Some people confuse uncompromising truth with “hatred”

Most of us have been watching the news from Charlottesville, Virginia regarding the demonstration last weekend by White supremacists. Clashes with counter-demonstrators sadly led to injuries and death.

Christians must follow the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is NO PLACE for hatred or discrimination in our hearts. To consider a person or group of people as inferior because of their race, nationality, or ethnicity is antithetical to God’s Word and the Gospel.

“…For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7

It was because of accommodation to hatred and entitlement that some White Christians in the past were able to justify slavery and later join or support the Ku Klux Klan* and other pro-segregationist groups in America. That memory will always be a regrettable stain on the history of the church in America. But feeling superior to someone else is a sin we have all shared at one time or another.

All those who are spiritually reborn in Jesus Christ and humbly take His name must reach out in love with the Good News! to men and women of all races, nationalities, and ethnicities.

“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” – Mark 16:15

As our post-modern society becomes more accepting of racial and ethnic diversity, a good thing, there is also a tendency for society to become more accepting of diverse religious beliefs and most popularly, the lack of any religious convictions. Religious groups that proclaim that they alone have divine truth are increasingly frowned upon. As in all other areas of life, tolerance of all religions is “in,” exclusivity is “out.” This attitude has even taken hold within the Christian church. It’s now considered unseemly and ungracious to criticize a religious group that calls itself “Christian” but teaches a false gospel. Those who point out that a religious group is not preaching the Gospel of grace are looked upon by some in the same way as polite society views members of the KKK or other extremist hate groups.

But no one will be able to recognize truth if it becomes so muddy and indistinct that it’s unrecognizable, and yet that is exactly what is happening within the church.

A person’s race or ethnicity makes no difference to  the Lord, Jesus Christ. We are all sinners in need of the Savior. But the Gospel is never to be watered-down or compromised. There is only ONE WAY to salvation and that is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ ALONE. Baptism doesn’t save. Church membership doesn’t save. Trying to obey the Ten Commandments doesn’t save. The Lord marked false teachers as did His apostles. Yes, we are to love people of all religions and false churches and reach out to them with the undiluted Gospel. But to accommodate and cooperate with those who teach a false religion and false gospel is not love. We don’t do anyone any favors by accommodating their false beliefs.

It’s certainly not popular to tell anyone, “Your religion is not the right way.” It will quickly get you classified as a “hater” and that’s the LAST label anyone desires these days. But if you believe salvation is by anything other than God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ ALONE, even if you go to a church regularly and call yourself a “Christian,” you are outside of Christ’s salvation looking in.

Forsake all churches and religions that teach you must be “good” in order to merit salvation. Repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” – Matthew 7:13-14

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Is Jesus the only way to Heaven?
https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-only-way.html

*For those who think the KKK was/is strictly a Southern phenomenon, I live less than one mile from a field where Rochesterians (New York) used to gather for KKK cross-burning rallies back in the 1920s and 30s. In 1933, some Rochesterians were so upset that the newly erected Monroe Community Hospital was designed by Black architect, Thomas Wilson Boyde, Jr., they burnt a cross nearby in protest.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 8/12/17

• Trump’s evangelical advisers want a meeting with Pope Francis over controversial article

Right-wing, ecumenical Judas evangelicals can’t understand why papa Francis doesn’t like them. See my previous post on the La Civilta Cattolica controversy here. Don’t worry, children, Daddy loves you. He just wants his children to make the correct choices on issues like climate change, immigration, socialized health care, etc.

• Pope Francis: I’m saddened by ‘perfect’ Catholics who despise others

In his ongoing feud with the conservatives and traditionalists within the church, Francis knows he has them over a barrel. If they threaten schism from a duly-elected pope, they themselves become enemies of conservative orthodoxy.

• Money can’t save German Catholicism

The German Catholic church is literally leaking members like a sieve, despite the fact that its coffers are full through state taxation. Praise the Lord for the Protestant church reformers back in the early years of America who challenged the Roman vestige of a state church.

• Return of the Vocations Crisis

I listen to Catholic talk radio just about every day to stay abreast of Catholic news and viewpoints. The priest-hosts frequently boast that vocations to the priesthood are rising. There’s a lot of fake news out there and that’s definitely FAKE news.

