Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 10/5/19

Posted on by Tom

In last weekend’s roundup, I included a couple of news articles that reported on conservative Catholic bishop, Charles Chaput’s public criticism of James Martin, progressive Catholicism’s crusader for full acceptance of practicing LGBTers in the church. Pope Francis reacted to Chaput’s criticism by immediately squeezing a meeting with Martin into his busy schedule to let everyone know the LGBT champion has his full support (photo above).

This coming week, Catholic bishops will meet at the Vatican to discuss challenges in the vast Amazon region of South America. One of the problems is the shortage of priests. Only 15% of Amazon communities are able to have weekly mass because of the priest shortage. There’s a very strong possibility that the bishops will approve the ordination of married men in the region to the priesthood, which will serve as a prelude to eliminating the clerical celibacy rule elsewhere. Conservative and traditionalist Catholics are aghast at the possibility of the end of mandatory clerical celibacy and the synod’s decision will give them one more reason to oppose pope Francis. Keep in mind that both the Catholic priesthood and the mass are antithetical to the Gospel of grace.

Instead of telling lost people about the Gospel of grace, Jeffress riles up political conservatives, even suggesting that they consider civil war in reaction to the possible impeachment of Donald Trump.

Have you ever seen a movie in which one of the characters was on the verge of dying and someone shouts, “Somebody get a priest!” The Roman church teaches that its sacrament of the anointing of the sick (aka “last rites” aka “extreme unction”) helps – but doesn’t guarantee – a dying person to merit Heaven. I need to write a post about this alleged sacrament in the future.

Gandhi is revered as one of the greatest figures of the 20th century for promoting civil rights, peace, and human cooperation. But let’s keep in mind that Gandhi was a committed Hindu who propagated his religion’s false gospel. There is no true peace outside of Jesus Christ.

Almost one year after “60 Minutes” outed Buffalo’s Catholic bishop, Richard Malone, as a serial abuse-enabler, the Vatican FINALLY announced it’s launching an investigation. This article in the Buffalo newspaper says the “investigation” appears to more of a sham than a genuine inquiry. What would the results have been if the city of Chicago had appointed Al Capone to investigate organized crime?

The passage being referred to is 1 Timothy 2:11-12. Mega-millionaire, Joyce Meyer, leads millions astray with her false prosperity gospel.

24 thoughts on “Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 10/5/19”

  1. Wow, 2020 is going to be a fascinating year for the RCC, brother. Can you imagine the firestorm if they allow priests to marry and LGBT stuff all in one year? Alongside the continuing abuse allegations?

    That satire made me chuckle. I was a huge fan of Meyers before getting saved. I once heard her say that she’s not good at sharing the Gospel so she has someone else do it. I think now that perhaps it’s because she doesn’t understand the Gospel herself.

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    1. Thanks, sister! It’s so interesting to watch these developments within the RCC. I’m sure Francis has many meetings with his progressive allies trying to judge how hard and how far they can push their agenda without sparking a conservative schism.

      RE: Joyce Meyer

      I’m going to guess that she’s right up there as one of the top 5 most popular televangelists today. At our local (c)hristian bookstore, her books easily take up the most shelf space. Meyer and the other TBNers give “evangelical Christianity” such a bad reputation.

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  3. 1.) “ope Francis reacted to Chaput’s criticism by immediately squeezing a meeting with Martin into his busy schedule to let everyone know the LGBT champion has his full support (photo above).”
    How much are Conservative Catholics still going to remain Catholic? They need evaluate their beliefs including whether or not they are right with the doctrine of Justification!

    2.) “There’s a very strong possibility that the bishops will approve the ordination of married men in the region to the priesthood, which will serve as a prelude to eliminating the clerical celibacy rule elsewhere”
    Let’s see what happen next week!

    3.) Robert Jeffress is getting more and more adrift…

    More comments following later today when I read the other half!

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    1. Thanks for the comments!

      1) Conservative Catholics can’t sleep at night because of Francis! Such an amazing situation.

      2) It will be interesting to see the outcome of this Amazon synod. I don’t think Francis has a choice regarding ordaining married men. Even here in the U.S. many dioceses are importing priests from Africa because so few American young men are willing to sign up. But changing the mandatory clerical celibacy rule would make Catholicism’s god look like he didn’t know what he was doing from one millennium to the next.

      3) Yeah, Jeffress is absolutely wedded to politics. Of course the media likes to showcase him because he makes evangelicals look silly.

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      2. RE: schism

        I’ve been wondering about that since early-2016 when conservative opposition to Francis began in earnest after he craftily OK’d lifting the ban on communion for remarried divorcees. I’m guessing that the conservatives are going to wait until after Francis dies, hoping that the next pope is another conservative like JPII. But Francis has been packing the college of cardinals with like-minded progressives. If the next pope is Francis II, then I think the conservatives could bolt. As of yet, a strong prelate who the conservatives can rally around has not emerged, but they obviously must act circumspectly with Francis holding all the cards. I imagine conservative prelates have been meeting behind closed doors weighing their options.

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      5. I think with time there might even be a third party being more a force to reckon with: an alleged “moderate” wing of Romanism that would be more theological liberal than conservative but yet want the image of a Rome united. Of course none of the wings would be evangelical and hold to grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone…

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      6. Probably the majority of Catholic clerics and laity fit into the moderate/middle camp you mention, but of course the shouting and fireworks come from the extremes.

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  4. 4.) “But let’s keep in mind that Gandhi was a committed Hindu who propagated his religion’s false gospel. There is no true peace outside of Jesus Christ.”
    Seems some Christians need to remember that too.

    5.) “Almost one year after “60 Minutes” outed Buffalo’s Catholic bishop, Richard Malone, as a serial abuse-enabler, the Vatican FINALLY announced it’s launching an investigation. ”
    Wow one year later…

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    1. Thanks!

      4) RE: Gandhi. Yeah, the temptation is always there to elevate temporal/worldly circumstances over the spiritual.

      5) RE: One year later. Yup, so bad that it took the Vatican one year to respond to very clear-cut revelations, but I imagine similar cases of cover-up are rampant throughout the world and the hierarchy’s #1 priority has always been to protect its own.

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      2. Yeah, when evangelicals hear of “priests” it should be like nails on the chalkboard, so anti-Gospel, but they’ve become desensitized and accommodating.

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      4. RE: Ruth

        I will be listening! And by the way, yesterday I took our dog for a very long walk around the perimeter of a nearby cemetery and I listened to your sermon on “The Goal of Handling Criticism in Marriage.” That was a big blessing for me. I learned some helpful things – like having a plan for dealing with criticism instead of just reacting with emotion. Also, asking my wife if there are things I need to work on, diffusing frustration and anger. She might have a heart attack when I ask her that. 🙂 Lots of good counsel in this sermon that I can apply. Thank you!

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      5. Wow praise God! I’m encouraged to hear that. I’ve been a few weeks behind in loading up sermons on sermon audio and I try to post it late night after Tuesday since it seems to be the best opportunity of exposure on sermon audio in terms of people downloading it (as opposed to Sunday night when everyone’s ministry is trying to load up their sermons too). That is very encouraging to hear! Its also very hard and something I work on in my marriage and I felt being open to criticism with others also have helped as a practice especially in ministry.

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      6. The Lord’s been working on me to try to be an example instead of always worrying about defending myself and your posts and sermons have been very helpful! Hope you’re having a good rest day! I put together my first resume draft today and I’m grateful for that. The last time I composed a resume was around 1990 when I was trying to transfer within Kodak.

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