Thanks to Pope Francis I'm No Longer a 'Neo-Catholic'

I was a Catholic on the fence, Catholic in name only. In other words, I was a disgrace. Sure, I prayed to God (when I needed something), went to Confession (once a year), refrained from sin (when it wasn't too inconvenient) and believed (in a false version of God).

Clearly, I was living a lie.

Picking and choosing those bits of the Church's teaching that suited me, while completely ignoring the others, I was quickly becoming a disciple of Satan without even realizing it.

And so, as an ardent follower of Satan, I found myself watching some Protestant videos on YouTube. Then it happened. By the Grace of God, I stumbled upon a pretty interesting Protestant video on Pope Francis.

As a modern, semi-liberal Catholic (thank God, I have always been very much pro-life), I had thought that Pope Francis was pretty amazing. I never knew much about him, but I quickly bought into the whole 'mercy mission' of our Pope. Watching this Protestant video bashing Pope Francis, I felt my heart sink. For although I liked some Protestants, there was something deep inside me, buried beneath the layers of modernism, that was truly Catholic. I had always known that the Catholic Church was the only true church.

Still, these Protestants were right about everything regarding Pope Francis. The video in question analyzed the obviously outrageous prayer exchange between our Pope and the prosperity gospel fraud Kenneth Copeland.

My heart was racing like crazy. What is Pope Francis doing? What's going on?

And then, a question crossed my mind: Is the Catholic Church really the One True Church?

I needed to find out what was happening. Is it possible that Catholics support the actions of our Pope?

This was the beginning of the end. The end of the old me and the first step on my journey home. For, while I was searching for facts regarding Pope Francis and Catholicism, a whole new world opened up to me: the world of traditional Catholics (aka faithful Catholics).

I learned abouth the Church history, the errors of modernism, the rotten fruits of the Vatican II, the few remaining faithful bishops and cardinals, Amoris Laetitia, the Latin Mass and the false mercy. But, most importantly, I learned about hell.

I had never known about hell. Sure, there was a vague concept somewhere at the back of my mind of what hell might look like. You know, a place where some really nasty paedophiles and serial killers go. Mortal sin – what's that?

Metaphorically speaking, it was Pope Francis who led me to hell. His actions and words became so outrageously liberal and erroneous, that I could no longer ignore the whole 'let's-tolerate-everyone-and-everything-in-the-name-of-mercy“ attitude, let alone mistake it for the real Church teaching. I needed to know what the Church really is all about. I needed to know what hell is. Thanks to Pope Francis, I learned all this and so much more.

Had Pope Francis never been elected, would I have changed my ways? Only God knows.

The whole point of this story is, that even in the midst of the unprecedented crisis in Church history, the Holy Spirit still governs the Catholic Church. Sinners are being converted every day, some in spite of the crisis in the Church, others because of it.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for always guiding us.

Forgive us, Our Lord Jesus, for we have sinned.

Have mercy on our poor souls, God the Father.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

So the writer was a Catholic, but not "really", then realized the head of the Catholic church was an evil fraud (after being informed by Protestants), and now the writer is a Catholic again, under the head of the church, Pope Francis, but now he/she knows Francis is "bad", and will be a "different" Catholic?

OK.......

It would have been a much more uplifting article if the writer had quoted Scripture, and said they now understood Christ's gift of salvation:

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2: 1-10

Imagine a small town with a single intersection (a "cross" if you will). The intersection is controlled by four-way stop signs. The town cop is corrupt. If you are an influential citizen or a friend of the cop, you can run the stop sign with impunity. If you are an out-of-towner or somebody on the cop's sh!t-list, you will get a ticket even if you come to a complete stop and obey the law perfectly. The corrupt city father's are perfectly ok with this as they get to blow through the intersection at will and the city coffers are filled by those not fortunate enough to be on the cop's good side.

Obviously there is a problem and the system isn't working like it's supposed to largely due to the (mal-)administration of the person in charge of it and the people who put him there. Nonetheless, this does not mean there is something wrong or flawed with the broader concept of having stop signs at intersections and the rules that govern them. Stop signs at intersections and traffic laws are inherently good things, and when entrusted to people who understand and support the reasoning behind them, and enforce them as intended they work flawlessly. In the case of an accident, disputes may arise, but it's not about whether the traffic laws are flawed, but rather about which party didn't obey them.