• Those New Uniforms for the Knights of Columbus

What? The Knights are going to get rid of those gaudy capes and “chapeaus” (plumed hats)? Uh-oh. Watch for the traditionalist Knights who love their capes and chapeaus to threaten to secede!

• Patricia Heaton’s moving testament about going to Mass

Actress Patricia Heaton loves to parade her Catholicism on her shirtsleeves, although I’ve previously shown she’s not quite the devotee she pretends to be. See here. A couple of weeks ago, Heaton tweeted that she was bored out of her mind by the priest’s sermon at a Sunday mass, but was then overcome with emotion when she received the Jesus wafer. Some Catholics are still deeply attached to the mass, but the ritual is antithetical to saving faith in Christ.

• I love the Mass, imperfect as it is

Frankly, the mass is boring beyond belief. It’s the exact same ritual over and over and over. Some people are drawn to the familiar and predictable. It’s a constant they can rely on in an unpredictable world. But most Catholics can’t stand the dead liturgical monotony. Not to mention, the alleged acts of calling Jesus down from Heaven and literally changing him into a bread wafer and sacrificing him over and over again are spiritual poison.

• Shattered faith: Nearly 100 sex abuse suits against Catholic priests rock island of Guam

The scandal of pedophile priests and church cover-up is shamefully old hat here in the US, but it’s raw, front-page news in Australia and Guam.

• 18 Shuttered Catholic Churches May Soon Be Up for Sale

The Catholic church celebrated the recent opening of it’s new cathedral in Raleigh, North Carolina with much fanfare, but churches in the Rust Belt are shuttering faster than you can say, “Hoc est corpus meum.” Many Catholics wonder why they have to sit through the bone-dry liturgy every Sunday when the pope says even atheists can merit Heaven if they follow their conscience.

• Trump to ‘upper’ New Yorkers: Pack your bags!

No, it’s not religious news, but I couldn’t resist this story from President Trump. Readers of this blog know Upstate and Western New York have been economically devastated by the combination of high taxes and the exodus of manufacturing companies over the past forty years. Buffalo and Rochester rank as two of the poorest cities per capita in the entire country. During his campaign, Trump promised he would bring jobs back to Western New York. But now he’s telling “upper” New Yorkers there’s no hope and that we should move out. One would think state, county, and city lawmakers in this state would get together and reduce taxes significantly so New York could compete with other states, but nobody’s willing to reduce their fiefdoms. And yet New Yorkers return the same politicians to office year after year. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall (like the “Empire State”), but the Lord God Almighty remains on His throne.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 8/5/17

• “Bored Again Catholic” – Inspiring book on Mass should be required reading for all Catholics

In this cleverly-titled book, the author attempts the impossible: to enliven the dead ritual of the mass in the minds of the spiritually shackled.

• A Vatican Shot Across the Bow for Hard-Line U.S. Catholics

Based on the number of news stories it generated this past week, it’s clear the Vatican-approved La Civiltà Cattolica’s criticism of politically right-wing American Catholics touched a nerve.

• Can the church change its focus from rules to people?
• Letter from Rome: The Implosion of the Roman Catholic Church

Here we have two very interesting examinations of the current battle between Catholic conservatives and reformers from a liberal perspective. They provide good analysis of where Francis is attempting to drive the church.

• Confession and Absolution Are Biblical

Trying to prove the Catholic sacrament of reconciliation/confession from the Bible is like hammering the proverbial square peg through the round hole. This Catholic source admits the earliest isolated examples of auricular confession date to the sixth century.

• Feast of the Assumption is August 15th

In 1950, pope Pius XII declared the assumption of Mary bodily into Heaven as an infallible dogma. All Catholics must believe this un-Biblical, mythological doctrine under pain of mortal sin. The Feast of the Assumption is celebrated every August 15th, which falls on a Tuesday this year. The feast is a “Holy Day of Obligation” meaning all Catholics are required to attend mass that day under threat of eternal damnation, but Catholic surveys reveal 65% of members either seldom or never attend obligatory mass on HDOs.

• Reasons the Temple Mount crisis did not explode

There has been quite a bit of tension between Palestinians and Israelis over the Temple Mount recently. The tense standoff is akin to a case of nitro being transported over a rocky road.

