Category: News

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 9/14/19

Posted on by Tom

Due to the mounting lawsuits filed by former victims of priest sexual abuse, the Catholic diocese of Rochester, N.Y. (where I live) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this past Thursday. Fifty-nine claims have been filed in Rochester in the last month under the state’s 2019 Child Victim Act and another 100-200 are expected before the legal window closes in August 2020. The Rochester diocese is using bankruptcy protection to shield its financial assets from survivors of priest abuse. To date, nineteen other U.S. Catholic dioceses have filed for bankruptcy protection because of priest sexual abuse. Expect many more to follow. Roman Catholicism is absolutely corrupt on multiple levels including its apostate false gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit.

As members fall away elsewhere, the Catholic church is growing in Africa. As this article explains, unwitting new African converts are attracted to the church’s social welfare programs.

On his plane trip to Africa two weeks ago, pope Francis stated that he felt “honored” to be “attacked” by conservative American Catholics. On his return trip to the Vatican this past week, the pope remarked that while he doesn’t desire that church conservatives break away into schism, he’s not fearful of that increasingly possible development. Wow! We live in extraordinary times with the progressive pope addressing the growing rebellion against him, including the possibility of schism.

This past week, conservative Catholics reacted to pope Francis’ remark that he felt “honored” to be “attacked” by them. Next weekend, we’ll see how they react to Francis’ broaching the subject of the potential schism of conservative Catholics.

What must it take for pope Francis to fire the Catholic bishop of nearby Buffalo who was outed eleven-months ago on national television as a serial abuse-enabler? Francis talks about reform, but the foxes in the henhouse still watch out for their fellow foxes.

There have been statues and paintings of Mary allegedly weeping for centuries. This one occurred in a Greek Orthodox church. These phenomena are either outright frauds, the result of natural causes, or manifestations of demonic activity. Thanks to our sister at “I Once Was Lost” for the heads up!

This article from a Catholic media source discourages the use of crystals, but the church’s sacramentals (medals, statues, holy water, and other jujus) and Catholic mysticism predispose the membership to dabble in New Age practices.

Man-buns and girly spandex skinny jeans on men are de rigueur at hipster mega-churches. Well, okay, man-buns are yesterday’s news and have been replaced by one-hundred-dollar swag haircut$.

Advertisements

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 9/7/19

Posted on by Tom

With the increasing acceptability of tattoos in society, some younger Catholics are having images of sacramentals (medals, crucifixes, rosaries, illustrations of Mary, etc.) tattooed onto their bodies, figuring the image of a sacramental will impart the same “blessing” as the physical object. However, church spokespersons state that while physical sacramentals do impart blessings, images of sacramentals, like tattoos, do not. Oy vey. Where does it all end? Superstition through and through.

The Catholic diocese of Philadelphia is representative of all dioceses in the Northeast (and most elsewhere in the U.S.) with its recent “struggles” with the clerical sexual abuse scandal tsunami, financial quandaries, and parish closures. I don’t know about you, but when I read news reports about rats found in the kitchen of a particular restaurant, I won’t eat there. My Catholic friends, there is a way out of the institutional corruption of your church and His name is Jesus Christ. Trust in Him as Savior by faith alone and ask Him to lead you to an evangelical church in your area that preaches the genuine Gospel of grace and teaches God’s Word without compromise.

Speaking of troubled Catholic dioceses in the Northeast, the nearby diocese of Buffalo is in meltdown. Ten months ago, the investigative journalism television show, “60 Minutes,” outed Buffalo bishop, Richard Malone, as a serial abuse-enabler. Despite appeals by increasingly exasperated Buffalo-area Catholics, Malone won’t resign and pope Francis won’t fire him.

In another one of his impromptu airplane aisle press conferences, pope Francis recently took a backhanded swipe at his increasingly-vocal conservative American Catholic critics who are horrified by his doctrine-bending reforms. This is priceless theater that was unimaginable just seven short years ago, before Bergoglio was elected to the papacy.

Eighty-two-year-old pope Francis understands that he’s not going to be able to effect all of his reforms, so he’s “stacking the deck” by promoting like-minded progressives to the college of cardinals to ensure a successor sympathetic to his agenda.

