If you will pray the Rosary...
BILLIONS of times a day...
Matthew 6:7
"When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.
Posted on 08/09/2015 11:06:27 AM PDT by Old Yeller
The Bible never speaks of a place where one can go to be purified of his sin. Rather, it always speaks of a Person to whom we can go to be purified: Jesus Christ. God tells us that those who refuse to trust Christ to cleanse them from their sins are condemned: Whoever believes in Him avoids condemnation, but whoever does not believe is already condemned for not believing in the name of God's only Son (John 3:18). There are only two choices: Whoever believes in the Son has life eternal. Whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure the wrath of God (John 3:36; See also Revelation 20:15; Luke 16:19-31, especially verse 26). Anyone who accepts Christ is completely saved: There is no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Saying that there is no condemnation, certainly eliminates the flames of purgatory.
Another passage which clearly excludes the idea of purgatory is, their sins and transgressions I will remember no more (Hebrews 10:17). If, as the Bible says, God no longer remembers the sins of those who are in Christ, He does not punish them for these sins. To do so would be saying that Christ had not made full payment for them and that God the Father still remembered them. (See also Romans 5:8-11; Hebrews 10:14-18; Psalm 103:12).
Anyone who does not believe that Christ has completely saved him, has not completely trusted Christ to save him. That is, he does not believe that Christ's sacrifice has paid for all of his sins, and thinks he must pay for some of them himself. However, we are saved when we stop trusting what we can do, and start trusting Christ to save us.
The idea that Christ's sacrifice is not sufficient to cleanse us from all of our sins would condemn a great sinner such as the thief who was crucified with Jesus to suffer a long time in purgatory if not for all eternity in hell! Instead, there was nothing left over that Christ's death on the Cross did not cover. When the thief placed his trust in Christ, Jesus said to him, I assure you: this day you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).
If purgatory existed, and the mass helped people to get out, the rich would have a tremendous advantage by being able to pay for masses to shorten their suffering. The poor instead, would be left to the mercy of the occasional priest who might say an unpaid mass for them. One ex-priest wrote, "If we really believed that the mass would save people from the flames of purgatory, would we make them pay for it? I would even save a dog if I saw one in a fire, and I would never even think of asking to be paid!"
Purgatory was evidently a pagan idea. Virgil, the pagan Latin poet who lived 70 - 19 B.C. divided the departed souls into three different places in his writings: One for the good, one for the damned, and a third where the less bad could pay for their sins. Since the idea of purgatory existed outside of the church before it came into the church, it is probable that it was brought in by contact with pagans like Virgil. There was a great influx of non-Biblical ideas into the church around 300 A.D. when the Roman Emperor Constantine took many unsaved people in as members of the church.
In any event, there is no mention of purgatory in the Bible. Some would try, however, to make the idea sound somewhat Biblical by referring to 2 Maccabees 12:41-45, a passage in one of the apocryphal books written between the times of the Old and New Testaments. These books were never accepted as part of the Hebrew Old Testament, nor quoted in the New Testament, but they are included in the Catholic Bible, though usually with an explanation that they are of a less inspired category. Apart from this passage in 2 Maccabees, the apocrypha is little used by the Catholic church to support a doctrinal position.
It is important to notice that this passage does not speak of purgatory at all, but actually condemns idolatry, particularly the practice of wearing little images on a necklace or such. Hebrew soldiers were found wearing this sort of thing after a battle, and their buddies, on making this discovery, realized that they had died in the sin of idolatry. They then counseled prayer for their souls. The Roman Catholic position is that prayer for them would have been unnecessary if they were in heaven and useless if they were in hell, so there must be another place. The logic seems good, but the result contradicts the clear teaching of the inspired Scripture. Contradicting inspired Scripture with a philosophical response based on an apparent inference from the Apocrypha is a very weak argument indeed. The very word "Apocrypha," which comes from the Greek word for hidden, has come to mean "false," or "of doubtful authorship."
They b jus veneratin’ them marriages!
Not ignoring and I do tend to reply.
Well; for ME; it's because I get TIRED of beating the wife all the time!
There is no precedent set in Scripture for the activity in which you are involved. There is no support for it.
We are commanded to not contact the dead.
Trying to do so is violating the clear, concise, unequivocal commands of God.
You are dealing with the demonic posing as dead people to you.
Duly noted that NOW you are talking about Jesus and using Scripture, after being called on it.