• Not at the hour of our death: Funerals are shrinking, and the rosary service is disappearing

Yes, I can remember the days when Catholic wakes and funerals included much more ritual. Now that most Catholics are nominal members of the church, it’s my observation that many families are opting out of a funeral mass or even a short prayer service officiated by a priest or deacon for their deceased loved one.

• Outlaw pastor Rob Bell shakes up the Bible Belt

In our postmodern era with its idols of relativism and and plurality, its no surprise that heretic Bell can attract an “evangelical” audience.

• Priest: Use of term RIP a worry for Catholic and Protestant alike

Evangelicals adopt non-Biblical, culturally-approved aphorisms without even thinking about what they’re saying. Rest in peace? When I pass into glory I’m not going to be resting, I’m going to be busy praising and worshiping my Savior!

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 7/29/17

• Catholics celebrate ‘joyful, historic day’ with Raleigh cathedral opening

Up here in the fading Rust Belt, Catholic parishes are closing or merging faster than you can say, “Hoc est enim corpus meum.” But this week, in order to handle all of the Rust Belt transplants, the diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina opened the new Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, which seats 2000 at a cost of $41 million. Keep in mind that the parishioners of the new cathedral, like all Catholics, are obligated to attend mass every single Sunday upon pain of eternal damnation.

• These Chicago Catholics have a game plan for evangelization

Earlier this month, a convocation of U.S. Catholic leaders brainstormed on ways to stanch the church’s membership freefall. This articles details some of the new programs Chicago parishes are going to try in response. But in stark honesty, the Catholic church has nothing to offer people. Its mandatory Sunday mass is boring beyond belief and the church doesn’t preach the Good News! of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Who needs a religious treadmill? The pope says even atheists can go to Heaven if they are “good” and follow their conscience so who needs all of that liturgical rigmarole? Has anyone ever wondered why the Catholic church now devotes so much energy and resources trying to “evangelize” its own membership, 80% of which don’t bother with obligatory weekly mass? What was it doing all of those years?

• Catholics with Lutheran roots join prayer for unity but oppose compromising Catholic truths

Evangelicals should oppose any ecumenism with Rome and its false gospel. Ironically, there are many Catholics, like these converts, who fret over ecumenism diluting their cherished anti-Biblical traditions.

• Callista Gingrich in the Vatican: a very strange fit

Trump threw his supporter, Newt Gingrich, a bone by appointing his wife as ambassador to the Vatican. Count on Francis to be querying Ambassador Gingrich about Trump’s much ballyhooed Mexican border wall and America’s retreat from environmental protections.

• Bible-reading was something Protestants did

I’m very happy to read any article about Catholics reading the Bible. Catholics were discouraged by their church from reading God’s Word for themselves for centuries. As they read the New Testament, many Catholics will compare Scripture to their church’s teachings and discover “something is radically amiss.”

• Evangelical scholars reflected on Catholicism in Rome

I’m encouraged by the ongoing efforts of Leonardo De Chirico, Gregg Allison, and others to educate evangelical scholars and leaders about Rome’s false gospel via the Rome Scholars Network and the Reformanda Initiative. Why aren’t similar works being done in the United States? Easy answer. Evangelical leadership in this country is so busy jostling in line for a private meeting and photo op with the pope that they have no time or interest in examining the differences between the Gospel of grace and Rome’s false gospel of sacramental grace and merit.

• Pope Francis’ unwillingness to meet with dubia Cardinals baffles former Vatican doctrine chief
• Vatican archbishop: Pope Francis opened Communion to adulterers
• Vatican article says ‘main obstacle’ for Pope Francis is bishops, priests
• Vatican rumblings: Pope Francis aiming to end Latin Mass permission

There’s no end in sight to Francis’ ongoing feud with church conservatives and traditionalists. Will Francis’ next move be to pull the plug on the traditionalists’ idolized Latin Mass as the last article speculates? Stay tuned.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 7/22/17

• For Evangelicals, the Marriage Debate Is Just Beginning

So, 51% of “evangelical” Millennials now support same-sex marriage? That’s a very disturbing statistic for the church. What other teachings of Scripture will be ignored?