What can we say when one of the iconic propagators of the prosperity gospel allegedly renounces the prosperity gospel?

We currently have one Chick-Fil-A in our area, but it’s about 16 miles from our house. Number two is slated to open a year from now and that one will be only 7 miles away.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 8/31/19

Posted on by Tom

We’ve been watching the increasing polarization within the Roman Catholic church since the day progressive pope Francis was elected. Bergoglio’s pragmatic strategy, to “bend” and de-emphasize doctrine in order to make the church more appealing and viable in an increasingly secular world, is anathema to rigid church traditionalists and conservatives.

This new television show from CBS debuts Sept. 26 and will feature a team of three characters, including a Catholic seminarian, who “investigate the (Catholic) Church’s backlog of unexplained mysteries.” In light of the scandal tsunami involving abusive priests and their enabling superiors that’s currently overwhelming the RCC, the team may want to start their investigation into “evil” at the closest Catholic diocesan office.

Disaffected Catholics are shaken by the scandals that are rocking their church. Pray that many will leave Catholicism and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior by faith alone.

Last February, pope Francis and the Muslim Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, co-signed the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” which states that a “pluralism and diversity” of religions is “willed by God.” This newly appointed multi-faith committee will pursue inter-religious dialogue and cooperation in accordance with the goals of the February document. There’s no sign of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in any of this.

Because of their church’s teaching that Mary and thousands of dead “saints” act as spiritual mediators, Catholics are especially susceptible to full-blown necromancy aka spiritualism. I’ll be submitting a post on this topic in a couple of weeks.

Readers of church history know that the Waldensians were a proto-Reformation group that got their start in France and Italy in the 12th century. They were brutally persecuted by the Catholic church. However, the Waldensians drifted into Bible-denying liberalism and modernism decades ago. Pope Francis keeps trying to apologize to the Waldensians on behalf of the RCC, but they won’t accept.

Steve at Triablogue has some good thoughts regarding the evolution of Catholicism.

Catholic “visionaries” are constantly coming forward with claims of new appearances by Mary that Catholic bishops must examine for “authenticity.” There’s no sign of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in any of this.

Netflix will be releasing “The Two Popes” on December 20th and the trailer can be accessed via the article above. From the trailer, this appears to be a pro-Francis puff piece that contrasts Benedict XVI’s fondness for cold doctrine and elaborate ceremony with Francis’ “warm humanity.” Yes, but what about Jesus Christ?

Hipster mega-churches must constantly be on the outlook for breaking new trends in order to remain on the “cutting edge.”

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 8/24/19

Posted on by Tom

Rochester Jesuit priest, William O’Malley, was the “toast of the town” after he appeared in the popular 1973 film, “The Exorcist.” O’Malley was teaching at McQuaid, the “prestigious” local Jesuit high school for boys, when he wrote a favorable review of the horror novel, “The Exorcist.” The book’s author, William Peter Blatty, took notice and a friendship ensued, which eventually led to O’Malley’s role in the film adaptation. A former McQuaid student has recently filed a lawsuit in conjunction with the Child Victim Act, charging that O’Malley, now 88, sexually abused him multiple times in 1985 and 1986, before the priest was unceremoniously whisked away to Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York City. Whenever I watch a movie or television show that includes an exorcism by a Catholic priest, I always quip to whoever’s listening that the priest character is actually more dangerous than the demon.

Cardinal George Pell, the former Vatican finance minister, lost his appeal in Australian court and must serve his 6-year prison sentence for sexually abusing children. Catholics are shaken by the recent revelations that even their bishops and cardinals were preying on children.

Pope Francis talks about cracking down on pedophile priests and their enablers, but Richard Malone is STILL the Catholic bishop of Buffalo, New York, ten-months after the investigative journalism television show, “60 Minutes,” outed him as a serial-enabler. Buffalo-area Catholics are dumbfounded.

In last weekend’s round up, I posted that a whopping 69% of Roman Catholics do not believe in their church’s transubstantiation doctrine, instead believing that the consecrated wafer and wine are merely symbolic. As might be expected, the reaction in the Catholic media this past week was one of anguish and despair. Catholics generally don’t go to obligatory Sunday mass, don’t go to obligatory confession, don’t believe in transubstantiation, and use banned contraceptives.