On the other hand, when entrusted to the incompetent and/or evil, even the best and finest and most flawless of concepts can be distorted and disfigured into something unrecognizable. We need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Bad Cop Francis may be a very poor administrator of that which has been placed in his trust, but that should not undermine a Catholic's faith in the Church he is improperly administering or possibly even intentionally attempting to undermine.

Read the end of the Book! If there is only one Church, why did Jesus dictate letters to SEVEN Churches, all of them different, but all containing people who had not succumbed to that church’s particular error. Don’t be stuck on stupid! Be a Victor!

Revelation 2
7 “’”Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God.”’
- - - - -
11 “’”Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The victor shall not be harmed by the second death.”’
- - - - -
17 “’”Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna; I shall also give a white amulet upon which
is inscribed a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it.”’
- - - - -
24 But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not uphold this teaching and
know nothing of the so-called deep secrets of Satan: on you I will place no further burden,
25 except that you must hold fast to what you have until I come.
26 “’”To the victor, who keeps to my ways until the end, I will give authority over the nations.
27 He will rule them with an iron rod. Like clay vessels will they be smashed,
28 just as I received authority from my Father. And to him I will give the morning star.
29 “’”Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
- - - - -
Revelation 3
4 However, you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments;
they will walk with me dressed in white, because they are worthy.
5 “’”The victor will thus be dressed in white, and I will never erase his name
from the book of life but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my
Father and of his angels.
6 “’”Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
- - - - -
7 “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write this:
“‘The holy one, the true,
who holds the key of David,
who opens and no one shall close,
who closes and no one shall open,
says this:
8 “‘“I know your works (behold, I have left an open door before you, which no one can close).
You have limited strength, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make those of the assembly of Satan who claim to be Jews and are not,
but are lying, behold I will make them come and fall prostrate at your feet,
and they will realize that I love you.
10 Because you have kept my message of endurance, I will keep you safe in the time of trial
that is going to come to the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
11 I am coming quickly. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one may take your crown.
12 “‘“The victor I will make into a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again.
On him I will inscribe the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem,
which comes down out of heaven from my God, as well as my new name.
13 “‘“Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
- - - - -
20 “’”Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, [then] I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.
21 I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself
first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne.

22 “’”Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’”
- - - - -

* [2:7] Victor: referring to any Christian individual who holds fast to the faith
and does God’s will in the face of persecution. The tree of life that is in the
garden of God: this is a reference to the tree in the primeval paradise (Gn 2:9);
cf. Rev 22:2, 14, 19. The decree excluding humanity from the tree of life has
been revoked by Christ.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/revelation/2
http://www.usccb.org/bible/revelation/3

Revelation 17
7 The angel said to me, “Why are you amazed? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, the beast with the seven heads and the ten horns.
http://www.usccb.org/bible/revelation/17

Romans 10
8 But what does it say?
“The word is near you,
in your mouth and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith that we preach),
9 for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
11 For the scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all who call upon him.
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

http://www.usccb.org/bible/romans/10

Your argument is with Jesus. He wrote what He wrote. He wrote letters to seven different kinds of churches, or assemblies. These were groups of people in seven different locations that were subject to different political, economic, and spiritual environments. Only two churches receive no rebuke from Jesus: Smyrna, the persecuted church, and Philadelphia, the faithful church. The other five receive some degree of rebuke and are called to repentance.

The victors were the one common thread in all the churches and they are the only ones who will be “kept from the time of trial”. They represent the One Apostolic Church, not the organizations of men to which they belong. Their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

That seems to be a really important thing. When the disciples came back from preparing field for Jesus, and boasted that “even the demons are subject to us”, Jesus told them that didn’t mattered, what mattered was that their names were written in heaven.

As for the 1500 denominations, that sounds like a big mustard tree with lots of birds nesting in and under it. This is what Jesus said would happen the the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth before he came again to make things right.

Just make sure you have extra oil for your lamp, because if you have to go get some you will miss the wedding feast. You do that by reading the Word as found in the Bible and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you to your proper path.

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.