Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 6/30/18

• Rick Warren Warns Hundreds of Catholic Priests About Moral Integrity at Sexual Abuse Prevention Conference

Rather than cautioning 800 celibate Catholic priests to refrain from sexually abusing minors, Rick Warren (photo right) should be warning evangelicals and Catholics of Rome’s false gospel of sacramental grace and merit. But Warren has been the Vatican’s primary polezni durak (useful fool) “evangelical” for decades.

• Fr. James Martin praises Catholic parish booklet affirming active gays
• Catholic church in Lexington hangs banner welcoming LGBTQ community

Jesuit priest, James Martin, is the main point man for the progressive wing of the Catholic church in its push to completely affirm active LGBT members. Martin’s name is becoming increasingly visible as the crusade for full recognition of LGBTers intensifies. I recently read Martin’s book, “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter Into a Relationship, of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity” in order to gain some understanding of the Catholic Left’s perspective on this topic and I’ll be writing a short review soon.

• Former Irish president claims infant baptism violates baby’s human rights

As events are unfolding, it’s not preposterous to imagine a future when organized religious instruction of children will be verboten. But the Catholic doctrine of infant baptism, in which all sin is allegedly washed away by physical water in conjunction with the precise recitation of the baptism incantation, is just incredibly bad Bible exegesis.

• Televangelist Jim Bakker is now hawking a ‘silver gel’ he claims can cure ‘all venereal diseases’ for $25 per bottle

It’s easy to rip on charlatan Bakker, but just about everybody on TBN is a pea from the same pod.

• ‘The use of rap music is not allowed in preaching,’ Catholic Church suspends rapping priest

This African priest felt the need to liven the mass up a bit to keep the customers satisfied, but got his hands slapped by the higher-ups. Be assured that priests outside of Europe and North America dress up the boring mass all the time on the QT, this one just got caught. But no matter how you adorn it, the blasphemous mass is still the blasphemous mass. There’s an old saying that goes something like, “You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.”

• The Battle Over Who Can Take Catholic Communion

Although liberal Catholic priests have been inviting Protestants to receive communion on the sly for decades, intercommunion was officially forbidden. In an airplane aisle press conference two weeks ago, pope Francis declared that individual bishops can set the intercommunion guidelines for their own diocese. Church conservatives are reeling back on their heels once again.

• The neglected root of the Catholic church sex-abuse scandal

Phil Lawler, the conservative Catholic author of the hard-hitting critique of pope Francis, “Lost Shepherd: How Francis is Misleading His Flock” (see here), provides some insight into the deleterious effects of the widespread homosexuality within the priesthood. Forced celibacy both attracts and fosters deviancy.

• How Beth Moore is helping to change the face of evangelical leadership

Beth Moore’s name was recently bandied about as a possible candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC is a big tent and includes many faithful preachers, but also many heterodox ones. Moore is a TBN regular who pushes ecumenism, mind-emptying contemplative prayer, and regularly rubs shoulders with Word of Faith, prosperity charlatans like Joyce Meyer. We’re seeing women increasingly taking the role of pastor in churches even though God’s Word does not allow it.

• Researchers Now Believe Good Christian Movie Attainable Within Our Lifetime (satire)

These (c)hristian movies from Pure Flix and others might have some limited good content, but as a whole they push ecumenism.