This is another article about American Protestants’ supposedly irrational paranoia in previous centuries in regards to Catholic immigrants, with no mention whatsoever of the larger context involving the severe persecution of Protestants in Catholic-dominated countries.

Catholics are famously known for being “anti-abortion,” yet surveys reveal the Catholic membership supports abortion to the same degree as the general public.

A large percentage of Catholic priests and prelates view the Bible as myth and allegory rather than God’s literal Word.

The pedophile priests and cover-up scandal tsunami has shaken the confidence of millions of U.S. Catholics in their institutional church. May many of them turn to Jesus Christ and the Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone.

This past week, the blogger at “Triablogue” posted this informative article about Catholicism’s false doctrine of Purgatory.

It’s sadly comical how some evangelical churches play follow-the-leader and also put up shiplap behind the pulpit in an effort to appear as  non-traditional trendy and “edgy.” I’ve even seen dilapidated commercial wooden pallets secured to church interior walls as an economy version. Huh?

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 8/17/19

Posted on by Tom

This past Thursday, Roman Catholics celebrated the Feast of the Assumption, the dogma that Mary was assumed bodily up into Heaven either at the moment of her death or immediately prior to her impending death. This belief was defined as an infallible dogma by pope Pius XII in 1950, meaning any Catholic who refuses to believe the teaching commits a soul-damning mortal sin. The feast or “solemnity” is a holy day of obligation (HDO), meaning all Catholics were required to attend mass last Thursday under threat of mortal sin. How many actually did attend mass on Thursday? RCC statistics reveal that only 12% of Catholics attend all HDOs as required.

There is nothing in the Bible to support the notion of Mary being assumed into Heaven and there is no extant mention of it until the writings of “saint” John Damascene in the 8th century. So how did the belief come about? Catholic theologians who favored worship/veneration of Mary extrapolated the doctrine using the “fitness” principle. Their argument was as follows: A) since Mary was supposedly sinless (immaculately conceived and without sin after her birth), then B) it was only “fitting” that God would not allow her body to experience the ravages and corruption of death, and so C) God assumed her into Heaven. This “fitness” principle that underlies many un-Biblical Catholic traditions was later popularized by medieval theologian, Thomas Aquinas. See here. On Thursday, pope Francis proclaimed that Mary is the “Gate of Heaven.” The RCC has taught for a millennia that all of God’s graces first flow through Mary and that she is therefore the co-mediator, along with Jesus, between God the Father and mankind. However, Mary was a sinner saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone and she would be sorely grieved to know any worship (aka veneration) was being directed towards her.

Somehow, I missed this story when it first came out on July 3rd. This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks.

It was initially reported at the end of July that 50% of U.S. Catholics don’t believe the consecrated eucharistic elements are the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ as their church teaches. Follow-up articles report that the percentage is actually much higher; 69%! Transubstantiation, the doctrine that Catholic priests change bread wafers and wine into the actual body and blood of Jesus, to be ingested as a conveyance of grace, is one of the prime teachings of Catholicism. Catholics generally have sparse knowledge of their church’s teachings and are even less knowledgeable about the Bible.

As this article states, the Catholic church “was the first and largest corporate slaveholder in the Americas.” As I’ve read elsewhere, the largest slave owners in antebellum Maryland were the Jesuits. How could the alleged Holy Spirit-led “vicar of Christ,” have allowed his subordinates to buy, sell, and subjugate slaves? But in light of the murderous papal-approved Inquisitions, the buying, owning, and selling of slaves by Catholic religious orders was just more of the same.

This past Wednesday, August 14th, was the commencement of the one-year window created by the 2019 Child Victim Act of New York State whereby survivors of priest sexual abuse are able to sue the Catholic church with no limitation statutes. As of this posting, 37 lawsuits have been filed in Rochester and 105 were filed in nearby Buffalo along with hundreds more throughout the state.

Last week, I posted about the ongoing persecution of evangelicals by Catholics in rural Mexico. This article fills in some of the details. Why doesn’t pope Francis summon the Mexican cardinals and bishops to the Vatican and put an end to the ongoing persecution?

