Weekend Update – News and Commentary – 9/17/16

Happy weekend, my friends! Wow, lots of news from this past week to review! Let’s get right to it.

• Pastor Joel Osteen apologized for using the Lord’s name in a sermon

It ended up being a satirical piece, but it wasn’t far from the truth. Could anyone who has genuinely accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and reads the Word regularly sit under this guy’s “teaching”?

• Tim Kaine is so clueless about the Bible, he must be Catholic!
• Sen. Tim Kaine Believes Catholic Church Will Join Him–Break With Jesus–on Same-Sex Marriage

Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Tim Kaine, a Roman Catholic and an unapologetic supporter of “reproductive freedom” and same-sex marriage, is trying to garner the Catholic vote to the chagrin of church traditionalists.

• 8 in 10 Americans Say Pastors Shouldn’t Endorse Political Candidates in Church, Survey Finds

Thirty-five years ago, Falwell, Dobson, Robertson, and other influential evangelical leaders made politics the church’s #1 priority. What a mistake. Politics and patriotism shouldn’t have made the priority list at all.

• Is Pope Francis deliberately subverting papal teaching authority?
• Pope endorsement softens stance on divorced Catholics
• Pope says divorced and remarried Catholics can in some cases receive Holy Communion
• Pope: ‘No other interpretation’ of Amoris Laetitia than allowing communion for divorced/remarried in some cases
• Can the Pope Change Catholic Teaching?

By subtly changing the church’s teaching on barring communion for remarried Catholics, Francis is being a pragmatist. As the number of divorced Catholics increases, the restriction was alienating a large number of the membership. But Catholic traditionalists (and non-Catholic observers like myself) wonder how an infallible Francis can reverse the unambiguous teaching of previous infallible popes?

• Why are young evangelicals seeking out traditional worship?

I was raised in Catholicism and steeped in the ritual and ceremony of Catholic worship – candles, altars, ornate robes and vestments, incense, statues, stained glass, holy water, gold chalices and accoutrements, formalized liturgy, and grandiose architecture. I certainly understand the carnal appeal of all of that. But after accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior, all I needed was to hear His Word and to walk with Him. Hmm. This is definitely fodder for a future post.

• Priest who demanded homosexuals have a ‘celibate life’ suspended after being accused of molesting 15-year-old boy in the Bronx
• Despite the controversy, I’ll stand by my faith

There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t see a story about another pedophile priest somewhere in the world. The sexual abuse of young victims by trusted priests is beyond appalling but the perpetuation and systematic cover-up of the abuse by church leadership at the highest levels is equally offensive.

• Group challenges ‘Know Nothing’ governor’s anti-Catholic legacy
• Nicaragua Heeds Evangelicals (Not Catholics) on Missionary Restrictions
• Nicaraguan government restricts missionary work

In the first article, we see some more blustering about historical anti-Catholicism. As usual, there’s no acknowledgement of the fierce persecution of non-Catholics in Catholic nations that fueled prudent concern and prejudice in this country. In the reports from Nicaragua, we see the lingering remnants of non-Catholic persecution that was rampant throughout Latin America only fifty years ago.

• Pope’s inter-faith summit in Assisi belongs to an ongoing revolution
• The Virgin Mary, Faith in Christ, and Ecumenism
• Pope’s calendar filled with ecumenical events
• How should the new evangelization work?
• Remembering the Reformation—with the pope

Above we have some articles regarding Catholicism and ecumenism and evangelization. Make no mistake, Catholicism’s #1 priority is ecumenism, with the pope ultimately in the driver’s seat. That’s not paranoia. Rome makes no bones about its goal. See here.

• Potential pope says Muslims will take over Europe
• Only 14 Percent of American Catholics Have Favorable Views of Muslims, Survey Finds

Catholics generally seem to be positive about ecumenism with all other religious groups, EXCEPT for Muslims.

• How One Catholic Church Is Supporting Its LGBTQ Members

Immediately after accepting Christ, I began attending an evangelical church in which the pastor seemed to spend a lot of time preaching against three sins in particular- smoking, drinking, and homosexuality. He went a little overboard – see here – but the Bible is clear that homosexuality is a sin. Check out the video in the article above. This particular Catholic church is not only accepting of homosexuals, it also accepts their sinful behavior. Catholics boast about unity, but in reality, teaching and practice within the church are all over the map.

• Billy Graham: The Bible Warns Against People Who Say ‘Evil Is Good’

This article is more than a little ironic. In the last century, no individual has done more to spread the Gospel than Billy Graham. But at the same time, no one has done more to muddy the Gospel of grace. By embracing Catholicism, Graham himself has declared evil – Rome’s gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit – to be good. The damage done to the Gospel witness worldwide because of Graham’s ecumenism is incomprehensible. I’m currently reading a book titled, “Evangelicalism Divided,” by Iain Murray about the compromise and betrayal of the Gospel by Graham and others, which is as disturbing as it is informative. Review to follow.