• Families, Young People Strong in Faith Are Fruit of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal

The Karrs are Catholic charismatics, demonstrating the requisite “gifts of the spirit,” but propagate Catholicism’s false gospel of sacramental grace and merit. Their glossolalia can’t be from the Holy Spirit since they uphold a works-righteousness gospel, so where does it come from?

• Culture of Silence’ Abetted Abuse of at Least 547 German Choir Boys, Inquiry Finds
• The Keepers: ‘I’ve dealt with survivors and they’re sickened by the church’s response’

Priest Georg Ratzinger (brother of pope emeritus, Benedict XVI) and his associates at the Regensburg Cathedral in Germany abused at least 547 choir boys over a span of decades. Proud parents sent their sons away to board at the church’s school, completely unaware they were sending them into a snake pit.

• Pope Francis’ Next Act

A timely brief on the status of the tug-of-war between Francis and his traditionalist opponents.

• Notorious abortionist lauded by Pope Francis

Francis isn’t careful who he praises!

• Is Catholicism too casual about sin, salvation, and mercy?

Catholicism teaches a person must perfectly obey the Ten Commandments and die in a sin-free, “state of grace,” in order to merit Heaven. The church recognizes that’s a steep hill to climb and so designates many sins as “venial” (from Latin “venia,” pardon or pardonable) or minor. Catholics rationalize their morally imperfect lives in comparison to the Ten Commandments by reasoning, “Well, at least I never killed anyone or cheated on my wife.”

• Pope Francis’s papacy has an ‘intellectual deficiency’

I completely disagree with this befuddled Catholic-convert egghead. I think Francis knows exactly what he’s doing as he moves the church away from rigid doctrinalism and makes it more appealing to doctrine-challenged Protestants and other non-Catholics.

• Trump threatens to change the course of American Christianity

I don’t reference politics often, but the elephant in the middle of the room is Donald Trump’s ongoing relationship with politically-minded evangelicals. Pastor Robert Jeffress’ recent feting of Trump at the “Celebrate Freedom Concert” on July 1st was a disturbing example of the centuries-old, misguided attempt to mix Christianity with fervent American nationalism, reminiscent of the heyday of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority. Apostle Paul wrote that Christians should pray for the Roman Caesars so that believers might live peaceful lives in order for the Gospel to go out. He didn’t write that we should embrace Caesar or Roman glory.

• The Rise of the Nons: Protestants Keep Ditching Denominations

I personally like denominations because I can pretty much drive by a church sign and immediately know what is being taught inside. Now, with all of these non-denominational churches with ambiguous, trendy names, one has to check their web sites to see exactly what they teach. And, as we’re already seeing with the mega-churches, the trend will be towards a lowest-common-denominator “Just love Jesus” doctrinal statement.

Papal allies accuse Catholic and evangelical Trump supporters of joining together in “ecumenism of hate”

For centuries, Bible Christians never had much of a problem distinguishing between the genuine Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone and Roman Catholicism’s false gospel of sacramental grace and merit.

But beginning around sixty years ago, evangelical pastors and para-church leaders began to rise up saying ecumenism with Rome was fine and even desirable; influential men like Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, Bill Bright, James Dobson, and Jerry Falwell. Sure, they didn’t embrace all of Rome’s doctrinal deviations and “eccentricities,” but they gladly overlooked the “fine print” and declared Roman Catholicism to be “close enough.” After all, Christians in America were in a bitter battle to preserve “Judeo-Christian morality” and to “save America for Jesus,” so it didn’t seem wise to inspect the denominational dog tags of fellow soldiers combating the onslaught of secularism. Chuck Colson cleverly coined this alliance, “ecumenism in the trenches.”

But at this stage of the “culture war,” in the year 2017, politically-involved evangelicals have to concede that secularism has pretty much taken over the high ground. However, political/religious ecumenism with conservative Catholics and the culture battles continue. Research shows that 81 percent of White evangelicals voted for unlikely-candidate (to put it mildly), Donald Trump, in the presidential election. That’s no surprise given the only other option was Hillary Clinton. What is surprising is that 52 percent of Catholic voters, historically supporters of Democratic candidates, also voted for Trump.