My wife and I participated in one of our church’s small groups for two years, but we had several ongoing disagreements with some of the other group members regarding such topics as the syncretism of Christianity and nationalism that’s popular among American believers, ecumenism with the Catholic church, and the credibility of TBN hoaxsters, er, I mean, “televangelists.” Two of the group’s members stated that their only daily Bible reading was from a Joyce Meyer “devotional.” Many pastors aren’t willing to take a stand these days and the sheep drift into error.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 8/10/19

Posted on by Tom

The recently-released documentary, “The Divine Plan,” and the same-titled, tie-in book, present the successful political alliance of quasi-Protestant, Ronald Reagan, and Karol “pope John Paul II” Wojtyla as a positive example of cooperation for today’s Protestants and Catholics. The film’s director, Roman Catholic, Robert Orlando, co-authored the book with National Catholic Register columnist, Paul Kengor.  Warning: evangelical alliances with Roman Catholics in political and culture battles always, always, always leads to the compromise and betrayal of the Gospel of grace.

Certainly, not all Catholic priests are pedophiles, but ALL do teach their church’s false gospel of sacramental grace and merit.

Jesuit priest, James Martin, continues as progressive Catholicism’s point man in pushing for full acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle by the church. No one from the Francis papacy is discouraging him.

Prior to World War II, members of ethnic/religious groups generally congregated in their own urban neighborhood enclaves. Returning vets began the exodus to the suburbs in a trickle that became a flood with the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. This weakened the foundations of Catholicism in America, which always relied upon its close-knit ethnic communities for its perpetuation.

The three articles above, recently published in the local Catholic diocesan newspaper, are an attempt by the Rochester Catholic bishop to prepare the laity for the financial and public relations “challenges” ahead after the Child Victims Act opens up a one-year window for abuse survivors to sue the church with no time limitations beginning on Thursday, August 15th. Bankruptcy is a very real possibility. For the past couple of months, Rochester’s television stations have been carrying advertisements from law firms seeking to represent survivors of priest abuse. On the one hand, bishop Matano profusely apologizes for the abuse and cover-up by diocesan personnel, but the last of the three articles disparages the law firms and their advertisements. I have no illusions about the lawyers’ motives, but I’m grateful that these advertisements have blanketed the area and confronted credulous and increasingly disaffected Catholics. May many turn to Jesus Christ and the Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Over the last four years, I’ve submitted articles about the persecution of Protestants in solidly Catholic Mexico. Here’s an article about a recent wave of violence. There was no religious freedom in Catholic-dominated countries well into the 20th-century, a situation sanctioned by the Vatican. That militantly anti-Protestant attitude can still be found in many regions of Latin America.

This coming December, the progressive German Catholic church will be embarking on an unprecedented “synodal journey” as the floundering church, which is leaking members like a sieve at an even faster rate than the American church, seeks to stanch the exodus. Pope Francis has already warned the German prelates not to get carried away, but, at the same time, he’s also very sympathetic to their doctrine-bending progressivism.

Back when my wife and I did the grocery shopping together several decades ago, I used to pick up a copy of “The Sporting News” upon entering the store to amuse myself for the following 90 minutes. Now, I just stay home whenever my wife goes shopping.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 8/3/19

Posted on by Tom

Catholic apologists have always had a problem explaining away the horrific church-sanctioned inquisitions of the Middle Ages. In this article, apologist Dave Armstrong attempts to soft-pedal the inquisitions as simply a product of less-enlightened times. Yet, if popes and Catholic prelates were divinely-led in important matters of faith and morals, as Catholicism claims, they would not have sanctioned the murderous inquisitions. Can anyone imagine Jesus Christ or even the apostle, Paul, approving of the bloody inquisitions? See the index to my rebuttals of Armstrong’s book, “The Catholic Verses,” here.

Last January, New York State passed a new law that enables victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue the perpetrators and/or their enablers without any time limitations for a period of one year beginning on August 14th. The lawyers of over 100 former victims have already filed intent to sue the Catholic diocese of Rochester alone. Certainly, dioceses across the state have already explored the option of filing for bankruptcy in order to limit their financial “exposure.” The litigation will result in a continuous cavalcade of negative press for the church in the months and years ahead. In addition to the physical abuse, the celibate Catholic clergy spiritually abused trusting souls with their false gospel of sacramental grace and merit.

