly good people, which I believe most Catholics are....but good is not the entrance ticket to heaven. Unless you are born again and baptized by the Holy Spirit (not water), you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Period...full stop...end of.
Yes, I know I am harsh and I give no quarter on this but neither does God. It is His way as stated in Scripture or the very broad highway to hell. There are no get-out-of-hell free cards and nobody gets a second chance once this life is over. So make darn sure that what you believe is worth staking your eternal soul on because you will be in eternity without the Lord for a very, very, very long time if you are wrong.
I do not wish anyone here to perish. I get incredibly angry at the deception and ignorance I see here and for the gullibility as well. And if we were not talking salvation, I am sure I would love to have many of you as friends. But we ARE talking salvation and souls and I will not give even one inch to Satan.
And that is enough from me for one day, maybe a lifetime for you. :)
God bless you infinitely and thank you for posting to me in a spirit of love...something I am sadly lacking in most times. Catholics at least have that part down pat!
jodyel
It's a truism of logic that you can't prove a negative. Care to show me how you'd prove that particular negative? How do you know there was no Catholic Church in AD 120?
Here's how I know there was: Ignatius of Antioch, who was the third bishop of Antioch after St. Peter, called himself the "bishop of the Catholic Church in Syria" in AD 110.
Your move.
No, not at my fingertips.
But it has been explained many times on threads here in the RF from an historical perspective.
From This Link:
...the idea of the "pope" did not exist from the beginning of the church. It was not until several centuries after Christ that the church began to develop into the "Roman Catholic Church" as we think of it todayInteresting enough, earlier on that page is this:
For the first thousand years of Christianity there was no "Roman Catholicism" as we know it today...There was only the "one, holy, catholic church" affirmed by the early creeds, which was the body of Christian believers all over the world, united by common traditions, beliefs, church structure and worship (catholic simply means "universal"). Thus, throughout the Middle Ages, if you were a Christian, you belonged to the Catholic Church. Any Christianity other than the Catholic Church was a heresy, not a denomination.See the areas I put in bold and notice how "catholic" was changed to "Catholic" in order to start the misconception that the Catholic Church we know of in this day and age is the supreme "mother church" to which all must belong to be saved.
Made it personal to Catholics as a group.
Thanks,
jodyel
Then I leave you to your view, AFPC.
Thanks for the postings and God bless you.
I guess none of “you” can see that the “you” being discussed here is a collective “you” referencing all Catholics.
But then, why would “you”? All of “you” just like to go running off to mods at the mere whiff of anything “personal.”
Go blow your collective Catholic noses on your collective Catholic sleeves, and trouble me no further.
Pick a fight with a group, and then pretend to be aggrieved when they dare to respond?
Thank you for posting that.
Can you link us to where he called himself "bishop of the Catholic Church in Syria?" I would like to see the original quote from history.
Thanks
Interesting conclusions. (Well, not really, but let us remain civil.)
No, Michael Bresciani (look him up, he’s quite an accomplished obsessive Catholic disser), can SYNCROnize his faith with any Christian or so-called Christian sect, any of the 35,000 that supposedly exist (learn the science of giving examples to understand why I listed only three out of the alleged 35,000), but his disputes are really with Joel Osteen, Paul Crouch, Jim Bakker (never forget the second ‘k’) (again, examples) who are some of the heretics of his own strain of Bible interpretation.
Please list the rest.
There truly is only one Christian faith, and that is Christianity.
...his disputes are really with Joel Osteen, Paul Crouch, Jim Bakker (never forget the second ‘k’) (again, examples)
Oh ok, so he has no dispute with the Catholic Church? Then he must have (to use your words) "SYNCROnize(d) his faith" with Catholicism.
PS love the capitalization of my screen name!
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