But an article last week from a Vatican-approved source reveals not all Roman Catholics are pleased with the alliance between politically conservative Catholics and evangelicals in America. The article, written by two of pope Francis’s close advisors, warns of the “ecumenism of hate” shared by conservative Catholics (labeled as “integralists”) and evangelicals (labeled as “fundamentalists”).

“Appealing to the values of fundamentalism, a strange form of surprising ecumenism is developing between Evangelical fundamentalists and Catholic Integralists brought together by the same desire for religious influence in the political sphere.” – from “Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism in the USA: A Surprising Ecumenism,” La Civiltà Cattolica, July 13, 2017.

See here for the full article.

According to Francis and his allies in the church, religious and “social justice” ecumenism is just fine, but ecumenism based on “the nostalgic dream of a theocratic type of state” is not.

Where does Jesus Christ fit into all of this? He doesn’t. Evangelical Christians need to be about their Father’s business as emissaries and ambassadors of the Kingdom and the Gospel of grace. Roman Catholics are our mission field, they are NOT our allies in some misguided Falwellian “culture war” to “save America!”

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Below are two articles on the controversy from a conservative Catholic source. This newest squabble gives traditionalist Catholics yet another reason to hope for an early end to Francis’s reign.

Vatican-reviewed magazine accuses Catholics of ‘hate’ for supporting Trump
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/u.s.-catholics-and-evangelicals-supporting-trump-are-fostering-an-ecumenism

Archbishop rips Vatican-approved magazine’s ‘ignorant’ attack on pro-Trump Catholics
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archbishop-chaput-rips-vatican-approved-magazines-willfully-ignorant-attack

Pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, compares current state of Catholicism to a boat on the verge of capsizing

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you’re aware that the Catholic church currently has a bit of a crisis on its hands. For centuries, the church taught that members who divorced and remarried without having their first marriage annulled, were living in an open state of adultery and were barred from receiving communion. That wasn’t a big problem seventy-five-years ago when relatively few people divorced, but these days fifty-percent of Catholic marriages end in divorce just like secular society. Many remarried Catholics who were barred from communion dropped out rather than face the humiliation of being treated like second-class citizens in a church where receiving communion is of paramount importance.

Pope Francis and some other prelates of the church recognized the debilitating effect the doctrine of no communion for remarrieds was having on church membership and cleverly reinterpreted the doctrine in last year’s “Amoris Laetitia” encyclical. A footnote in chapter eight of the document “seemed” to grant pastor priests the ability to judge whether divorced and remarried individuals are able to receive communion on a case-by-case basis.

Lines were quickly drawn. Traditionalists insisted the doctrine of no communion for remarrieds was taught by all previous popes as infallible dogma and could never be reinterpreted while liberals celebrated the new teaching. Four conservative cardinals petitioned the pope for a clarification on “Amoris Laetitia” with five “dubia” or questions of concern but no answer has been forthcoming from Francis. The cardinals asked for clarification a second time and, once again, no reply.

One of the “dubia” cardinals, Joachim Meisner, died on July 5th. Pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, sent a message that was read at Meisner’s funeral mass, which stated that he honored his deceased friend’s ability to “live out of a deep conviction that the Lord does not abandon His Church, even when the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.” See the article below.

This thinly-veiled statement from Benedict XVI is sweet music to the ears of traditionalists, who see Francis’s relaxation of the doctrine of no communion for remarrieds as heresy. Schism is a very real possibility as a result of this controversy. Stay tuned.

For evangelicals, Catholic teaching is unbiblical on so many counts, most importantly, regarding justification. Bible Christians proclaim the Good News! of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone while Catholicism teaches salvation by sacramental grace and merit. While I’m obviously not personally affected by political squabbles within Catholicism, it’s very interesting to me to see how a teaching that was always held to be unchangeable by previous infallible popes has been pragmatically sidestepped by the current pope. Catholics who boast about the infallible leadership of their church’s magisterium in all matters of faith and morals are having a difficult time trying to honestly explain this current controversy.