Catholic high school student, Nick Sandmann’s defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post for its coverage of the controversial “confrontation” between Sandmann and Native American activist, Nathan Phillips, on January 18th, has been dismissed, but a couple of other lawsuits are still pending. If you remember, the press made assumptions about the event that were not accurate. Political roils dominate the headlines, but, from our perspective, both Sandmann and Phillips need Jesus Christ.

Cardinal Raymond Burke continues to drum up conservative Catholic opposition to pope Francis and his progressive “reforms.” However, neither the conservative or liberal wings of the Catholic church proclaim the Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

It’s ironic to hear Francis pontificating on morality in light of the current priest sexual abuse and cover-up scandal tsunami. A Catholic archbishop and former Vatican ambassador to Washington, D.C., Carlo Viganò, has even accused Francis of covering up for predatory cardinal, Ted McCarrick. Catholicism’s mandatory clerical celibacy rule has always been a charade. David Deming notes in his “Science and Technology in World History, Vol. 3” that, in the 16th-century, there were more prostitutes per capita in the city of Rome than any other city on earth due to the patronage of Catholicism’s celibate clerics (p.64).

This is a long, but very interesting article. Suffice to say that many Americans, and even many of those claiming to be “evangelical,” don’t know the Bible or comparative theology.

Freedom Village U.S.A, a local Christian ministry for troubled teens located near the shores of Seneca Lake, has long been a focal point for controversy. How much of the controversy can be blamed on fraud and how much can be blamed on financial ineptness depends on who you ask. This reminds me of how important it is that we believers, with God’s grace, maintain a good witness before the observing world.

This satire that has more than an ounce of truth in it as numbers-driven, seeker-friendly churches strive to ape popular culture.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 7/27/19

Posted on by Tom

The conflation of nationalism and religion has a long history in this country beginning with the arrival of the Plymouth separatists in 1620. Imagine, if you can, the apostle Paul proudly hanging a sign on one of the churches he planted with the words; “Corinth: Love It or Leave It!” So wrong.

Fifty-percent of Catholics believe communion is symbolic rather than the actual body and blood of Jesus as their church teaches. The majority of Catholics could not explain their church’s doctrines in any kind of detail and are even less knowledgeable regarding the Bible.

This liberal Catholic media source at least has the honesty to admit what conservative Catholics never would; that the RCC’s mandatory clerical celibacy rule both attracted and fostered sexual deviancy.

Conservative Catholics blame their church’s decline on Vatican II and would like to return to preconciliar militancy. But whether it’s conservative Catholicism or liberal Catholicism, the Gospel of grace is nowhere in sight.

Praise God for Leonardo De Chirico and the Rome Scholars and Leaders Network (RSLN) for instructing evangelical leaders about the errors of Roman Catholicism and the dangers of ecumenism.

This article is the last in a four-part series from the liberal National Catholic Reporter on the conservative Catholic media conglomerate, EWTN, that’s quite informative.

The “John 17 Movement” is just one of many efforts that ignore the irreconcilable doctrinal differences between Biblical Christianity and Roman Catholicism in the cause of ecumenical false unity.

Although Roman Catholics who are faithful to their church’s teachings will unabashedly affirm that they believe in salvation by sacramental grace and merit, evangelical pastors and para-church organizations are increasingly pressured to recognize them as “brothers and sisters in Christ.” No one benefits by this compromising of the Gospel.

This satire reminds me of the first Gospel-preaching church we attended, which definitely had its list of “pet” sins while ignoring others.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 7/20/19

Posted on by Tom

This past week, the diocese of Orange, California officially dedicated positivity-gospeler, Robert Schuller’s former Crystal Cathedral as a Catholic cathedral (above photo). The grandiose complex continues as a Gospel-less, whited sepulchre. Joel Osteen cites Schuller as a major inspiration, while Schuller took his cue from president Trump’s positivity-gospel “pastor,” Norman Vincent Peale.

It’s encouraging to see the Gospel making inroads into such a spiritually dead place as France.

Roman Catholics are obligated to attend mass each and every Sunday under threat of soul-damning mortal sin, although only 20% of American Catholics comply. If there are dangerous circumstances, as there were recently with Hurricane Barry, which prevent Catholics from attending mass safely, the local bishop will grant a dispensation, exempting them from their obligation. This type of exacting religious legalism leads to innumerable questions regarding various contingencies, which even Rome’s bevy of canon lawyers would be unable to answer.

