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 ...
If you can earn hell, you can earn heaven.
But your reasoning is flawed.
You seem to be working under the presumption that a person is already going to heaven unless they lose it by sinning.
In reality, everyone is going to hell unless they become saved from it.
And NOTHING, no act, no work, no repentance or feeling sorry for your sin is going to cut it with God for letting you into heaven.
His criteria is absolute holiness. ANY sin condemns one 5to hell, so the very first sin you committed damned you and put you beyond the ability to pay for it. Just like Adam and Eve.
An entire lifetime of otherwise perfect living can not and will not erase or make up for that sin.
All your criteria and plans, need to repent sincerely, avoid doing willful acts, etc, mean NOTHING. They cannot save.
The only way God is going to clear the account, the debt that you owe Him for the sin you have committed, is for Him to forgive you. freely and completely.
Oh, and you cannot do that by a blanket repentance for transgressions not yet committed. Keep in mind that God will not be fooled by such insincerity and chicanery.
You are wrong.
God offers blanket forgiveness of sin.
HIS words, not mine.
1 John 1:7-10 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Huh?
Then it's a useless killing.
The death of Christ is over and done with.
That is proven by His resurrection.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
Romans 6:10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
Hebrews 10:10-14 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Whatever it is that Catholic think they are doing, it sure isn't participating in the sacrifice of Jesus.
The only contribution any of us have ever made to His death is the sin that put Him on the cross in the first place.
The sheer paganism flying on this thread shows how small the Real Body of Christ is - probably less than 2% of the world and easily less than 5% of the US.
By that statement, you negate the word of God and set yourself up as an arbiter of the truth, and essentially tell us the God lied in this Scripture.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Agreed.
Had it not been for The Lord’s merciful Grace, there I’d be as well.
Well, whoever said that is wrong.
Mary can't save and depending on devotion to her will land you in hell>
JESUS is the one who died for your sins and He is the only one who can save you.
Devotion to Mary is meaningless in terms of salvation.
This is what Jesus says.
We are to follow HIM.
Matthew 4:19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Matthew 8:22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Matthew 9:9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
Matthew 10:38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Mark 1:17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Mark 2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
Mark 8:34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Mark 10:21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Luke 5:27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.”
Luke 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Luke 18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
John 1:43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
John 12:26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
John 21:19 And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
John 21:22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”
I believe that it is all right as a Christian to be judgmental of sin. I believe that Jesus ask us to have decrement and with that decrement to make value judgments. but I believe condemnation is left to god. remember we are all sinners and when Christ came it was for tall of us that are mired in sin. even if a man is heavily mired in his sinful way ne still can be a Christian because all it takes is a belief that Christ came to save us from the sin and all we have to do is except him in to are hearts and allow him to guid us. remember the thief who entered the kingdom of god beside Christ on the cross
Jesus never said eating His flesh and blood is how one becomes born again.
MANY people have changed themselves and way of thinking just because they read something or met someone that is NOT spiritual.
MY statement is a personal observation of myself compared and contrasted to the others I have met in my years of living.
And in my experience, those few people I know or have met that are no different now than when they were younger are intellectually and conversationally (To ME, anyway) ... dead.
Don't compartmentalize too severely
Sure is lots of excuses for disobeying a clear and concise command of Jesus, IOW, sinning.
>>”Call no man father.”?<<
Elsie, dear, due to the FACT that most people on the planet, Christians included, refer to their male parent, regardless of their native language, as “FATHER”, at your age it should have occurred even to you that there is something seriously wrong with your own private interpretation of the Good Book. I suggest that you give serious thought to this observation while kneeling quietly in front of a nice painting of George Washington.
It in NO WAY suggests children should not call their fathers *Father*.
Again, just the usual excuses for disobeying the clear concise command of Jesus.
Matthew 23: 8-10 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
Matthew 23:1-12 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
They have TIME on their side.
Wild horses 🐎 couldn’t get me to swim the Tiber, so they can wait until doomsday if they like. It ain’t happening. They may have time on their side, but I have eternity on mine. 😁👍😀
Now, you are talking about percentage figures, that are almost identical to what I have long since suspected, that about 98% of the world’s population will go to Hell.
I cannot back that up with scripture, except to say, many are called, but few are chosen. Anyone who tries to rely on their good works, to get to Heaven, surely isn’t chosen.
Those are estimates based on my short time here and how people act, react, and basically live life.
The Lord does say over and over again “small is the gate” (Matt 7:14), “enter through the narrow door” (Luke 13:24).
The basic fact that this thread is as long as it is due to disagreements over John 6:29, Romans 10:9-10, Acts 16:31, and John 14:6 shows exactly what you & I are talking about.
If it’s not about Christ and His finished work, then it’s about PRIDE.
We’re admonished to not to boast (Ephesians 2:9) because we cannot do this on our own, but I’m preaching to the choir as you know.
Very sobering thoughts.
(S) Vareful now, you mustn’t shatter a priest’s empowerment scheme.(/S)
Which is exactly why we contribute nothing to attaining or maintaining our salvation.
If we did, we'd get some glory for it and could brag about how we did.
*I* went to the right church.
*I* took communion at the right church.
*I* was baptized in the right way.
*I* did the right good deeds.
But it being completely the work of Christ on the cross, it removes ANY self from the equation.
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