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Pope Benedict XVI says Church is ‘on the verge of capsizing’
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-benedict-church-is-on-the-verge-of-capsizing

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 7/15/17

• Hobby Lobby Agrees to Forfeit 5,500 Artifacts Smuggled Out of Iraq

The evangelical owners of Hobby Lobby, the Green family, have done some good stuff but they crossed the line with this smuggling operation. I was curious whether the Green’s soon-to-open Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. (see photo, left) will be true to the Gospel or take an ecumenical approach by including apostate (c)hristian groups? I did a little research and got my answer. An article I found states, “the (Museum of the Bible) also has a ‘very strong working relationship’ with the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Library, according to (a Museum of the Bible spokesperson). “We’ve had two of our moving exhibits on display there. They’ve loaned us items and vice versa. We also have some of their people involved with us as advisers to this museum.” See here. Why am I not surprised? Count me out.

• Hank Hanegraaff Must Step Down After Converting to Eastern Orthodoxy: CRI Founder’s Family
• ‘Bible Answer Man’ Hank Hanegraaff Says Watching ‘Pastor-Preneurs’ Led Him to Leave Evangelicalism

Hanegraaff should have done the decent thing and resigned from CRI the moment he started attending Greek Orthodox services. He says he was turned off by TBN’s health and wealth charlatans. So, does he think the legalism and ritualism of Greek Orthodoxy are any closer to the truth of God’s Word than Messrs. Osteen, Dollar, Myers, and Copeland? Hanegraaff obviously never genuinely accepted Christ as his Savior or he wouldn’t be desiring the chains of Egypt.

• An anniversary worth celebrating: 10 years since Pope Benedict’s letter on Traditional Latin Mass
• Why the cappa magna makes people see red

Ratzinger still had a soft spot for the pre-Vatican II militant approach and thought he could quiet the traditionalist malcontents by bringing back the Tridentine Latin mass, but that act just further emboldened them.

• Cardinal Müller criticises the way Pope Francis dismissed him
• Dubia cardinal dies still awaiting Pope’s clarification

Traditionalist war horse, Muller, may have been fired, and Meisner, one of the four “dubia” cardinals, may have died on July 5th, but this controversy over Francis’s duplicitous circumvention of the infallible no-communion-for-divorced-remarrieds doctrine via “Amoris Laetitia” ain’t going away anytime soon.

• Vatican Refuses to Go Gluten Free at Communion

Much to the annoyance of Catholics who suffer from celiac disease, the Vatican has ruled that the wheat flour used to make communion bread wafers must be composed of at least 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten. Get out your electron microscopes, people. If the wafer is composed of only 15 ppm of gluten, then what? Does that mean the wafer can’t be transubstantiated into the body, blood soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ? Can 19 ppm be rounded up or is 20 ppm a hard stop?

• Lay groups lament Paprocki’s decree denying same-sex spouses Eucharist

The pressure from the LGBTQs and their fellow travelers is just going to grow.

• These Canadian Catholics look pretty Protestant

Some Catholic parishes are adopting the Warren/Hybels/Drucker church growth model, or at least as much as they can while also retaining the mandatory dead-as-a-door-nail liturgy of the mass. Rick Warren has even visited several Catholic dioceses as a growth consultant. The genuine Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone is nowhere to be found in any of this.

• Jinger Duggar Vuolo’s Husband Jeremy On Unity And Catholics: ‘We cannot hold hands…an opposite gospel’

The virtual gossip rag, the Inquisitor, is once again scoffing at Duggar son-in-law, Jeremy Vuolo, for upholding the Gospel of grace and warning against ecumenism with Rome. The sad reality is the majority of “evangelicals” would side with the Inquisitor on this.

Giant homoerotic mural “decorates” church of high-ranking Vatican prelate

Last weekend’s news roundup included a story detailing a police drug bust that interrupted a gay orgy in the Vatican apartment of an unnamed, high-ranking clerical bureaucrat, later determined to be monsignor Luigi Capozzi. See here.

This week there’s been several followup stories reporting on the shocking level of deviancy within the walls of Vatican City, including the Life Site (conservative Catholic) report far below (“Top Vatican official: Gay sex in Vatican ‘never been worse’ than under Francis”).

A couple of other Life Site articles directed readers to a glaring example of the gay culture that pervades the Roman hierarchy; the giant homoerotic mural at the cathedral of the Diocese of Terni-Narni-Amelia in Umbria, central Italy. Commissioned in 2007 by archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who now holds the important Vatican position of president of the Pontifical Pope John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, the giant mural supposedly depicts “Jesus carrying nets to heaven filled with naked and semi-nude homosexuals, transsexuals, prostitutes, and drug dealers, jumbled together in erotic interactions.” The partially-clothed figure of Paglia in the embrace of another semi-nude male is included in the mural (see photo).