It still doesn’t give any support to your experiences and *work*.
Experiences may be real, but they aren’t necessarily true. You are still messing with the demonic posing as people.
You said to me:
“What you’re claiming has zero support in the Bible. In fact it is something we are told to avoid. You’re attempt at using 1 John 4 has nothing, repeat nothing to do with what you’re claiming.”
“You’ve taken it completely out of context.”
My response:
Please enlighten me with the scripture in context. Who was John speaking to when he wrote these words?
And, if it is wrong to communicate with spirits, why would John even tell us what to say to test them?
And, if they test OK, are we told not to speak with them even if they are good?
It is my experience that many people block the Holy Spirit, thinking that it is a demon. Discernment of spirits is an important lesson to learn.
I say the same concerning the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Why do people reject Him when He approaches? He is as real as can be and you cannot mistake Him when you meet Him.
“What the heck is it with Catholics and Catholicism that makes them think that God wants us to suffer?”
He gave us a physical body and forced us to deal with other humans!
When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I suffer. Kind of like the guardrails along the road leading us to God. When we run off the road we suffer.
If you will pray the Rosary...
Matthew 6:7
"When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.
The idea of purgatory is very appealing, it does tickle our ears and give false hope.
But isn’t the consistent message of the Bible “Repent NOW for I will come quickly “ The discussion on purgatory should lead us to this one point.........................
Now who would want to tickle our ears?
Speaking to dead people and “helping” them cross over is pure occult and no, Jesus never suggested we do that. it also suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of the completeness of Christs finished work. Incomplete and needing Christian mediums to help facilitate a crossover? No, no, a billion times NO.
You have NO support from Scripture to traffic in mediumship, but lots of warnings not to. You have not heeded them and have found yourself with “another Jesus”, most likely the channeled Aquarian one. Those in that camp are often very nice and well meaning just like you, speaking lies in sweet tones and believing them quite sincerely. “Etheric fence”, “attached”, “the Light”? All that New Age pomp!
The only ones falling for it here are Catholics, who have already opened themselves up to the “special menu” (Fatima, etc.) If you were in touch with the Spirit you would RUN from the dark arts masquerading as though from God. I’m not saying you are an unbeliever, just that you are deceived. I’m no better than you and have my own issues. Please line yourself with the sound doctrine of God as we all must no matter HOW we got our deceptions.
And I assure you that Jesus IS! GOD!
Joseph Smith made a claim almost exactly like this!
“And I assure you that Jesus IS! GOD!”
We humans perceive that any spirit existing above us is God. It’s the reason that we also perceive them as Light as the inherent energy of the higher consciousness is seen as light when it comes to our lower levels of existence. Funny thing, electrons orbiting around the nucleus of an atom do the same thing (give off light) when they move to a lower level.
My Father’s mansion has many rooms, and they are on many different levels. I think it was Paul who referred to going up to the “Seventh Heaven.”
I often read John 14 to remind myself:
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Communion is merely us communing with Jesus in order that His Father that exists in Him also exists within us. That is the Baptism of Spirit which everyone seeks.(or should seek)
“Speaking to dead people and “helping” them cross over is pure occult”
Are you now saying that Jesus is occult as He did these very things many times? I would strongly disagree.
“the Light”? All that New Age pomp!”
John 8 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Luke 11:36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
John 9:5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 12:36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
If you ever see the Holy Spirit, you will also find that it appears as LIGHT...
All religion is empty.
Religion gets us nowhere with God.
If anyone is following a religion, they are chasing after the wind.
If anyone is following Christ, they are saved.
An empty cross is an indicator of the victory over death that Jesus made.
It's too bad the Catholic church leaves Him there in perpetuity. All it says is that the church doesn't think Jesus finished what He said he did. My Jesus is the resurrected, conquering King, not the conquered victim forever bound to that cross, impotent on it.
Jesus didn’t negotiate with dead spirits.
He commanded evil spirits and ordered them out.
That is nowhere near what you are claiming you are doing.
“We are commanded to not contact the dead.”
We are commanded not to:
19 When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning.
I say to you that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are living! I use the same discernment tool as the Bible teaches. If they do not have the Light of God in them, do not believe them. I too warn people against this.
I also say to you, do not believe me. Go within to God and get your instruction direct from the source.
But if you persist in denying all spirits, you will end up denying the Holy Spirit. It too is as real as all the others that do not shine the Light of God.
chapter, verse and translation/version please.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.