The American Catholic church has a serious problem with declining membership and we’re starting to see a number of programs sprouting up aimed at convincing lapsed members to return. What would be their motivation? The pope has said even atheists can merit Heaven if they are “good.” The Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone has no part in any of this.

Some Catholics are offended by the term, “Roman Catholic,” and prefer to be called  simply “Catholic.” “Roman Catholic” is actually an oxymoron because “Roman” refers to a specific location, while “Catholic” means “universal” (Greek καθολικός, katholikos). Roman Catholics concede that evangelical Protestants have “some” of the truth, but that the Catholic church alone transmits the fullness of divine revelation. In actuality, the RCC is so steeped in its man-made traditions, that it transmits very little Biblical truth.

EWTN, the conservative Catholic media conglomerate founded by Mother Angelica aka Rita Rizzo, is subtly leading the opposition against progressive pope Francis.

Pastor Leonardo De Cherico provides an insightful look at the rise of Mariolatry.

Funny stuff. I’ll keep quiet about Trump, but I attended a Baptist church thirty-five-years ago that majored on the “cardinal” sins: drinking, smoking, dancing, card playing, and listening to rock music. Going to the movie theater, also a major no-no at many Baptist fellowships at that time, was OK at our church because the pastor was a martial arts enthusiast who loved rock ’em, sock ’em action movies.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 7/13/19

Posted on by Tom

“God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel: How Truth Overwhelms a Life Built on Lies” by Benny Hinn’s (photo left) nephew, Costi Hinn (photo right), hit the bookstores this past Tuesday. My local library REALLY needs to purchase a copy of this. Order it from Amazon here. It grieves me that credulous souls hand over their money and their faith to these prosperity gospel shysters.

Speaking of “miracles,” now that the civil courts have settled the dispute between the Catholic dioceses of New York City and Peoria, Illinois over possession of the cadaver of Fulton J. Sheen, pope Francis has put the famous former media pioneer on the fast-track to canonization as predicted.

Last August, Catholic archbishop and former papal nuncio (Vatican ambassador) to the United States, Carlo Viganò, created a huge stir by accusing pope Francis of covering up for pedophile cardinal, Ted McCarrick. Now, Viganò is implicating Francis in the cover-up of another suspected predator, archbishop Peña Parra, the Vatican’s third most powerful prelate.

Members of the conservative Catholic media are caught in a Catch-22. One of their “prime directives” is absolute loyalty to the papacy, but many are convinced pope Francis is a heretic. So much for the age-old Catholic boast that popes are incapable of leading the RC church into error.

We’re seeing several of these wildcat, progressive “Catholic” churches springing up that ordain women as priests and boast of being “inclusive,” while at the same time conservative Catholics are reverting back to pre-conciliar militancy. The RCC is splitting right down the middle.

The Mormon church has announced that next year, 2020, will be the last for the Hill Cumorah Pageant, held annually in Palmyra, New York, about 23 miles east of Rochester. LDS leadership cites “time commitments, cost, security, and impact to church sites” as the reasons for shutting down the pageant. The Mormon church’s founder, Joseph Smith Jr., claimed God the Father and Jesus Christ visited him in Palmyra in 1820 when he was 14-years-old, which culminated in the incorporation of the LDS church in 1830. See my previous posts on Joseph Smith’s Mormonism scam here and here and here.

The JWs couldn’t get a price break from the new owners of the Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester, so they are relocating their regional summer conference to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles to the south. Pew Research reports that 1% of adults in New York State identify as Jehovah’s Witnesses and less than 1% identify as Mormons, but a whopping 31% identify as Roman Catholic. So why do the (c)hristian bookstore$ in the region carry materials warning of the dangers of Mormonism and the Watchtower, but nothing about the dangers of works-righteousness Roman Catholicism? Oh, that’s right, these alleged “evangelical Protestant” (c)hristian bookstore$ actually have “Catholic sections” stocked with rosaries, holy medals, prayer cards to saints, and religious statues!

Yet another satire from the Babylon Bee that’s not too far from reality.