Sigh.

This is in a supposed church, folks. Imagine the apostles Peter and Paul walking into this “church” with this sickening mural.

For the sordid details, see the articles below. Warning: many will find the articles’ accompanying images and descriptions to be offensive and blasphemous, but remember, this huge mural is prominently displayed in a Catholic “cathedral.”

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Vatican archbishop featured in homoerotic painting he commissioned
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/leading-vatican-archbishop-featured-in-homoerotic-painting-he-commissioned

Vatican archbishop defends cathedral’s pornographic, homoerotic mural as ‘evangelizing’ tool
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-archbishop-defends-cathedrals-x-rated-mural-as-evangelizing-tool

Top Vatican official: Gay sex in Vatican ‘never been worse’ than under Francis
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/top-vatican-official-gay-sex-in-vatican-never-been-worse-than-under-francis

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“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” – Romans 1:24-27

Despite these reports of gay orgies and indecent and blasphemous church artwork, the most disturbing thing about Roman Catholicism continues to be its propagation of a false gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 7/8/17

• Archaeologists Discover Road on Which Jesus Walked From Pool of Siloam to Temple

I definitely don’t venerate “holy relics” or material religious objects, but it’s kinda cool to see a road that the Lord, Jesus Christ, actually walked on 2000 years ago. Nope, that’s not a photo of the Bat Cave above. That’s the underground archaeological dig revealing the excavated ancient Jerusalem road.

• Catholic and Reformed Churches mark ecumenical “milestone”

The liberal Reformed have joined Anglicans, liberal Lutherans, and United Methodists in embracing Rome. Who’s next? If a church doesn’t join in the ecumenical apostasy, it will be viewed as extremist fundamentalist.

• Catholic archdiocese promotes Gay Pride ‘multi-faith’ service
• San Jose Bishop to LGBT: ‘We Will Not Refuse Sacraments or Christian Burial to Anyone’

The news wires were overrun during June, Gay Pride Month, with stories about the Catholic church building bridges to the LGBTQ. But two weeks ago, conservative bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, issued a non-compromising statement declaring no communion, last rites, or funerals for Catholics in same-sex relationships. In response this past week, liberal bishop, Patrick J. McGrath of San Jose, CA, said he welcomes all Catholics in same-sex relationships for communion, last rites, and funerals. So who’s on first?

• Megapastor John MacArthur says ‘no one is gay’, compares homosexuality to adultery

Those who uphold Biblical teaching on sexuality will be increasingly targeted by society.

• Pope Francis Replaces Conservative Top Theologian

Cardinal Muller opposed Francis’s ambiguous footnote in Amoris Laetitia, which opened the door to communion for divorced remarried. Arrivederci, Gerhard! What Francis is demonstrating is that infallible popes of the past were definitely not infallible regarding their policy of no communion for divorced remarrieds.

• Vatican cops bust drug-fueled gay orgy at home of cardinal’s aide

One can only assume gay orgies were routine for centuries at the Vatican among the supposedly celibate clergymen. Historians tell us the city of Rome had the highest number of prostitutes (female and male?) per capita in 19th-century Europe. How many altar boys and seminarians were sexually abused by celibate priests and prelates over the centuries? The number must be staggering.

• Why Aren’t US Bishops Prioritizing the Re-Evangelization of Former Catholics?

Easy question, Mr. Voris. The RCC doesn’t prioritize re-evangelizing former Catholics because it can’t even impose upon current Catholics to come to church.

• Ten Commandments tablet in Arkansas stokes controversy – then driver smashes it to pieces

The notion of America as a “Christian country” was wrong 241 years ago and it’s wrong today. The controversy’s not even on the radar up here in the secular Rust Belt. If you insist that Christian symbolism/texts must be featured in tax-supported public buildings then you must also include symbolism/texts from all other religious and atheist groups.

• ‘My Preferred Pronouns Are Thou/Thine,’ Explains KJV 1611-Onlyist (satire)

The Babylon Bee strikes again!