Weekend Update – News and Views – 10/29/16

The presidential election continues to dominate the news but there’s plenty of other interesting stories out there:

• Polish Americans marking 50 years of faith at Doylestown shrine

Caught in a vice between Prussia/Germany and Russia, Poland was removed from the map of Europe. Yet Poles retained their national identity mainly via the Catholic church. The “Our Lady of Czestochowa” icon (see photo), presented to credulous Poles as having been painted by Luke, the Gospel writer, became a national symbol. Poles all over the world still make pilgrimages to Czestochowa or other shrines like the one in Doylestown mentioned in this article. It’s all sheer idolatry and empty religious ritual.

• How Hamilton Defended the Rights of Catholics in a Young America

The early American Protestants were extremely leery of Roman Catholics and no wonder. The Catholic church persecuted and suppressed non-Catholics in every European country where it held a majority and controlled the civil government. Persecution of Protestants in Catholic countries in Europe and Latin America continued right into the 20th-century (and continues still in such areas as rural Southern Mexico).

• Pope Francis: ‘God promised the land to the people of Israel’

Catholics love to bring up Luther’s anti-Semitism but he and the rest of Europe were shaped by one-thousand years of Catholic bigotry and intolerance that was never properly rebuked by the church’s infallible popes. See an earlier post on the topic here.

• 12 Lies American Evangelicals Believe

Here’s another article regarding a recent poll which shows many “evangelicals” actually have very little Bible knowledge. Could they be attending Lakewood, Saddleback, Willow Creek, etc.?

• The Priest Who Realized the Earth Revolved Around the Sun

Although Catholic apologists twist the story every which way to meet their needs, the condemnation of Galileo by two popes for his support of heliocentrism thoroughly debunks claims of papal infallibility. See an earlier post here.

• Vatican bans Catholics from keeping or scattering the ashes of loved ones

The Catholic church declared cremation was a mortal sin until 1963. See here. Did the pope issue a “Get Out of Hell Free” card to everyone who was cremated prior to 1963?

• New Survey Shows White Evangelicals Will Be “Left Behind”

Yes, it’s going to be increasingly hard for Christians who stand on God’s Word to live in this society.

• Faith: Sad news on the Catholic side of things

As this article states, the majority of Catholics “are not certain they are able to have a relationship with God,” while another large percentage of Catholics believe their church’s lifeless ritual and ceremony constitutes a “relationship” with God. I believe there is a small percentage of Catholics who have genuinely accepted Christ in spite of their church’s teachings but why they remain amidst the false doctrine is baffling.

• A statue of Luther in the Vatican and a new papal definition of ‘lukewarm’
• Papal liturgist says divisions over worship ‘distort the Mass’
• Pope: God’s Kingdom grows through docility not with organization charts
• Philadelphia Archbishop Stresses Traditional Catholicism

Above is another usual batch of weekly articles regarding the ongoing struggle between reformer Francis and the Catholic traditionalists.

• Trumpery and popery: Will white Catholics break with tradition and vote for Clinton?
• Priest tells Fox News he was ‘upset’ Clinton cited Pope Francis to justify some of her positions
• Hillary Clinton’s Catholic Fan Club

One of the reasons the majority of Catholics will vote for Hillary is because of their continuing identification with the Democratic Party in spite of its support of the “non-negotiable” abortion genocide. Trace it all back to the immigration of the Irish, Catholic Germans, Italians, and Poles to America and the Democratic-supported unionization of factories and the trades.

• Sorrow and joy: Marking the Reformation with honesty about the past
• Does Protestantism Need to Die?
• Pope in Sweden could break ground on inter-communion, bishop says
• Pope Francis creates anticipation for intercommunion between Catholics and Lutherans
• James Robison, Ravi Zacharias Warn Christians Are on the Brink of Losing Their Religious Liberties
• Lewis among the Evangelicals: Trying to Understand why a Catholic Leaning, Tobacco Smoking, Alcohol Drinking Brit Is So Popular Amongst Evangelicals
• Pentecostal promotes what pope calls ‘walking ecumenism’
• Issues of authority and salvation still divide Protestants and Catholics

Ecumenism is a steam roller with no “off” button. Robison, Zacharias, and others betray the Gospel of grace and join with religious unbelievers to defend American Christendom. For more on evangelicals’ infatuation with C.S. Lewis, see here.